The Accidental Wife

"Hey, you home?" said Lucy as Rachel just walked into the apartment with a gloomy face.

Rachel smiled faintly, "Hey, you're not going out with Charles?" she asked, taking off her high heels and placing them in the shoe cabinet. 

"Yup! Charles will be picking me up in a minute. Rach, there were three calls today and all three are from the Bank, they're collecting loans. Is everything all right?" asked Lucy rather anxiously. 

Rachel tried to smile, "Yeah of course everything's fine! Just a little late in payment, that's all! Don't worry! It'll be fine," she said cheerfully.

But Lucy was unfazed, she looked at Rachel with a probing look.

"You're not broke are you?"

"No! I just forgot to pay the bill, that's it! Do you want some Pannacotta? I bought it on the way home," Rachel mumbled trying to change the subject. Lucy took the paper bag of Pannacotta from her with a frown, "You're not lying, are you? You know you can always count on me," she said earnestly.

Rachel laughed, "Of course not! I would definitely tell you if I was in trouble, don't worry! Okay? Now, I'm going to clean up first! Get that worried look off your face!" she said as she walked to her room.

Rachel closed her bedroom door tightly, she took a deep breath, panicked. Soon all the bank collectors might come to her apartment or maybe to her parents' house. How could she possibly overcome the mess she had made? She threw herself onto the bed, staring at the ceiling in deep thought.

Three years ago, she got a job at a prestigious New York public relations firm and that changed her life completely. Her lifestyle began to change, she lived with her best friend in an expensive apartment in the Central Park West area whose rent, even though it had been halved, was actually still too expensive compared to the salary she received as a regular PR staff. She also started to often buy luxury goods so that she could compete with her colleagues in the office. Whenever Lucy reminded her, she always said that she needed to improve her lifestyle to keep up with her clients. 

She borrowed large sums of money from several banks, swiped all his credit card limits, and even mortgaged her parents' house certificates just to satisfy her shopping craze.

"AAAAAAARGH!" she screamed into the pillow, releasing the weight on her chest. What should she do?! She couldn't borrow that much money from Lucy, she had helped her too much. She had to do something! If her parents realized that she mortgaged their house certificate, her life would be done.

"Rachel, are you sleeping?" a knock on the door startled her. She quickly got out of bed and opened the door for Lucy.

"What's up?" she asked, putting on a cheerful face.

Lucy handed out an invitation to her, "I know you're not in a good mood but a few complimentary glasses of wine will surely please you, come to this party, Charles and I, we want to go somewhere else," she said with a wink of an eye. 

"Isn't this a premium event for the rich people? You and Charles deserve to be there, but not me, they won't recognize me and I'll look stupid among the tycoons," Rachel mumbled as she held out the black invitation back to Lucy.

Lucy rolled her eyes "Oh come on! You're used to hanging out with the upper class, just put on your best clothes! Who knows you'll meet your soul mate there! I'll be staying in Los Angeles for a week, don't mess around while I'm away! Bye Rach, love you!" she babbled as she walked briskly waving her hand, leaving Rachel staring at the invitation in her hand in bewilderment.

"Shit, should I go?" Rachel raved to herself, she had two choices. Go to that prestigious event to enjoy free wine and food and then go home with a full stomach or spend her Saturday night in her apartment alone thinking about her debt that will not pay off on its own. After thinking for a while, she finally decided to leave.

The theme of the party was 'mysterious masks', lucky her, she had a nice silver mask she bought last year for the Halloween party. She put on her best black dress, bandaged her legs in twelve-inch stilettos, and styled her hair in a stunning messy bun. After feeling confident with her reflection in the mirror, she went down to the apartment lobby, took a can, and went to the five-star hotel in the Soho area where the party was being held.

She read the invitation in her hand that was engraved with Nicholas Anthony's Birthday Bash. She frowned, she seemed to have heard the name but couldn't remember where. What was clear is that the man must be one of the New York conglomerates because the list of invited guests was very impressive, even the vice president of the United States will be there.

New York City's traffic was quite heavy, five minutes later Rachel arrived at the hotel where the party was being held. She got out of the cab and felt inferior when she saw other people getting out of their luxury cars. She sneered, envious that no matter how hard she worked she would never become rich like them.

With his chin held high he walked to the examination site.

"Good evening, Ms. Lucy Fergusson? Did you come alone?" asked the security guard.

"Yes," Rachel answered simply. Her eyes fell on the neatly arranged party favors not far from her, she couldn't wait to see them.

After scanning the invitation barcode into the computer, Rachel was finally allowed to enter. "Enjoy your party Ms. Fergusson!" said the security guard almost without a smile.

"Thanks!" replied Rachel while walking briskly to the table with party favors on it. 

"May I know what's in it?" she asked a woman standing beside the table.

"Tiffany's gold keychain," the woman said curtly, watching Rachel as she chewed gum.

Rachel sneered, how could the hotel hire such an annoying woman like her? 

"Can I have one?" she asked, trying to keep herself friendly. 

"Yeah, sure," answered the woman casually.

"Um, actually I came with my boyfriend, can I get two of them?" she lied though not completely because, in fact, Lucy was supposed to come with Charles that evening.