Everyone in their circle had been acting strange lately, Adèle thought, as she made her way to join her friend and long-time colleague, supermodel Elyse Jolie, for some private shopping.
Now that Eugenia put the thought in her head that maybe Agnes was going after Elyse, she couldn’t shake the feeling that Elyse had been making an awful lot of excuses about not getting together.
What nobody knew was that Elyse was dating billionaire playboy, Alexandre Beaumont-Durand. And since Alexandre wasn’t exactly not married right now, the relationship was very much hush-hush.
To further complicate matters, Alexandre owned a conglomerate of luxury brands, including fashion houses, luxury accessories and even cosmetics.
Elyse had been trying to limit her work so she didn’t create too many conflicts with Alex, as she called him, and his suite of brands. And she didn’t want to say anything accidentally that would out her romance, either.
Elyse wasn’t the best at keeping things secret. While she was excited to spend time with Adèle, she was also worried that she was going to accidentally spill the tea about herself and her…dalliance.
Elyse was already in a private VIP suite at the atelier, surrounded by shopping bags, when one of the attendants showed Adèle into the room.
“You started without me! For shame!” Adèle kidded, kissing Elyse on the cheek and admiring her chic denim suit.
“I am definitely borrowing that,” Adèle said, pointing to the well-tailored look.
As the staff brought back an array of shoes for Elyse to try on, Adèle spent little time on small talk before getting right into it.
“Elyse, you haven’t done much for W lately. We need you to come back with a big splash,” Adèle said.
Even though there were a lot of young hot NU. Face models ruling the runway and social media, Elyse was still one of the most revered models of all time. Doing a new major campaign with her was sure to get tongues wagging and take some air out of the AvW brand press.
Elyse tried to talk in circles to her friend, but Adèle was too savvy for that.
“Elyse, what are you not telling me? Are you working with AvW?” Adèle demanded.
Elyse laughed, tossing her long hair back. “Could you imagine me working with Agnes? Really, mon cherie…”
Then Elyse’s gorgeous designer bag fell over, with her cell phone tumbling out and across the room.
Adèle went to pick it up for Elyse, who ran after her, not wanting her friend to touch it.
Adèle reached the phone first, and as she handed it over, she saw the wallpaper on the home screen—Elyse in a tiny bikini with Alexandre on his yacht, arms around each other.
Adèle’s jaw dropped.
Elyse just knew she was going to blow it, and now she had.
“Adèle, you can’t tell anyone, I beg of you…,” Elyse pleaded.
“Of course, your secret is safe with moi,” Adèle said. “Now, about that campaign…”
Elyse nodded. She would figure out some way to placate Alex.
