Chapter One
Maddie’s alarm went off at five A.M., enough time for Maddie to make Sophie some breakfast but instead she let her sleep since it was summertime and school didn’t start for another month and a half. Maddie slowly and methodically picked out her first-day outfit, showered, and sat downstairs looking out at the giant parrot in the orange tree in their front yard. The neighbors called them the Tijuana parrots and said they were the natural alarm clocks of the neighborhood, but this one hadn’t made a sound. The house was warm, and Maddie had opened up the windows to let the breeze blow through. Apparently, homes in Southern California don’t have air conditioning. Maddie was almost glad there was no AC, the smell of the ocean and the sounds of the waves echoing through her tiny beach bungalow put her soul at ease and made her smile.
Maddie’s first day would be only the second time she stepped foot in Starstruck’s office in downtown San Diego. The first time she was there was after they had hired her over a video conference with the CEO, who was vacationing at the time in the Maldives. She impressed them with her intelligence, drive, and upbeat personality so they had no choice to bring her to the team. After the CEO raised his coconut full of rum to her and yelled out a greeting that was slightly slurred from the six other coconuts he had drank during the interview, Maddie had a little bit calmer conversation with the President of the company, Mark. Mark wouldn’t be her direct boss, though; that would be Trevor, who was in charge of assignments for all newbies in the company. Luckily, Maddie was stationed with one of the top talents in the enterprise, Angel, who made sure to let Maddie know he was banking on her for his annual bonus.
Maddie looked down from the window and realized it was time for her to catch the bus to the train station that would lead her into downtown SD. She stood up, carefully screwing the lid on her coffee mug, and tugging on her mini jacket that she had bought when she started researching business fashion on the west coast. Maddie was already self-conscious about being from Ohio and didn’t want to make herself stand out any more than she already did.
The walk to the bus stop was only a couple of blocks, but Maddie was glad she had worn heels every day for the last three months because walking the concrete blocks were going to be hell on her ankles. Maddie boarded the bus and sat somewhere in the middle, a piece of advice her best friend had given her when she was lecturing Maddie on safety in the major cities. The bus ride was about thirty minutes and then another twenty minutes by train so Maddie threw in her earbuds and listened to music while she studied her notes on the talent that Angel managed.
Maddie was a little nervous to meet some of these people, especially after finding out he was managing the one celebrity Maddie had crushed on since she was fifteen and in braces. Alexandra Brownstone was one of the hottest action/adventure movie stars on the planet. She had two Academy Awards under her belt and recently just put out a controversial interview about being a lesbian in today’s film industry. Maddie not only was completely infatuated but also found strength when she read her column because knowing even someone like Alexandra Brownstone struggled with coming out made Maddie not feel so bad about waiting until she was 17 to admit she was a lesbian. Beyond the designer glasses and the glass of champagne she was sipping in the pictures, this article made Alexandra seem not so unreachable to the average everyday person.
Whether Maddie was nervous or ready, it didn’t matter since the first meeting she would be sitting in on was the meeting with Alexandra because apparently she was having some meltdown about all the paparazzi and hate mail she was receiving after that article appeared. Before that five o’clock meeting, though, Maddie had to sit through at least three hours of HR videos on retirement packages and the dangers of sexual harassment in the workplace before she could even be briefed by Angel. Maddie sighed at the thought of sitting in a room with some old box television and watching b-list actors pretend they cared about the company. At least she would only have to suffer through it once, and by the time it was done it would be lunch time. Maddie had lunch scheduled at the harbor with Angel who was going to run through her schedule for the next week.
Maddie switched to the train without much thought and watched the sides of graffitied buildings pass quickly by out of the window. At least the train wasn’t full like the time she visited New York City with her Aunt; Maddie was convinced she had contracted some weird disease from being pressed between a large sweaty man and a homeless woman who smelled kind of like her Aunt’s attempt at asparagus soup on the subway. Of course, Maddie was young, and this was before her parents had passed away. Maddie didn’t have a care in the world back then, and her Aunt had taken her to NYC while her mom was in the hospital giving birth to Sophie.
Maddie thought about her parents for a moment and wondered what they would've said to her before she trekked off to a big city hours away from home. Her parents crossed her mind daily but she usually just shook them out of her mind and moved on, trying not to focus on things she couldn’t change. As Maddie’s eyes adjusted to the sun that had reached midway up from the horizon and reflected into her face from the large glass buildings of the city, she realized her stop was just ahead, and nerves began to flutter in her stomach. This was it, the first day of the rest of her life, she could not wait.
Maddie briskly walked the two blocks to the building that housed Starstruck Management and looked up at the shimmering glass paneled architectural wonder as she stood in front of it. It seemed to go on forever, and she knew that Starstruck occupied the 24th and 25th floors, being low enough not to feel the sway but high enough to skip right over the parking garage across the street and have a fantastic view of the harbor and ocean. Maddie had a dream of having an office like Angel’s one day where she could work and enjoy the view at the same time. Well, at least until she was out of training she got to have a small desk in the corner of his office, which meant she got to see the ocean every single day, not that she couldn’t just walk across the street from her beach house now and see it anytime.
She walked in across the shining marble floors and showed her pass to the security guard who smiled kindly. She took the elevator to Angel’s level, which of course was the 25th, and the doors opened to the very chic Starstruck lobby that was entirely decorated in black and white, including the blonde receptionist who was smiling at Maddie from the front desk. Maddie introduced herself, and the receptionist walked her to the back where every room was an executive office, and there was not a drop of color in the whole place except for the name plates on each door. Everything in the room was glistening white, and each name tag was a bright teal like the houses on the coast of Greece.
Angel’s office was situated right in the middle of the left side, and the receptionist opened the door to let Maddie put her things on her new desk. Angel wasn’t there, and Maddie was eventually escorted to the conference room where she started watching the dreaded videos. She started out motivated, taking notes, and wanting desperately to invest in her future, but by the third hour Maddie was just trying to keep her eyes open. At the close of the last video, Maddie let out a sigh and reached her arms ups up in the air for a stretch. The door swung open behind her, and Angel walked through the door like a model on a catwalk. He stood with his hands on his hips studying Maddie’s outfit until finally nodding and snapping his fingers at her as he exited the room.
Maddie scrambled to grab her things and followed him into his office where she watched him put his giant movie star sunglasses on, point at her purse, and then parade back out towards the elevators. Maddie assumed they were going to lunch so she jogged to keep up, her ankle occasionally buckling under the pressure. She continued the chase out of the elevator and all the way to the black town car parked out front waiting to whisk them away to lunch. Maddie smiled politely at the driver as she scooted in next to Angel and placed her clutch on her lap and swished her red curls out of her face.
“So,” Angel said as he fixed his eyeliner in the mirror. “Now that you are done watching those
hideous videos we can get to work. I swear. I told HR if they would let me remake the videos no one would fall asleep.”
Maddie smiled and stifled a giggle. Angel was the most flamboyant, gay, black man she had ever met, which wasn’t saying much since she came from the smallest town in Ohio. The people in her hometown were pretty conservative and the boys who came out as gay didn’t stick around too long because of the bullying and harassment. Maddie was excited to be in a city where you could literally be anyone you wanted and the louder you were, the more people flocked to you. Of course, Angel’s success allowed him room to break some of the corporate codes, like wearing leather pants and a sequined sleeveless top to work with a matching silver streak in his perfectly manicured haircut.
They spent an hour eating by the water, and Maddie didn’t do much talking since Angel was one of those people who was either chattering away about fashion, talking about his obnoxious clients, or thundering to one of his friends on his cell phone. It was all a bit overwhelming, but Maddie sat back and soaked it all in if she was going to be successful, she needed to be a little louder and somewhat more noticeable. Maddie and Angel finished, paid, and hopped back in their chauffeured ride to get back to the office and prepare for Alexandra’s arrival.
Angel was very particular that for this meeting he wanted her to sit at her desk and observe quietly. No talking. Maddie had no problem following these instructions since she was nervous to be that close to Alexandra and she didn’t want to come off as some love bitten groupie. Nope, Maddie’s full intentions were to watch the show from the corner, at least then she would start to understand how management handled their elite talent. Maddie probably wouldn’t see elite talent after her stint with Angel for at least a couple of years since the new kids handled the up and comers. Angel said the executive board feels like that is where the new management would actually learn the nuts and bolts of the business from booming success to fiery flaming failure.
The next couple of hours went by quickly, and it was just Angel shooing everyone away from his office, threatening the other manager’s lives if they came near Alexandra, and reiterating over and over to Maddie to not speak at all. Maddie, all of a sudden, had this image of a scared cat creeping in the office, and everyone had to be still, or she would panic and run out. She highly doubted Alexandra would be that much of a flight risk and assumed everyone was just overreacting. Little did Maddie know, just thirty minutes after the meeting started there would be spilled coffee, smeared mascara, and a wake of terror looming over her head.
Chapter Two
Maddie sat in Angel’s desk chair; her feet propped up on the filing cabinet, the receptionist frantically fanning her with a notepad, mascara clumped down her cheeks, and Angel was standing in front of her a look of pity and shock covering his face. Maddie didn’t know where it all went so wrong, but she realized within minutes of Alexandra walking through the door that she was a tyrant, a primadonna, and not the woman Maddie had admired for so long. Maddie was still clinging to the now empty coffee cup and started replaying the last twenty minutes through her mind, searching for a reason why Alexandra would have lost her mind.
The office was quiet before Alexandra’s arrival and Maddie had started to get nervous wondering why everyone was so scared of her. She was sitting at her small desk answering an email from the owner of the company when Alexandra burst through Angel’s doorway, tossing her handbag on the chair inside of the door and throwing herself onto the couch next to his desk. Maddie straightened up and looked over at Angel who had scurried to her side and was petting her hand softly. Alexandra opened her eyes and glanced over in Maddie’s direction.
“Who is that?” she asked with an air of contempt in her voice.
“That? Oh, that’s my new intern, don’t pay her any attention,” Angel said as he waved his hand in Maddie’s direction.
“Angel,” Alexandra sighed. “Why are these people so damn ruthless? They want candid, so I give them candid and then they explode on me.” Alexandra’s voice became louder, and Maddie could tell she was beginning to get agitated at the thought of her fan’s reaction to her coming out.
“Oh sweetie,” Angel said slapping his hands in his lap. “These people have nothing better to do than sit in their tiny Alabama homes and judge you. These things pass quickly. I am sure your ex-husband, Troy, will do something stupid soon, and all eyes will shift to him.”
Angel stood up and walked over to his desk and began thumbing through his date book. Alexandra’s eyes followed him as he walked as if she were subconsciously calculating the validity of his leather pants. She glanced again in Maddie’s direction and rolled her eyes as Maddie gave her a sympathetic smile.
“Look,” Angel said with excitement, pointing at some date on his calendar. “You don’t go into production on that Spielberg movie for two weeks. Why don’t you get away, go hide out at some exotic beach somewhere and get your mind back? No one needs to see these bags under your eyes on the silver screen girl.”
“Nooo,” Alexandra said with a sigh. “What I need is to go somewhere reasonable. Where ordinary people live and work and...do whatever it is normal people do.”
“Well,” Angel said with a scrunched nose. “I hear Florida is ripe this time of year. Oh! How about Vegas! There's fantastic hotels, shows, shopping.” Angel had walked back over to Alexandra and nudged her as shopping escaped his lips.
“No, no, no,” Alexandra said with irritation. She looked over at Maddie and pointed her finger directly at her. “You! Girl! Where are you from, and please don’t say Beverly Hills.”
“Uh,” Maddie said as she swallowed hard and looked at Angel who was giving her a look of desperation. “I am from a small town in Ohio.”
“That’s it,” Alexandra said as she stood up and clapped her hands, acting as if she had completely ignored what Maddie just said. “Angel, book me a flight, with your intern girl. She is going to host me in Ohio. Sounds perfect. No one will care about me there I am sure.”
“Wait,” Maddie said as she quickly stood up, her iced coffee sloshing in her hand.
“What, do you have a problem?” Alexandra said as she took a couple of steps toward Maddie.
“No, of course not, it's just,” Maddie said shyly as she realized Angel and Alexandra were glaring at her. “I just got here, and my town is so boring. You will want to leave as soon as you get there.”
“Why,” Alexandra started to raise her voice and step towards Maddie. “Why do you think, you, some insignificant little intern, has any say so over where I go on my vacation. You will take me to your town, show me around, let me decompress, and bring me back shiny and new in two weeks, or you can kiss your little job goodbye.”
Maddie’s face grew red with anger; she wasn’t used to someone calling her insignificant, and she squeezed her coffee cup harder. Alexandra looked at her as if she was daring her to say something back and Maddie felt like she was being threatened by the Queen of England. Maddie mustered up her courage and ignored Angel shaking his head furiously in the background.
“I am sorry Ms. Brownstone, but I really don’t think you dictate my…,” Maddie didn’t see it coming but Alexandra reached out and slapped the bottom of Maddie’s coffee cup sending iced coffee up in the air and back down the front of Maddie’s new jacket, including sloshing caramel and milk in her face.
“Make it happen,” Alexandra said as she turned to Angel, grabbed her bag and slammed his door behind her.
Angel rushed to Maddie’s side, studying her momentarily to see whether to prepare himself for another meltdown or not. He led her slowly to his desk and called the receptionist to bring towels as soon as Alexandra’s elevator doors had shut. He propped Maddie’s feet up onto his filing cabinet and shook his head in pity.
That brought Maddie back to the present situation, the receptionist still fanning her and Angel still staring at her with sadness. Maddie pulled her feet down and sat up in the chair, taking the towel off of the desk to wipe her face
. Angel had taken her jacket and given it to another intern to run down to the on premise dry cleaner for express service and pulled a beautiful silk button up from his closet for Maddie to wear instead of her coffee stained why cotton dress shirt.
“Girllll,” Angel said stepping backwards and rolling his shoulders in an attempt to diffuse the tension running through everyone at that moment. “Well, you got the intern curse out of the way quickly.”
“What curse?” Maddie said as she looked in the table top mirror and wiped the mascara from the sides of her face.
“Oh,” Angel said waving his hand and rolling his eyes. “It’s dumb. It’s just this thing that everyone talks about. Apparently, every new person goes through some terrible situation with a client when they first start. You just happened to do it with one of our Elites’.”
“Well,” Maddie said putting the towel down and looking up at Angel. “It sounds like I survived it. It’s probably the red hair; us gingers are pretty resilient.”
Angel smiled and patted Maddie on the head as if she were his personal pet. He walked around to the other side of the desk and picked his phone up and pressed the side button to stop it from buzzing. He smiled as he read the message on the screen and looked up at Maddie.
Jack (Secret Revenge #1) Page 55