The Austen Playbook (London Celebrities #4)(99)

Ferren committed the last in a series of enormous errors of judgment then, and sneered.

“But I am,” Sabrina said, and slammed her fist into his nose.

The camera flashes accelerated.

As her presumably ex-boyfriend went down to his knees, swearing and trying to stem the blood with his sleeve, she hissed and shook out her hand. “Fuck, that hurt.”

When Ferren stumbled back to his feet, he looked like he’d just come out of makeup for the climactic scene of every film he’d ever made. He was sweaty and bloodstained, and swelling was already starting to appear, but in this instance he wasn’t the triumphing hero.

He took a few steps towards Sabrina, extending a hand towards her. “Sabs. Please.”

Freddy tensed, but Sabrina didn’t hesitate. “Call for your car,” she said, her voice flat. “And go back to London. I’ll have anything you left at my flat sent over.”

He didn’t move, his gaze fixed on her, his jaw jerking. “Sabrina. I’m sorry.”

A hint of fire returned to Sabrina’s eyes then. “For years of messing me about? For fucking your co-star? Or for almost hitting my family with a stolen car? Get out, Joe.”

Everybody around them was quiet. Freddy could hear breaths and rustling, but nobody spoke.

When Ferren turned on his heel and left, Sabrina closed her eyes.

“Well, we can’t say we weren’t warned.” Charlie’s voice was refreshingly normal above her ear as he tried to alleviate the tension. “Invite the West End over and the drama is inevitable.”

Freddy looked at her father, who was watching Sabrina with a conflicted expression. “Are you sure you’re okay, Dad?”

Rupert made a dismissive gesture with his stick. “I’ll do a heat treatment on my back and it’ll be right as—Well. Right as it ever is.”

Her feelings must have shown on her face because, with a decisive movement, he reached out and took her hand. “Freddy. What happened twenty years ago was an accident. An unfortunate accident. I—” His throat moved. “I do have a lot of regrets and...bitterness about the circumstances and the consequences, but none of that was ever directed at you. I would do it again in a heartbeat.” Muscles twitched around his eyes. “I didn’t intend to make you unhappy. I didn’t ever intend that.”

Behind her back, Freddy reached out her free hand and felt Griff’s fingers close around it firmly.

“And yet you’ve made such a bang-up job of it.” Sabrina’s words were heavily caustic. Her green eyes sparked as she looked at their father. “For years, you’ve tried to control Freddy, and you’ve made me feel like nothing I did was worth anything, and all this time, you’ve been living this massive lie—”

“Sabrina,” Freddy cut in warningly, her eyes on the tabloid reporters present. Her sister was shaking with residual shock and adrenaline—so was Freddy—and had lost her professional caution, and right now she looked capable of relaying the whole story to everyone present.

“I’m afraid it’s a little late to be discreet,” a new voice said ominously, and Freddy turned as her agent joined them.

Lisa was holding an iPad, and she flipped it around to show them the screen.

Freddy took one look at the headline and her heart dropped towards her toes.



Chapter Twenty


In the Highbrook library, away from the crowds and noise in the reception room, Sabrina scanned through the latest news article, and spots of red burned bright in her high cheekbones. “That fucking—” She seemed to be beyond words.

No mystery about the subject of her ire. Sadie might have blabbed, but it was Nick Davenport who’d chosen to sneak outside The Henry after the pre-show interview and broadcast the revelation about Henrietta and The Velvet Room. An exclusive scoop for The Davenport Report.

Apparently the story of the Great British Plagiariser was more newsworthy than the life-saving puppy.

While Freddy had been onstage, thoroughly enjoying herself as Lydia, her reputation, and Sabrina’s, and certainly Rupert’s, had been systematically trashed in the media, and it was spreading like wildfire. She didn’t know exactly what Nick had said in his initial report, but the online outlets were strongly implying that all three of them had been complicit in the con. Ironically, it seemed to have given a massive boost to The Austen Playbook viewership. Small silver linings.

Freddy looked over Sabrina’s shoulder as a photograph of her and Griff kissing appeared. She winced. Speculation was running rampant.

“I’ll kill him,” Sabrina said between her teeth. “That treacherous, selfish—”

“Get in line.” At Freddy’s side, Griff looked equally furious. Nick was a friend of his, Freddy recollected belatedly, her mind chugging back into gear, and this situation heavily involved Griff’s family as well.

Nick had broadcasted it to the nation, in the least sympathetic light possible, while on Griff’s property.

She laid her hand on Griff’s stomach, spreading her fingers there, and his arm tightened around her shoulders.

“Before anyone breaks out the cyanide,” Lisa said briskly from her position perched on the edge of the desk, “I suggest we move into damage control. Quickly.”

There was a sudden tap on the door, and Akiko pushed it open, her pretty face troubled. “Sorry, guys, but there’s a lady here who wants to speak to Fred—”