Helen’s first instinct was to ask Dominic if he was punishing her for choosing Mark over him or if he was truly a sadist at heart. If Laura hung out on the set it was going to be a thousand times worse than just an ‘awkward situation.’ First of all, her presence was completely unnecessary, because she worked in financial services and not in marketing. Second, Helen didn’t think it was professional for Dominic to invite family members on a shoot. After thinking up those two reasons, Helen’s brain short-circuited and a score of other reasons flooded and clogged the logical part of her consciousness. Mark would be uncomfortable. Trevor would be working, and if Laura hung all over him, who knew what the consequences might be—not just for him, but for the project?
In the end, Helen’s eye twitched. Then she got up and said smoothly while looking down at Dominic, “You're asking for too much. It seems like you're trying to wrap up all your problems in a week. You have to have a man for Laura. You have to make Alexander more popular before he ruins himself. You have to torture Mark. You have to torture me. It's too much! If only you could buy that much with a simple lunch." She paused and looked into his eyes. “Well, you know what, Dominic?”
“What?” he said softly like the wind had been knocked out of him.
“I’ve just thought of a new mandate for your growing list.”
“Go on,” he said when she paused.
“Convince me you’re not the devil, because I’m through helping you. If you want to bring Laura on the shoot, knock yourself out. If she glares at me, she glares at me…” Helen paused and inhaled. “You know what I think you're really doing? I think it's not Trevor you have your eye on as a prospective boyfriend for Laura. It's Mark. Neither one of you has gotten him out of your scope, even after our plan has been carried out and you want me to tolerate it. Otherwise, why tell me? You want me to stand there, pose with your brother, and tolerate her hitting on Mark in front of me. And I'm supposed to be so spellbound by this golden modeling opportunity that I don't notice the scheminess of my boyfriend getting stolen from me when it's right under my nose. The stupid part is that you think you'll still have a chance with me after I get dumped. That's the real plan, right?”
Dominic didn't say anything, but his expression denied nothing.
“And you expect me to think you’re better than Mark? Ridiculous!” Helen grabbed her handbag. “Do what you want Dominic, but I’m through with you.”
Helen swiftly marched through the restaurant doors with her cheeks on fire. Was 'scheminess' even a word? Whatever! She was right about him. He was the personification of hell, but if Mindy was so desperate for a free lunch she could stay. Helen didn't hear her cousin jumping up and running after her.
***
Helen didn’t know what Dominic’s reaction to her downpour had been. His face had shown no sign, so she was surprised when it came in the form of a summons to Collin’s office the next day—without Mark.
Helen felt unusually nervous as she took the elevator to the Marketing floor and was waved in by the receptionist.
“Come in and close the door,” Collin said when she knocked at his office. Helen obeyed and sat down on the zebra-patterned sofa. “Is something wrong?” she asked timidly.
He looked at her curiously. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Anything,” she told her boss’s boss.
“Do you want to be a model?”
The question took Helen off guard. At first, she didn’t know what to say. It was a full minute before she made the connection that Dominic must have done something to encourage Collin to speak to her. “I never had any particular aspirations to become one,” she finally answered.
“Why did you agree to do our photoshoot then?”
“I thought it would be fun.”
“But you didn’t have any plans to try to make it as a model?”
“No.”
“The reason I’m asking,” Collin said, putting his feet on his desk. “Is that you have seemed really dedicated to doing a good job, and yet I just got a phone call from Dominic. Apparently, he has changed his mind about whether or not you’re capable of standing up with Alexander and he is willing to provide me a detailed list of female models he thinks more qualified than you.”
“Yeah, he would say that,” she said bitterly.
“Dominic doesn’t usually make professional recommendations as personal favors, but I suspected in your case he may have made an exception. Though at the time, I did not question why. Physically, you are good enough to stand up with Alexander, no matter what back-peddling Dominic is doing now. Can you give me a reason why Domi has changed his mind about you?”
“He found out I wasn’t exactly what he supposed.”
“I don’t understand. You make it sound like you two were scheming something together. Care to come clean?”
“We were scheming something, but not what you think. I never told him I wanted to be a model or anything like that. He bought me a couple of times when I worked for the escort service, but he was only impressed with my way of reading his moods. He told me that was the reason why he thought I would make a good model. I was willing to go along with it because it's an interesting opportunity and at first it seemed like he didn’t want anything in return.”
“What does he want?”
“He wants his sister Laura to get together with Mark, or else he wants to see her happy with someone else—like Trevor. He spoke to me about it yesterday at lunch. Apparently, he ‘owes’ her or something. And he both wants me in the way and out of the way, but—I can't bet my life on what he really after. He's killing me.”
Collin looked thoughtful for a moment and then he said, “Dominic kills everybody. The main concern here is whether or not you’re willing to put your whole heart into our campaign. I don’t care if you want to make a career out of modeling, but I do care that this one thing goes right. It’s not too late to get someone else if you don’t want to do it.”
“No, I made a commitment and I’ll try my hardest,” Helen said, trying to make herself sound more convincing than she felt.
“And you’ll be happy when it’s time to go back to being Mark’s assistant?”
“Of course!”
“Of course,” Collin echoed slowly. “For a second there I forgot the two of you were in a relationship. But if Dominic and Laura are involved, the drama must be oozing. Don't tell me anything more about that. I'll get Mark to give me the details later. Right now, you should go back to him." Then his face cleared and he took his feet off the desk and walked Helen to the door. “Don’t worry about Dominic. I’ll deal with his complaint. He can’t flip-flop on his recommendations. We don’t have to hire Alexander.”
Helen left Collin’s office feeling relieved and uncomfortable at the same time. Why had she said all that stuff? Surely Collin wasn't interested.
Later, as she updated a database on her computer screen, she realized exactly why she was so ticked off with Dominic and why she had made such a good choice choosing Mark. She would never be able to trust Dominic. Even when it seemed like he was doing her a favor, he would always be manipulating things to his own ends. He didn't love her if he could only prove his love by lying to her and scheming.
She peeked around her monitor and saw Mark talking on the phone in his office— smoother than silk. Yeah, he could still sweet talk the pants off any corporate executive.
At that moment, Helen started to question where all her efforts were getting her. Could she really trust Mark more than Dominic not to cheat her?