Wednesday came and went ushering in a cool autumn breeze on Thursday evening. Reese and Naomi helped wherever they could as the staging company cleared the first floor and the event planner, Courtney, transformed the Melrose mansion into an elegant masquerade ball. Everything was really coming together, and she hoped that every effort would help sell the house.

"Can we make sure we put some cocktail tables poolside?" Reese announced to the crew, "and extra lighting too."

"This looks really good," Naomi said looking around, "I love the color scheme. What made you go with black, white, and red?"

"I don't know, "she hesitated, thinking back to Christian's playroom, "they just came to me."

"Well it was definitely a good choice," she smiled, "So, did you figure out what you're going to wear, or did you decide to go with old' faithful?"

"Old faithful?"

"Yea," she paused, "Your black dress with the—"

"I'm sorry to interrupt," Courtney said, "We have a major issue."

"What is it," Reese sighed.

"I know you wanted various assortments of ice sculpted animals with the red glow package," Courtney paused, "but because it was such short notice, the rep at so cool events informed me that they only did about half of the animals requested," her voice trailed waiting for Reese's reaction.

"Okay," Reese nodded her head, taking in the information, "So, what exactly do we have?"

"Let's see," she said scrolling through her iPad, "we only have… 2 lions and 2 swans."

"Okay," Reese paused, "Let's definitely keep the swans staged near the bar area, and let's stage the lions near the pool. Naomi, what do you think?"

"I think that works," she sounded distracted, as she scrolled through her phone, "have you seen this?" she said flashing her phone towards Reese.

"What is it?" Reese said squinting her eyes at the image.

"It's the photos from the Greys divorce," her voice raised, "Someone must have released them to the press and now it's trending alongside the masquerade event. This is bad Reese."

Reese stared blankly at Naomi as she continued to scroll through the news article. She didn't need a second look to recognize the woman in the photos. It was Elena. She didn't need to know what the reason was for them spending time together, if she was his wife she would have filed for a divorce too; multiple dinner dates, smiling, and looking cozy was too intimate for anyone's taste especially knowing their history.

"Who would do this?" Naomi said looking at her.

"I don't know," she said softly, "do you think maybe his ex-wife would?"

"Hmm, I don't think so," Naomi said dragging out her words, "anytime Scott mentioned her, he said she was always very sweet. He said she never sounded bitter, just heartbroken. If I had to guess, I'd say it's this bitch in the photos," she scoffed.

MMzz! MMzz!

Reese glanced at her phone at the familiar unsaved number. She hesitated to open the text message, knowing that he would have some sort of clever explanation that his personal drama was creating for her business venture.

6:17 PM 3234933687: I know what you're probably thinking, but it's not what it looks like.

Reese frowned at the text but tried to hide her emotions before Naomi caught a glimpse. She didn't know how to respond but knew it had to be calculated given their muddled semi-relationship.

"Who's that?" Naomi said glancing over at her.

"Oh uh, Victor," she stammered, "he just wanted to know how everything was going here?"

6:19 PM Reese: You should check on your wife. She's the one you hurt.

6:20 PM 3234933687: Ana and I have already addressed this issue.

"Hey, I'm going to head out," Naomi said with a deep sigh, "I really hope this blows over by tomorrow."

"Yea, so do I," Reese sighed, "I swear it's always something."

"Well at least if the press shows up tomorrow, they'll get great snapshots of your event," she smiled, "so that's good, right?"

"Yea," she said softly, "I guess I'll head home too. Big day tomorrow," she said with a half-smile.

The ladies reconnected with Courtney before leaving the property and heading to their respective destinations. Reese poured herself a glass of wine and plopped down her couch, scrolling through trending news articles. The photos of Christian and Elena were plastered everywhere, and each media outlet had its own spin on the situation; she couldn't help but indulge because he had been so vague about the divorce.

MMzz! MMzz!

7:06 PM 3234933687: Are you planning on ignoring me for the rest of the evening?

7:07 PM Reese: I don't know how to respond to you Christian

7:07 PM 3234933687: Just say how you're feeling

7:09 PM Reese: I don't know...I understand why your wife divorced you. It looks like you were cheating and given your history with Elena…

7:09 PM 3234933687: That's what you would assume.

7:09 PM Reese: That's would anyone would assume, especially your wife

7:10 PM 3234933687: Assuming isn't the right approach

7:11 PM Reese: So then enlighten me, what happened between you and Elena.

7:11 PM 3234933687: Nothing. She was in town for a few weeks, going through a rough time emotionally due to our business and personal relationship dissolving. I agreed to meet up with her to provide closure. Nothing happened sexually.

7:12 PM Reese: Multiple times?

7:12 PM 3234933687: You have to understand, Elena is a major part of who I am.

7:14 PM Reese: So that was enough to jeopardize your marriage? I'm sure your wife was against you meeting with her.

7:14 PM 3234933687: She knew about the first meeting…I was dishonest about the other three. I took advantage of her trust, I was wrong for that.

Reese sat on her couch, digesting all of the information. She was conflicted. On one hand, she understood why Ana would file for a divorce. He had betrayed her trust, and with Elena at that but on the other hand, she didn't see Christian as a malicious person that would intentionally hurt his wife. However, she didn't know all the ends and out of their marriage and rather stay neutral regarding their marital disparities.

7:22 PM Reese: I'm going to turn in for the night. I hope the media doesn't turn my brokers' open event into a sideshow.

7:25 PM 3234933687: What would you have me do?

7:27 PM Reese: Please uninvite Elena.

7:28 PM Reese: I need the focus to be on the property.

7:28 PM: I'll see you tomorrow evening.