The Playboy CEO and his unwanted wife's revenge

LILA'S POV

I sighed and massaged my forehead, sitting at my table and staring at the blank screen of my laptop wasn't that exciting. "What would you say if I say I've lost interest and want to kill all my characters?"

My publicist and best friend, Cassie, laughed, but I could hear the hint of fear in her voice. "You won't dare. Sweetheart, you have less than four weeks to submit the last fifty thousand words, and it must have a very nice ending. Have you forgotten your readers' disappointment in your last book? And their threats?" She finished, her tone ominous.

I stretched and left my table to lay down on my bed. "They all deserved to die, you can't convince me otherwise."

I heard a gasp and then chilling silence, and I sat up as fast as I had laid down. "Cassie? Cassie??" I yelled into the phone when she didn't respond.

"Listen to me and don't panic." She started, and I put my hands on my heart that was already threatening to burst out of my chest in fear. That didn't sound good.

"What is it? Spit it out." I demanded, not waiting for her to stall as was her usual habit when she wanted to break any news to me, whether good or bad.

"I was just strolling on TikTok and I found an interview your sister did." I heard a knock on my door but ignored it. The statement she had just uttered was proof that whatever was happening wasn't going to be good. Every time my younger sister had done an interview, it had always rebounded to affect me. I guess that was one of the worst parts of being raised in an influencer family.

"What kind of interview?" I asked, not holding out much hope. Surely, it wasn't going to be as bad as the time she'd claimed I didn't care about my family because I refused to be a part of the videos any more, and people had taken serious offence and made it their goal to make me see reason by attacking me using every medium they could, both online and offline. People really needed to get a life.

She gasped again and when she spoke, I could hear the pinprick of fear in her voice. "I'll send the link to the interview to you. Let me see if it has spread more than this, and I'll see what I can do."

With no other warning, the call was dropped, and my phone pinged as I received the link she sent. Holding my breath, I clicked the link and my jaws dropped.

I stormed out of bed and slammed open my door, barely managing to catch one of the young girls that worked for my family. "Do you need a safety hazard warning when you walk?" I snapped and she turned red.

"I'm sorry ma'am. Your mother wants to see you downstairs." She stuttered.

Without bothering with an apology, I locked my door, a habit I'd formed since childhood, and ran down the ornate stairs to the smaller living room where I knew my mother was going to be. That was her territory that couldn't be breached by any other person other than Vanessa, my younger sister of one year, but I might as well have been ten years older than she was with our strained relationship.

I stormed towards her, barely hiding my fury, and threw my phone in front of her, standing in front of the TV she was watching a crappy show on.

"What is this?"

My mother took a sip of the coffee in front of her and put off the TV, smirking at me. "Is that any way to address your mother? Have your seat, Lila."

I huffed but sat down, knowing from experience me losing my temper wasn't going to achieve anything, not when she had a temper that could rival mine.

"Now, what were you saying?" She asked, her voice oozing fake concern.

I gestured towards the phone that was playing my sister's interview. "What is going on here?" I narrowed my eyes, watching her expression for any change, but the coldness in her face didn't break.

She picked up the phone and continued watching the video.

"Isn't it true?" That voice.

My head snapped towards Vanessa who was walking towards us and I had to do all I could to stop myself from going to her and pulling out the hair she just made, I could guess, from the gold and blue highlights she was proudly displaying.

"That's ridiculous. It's not true and you know it. My question is, what do you gain to achieve this time?"

She scoffed and sat next to me. "I'm not lying against you or scheming anything. It's something that has always bothered me, and I couldn't bear to keep quiet any more."

I looked at my mother, who was now studying her nails, and wanted to cry. "But regardless of how much you want to hurt me, how could you make the world believe I sexually abused you. Does that make any sense to you?" I took a deep breath after my outburst.

Vanessa turned to me. "I'm not making anybody believe anything, I'm telling the truth, and you know deep down I'm not lying. Are you sure you aren't intentionally suppressing the memory?"

I froze, good bumps rising on my arms. "What??" I stared at both of them, gauging their expressions, which gave nothing away, as always.

I started towards her, but my mother grabbed my arm. "She was just saying nonsense. Don't mind her."

"Mum." She whined, her catty voice getting on my nerves and my mother shook her head staring at her, and they proceeded to have what looked like a full conversation with their eyes before Vanessa nodded.

"Alright. Fine."

I looked between them suspiciously, wondering at what had just happened, even as I couldn't shake the fact that they were hiding something huge from me.

"I have an idea that could help you avoid this huge scandal. Who knows what our followers will think when they see this or how they will react?" My mum grabbed my hand with her polished fingers that looked like she'd never seen a day of lack.

I removed my hand. "What scandal? It's not true. She just needs to tell everyone it was made up for content and everything would be fine."

The polished woman's look dropped from my mother's face, and she grabbed my face, her nails digging into my skin. "Well, dear daughter, who is the public going to believe? You should listen to me and do as I say if you don't want worse coming at you. I've made sure the video has been taken down, but I don't know what I'll do if you keep annoying me." She snapped and removed her hand, leaving my skin aching.

Just then my phone pinged with a text from Cassie and I caught the last part of the text before my mother turned my phone over. It said 'It was probably a fluke since I don't see anything else. I need to check my eyes or brain.' but both you and I know it was no fluke.

I glared at my mum. "What do you want me to do?" Two could play her game, and I would rather not let an untrue rumour make life difficult for me.

She smiled. "Well, my dear, you are going to get married."