Alex explained quickly and gave her Gabi’s phone.
Eva gave a low whistle. “Bollocks.”
“That’s a better way to put it,” Gabi said, shoving some cold kebab meat in her mouth.
“Oh, is that leftover pizza over there?” My sister quickly turned her attention to it and stole the box, then sat on the sofa.
“Is that really what you’re both concerned about? The entire media now thinks we’re seeing each other,” I pointed out.
Eva shrugged. “What can you do? The media runs bullshit stories all the time, Addy. You should have known not to leave together.”
“They weren’t there when we left. They shouldn’t have been there at all.”
“You looked cosy.”
“It was cold so Alex gave me his dinner jacket, and it’s not like I was sober and wearing flats, okay?”
“You were very poised.”
“Charlotte called them,” Alex said, leaning against the wall and interrupting us. And thank God for that, or we’d argue all day. “I spoke to George this morning.”
“He confirmed it?” My eyebrows shot up. I wasn’t expecting them to actually find out.
He nodded. “I asked him last night, and that was why I was up early. He called the room and told me they’d found out what happened.”
“That bitch!” Eva frowned. “Why the fuck would she call the paps? This was supposed to be a private event. That was why so many people were here. Did everyone even stay at the hotel or were they photographed?”
“Both,” Gabi replied, licking her fingers. “That was how I ended up finding the articles about these two. I got a Google alert on my name and the only photos came from inside the room, so this makes sense if it was Charlotte.”
I frowned, and I knew my expression perfectly mirrored my twin’s. “Inside the room? How was that possible? Someone sold photos?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Either that, or she smuggled someone in and said they were her cousin. She had a lot of her own personal friends and family there.”
“It wouldn’t have been difficult for her to do that,” Alex agreed, nodding sagely. “We know she’s in this greatly for herself, and this is exactly why Fred’s father refused to allow the event to be held at the estate. He doesn’t trust her, and this won’t help her cause. This place is notoriously private, and this won’t go down well with the owners. It’s why we stay here.”
That much was true. I almost always stayed here whenever I had to come to Bath, and I knew it was a favourite of so many people in the upper class because of its discretion. Not only was this a huge breach of our expected privacy, but it would potentially dent the hotel’s reputation.
Charlotte was in big trouble.
“Okay, and that’s great,” I said. “But what do we do about this? It’s only a matter of time before Mum and everyone starts asking what’s going on. What do we do?”
“You have two options.” Eva closed the pizza box and went to the mini fridge for a bottle of water.
Was she going to pay for that? I doubted it.
“Which are?”
“You issue a denial.” She looked at Alex. “You have lawyers on retainer, plus a public relations expert. Send a formal denial to all the papers who have published it, state that you’re just friends, and threaten legal action if they continue to publish such untruths.”
Alex shoved his hands in his pockets. “That seems extreme.”
“Or you play along with it.”
I stared at her. “We what?”
“You play along,” Eva paraphrased.
“We’re living together, Eva. They’re going to go from this to marriage in twenty-four hours.”
She shrugged. “It’s up to you, but I’d play along. You’re only there for another four weeks, and it’s not like either of you will be going on dates in bloody Whitborough, is it?”
“Didn’t need to be quite so rude,” Alex muttered.
“Oh, come on,” she shot back. “Where are you going to go? The crochet club?”
“It’s the cross-stitch club!” I threw a pillow at her. “We can’t pretend to be in a relationship. That’s completely ridiculous.”
Nobody said anything.
I looked at Alex. “You can’t seriously agree with her?”
He hesitated.
“Oh, my gosh! You do! You agree with her!” I turned to Gabi. “Do you?”
“Well…” Gabi trailed off. “I do think there’s a third option. You could just ignore it, but that would probably work better if you weren’t living in the same house. It might be easier to simply go along with it.”
“But that means lying to everyone. I don’t think we can do that.”
“Elizabeth would know the truth,” Eva pointed out. “And it’s not like our parents would tell anyone.”
“I couldn’t ask them to lie to anyone. This is just too complicated.”
Alex stepped forward. “They have a point, Adelaide.”
“You seriously agree with them?” I jumped up and stared around at everyone. “How can all three of you think this is a good idea? Not to mention that I was literally with another guy for like an hour last night, and that’s a situation I have to deal with, too.”