Chapter Five
Eliza plucked up one of the loose curls by her face and sprayed liberally with hair spray, holding it in place until it had set. Then she scooted forward on her padded stool and applied a layer of shimmering peach-pink gloss to her lips. She checked her teeth, ran a finger over her brows, and nodded to herself in the mirror before walking over to the high-backed chair set in between two white reflector sheets and a ring light.
Off to the side, the Min Pin JP lay curled on a miniature-sized pink sofa complete with shag throw pillows and a fluffy pink-and-white blanket. She crouched down and stroked the top of his head, then tucked the blanket more snugly around his side.
“You be good while mommy works. Then we’ll go out for dinner, okay, little man? I’d bet you could go for a nice piece of steak from Campri. We’ll get ourselves a corner booth.”
Her camera was already in place, and she made sure that the shooting field was centered on the chair. Finally, she cleared her throat, carefully used a straw to take a sip of water, and sat on the chair. She pushed the recording button on the remote control and smiled into the camera.
“Hello, all my Vibers. I hope you’re having an abundant week, an abundant month, an abundant year, and most importantly—an abundant life. I love each and every one of you so, so much and I’m excited for all your progress. Every single day I get the most amazing messages and emails about what you’re doing out in the world, and it makes me cry so hard. Like we’re literally creating a revolution of manifestational joy. We’re making this world better. God, I’m misting up right now just thinking about it. Good thing I’m wearing the new Chanel waterproof mascara. It’d be a total tragedy if my makeup ran while I was recording … okay, keep it together, Eliza … anyway, there’s something I need to talk about today, and it’s really important and really serious. You all know I like to focus on the positive, keep my vibrational energy on the highest possible plane, but sometimes you’ve got to acknowledge the past and look at what you’ve been through.”
“This is hard. Harder than I thought it would be. I’ve never talked about it before and it’s really personal, but you guys are my best friends, and if my story helps a single one of you it’ll be so totally worth it. Sometimes the biggest breakthroughs come from authentic vulnerability, so here I am, being all vulnerable over here. Anyway, not to be too like dramatic or anything, but recently I’ve had some negativity in my life, and I want to take control of the narrative. For those of you enrolled in my Stepping into Abundance course, we talked about this a lot in group. How you have to be in charge of your own story, otherwise other people might try to take over and twist it on you … okay, deep breath, Eliza, you’ve got this ….” She clasped her hands tightly together under her chin, drew a deep breath, and continued.
“Here’s the truth of what’s going on. As you may already know, I just got engaged to the love of my life. Scott is beyond amazing. Like the most perfect man. Exactly how I pictured my life partner. I literally did a vision board over a year ago, and he ticked every single box plus a whole bunch I hadn’t even thought of. But his family are off the charts protective, and they’re worried I’m not a good person. I know, I know. It’s hard to swallow, but I have to respect their protectiveness and the love they have for their son. It’s so totally cool if you look at it from a certain point of view. Anyway, they haven’t exactly come out and said it, but I can feel the vibes. You guys know how empathic I am, right? They think I’m in it for the money because he’s mega-loaded. But I don’t need to steal someone else’s money. Not in this abundant universe. I’m attracting my own wealth literally every single second. Still, when you come from a scarcity mindset, I guess that’s your default belief. I feel sad for them. It’s such a hard way to live … wow, I’m getting so emotional just thinking about their sad and scared outlook.”
Eliza frowned and looked down for a moment before shaking her head. “But back to the point of this vlog. I think some things might come out about me and I want to be the one to tell you first. It’s nothing shameful. I promise …. so here goes .… My parents died in a car accident almost two years ago now. At the time, I had a lot to process … I’m still processing, to be honest, and probably always will be … but back then, I wasn’t ready to talk about it. I’m not exactly ready now, but I feel like I have to because of the situation. Let me just tell you that it was hard and awful and sad, and I miss them every day. But I like to think they’re looking down on me and are proud of how I’m building my life and helping so many people. The next part—some of you may already know—is that my sister died late last year.”
She wrapped her arms around her torso. “It was sudden and just about ripped my heart right out of my chest. Sister love is real and strong, people … okay, just give me a minute. I promised myself I wouldn’t cry, and look at me … just breathe, Eliza, you’re going to be fine … you’re surrounded by love …. Okay, I guess what I’m saying is I’ve had to kind of pick myself up twice now. Rebuild my life from the ground up. It hasn’t been easy, that’s for sure. Losing my whole family like that was mega-hard. Still, I might not be the person I am now if I hadn’t had to go through so much. Don’t get me wrong, I wish none of them had died, but it taught me a lot about being strong and resilient and keeping focused on my mission.”
Eliza’s shoulders rolled back and she lifted her chin. “I don’t want you to feel sorry for me or anything. Use me as an example of what’s possible no matter the circumstances. If I can power through the tough times, so can you. Well … that’s it. Now you know everything. I actually feel better telling you guys. Secrets are never good. Plus, maybe in future I’ll be able to talk about my parents and Maryanne sometimes and you’ll understand. Okay, Vibers, thanks for watching. Remember to like and share this post and make sure you’re following me to get notifications for my new content. I have a whole bunch of juicy stuff coming up on planning my wedding and how I’m going to prep for becoming a bride. My hope for you guys is you’ll go on out there into the world and manifest yourselves a beautiful life. Love and kisses.”
Eliza waited for five seconds, holding her tremulous smile the whole time, before clicking the remote and shutting down the recording. Her followers would eat this up. It was so incredibly personal, and she was showing a vulnerable side they hadn’t seen before. A brand-new direction. It’d be interesting to see what the analytics showed on this one.
She wasn’t going to post it right away, but she wanted it recorded and ready for just the right time. The second she’d refused the prenup, she knew things would get sticky. Sure enough, she could already sense Scott’s stepmom judging her every which way to Sunday. They’d no doubt be digging into her past and combing over it an inch at a time looking for dirt.
She had to make sure this marriage went ahead as planned. If it didn’t … well … she couldn’t think about that right now. And if she could garner the sympathy of her online followers, it would surely help her cause. No one wanted to be the mean old bully picking on the poor, orphaned girl who was just trying to make her way in the world and hoping for love, right?
And truth be told, she was looking forward to the wedding. How fun was it to plan the big day when you had an unlimited budget? She’d already earmarked about a dozen dresses. All designer, of course. Her favorite, so far, was a Vera Wang gown. She was going to be a stunning bride.
And it would provide so much content for her channels. Her ratings and subscriber numbers had jumped when she’d shared about the engagement. Now she was poised to rocket straight to the sky. Already, her monthly payouts had more than doubled and she could tell it was only going to get better from here.