“Oh, hell no!” Benny exclaimed. “That is not what we talked about, Max. This is half what his standard fee was, not to mention there’s no back end. You want him to honor a final film, it needs to be fair and square.”
Tricia choked on her wine. Benny glanced at her, confused, until he turned back to the contract. “What the…” He glared at Tricia. “You conniving bitch. Did you really think you were going to negotiate Will’s back end percentage for yourself?”
Tricia shrugged, but wouldn’t meet Will’s or Benny’s eyes. Across the table, Theo chuckled, and del Conte raised a silver brow.
“Tricia was very helpful in locating her son, I must admit,” he said. “We agreed she should be compensating for it.”
Will’s gaze could have turned his mother to salt if she’d actually had the guts to look at him instead of her glass.
Benny shook his head, muttering something under his breath as he paged through the rest of the contract. Then he shoved the contract across the table to del Conte. “It’s a no go.”
But del Conte didn’t even touch the stack of papers. “I think you’ll want to reconsider,” he said calmly before taking another sip of his scotch.
“And why’s that?” Benny demanded. “Will here is the most in-demand name in the world. You said it yourself—he was bankable before he took off. Now he’s back, and you want his first film. Maybe his only film. That’s gonna cost you, no matter what.”
“No, it won’t. Because if you fight it, we’re happy to leak this.” Del Conte looked to Theo, who gleefully pushed a tablet across the table. He licked his teeth all the way around, like a predator getting ready to dive into its kill.
On the screen, what I saw made my entire stomach drop to the floor.
The bar was immediately familiar. The torn vinyl seating. The haze where no one bothered to regulate smokers. The bandstand in the back of the room, and the pool table in the front, where a clearly inebriated woman was currently joking with whoever was holding the camera.
“Come on,” cajoled the speaker. “Show us. You said you would. You lost the game, fair and square. Show us them titties.”
“Show ’em!” multiple men in the background shouted while the woman grinned lasciviously from beneath blue-shadowed eyelids. She looked around with glazed eyes, back and forth, then giggled and pulled up her top to reveal bare, sagging breasts to the camera.
“Yeah…” cooed the cameraman with a satisfied voice that made me sick. “That’s right, honey. Shake ’em.”
“Jesus,” Will muttered, turning his face away.
“Who is that?” Benny asked.
I gulped, unable to tear my gaze away as the excruciatingly familiar woman beckoned the cameraman to the back of the bar and started to unbutton his jeans as she sank to her knees.
“It’s my mother,” I said in a voice I barely recognized as my own.
Tricia stared at me with something that could only amount to pure disgust. “This is the best you could do, Will? Trailer trash with a mother who can’t keep her legs closed?”
I buried my head in my hands as the clear sounds of the camera owner’s moans started to fill the room. I felt like I was going to be sick.
“That’s enough!” Will reached across the table for del Conte’s tablet, but it was swiftly tucked out of reach, the terrible video gone. Will glared. “I don’t even want to know how you got that. But you’ll delete it right now.”
“It wasn’t hard. She had no idea who I was in the first place, and unlike her daughter, she wasn’t interested in fighting me at all.”
My head shot up to find Theo sneering at me.
“You bastard,” I whispered.
“No, Flower,” he said. “That’s you.”
I was up and out of my chair like a flash, practically hurling myself across the table with a clang of silverware and dishes. I had never been a violent person, but all of my fears of confronting Theo disappeared at the thought of him subjecting my mother to anything near what he had put me through. He was a monster. A life-ruiner. And all I could think about was getting rid of him in any way possible.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I shouted. “What in the hell is wrong with you? Do you enjoy causing people pain, you fucking psycho?”
“Hey, hey, baby.” Will pulled me back down to my chair with some difficulty. “Calm, Lil. Calm.”
“You’ll want to muzzle your dog, there, Baker,” Theo said as he picked a piece of lint off his jacket sleeve. “She can be a biter. I should know.”
Will looked up like he wanted to jump across the table next, but before he could, Benny cut into the conversation.
“Max,” he said as he set a hand on Will’s shoulder. “Brass tacks. You knew from the start I was never going to take this, so what do you want?"
“The same thing I’ve wanted for the last four years,” del Conte replied with that same eerie calm he’d exuded the entire time we’d been there. “My money’s worth.”
Benny sighed as he pulled the contract back. “I have to look things over and get back to you. Some of these terms are embarrassingly bad. If it ever got out, it would ruin my reputation along with Will’s. You understand.”
“We’re going to have to look it over,” Tricia put in. “Right?”
“What?” Will’s scowl beelined back to Max. “What is she talking about?”
“That’s messed up, Trish. Even for you,” Benny muttered beside him.
“As a matter of course,” said del Conte. “We promised to recognize Ms. Owens-Baker as Fitz’s representative. We reserve the right to negotiate only as long as she is involved.”
I blinked. Could they do that?
“Absolutely not.” Will still had his hand on my shoulder. “I don’t want her anywhere near this beyond her ‘finder’s fee’ or whatever the fuck you promised. But aside from that, if you want your money, you want my face at the premiere and on the poster, you get my mother and your son the fuck off this project.”
“Will, now come on,” Trish protested, but Will held his palm toward her while he continued speaking.
“Do your worst, Max. I left this world a long time ago, and that meant the money too. Put out that video and deal with the lawsuit that comes with your son, a convicted sex offender, releasing unlicensed pornography. Bankrupt me if you want. But we both know you won’t be getting anywhere near the value of this contract by battling me in court for five years.”
I gasped. I understood better that there was no love lost between Will and his mother, but his willingness to sacrifice everything to avoid working with her was jarring.
“It’s me or her, me or him,” he said to del Conte. “What’s it gonna be?”
Del Conte’s silvery eyes darted back and forth between Will and Tricia, not even sparing a glance at his son, but after a moment, he just shrugged. “That’s fine. Tricia is off the project. Benny, you’ll arrange the final version.”
“Max!” crowed Tricia.
“But there’s one other thing.” Del Conte ignored both Tricia and Theo’s complaints, and this time, he finally turned his black, penetrating stare directly on me. “This one’s for you, sweetheart. There’s not much we can do about my son’s past mistakes with you, but that’s what they are: the past. If you’d like this little video of your mother to stay private, I would highly recommend recalling any kind of restraining order you might have against Theo, not to mention any charges filed resulting in a particular hearing coming up.”
My mouth dropped, suddenly dry. “What—what?”
“Absolutely not,” Will put in fiercely. “This son of a bitch has been straight-up harassing her for weeks now. We have documentation, Max.”
“It’s her decision, not yours,” del Conte said. “Theo can do most of his work here, but I can’t have my producer unable to work on set if your little friend here chooses to show up.” He drained his scotch glass and turned to me. “It’s up to you, sweetheart,” he said. “But it’s all or nothing. Refuse, and t
here’s no movie. Your mother will be masturbatory aid to every fifteen-year-old boy in America while I’ll set my lawyers to taking everything your lover has. Or, you can do as I ask and make all of our lives a lot easier. You choose.”
Before I could answer, Theo held up the tablet and tapped play again, causing the sound of my mother’s sloppy moans to fill the room.
“Maggie,” Will said beside me. “Don’t—”
“Okay,” I agreed before he could stop me. “O-okay. I’ll do it.”
Theo turned off the recording and grinned. Del Conte nodded with satisfaction.
“Good,” he said, then looked to Will. “And you’ll do the picture, which of course includes a full promotional tour, as well as some other promotional duties to make up for the ones you missed before. I, and everyone else in this room, will sign an NDA when filming wraps, and Theo’s phone and all original recordings will be destroyed. If you quit, well…I’ll take everything you have in court, and this pretty little girl’s mother will be trending as the MILF the whole planet wants to fuck.” He tipped his head. I wanted to punch him in the face. “Your choice…Fitz.”
Beside me, Will recoiled at the second casual use of his stage name. His big shoulders wilted visibly, and Benny rubbed one lightly out of sympathy. I wanted to curl into him and hide away from the shit-eating grin on Theo’s face.
“Okay,” he said. “Benny and I will go through the contract tonight and have it messengered tomorrow.”
Del Conte nodded with approval. Business concluded, the entire table stood up at once, as if none of us ever had any intent to eat once the confrontation was over. Del Conte and Theo immediately turned to the door.
“One more thing.”
The men stopped on their way out and turned back to Will. Del Conte appeared mildly irritated at being stalled while Theo looked snide, as usual. Will strode up to him, making it clear just how many inches over Theo’s smaller five feet, ten inches he towered. Theo cowered slightly. He had to.
“You might have to be my producer, but let me make one thing clear. You stay the fuck away from Maggie. You don’t text her. You don’t talk to her. You don’t touch her. Like I said before, you fucking look at her wrong one time, and you are going to wish you were dead after what I’ll do to you.” Will brought a big hand up and hovered it around Theo’s neck, almost like he was going to grab him, though no contact was made. “You might have won this battle, but don’t think for a second you won the war.”
They stared at each other for a long, long time, the din of the restaurant filling the room for a few moments while the two men barely even blinked. But eventually, Theo did, shrinking slightly from Will’s fiery gaze. Then he leaned out of Will’s reach and ducked to the other side of the table.
“We’ll see,” Theo said as he followed his father out of the room. To me, he grinned, a cold, nasty smile that chilled me to the core. “See you soon…Flower.”
9
“That was fucked up, Benny. Really fucked up.”
Benny rode the elevator up to Will’s—I couldn’t yet think of it as our—new apartment, his head hanging low like Charlie Brown. Will still hadn’t released the white-knuckled grip on my hand that he’d taken as we left the restaurant amid a horde of photographers camped outside both the back and front entrances. I barely noticed, too busy shaking in the corner while I tried to blink away the stars still clouding my vision.
“I’m sorry, man,” Benny said for probably the tenth time since leaving the restaurant. It hadn’t been easy getting back here without being followed. In the twenty minutes we spent in Le Corbeau, at least forty tweets had announced our presence, tipping off a mass of paparazzi that were waiting for us at the front and back of the building. Will’s security team had guided us through the mob to the waiting hired car, but we’d had to switch vehicles twice in underground garages before we lost all the tails. It was completely chaotic, and with every switch Will seemed to grow that much tenser, to the point where I thought that if I touched him, he might snap in half.
“I really didn’t know he was going to spring all of that on you,” Benny repeated once again. “I didn’t know Theo would be there. And I definitely didn’t know about that recording. You gotta believe me on that.” He looked over his shoulder at me. “I’m so sorry, Maggie. Theodore del Conte is scum. Straight up.”
I mashed my lips together and pressed my face into Will’s shoulder. This was insane. I still didn’t know what to think about the fact that there was a recording like that of my mother. That my ex-boyfriend had taken it. That he was now using it in some sick, twisted maneuver to absolve himself of at least some of his crimes.
And, of course, that I had no idea what to do. Is this what it meant to be famous? If so, I was glad I’d never even approached that stratosphere as an artist.
The elevator opened and we filed down the long hallway to the apartment entrance at the end. Will turned after he had unlocked the door. He rubbed a big hand over his face. Dark circles were growing under his eyes—a product of stress and fatigue.
“Just give him what he wants,” he said finally to Benny. “Cut out the back end.”
Benny did a double take. “Yo, man, no, that’s gonna be most of your profits—”
“I said cut it,” Will snapped. He yanked on his hair, then glared at the curled ends before tossing them over his shoulder. “And cut my fee in half too—no, Ben, do it—in return for a guarantee that both Mom and Theo, that motherfucker, stay the fuck away from the project. I’m talking ironclad, man. I’m not working with either of them, and if they come by the set, I want to be able to sue del Conte for every fucking penny he has for emotional distress done to me and Maggie.”
Benny opened his mouth a few times like he wanted to argue back, but in the end, he pulled at his loosened tie and stepped back toward the elevator.
“All right, all right,” he said lamely. “I’ll see what I can do. I know they want you for a first fitting on Friday. Technically, the film is already in production, so Max isn’t interested in losing more money than he has to. You cut your fee, I bet he accepts.” He looked toward the apartment. “So much for staying in New York, eh?”
I frowned. “What does that mean?”
Benny grimaced and mouthed “sorry” again to Will. “I’ll see you tomorrow, bro,” he said. “You guys have a good night. Get some rest. You know they’ll want you to get your beauty sleep.”
Will shut the door behind his friend, then locked all four of the deadbolts that had been newly installed. When the last one clicked, he laid his palm flat against the wood, hunched over.
“I’m so fucking sorry,” he said. When he turned around, his eyes were turquoise rivers of remorse. “This is all my fault.”
I frowned. “What? How can you say that?”
Will pulled me roughly to his chest, and I melted into the warm, solid plane of him, listening to the thump of his heart slow against my cheek. The rhythm seemed to calm us both, and eventually, I felt like I could breathe again.
“If anything, this is my fault,” I whispered. “I feel like I’ve ruined your life.”
Will held me away slightly so he could look at me directly. “How do you figure, huh? Pretty sure I’m the one who’s got half the world looking for me right now. You’re just caught in the web.”
I sniffed. “It…you…Will, it’s because of me that all of this is happening. If you hadn’t met me, Lindsay never would have taken that picture. You never would have been found. You wouldn’t be harnessed to an industry you hate so much. For me and my disaster of a mother.”
The words toppled out before I could think them through—they were instinctual. And true. Tears overflowed again. This was my fault. It was all my fault.
Will swayed slowly in time to the song of my cries. “Someone would have figured it out one day, Lil,” he murmured into my hair. “Do you really think I would rather be alone still? Stuck in that house, in those woods, living like some crazy troll under the bridge?�
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I swiped at my eyes. “Wouldn’t you?”
He didn’t answer, but continued to rock me back and forth.
“You know, there are rumors that James Dean did the same thing,” I said. “Faked his death with the car and escaped to the Canadian forest until a few years ago.”
Will chuckled as he laid a cheek on the top of my head. “Well, I don’t think I’m going to get away with it again, Lily pad.” He framed my face with his hands, tipped it up, and pressed a soft kiss to my lips. “And I wouldn’t want to anyway. Things look different—even a shit show like this—when I have someone to face them with me.”
We gazed at each other for a long moment, but at the end, something other than love tinged with a bit of sadness, entered Will’s expression.
“What is it?” I asked. “What’s going on?”
His hands dropped, and Will stepped away guiltily.
“As soon as that final contract is signed, I’ll have to fly to LA for fittings, a meet and greet with the director, and a few other things. Probably the day after tomorrow. Principal photography is supposed to start next week. If I had to guess, I’m probably stepping in last minute for someone else who dropped out.” He shook his head. “Which tells me this film is already a dumpster fire if they lost their lead this late in the game.”
My heart sank in my chest. The day after tomorrow. We had been apart for two weeks, and already, this world was tearing us apart again. For the first time I understood why Will had loathed it so much.
And now, this also meant that I was going to be right back where I started. Back in New York alone.
I sighed. Will crossed his arms and worried his lips together as he examined me.
“What are you thinking?” I asked. “What’s that face?”
“I’m thinking…don’t do it. Don’t give in to what del Conte wants.”
Indiscreet (The Discreet Duet Book 2) Page 9