Confessions of a Millionaire's Mistress Page 17

  In the car we talked excitedly, and eventually the conversation turned to Hugh.

  Maria turned to me. ‘Seriously, Ava, how can he still be in the picture? I will never like him; I hate what he’s done to you.’

  Even though Maria had never met Hugh she knew all my secrets . . . and clearly she hated him so intensely that she wasn’t afraid to say it. I knew that at some point in her trip she might meet Hugh, and it made me suddenly wonder if I was going to have to choose between my best friend—the person I classed as my own flesh and blood—and the man I had fallen so madly in love with. Was blood really thicker than water?

  •

  A week after Maria arrived we were on a plane headed to the party capital of Australia. One of my clients was performing at a massive party for a corporate giant, and I wanted to be there to support them. I was feeling a little nervous, not just because I wanted the event to be perfect but also because this was the first time I had convinced Hugh to attend an event with me—and he would meet Maria.

  We arrived at the apartment I had previously stayed in with Hugh and it hit home that Maria was going to meet him. I was so worried that she was going to truly hate him, and I explained to her that I wished that just one person in my life could see why I was so in love with Hugh. She shook her head, and sadness flooded through me because I knew she would never understand.

  As the party got going Maria began to drink and have a great time; I had never seen her so at peace and so happy. Almost an hour later Hugh arrived with one of his clients, and I was instantly drawn to him. I introduced him to people who would be of benefit to him professionally, and I could feel his eyes follow me as I worked the room.

  Later in the evening as I stood with Hugh I saw Maria sauntering across the room, drunk. She managed to smile as I introduced her to Hugh. He was his usual charming self and I knew it couldn’t be long until the ice queen melted. Surely she had to see what I saw in him, even if it wasn’t going to be as easy as one single meeting. She walked away moments later while I stayed by Hugh’s side. I knew she hated him but I just couldn’t leave him. I was frozen.

  Thirty minutes later she returned and told me she wanted to leave the party. I offered to go with her but she refused. She walked straight over to Hugh and whispered something in his ear. A look of shock took over his face for an instant before he whispered back to her and she walked off. I didn’t know what to make of their exchange but I had a feeling that it wasn’t good.

  She returned and kissed my cheek before whispering in my ear: ‘I get it, Ava, I completely understand now.’ With that she left, leaving me standing there with my mouth open.

  When the event finished Hugh offered to drive my boss and me home. My boss climbed into the front passenger seat and as I walked around to the other side of the car Hugh pushed me up against the back of it. He ran his hands up and down my stomach before leaning against me and whispering in my ear.

  ‘What are you doing later tonight?’ he said seductively.

  ‘Hugh, I can’t; I’m with Maria,’ I responded breathlessly. I kissed him passionately, knowing that no one could see us at this angle, before reluctantly pulling away and getting into the car. As he drove he kept looking at me in the mirror and winking. I couldn’t do anything but shake my head. When we arrived I half ran into the apartment to track down Maria and find out what the hell she meant.

  When I walked into the room she looked beat, and still very drunk. Eventually I got to ask her what she meant about Hugh. She turned to me and shook her head.

  ‘Ava, I know exactly what you mean now. I always believe that someone with a strong handshake is honest and if they can look you in the eye they are truthful—it’s something my father always taught me. I saw the way he was with you, he held you possessively and when you walked around the room he kept his eyes on you the entire time. He loves you and it’s obvious to everyone. When I left I told him that he had better look after you and keep you safe or he would have me to deal with. Ava, I don’t know how you will ever date anyone else. You both love each other so much. I get it now, Ava.’

  I actually cried. I couldn’t believe I was getting my best friend’s approval. It meant more to me than anyone else’s ever had. But was I ever going to give myself approval?

  It wasn’t long after that night that she returned home and a part of my heart went with her. Her words continued to resonate within me as I tried to make a decision about what I was going to do. It wasn’t easy but I knew I had to give it a go.

  #Twenty-thirdConfession

  #COAMMPlaylist

  ‘I Hate This Part’

  The Pussycat Dolls

  One night, not long after Maria left, I met with Hugh. I was finally in a good place—no games, no stress—and we had an amazingly passionate night.

  A few days later as I sat in a coffee shop with one of my employees, working on a new client’s media strategy, my phone began to buzz. I looked down at my phone but didn’t recognise the number.

  ‘Hello, Ava Reilly speaking,’ I said.

  ‘Ava. My name is Tanya. I have some information about Hugh Montgomery that I would like to discuss with you. Do you have a few minutes?’

  I was immediately unnerved by the unknown voice on the other end of the phone.

  ‘Tanya, one moment, please,’ I replied. My heart began to pound as I excused myself from my meeting. I stood up, holding my phone against my chest. My hands were beginning to sweat and shake as I walked across the crowded coffee shop and pushed open the doors to the busy street. As I exited the building the summer sun beamed down on me and I began to heat up under my black business suit. I felt as though the earth was spinning around me. Who was this woman and what did she want?

  I replaced the phone to my ear, with the dreaded feeling that this was not a conversation I wanted to have.

  ‘Thank you for holding. How can I help you, Tanya?’ I said, trying to remain as composed and professional as possible.

  ‘Ava, I’m a friend of a friend of yours. A few months back I was in a hotel in the city and I saw you and Hugh having drinks together. I’d seen you once before, about a year ago in another hotel when the two of you were having drinks and I heard a little of your conversations. Later as I walked past the elevator I saw the two of you kissing,’ she said. My hands would not stop shaking. Where was she going with this? I found myself pacing up and down the path outside the coffee shop. I felt as if I was the only person there at that point; everyone and everything else disappeared. What did this woman want and how was I going to get rid of her?

  I took a deep breath before I spoke. ‘I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about,’ I said as calmly as I could without showing fear.

  ‘Ava, I’m not a threat to you. I want to impart some knowledge that I believe any woman should know,’ she responded.

  I still couldn’t believe my ears. I really wanted to get rid of this woman but I didn’t want to piss her off. I didn’t want to hear anything she had to say but at the same time I couldn’t bring myself to hang up on her. All I wanted to do was call Hugh, but for some reason I felt I wasn’t going to like what I heard.

  ‘Ava, that first time I saw you I heard him tell you he was separated. When I told our mutual friend, she thought that it could be true. But at a wedding we went to . . . I’m really sorry, Ava, but I saw Hugh and his wife still very much together. They’ve never split. He lied to you . . . and I think you deserve to know . . . Hello?’

  My world broke into a million pieces. Somewhere deep down I knew it was true but that didn’t mean I wanted to believe it. My eyes welled with tears. I took another deep breath in to try to compose myself but it made no difference. The tears began to slide down my cheeks as I felt my heart shatter.

  I reached on top of my head and pulled down my sunglasses to avert my eyes from passers-by. I needed a moment to gather my thoughts but I didn’t even have five seconds. I knew she was on the other end of the line and if I didn’t cover up my relationship with H
ugh, it would do more damage to the both of us if she ever decided to open her mouth to anyone.

  ‘Ava, I know this is very hard to hear. I don’t want to take up too much more of your time, but I have proof. I’m going to send you a photo I have from the wedding of the two of them together, but I would appreciate it if you didn’t mention where you got it. I’m looking out for you. What you choose to do with this information is up to you . . . I wish you all the best and please rest assured that I haven’t told anyone else about this, and I won’t. I just thought you deserved to know. All the best, Ava.’ With that she hung up, leaving me speechless.

  I felt sick. So many thoughts crossed my mind. I was pissed off at Hugh. I hated him so much for treating me this way. I wanted to kill him. I had only just spent the night with him not long before, and everything had been perfect. I had finally felt at peace with my life and realised how much I really cared for this man. All that kept playing in my head now was what the fuck am I going to do?

  Breaking into my conflicted thoughts was a text message—it was from my mystery caller. I almost dropped my phone as I opened the message. There it was, all the proof I needed: my deepest fears stared me in the face as I saw the two of them sitting together, his arm draped across the back of her chair as she leaned forward. His legs were crossed with his hand resting on his knee and his fingers intertwined with hers. They were both staring ahead and smiling. My head began to spin as I closed my eyes, the image now burned into my memory. I closed the offending text and messaged Hugh, telling him to call me urgently.

  I wiped the tears away from my eyes and walked back inside. I apologised to my employee, but because she was also a friend she knew that something was wrong. I held my composure and at the moment I was about to continue my phone began to ring . . . it was Hugh.

  I excused myself and almost ran outside again. I told him everything that happened, and he went off his tree.

  ‘Fucking hell, Ava!’ he screamed down the phone.

  ‘Hugh, calm down,’ I replied; I wanted to talk rationally. ‘I just want to know if what she said is true. Are you still with your wife?’ I knew full well what the answer would be but I hoped that I wasn’t about to have it confirmed.

  ‘Send me the fucking photo, Ava!’ he yelled again.

  ‘I will, but please just answer my question,’ I said. I began to cry as I sent him the text message that had broken my heart into pieces while I was still on the phone to him. It made me question every single thing he had said but it didn’t make me question how he made me feel or even how he felt about me. I knew in my heart that he cared for me, and no photo could take that away from me, but his reaction was causing me to seethe. I had no idea why he was getting angry at me. It wasn’t like I went searching for this information; it fell into my lap, and for once I was feeling the anger build up and boil over the top.

  ‘Jesus, Ava! Please stop crying. Yes, it’s true. I’m sorry. I know you’ve known the truth for a while. You’ve been so distant with me over the past couple of months,’ he said evenly but defensively.

  ‘You told me you were separated!’ I said hotly.

  ‘We were. Look, I don’t go around asking who you’re sleeping with! You never tell me anything, so how was I supposed to know that you wanted anything more? I never know how you feel, so I assumed you didn’t want anything more, even though I’ve told you numerous times how I felt. I’m not a fucking mind reader!’

  At that moment he received the message. After looking at the photo he explained that it was taken at a christening and that he and his wife were the godparents. My heart dropped. Who was I going to believe? A stranger on a phone, or the man I loved?

  I decided that I wasn’t going to believe either. I was going to take the situation for what it was . . . but then where did that leave me?

  ‘I don’t want to hurt you or your family,’ I said finally. ‘I’m not going to say anything to anyone.’

  ‘I know, Ava. I completely understand. I care about you and I don’t want to hurt you. You know everything now, so it’s your choice.’

  ‘Hugh, I don’t want to lose you. I just don’t know what to do,’ I responded, fighting back the tears. It would have been the perfect time for me to have asked more about his life, to get the answers I had been so desperately, silently seeking, but I was so afraid of what they would be. I knew that staying with him went against every moral fibre of my being, but it was Hugh . . . the person who had saved me without even knowing it.

  ‘I understand,’ he said. I knew he wasn’t going to push me to make a decision on the spot.

  We hung up and I stood in the middle of a busy pathway while people all around me went on with their day. What was I going to do?

  In that instant a song came into my head: ‘You’ve Got the Love’ by Florence and The Machine.

  This man was a drug to me. How was I going to let him go? Could I walk away?

  My heart begged me to stay, and my head . . . well, it agreed. Before I could think about it any further I sent him a text message.

  I don’t care. I don’t want to lose you. I’m going to fly down next week, I need to see you. I care too much about you to lose you, Hugh.

  I loved him, that much I was sure of and nothing was going to stand in the way of my heart, but what was I going to do next?

  #Twenty-fourthConfession

  #COAMMPlaylist

  ‘Walk Away’

  Christina Aguilera

  Finding out that Hugh was still married was one of the most painful things I have ever been through. It left me with a lot of unanswered questions and a head full of chaos. The hardest thing for me to swallow was the undeniable fact that I was now consenting to be a mistress, and even though there were no more secrets, the distance between us never felt greater. My heart ached knowing that I wasn’t the only woman in his life. What hurt the most was that I knew I wasn’t competing with someone insignificant . . . I was competing with his wife, the mother of his children, the woman he had pledged to spend the rest of his life with. The question that kept ringing in my head was: am I really prepared to be the other woman?

  For nearly two weeks, I cried. Every time I thought of him, every time I received a text message, every time I heard his voice, every time I saw him in the news and every time someone mentioned him, I cried inside . . . but not for the reason you might think. I cried because I knew the answer to the question that echoed in my soul: I loved him so much I was willing to stand by him no matter what, and that scared me more than I cared to admit.

  I never stopped communicating with Hugh over this period of time but I did pull back a lot, and he knew it. He constantly messaged me to see how I was and began to make the kind of effort that at times I felt had previously been missing, but had never wanted to actually admit. There was something about the way he was talking to me and treating me that made me scared of accepting my decision to stand by him no matter the cost but it also made me want to run right back to him and fix things.

  Almost a month after receiving the call and photo I had business in Hugh’s home town and decided to see him. I was flying in late at night and had a meeting with a potential new client before flying out at midday the next day. I wouldn’t have more than twenty-four hours with him, and I decided I needed a beauty transformation to make Hugh fall to his knees, but also to try to give me the confidence I needed to speak my mind to him once and for all.

  As I looked in the mirror before I left for the airport I saw perfectly plump lips coated with clear gloss, and smoky eyes that complemented by my golden tan. I had dyed my long black locks chocolate brown to change things up and had straightened them to within an inch of their life with an incredible Kim Kardashian–inspired fringe flick. Adding to my look was the perfect outfit: a long-sleeved white cotton shirt with a V-neck, a pair of my signature hip-hugging black tights that made my legs look endless and a pair of Swarovski-encrusted heels.

  The whole flight I felt nervous. At the other end my client, who had
also become a good friend, would pick me up and once we had finished our business meeting I was then to message Hugh and we would meet at my hotel.

  As I arrived at the airport I felt fantastic and confident . . . by the end of the night Hugh wasn’t going to know what hit him. I walked through the terminal with my cream trench coat on, my handbag swinging from my left arm and a pair of sunglasses on to hide the fear in my eyes. This was the first step towards my future; there was no turning back now.

  Waiting for me outside was my client, Shaun, in his gorgeous BMW convertible. He jumped out and gave me a huge hug. When I got into his car the smell of leather consumed me. I felt my seat heat up instantly as he turned on the seat warmers. The whole trip from the airport into the centre of the city was incredible. I had never really paid attention to the city at night, but tonight it was incredible; it was lit up as if by fireworks. As we drove through it I felt the familiar rush of my favourite type of season. The frozen air of winter swept around me with the top down while inside the car I felt as if beautiful summer sun was kissing my skin.

  The city was in full swing and I was about to throw myself into it. We joined thousands of people as we stepped out into a bustling crowd in one of the most notorious hot spots and suburbs in all of Australia. A TV series had been made about the clubs and the notorious figures that controlled them, but I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary as we sat down in a fabulous restaurant for amazing pizza, beer and business.

  All around us were people who knew Shaun. Every time we began to discuss business someone would come up and hug him or interrupt us, so in the end we gave up. I was supposed to let Hugh know I had finished my business meeting, but . . . it was almost midnight . . . and Shaun asked me if I wanted to have another beer. I guess I was trying to delay facing Hugh, so I told myself that one more couldn’t hurt. Well, one more turned into three and midnight turned into 3 a.m. and a very sober me turned into a very tipsy me. By then I knew that I wasn’t going to see Hugh, and I was relieved. Hugh messaged me seven times that night and I never responded, I just couldn’t.