by Holly Rayner
Back inside her apartment, Riley hurried through her preparations, taking the quickest shower that she could and putting on the bare minimum of makeup. She chose a comfortable blouse and skirt to wear, reasoning that since they were just going to be in Mansour’s apartment she didn’t need to look particularly flashy. Riley braided her hair to keep it out of her face, and gathered up her phone, keys, and purse before hurrying back down to her car.
No sooner had she pulled out onto the road to go to Mansour’s place when Riley’s phone rang. Her heart sank when she glanced at the screen to see that it was Alex. Riley pulled to a stop at a light and accepted the call.
“You know,” she said as soon as it connected, “I’m a smart woman, but forgive me if I don’t come up with major plots and schemes all that well when someone badgers me constantly.”
“Cut the crap, Riley,” Alex said sharply. “I know exactly where you’re headed.”
“Is that so?” Riley felt resentment bubbling up at her ex-boyfriend, mingled with fear at the fact that he had somehow managed to discover something that should have been solely between herself and Mansour.
“You’re going to his place. Now’s your chance to give me something that will make that half-million worthwhile.”
Riley’s stomach twisted and she sighed. “What do you want me to do?”
“Your new boyfriend is one of only five people in the entire world who has a complete copy of the Galaxy Wars 3 script,” Alex told her. Riley struggled to keep her attention on the road and listen to him at the same time as the light changed from red to green. “What you’re going to do is get into his office, steal the script, and pass it along to me. I’ll take it from there.”
Riley clenched her teeth, her hands tightening on the steering wheel. “If he catches me, Alex…not only would I end up not getting the script to you, but I’d become totally useless. He’d break up with me and I’d be fired from the production.”
“Better not get caught then,” Alex said flippantly. “You do this and you’ve got the half million, the role in the film, the whole deal. Done and done.”
“I’ll try,” Riley said reluctantly. She hung up the phone before Alex could say anything more and turned the volume up on her stereo so that even if he did call her again, she wouldn’t be tempted to answer it.
SIXTEEN
Riley was unsurprised by the multiple levels of security she passed through at Mansour’s apartment building. She was asked to present her ID to get into the parking structure, and again at the front desk to receive a key card to access the elevator to the penthouse suite that Mansour occupied. She grappled with the demand that Alex had made of her as the elevator moved silkily up through the floors; having got to know the man, she wasn’t sure she could betray him quite so deeply—even if her career was hanging in the balance.
Arriving at the top floor, Riley walked down a short hallway and took a deep breath to steady her nerve before knocking at the door to Mansour’s apartment—the only one on the top floor. She heard muffled noises from inside, and a moment later the door opened, revealing Mansour. He looked as gorgeous as ever, in a pair of well-worn jeans and an unbuttoned shirt, his peculiar hazel eyes almost glowing at the sight of her.
“You look more beautiful every time I see you,” Mansour said, leaning in to kiss her briefly on the lips before letting her into the apartment.
Riley had known that Mansour would have a nice place; but as she looked around the sprawling penthouse apartment, she thought that it might actually be larger than her parents’ entire home in Vegas. Polished hardwood floors peeked out from underneath thick, intricate Persian-style rugs, an enormous fireplace dominated one wall of the living room, and the furniture somehow looked both expensive and cozy.
“I was just getting started on dinner,” Mansour told Riley. “Kick off your shoes and make yourself at home.”
“You’re cooking dinner?” Riley raised an eyebrow.
“I will have you know that there have been times in my life when I was…well, not exactly on my own, but fending for myself,” Mansour said, wagging a finger at her. “I know how to cook.”
Riley chuckled, wandering into the living room barefoot and throwing herself onto the couch; it was every bit as comfortable as it had looked, and she sighed contentedly.
“As long as you don’t expect me to jump in and save you when something lights on fire,” she said jokingly.
“I have a fire extinguisher, I can handle it,” Mansour said. “Let me get you a glass of wine and get back to work—you must be as hungry as I am after the day we’ve both had.”
By the time Mansour brought her a glass of blush wine, giving her another quick kiss that sent guilt-ridden shivers scattering through her, Riley had realized there was no way out of her situation, unless she did what Alex asked of her.
“This place is so big I’m not sure I could find the bathroom in it,” she said, keeping her voice as casual as possible.
“Right over there,” Mansour said, pointing to a door off to the side of the entryway. “There are two more—one attached to the guest bedroom, and one attached to my room—but that one is the easiest to get to.”
“Do you mind if I wander around a bit?” Riley tried to look as innocent as possible. “Since you’re going to be busy cooking dinner, and much as I’d like to think I could be happy just lying around drinking wine…”
“Make yourself at home,” Mansour said with a smile.
Riley smiled back at him, her heart aching with the knowledge of what she was about to do.
Riley waited for a few moments, until she thought that Mansour was settled into the task of cooking their dinner. She took a long sip of the wine he’d poured her and stood, walking towards the bathroom that Mansour had pointed out. Instead of using the restroom, however, Riley looked around at the other doors leading out of the living room; she opened one to find a closet—stuffed with coats and random objects she didn’t take the time to identify. Another one was the restroom that Mansour had told her she could use. The third door she tried opened into an office: cluttered but not quite messy. Riley saw stacks of binders and paperwork piled neatly on desks and filing cabinets, but there was no sign of trash hanging around. Riley glanced back towards the kitchen and then darted into the office, pulling the door to behind her, but not quite closing it.
If I had one of the only three full copies of a blockbuster script, where would I keep it? Riley turned to the desk and opened each of the drawers in turn. In the bottom drawer, nestled amongst invoices and pens, she saw the script, held together by a binder clip. Riley took a deep breath. Her hands trembled, and her heart beat rabbit-fast in her chest at the thought of what she was about to do.
She took a deep breath, remembering Alex’s threats, and took the script out of the drawer. Riley opened her purse and started to slide the thick stack of pages into it, grateful that her bag was big enough to hold it.
Just as she tried to push the last inch of the printed sheets into her purse, Riley paused. If I do this, I’m going to destroy Mansour’s career, or at the very least, seriously harm it. I’d destroy everything he’s been working towards for so long.
Riley pressed her lips together and started to pull the script out of her bag. She couldn’t do it; she couldn’t betray Mansour so deeply—no matter what Alex did to her. Mansour had been too good to her, too kind, and she cared about him too much. Riley sighed and opened the drawer to put the script back in.
As she started to slide the stack of paper back into its place in the drawer, Riley heard the door hinges creak behind her. Starting at the sound, she nearly dropped the script entirely, and turned to look, hoping against hope that it was just a random movement.
“What are you doing?”
Riley’s heart sank at the sound of Mansour’s voice. She turned around and saw him standing in the doorway to the office. For a long moment, her brain felt frozen—no matter how desperately she tried to come up with something to say, nothing c
ame to mind. As the silence stretched out, Riley saw realization dawn on Mansour’s face; saw the sadness anger showing in his eyes.
“So that’s why you agreed to go out with me,” Mansour said quietly. The sound of his voice—the grief, the resignation—made Riley’s heart ache.
“No!” she said quickly. “I—I agreed to go out with you because I liked you and then— There’s this guy…”
“I don’t want to hear it,” Mansour said. He sounded exhausted. “I should have known better.” He shook his head. “I don’t want to know who hired you, or what they’re paying you. I just want you to get out of my house right now.”
Riley’s eyes stung as her tears began to flow; for a moment she considered trying to explain—trying to convince Mansour to listen to her, if just for a few minutes, to hear her out. But she knew that the man she loved was right to feel betrayed.
“Okay,” she said quietly, closing the drawer and shifting her purse on her shoulder. “I’m sorry, Mansour. I really am.”
Riley swallowed the lump in her throat, closing her eyes to push down the tears she could feel rising up. She walked past Mansour, slipping her shoes on at the front door, and left the apartment without looking back. She maintained her composure as she took the elevator down to the lobby, and as she walked past the front desk. She closed her eyes again when she reached her car and took a deep breath; there was only one thing left to do.
She climbed into the driver’s seat and closed the door behind her, reaching into her purse to find her phone. Riley pulled up Alex’s number and tapped the ‘call’ icon.
“That was fast,” Alex said, sounding approving. “When do you want to meet with me to give me the script?”
“I don’t have it,” Riley said.
“What?” Alex sounded incredulous.
“I don’t have it,” Riley repeated. “Mansour caught me. Just like I said.”
Riley pressed her lips together to keep from admitting that she’d been in the process of returning the script to the drawer when Mansour had walked in on her—Alex didn’t deserve to know that.
“You idiot!” Alex’s voice was tight with barely contained fury. “You idiot. I gave you one simple task and you screwed it up. I can’t believe this! Did he fire you?”
“Not—not in so many words,” Riley said, sighing. “He just told me to leave.”
“Shit. Dammit, Riley—what the hell is wrong with you?”
“If you wanted a thief you should have hired one!” Riley felt her throat tightening, her eyes burning with tears she was struggling not to shed. “I told you I wasn’t going to be able to do the job you wanted, and you didn’t believe me. Well guess what, Alex? I was right.”
She ended the call and threw the phone into the passenger seat, turning the key in her ignition and pulling out of the parking spot as quickly as she could.
SEVENTEEN
Mansour
Mansour stared at his computer screen, trying to focus on the report he’d opened up several minutes before. He reached blindly for his coffee, sitting back in his chair with a frown. It had been three days since he’d discovered Riley in the very same office, his copy of the Galaxy Wars script in her hands.
He sighed deeply, taking a sip of his coffee and scrubbing at his face with his free hand. In spite of the evidence in front of his own eyes, he still couldn’t quite believe that Riley could be so cold-blooded; she had seemed so genuinely sweet, so natural and caring. Mansour shook his head; whatever pain he felt at Riley’s betrayal, he couldn’t let it overwhelm the goals and ambition he had for his career. There were more important things in life than thwarted love.
He set his coffee cup down and turned his attention back onto the screen, intent on actually focusing on the report; he needed to make a decision—and it had to be done quickly.
The swoosh-beep sound of a new email hitting his inbox broke through Mansour’s fragile concentration and he switched over to his email account, more interested in a new distraction than in the report in front of him. Mansour frowned as he read the subject line. Riley Townsend: What You Need to Know. The address it came from was unhelpful in identifying the sender—just a string of numbers and letters from a Hotmail account. Mansour’s curiosity was piqued, but he knew better than to blindly open an email—particularly one with a large attachment.
Mansour opened up his antivirus system—developed by one of his classmates at Yale for private use, and better than anything available on the commercial market. He scanned the email and waited; the program declared it free of viruses or worms, and Mansour clicked open to find a brief message: Please find attached information that is vitally important to the success of your current project. The attachment was an audio file, and since the antivirus had declared it clean, Mansour opened it.
It began with a distorted voice, and a few seconds later, Mansour heard Riley’s voice—clear as a bell. He inhaled sharply. As the recording progressed, it became obvious that the conversation was between Riley and whoever had set her up; she was agreeing to act as a mole, to send information to the other person.
“Hmm.” Mansour considered. He had told Riley that he didn’t want to know who had hired her; but there was something about the recording that set off alarm bells in his mind—not the least of which was the fact that it had been sent to him in the first place, when he already knew that Riley had betrayed him.
Mansour called up another program his friend had developed. It was an advanced sound processing system, and Mansour thought that it would do the job nicely. He opened the audio file in the program and worked on it for a few moments, breaking up the distortion, playing it back until the disguised voice came through as clearly as Riley’s had before.
Mansour smiled to himself as he recognized the first person speaking. “This is what happens when you outsource your tech to the lowest bidder, Alex,” Mansour said quietly.
He shook his head, sitting back in his chair and considering the import of what he had discovered. Mansour remembered Alex well; he’d met him for a business dinner months before production had started on Galaxy Wars. They’d gone to Le Roi and discussed business over steak and cocktails. Mansour seemed to remember that Alex was doing his slimy best to suck up to him, in the hope of landing himself a job at Wonder Studios. While Mansour had forgotten many of the details of what had proved to be a fruitless evening out, his experience of dining with Alex had stuck irrevocably in his mind.
Mansour had decided within fifteen minutes of the dinner that he wanted nothing to do with Alex; an impression that was doubly confirmed when Alex made a few casual, crass comments about some of the waitresses in the restaurant. Calling the details of the evening up in his mind, Mansour remembered what Alex had said about one of the waitresses in particular: “I dated that one a while back; I don’t miss her but I definitely miss the sex. Does yoga every day, if you know what I mean.”
Mansour shook his head again. He pressed his lips together and pulled up the email again, wanting to double check his instinct about the voice on the recording. Within a few moments, he managed to trace the IP address; it had been sent from the offices of Empire State Productions.
“Ahh.” Mansour nodded to himself. Everything was falling into place; suddenly a picture formed in his mind of what had happened, and why Riley did what she did.
EIGHTEEN
Riley
Riley heard the sound of a knock at her door and frowned. She’d been drowning her sorrows with ice cream and chocolate since the day after Mansour had told her to leave; she had counted herself lucky that Monday’s shooting had been canceled, keeping her for just one day longer from the humiliation that she knew would come when Mansour denounced her and had her fired on the spot. She hadn’t told anyone other than Alex about what had happened, and she doubted very much that he would take the time to come and see her.
Another knock at the door and curiosity won out over Riley’s depression. She stood quickly and strode towards the door. Probably the landlord�
��just what I need right now, she thought bleakly. Riley took a quick breath and told herself to be patient with whoever it was; it wasn’t their fault that she was in a terrible mood.
Riley opened the door and for a moment thought that she had to be hallucinating; the figure standing on her doorstep was not Alex, nor the landlord, or even one of her friends. It was Mansour. Riley opened her mouth, realized that she couldn’t think of anything to say, and closed it once more.
“Riley?” Mansour didn’t look angry; he didn’t even look upset. His brow was furrowed in concern.
“Wh-what are you doing here?” Riley gave herself a shake, trying to believe the evidence before her eyes.
“Can I come in?” Mansour said.
Riley hesitated, dread sinking into her stomach. “Okay,” she said, stepping back from the door.
Mansour stepped into her apartment and Riley closed the door behind him.