TWELVE

"Wow, you have to see this," Dianne says, sliding her phone across the counter. Liza hands her friend a glass of wine before picking up the phone. The moment her eyes land on the black-and-white photo of Xander and Cara goofing around in front of a camera, she feels her blood start to boil. She thought she knew heartbreak when Xander ended things with her, but it turns out the real heartbreak is watching him move on. "Didn't you guys break up, like, two months ago? He sure got over you quickly," Dianne mocks.

"Shut the hell up." Liza shoves the phone back into Dianne's hands, harder than necessary, and stalks away. Dianne smirks, satisfied that she's managed to get under Liza's skin.

Liza heads to the living room where she left her phone. She picks it up, scrolling through her contacts before dialing a number.

"Hello," a husky voice answers on the other end.

"Don't hello me. I look like a complete clown online while Xander's out here flaunting his new bitch, and it's all your fault." Liza's voice is sharp, tinged with the kind of anger that comes from hurt.

"It takes two to tango," Mark, her manager, responds calmly.

She ignores his irritating statement. "I told you to dig into the new girl. What've you got?"

"She's a bartender at Gisele's—"

"Wow, Xander really downgraded. But that doesn't help me. Everyone's going to eat up some sob story about how an average bartender is dating one of the richest men in America. They love to romanticize poverty."

"I slipped the bar owner some cash, and he spilled everything. Apparently, Xander paid to have a night named after Cara."

A slow smile spreads across Liza's face. "So, she's a whore? Perfect."

---

"Holy shit, this place is massive!" Cassie's eyes widen as she takes in the sprawling pool, then turns back to Cara. She quickly joins her under the shade.

"Right? I told you," Cara says, enjoying the awe on Cassie's face. It's the same look Cara had the first time she saw the house. There are still parts of it that leave her in awe.

"And you get to live here? You lucky bitch." Cassie playfully nudges her.

"Hey, I'm a pregnant woman," Cara says, rubbing her flat stomach with exaggerated care.

"Shut up," Cassie rolls her eyes and settles beside her.

"And I only get to live here for nine months. But I've got a plan." Cara winks.

"Oh no," Cassie groans. "Whenever you say you have a plan, it's never good."

"Just listen." Cara pauses, lifting her glass of juice and taking a long, slow sip, purely to annoy Cassie.

"Are you going to talk or what?" Cassie urges, exasperated.

Cara lowers the glass, smirking. "See? You're interested. I'm going to milk this celebrity lifestyle for all it's worth. After I sign his stupid contract, I'm supposed to get a decent chunk of money. We can use that to start building our own house. I'm going to make sure my face is in every magazine, whether that asshole likes it or not. I'll give acting another shot, and before you know it, we'll be rich." She pauses, taking another sip. "I'm going to make us rich. And then you'll have to quit your job. Sam, the baby, you, and me—we're going to be okay."

Cassie looks at her best friend, a big smile spreading across her face, eyes already glassy. "Not a horrible plan." She nods.

"Told you." Cara winks.

"Celebrity life isn't easy, though. You should be careful."

"I'm not looking for easy. And you're technically going to be a celebrity too. I'm going into acting, you're going into modeling. Those legs can't go to waste."

"I can get used to your dreams." Cassie laughs, blinking away the tears.

"Stick with me, kid. We're going places." Cara finishes her glass of juice.

Cassie laughs, glancing toward the pool where she spots Xander on the phone. Their eyes lock, and to her surprise, he waves. She hesitates, then slowly waves back, still in shock.

"Did he just wave at you?" Cara gasps.

"I think so." Cassie smiles.

"I swear he's nice to everyone but me." Cara rolls her eyes.

"Maybe if you tried being nice—"

"Watch this," Cara interrupts, waving at Xander, who's still looking in their direction. He gives her a confused look before turning and heading back inside.

"That was anticlimactic," Cassie says, laughing.

---

"I look forward to doing business with you, sir." Xander shakes his client's hand and watches him leave. He unbuttons his suit jacket and sits back down, reaching for the menu. He's at his usual restaurant, a private spot where no one will be snapping pictures, because the other patrons are famous too.

Just as he's about to call the waiter over, he spots a face he hasn't been able to forget. How can someone look so innocent yet be so devious? He notices the change in her hair—blonde to black. He hates to admit it, but she looks beautiful, as always. She's smiling as she orders, and all Xander can think about is how he used to do anything to make her smile. He did everything to make her smile.

But it wasn't enough.

He hasn't seen her in a month. You'd think that would be enough time for the pain to fade, at least a little, but it still hurts like it happened yesterday. The shouting, the throwing things, the words they can never take back—it all flashes through Xander's mind.

He tears his eyes away, already planning his exit to avoid an awkward encounter. He stands, picking up his iPhone, and starts walking toward the nearest exit.

"Leaving so soon?" The voice stops him in his tracks. He doesn't need to turn around to know who it belongs to.

Liza Woods.

He freezes, refusing to look back because if he does, he might do something foolish.

Her presence is palpable, her aura intoxicating as always. Her perfume hits his nostrils, a scent he knows all too well. It still lingers in his room, even after a month, and he hates it.

"If you're going to replace me, at least make sure she's not a whore," Liza's spiteful voice drips with venom. Xander keeps his face blank, giving her nothing to work with. He doesn't turn around or throw any insults back, so she continues. "No one's buying your stories. Is she even pregnant? I doubt it. Hope you kept your receipt, because you'll need to return her to the bar she came from."

---

"Then tell me how Liza knows about Cara!" Xander yells at Andre. He's been on edge ever since Liza cornered him. He almost fired Marco again, and now Andre's seconds away from getting the axe too.

"I don't know. I did a full media sweep—Cara's Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. She gave me all her passwords. I deleted anything suspicious and checked every page she's tagged on. She's clean. If Liza knows anything about Cara, it didn't come from online," Andre says calmly, though he's nervous when Xander gets like this.

"So, someone gave her the information," Xander mutters, thinking about who could be the rat. Cassie crosses his mind, but he remembers Cara going on and on about how much she trusts her best friend. Then again, Xander isn't sure Cara's a good judge of character.

"Look at the bright side," Andre says, interrupting Xander's thoughts. "She came to you directly, not the press. That means she has no evidence. No one will believe her. She's just trying to get under your skin."

Xander processes this, then shakes his head. "You're right, but I still need you to find out Liza's source."

"I will," Andre says. "Speaking of media, I noticed you still have some of Liza's pictures on Instagram. They have to go." He uses the word "some" to soften the blow, but really, almost every picture includes Liza. Xander used to love showing her off.

It's not just Instagram. Xander still has Liza's clothes in his closet, her toothbrush in the bathroom. It's like he never really let her go. He hates how much power she has over him, how much she broke him.

"Delete them," Xander instructs. He obviously can't bring himself to do it.

"Okay. I'll post a picture with you and Cara," Andre says, walking out.

"Whatever."

---

Three weeks flew by for Cara and Xander, but they were no closer to building even a semblance of friendship for the sake of their unborn child. They argued over the smallest things, leaving both of them exhausted. Xander was convinced that Cara must have been dropped on her head as a kid, while Cara was certain Xander had a troubled childhood.

Jonathan, on the other hand, was starting to warm up to Cara. What he once found annoying, he now saw as funny. Cara was seven weeks pregnant, her belly just starting to show like someone who had eaten a big lunch.

Today was another check-up, and Cara would have loved to go alone, especially since she wasn't speaking to the asshole after yesterday's fight. They argued because Cara took a picture of him sleeping and posted it online. She couldn't understand why he was so full of himself—just because he attracted over a million likes didn't mean he was all that.

"Took you long enough," Cara glared at Xander as he walked through the door. They were supposed to meet at Gwen's office since Xander had a meeting earlier. "I've been here for half an hour," she lied, trying to make him feel bad, though she had only arrived five minutes ago.

"Well, I'm here now," Xander replied, walking ahead of her.

Cara stood up from the couch and followed him. "You can't even apologize."

"You didn't apologize for invading my privacy," Xander shot back as he opened the door to Gwen's office.

"Says the guy who enters my room without knocking," she muttered.

"Hey!" Gwen greeted the pair with a bright smile.

"Great, it's the desperate doctor," Cara whispered under her breath.

---

"You'll need to lift your shirt," Gwen said, holding up a stethoscope as she approached. Cara was already about to do that, but Gwen's instruction made her pause.

"No shit, Sherlock," Cara muttered as she rolled her shirt up.

Gwen gave her a pointed look as she glanced at Cara's stomach. This wasn't the first time Gwen had noticed it, but today she finally commented. "Nice piercing," she said, irritation evident in her tone.

"Thanks. Got it when I was twelve, along with this tattoo," Cara replied, gesturing to her thigh, visible beneath her short skirt. Now that's something to judge, she thought.

Xander couldn't hide his amusement. He had always been intrigued by the tattoo. He didn't like tattoos himself—his skin was flawless—but he had to admit, the tattoo suited Cara perfectly.

Gwen pressed the cold stethoscope against Cara's stomach a few times, then stopped to squirt cold jelly onto her belly, making Cara flinch at the contact. She placed a Doppler on the jelly.

"Look at the monitor," Gwen instructed.

"No, we wanted to stare at your ugly face," Cara mentally retorted.

"Aww, oh my!" Gwen gushed, catching both Cara and Xander's attention.

"What?" Xander asked.

"What are we supposed to be seeing?" Cara added, squinting at the monitor, trying to make sense of the blurry image.

"Baby A and Baby B. You're having twins," Gwen announced, pointing to the screen.

"What?" Cara blurted out, her eyes darting to Xander, who seemed completely unfazed by the news. Of course, it didn't affect him—she was the one carrying two humans inside her.

"You're going to be really fat," Gwen teased.

Cara could have strangled her right then and there. "Oh my God," she gasped.

She was having twins.