Moving On

Chapter 20: Collusion

"You brought in Mark?! Why would you do that?"

"I have my reasons." Josh was watching the monitor.

"You know that Bobby will leave, right? This will upset him more than Cara."

"Cathy, calm down. No one is leaving. I've got that covered. Mark is a friend from college."

She whispered to Rachel. "We need to talk to Blake."

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"So, what brings you to Love Island, Mark?" Veronica cut into her omelet. 𝑴𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒆𝒏𝒋𝒐𝒚 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒅.

"Someone from my past."

"Oh really? That sounds mysterious." She looked him up and down. "I'm assuming you're an ex to someone in here then?"

He shook his head. "Not an ex. More of an acquaintance from college."

"Oh, the one that got away?" She laughed.

Mark just smiled at her. "You really don't know who I am?"

She downed her orange juice and shrugged. "Should I?"

"Well, I know Bobby has mentioned me at least once."

Veronica was confused. Bobby never talked about a Mark that she could remember. She thought back through their conversations. He mentioned Jonno, his mom, his grandmother, Cara.... she felt sick. Cara had left him for a Mark.

"You're that Mark?" She started to get upset thinking about how Bobby would feel seeing Mark here. She stood up. "This date is over." She went to walk away but he grabbed her arm.

"Not yet. We need to go over a few things."

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𝙿𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚑 𝚑𝚞𝚝 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠.

"Great." Bobby rolled out of bed, he didn't want to get up until Veronica was back.

He put on some swim trunks and hurried downstairs to get it over with. When he opened the door he was greeted by an assistant.

"Bobby, hey!" He shook his hand. "We've made a few changes to everyone's contracts so we just need you to sign the new version." He handed him a pen.

"What kind of changes?"

"The biggest change is about leaving. Once you sign, you aren't allowed to walk out. If you do, you'll pay a fine along with forfeiting the supplement money we've paid out and you'd have to pay for yourself to get home."

Bobby raised an eyebrow. "That's a bit extreme."

"Well, it's TV and things can get chaotic. We don't want people making drastic decisions."

He thought things over. The only way he'd ever leave was if Veronica left but if she signed her contract she wouldn't be leaving anyway. He also didn't want to lose the supplement money because it was going to Jonno to help pay his half of living expenses. There was also no way he could afford a plane ticket home on his own as soon as he left the Villa.

"What happens if we don't sign?"

"You'll pack your bags and leave tonight."

Bobby picked up the pen and signed.

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"I won't do it. I refuse!"

"Then you leave." Mark called her bluff. "Without Bobby."