Chapter 6
James is out with Juliette and Sebastian, but I find Andrea. She’s with one of the studio executives, which is good, because it’s the higher-ups that we’ll need to talk to about getting the twins home. “Andrea?”
Andrea takes one look at me and frowns with concern. “Vivian? Is everything all right?”
“No.” I cut a glance at the cameraman beside her, then lower my voice. “I need to speak with the twins. There’s been a family emergency.”
Andrea looks sincerely worried, but the studio exec can’t hide his interest. “What’s the emergency?”
I try not to glare at the man. He’s a producer. They’ll do anything for ratings. It’s his job. “It’s a private matter that I need to discuss with the twins.”
“There is no privacy here,” the man says with zero shame. “They’ve both signed contracts saying as much.”
My jaw drops. “You can’t be serious.”
“Tell me the news, and I’ll have Aaron break it to them.”
“No way. They’re going to be devastated. I’m not going to let them hear it from that slimy jerk.”
The executive rears back. “I beg your pardon?”
I need to watch myself, but I can’t. My emotions are unstable right now. “He’s a creep, and you know it. Everyone knows it. They all just look the other way because he’s loved by the viewers. He’s not going to be the one to tell the twins their father is dying.”
Several people gasp, and everyone falls silent. I curse inwardly. I didn’t want to blurt it out like that. I was hoping I could tell the twins first. But one look at the man told me he’d never let me speak to them unless he had every detail.
“Ella asked me to tell them. She wants them to hear it from someone who cares about them. Someone they trust.”
“Ella Oliver? If she wants them to hear it from family, have her call. We’ll let them talk to her.”
Ugh, his eyes gleam with excitement. Scumbag. I shake my head. “She wanted them to hear it in person.”
“She’s more than welcome to come tell them herself.”
I scoff. I’ll bet she is. “She can’t come. She doesn’t want to leave her father and stepmom right now. That’s why she called me.”
“And you are…?”
I grind my teeth. “Ella’s best friend. Juliette and Ana are like sisters to me. I’m going to tell them, and you aren’t going to get in my way.”
He gives me a once-over, chewing on his tongue as he considers my request. I wasn’t asking. He must realize that, because he nods slowly. “Fine. Juliette and Sebastian are minutes out. Go wait in the front parlor of the main house, and I’ll send the twins to you.”
“You’ll let me tell them? You won’t tell them first?”
He shakes his head once. “You can tell them.”
I relax a little until he snaps at Andrea and says, “Get her miked.”
I freeze. “Excuse me?”
The man gives me a hard stare. “You can tell them yourself, but you’ll do it on camera.”
“Are you serious? This is a personal family matter!”
I’ve never been so incensed. This man is the biggest jerk I’ve ever met in my life. He doesn’t give even an inch. Zero sympathy. “You can tell them on camera, or Aaron can tell them on camera.”
And I thought Aaron was a creep. This guy’s on a whole other level.
With no other choice, I let the crew rig me with a microphone and try not to glare at the cameraman who follows me into the main house’s front parlor. Andrea and the producer I still don’t have a name for follow me into the house. Andrea at least has apologetic smiles to offer. Execu-creep is there to make sure he gets the whole thing on film with the best sound and lighting.
“Mic check,” the sound guy says to me when I sit down on a couch.
I give him a flat look. “This is bullshit.”
He winces before smiling and giving Andrea two thumbs up. Lights are set up, blinding me. I’m not going to think about the fact that my hair and makeup aren’t done for the camera; I’m more concerned that I’m about to break the hearts of two of my best friends.
I spend the next couple minutes chewing on my thumbnail and glaring at anyone who makes eye contact with me. Then there’s some chatter over the walkie-talkies and people spring into action. Ana comes into the room first, with Juliette right behind her. Sebastian comes in with her. The twins stumble to a stop when they see me waiting for them. They take in the setup and shoot me questioning looks. “What’s going on?” Juliette asks.
I gulp. My emotions are all clogged again. I can’t talk without crying, so I pat the couch next to me. “Vivian,” Ana warns, but she and Juliette take a seat on either side of me.
I look at our audience again and swallow hard. “I’m sorry about the cameras. I wanted to tell you privately; they wouldn’t let me.”
My voice shakes, and both women stiffen. “What’s wrong?” Juliette asks.
My stomach rolls. I don’t know how to make the words come.
“Tell us what the hell is wrong!” Ana snaps, panic in her tone.
Juliette takes my hand in hers and squeezes it painfully. I look down at our hands and steel myself before meeting her eyes. “It’s your dad.”
Juliette lets out a strangled cry while Ana shouts, “WHAT HAPPENED?”
I sniff, trying my hardest not to cry. They need me strong. “You know how he’s been sick?” Both women squeeze my hands now. If I weren’t numb at the moment, I’d probably whimper in pain. “They found cancer. Stomach cancer. Stage four.”
Ana and Juliette both cry out. I swallow back bile. “Ella says it’s bad. He’s going in for surgery in the morning, and then he’ll have to start chemo.”
Juliette bursts into sobs, and Ana freezes in shock. Tears spill down her cheeks. “Is he dying?” she asks in a broken whisper.
My stomach rolls. “Ella says the survival rate isn’t good.”
She looks at me, and I’ve never seen such devastation before. Ana isn’t a hysterical mess like Juliette is at the moment, but anyone can see how broken she is. She starts to shake, and I pull her to me. I pull them both to me. Once my arms are around them, Ana finally loses it, sobbing into my chest. Their grief finally breaks me, and I cry along with them.
People are standing around, watching as their world falls apart, but they don’t say a word. They don’t even move. They just continue filming while the sisters cry it out. It takes at least twenty minutes before the shock wears off and the twins start thinking again. Someone hands us a box of tissues. Juliette blows her nose and sniffles until she can speak. “He’s in the hospital now?”
I nod. “His surgery is in the morning. Ella and your mom are with him now. Let’s get you packed, and you can go straight there.”
I hug them both again, and we all get to our feet. Juliette and Ana throw themselves in each other’s arms. We get a single step before my new archnemesis stops us. “Uh, they’re not going anywhere.”
I’m going to kill the man. Seriously. Murder him. I don’t even care that the cameras are rolling. Life in prison would be a small price to pay to wring this man’s neck.
Juliette blinks at the man as if she doesn’t understand, but Ana glares at him as hard as I do. Harder even. She’s got a nasty side to her that I could never achieve. “Who are you?”
The man stands proud. “Jeremiah Hudson. Marry Me executive producer.”
Ana ignores his outstretched hand. Her voice cracks like a whip when she says, “What do you mean we’re not going anywhere?”
“You’re contractually obligated to stay.”
Rage surges through Ana to the point where she starts shaking with it. She takes a step toward the jerk, and James must see the murder in her eyes, because he quickly steps between them. “Okay, let’s everyone relax. We’ll get this sorted.”
Andrea takes one look at the stubborn expression on Jeremiah’s face and sighs. She pinches the bridge of her nose. “There’s a large table on the back patio behind the guesthouse where we can have this conversation away from the other contestants.” She looks at Jeremiah, and the anger in her eyes endears me to her. She’s good people. Her and James both. Too bad I don’t think they’re in charge. “Get whoever needs to be in on this meeting, and make it quick. Juliette and Sebastian are supposed to be leaving for dinner in an hour.”
Juliette pulls her head out of Ana’s shoulder. “You think I’m going to dinner now?” she cries. “My father is dying! I quit! I’m going home!”
“You can’t,” Jeremiah says.
She bursts into tears again, and Andrea huffs in exasperation at the insensitive producer. “Guesthouse patio. Ten minutes.”
I throw my arm around Juliette and lead her out of the room, following Andrea. The sooner we get this taken care of, the sooner she can be with her family.
It’s closer to twenty minutes later when the seats around the outdoor patio table are all filled up. Ana, Juliette, and I have been joined by James, Andrea, Jeremiah, and two more studio people who look just as uptight as him. One of them has two thick stacks of paper in front of him. Sebastian is there, too. Don’t know why, but I guess he’s the superstar billionaire bachelor, so he gets to do whatever he wants. That, or he’s just nosy and no one cared enough to tell him to leave.
And, of course, let’s not forget the ever-present film crew. Everyone at the table has been outfitted with a mic. I don’t get it. You’d think the studio people wouldn’t want to film themselves exploiting grieving women and generally acting like world-class sleaze buckets. But nope. Every word of this discussion will be recorded to be edited to the producers’ content. I can’t imagine how they’re going to spin this that won’t make them look bad. What they’re doing is despicable.
“All right,” Andrea says. “We’re all here. Now let’s try to stay calm. I’m sure we can find a solution that satisfies everyone.”
“There’s nothing to discuss,” Ana says, her words sharp as knives. “We’re leaving the show.”
Like a broken record, Jeremiah pipes up, “You can’t leave. You’re both contractually obligated to stay.”
I slice my hand through the air. “That’s not true. The rules state that the contestants can leave at any time. We had one woman leave just yesterday because Sebastian is a huge dick.”
Jeremiah sputters, and the other two studio people let out startled gasps. They start profusely apologizing to Sebastian. Andrea and James both sigh like they’ve been putting out fires between the contestants and their grumpy, reluctant bachelor for days. Ana’s still too busy glaring at Jeremiah to react, but Juliette snorts a laugh through her sniffles. Sebastian just arches that brow at me again like, Really? Whatever. He knows what he is.
Jeremiah clears his throat and adjusts the glasses on his face, but it’s the man with the papers in front of him who speaks up. “It’s true most contestants can leave whenever they want, but we had an addendum added to the twins’ contracts that states both of them are required to stay through at least the first three rose ceremonies, and at least one of them is obligated to stay through the Meet the Family episode. It’s in Sebastian’s contract, too. He has to keep at least one of you through that round.”
He passes a stack of paper to each of the twins. I assume it’s copies of their contracts. They’re opened to a certain page, and a section is highlighted. Both girls read the passage. Juliette starts crying again, and Ana hisses.
“Should have read all the fine print,” Jeremiah says smugly. “If you break the contract, it will be within our rights to sue.”
“Why are our contracts different?” Juliette asks.
Ana and I scoff simultaneously. “Think who our family is, Jules,” Ana says, acid in her tone. “They want Brian and Ella on the show.”
Juliette barks out an incredulous laugh. “You think either of them is going to take the time to film an episode of this stupid show when our father is in the hospital dying of cancer?”
“No,” Ana answers. She glares at everyone this time. “In fact, if we’re not both on the way to the hospital tonight, they’re going to be livid. You know how Brian gets. He’ll go on a rampage, and Ella will help him light the fires.” She stares Jeremiah down. “Brian’s got star power that this show can’t even dream of. He’s got lawyers who have lawyers who have lawyers. It’ll get ugly. Brian will do everything he can to tear this show apart from the ground up. He’ll sink your ship in a matter of weeks.”
That has the contract guy—I assume the show’s lawyer—and the other unidentified producer shifting uncomfortably in their seats, but Jeremiah bristles. “Are you threatening us?”
“You threatened them first,” I say. “And that wasn’t a threat, it was a promise. Brian will ruin you. He’ll destroy the reputation of this show beyond repair, and you, personally, will never work in this town again. I guarantee it.”
Finally, the producer we weren’t introduced to speaks up. “It isn’t that we don’t want you to go be with your family,” he says to the twins. “We know this is a difficult time for you. But you don’t understand. The show’s ratings have been steadily declining. Last season was so low they threatened to cancel us. That’s why we’ve pulled out all the stops this time. It’s our last chance. With Sebastian and the twins, we could revive the show and bring in a whole new generation of viewers.” He sends the twins a pleading look. “We need you.”
“I think our parents need us more,” Ana snarls.
“But the two of you are going to be the stars of the show.”
Ana scoffs. “You’re going to make me the villain.”
He looks sheepish, but doesn’t deny it. “It’s an important role.”
“And Juliette will be the darling,” Jeremiah says. “She’s the front-runner. She won the first rose and the first solo date. Clearly, Sebastian likes her. The other women like her, too. The audiences will love the two of you. Without you, we haven’t got much to work with.”
Ana surges to her feet and slams her hands on the table. “I don’t give a shit what you have to work with! MY FATHER IS DYING!” She kicks her chair back, and it goes skidding across the room behind her. “Sue me, then. I’m leaving.”
With that, she storms off.