“Here and here. I can file this electronically, and I already have people in my New York, Washington, and L.A. offices on standby to serve the defendants as simultaneously as possible.”
Skye signed and then Olivia got to work scanning the documents and working on her laptop. Skye finally took a deep breath and sat back in the chair. Trent could practically see the weight lift off her shoulders.
“Miss Jessamine, I think you need to see this,” Georgina called out as she turned the volume up on the daily gossip news show that just came on.
The perky anchor who’d interviewed Skye numerous times looked into the camera with a breaking news logo next to her head. The logo disappeared and was replaced with a picture of Skye and a second picture of Tony Ketron. “We have breaking news that Skye Jessamine, America’s Sweetheart, is taking on an edgy new role in Tony Ketron’s upcoming film. The contracts were just signed and insiders say that after Skye’s racy photos, stripping for the gritty Ketron film won’t be a problem.”
Skye’s whole world stopped, yet she felt the rest of the world racing by her at the speed of light as she sat frozen in place. She struggled to breathe as anger strangled her until she felt Trent’s hand cover hers. She hadn’t realized her body had turned ice cold until his warmth brought her back. Skye blinked her eyes to see everyone looking grim-faced around her.
“I assume you didn’t sign said contract,” Olivia said, her voice even and calm.
“Correct. I would never sign it and my whole team knew that.”
Olivia nodded and pursed her perfectly pink lips. “You need to fire not just your attorney, but your entire inner circle including your agent, manager, and PR firm.”
Skye felt deflated and embarrassed as she told Olivia about her lifetime contract with Jim and his agency.
“Never say never in the law. I’ll tear that contract to shreds and then make him eat it one piece at a time. Now, with your permission, I’d like to release a very strongly worded response after I notify everyone that your legal representation has been changed. Give me fifteen minutes and I’ll have that woman reading our statement before the end of the show.”
“Go for it,” Skye said, sounding defeated. Olivia stormed from the table with her cell phone to her ear and began snapping orders like a pissed-off drill sergeant.
“I knew they wouldn’t like me trying to break free,” Skye muttered as she leaned into Trent for support.
“They don’t have a hold over you, Skye. You have to see that,” Trent told her. “A contract to hire Jim, but there’s nothing in place for Bernie or whoever your PR firm is. It’s time to clean house. Let Olivia do her thing while you start picking your own inner circle.”
“Know anyone in PR?” Skye said dryly, but Trent looked at Ryker and slow smiles spread across both faces. They were thinking the same thing.
“We sure do,” Trent said, feeling excited as he pulled out his phone and typed away. “This is our aunt in Kentucky. She’s mostly retired, but she runs PR for the family’s interests. Her firm went from just her to a fulltime mid-sized staff.”
“Morgan Davies,” Skye read as she took his phone. “What does she know about Hollywood? It’s a very different world out there.”
“She reps the family. Aunt Gemma, my cousin Sydney McKnight who owns Syd, Inc., The Daughters of Elizabeth Foundation, several Derby-winning farms, and a professional football team coach, plus her firm handles the entire team. They’re equipped, but Morgan is scarier than Olivia when she’s pissed off,” Trent explained.
Trent watched as Skye looked between him and Ryker, who nodded. “I’ve hired her myself, Skye,” Ryker told her. Trent looked to his cousin who shrugged. That was news to Trent. Of course, everything Ryker let them know was news since he kept more secrets than the priest in a confessional.
“Okay, hotshot. I trust Trent and he trusts you. So far you’ve given me no reason not to trust you. I’ll ask Olivia, and if she signs off on it, I’d like to talk to Morgan and see if we mesh.”
“If who meshes?” Olivia asked as she strode toward them in quick, sure steps despite the four-inch stiletto heels she wore.
“Ryker and I recommended our aunt Morgan Davies to head up Skye’s new PR team.”
Olivia actually rolled her eyes in frustration. “I’m annoyed I didn’t think of that first. Morgan Davies is one tough, badass bitch in the absolute best way possible for you. Plus, her husband is a silver fox. It shows she has good taste.”
Skye and Karri laughed as the men shook their heads.
“Want me to call her?” Trent asked.
“Yes, please,” Olivia answered for Skye. “If Skye likes her and hires her, then I can run the press release by her before sending it off.”
Trent scrolled through the long list of Davies contacts until he found Morgan’s cell. She answered it on the third ring. “Trent! Did you get my thank-you note for the porch swing? Miles and I are just loving it.”
“I did, but that’s not why I am calling. I need PR help. Well, my girlfriend does.” Trent swallowed and glanced at Skye. She was staring at him, but with a happy little smile on her face so he was hopeful he hadn’t overstepped.
“Girlfriend!” Morgan yelled excitedly in the phone. “Tell me everything. I can’t believe it. I have the scoop on my mother-in-law. In her senior citizen face!”
“Dear, you do realize you’re a senior citizen too now,” Trent heard Uncle Miles say in the background.
“Do you want to live to see your grandchild born?” Morgan shot back.
“You’re a very sexy senior citizen,” Miles’s deep voice said, followed by some kissing noises.
Next to him Skye was trying to cover a giggle. “I like her,” she whispered.
“I heard that. So, who are you and why do you need help and you’d better be good enough for my nephew. Also, my husband wants you to know that by providing your name you fully consent to him running your name through every database known to man or woman, and some that aren’t known, to find out all your secrets.”
“I’m very good at hiding bodies,” Miles called out and Trent groaned.
“That’s good to know, Mr. Davies. How do you feel about being paid to cut someone’s balls off?” Skye asked as the men crossed their legs and Karri rolled her eyes.
“I don’t do it for the money. I do it for the pleasure of seeing the person who hurt someone I love scream in pain.”
Skye was smiling broadly and she probably thought he was joking, but Trent wasn’t all that sure Miles was kidding. He’d been Special Forces and was a tough-as-nails businessman. Though he did turn to goo when talking about his daughter and her upcoming baby.
“So, what’s going on and how can we help?” Morgan asked, bringing the talk away from actions that would result in jail time.
“Morgan, meet my girlfriend, Skye Jessamine. Skye, my aunt Morgan and uncle Miles Davies.”
The line was quiet until Skye said hello.
“Well, this makes sense now. I can’t believe your PR person is using the leaked pictures to push your new role,” Morgan said calmly and fully in business mode. Gone was the caring aunt.
“I didn’t accept that role and everyone on my team knew I refused to take any part in a Tony Ketron movie. And I’m certainly not exhausted or in a hospital somewhere. I’m pissed off in South Carolina!” Skye’s voice began to rise as Olivia stepped onto the call and filled Morgan in on what had happened so far.
“You’re doing the right thing,” Morgan told her and Trent could see Skye relax a little. “You need a team you can trust. I do things differently. One, I’m not taking new clients. But since you’re almost family, I’ll take you on. However, you hurt my nephew and all I can say is, after thirty years of marriage I know several of my husband’s tricks for hiding bodies. Second, I won’t tell you what you want to hear. I’ll tell you what you need to hear. Third, I don’t do high maintenance. We treat each other with mutual respect and we’ll get along fine. And fourth, I charge a l
ot.”
“I’m fine with all of those conditions,” Skye said. “Now, I want to make a statement. I’m in control of my own life now and I’m stepping away from the lights to lead a more private life.”
“Will you still be doing movies?” Morgan asked, and Trent could hear her taking notes.
“Yes. I just want to be in control of who my team is, what roles I take, and I am tired of being paraded about like a trained poodle. I want a private life when I’m not promoting a movie. My old team wouldn’t allow that.”
“I have a statement ready,” Olivia said. “I’m emailing it to you. We want it read live on air right now.”
“Got it,” Morgan said. “Let me tweak it while you send a notice of termination to your current PR firm. I’ll handle it from here.”
“Skye, here’s the notice of termination,” Olivia said, sliding a paper over for her to sign.
Olivia scanned and emailed the document. “Done.”
Minutes later, Skye’s phone was blowing up. “Based on the texts I’m getting back, they’ve received the notices.”
Morgan chuckled over the phone, and Skye leaned closer as if she could see what Morgan was laughing at. “This is one hell of a statement. I like it. This is going to be fun. I enjoy these types of campaigns.”
“When my wife grins like this, I almost feel sorry for whoever you’re going after,” Miles said in the background, and that made everyone around the table laugh.
“Leave this all to me, Skye. Trent can share my number and we’ll check in daily. Olivia or I will field all questions that come to you. This will be a bloodbath, but I guarantee we’ll be the ones left standing. Now, I need to get to work.”
The line went dead and everyone was left in silence. “Ryan said his family was different. I am just beginning to learn the depths of that statement,” Castle said into the silence.
“I like them,” Karri said with a big smile on her face. Trent had to agree. Over the last few years, the Shadows Landing family and the Keeneston family had grown close after more than a generation of estrangement.
Trent saw Skye’s phone light up and glanced down at it. It was a text from Lenny ripping into her for firing Rebecca and Bernie. Next one came from Jim claiming she was in violation of her contract and he’d sue her for every penny she’d ever made.
Anger rose to the surface, but then Castle interrupted them. “Shaw found the man who attacked you.”
“Who is he?” Skye asked, instantly rigid. Trent put his arm around her as Castle put the phone on speaker and pulled up a picture.
“You’re on speaker, Shaw,” Castle told him.
“Skye, can you tell me anything about this photo?” Shaw asked.
Karri and Skye looked at the picture and frowned. It was the back of a man dressed in black getting into a black SUV.
“I can’t tell,” Karri said as Skye shook her head.
“I can’t tell either. It might be him, but I can’t tell from this angle.”
“I found video of him through some of your neighbor’s security cameras. I can’t prove it was him who entered your house. What sticks out is that I was able to ID the SUV. It’s owned by Star Power Private Security.”
“The same group who sent people to talk to our parents?” Skye asked.
“That’s right. And the same company that does a lot of off the books things for the rich and powerful in Hollywood.”
“Who hired them?” Trent asked after introducing himself.
“We don’t know yet. What we can determine is that when things are off the books, they aren’t paid in the usual way. Sometimes it’s cash, sometimes it’s a stock transfer, and sometimes it’s providing a trade for something Star Power needs. They claim all these on their taxes as gifts. When asked what they were for, their standard reply is that they are a thank-you for good service,” Shaw told them. “Right now we can’t prove otherwise. But based on their taxes, they received gifts from the who’s who of Hollywood.”
“Are you going to arrest them?” Skye asked and Trent could hear the worry in her voice.
“We don’t have anything to arrest them on. They lied to your parents, but they didn’t hurt them. They’re still hanging out in both Iowa and New York watching your parents, but doing so from the public road. They’re not doing anything illegal.”
“What are you doing then?” Trent asked.
“We’re trying to find out who the man in the SUV is. We’ve also put our own guys onto every Star Power security guard we know of. Further, we have people in Iowa and New York to make sure your parents are safe,” Shaw told them. “I don’t want to haul them in for questioning. I want to see if they’ll lead us to whoever hired them.”
“So they’re out there looking for me?” Skye’s voice had gone from worried to almost dead-sounding. There was no emotion in her as she stared down at the phone sitting on the table.
“Yes, but that’s why you have Castle with you. Castle, I need you in Shadows Landing to check in daily. I also need locals to do protection and surveillance.”
“Sheriff Granger Fox here. We’re on it. Castle can send you my contact.”
“Miss Jessamine, look!” Georgina said as she pointed at the television. Harper was already turning the volume up.
The anchor of the gossip show looked directly into the camera as they posted a picture of Skye from her last red carpet. “We have breaking news straight from Skye Jessamine’s new team. We are breaking the story here first. Miss Jessamine has fired her longtime attorney and hired Attorney Olivia Townsend of New York as her new lead counsel. Further, we have received evidence that Miss Jessamine and Miss Townsend have been very busy serving some of the biggest online gossip sites, news outlets, and media for posting the illegally obtained images of her to the tune of two hundred and fifty million dollars in damages.
“For the record, our show and network refused to post them. You can read the entire statement on our website, but Miss Jessamine says in part: ‘I take my privacy seriously and won’t let criminals profit from trying to humiliate me. What you did was wrong and illegal, and I’m standing up for all women who have had some creep snap a picture up her skirt, through her window, or any other time her consent wasn’t given. Let me set the record straight: I do not consent to the publication of illegally obtained or doctored photos of myself. Everyone is now on notice. I won’t tolerate it and I will come after each and every one of you for publishing private or doctored photographs of me.’” The news anchor kept her eyes on the camera as she finished reading the most relevant part of the press release.
“Miss Jessamine goes on to say: ’Further, it appears my old team colluded to use these images to force my hand into starring in Tony Ketron’s newest film. I’ll say what no one else wants to because I’m no longer afraid: Tony Ketron is an abusive, sexist, misogynist and I refuse to have my name attached to him in any way.’” The anchor took a deep breath and then pressed her finger to her ear. “We’re getting word that several A-list actresses are already responding online. Gina Toussaint is the first among the several who have just sent out messages of support. Her post simply reads, ‘I support Skye Jessamine. #IwillneverworkwithTony.’”
Skye watched as snapshots from several of Hollywood’s top actresses’ social media accounts were flashed across the screen with the same general message.
“In further news, it looks as if Miss Jessamine isn’t done shaking things up in her inner circle because this press release came from the office of Morgan Davies Public Relations and not Miss Jessamine’s longtime PR firm. Stay tuned for more tomorrow or follow us online for up-to-the-minute updates on this developing story.”
The show ended and Harper turned the television volume down.
“Well, that should make things interesting,” Shaw said over the phone. “Stay on your toes. You’re not playing their Hollywood game right now, and I expect to see some retaliation. I’ll check in soon.”
Castle hung up and everyone was quiet for a moment.
Skye was just trying to remember how to breathe. Suddenly Harper placed a shot of bourbon in front of her. “I thought you might need this. That was badass, ladies. Badass.” She handed Olivia a shot too.
“My phone is exploding,” Skye said after taking the shot. Texts from her friends and fellow colleagues flooded in along with threats from Lenny, Rebecca, Bernie, and Jim. Mason sent a supportive text that was so touching it almost made her cry. She was doing the right thing, no matter what happened next.
“Olivia Townsend,” Olivia said, moving to put her phone on speaker. Bernie’s voice filled the room as he called Olivia every horrible name in the book. The viler the threats, the wider Olivia’s smile got. However, no one else at the table was smiling. The men looked ready to rip Bernie to shreds. Harper looked as if she’d gut him. Karri was wide-eyed, yet Olivia kept quiet as she listened. “Are you done with your little tantrum?”
“You bitch. I’ll show you—”
“Let me tell you how this is going to go, Mr. Ganoti. You’re finished acting like a petulant little child. You will cease and desist all contact with my client Skye Jessamine. You will close your mouth and keep it closed or I will close it for you. Do you understand me?” Olivia’s tone was ice-cold as she spoke calmly into the phone.
“You can’t touch me. You’re nothing but a nameless associate. I’m calling your boss and when I’m done with you, you’ll be begging me to let you practice law again,” Bernie threatened and Skye was shaken to her core that this was the man she’d trusted.
Olivia winked at her and then looked back at the phone. “Go ahead. This nameless associate will be the one stringing you up by the balls with barbed wire if I find out you’ve said one negative or confidential thing about my client. Or worse, if I find out you had anything to do with those leaked photos or the fraudulent contract my client allegedly signed with Tony Ketron. Did you, Bernie? Did you tell Jim he could sign Skye’s name to the Tony Ketron contract? If you did, I’m coming for you. And unlike other attorneys, I don’t go straight for the kill. I like to play a little first. Do you want to play with me, Bernie?”
Broken Shadows: Shadows Landing #5 Page 11