TWENTY-NINE: AT THE PARTY 2

KIMBERLY


Liam stared at his mum, wide eyed. "Mum, you are not trying to do anything funny are you?."

Mrs. McGillivary smiled at her son mischievously, that smile made my heart even sink the more. My fingers started to quiver.

"I just want to get to know the next woman that might be taking over from me, don't worry son, I won't bite." She shifted her eyes to me again. "Come with me." She walked away.

I felt the colour drain off my face. I looked at Liam. Aiden came up to me and looked me in the eyes.

"Remember, don't fret. Be bold. You came from money. Don't let her see that you are scared."

"How am I supposed to act like that? I don't even know anything about being rich, how am I even supposed to act?"

Liam turned to face me. "Yes, you can. I saw the way you pulled it off on TV about our relationship, a few more lies won't hurt right?"

I just nodded not knowing whether to take that as a compliment or not. I took a step forward and felt my legs wobbling. I stopped and cautioned myself. I don't know why I was so scared of this woman, she is probably my mum's type, only that she is wealthy. I walked up to her as she stood greeting a couple and smiling so broadly at them.

After greeting a few more people, she led me up the stairs. I turned back and looked at Liam, he was looking at me, his face was expressionless but his eyes reassured me. Mrs. McGillivary led me through a brightly lit hallway and we entered another huge room. I wondered what it was with rich people and huge houses. I willed myself not to look around.

It was her office, she walked over to a desk and sat down. The office was similar to that of Liam's at the mansion, except that the shelf was not as tall as those in Liam's study. I saw her name plate on the table.

'Pamela McGillivary.'

Her name was Pamela. She waved me to the seat in front of her. I went over and flopped down clumsily, out of nervousness. I didn't even know the kind of question she was going to throw at me.

"You look pretty in that dress," she said.

"Oh, thank you and you look gorgeous too," I replied, trying so hard to keep my voice firm.

"I know," she said with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "So, you say you are Italian?"

"Yes," I replied a bit too quickly.

"Your name again?"

"Huh?" My eyes widened. I have forgotten the name Aiden had told me to answer. I stared at her, trying hard to recall.

"Remind me your name," she said again.

I knew it started with a V, but what was it again?

O boy.




LIAM


I couldn't sit down. I kept looking up the stairs to see if Kim was coming down anytime. But each time I see someone from the corners of my eyes, coming down the stairs, I look up sharply but gets disappointed when it's not her or my mum.

Aiden walked up to me and tapped my shoulder, I turned to look at him.

"Do you think she would pull through?" I asked.

The helpless look on Aiden's face made my heart fall. He shrugged. "I can't say for sure. We didn't prepare her enough. Let's just hope for the best."

"But expect the worst," I muttered, grabbed a drink from the table and downed it. "Three more minutes, I will go up there and drag her out."




KIMBERLY


It suddenly hit me. "Vittoria!" I blurted.

"Vittoria, it's quite interesting that you have an impeccable American accent."

"Ah, that was because..." I didn't know what to answer. Do I tell her I grew up in America? No, that would be too obvious. "I had an English tutor and...who went to Harvard." I didn't know if that lie was necessary but it just rolled out of my mouth.

"Harvard?"

"Yes, Harvard," I said staring brightly at her.

"I went to Harvard. Who is this tutor of yours?"

"What?" I was stuck again. What was I going to do? Why did I bring up Harvard? I'm sorry Liam, I'm sorry Aiden. I don't think I can do this anymore. We have not even gotten into the proper question and I was already stuttering.

She had only asked my name and had made a remark about my English. How could Aiden come up with such a bogus lie? I didn't even know one word in Italian, I can't even remember my supposed father's name, I can't even remember my last name. I resolved to tell her the truth. Maybe, that would be a lot easier. She might even understand, after all, it was for their fame's good.

"Uhm...the truth is that..."

The door of the office burst open and Liam barged in. I heaved a sigh of relief when Mrs. McGillivary's eyes left me and focused on Liam.

"Mum, I didn't bring my girlfriend for you to interrogate her," he said, walked up to me and grabbed my hand.

"Interrogate her? I just asked her to remind me her name. I would like to address her with that."

"Her name is Vittoria DeLuca," Liam dragged me up and started out of the room.

I followed. He didn't give me the time to adjust, he was walking faster and I had to run to catch up with him. We walked through the bright hallway, our shoes hitting the concrete floor. I started getting out of breath, I wasn't used to walking on heels, let alone running and trying to maintain my balance.

"Wait!" I blurted out of breath. Liam halted and turned to me.

"Did you really forget that name?" he asked.

Was he mad at me now? "Well, that's not my name, " I replied looking away from him.

"You couldn't remember the simplest Italian name that you heard a few hours ago?"

I bit my lower lip trying hard to hold myself from bursting out. He started walking again, dragging me along. We came down to the party ground and he pulled out a seat for me. I sat down, grabbed the glass of drink on the table and gulped it down. Liam sat beside me. Aiden came and sat in front of me, looking relieved. I gulped another glass of wine and another.

"How did it go?" Aiden asked looking eagerly at me.

"I guess he saved my ass because I went blank in there." I waved over at Liam who had a smug expression on his face.

"It's a relief that you made it through," Aiden said and relaxed back, tugging at his bow tie. "I just hope she doesn't investigate about it. That was why I chose Italy, a family she haven't done business with."

"Do you really think she won't investigate?!" I yelled, banging my hand on the table.

I was tipsy and angry at Liam particularly. That moment, I wanted to give him a piece of my mind. The people around us turned to our table at my sudden outburst. I tried to gulp down another glass of wine, but Liam held my hand. I glared at him and held the glass firmly, he tried to remove it from me but I didn't let him.

We struggled with the glass until the wine split on Liam. Then everyone around us gasped.