Chapter l420

Chapter 0420

“Wonderful,” Bridget said with an even bigger smile than before.

It was a beautiful smile, all pearly white teeth. She looked every bit the part of the a–list actress. Her makeup was on point. Even her hair was perfectly styled. I wondered how many stylists traveled with her. It wasn’t unheard of to have a team around here. Many other

contestants did as well.

–

“I’m so happy that oh.” Bridget’s gaze snags on where Nathan is speaking with Jessica. They both look terribly unhappy. “I better go deal with that. We’ll talk more later.”

She quickly walks away. As she approaches Nathan and Jessica, her presence immediately lightens the mood of both of them. Those frowns turn right into smiles.

Maybe it’s not such a wonder that Nathan is following her lead, after all. She really does know what she’s doing, in acting as well as deescalating situations. An impressive feat.

Nicholas approaches me next. I see him coming a long way off, but for Nicholas, I have no desire to run away, even with my heart still sore from the scene we shared together. That wasn’t his fault, and I was not about to blame him for it.

He stepped right up beside me, as we both watched Bridget work her magic over Nathan and Jessica. I expected him to restart our last conversation. We hadn’t finished talking when Bridget interrupted us.

Instead, he asked, “So what did you think of my idea?”

I pull my brow together, confused. “What was your idea?”

The corner of Nicholas’s mouth twitched into a frown. “Didn’t Bridget tell you? About finding a role for Elva?”

Wait – that had been Nicholas’s idea? Bridget had made it sound like she had come it all on her own. She hadn’t mentioned Nicholas at all.

up

with

“Oh, right. Yeah, she did mention that,” I said, unsure whether I should bring up Bridget’s blunder at all.

It was possible that it was simply a misunderstanding on my part. Maybe she did mention Nicholas and I just forgot. I’d have a hell of a time proving otherwise. And I doubted, deep in my heart, Nicholas would believe me if I went around accusing his best friend of trying to steal credit from him.

1/2

+15 BONUS

It could have been a misunderstanding. I had to hold onto that belief.

But try as hard as I could, I couldn’t quite get myself to believe it.

There was something off about Bridget. I kept trying to ignore my gut feelings but they keep piling up time after time. 1

Maybe we were just two different people with differing, incompatible personalities.

Or maybe she really was up to something.

No. I couldn’t go down that path. It had to be in my

head.

“You don’t like the idea, then?” Nicholas asked, dragging me out of my circular thinking. I was getting nowhere fast like this.

“I love it,” I said, and smiled at him for good measure. “Elva will love it too. She always feels like she’s missing out. She’ll be so excited to take part.”

“I thought so too,” Nicholas said with a smile. “I’m glad you agree.”

“Of course I do,” I said. And then, because I couldn’t resist digging the needle further into myself, I asked, “Did Bridget like the idea?”

“Not at first,” Nicholas said. He dipped his head down a little. “But you know how she is. This play is her vision, she wants it to go a certain way. When I mentioned an unspeaking part though, something small, she turned around on the idea.”

“I’m glad,” I said. The sinking feeling returned at once.

Bridget had taken credit for an idea she didn’t even initially agree on.

Something just wasn’t right with her.

Was she two–faced? Was she genuine? Somehow, I had to find out.