Out of the Shadows ✔️ [Completed] [Book One]

Chapter 36

I don't sleep a wink for the rest of the night. Without me needing to ask, Caroline calls Helen for me the next morning to explain what happened. I lie on the settee, under my duvet as I hear Caroline fill her in on the sordid details of last night.

I'm not really concentrating on the conversation when Caroline hands the phone to me. I shake my head, but she just stands there and pushes it closer to my hand.

"Hi Helen." I try to sound like everything is fine.

"Oh Lizzie. How are you? How are you feeling? Have you gone to the police?"

I'm not sure which question to answer first. So, I decide to go in order. "I'm Ok, bruised but fine. No, I haven't. I'll be in for lunchtime today."

"Don't be ridiculous. You're taking at least today off. No arguments." I can tell by her tone that she has something else she wants to say and is just biding her time. I feel a sense of dread wash over me.

"Thank you. I'll be back in tomorrow." I wait, knowing there is more.

"Oh sweetie... there is something you need to know... I hate to be the one to tell you this after all you've been through. But you need to switch channel 3 on the TV on now... right now."  She sounds distraught.

I sit up and switch the TV on while she is still on the phone. I'm surprised to see a picture of Daniel and I on the screen. My mouth opens in shock.

"I will talk to you later Helen." I murmur and end the call. I turn up the volume on the TV.

Caroline hits the pause button on the TV and looks at her phone.

"What are you doing..." I look up at her and she cuts me off.

"I've just had a text from Sarah. She's on her way home now. She says you're all over the news. Shit Hun... she says you need to prepare yourself before you find out what he's done." I look back at the paused TV screen and see the close up of Daniel. What the fuck could he have done?

I laugh nervously. I mean, what else could possibly happen in the space of twelve hours?

"OK." I say shakily and nod giving Caroline the signal I'm ready.

Caroline presses play and we watch the showbiz headline. The picture is of us (which is one from Paris), but then it quickly jumps to a picture of Daniel with that bitch actress, Kimberley Summers. They are walking into a hotel together. Just the two of them. What the fuck?

I notice that the date and time stamp on the picture is from 3.10am this morning. My heart stops beating and I look at Caroline whose eyes are just as wide as mine. I can see that he's in the outfit he went out in yesterday, so I know the picture must be from last night. The bile rises in my throat at the realisation of what must have happened last night. The room starts to spin and I have to pinch my nose to focus.

We listen as the presenter narrates over the picture. "Daniel Weston was spotted at a London hotspot last night with a small group of people, but sources say that he left the nightclub alone with Hollywood starlet Kimberley Summers. He was seen entering her hotel in the early hours of this morning." The picture on the screen then jumps to one of us in a pub. I've never seen the photo before but it looks like I'm laughing at something he has said. "This clearly marks the end of Daniel's fairytale romance with local girl, Lizzie Cooper who Daniel has regularly been spotted romancing over recent months." There is a collage of pictures of us to emphasise the fact that we have been repeatedly photographed together before it returns to the one of them walking side by side from last night.

The male presenter then comments, "clearly Mr Weston has realised that he is more suited to fellow celebrities after dating Ms Cooper." They both laugh. I want to scream. "Daniel and Kimberly briefly dated last year, so there is obviously history between two of Hollywood's hottest stars."