A TEMPTING ARRANGEMENT

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Andrea hated hospitals. It reminded her of a time in her life she wanted to end it all. A time she much rather wanted to forget. Life wasn’t always like this; she wasn’t going to let someone steal something she worked so hard to achieve. Something she gave up everything she wanted to achieve. Modelling kept her alive in a time she felt dead. It became the only way she could feel.

When she arrived in front of Lacy’s room. She noticed guards in front of her door. She frowned slightly. Two. Tate was keeping his mistress safe? From her or from the media.

God he was being so obvious, and she was so blind to just how much he favored Lacy. Paying for a private room and guards to protect her from danger.

Was she the danger?

Taking her phone out of her purse she sends Archer a quick text. Letting him know she was alright. Archer’s sent at least three messages since she told him she was going to visit Lacy.

Walking up to the door she tried to push the door open, but one of the guards stopped her.

Andrea frowns, she presses the record button on her phone before placing it in the back pocket of her jeans.

“Do you know who I am?” Andrea asks.

The guard paused. Fear crossed his eyes.

The other guard opened the door.

Stupid ass. Andrea scoffed.

Andrea walked in. The door closed behind her. She was going to make Lacy pay for what happened outside.

She eyed the pale looking Lacy, Lacy looked rather pitiful. If she hadn’t known of all her schemes, she would believe the woman was truly hurt. She would actually feel sorry for the woman. Her talent was wasted on modelling, the woman was an amazing actress. Andrea scoffed in her heart.

Andrea smiled slightly. “Are you okay?” Andrea asks sincerely and innocently.

Andrea knew she hurt herself on purpose so she could, win over the public opinion, she would have believed her if she didn’t see the surveillance footage of Lacy hiring those people. This woman was beyond ruthless. She not only wanted to steal her man, but her career as well.

Too bad for her she chose the wrong person to mess with. Andrea wasn’t one to back down from a fight.

Lacy smiled weakly. “Yes, it was just a fall. I don’t blame you at all. I know you didn’t mean to…” she pauses and looks at Andrea in surprise. As if she didn’t say those words on purpose.

Andrea nearly rolled her eyes… Andrea’s eyes hardened. “What did I do? I didn’t ask anyone to do this to you, I was on the phone with my father and then Archer all night last night and went straight to bed. I didn’t even know you were back, there’s no way I could have asked anyone to do this. If you don’t believe I can show you my call log… How could I even know you were on your way home when you’re supposed to be in Ireland for a shoot?” Andrea asks.

Lacy secretly clenched her fists. This isn’t like Andrea at all. She would have gotten so angry she wouldn’t have explained to herself. She would have gotten so angry she would attempt to hit her then she would have to call the guards.

There was a camera on them, but Andrea wasn’t supposed to know about it. She needed the world to believe Andrea was behind the incident. She needed to get Andrea to confess to it.

“Of-of course. I-I wasn’t accusing you of anything Andrea. You’re my best friend. I knew you wouldn’t do that to me…” Lacy says pitifully.

Andrea narrowed her eyes on Lacy. She didn’t say anything for a few seconds. She wasn’t going to fall for Lacy’s trap.

"I’ve asked my father and Archer to look into the attack, don’t worry, we’ll find who did this to you..." Andrea smiled.

Panic rushed through Lacy. She calmed herself down. There was no way they’d be able to find out she’s behind the attack. She clenched her fists. Her smile was strained. “You didn’t have to Andrea…”

“Of course I had to, you’re my best friend Lacy. The people who did this to you need to pay. You’re in desperate need of money, right? And you can’t work right now, we need to find the people…” Lacy cuts Andrea off.

“I don’t need money… I’ve been working at the company for so long, I don’t need money…”

Did Andrea know? No, she doesn’t. There’s no way… Lacy calmed her heart, there was no way Andrea would know. She was bluffing. She wasn’t going to fall for that trick.

“Your father, doesn’t he need money?” Andrea asks. Her father looked into Lacy’s background. Her father found that Lacy’s father had a gambling addiction, he would borrow money from all sorts of loan sharks and creditors, and it was always up to Lacy to pay them back. Hence the need to seduce Tate. Too bad for her, Tate relied on Andrea to support him. Now that she was no longer going to fund him, they’ll need to find a new way to pay off her debt.

"Andrea what are you talking about? I-I don’t understand, you must be mistaken.” Lacy bats her eyes innocently at Andrea. Tears pooled at her eyes.

Andrea scoffs and nods. “My bad, I guess I was wrong. My bad…” Andrea shrugged her shoulders.

Lacy thought she was winning. She didn’t know how Andrea found out about her father, but she was getting through Andrea’s defenses. The more Andrea attacked her she would be able to get the public to turn on her. She could wait for her downfall.

“Andrea Mr. Andrews told you’d come help me while I was in the hospital…” she was going to make Andrea wash her feet. Andrea was going to serve her as a maid today… Nothing but a foot nurse.

The man recording in the closet couldn’t believe what he was recording. It sounded like an innocent conversation between friends. But it was more like two people going to war and hiding behind nice words.

It was a live recording, so people were watching an interesting show.

“I’m sorry I don’t think that’s possible. I was just stopping by on my way to dinner with a few model friends. I’ll leave now. I promise to visit again.” Andrea smiles before leaving the room.

Reporters were waiting outside the hospital to catch Andrea; she walked out with ten guards not giving them the time of day. No matter how much they called out and screamed she didn’t even look up.

The man who was recording got out of the closet switched off the camera. “Do you need me for anything else?” he asked Lacy.

She glared at him and threw the remote at him in anger.

She couldn’t believe Andrea didn’t even apologize. She was sure Tate got through to Andrea. And the little puppet would follow his words. She dared to embarrass her today.

She watched as her assistant escorted the reporter out.

She had everything set up and she couldn’t get a rise out of Andrea. She felt that Andrea had changed. But why would she? She’d set everything up for a good show, but it was all ruined by that damn b***h!

People were surprised by Andrea’s attitude, but people also felt that she didn’t do anything wrong. They didn’t expect her to apologize either. And she said she’ll investigate the matter. So, she was truly worried about Lacy.

With no word from IC people believed they were behind Andrea and that they were going to investigate the matter and the people behind it would be brought to justice.

An interesting video surfaced on the internet. People swamped it. It was titled a Good Show. At the same time, it was the video of Lacy and Tate in the hotel room in Irland. People recognized the room from the videos lacy posted while she was staying in the room.

People then remembered the pictures from the previous day and the weird live Lacy was on.

People started feeling sorry for Andrea. Her fiancé was cheating on her with her best friend. People were calling Lacy a homewrecker and a slut. The mistress wanted the legitimate girlfriend to apologize for something she didn’t do? In her dreams…

People were asking for answers, they demanded Tate and Lacy come out with the truth. People were waiting for Andrea to react as well.

Because of all the drama people forgot to get Andrea’s reaction to yesterday’s drama.

The voice recording of Tate making Andrea give up the Pink shoot was released as well. When people heard it, they finally understood everything. Tate made Andrea give up the shoot so his mistress could get it.

All for the sake of love she had to give up on the shoot and was supposed to take the blame for something she didn’t do. Just so her fiancée’s mistress could take advantage of the situation and take the opportunity to ruin her career.

Just like that, Andrea’s name was cleared. People were calling the couple despicable names and praising Andrea. People couldn’t believe how brazen the mistress was.

People praised Andrea for nearly giving up her career for love. She was willing to let her reputation go up in flames for the man she loved. Yet he betrayed her.

People were waiting for Andrea to break up with Tate.

People waited for the good news. They wanted to see how Andrea would react, they always waited to see if Andrea’s father would do anything…

Oddly enough the Beckett family was staying out of the drama.

Lacy had calmed down and was busy being interviewed by a different reporter.

“I’m so glad Andrea’s going to investigate this incident. Because of this, my shoot has been postponed and I can’t work right now…” Lacy put on her pitiful act well. She perfected it over the years.

“That’s good, because of this incident not only affected you but Miss Beckett as well…” The reporter paused listening to her coworker speaking to her in her com.

The reporter’s eyes widen. She pulled out her phone. “Excuse me Miss Green…”

As she looks at what the media is saying. She watches the video and looks at Lacy in shock.

“Miss Green is this video real?” she shows Lacy the video and Lacy goes pale.

“Wha-what? What is all of this? Of course, it’s not real…” Lacy denies it.

"Are you sure they aren’t real? because this video doesn’t seem to be doctored, so what do you have to say Miss Green?” The reporter asks her.

Lacy was completely frozen. She didn’t know what to say. She was gathering sympathy; how did it turn so quickly? Who the hell took that video?

Now the whole world thought of her as a mistress. Did Tate video tape them being intimate? Why would he do that? He didn’t want them to be caught out as much as she didn’t… She wanted to be the Mrs. not the damn mistress.

How was she going to throw it in Andrea’s face now that she’d stolen her man.

She looked like a freaking homewrecker.

She wasn’t a f*****g homewrecker!

She grabbed her phone to check what the media was saying. She couldn’t believe Tate was recorded telling Andrea to give up her shoot. Now it looked like she was behind everything.

Dammit was Andrea behind all of this? She had to be. But how did she find out? She didn’t want her to know yet. Is there a way to save her reputation?

When Lacy didn’t answer her, the reporter got her answer. Since they were still recording and she got Lacy’s raw reaction, she was fishing for an interesting story.

"Why did you steal your best friend’s fiancé Miss Green?” the reporter asks.

Lacy was completely frozen. “No-No, I didn’t. Andrea’s my best friend, I would never betray her trust. Mr. Andrews and I aren’t like that. That isn’t me…” Lacy cried.

Lacy was like a fish out of water.

“Miss Green, we know the video is real and that it’s you. You’re crying when Miss Beckett should be the one in tears. How do you think Miss Beckett feels right now knowing your best friend betrayed her?”

"No... No... I-I didn’t. No…" Lacy kept to her story.

The reporter scoffed. Her face turned hard; she couldn’t believe how shameless this woman was. Her ex-husband also cheated on her and left her and her son penniless for his mistress, seeing this mistress acting all high and mighty made her think about how her son has to grow up without a father.

Lacy became mad and started throwing things at the crew. The bodyguards and to come in and restrain Lacy, and the reporter and her crew was forced to leave.

The reporter was going to air this interview even if it ended her career.

Once the reporter were gone the bodyguards had no choice but to call Tate. When he heard what happened he ended the call and told the PR department to get on with it.

Tate immediately called Andrea, but the phone went straight to voicemail. He called the house phone of their apartment as well. But she didn’t answer there either. He called the concierge of their building. Only to find out Andrea didn’t come home.

Tate became nervous. Where the hell was she? With her father?

He was going to force her to break up with him. The wedding was going to be off if her father got into her head before he got to her.

Andrea scoffed when she saw how anxious Tate was to get a hold of her.

When Andrea got back to her parents’ house, she got a surprise. Archer was there waiting for her.

She ran into his arms. “You’re here…” she said in surprise.

“I had a meeting here, I thought I should stay the night, I’ll head back tomorrow first thing…” Archer explains.

Andrea smiled.

Archer led her to the kitchen and began preparing dinner. Andrea watched him.

She couldn’t help but admire the man. Archer was a catch. She knew this. Archer was what every woman wanted in a man. Not just for his looks, but because he was attentive, and he could cook. Who doesn’t love a man who could cook?

“Do you cook for all your girlfriend’s?” Andrea asks.

Archer paused and looked at his wife. He couldn’t help but smile at the sound of that… “No, I’ve never cooked for anyone else. You’re the first...” Archer says.

Andrea smiles. “What makes me so special?” Andrea asks.

He laughs and continues what he was doing… “Why don’t you ask yourself wife?” he asks.

Andrea blushed. Being his wife made her special? She liked the sound of that.

“I must say you did put on a good show for me…” Archer’s deep voice brought her out of her thoughts…

“Today was a little unexpected but I got to see Lacy’s face, God I think she could give Becca a run for her money…” Andrea says.

Archer scoffs.