Chapter Twenty-two.

Elena's POV.

The meeting had lasted not less than an hour, and it had been satisfactory, I was supposed to come for a shoot in the next two days, the staff seemed satisfied with my looks,  and after submitting my portfolio, they were very much impressed and immediately confirmed the gig and I was told that the shoot will have me on minimal make up as my natural looks were what they were bargaining for.

Katie herself had a talk with the representative and sorted out some matters which I would be sure to ask her later.

Right now, my mind was occupied with thoughts of how my meeting with the people at the agency would be. I was especially hoping that they would be polite or at least relatable, but I knew more than to place my hope wildly on those thoughts.

"What are you going to fetch  from the office that you have to drag me along with you?" I asked nonchalantly.

"You know that you have to stop evading coming to the office. It is bound to happen and it is happening now, so embrace it and stop whining like a kid who has been denied a box of chocolate" she chastised.

The drive was quiet after that and I was resigned to my fate, I did not know what would happen next but I would take it in good faith.

"A word of advice because we are near, lay low, keep your head down, and don't stand out too much". She instructed.

" with me being in the headlines, I do not think it will be possible to lay low, someone is bound to spot me, plus my six-inch high shoe does not help our case either." I prompted.

She looked like she was considering my words and finally responded by telling me that I should rather be mindful of my surroundings.

"You need to be observant of your surroundings and be mindful of the things you say and do, you don't know who wants to implicate you, am I clear?" She commanded.

"Yes ma'am, I understand." I conceded.

She nodded in approval and pulled over. I stepped out and raised my hands to my face, adjusted my sunglasses, and looked up at the building before me. I was currently standing before a large skyscraper.

"Woah, this place is massive" I was completely caught off guard.

" You should stop staring like a novice in case someone sees you, what were you expecting, of course, this place is going to be huge, it is owned by the boss after all, and you of all people should know that he is extravagant in his dealings." She replied hurriedly.

I checked myself in time to see a few people looking at me, then Katie immediately took the lead, with me following closely behind her, one graceful leg before another.

Inside,  some people were ogling at us outrageously, without even trying to hide their gawks, I made sure to straighten my back and hold my head high, I could see that Katie was doing the same, her poker face was worthy of emulation, and that is exactly what I did, I kept my face as expressionless and straight as I could.

" uhh excuse me," A voice said to me. I swung round in the direction of the voice. 

"I'm, hi," I said to the girl that had spoken to me, at this point, Katie had noticed that I was not behind her any longer and had turned to see what happened, I then signaled to her that she could go on without me.

She in turn gave me an eye signal, telling me to stay vigilant, I understood exactly what she meant.

"You must be Elena, I'm Kayla it's nice to finally meet you" She was a young girl of about sixteen years old, I remember seeing her at the party, she was one of the other new signees.

"It's nice to meet you too, Kayla, I do remember seeing you at the party, or am I wrong?" I asked.

"Oh yes, I never did have a chance to meet you properly, I think you are beautiful, and I also think you are better than that Amelie girl" she uttered.

I was confused, this young girl before me was indirectly trying to pitch me against a colleague, or she was trying to get me to say something against Amelie that could be used to implicate me later in the future.

"How old are you?" I asked, ignoring her previous comment.

"I am, sixteen years old" she replied.

"You look absolutely lovely, I wish you the best of luck" I praised.

A sixteen year old was too young to start conniving and scheming, but in a place like this where conspiracies reigned supreme, I could not exactly blame her for trying to outwit me.

She was fiddling with her phone, probably trying to stop the recording that she had left on.

Lorenzo and Katie had been right, this place was the battlefield of wits.

" Uhm, could you please direct me to the lavatory, I'm feeling really pressed" I implored.

"so, just go straight and then turn left then right, you'll be able to locate the restroom from there." She obliged.

I thanked her and left hurriedly. I was disgusted by her behavior, with the constant reminders from Katie to keenly observe my surroundings, there was no way I could not have noticed the way she was fiddling with her phone when she made that remark about Amelie, and to top it all not so far away from where we were standing was the other girl from Amelie's clique, she was sneaking glances at us and I immediately knew that it was a plan to catch me saying something derogatory about good ol' Amelie Banks and then use the recording to either blackmail me or do something just as vile.

I entered the female urinary and took care of my business quickly. When I was done, I decided that I did not want to take the same way back, so I headed in the opposite direction, I mean what could be the harm.

Soon I was hearing voices in a particular corridor and I peeked to see what was going on, behold, two people a man and a woman were having a heated argument though their words were barely coherent, the man towered over the woman, therefore I couldn't see their faces since the man's back was facing me, then suddenly he grasped her shoulders and shook her like an empty sack.

I saw her face in the process and it turned out to be none other than the second girl in Amelie's group who had seemed content to see Amelie in a tight spot.

I was about to rush in when the man started speaking, this time in a not so silent tone. I brought out my phone and started videoing what was going on.

"Tell, her that I am going to reveal the truth to everyone if she does not give me the money, You were present the night of the murder, you were there when she killed him so you can also be counted as her accomplice, in that case, better tell her that she should send the money else I would release the evidence and that would be the end of her career, and yours too, if she goes down, I doubt that she will go down alone, relay this message to her, she better send me the money before the three days elapse, or else, you know what will happen next" he threatened.

I was weak in the knees, this was some piece of news, but the question on my mind was, who was this girl that killed someone, who could it be? this question was immediately answered by the next comment the girl made,

"Amelie killed him purposely I know, but I was in no way in support of what she did, it's only a case of being at the wrong place and at the wrong time, I am completely innocent but I am suffering on both sides because of it, I loved him too you know, I would never do anything that would harm him, but now I am the only one bearing the brunt of her actions, I can barely stand in her presence without detecting her for what she has done, and here you are accusing me of being an accomplice? I would never even think of doing such a thing" she broke down in tears and I wanted so desperately to console her and tell her that I believed her but instead I ended the video and walked away.

My oh my, what a mystery I have stumbled upon.

Author's Note:

Hey guys, I am still giving you your daily updates 🤭, I hope you enjoyed this one, what do you think, I think Elena has made a new rival, but the murder story does not seem clear (even to me), the keyboard just takes control all the time, this one will require a bit of unraveling so stay tuned🤗🤗. Thank you for reading 🥰♥️.