Walking away from the director, Khloe stomped over to Kylie and slapped her across the face. "Everyone hates me now," she growled, "and it is your entire fault. You"ve made me look like a fool!"Since Kylie was not one to take being slapped lightly, she threw her fist into Khloe"s solar plexus. As Khloe doubled over and fell on the ground, trying to catch her breath, Kylie spat on her and said, "You can"t put this on me. It was you who abandoned your team. I had nothing to do with your decision. It is funny, though; you went to all that trouble to conceal your messed up face, but now it is all that anyone is talking about!"
"What are you talking about?" Khloe gasped.
Kylie looked down at her and laughed. "The staff at Mac took a before and after picture of your face and they described how you came in bragging about how famous you are but, in the end, after they did their best to make you look your best, you didn"t even tip them, let alone buy something. #KhloeCheapb.i.t.c.h is trending like nothing I have ever seen in my life. Isn"t it Ironic?"
"I was just sampling their products," Khloe cried. "What is the big deal? Why is everybody turning on me all of a sudden?"
Kylie shrugged indifferently. "Why should I care?" she laughed. "You have never been kind to me, or to anyone else for that matter. Have you ever heard of Karma?"
"The product that you use now," Kylie continued, "the company that makes it is probably going to sue. You have a contract that says you will only use their products. It seems to me that you have breached the terms of the contract, and they will find out. As I said, #KhloeCheapb.i.t.c.h is trending in a major way!"
Kylie offered her sister a hand up and said, "Don"t be so glum. This is not the end of the world and, if you choose to do so, you can begin to make it up to people tomorrow."
Khloe smiled, and for a moment, she forgot how much she hated Kylie, and she hugged her.
Khloe found her father in the hall on the first floor. He was talking with David Ham. Neither of them looked particularly happy. Seeing her, they walked towards her. "You look like s.h.i.t," David said, "but I suppose it is only appropriate. I can"t believe you left the set to get a makeover. What were you thinking? We"ve put our necks on the line for you, and this is how you repay us?"
"I couldn"t help myself," Khloe cried. "I just could handle the idea of anyone seeing me the way that I looked. I looked like some monster from a horror movie whose face is melting…"
David furrowed his brows and looked at Laurence. If she was at fault, so was Laurence. He was the one who had raised her in the way that she should go. Apparently, he hadn"t done a very good job…
Laurence was also disappointed in his daughter, but he saw no point in beating her up over it. From her appearance, he could see that she"d already been punished enough. "You need to take this job more seriously," he told her. "Why don"t you go up to your room and have a rest. You look tired. Even after this mess you"ve created for yourself, I might still be able to pull some strings and get you nominated for an Oscar."
Khloe met Laurence"s eyes and asked him if he thought the cosmetic company would sue her for her breach of contract. Laurence a.s.sured her that David had taken care of it already, and she sighed in relief. Khloe asked her father why she hadn"t seen Aiden recently, and he explained that he had been busy. "He will be at the hotel, though," he said in a tone of voice that rea.s.sured her.
Once Kylie had Lucas and Faith in the car, she sent Ethan a text message: "What"s going on? I thought you would be here at some point today…"
"I have been busy," Ethan replied. "I will see you this evening." Kylie was just about to text him again when a black limousine drove past the Hamorna TV station. It had its windows down, and she recognized the driver. It was Tom Thomas, and he winked at her as he pa.s.sed.
Without giving it a second thought, she turned to Faith and Lucas and said, "Go on without me. I have something to attend to."
Kylie didn"t give them a chance to talk. Before they could even open their mouths, she dashed off in the nearest taxi direction.
Kylie jumped into the cab, pointed to the black car, and said something that she"d always wanted to say: "Follow that car!"
The driver turned to her with an excited gleam in his eyes and said, "I am the best cab driver in the city. Rest a.s.sured that I will not lose your" friend."
Kylie"s cab came to a stop behind Tom Thomas"s limousine, in the driveway of an expensive-looking mansion. When Tom honked his horn, the gates that surrounded the place opened. He drove in, but Kylie did not follow him. She felt that he had wanted her to follow him in, but she didn"t trust him.
"Just pull over to the side of the road," she told the driver, "and keep the meter running."
Kylie sat silently in the back seat of the car until, finally, the gates opened, and the black car emerged from whence it came. Tom was driving and, in the pa.s.senger seat, there was a woman with long wavy hair. Kylie couldn"t see who the person was, but she felt a sense of familiarity.
In the back seat, she was startled to see Ethan. "What the f.u.c.k. Why is he here? What"s going on?" she muttered to herself. For the life of her, she had no idea what he was doing with her stalker. And seeing her husband with another woman made her feel upset.