Page 117 of Bribed by the Billionaire Bad Boy

My gaze darts around, searching for someone who might have heard her. Dread swells, even as my head screams there’s no way she can possibly know my secret. Lex wouldn’t have said a word and neither would Mr. D’plume. Only they knowmy secret. And if she knows, she wouldn’t want to still act in the play I wrote anyway, right?

Straightening, looking too pleased with herself, Agatha smiles down her nose at me. “I told you, didn’t I? I was born to lead. It took some digging, but I finally figured out what I had to do.”

My stomach aches. “What?”

Her gaze darts toward the stage, and she chuckles. “Oh, you’ll see. But first, your cue.”

She shoves me. She shoves me out into the bright lights, and my head snaps into Harriet. I find the scene and open my mouth.

“Calypso?” My mother’s voice steals the words from my throat, and I freeze, shifting my gaze toward the audience as Harriet comes crashing down around me.

Mom stands in front of the first row, where not even thelights fully blind. Dumbstruck, she stares, and I can’t squeak anything. I watch her expression transition from shock to cold betrayal while the scene falls apart around me. I vaguely register confused looks skim across my peers before Lex is breaking into the scene and coming to my side.

“If I recall,” Agatha passes, “you once told me you no longer shared these things with your mom for good reason. As I suspected, you haven’t changed.” She smirks at me. “Never say I wasn’t a good friend who listened to you.”

“What’s going on here?” Mr. D’plume’s voice reaches for me, but I’m lost somewhere far away, stuck in the way Mom’s face turns guarded and hard.

Why is she here?

Did Agatha really go so far as tohunt down my mother’s numberand tell her something that would make her show upright now?

It’s Sunday. We’re doing extra rehearsals to prepare. I told Mom I had a school thing. I didn’t lie. So why—Why?

Why is she looking at me like that?

What am I doingwrong?

“It’s okay,” Lex whispers in my ear. “It’s okay.”

It isn’t. It isn’t okay at all.

~*~

“I can’t believe youliedto me.” Mom’s voice stays hushed while we stand outside the auditorium in the hall, but the burn of her words cut me through the chest. “I had to hear about this from a stranger over the phone? I thought it was a prank. I thought you’d tell me if you were theleadin a play.” She shakes her head, placing her fingertips to her temple. “I should have known better, what with all these weird hours you’ve been keeping. Don’t tell me Lex was just a part of some elaborate ploy to keep this all secret.” She spreads her fingers, throwing her hand out toward me. “Why?”

Why?

“I—I’m hurt. Haven’t I always supported you? I don’t understand.”

Now, Caly, art is a great hobby, but trying to make a career out of it is like playing the lottery.

Look at whatmy daughtermade. She’s going to do amazing things.

You need to think of something more stable.

I’m just trying to look out for you, Calypso.

Stern words. Bright words. Hard words. I never know what kind ofsupportI’ll get. The pressure next to the constant reminder of impossibility stings and exhausts me. Nothing is consistent. Nothing issafe. Add fighting parents and needing to be an emotional support for two adults to the mix…and where do I even have room to exist?

“Calypso, talk to me.”

I don’t want to. I can’t.

Anger. Hot and red. “Calypso.” Her jaw clenches. “Do you hate me this much? Am I such a bad parent that you can’t tell me about the biggest things in your life? How much have you hidden from me?” She stabs a finger toward her chest. “Iraised you.Ilooked after you.Idid everything for you. The least you can give me is honesty.”

Any time I’ve tried to be honest before, it backfires. I’m ungrateful. I’m wrong. She just doesn’t understand at all. I want to cry.

Why has Lex abandoned me?