Taking Chances

by Susan Lewis

  Matty was quiet as she sipped her wine. ‘I understand what you’re saying,’ she began, ‘but …’

  ‘My mind’s made up,’ Ellen interrupted, ‘so please, don’t try to plead his case.’

  Matty looked at her in the candlelight and experienced a quiet admiration for her strength. ‘Did you find out anything yet about what happened when Michael and Tom met last week?’

  Ellen shook her head. ‘I can hardly ask Michael and I haven’t spoken to Tom. The truth is, I’ve been avoiding Tom, but there’s no reason for me to now. Except in Michael’s eyes, of course.’

  ‘I’m not sure what you’re doing is right,’ Matty said after a pause. ‘He really loves you, Ellen, and this has got to be tearing him apart. Even if it takes him a while to get past it all, I think he deserves to know the truth.’

  Ellen was shaking her head. ‘No, Matty. He’s got to learn that he can’t just walk away from the people he loves when things go wrong. He did it with Michelle when she went off to Sarajevo pregnant with Robbie, and now he’s done it to me. OK, I understand that he’s feeling betrayed, but he’s got to accept some responsibility for what happened, because no matter what he wants to tell himself, it’s not all mine.’

  ‘I guess you’re right,’ Matty said.

  ‘I am,’ Ellen replied firmly. ‘We just have to be grateful that no-one else ever got to find out, because that’s something I don’t think either of us could deal with.’

  Michael looked up from his desk as the outer door to the executive suite opened and Ellen came in. She appeared slightly breathless and flushed, and he wanted to think that it was because her arms were full and her briefcase was heavy, rather than that it had anything to do with the baby.

  ‘Oh Maggie,’ she said to their assistant, ‘there’s a pile of videos for me downstairs, could you get someone to bring them up? Good morning, by the way. Did Oscar Weinberg call yet? I need to speak to him before ten.’

  ‘He called a few minutes ago,’ Maggie confirmed. ‘He’s in his office. I’ve got to take this down to the mail room, before the courier turns up. I’ll get someone on to the videos. Coffee’s made, the others are running errands, but should be back any second.’

  As the door closed behind her Ellen dumped her stack of files and went to pour some coffee.

  ‘Hi,’ Michael said, coming to stand in the doorway of his office.

  Ellen spun round. ‘Oh, hi,’ she said, feeling her heart twist. ‘I didn’t realize you were here.’

  He watched her pour. ‘How are you?’ he said.

  ‘Yeah, OK. I’m fine. How are you?’

  She looked so alive, so vibrant and happy that he couldn’t help being surprised. It wasn’t that he wanted to see her fall apart, but he just hadn’t expected her to be dealing with their break-up quite as well as this. Maybe she and Tom were getting it on again, and now he was out of the way they could … No, he wasn’t going that route, self-pity was never an answer and despite the impressive show she’d been putting on the past couple of days, he was convinced she wasn’t finding this any easier than he was.

  ‘I need to know,’ he said, ‘if you’ve told Tom about the baby.’

  Her surprise showed. ‘No,’ she answered. ‘Why?’

  ‘Are you going to?’

  ‘No.’

  He guessed it was the response he’d been hoping for, though exactly what it proved he wasn’t entirely sure. Right now, though, it was the fact that she seemed so unemotional that was throwing him.

  ‘We’ve been getting some pretty positive feedback on the twenty-six-part series,’ he said, making for safer ground. ‘The one Sandy was dealing with, just prior to the wed–’ He stopped abruptly, then continued. ‘I was hoping you’d take it over. Sam Field at Fox is interested to know more, so’s Elaine Wade at Prime Time.’

  ‘Great,’ Ellen responded enthusiastically. ‘Can I take a look at the figures?’

  ‘They’re on the computer. I’ll give you the code. Uh, I guess we need to schedule a meeting so we can catch up with what’s going on.’

  ‘I’ll talk to Maggie,’ she said. ‘It should probably be some time this week, before things start getting out of hand.’

  He hated the idea of having to book some time with her, but she seemed to be accepting it like it was the most natural thing in the world.

  ‘Are you OK about taking on this project with Sandy?’ he said. ‘I mean, I could always pass it on to someone else …’

  ‘No, it’s great,’ Ellen assured him. ‘I’ve read the first three scripts, it’s something I’d like to be involved in.’ She glanced at her watch. ‘Aren’t you seeing Ted this morning?’

  He wondered how she knew that, if Forgon had told her. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘He’s coming here.’

  Ellen’s eyebrows went up.

  ‘I think I should tell you,’ he said, ‘that Michelle’s decided not to play the part of Rachel. I know we were probably going to withdraw it anyway, but she doesn’t know that, so I think it would be kinder if we let her think she turned it down.’

  Once again it was impossible to read her expression, so he had no idea how she felt about his consideration of Michelle’s feelings.

  ‘I’ve told Tom,’ he said. ‘We should be in a position to make Matty a definite offer by the end of the week.’

  Her eyes went down and it was only then that he realized how much this was hurting, being so apart from her, so formal and removed.

  ‘Would you like some coffee?’ she said with a smile.

  He shook his head.

  ‘OK, well I guess I’d better be getting on.’

  He watched her walk into her office, then turned back to his own.

  The fact that she hadn’t commented on Michelle’s withdrawal, or Matty’s casting, suggested that she no longer considered herself involved in the movie. Further proof of that was in her failure to turn up for a producers’ meeting the day before, or even to ask how Vic and Tom’s recent five-day field trip to Mexico had gone. She’d covered it well, but he knew that she had to be hurting over this, and feeling horribly shut out. But it was how she would have to stay, because there was just no way he could tolerate the thought of her working with Chambers again.

  Having spent the past couple of weeks going over ATI and World Wide’s figures and forecasts, Ted Forgon had filled the first hour of their meeting with questions, comments, the inevitable insults and typical brusque appreciation. He’d never doubted Michael knew what he was doing, and the facts were bearing him out, for the changes he and Ellen had made to ATI by introducing an official line of TV and movie packaging were already showing signs of paying off, and the number of agents as well as clients had increased more than Forgon had realized. Indeed, he could see from his past couple of weeks’ study that his finger had wandered much further from the pulse than it should have, which no son-of-a-bitch executive or competitor better interpret as a sign that the old dog was losing his teeth. It was simply that he trusted McCann and had seen no reason not to heed his physician’s advice to take things easy for a while. At least that was the official story.

  But now he was back, and not only did he have the new and improved ATI to administer, he also had the genesis of a thriving production company in World Wide Entertainment. He couldn’t say he was in total agreement with all the projects they were considering for development, but he didn’t plan on taking issue with any, there were always going to be bombs, no matter how hard one strove to avoid them. God knew he’d suffered his share.

  What he did want to address, however, was the current status of Rachel’s Story from both a financial and production standpoint, which was why he had saved it for last.

  Right now he was reviewing the configuration of the movie’s investment commitments, the proposed returns, fund-release dates and costs of insurance. They were looking at a budget of around twenty-plus million, with a further ten-to-fifteen for marketing, promotion and publicity. For an independent, this was massive, possibly even delusiona
l, except McCann sure as hell appeared to be pulling it off. And it seemed Sandy Paull had managed to bag an impressive number of backers, not to mention pre-sales, over there in Europe, which shouldn’t have been as much of a surprise as it was. She was a ruthless little cookie, unburdened by morals or conscience, and apparently blessed by a planetary gestalt that always seemed to put her in the right place at the right time.

  ‘OK,’ he said finally, looking up, ‘it all seems pretty much in shape.’

  ‘It is,’ Michael confirmed.

  ‘This could prove a major event for Hollywood, as well as World Wide,’ Forgon stated. ‘Done well, we should clean up at the box office as well as the Oscars. How’s the script looking?’

  ‘It’s about to enter its third draft. Tom doesn’t foresee anything significant enough to affect casting or location. The only remaining problem is how to end it. Vic Warren’s on board now, so it could be he’ll have something in mind on how to fix it. The names of the killers are still tightly under wraps.’

  Forgon nodded. ‘OK. You’ve done a good job of bringing it to a point where you can hand over without too many problems, which is what I imagine you’re intending now I’m back in the driving seat. Problem is, it’s not what I’m intending. You started out as one of the executive producers on this movie, and that’s where you’re going to stay. And just in case you’re drawing breath to tell me which parts of my anatomy I can shove up other parts, I should make it clear to you right now that if you walk off this project I’ll see to it that the world knows that the kid Ellen is carrying might not be yours.’

  Michael’s face turned pale. For a moment he could hardly believe what he’d heard. How the hell did he know? Surely to God Ellen wouldn’t have told him?

  ‘If you’re thinking Ellen told me, you’re wrong,’ Forgon said, apparently reading his mind. ‘I didn’t learn it from her, nor from her cousin Matty either. I guess that about covers everyone you thought knew, so let this be a reminder to you never to underestimate me. If there’s a secret to be found, I always know where to look. Now I can’t imagine you wanting Ellen to suffer the humiliation of her little secret being made public, no matter how mad you are at her and Chambers – and let me tell you, I’m on your side here, ’cos I can’t think of a worse way of finding out your little bit of pussy is getting stroked by another man’s dick.’

  Michael’s fists were clenched, but even if he could find the words, there was no way he was going to dignify that with a response. What he was going to do was start working right away on regaining control. He wondered how fast he could pull it off – fast enough, he hoped, to prevent him from choking the bastard with his own foul-mouthed tongue.

  ‘So I want you on this movie,’ Forgon continued, ‘and I think I’ve just provided you with a good incentive for respecting my wishes. Next: I want Ellen back on it too. She told me yesterday she was going to be concentrating on other things now that Vic Warren’s on the scene, but I don’t want this show being run by a bunch of fucked-up men. It needs her input and I’m going to insist she gives it. Or maybe I should get you to insist, she’s more likely to listen to you.’

  Michael continued to stare at him.

  Forgon stared back.

  Michael’s eyes never wavered.

  ‘This kind of shit don’t work with me,’ Forgon blustered. ‘I got you so tight by the balls you can’t even breathe, never mind speak, so don’t think this silent stuff has got me a-trembling.’

  Michael’s smile was like ice. ‘Is that what you think it was meant to do?’ he said.

  Forgon’s shrewd eyes narrowed.

  Michael settled back into silence. The fact that he’d had no intention of walking off the movie wasn’t one he was going to share with Forgon, nor was he going to reveal his reluctance for Ellen to rejoin. Let the son of a bitch think what he wanted, he’d have plenty of time to ruminate on his mistakes when all this was over.

  Forgon got to his feet.

  Michael could see how pissed he was at not quite getting the measure of Michael’s response. Michael waited, knowing there was no way he could walk out without having the last word.

  ‘There’s no statute of limitations on that kid’s paternity,’ he snarled. ‘I could run with this for ever.’

  Michael got up. As he walked round the desk, his eyes were lowered. He raised them only when he was right in front of Forgon, and had the momentary satisfaction of seeing the man shrink. ‘Let me tell you this,’ he said softly. ‘If as much as a single whisper of doubt over that pregnancy ever gets made public I’ll know where to come. Whether it was you who did the talking or anyone else, I’ll hold you accountable, and believe you me, with your heart, you can’t afford the price.’

  After Forgon had gone Michael walked over to the window and stared down at the stream of traffic below. Inside he was shaking. He knew he was on quicksand and would have to act fast before the bastard pushed him under. Putting him at an emotional disadvantage, by returning Ellen to work with Chambers, was a smart move, and one Michael knew he was going to find hard to deal with. But he could and he would, he just needed a moment to think it through. Except there was no way he could foresee the outcome of that, nor, on reflection, was it something he was going to torment himself with. Of course, he could always ask Ellen to go against Forgon’s wishes, but there was just no way his pride would allow that.

  So the immediate question was, what to deal with first, getting Ellen back on board, or setting his legitimate takeover of World Wide in motion. He’d never been comfortable holding the gun of statutory rape to Forgon’s head, it wasn’t his style of doing things, and it made him about as low as Forgon for resorting to it. He hadn’t had much choice at the time, however, and he was a damned fool for not organizing a takeover long before now. The trouble was, he didn’t have the funds to do it, not with everything he had already tied up in World Wide, and with nothing to borrow against while his share of McCann Paull was standing surety for the loans he’d taken to get World Wide off the ground.

  He needed to speak to the other shareholders, perhaps call a meeting. In the meantime he guessed he should get on with the business of reinstating Ellen, so picking up the phone he buzzed through to her.

  ‘Ellen Shelby’s office,’ Maggie answered.

  Michael hesitated. Obviously Maggie was in with Ellen, but that wasn’t what had stalled him, it was hearing Ellen’s name. They’d decided that after they were married she’d be known as Ellen Shelby McCann in the long form, and Ellen McCann in the short.

  ‘Hello?’

  ‘Uh, Maggie,’ he said. ‘Is Ellen there?’

  ‘Sure, I’ll pass you over.’

  ‘Hi,’ Ellen said a moment later. ‘What can I do for you?’

  Her apparent ability to handle their break-up was suddenly back in his face and this time, rather than confusing him, it irked him.

  ‘Forgon’s just left here,’ he said.

  ‘Oh? How did it go?’

  ‘You’re asking me? I thought you’d already know. You’re back on the movie. He doesn’t want it being run by a bunch of fucked-up men, so congratulations, you’re getting it all your way. Michelle’s pulled out, Forgon’s reinstating you, and I guess it won’t be too much longer before Chambers’ll be saying he wants you as the senior executive.’

  The line went dead and seconds later she was standing at his door.

  ‘Are you trying to tell me that you think I went to Forgon and begged him to get me back on the movie?’ she demanded, her brown eyes flashing with anger.

  He stared at her hard, but though he didn’t believe it, he couldn’t bring himself to say so.

  ‘You fool,’ she spat. ‘You goddamned fool.’

  He said nothing, though once again he was acutely aware of how badly he was handling it all.

  ‘Well, I’m not going to turn it down,’ she said, ‘which is what I imagine you were hoping for. I’ve done a lot of work on that movie and I happen to believe in it every bit as much as you do
. But just in case you think I’m aiming to take over, or trying to use my incredible powers over Forgon, or Tom Chambers, to get them to do things my way … Where are you going? Don’t walk out … Michael!’

  He closed the door, then turned to face her. ‘Did you tell Forgon you were pregnant?’ he demanded.

  Her face instantly paled. ‘Did I what? Are you crazy?’

  ‘Well he knows, and I sure as hell didn’t tell him. He also knows there’s some doubt about the identity of the father.’

  Ellen stared at him in disbelief. ‘How do you know? What did he say?’

  Ignoring the question Michael walked back behind his desk. ‘Are you sure you didn’t tell Tom?’ he asked.

  ‘Of course I’m sure.’

  ‘What about Matty?’

  ‘Yes, she knows, but if you seriously think that either she or I … No, I’m not getting into this. You believe what you want to believe, because I’m not about to start defending myself for something I didn’t do. But if it’s OK with Tom and Vic I am going to get involved with the script again, and if you’re thinking that I’m going to use what influence I might have to talk Tom into committing to Matty, then you’re right, I will, because she’s right for that part and you know it.’

  There was hardly any colour in Michael’s face as he looked back at her, but anger was all he would allow himself to feel. ‘Well, we all know that you’ve got quite a lot of influence over Chambers,’ he said, ‘so I guess Matty can consider herself cast.’