AYRA "I don't know the details, he refused to say," she said, raising her hands up. But I couldn't help but feel she knew more than she was letting on. Raven now conspiring with Liam was so funny. But I knew Liam wouldn't do anything to sabotage me or my career, so I let it slide. The day passed as we got to the hotel room to meet a wide range of snacks and food. There were two huge pints of ice cream chilling in separate buckets of ice. And there was a bouquet of flowers, lilies to be precise, with a short note that said: "Cool off. Don't stress about them. The only thing about lilies that should be on your mind is this bouquet." I smiled as I took my pint and Raven took hers, and we cheersed. It was ridiculously funny to do. My phone buzzed and I opened it with a smile, only to freeze with annoyance. Raven noticed my mood and raised a brow. I showed her a message from Chris saying: "I heard you're working extra for this position so I sent something. Ayra, we still need to ta
AYRA "Design jewelry?" I stared at Elena... more like gawked at her like she'd grown another head. "I'm sorry, what?" We were back in the breakfast room, but now there were samples of Lilies jewelry scattered across the table. And Rina was also here. "Your final challenge," Alessandro explained, "is to create an original jewelry piece that embodies the Lilies brand vision and also a part of you." Rina looked bored as hell, probably thinking why she had to do this extra work. "I'm sorry, but where do we even begin? I have no experience in this," I said, still trying to gather my thoughts together. "We don't expect you to have the experience off the bat, of course. We've arranged for you to work with local artisans in Milan's jewelry district," Elena continued. "You'll have access to their workshops, materials, whatever you need. You have until tomorrow evening to present your finished pieces." "Tomorrow evening?" My voice came out higher than I intended. "That's less than twent
AYRA"Ayra! Wake up!" I woke up to Raven screeching in my ear as she opened the curtains wide to let light in."I swear if it's about a cricket player, I'll stone you with this pillow," I said groggily, trying to cover my face with the duvet."Raven?" I called out."It's your speech," she said, grinning like she'd won the lottery. "It's everywhere."She turned one of the laptops toward me, and I watched myself on the stage last night, giving that impromptu speech."Look at this," Raven said, scrolling through Twitter. "Your speech has been retweeted over fifty thousand times since last night.""Fifty thousand?""And that's just Twitter. On Instagram, the clips have millions of views. TikTok is going crazy with people doing their own 'second chances' videos inspired by your speech."I sat down hard on the couch, staring at the screens. "This is insane. Adrian's team must be really working hard. Giuseppe told me that my photos did the same yesterday. I'm so grateful for them.""That's t
AYRAIt was the evening of the gala, and I was still stuck with the no-dress situation."I can't go to the gala in a hotel bathrobe," I said, staring at the remains of my destroyed silver gown scattered across the bedroom floor."We'll figure something out," Raven said, but she sounded as panicked as I felt. "Maybe we can find a boutique that's still open, or..."A knock at the door interrupted her frantic planning. We had been stuck in one meeting after another and had no time to select another dress."Room service," came a voice from the hallway."We didn't order anything," Raven said, frowning.But I opened the door anyway, and there was a hotel employee holding the most beautiful garment bag I'd ever seen."Delivery for Ms. Smith," he said with a bow. "With compliments.""From who?" I asked, but he was already walking away.I carried the bag inside, my heart racing. Please don't let this be another sabotage attempt.But when I unzipped the bag, I gasped.Inside was the most stunni
AYRAI was still internally celebrating my wins when Rina came over after being called by a set assistant."Now we do something special," Giuseppe announced as the crew reset for the final shots of the day. "Both of you together. The campaign needs shots of potential ambassadors side by side.""Wonderful," Rina said, her voice bright and professional.The crew set up the scene. They placed two elegant chairs facing each other."Ladies, take your positions," Giuseppe called out.We both took our seats as the shoot began."Beautiful," Giuseppe said, snapping test shots. "Now, I want you to interact. Look at each other, create a story together."We both nodded and tried to follow his instructions."Ayra, lean forward slightly," Giuseppe directed. "And Rina, beautiful, perfect as always."Everybody was now watching us. Who would make the other look bad? Who would shine the brightest?"That's interesting," I heard one of Giuseppe's assistants whisper to another. "Look how natural she looks
AYRAI was taking deep breaths as I made my way to Villa San Martino. Deep breaths, calming exercises... my mantra?"Rina, you fucking bitch... I pray your face gets botched from botox."Immediately after the dress reveal, Raven got a call about the rest of the shoot happening. Turns out we didn't get the full schedule, the shoot wasn't over, and I'm sure she was counting on me showing up late. But Liam had acted quickly and got me to the location as fast as possible.The Villa San Martino was straight out of a fairy tale. It had rolling hills covered in vineyards and old stone walls. The whole place looked like it was made for Greek gods to lounge."Deep breaths, Ayra. Let's just wrap this shoot up professionally and get you back to the hotel. Don't stress about anything else, you've gone through enough." Raven said to me, giving me an encouraging nod.I took in a big breath and exhaled, then nodded right back at her. "The place is too gorgeous to contain my anger anyway.""Gorgeous