All That Glitters (19 page)

‘Agreed,’ Nash said. ‘So I suggest that we put out a statement saying that Ella and Johnny are just friends, and that they were in Paris for work purposes. We sit tight, say nothing else, and in a couple of weeks you should both go out to a very public event and put on a show of unity.’

‘That won’t be hard,’ Ella said, as she took Danny’s hand and kissed it. She felt terrible for the pain she was causing him.

‘Then that’s what we’ll do,’ Danny said. His jaw was set, and his face was grim. Ella could hardly stand to look at him. Instead, she turned to Nash.

‘Thank you for restraining Aaron,’ she said quietly. ‘I really appreciated it.’

Nash glared at her, and there was a pause, as if he was trying to work out what to say. ‘I wasn’t doing it for you. I was doing it for Danny.’

‘IS ELLA RIDING JOHNNY? EXPLOSIVE NEW PICS!’ splashed the
Daily World
, as they ran a photo of Ella and Johnny’s first kiss on the rooftop of Shoreditch House.

‘HAS JOHNNY COME LATELY, ELLA?’ screamed the
Sun
, as their photo showed Ella and Johnny leaving the roof to go to Johnny’s room.

‘WILL RIDINGS SPLIT OVER KISS PHOTOS?’ asked the
Daily Mail
, as they led on a photo of Ella and Johnny leaving the members’ club the next morning. They were clutching at each other and kissing desperately, and there was no doubting what had happened the night before.

Each newspaper carried five or six crystal-clear photographs of Ella and Johnny kissing on the roof of Shoreditch House at the
Wonderland
aftershow party. In the photos the sexual tension between Ella and Johnny was obvious, and nothing the Ridings could say or do could hide what had happened that night. This wasn’t a friendly peck on the cheek between two celebrating colleagues. This was lust, pure and simple.

It made the sober statement released the previous day – one that claimed that an affair between Ella and Johnny was nonsense – laughable. They’d been busted, and there was nothing they could do about it.

‘The paparazzi are still by the gate,’ Danny said wearily as he walked into Ella’s bedroom. It was midday, but she was still wrapped up in her cotton sheets, and her cream silk curtains were still closed. Despite the room feeling stuffy and hot, it didn’t even cross Danny’s mind to draw them or open the window to let in fresh air. Ella was in exile.

‘I’m sorry,’ Ella said in a tiny voice. She looked pale, and there were heavy black shadows under her eyes. ‘I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. You know I didn’t.’

Danny didn’t know what to say. His first instinct was to hug her, to tell her that everything would be okay – but he couldn’t. She’d fucked up in a massive way, and there was no getting away from it.

‘I have to go to the training ground,’ he said stiffly. ‘If you leave the house, make sure you get some protection against the paparazzi. There’s about twenty of them out there, and they’re desperate for some shots.’

‘I’m not going anywhere,’ Ella said sadly. And it was true, she wasn’t. Aaron had overridden Nash’s authority and banned her from leaving the house until the fuss died down. For the first time ever Aaron’s rules didn’t seem suffocating. She had no desire to get out of bed, and the thought of seeing anyone but Johnny filled her with dread.

Johnny.

Just thinking his name made her ache for him, but Aaron had taken her mobile, unplugged all the landlines in Castle House, and even taken her laptop. There was no way to get in touch with him.

‘It’s for your own good,’ he’d said gruffly the day before at one of their twice-daily crisis management meetings. ‘It’s just for a week or so, until all this dies down. You never know, your phone or email may have been hacked by a redtop – which would explain how they found out you were screwing around – and the last thing we need is fuel being added to this fucking fire.’

Ella hadn’t the strength to argue with him.

‘But what about work?’ she’d asked. Nash and Aaron had looked at each other uncomfortably.

‘Ella, the producers of
A Week in Wonderland
have decided that it’s best you don’t return to the show,’ Nash said evenly.

Ella’s mouth had dropped open. ‘What?’ she’d whispered. ‘Why?’

‘Because you’ve
been screwing around
!’ Aaron had roared, as he lost his patience. ‘No TV show wants to be associated with you. Your reputation’s gone to the dogs, and the programme makers think you’re a bad influence and people will deliberately turn over if they see your stupid little face. They’ve drafted in Daniella Davies – she’s going to be co-presenting with Johnny.’

Tears had slid down Ella’s face. It didn’t seem fair that Johnny could keep his job, yet she’d been quickly sacked. ‘What about
Cerise
?’ she’d asked. She hadn’t really wanted to know the answer, but she’d hit rock bottom, and she’d thought that she might as well get the inevitable over with.

‘The editor, Lucy, sent me an email saying that they don’t need your services at the moment, but when they do they’ll be in touch,’ Nash had said as delicately as he could.

Ella had just nodded sadly, and walked slowly up to her bedroom and shut the door. Her pale-pink bedroom was impersonal, but for once she didn’t mind that. It was as empty as her life was, and it seemed appropriate for the state she was in.

Hours later Nash visited. Despite knowing that he hated her, Ella couldn’t help but acknowledge how good-looking he was, and how in control he appeared. His longish medium-brown hair had been cut slightly, but his full lips and blue eyes were exactly the same. She wondered briefly what had happened with him and Ansku Tiihonen, the model Johnny had introduced him to at the
Wonderland
aftershow party, and decided it was none of her business.

‘We’re up shit creek,’ Nash announced as he sat on the edge of Ella’s bed. He looked uncomfortable to be there. ‘
SanchosWorld.com
has hundreds of photos of you and Johnny together, and Sancho’s been selling them to the nationals and making a packet. Like, millions of pounds. I’ve heard from my contacts on the papers that he’s going to leak a collection every other day for the next couple of weeks.’

‘But how?’ Ella asked. She didn’t understand it. ‘How did he get those photos in the first place?’

‘I don’t know,’ Nash said as he shook his head. ‘He has photos of you in Johnny’s garden, leaving Johnny’s house, and lots of you in Paris. He must have known about your affair right from the start.’

An image of Sancho in the audience of the first
Wonderland
flashed into Ella’s mind, and she groaned. He must have picked up on the sexual tension between her and Johnny from that and got a photographer to trail her. How could she have been so stupid to assume he wasn’t up to something?

‘He’s been blackmailing Danny, you know,’ Ella said, and Nash nodded.

‘I know. Aaron filled me in when I took the job. And now it looks as though he’s found another way to cash in on you and your husband. He’s a vindictive little man, isn’t he?’

Ella wanted to pull her soft cotton sheets up over her head and to disappear for ever. This was such a mess, and it was all her fault.

‘We can try and take out an injunction against Sancho, but I don’t think that will do any good,’ Nash continued. ‘This is unstoppable, and all we can do now is accept that it’s happening, and try to ride it out.’

‘So there’s really nothing we can do?’ Ella asked. She felt weak and defeated.

‘I don’t think so,’ Nash said. ‘Although . . .’

‘What?’

‘
We
may be out of ideas, but I was wondering if Johnny had any thoughts about it. I know the press is making him out to be innocent in all of this by suggesting you’re a money-grabbing temptress, but he can’t be pleased about the unwanted press attention.’

‘Johnny will be hating it,’ Ella said confidently. Johnny was all about his image, and while he loved having a reputation as a ladies’ man, he wouldn’t have appreciated being called a home-wrecker, or a pawn in ‘Ella’s fame-hungry game’, as one paper was calling it.

‘Exactly. I don’t know him very well,’ Nash continued, ‘but it’s worth asking him, isn’t it?’

Ella nodded. ‘But I can’t get in touch with him. Aaron’s confiscated my phone and told me I’m not allowed to contact him for a week or so. At least until this dies down, anyway.’

Nash stared at Ella for a moment, and then he slowly pulled his phone out of his Diesel jeans. ‘If Aaron knew I was doing this he’d kill me, but what the hell. Give him a ring, see what he thinks. It can’t hurt and it could help.’

‘What if he hates me?’ she mumbled, as she scrolled through Nash’s iPhone for Johnny’s mobile number. ‘What if he thinks this is all my fault?’

Nash gave Ella a long, lingering stare. ‘If he thinks that then he’s not worth it,’ he said eventually. ‘I’ll give you some privacy,’ he said, and he walked towards the bedroom door.

‘Thank you,’ Ella whispered, and Nash stared at her for a moment.

‘I’m just doing my job,’ he said expressionlessly, and then he left the room.

As soon as Ella heard the sound of Johnny’s voice at the end of the phone she started to shake uncontrollably. He affected her so much . . . and she missed him so much, too. But what if Johnny didn’t feel the same way? What if Johnny didn’t give her a chance and hung up on her? She wouldn’t blame him. Johnny hadn’t asked for such intense and negative press coverage, and he had to be hurting as much as she was.

‘Johnny . . . it’s not Nash, it’s me,’ she said quietly, as she struggled to find her strength. ‘It’s Ella.’

There was a long pause, in which Ella’s heart jumped into her throat, but as soon as she heard Johnny laugh in delight she knew it was going to be okay. She knew phoning him had been the right thing to do. Of
course
he wouldn’t hang up on her. He
loved
her.

‘Princess,’ Johnny said warmly. ‘How are you?’

Ella paused. She hadn’t got out of bed for the last couple of days, hadn’t washed, and had barely eaten. She wasn’t doing too good. ‘I’m okay,’ she began. ‘I’m finding it a bit tough, but I’m hanging on in there.’

‘Good, good!’ Johnny remarked breezily. ‘Can you believe all this coverage? This is the biggest story of the year. I can’t get my head around it!’

Ella blinked. Johnny sounded . . . happy. But he couldn’t be happy about what was going on. Could he?

‘I’m so sorry,’ Ella began. ‘We think we know who’s behind all the photos that keep appearing, and it sounds like there’s more to come. I think they even managed to get shots of us in your garden.’

Johnny was silent for a moment. ‘Well, it’s not the best thing to happen to our careers, but there’s no harm done, is there,’ he said. ‘It’s not like it wasn’t going to come out eventually.’

Ella was stunned. ‘Your career may be okay, but I’ve been sacked from
Wonderland
and
Cerise
. My reputation is in tatters, and Danny’s desperately unhappy.’

‘Yes, I’m sorry about that,’ Johnny said. ‘But you need to think about the positives. This way you can leave that sham of a marriage.’ He sounded upbeat and buoyant. He sounded the complete opposite of how Ella felt. She didn’t understand it.

‘I can’t leave Danny now,’ Ella croaked. ‘There’s no way I could do that to him.’

‘Why not?’ Johnny asked easily. ‘You told me you don’t love him like you should – why stay with him?’

Ella shook her head. ‘Because he’s my
husband
,’ she stressed. She knew it sounded lame, but what else could she say? That she’d promised to stay with him for ever so the public would never find out their new favourite striker since Rooney was gay?

‘Well, it’s your call,’ Johnny said. ‘Now, is there anything else? It’s just I’m on set and Dani and I need to run through our lines.’

Ella concentrated very hard on ignoring the pain that was rippling through her body. Johnny didn’t mean to sound so abrupt, so dismissive of what she was going through. He was busy, and even though he wasn’t saying anything, he was clearly pissed off about the press coverage and that was why he was being so . . . weird.

‘Nash and I were wondering if you had any thoughts on how we could stop this. How we could spin the story of our affair, or if we could find a way to prevent more photos coming out.’

Johnny paused for a moment, lost in thought. ‘No, not really, but you’ve kind of put me on the spot there. Let me have a think about it, and I’ll call you, okay?’

‘Okay,’ Ella said. ‘Aaron’s going to get me a new mobile, because he’s worried about my voicemail being tapped, so as soon as I have the new number I’ll give you a ring. Is that all right?’

‘Darling, that’s more than all right,’ Johnny laughed. ‘Bugger, I’d better go. I’ll speak to you soon, okay?’ he said, and without waiting for a response, he hung up.

It was only after Ella gave Nash his phone back that she realised that the one thing she really needed Johnny to say – that he loved her, and that he’d be there for her – hadn’t been said.

Chapter Thirteen

Danny was like a caged tiger. Despite living in a home with a cinema, a swimming pool, a games room and a gym, Kingston United’s most famous football player was prowling around Castle House doing nothing at all. Except, perhaps, getting more and more wound up. When it all got too much and his resentment reached fever pitch he took his frustration and boredom out on his wife.

‘I
still
can’t see Yves you know, and it’s all your fault,’ he said angrily to Ella as they stared at the TV. The final of
America’s Hits
was on, but neither of them was enjoying it. They were both too miserable.

Ella bit her lip. ‘I’m sorry,’ she replied, but she knew voicing her regret wouldn’t make Danny feel any better. She’d apologised so many times in the last couple of days that her words had lost their meaning. ‘If there’s anything I can do—’

‘I think you’ve done enough,’ Danny said curtly, and he sighed. ‘It’s not the end of the world, but shit, it feels like it.’

Ella felt tears spring to her eyes. She didn’t think she’d ever cried so much, and she was sick of it: sick of being so wet, so weak. She’d always thought she was strong – she
was
strong, for fuck’s sake – but the impact of the photographs Sancho had sold to the press had nearly destroyed her.