Noted

Chapter 10

I barely slept that night. My fears filled my brain with disturbing nightmares that kept me awake the whole night. I dreamt of my mother dying, and being the only one at her funeral. I dreamt I was trapped inside my house; unable to open the windows or unlock the doors, as the walls caved in, making me unable to breathe from the destruction happening all around me.

Nightmare after nightmare, I tried to calm myself; each time telling myself that it had all been just a dream. Eventually, I got up and walked around the house trying to shake away the thoughts that were causing those horrible thoughts. My anxiety about the following day surpassed my attempts to calm myself down. I knew that the choices I was making were a big risk, and I was aware of the consequences. If my father were to ever discover that it was his own daughter who had outed his secrets to the public, I'd really lose him, maybe even forever. As if I didn't already feel like I'd lost him by now. He had most definitely lost me due to what he had done to mom, so could there possibly be more love to lose between us? Of course, I didn't want mom to find out dad's escapades from the news-papers, but with her being so far away, she was pretty much disconnected from the media. I hoped she would be back after the storm, and that I'd be the one to tell her.

When evening finally came along, I called Troy to meet with me one block away from The Remington Bar. The bar was only few blocks from our penthouse, which was lucky for us, but made it additionally foolish of my father to have an affair so close to home.

It was almost night by the time we had arrived at the bar. Shoppers still invaded the streets of New York with their oversized bags. It was the day after Christmas, which meant sales, which also meant unprecedented crowds of people. We were abled to blend ourselves into the fast paced mass as we moved along towards The Remington.

"Are you going to tell me the plan now?" Troy asked while putting on his hat; the weather was starting to get bad. They both hid in an alleyway; shielding themselves from a violent wind which now gusted snow in their faces.

"I already texted my father from this phone," I explained as I texted Olivia Swan from a pre-paid phone I'd purchased from a corner store.

"Please tell me you didn't buy that thing with your credit card?" Troy asked, concerned but I'm not stupid.

"Of course not," I assured. "I used the credit gift-card you gave me for Christmas. There's no name on the card, so no way to track the purchase."

"Clever." he replied, and then asked, "What'd you text?"

"I wrote: 'Philip, Meet me at our favourite place at 11:30, I had to change phone for security reasons. Can't wait to see you...' and I'm doing the same for Olivia, except, I'm asking her to meet him...well; us...at eleven, so that we have time to drug her...uh, I mean...make her fall asleep."

"And how exactly does this pan out?" Troy asked. He didn't seem as excited as he was in my father's office but he was in too deep now. He knew too much.

"You are going to distract Olivia by pretending to be a fan," I explained. "And, when she turns to give you an autograph, I'll put the crushed pills into her drink. I've already sent an anonymous lead to paparazzi, on her location tonight. When Olivia passes out from the pills, which should be around 11:30–which is when my father should walk in–he will, most probably, run to her safety and cause a scene. The paparazzi will snap pictures of the whole thing and, BOOM! The secret is out!"

Troy didn't say anything he just looked at me like I was insane. I chose to ignore my mental state and continued explaining my plan.

"I looked up The Remington Bar online and apparently it's quite popular, and Sunday is their busiest night; must be why they always come at that time. What I'm trying to say here is; we shouldn't be seen."