I plan my campaign carefully. Our sex life has always been good, but it’s about to become amazing. I spend the next few days searching for intimate lingerie and toys to titillate the interest in the bedroom, and I’m pretty sure Anthony won’t know what’s hit him when I unleash my baby campaign on him.
I’ve decided that tonight’s the night because why wait for something I’ve been desperate to do for some time? I don’t even worry that what I’m doing is morally wrong. Anthony will soon see that this is the best for us and in the long run, will thank me for being proactive.
The only worry I have is that the pill is still in my system. It’s been four days since I stopped taking it, so it may be preventing Nature from taking its course.
As I put the finishing touches to the intimate supper I’ve prepared, I am quite pleased with how it all looks. All around are lit candles, adding to the seductive atmosphere. I’ve prepared Anthony’s favourite meal of steak with Parisienne potatoes and all the trimmings and as the soft, sexy music plays through the speakers set around the house, I am excited for the evening ahead.
Underneath my black silk dress is a matching set of lingerie any prostitute would be proud of. My long, dark hair has been styled much like Fleurs was on her birthday and my lips are painted as scarlet as the woman I am. A splash of my favourite designer scent in all the right places was the final touch, as I slip on my Louboutin heels and wait for the man himself to come home.
Seven o’clock comes and goes and I adjust the setting on the oven. Typical, Anthony is never normally late and usually calls if he’s going to be.
I flick through some magazines while I wait and try to think about the positives that will come from this seduction scenario.
By the time 8 o’clock passes, I’m starting to get a little worried and reach for my phone. However, as I find his number, I hear the car pulling into the driveway and my heart lifts. He’s here.
As I position myself in the doorway, I try to appear poised and elegant as I hold two glasses of champagne to present him with.
As the key turns in the lock, my heart races as I imagine the shock on his face when he sees what’s in store.
However, the reaction that greets me isn’t the one I expected because immediately I sense something bad has happened.
Anthony heads inside the house looking tired, weary, concerned, and totally devastated.
He raises his pain-filled eyes to mine and I note the surprise in his as he registers the unusual greeting.
My smile falters as I place the glasses carefully on the hall table and say with concern, “What’s happened?”
He shakes his head slowly and moves toward the kitchen without even the usual kiss and says in a grim voice, “We need to talk.”
My heart bangs frantically inside me as I follow him into the kitchen and watch him dive straight for the gin bottle and pour himself almost half a glass, before looking at me through tortured eyes. “It’s bad news, I’m afraid.”
“Why, what’s happened?”
He sighs heavily and looks at me almost apologetically. “I’m sorry, darling.”
“For what?”
“For letting you down.”
The alarm bells start ringing as I picture the worst and say with a tremor in my voice, “How?”
Beckoning me over to the couch, he sits down heavily and says roughly, “I’ve been fired.”
“What!?”
He takes a large mouthful of his drink and says in a broken voice. “I no longer have a job.”
I sit beside him and take his hand in my trembling one and say as gently as I can, “Tell me what happened.”
He runs his fingers through his hair and puts his face in his hands. “The last couple of films I produced lost shed loads of money. I overspent and didn’t follow the guidelines. I was so sure they would be successes and they flopped - big time. The studio bosses are now out for my blood because guess what… they need a fall guy which, as it happens, is me? As of now, I am no longer employed or employable because, once this gets out, no other studio will touch me with a barge pole.”
The shock hits me hard and I say fearfully, “What are we going to do? We’ll be alright though, won’t we? I mean, you’ll sort it. We could move to America. They’ve been headhunting you for years now.”
His silence worries me more than the words he just spoke and then he raises his eyes to mine and what I see in them strikes fear in my heart. “No, it’s over. I’m done, broken, finished. I will never work in the film industry again because they made that fact crystal clear.”
I stare at him in total disbelief because I can’t believe what he’s saying. He’s mistaken, surely. I mean, this is just a bump in the road, a setback that will make us grow as individuals. A test of the hardest kind that we will pass with flying colours—won’t we?
For a while, neither of us speaks and then Anthony stands and says roughly, “I’m off to bed.”
I stare at him in confusion. “What, we should talk about this. You can’t just go to bed and shut me out?”
He shrugs. “I can’t deal with you right now, Arabella. You need to give me some space and let me work this out. Just remember, things will be very different when you wake up in the morning because this life we lead stops now. First thing tomorrow, we need to study our options and I’m sorry, but that starts with making cutbacks and realising our assets.”
Before I can speak, he is out of the room and heading for the stairs, leaving me in a total state of shock.
The sweet music continues to play and the flames from the candles dance in time with it. The smell of the feast I prepared taunts me from the kitchen and as the tears slowly trickle down my face, the only emotion I have now is one of fear. Tomorrow, our lives will change and I don’t like the sound of that one bit.