Read Guardian Girl (The Chronicles of Staffordshire) for Free Online Page B

squirmed. “Lenore… This isn’t about…”
    Too little, too late. The teenage girl was on a man-handling roll. “My guides and chaperones have done their best to protect me from people who wish to do me harm. And I believe they have done an exceptional job. But it is impossible for them to protect me from every one of those people I do not know and each of those 146,000 photos. So if there are photos somewhere that portray me in some negative light, all I can say is…”
    “Lenore… You cannot deny that one of these photos shows you holding hands with an older man…”
    “I do not remember that moment, Terry…” Off camera, a tell hinted at Lenore’s duplicity. Though her leg lost its spastic jitter, Lenore once again picked at her left index finger. Not quite a lie. Not quite the truth.
    “You’re telling us you don’t remember holding hands with that man?”
    Armand caught Lenore’s gaze and poured strength into his beleaguered daughter. “Te quiero, Lenore…”
    “Terry… I am telling you… I do not remember that moment…”
    “But surely, Lenore, you don’t expect us to believe…”
    “Mr. Trainor, I live every day knowing that the honor of the De La Fuente family name is on my shoulders. How I behave does not affect only me. It also affects my mother and father, whom I love deeply. I attempt to conduct myself properly every day of my life. When my fans think of that challenge, I would like them to remember that number… 146,000…”
    In the remote truck just outside, the Producer watched the interviewer seethe, red-faced and thirsting for blood. Lenore staggered Trainor with mention of his career-rocking photo. Trainor wanted payback.
    “Terry… Don’t do it, mate! She knows it’s coming! Go soft!”
    The interviewer refused to retreat. Terry Trainor – “Award Winning Journalist” - was not about to let a wicked little girl – no matter how well prepped or sympathetic - get the best of him.
    “Then how do you explain your disappearance from the runway, Lenore? You vanished for more than two weeks. You were the most photographed woman in the world and then you vanished without a trace. You disappeared at precisely the time those photos circulated. Can you explain that coincidence to your fans?”
    As the interviewer spoke, Armand mouthed additional instructions. They were unnecessary. With a subtle side-to-side shake of her head, Lenore waved off her father. When the red light atop Camera #2 lit, Lenore glared unflinchingly at the interviewer, Golden Globe nomination secured for Best Performance by an Actress in a Real-Life Cat Fight. She spoke measured, commanding words.
    “Mr. Trainor… I am shocked that you would attempt to link my time away from the runway with your cruel rumors and heartless innuendo…”
    Trainor parried wildly. “Lenore, it is not a ‘rumor’ that you disappeared. That is a fact…”
    Lenore counter-attacked with a heart-piercing thrust. “…And since it does not appear that you will respect my privacy in this matter, you have left me no choice but to confess the details of a humiliating illness. It appears that reliving a frightening experience I would rather forget is the only way you will move onward from this malicious and deliberately hurtful line of questioning.
    “I do not know if you have daughters of your own, Mr. Trainor, but I am certain you can appreciate why I, as a teenage girl, have never spoken publicly about this. It was a deeply personal, embarrassing time in my life.”
    “This isn’t necessary, Lenore…”
    “Oh, but Mr. Trainor, I regret you have made it so by raising such filthy innuendo…”
    The host opened the can of worms with the accusation. The reinvigorated diva crushed every, last, squirming earth-eater with her sexy stilettos. For proper, humiliated effect, Lenore bowed her head and labored onward, speaking in hushed, mortified tones.
    “The truth, Mr. Trainor… The truth is that I disappeared from the public eye