‘Evie,’ I reply slowly, like I’m uttering a foreign word. ‘I believe she’s your daughter. Well … in her eyes she is, at least.’
He dumps his coffee on the table next to him and shoves himself forward, making me stumble; I wasn’t expecting him to crowd me so suddenly. He guides me into a corner and holds a gnarled finger up to my face, stale coffee wafting off his breath. ‘Listen to me,’ hesays through his teeth. ‘I’m not interested in some prick whom I’ve never seen before charging at me and talking to me about my daughter.’
‘Oh, so sheisyour daughter.’
His eyes narrow. ‘What the fuck do you want? Who the hell are you? Actually—just get out of my way.’
He goes to move, but I block his path, meeting his glare. I’ve had a shithouse morning, and I’m not about to let this self-important superstar intimidate me. I also know that I have less than ten seconds before this conversation is cut short, so I get down to business.
‘I’ve clearly hit a nerve with this topic,’ I say steadily, ‘but I came here to suggest a way that you could try to start making things up to your daughter.’
Gabriel blanches and throws an aghast look around, as if searching for one of his manservants to save him.
Yes, I’m out of line here, but I can’t bring myself to care.
‘Do you have any idea what it’s like to be completely ignored by your own parent?’ I persist, speaking in a low tone so no one hears this but us.
Gabriel remains mute, and a vein pulses in his temple.
‘Well, I do,’ I say. ‘Two parents, in my case. But do you know what? For years and years, while I was in foster care and my mum was in jail, all I wanted was for her to walk through the door and tell me that she loved me. And that she was coming to get me. It didn’t matter how much she’d hurt me or how long she’d already been dead.’
‘Why are you telling me this?’ Gabriel snarls, his face a lightning storm of indignation. Yet, through the clouds, I sense a trace of compassion. ‘I don’t even know who the hell you are,’ he says. ‘How did you get in here?’
‘You don’t need to know who I am. Forget about me—I’m fucking no one. But your daughter? She’s everything. She’s sweetness, and kindness, and positivity, and trust. And believe me when I say that she’s waiting for you to walk through her door and tell her you love her. And that you’re sorry. You fly back to America without doing it? You’re going to miss your chance.’
A ragged breath slices through his lips. ‘You dare come here and lecture me on my own child?’
‘Yes, I do. But not only that. I also came to say that Evie has been working extremely hard on a film by Village Pictures, which is about to self-destruct because it’s got a toxic, egomaniac director attached to it.Youare going to get that pissant, Brian Winter, kicked off the movie.’
Gabriel laughs, but there’s no mirth in his eyes. ‘Oh, I am, am I?’
I cross my arms over my pale blue shirt. ‘You are. You’re going to do this for your daughter. You’re going to pull whatever strings you hold in this business and get a new director assigned to the film who actually knows what they’re doing. Someone who has the perfect vision—and the skills—to cut all the footage we alreadyshot into a fun, engaging, commercial dance movie. You know anyone like that?’
He doesn’t respond, but I can see the cogs are turning.
A woman with a headset crowning her curly hair paces up to us. ‘Mr Dean, we’re ready for you,’ she says. She squints at my face and then looks for the lanyard I’m not wearing. I guess lunch is over.
‘I was just leaving,’ I say.
‘What did you say your name was?’ Gabriel mutters to me.
‘Kye. Kye Evans. And the film I was talking about is calledMoving,’ I say before this stressed-looking woman can pull him away. ‘Evie might want to tell you more about it,’ I add pointedly.
He swallows hard and then marches off with the crew member.
It’s only ten minutes later, while I’m finding my way back to the main road, that the unease begins rolling through me in increasingly intense waves. When I call Evie to tell her what I just did, she might be utterly horrified. I didn’t really think this through—when Jenna rang to say that Gabriel’s cameo was happeningright fucking now, I raced straight over to the studio lot, determined not to miss my chance.
Plus, there are people I care about who I didn’t protect when I should have, and I’m not making that mistake again.
I pull out my phone to book an Uber, only to see a string of texts from Austin.
AUSTIN:OH MY FUCKING GOD SHE DID IT
AUSTIN:Where the hell r u???????
AUSTIN:She posted the video!!!! NADIA’S VIDEO OF ME IS ONLINE
AUSTIN:Answer ur fucking phone!!!
