by Katie Price
A two-hour plane ride later, she was feeling excited. Charlotte passed quickly through security and immigration at the other end and found not only Ken the lead cameraman filming her arrival, but a driver holding up a card with her name on it.
‘Just pretend we’re not here, Charley!’ called Ken from behind the camera.
‘What’s going on?’ she called to him as the driver carried her bag and led her to a waiting limousine. Inside was champagne, and a note which read: ‘Welcome to your city of love. Dylan is waiting for you.’
‘Where are we going?’ Charlotte asked the driver, but she got no response so sat back in the luxurious limo. They pulled into the W Hotel on the beach, an area that wasn’t nearly as busy as when Charlotte and Dylan had come here in the summer, but despite the chill in the air the sky was still bright blue and beautiful. The clerk at reception had been expecting Charlotte and handed her the keys to a suite that took Charlotte’s breath away. The floor-to-ceiling windows looked out onto the beach, a fruit basket and bottle of wine stood on the mahogany desk and there was a four-poster bed with a box laid on it. Charlotte opened it to see the most beautiful floor-length red gown. The bodice was dotted with sequins and the skirt made of wispy chiffon. A note accompanied it:
Dear Charlotte,
Welcome to Barcelona. I have brought you back to the city where I fell in love with you. I hope you like this dress (I can’t take all the credit, Jasmine picked it out). This is just one of the gifts I have for you. I don’t want to play games any more, but I still need to settle one score to make sure we are a match made in heaven. A car will pick you up at 6 p.m. in the lobby.
Love, Dylan xxx
Charlotte felt like she was in a fairy tale. She didn’t know what tonight would hold but one thing was certain: she couldn’t wait to see him again.
Charlotte made a visit to the gym for a quick workout, swim and sauna then spent the afternoon getting ready. She scrubbed, exfoliated and polished her body and covered her skin in buttery body cream. She usually straightened her dark hair, which now hung below her shoulders, but this time styled it so it was tousled and, she hoped, sexy. Make-up was a smoky brown and gold eye, heaps of bronzer and highlighter in all the areas Melody had taught her for a perfect, glowing look, and a slick of lipgloss. The dress fitted perfectly – nice one, Jas – and floating around her hotel suite in the gown, Charlotte felt like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. She took and sent several selfies to Maya who demanded constant updates, then she was good to go.
At 6 p.m. sharp she stood nervously in the lobby, wondering what was going to happen next. The same driver who had met her earlier appeared and held the passenger door open for her.
‘Okay, you have to tell me where we’re going this time,’ she pleaded after several minutes of silent driving.
The driver only laughed and put his index finger to his lips.
‘Pleeeeease! I can’t take the suspense!’
The rest of the drive was spent in silence until he spoke for the first time. ‘Your boyfriend, he is very grand.’
Charlotte gasped. Ahead of her she saw the unmistakable structure of Camp Nou, the football stadium where she and Dylan had gone on their glorious Barcelona date. Were they going to watch a match? Charlotte was hardly dressed for that!
A cameraman filmed her stepping out of the car, wide-eyed and beaming. A staff member of the stadium greeted her and led her down a deserted corridor. This wasn’t the same route she’d taken last time to get to the seats. But Charlotte soon saw the glimmer of green grass ahead of her and realised she was being led straight to the pitch. The floodlights were on, cameras were everywhere and the crew of Mr Right were standing to one side, all smiling. In the middle, clutching a bouquet of red roses and dressed in a black suit that made him so handsome he took Charlotte’s breath away, was Dylan.
She couldn’t help it, she ran right into his arms and he kissed her as the crew clapped and whistled. ‘Is this a dream?’ she laughed, looking up at the magnificent stadium.
‘The minute I let you go I realised how much I wanted you. Can you ever forgive me?’
‘Is it over with Gabby?’
Dylan nodded firmly. ‘A thousand times, yes. I don’t know what I was thinking. There was so much going on towards the end and she told me all these things about you, horrible things. I didn’t believe her but when I tried to talk to you, you were so distant …’
‘I know. But I thought you were having sex with her and Alex and that was all you wanted from me. When I came by that morning to drop off Ruby’s toy, I saw Gabby coming out of your villa and I just assumed she’d spent the night.’
‘She did spend the night. In my bed. While I slept on the sofa. She was crying and seemed so upset. I was only trying to be kind and supportive. I swear to you, nothing with any of those women went any further than kissing.’
Charlotte looked over his shoulder to see Jas and Monica nodding and giving her the thumbs-up.
‘It was you all along … you were the one for Mr Right and then he stupidly got it wrong! Now all I want is to make it up to you.’
To Charlotte’s shock, Dylan knelt down on one knee and reached into his jacket pocket.
‘Charlotte? Will you—’
Was he seriously proposing to her after knowing her for only a few months? ‘No, Dylan, get up!’ Charlotte hissed, a look of panic on her face, which turned to confusion – and then relief. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out, not a ring, but plane tickets.
‘Will you come to the Maldives with me and be my girlfriend?’
Charlotte threw her hands to her face, which was red with embarrassment. ‘A thousand times yes,’ she laughed, as Dylan hoisted her up in his arms.
‘You didn’t really think I was going to propose after just a few months, did, you?’ he laughed, as the crew cheered and clapped again. ‘Don’t you think we’ve had enough drama already?’
Charlotte coiled her arms around his neck. ‘I didn’t know what to think! This whole day feels like a dream.’
‘Well, how about you just let me try to be the best boyfriend I can be and we’ll take it from there?’
‘Sounds perfect.’
Jas couldn’t have been happier for Dylan and Charlotte. They really did make an adorable couple and it wasn’t just about ratings or a good final episode – although that was very welcome. Seeing them have their happy ending made Jas feel good.
Charlotte raced over to give her a huge hug. ‘Thank you for all of this. And the dress, especially! Wow!’
‘My absolute pleasure. Didn’t I tell you that coming on this show would be a good idea? It will start airing on the third of January and I’ve got a feeling both your lives will change dramatically – for the better!’
‘We’ll see. I just hope Dylan really is the guy I think he is.’
‘He is! You’ve got your happy ending, Charlotte, and no one deserves it more than you.’
‘What happens now?’
‘The limo is waiting to take you both for a romantic candle-lit dinner.’ Jas hugged her goodbye and promised to call her when they were back in the UK. Jas didn’t mention that in Charlotte’s hotel suite the bed would be decorated with red rose petals for when she and Dylan hopefully went back there.
‘Oh, wait, one more thing. What’s happened to Gabriella?’ asked Charlotte.
Jas took a deep breath. ‘Dylan broke up with her. Off-camera. I’m sure he’ll tell you about it but it did not go well. She started throwing plates at him, apparently, could have done some real damage if he hadn’t swerved out of the way. She was wailing that he’d embarrassed her, ruined her life and she’d never trust anyone again.’
‘Yikes. I suppose it can’t be very nice to think you’d won his heart and then be dumped weeks later.’
Jas smiled. Even after what Gabriella had done, and how she’d tried to sabotage Charlotte’s own relationship with Dylan, Charlotte could still feel sympathy for her. ‘I wouldn’t feel too sorry for he
r if I were you. She poisoned two of the contestants, remember? Alex could have died without her EpiPen. Gabriella’s been formally charged and has admitted the whole thing.’
‘To poisoning Alex?’
‘Yes, she put almond oil in Alex’s smoothie during the match but Alex didn’t drink it until the coach ride home. She didn’t think of it at the time, she was so convinced that Georgia was behind it by tampering with her face cream.’
‘Wow!’
‘Yep. And Gabby deliberately undercooked Kat’s breakfast so she’d get food poisoning. It wasn’t the shrimps from the buffet at all. She’s insane, Charley. She’s hoping that her confession will get her off lightly but I can’t be so sure. She has some serious mental issues, that’s for certain. And they should have been picked up in our vetting at the beginning of the process, so we’ve had to launch another investigation into why they weren’t spotted.’
‘I can’t believe it.’
‘Yes, well, it’s nothing for you to worry about, sweetheart. Go on, Dylan’s waiting for you.’
Charlotte hugged her tightly again. ‘Thank you for everything, Jas.’
Chapter 40
The night before the divorce hearing Jas barely slept. She was nervous about the outcome, nervous that she’d screw things up and was particularly dreading being anywhere near Richard again. Lila, Meg, Oscar, Graham and Helen all came down to London to support her at the hearing. Lila, in particular, insisted that she was eager to look Richard straight in the eye so he knew she wasn’t intimidated by him. Lila’s written statement to the court had detailed how Jas would regularly phone her, Meg and their parents in tears over her crumbling marriage to Richard when he’d stood her up or stayed out all night.
During the hearing, the whole family were cross-examined by Richard’s po-faced female lawyer about their statements and they kept their cool entirely. Jas could see Richard seething. To him, it was all about power, especially when it came to Jas and Lila. They weren’t letting him keep any of it.
Celia Butler took to the stand to claim Jas had never understood the huge demands of Richard’s job and how hard he worked to support their lifestyle. Friends of his then described the romantic gesture made on Jas’s birthday last December when Richard had gallantly bought them both a new house, out of the city, to try to fix their marriage, only to be shot down by a ‘cold’, ‘heartless’ and ‘ruthlessly ambitious’ Jas. She rolled her eyes. Why was it every time a woman showed any desire to succeed in her career, or life in general, without the aid of a man, she was deemed ‘ruthlessly ambitious’?
A few hours in, things weren’t looking good. Jas slumped in her seat. She looked over to Celia, straightening Richard’s tie as if he were a schoolchild in uniform. Richard’s father, Harold, hadn’t even bothered to turn up. Jas realised that, no matter what the outcome today, she was richer than her husband in so many ways.
Her lawyer, Ralph Mackover, had slipped out and now returned. He spoke to Jas as he sat down next to her. ‘Don’t worry, Jasmine. I know things are going Richard’s way now but the rest of your witnesses are outside. Once they’ve had their say we should be in a very good position. Fantastic job, getting them to speak, by the way. Afterwards you’ll have to tell me how you did it.’
Jas had no idea what he was talking about. How she’d done what? New witnesses?
Now, the judge spoke. She was a large, very stern-looking woman in her sixties who Jas would not want to get on the wrong side of. When she spoke, she did so slowly in Queen’s English, peering over her thick-rimmed glasses. ‘Shall we call your additional witnesses in, Ms Whiteley? I’d like to get this over with as quickly as possible. Beth Harrods, please.’
Jas had never heard of a Beth Harrods and didn’t recognise the short woman who came in then. Richard whispered something to his lawyer and looked angry.
‘Ms Harrods, please can you state your relationship to Mr Butler?’ asked Ralph.
‘I’m an accountant at Curtis Stoddard.’
‘Where Mr Butler works?’
‘Yes.’
‘And what is your role there, specifically?’
‘I put through Mr Butler’s expenses. In fact, all the expenses for his team.’
‘And you have provided copies of some of these expense sheets and claimed receipts, is that correct?’
‘That’s confidential!’ Richard shouted to his lawyer, who told him to calm down. From a folder, Ralph brandished a clear plastic wallet crammed with signed-off expense sheets and receipts from clubs in the City and Soho. The receipts clearly displayed the early hours of the morning in which the purchases of a great deal of alcohol were made. They’d been signed off by Richard’s bosses and were all made using a company credit card. While such expenses weren’t illegal, they were certainly unusual and it was hard to say why a magnum of champagne paid for at The Box at 1 a.m. on a Friday morning could be for a ‘client meeting’. It didn’t help Richard’s case – and only illustrated Jas’s. There were also receipts from Agent Provocateur. Jas certainly hadn’t received any gifts from Richard bought there in a number of years so it only supported her claim that he had a mistress.
Jas was stunned by this new development. Then, to her amazement, another female employee at Curtis Stoddard took to the witness stand, claiming that not only had she slept with Richard at the Christmas party but he had also offered her cocaine and she’d witnessed him taking it in his office where they’d had sex.
Two more female employees appeared in turn, maintaining that Richard’s drug use and womanising were notorious in the office. Even when his lawyer sternly cross-examined them, they held their own. The last witness was dismissed.
After that the judge cleared her throat. ‘I think I’ve heard all I need to hear. Mr Butler, Ms Whiteley, I’m sure you know that listening to couples arguing about divorce is not a top priority for the family court. Hopefully you will both think hard before entering into any future marriage, and consider all its potential consequences. But I’m afraid, Mr Butler, that in this case there is clear evidence that the marital breakdown can be ascribed solely to you. I whole-heartedly endorse Ms Whiteley’s application to divorce you on the grounds of unreasonable behaviour and adultery.’
Jas let out an almighty sigh of relief. She’d won! She really was going to get her divorce and Richard couldn’t stop it any more! Richard stared at her, seeming unable to believe what he had just heard. His lawyer nudged his shoulder and led him out.
‘Excellent result!’ Ralph Mackover was smiling broadly as he and Jas went in search of her family. ‘I’ll get things rolling now, Jasmine. It won’t be too long before you’re officially single again.’
‘But, Ralph, where on earth did all these women come from?’
‘I assumed that was your work? You knew them, didn’t you?’
‘I’ve never seen any of them before in my life.’
Jas was about to probe Ralph further but now they were in the waiting area her family were hugging her and talking over each other to ask questions. ‘How are you feeling?’ ‘How did you do it?’ ‘How did you get them all to speak for you?’ ‘Did you see Richard’s face?’
‘It’s over now, love,’ said Graham softly as he hugged his daughter tight. Jas realised that during this whole ordeal she’d given little thought to how it was affecting her parents. They were always a pillar of support to her, but it must have been hard for them to witness their daughter go through a bitter break-up and divorce.
‘I’m sure it must feel confusing now but you’ve got to remember, Jasmine, take this as one big lesson. You’ll bounce back in no time.’
‘Love you, Dad. Thank you.’
Helen joined them and gave Jas several kisses. ‘We’re so proud of how gracefully you’ve handled all this,’ she said. ‘With such dignity and maturity.’ Jas blushed, thinking about the awful way she’d spoken to Luke not so long ago.
‘I don’t know about that, Mum.’
‘Anyway, it’s time for you to move on
now that nasty man is out of your hair once and for all. You can start to rebuild your life, love. Oh, it’s so exciting!’
Jas felt another wave of affection for her parents.
‘Now, I don’t know about you but I could use a stiff drink,’ announced Graham, patting Oscar on the back. ‘I saw a promising-looking boozer just across the road. I’ll lead the way, first round’s on me!’
Meg, Helen and Lila continued to talk over each other excitedly about the day’s dramatic events. Jas went along with them quietly, letting it all sink in. She was overcome with gratitude to all those women for risking their jobs – their careers even – to help her. But hearing from people she didn’t know about just how terrible Richard’s behaviour was, and seeing one of the – probably many – women he had had sex with, in his office, while married to Jas, had made her feel queasy. Just how little could she have meant to him, for him to do such a thing? Not to mention how he’d treated Lila.
Outside, as Graham and Oscar marched towards the pub, Jas noticed the first mystery woman from the accounts department who’d spoken out against Richard. She had a cigarette in her mouth and was fumbling around in her handbag for a lighter, which she then dropped on the ground. Jas raced over to pick it up for her.
‘Beth? I wanted to thank you for what you did in there. Your colleagues, too. I don’t know if I’d have won without your statements.’
Beth inhaled deeply on her cigarette, exhaling to the side so as not to blow smoke in Jas’s face. ‘I’m just sorry I didn’t say something sooner. We all knew. Everyone knows what goes on and no one says anything. It’s terrible that you had to put up with that for so long from your own husband.’
‘If you don’t mind my asking, what made you come forward now?’
‘Well, you know our bosses said they’d fire anyone who spoke out in support of you?’
‘I did not know that! You know that’s illegal, right?’
‘We were all scared of losing our jobs so we kept quiet at first. And it’s not just your ex-husband who acts like that, believe me. Then, when Luke came to see us all, everything worked out.’
