Wicked Heart

by Leisa Rayven

  “And did you succeed?”

  I swallow. My face is hot. I can’t sit here and lie to these people. I really can’t. I’d never be able to live with myself.

  “No. I didn’t.”

  Marco’s shock is audible. So is Mary’s.

  Ava seems satisfied that I just admitted something she already knew. “Thank you for being honest, Elissa. I should mention that the e-mail came with this attachment.”

  She holds up an iPad and presses “play.” Footage of Liam and me kissing in the rain comes into focus. It looks like it was taken from across the street, but whatever device recorded it had a mighty zoom. The footage goes from a wide shot to a close-up in seconds, and if there was any doubt about the identity of the “nameless brunette” in the magazine pictures, there isn’t anymore. There’s my face, clear as day. When Liam picks me up and presses me against the wall, Marco drops his head and rubs his eyes.

  Mary utters a quiet, “Shit,” and shakes her head.

  “What possessed you to do something like this, Elissa?” Ava asks, incredulous. “With an engaged man? On a show you’re running? I’ve never known you to behave in such a reckless and unprofessional manner.”

  I look at the floor and shake my head. Even if I could tell them the truth, it wouldn’t excuse what I’ve done. I’ve broken every one of my professional rules of conduct, and now I’m paying the price.

  “I’m sorry.” I hate that I can feel the force of their disapproval hanging in the air. “I’ve behaved shamefully, and I apologize unreservedly for my actions. You all put your faith in me and I’ve let you down.”

  Ava nods. “I appreciate your apology, but given the circumstances, I’m afraid you can’t continue working on this production. You’re fired.”

  Marco flinches. “Ava, no. I need Elissa. Despite her admission, she’s still the best stage manager around.”

  “We have no choice,” Ava says. “The threat in the e-mail is to fire her or the film clip will be made public. You tell me, which one is going to be more damaging to our show?”

  “So we’re going to give in to anonymous threats now?”

  “How would you suggest we handle it, Marco? Ignore it and hope it doesn’t happen? Liam will be reviled if it comes to light that this wasn’t an isolated incident. He’s been carrying on with Elissa behind Angel’s back for weeks. All those tickets we sold because people wanted to see a changed man back with his one true love will be canceled in the blink of an eye. People will stay away in droves and our show will close. You know it as well as I do.”

  My throat is tight and my breathing is shallow, but I refuse to cry. I made my bed, and now I have to have the grace to lie in it without becoming a whiny little bitch.

  I put my hand on Marco’s arm. “The show will be fine without me. I’ll make sure Josh is up to speed on everything, and Denise can step in as his assistant. He won’t let you down, I promise.”

  Marco doesn’t say anything. He just clenches his jaw and nods. I hate seeing him so upset. “I’m sorry, Marco.”

  “As am I, dear girl. You will be missed.”

  I give his arm a squeeze, and stand. “I’ll need an hour or so to wrap things up and hand over the reins to Josh, then I’ll leave. I have no doubt you’ll have an amazing season. It’s a wonderful show. You should all be proud.”

  As I head to the door, Ava says something about a severance package, but I barely hear her. I wander backstage in a daze until I find Josh.

  “Hey. We need to talk.”

  After I explain the situation, he reacts precisely as I would have predicted.

  “This is bullshit, Lissa! They can’t fire you for banging a man who’s not even really engaged.”

  “They can, and they did. And I don’t blame them. Based on the information they have, they’re doing the right thing. For everyone.”

  He slumps back against the wall and swears again. “But you and I are a team. I don’t want to run the show without you.”

  “You have to. You’re the only one who can. Now come on. We have a lot to do and not much time to do it.”

  I try to keep as calm as possible as I hand over control of all the spreadsheets and cues. Josh listens in stony silence as I explain some of the trickier transitions. As furious as he is now, I know he’ll rise to the challenge.

  He curses under his breath as he heads off to brief the crew for the tech run. I’ve just finished transferring all my files to his computer when there’s a knock on the door of our tiny backstage office.

  “Come in.”

  The door opens to reveal Anthony Kent. He looks pissed. Guess he’s heard, too.

  “What the fuck were you thinking?”

  “The short answer is, I wasn’t. The long answer has a truckload of swearwords directed at you for making Liam sign that stupid contract in the first place.”

  “Like it or not, that contract is what made him a star. Do you think he’d be where he is today without Angel and their fairy-tale love story? He should get on his knees and thank me for that contract. Not be making noises about tearing it up and ruining the best thing that’s ever happened to him.”

  “But where does it end, Anthony? If he goes through with the fake marriage, and afterward fake divorce, then can he get on with his life? When will he have some privacy so he can have something real?”

  “Never. He’s a star. Stars don’t get privacy.” It’s clear he’s agitated. “Like it or not, Elissa, Hollywood is a business. It’s my business. I’m there to make money, and the only way I can do that is to ensure my clients get top dollar every time. Liam is my brand, and I’m going to do whatever’s necessary to ensure he continues being valuable to me. Because rest assured, the moment he becomes a liability, I will end him and his career in the blink of an eye.”

  A sickening realization washes over me. “You sent that e-mail. You wanted to get me away from Liam.”

  “You’re damn right I did. He’s not jeopardizing everything I’ve worked for just to nail a nobody who gives me zero promotional traction.”

  I’ve never wanted to punch someone before, but man, right now, I’m itching to smash my fist into Anthony Kent’s nose. “Why bother being anonymous? You’re a big-shot agent. You could have demanded I be fired.”

  He leans against the door frame and sighs. “I could have, but then pesky questions about where that video came from would have cropped up, and admitting I had someone follow Liam to keep tabs on him would have seemed … questionable, at best.”

  Liam was right. He was being stalked. He just didn’t know his agent had arranged for someone to do the stalking. “I’m betting all those videos of Liam getting into drunken fights were sold to TMZ by you too, right?”

  He shrugs with not a hint of shame. “Someone needs to profit off the bottom-feeders. Might as well be me.”

  “Unbelievable.” Hot anger rises up my neck and sets my face on fire.

  Anthony looks at me in mock sympathy. “Did you really see this thing with Liam working out, Elissa? Honestly?” The condescension in his tone makes me even angrier. “Can you imagine yourself on the red carpet next to him? I mean, come on. You’re beautiful, but irrelevant. In every single shot you’d just be a hand whose body is cropped out, because people don’t give a shit about you. The best you can expect is to be ignored, but most likely, you’d be hated. All the women who want to beat off to images of Liam would see you as an obstacle to their fantasy.”

  “And Angel isn’t an obstacle?”

  “No, because Angel is the fantasy. You’re the reality. And let me tell you, in Hollywood, the fantasy is going to win out every time. The best thing you can do right now is put this whole thing behind you and forget about Liam. The contract will stand, the wedding will happen, and if you do a single thing to fuck with me, I’ll destroy Liam and take you down with him. And just in case you doubt me, I made this little teaser for you.”

  He slaps his phone onto the desk and hits “play.” A montage of me pops up onto the s
creen with the caption, AMERICA’S MOST HATED WOMAN.

  He’s gone to the trouble of producing a whole news report, complete with voice-over.

  “Broadway stage manager Elissa Holt is tonight being hailed as the most hated woman in America amid revelations that she has seduced Rageheart superstar Liam Quinn and convinced him to break off his engagement to Hollywood’s sweetheart, Angel Bell. Industry insiders say the ambitious blonde has been obsessed with Quinn for years, and that during rehearsals for his latest venture she pursued him relentlessly, despite his fiancée’s presence.”

  It cuts to a shot of me standing next to Angel in a wedding dress. Then there’s a close-up of me with Angel’s head in my lap. “Angel, your fiancé is the hottest man I’ve ever laid eyes on. He’s a perfect specimen of manhood. If he wasn’t engaged to you, I would climb him like a tree and bang him like a screen door in a hurricane.”

  Bile rises in my throat. He’s cut out Angel demanding I say all those things. Instead it closes in on her teary face as she says, “Why would you say that? I thought you were my friend.”

  He’s made me look like a first-class bitch.

  Next is footage of us in the bar. I’m touching Liam’s face, then he takes my hand and kisses it. It doesn’t matter that I was consoling him about his brother. It just seems like two people having a hookup in a seedy location.

  “Sources close to Quinn say the star hasn’t been himself since associating with the woman, and suggest the two may have bonded over illicit drugs. Whatever the reason, it’s clear that the brazen blonde has had a major hand in destroying what some commentators call ‘the most iconic couple in Hollywood’s history.’ Rumors imply that Quinn may have killed his career along with his relationship, with many producers now reluctant to work with him.”

  The clip finishes, and I’m too shocked to speak. I feel sick. And furious.

  Kent looks down at me in smug triumph.

  “One word from me and that story hits every news outlet on the West Coast within five minutes, along with the video of you two in the alley.”

  “You’ve taken everything out of context. That’s not how things are.”

  “It doesn’t matter how things are, Elissa. All that matters is how they seem, and I’m an expert at making people believe whatever the hell I want.”

  “You’re disgusting.”

  He’s still smiling, but I can feel the venom behind his words. “What I am is protecting Liam and his career. Stay away from him. If you visit him, I’ll know. If he visits you, I’ll know. The one call you’re allowed to make is to tell him it’s over and he should ride out his contract with Angel. Be smart, Elissa. You know it’s the only thing you can do.”

  He leaves and closes the door behind him.

  I sit there and stare blindly at my computer screen for a long time as white-hot fury pounds behind my eyeballs. Getting fired was bad enough. Add to that having my professional reputation trashed and I already want to inflict massive amounts of physical pain on Kent. But more than that, this asshole is messing with our lives. Our happiness. He has to be stopped.

  One reason I’m such a good stage manager is that I excel at assessing problems and finding ways to fix them. I have to approach Kent in the same way. Right now, he has leverage over all of us, and unless I can figure out how to reverse that, Liam, Angel, and I might as well forget about our happy ever after.

  * * *

  By the time I’ve packed up all my belongings from my office, news of my departure has filtered down to the crew. They’ve been told I’m leaving “for personal reasons,” and thankfully, no one is brash enough to ask what those reasons are. After I bid them all good-bye, I head over to Liam’s dressing room to wait for him. Even if he is being followed, unauthorized personnel can’t get into the theater. And there aren’t many places for a paid stalker to hide back here anyway.

  When Liam enters his dressing room and sees me, he beams, but his smile quickly fades when I give him a rundown of the morning’s events.

  By the time I’ve told him about my conversation with Kent, he’s trembling with so much rage, I fear for Anthony’s safety.

  “Calm down,” I say, and stroke his arm. “We’ll figure this out.”

  “No need,” he says, quiet and intense. “I know exactly what to do. I’m going to murder that motherfucker.”

  I pull his head down and kiss him. He’s tense for about three seconds before he kisses me back, and then we both forget about everything but each other until the speaker above the door crackles with Josh’s voice.

  “Ladies and gentlemen of the Taming of the Shrew company, this is your half-hour call until places for the tech run. Thirty minutes. Thank you.”

  I make Liam look at me. He seems calmer, but not by much.

  “I don’t want you to be distracted by this,” I say, looking into his eyes. “You have opening night in a few days, and your head needs to be in the game. Okay?”

  “Can’t guarantee that.”

  “You need to. Do you trust me?”

  “Of course.”

  “Do you love me?”

  He pulls me against him and rests his forehead on mine. “More than anything.”

  I stroke his cheek. “Then just concentrate on this show, keep up your act with Angel, and stay away from me for a while.”

  “Okay to the first two things. Fuck no to the last one.”

  “Liam, we can’t give Kent any reason to screw with us. Just give me some time. I’ll find a way to take that asshole down or die trying. If he thinks he can bully and intimidate me into giving up the only man I’ve ever truly loved, he’s in for a world full of hurt.”

  I kiss Liam again, and make it a good one. If this is the last time I see him for a while, I’m want to be sure we both remember it.

  TWENTY

  DIRTY RAT

  I’m bent over my laptop scouring the Internet for dirt on Anthony Kent for the third day in a row when I hear the front door slam. Five seconds later, Josh walks into my bedroom and face-plants onto my bed.

  “How’s it going?”

  “Peachy.” His words are muffled by my duvet. “Third preview is done and I only screwed up five cues.”

  “Much better than the nine from last night.”

  He flips onto his back. “Right? I think I should get a bonus or something. To be honest, I think my choice to not bring up Liam’s spotlight for his first entrance was bold and unexpected.”

  “I’m sure Marco didn’t expect it.”

  “Yeah, he yelled at me. A lot. See, this is why I like being second-in-command. When I’m in the background there are fewer people kicking my ass.”

  “Have you kissed Angel yet?”

  He looks over at me and scowls. “Are you seriously asking me this? The woman who’s drilled into me since we were teenagers that I’m not allowed to mess around with girls on the shows we’re running? Just because you didn’t have the willpower to resist jumping Quinn doesn’t mean I have to travel that slippery slope.”

  “She still scares the crap out of you, huh?”

  He throws his arm over his eyes. “She’s just too goddamn perfect. It’s intimidating.”

  “Poor baby.” I finish scanning the article I’m reading and grunt in frustration. “Dammit! Anyone as sleazy as Kent must have some skeletons in his closet, but I’m coming up empty.”

  “So your revenge plan is still a bust?”

  “So far. But I’ll get there, don’t worry. It’s just a matter of how and when. Do you have something for me?”

  “Oh, yeah.” Josh pulls his phone out of his pocket and hands it over. Since Liam and I can’t see each other, and we have no idea if his phone is being monitored, Liam has been videoing himself on Josh’s phone. It’s not as good as a phone call, but at least I get to hear his voice and see his face.

  I bring up the latest entry. He appears on the screen in his costume. He must have filmed it straight after exiting the stage tonight. God, he looks sexy in that leather doublet
.

  “Hey, Liss. Hope you’re having a good night. I freaking miss you. So much. The previews are going well, but it’s not the same without you. And if Josh forgets to bring up my spotlight one more time, I’m going to kill him.” Josh grunts and waves his hand. “If you’re listening, Josh, I’m not kidding. Get it together, man.”

  I smile as Josh flips him the bird.

  Liam leans his elbows on his knees and sighs. “Anyway, I can’t believe I still have to go through the motions with Angel as we leave the theater every night. She says hi, by the way. She said she misses you and she’s pissed about you getting fired. She also wants to pull out Kent’s toenails with rusty pliers. Keeping up the charade isn’t fun for either of us anymore, and now, there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight. To make things worse, Angel won’t shut up about Josh. It’s boring as hell.”

  Josh sits straight up and frowns at the phone. “What the…?”

  “Josh is freaking out over that piece of information, isn’t he?”

  Both Josh and I say, “Yes.”

  Liam chuckles. “I can just imagine. Now that he’s running the show, he has a new air of authority, and I guess Angel finds it hot.”

  Josh puffs up like a peacock. “I have an air of authority? Hell, yeah.”

  “Now, Josh,” Liam says. “I need to say something to Liss alone, so do me a favor and get the hell out, okay?”

  Josh sighs and stands. “Fine. I’ll take my air of authority and go. Guess I can be all hot and authoritative somewhere else.”

  After Josh closes the door behind him, Liam exhales and looks into the camera. “I really hope he’s gone or this is going to get awkward, real fast. I fucking miss you. Everything about you. I miss your face. Your lips. Your body. God, Liss, I’m dying to see you. Not even sex. I just need to hold you. Can’t we just meet up somewhere for a few hours?”

  He drops his head. “I know we can’t, but I really want to. Did you hear that Kent has organized an interview on Sunday night for us with Angel’s sister Tori? An exclusive live chat so Angel and I can reaffirm our love and assure everyone we’re stronger than ever. I don’t think I can do it. I really don’t. I’m so tired of pretending. I can’t wait until all this is over and I can tell the world I’m in love with you. For real.”