All that glitters, ain't gold.

Chapter 24

"Conner you what!?" I all but yell. All the former tiredness in my body is gone. "You told her about the contract, Conner?" I walk into my living room and sit on the couch. "Yeah.. and she wasn't happy at first. She slapped me and all but now she's better." I stand up from the couch and walking around in circles. "Conner, what if management finds out? You'll have to pay them for breaking the contract!"

"I think that we should just end it now and pay off management." I was about to tell him how ridiculous his plan was until he continued talking. "I mean, we do have enough money to pay them off, we'd be free of their management completely, you can tell Jake the truth- we can tell everyone the truth."

I quietly stood in the center of my hotel living room floor, debating with myself. "Okay. Here are my thoughts. Let's say we do pay off management and break the contracts, I don't think we should tell the public about the whole scandal. I think we should let them all believe we dated, got engaged, and broke it off but are still friends."

"I think we should tell them the truth."

"If we do, I don't think we'd have a lot of fans left or credibility left, Conner. Think about it, if we do sit down on a talk show and tell the world of was all a fake set up and we did it for money, how would people look at us? And say one of us ends up in something else down the line, like someone saying you got them pregnant, who do you think everyone will believe? You, a person who lied for months for money, or an innocent girl who claims she's carrying your child?"

"Okay, I see your point." I hear him chuckle and I can imagine him running a hand through his hair. "And it doesn't hurt to let them think we dated. It was real, at least for a couple of weeks." I laughed a bit and he agreed. "So, as soon as you get back to LA do you want to hold this meeting?" Thinking back to Jake's face last night when Conner proposed fueled enough anger to do it now. "Can you be in New York by 3pm today? I can get Sarah to set up a Skype conference with Field and get us a lawyer and we'll be set."

"Sure can do. I have a flight leaving for LA in 2 hours, but I'll switch it over."

"Sounds good." I say, smiling lightly. Hopefully by tomorrow everything will be over. "Alright, see you 3pm sharp. Just text me where and I'll be there." I heard him chuckle on the other end of the phone before adding "hey, that rhymed!"

"You're an imbecile." I laughed. "Oh hey, by the way... Have you talked to Jake?" I heard him sigh. "No, I haven't talked to him but Tiffany messaged me from the airport and said he wasn't talking to anyone."

"Not even Celia?"

"Tiffany said Celia left on an earlier flight home. Not soon after you left." Wow, I felt terrible. "Oh, okay. Thank you," I whisper. "Hey, by 4pm today, this will all be over. Don't put too much thought into it, love you. Goodnight." I say goodnight and hang up, retreating to bed.

Before actually going to sleep, I sent a quick message to my mother.

Mother, I know you're probably sleeping but I need you to ask daddy to come to my hotel room tomorrow around noon. It's important and it's a business matter. I need him, mom. Please convince him to come. Love you, goodnight xx

After that message, I sent one to Sarah about setting up the meeting, set my phone on my dresser, and went to sleep.

---

"Wakey, wakey." I feel someone tickling my nose and I have every intention on smacking the life out of the person until I remember that I went my sleep in my hotel room, alone. I popped out of bed and screamed. I look to my right to see that it was 11:34 in the morning and Conner was rolling on the floor laughing. "What the hell, Conner!" I say throwing a pillow at him. "That was priceless! I wish you could've seen your face!" He said continuing to laugh. I rolled my eyes and angrily got out of bed and went into the bathroom.

Once I was freshened up, I walked into my room to find it empty. "Conner-"

"In the kitchen!"

Figures.

"So what's the plan, M?" Conner says, munching on a banana. "If my mom talked to my dad, then he should be here any minute now and we can tell him everything and he'll represent us if he has to. We should be able to go into the meeting, tell them were ending the contracts, pay them and it'll all be over, but if there are any problems, my dad will be there." I explain.

---

When my father came, we told him everything and to say he was upset was an understatement. I don't know if he was angrier with me or Golden Globe. Nevertheless, he agreed to help us, free of charge, and we headed straight to the place we were having the meeting at. Once, we got there my father told us not to utter a word and took control. Sarah actually looked terrified once she learned what the meeting was about and Mr. Field was actually angry. I've never seen him angry but it was nothing compared to my father's wrath. He tried to say decline our offer and sue us, but my dad reminded him that when I signed the contract I was only 18 and my parents should have been made aware of this arrangement. After that statement was made, things ran smoothly. My dad even got Golden Globe to reduce the fee for ending the contract to just 1.7 million. I know, you must be like 'that's so much money!' But compared to 13.4 million, each, 1.7 million is nothing.

Walking out of the meeting was quiet and scary, I didn't know what my dad's mood was like and I was too afraid to say anything to him. As we made it outside and were about to split to our separate cars. We all stopped.

"Thank you father-"

"Thank you, Mr. Holmes. For everything, honestly. If there's anyway I could repay you-"

"Nonsense, Megan is my daughter and you have been quite the gentleman for her these past months. Fake or not. Thank you for watching over my little girl while she was away from us. That's payment enough." I couldn't believe my father, Mr. Holmes, Mr. I-have-no-feelings, Mr.- okay, I think you get the point. I just can't believe he just said all of that. I ambush him in a tight hug, not caring if he hugged back or not. He was very tensed at first but eventually hugged me back, kissing the top of my head. "I love you, Megan." He whispers. "I love you, too, daddy."