Whatever Lola Wants . . .

It was a day Lola would never forget, no matter how much she wanted to. In all the time that had passed, she still couldn't erase that image from her mind. And so she allowed herself to relive that moment, wondering what she might have done differently that afternoon and how much could've been changed . . .

Things had been going well between her and Alberto, or so she'd thought. And she'd warned him, hadn't she? Hadn't she told him that if he ever crossed her, he'd have her family to contend with? Surely, he'd been aware of that when he'd decided to-

No, she refused to think of that now. She took a deep breath and went to find her father. He was the one man she knew she could always count on. Lola stopped in the dimly lit hallway to steady herself. She still couldn't believe what she'd seen!

She leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes to try to block out the image of her boyfriend - ex-boyfriend, she thought ruefully - kissing another girl. Part of her wished she hadn't come to surprise him at the arena before the show had started. A lone tear made its way halfway down her cheek before she felt a firm hand wipe it way. She sniffled, then she opened her eyes to see her father's concerned face.

"What happened?" he demanded.

She shook her head, speechless, too overcome with the sting of betrayal to tell him. She let out a shaky breath. "He . . . Alberto . . ." She hiccuped back a sob.

The Rated R Superstar was livid. He began raking his fingers through his hair, all manner of things coursing through his mind. What could that arrogant bastard have done to his little girl that would make her cry? And what would he do to him once he found him?

"Dad? Dad! Calm down! He was just kissing someone else. It's not like he slapped me or anything. Although . . ."

"He may as well have?" He remembered that feeling himself. "Did he tell you he was cheating?"

"No. I caught them." With that admission, another tear eked its way down her face. "I thought . . . I thought he really liked me, but . . . I guess I wasn't -"

"No. No! Don't do this to yourself! He was never . . . He was never good enough for you. I -" He clamped a hand over his mouth before he could say "told you that." He was not going to make her feel worse than she already did.

"I know, I know, Dad," she huffed. "You told me he was no good for me . . . He's arrogant, he's narcissistic . . ." She shook her head. Edge had always had her best interests at heart, his advice to her had always been sound, so why hadn't she listened to him? "Maybe I had to see it for myself to believe he is exactly as he acts in the ring."

Bringing herself back to the present, she wondered yet again why she hadn't heeded her father's advice. Why had she gone on that first date with Alberto? If she hadn't, maybe things would be different now. Maybe she could have found someone decent.

And maybe she wouldn't have wound up running Monday Night Raw.

In the days that followed The Betrayal, Vince had been the one to comfort her while Edge and Christian competed. He'd been so attentive and caring and, to get her mind off of her shambles of a love life, he'd asked her opinion about Raw. He'd even let her schedule a few matches. It had seemed a natural progression to him to officially appoint her General Manager of Monday Night Raw and keep her anonymous to protect her.

'And now Hunter's trying to stage a coup,' she thought coldly. She would let him think he'd won before reality came cruelly crashing down around him.