A low sigh escaped my lips as I took a seat on the bench outside in the backyard of the mansion. It was a lot of new information to take in. I just needed a second away to let myself process this.
I heard the sound of footsteps, which caused me to look in their direction. Sterling approached me with a serious expression. He proceeded to take a seat next to me, his eyes studied me for a moment as he did.
"How did she know that?" I asked, finally attempting to get some answers. "How did she get her hands on information about my father?"
"The same way we get ours. Wealthy families always have connections." Sterling responded. "However, this time I feel like she crossed the line."
I couldn't agree more. Bringing my parents—especially my deceased father—was going a little far. Of course, Elise made it obvious she had no boundaries before. This only proved she's willing to do anything to get what she wants.
"How are you feeling about it?" Sterling asked as he placed a hand gently on my back.
"Honestly, I'm mad." I willingly confess to him. "I'm mad that she found this out and decided to put it out for the world to know, but I'm also mad because it shows just how bad my mother really was."
I know my mother has mental issues, but a lot of the blame for that went on my father. I thought all this time that she had just been heartbroken because she lost the love of her life. Here I am, finding out she's the reason my dad's gone and it must've been the guilt eating her alive that caused her to completely lose it.
As it would turn out, my mother was more selfish than I've ever known. I knew she was bad because of the details on why I was taken, not that I have any memory of it because I was so young.
"I'm sorry." Concern washed over Sterling's face. "If I had known there was more to it, I would've told you myself."
"I just hate that some spoiled brat has begun to drag me into this." I had a feeling something like this would happen, I just didn't want to be right. "We should get back inside, your family wants to make a plan and I think it's important we take part in that."
"Okay." Sterling nodded as we both stood up from the bench.
He held my hand tightly and led the way back into the study. We sat back down and waited for the conversation to continue on.
"So what do we do from here?" Kaydence asked in a low voice. "How do we turn this around because right now she's got it sounding like Damon and I are together because I wanted money and he got fooled by a prostitute."
"You're kidding, right?" Scarlett looked between everyone.
"Now is not that time." Damon responded with a warning in his tone. "I told you, we'll get into all the details later."
"That's not what I mean, I couldn't care less about the details of how you ended up together." Scarlett stood up from her seat. "What I mean is, how is this so hard to turn around in our favor?"
"Scar, this is the first negative thing the media actually has been able to get on us." Sterling sighed. "They're not going to let it go easily."
"Look, anyone who looks at Damon and Kaydence Tipton can see how much they love each other." Scarlett continued on. "You can't fake that. What we should be doing is facing this shit head on."
"Language." Kaydence warned with serious eyes.
"I know." Scarlett rolled hers in response before growing serious. "We're Tipton's, we don't run away from little things like this. We need to take control."
Damon looked at his daughter with curious eyes. "Clearly you've got a plan in your head, what is it?"
"Pretty woman." Scarlett smirked. "Let's be honest, most people know that movie. Businessman hires a prostitute and they fall for each other, in this case it's real and people are suckers for a good love story."
We all continued watching Scarlett. She brought up a good point, but I don't necessarily see how a movie was going to help the situation. Judging by the looks of everyone else, they felt the same.
"What we should do is tell your story." Scarlett continued. "While it's unique, that's what makes it yours. We can leave Justin out of it because the last thing we need is for the media to get any more information on the family and since he's apparently a changed man there's no sense in ruining his life right now."
"It's not a bad idea." Damon responded. "To be honest I'm so private with everything that people would be more distracted by the fact we're actually letting them into our lives, which means they'll be more willing to listen."
"On top of that, the reason mom did it is enough to pull at anyone's heart strings." Scarlett added. "I don't know many people who will hate on someone who was trying to save their mother's life."
I have to admit, Scarlett was right. This was a good way to get the attention to go from negative to positive. I must give her props for thinking so far ahead, another thing she must've gotten from her father.
"It's good." Kaydence nodded. "I think it's the best plan of action right now. That doesn't solve Isabelle's situation though."
All of their eyes fell on me. I could see they were concerned but it seemed I was given the lead on how to handle this one.
I looked at Scarlett. "Got any ideas in your head?"
"I mean we can burn the witch at the stake for this one." Scarlett maliciously smirked.
"Scarlett." Kaydence warned again.
"What?" She turned to her mother. "I didn't swear that time."
Sterling focused the attention back to me. "I'll let you make the decision, but in my personal opinion I think we should try to meet up with Alexandra again."
He made a good point. Elise had found information she knew would get to me. Alexandra was still my key on finding information against her. Something in my gut tells me she's sitting on something pretty big too.
"Okay." I nodded. "I'll get something set up with her, then I think we need to take this bitch down once and for all."