This Artist Is Just Too Easy to Manage
Avery had a friend of a friend, or, more accurately, a friend of her brother's. Her brother, Cole, had gone to grad school with a surgeon named Dr. Penn, and Avery was trying to set up an appointment for the screenwriter Jude Finch. She'd never actually met the guy herself.
First, she'd called Cole to see if he could feel out the situation. "Hey," she'd said, "can you ask your friend if he'd be willing to do a fly-in surgery in another city?"
It was exactly what it sounded like: a top-tier surgeon flying to another city to perform a complex operation when a patient was too sick to travel and the local doctors were out of their depth. That was the situation Jude Finch's mother was in.
An hour later, Cole called back. Dr. Penn was open to it, but he needed Avery to contact him directly to nail down the details.
This was a good opportunity. Avery was just getting her footing in the entertainment industry, and it was the perfect time to build connections.
Jude might have been "just" a screenwriter, but his reputation was stellar, a major production like *The World's Game* wouldn't have hired him otherwise.
Helping him was a no-brainer. If she could pull this off and connect him with the right doctor, she'd be the first person he thought of the next time he wrote a killer script.
Even if he didn't have casting power, a good word from him to a director or investor could open doors.
It was just like what happened on set today when Simon Vance had recommended her for a new role.
Thanks to Cole's introduction, getting ahold of Dr. Penn was easy. They met after nine that night at the California State University Hospital and worked everything out. Now it was on Jude to go back and negotiate with Fairview Memorial Hospital and his mother's doctor.
That same night, Avery got a call back from Simon Vance.
He told her the director of a production called *Bones of Mountains and Rivers* wanted her to audition.
If she got the part, she could join the cast right after she finished the Bar Exam.
Of course, if the audition went south, that was that.
Vance forwarded her the script for the part: the Barbarian Princess.
The moment she had it, Avery texted her agent, Diana. She had an agent now, after all.
When Diana got the message, she was schmoozing a variety show director, trying to wedge Avery into a slow-paced reality show just to get her some screen time. Before she could even close that deal, Avery had apparently gone and found work for herself.
Diana stared at the name of the production Avery had sent over, a little stunned. *Bones of Mountains and Rivers*. Wasn't that the same production she'd contacted just yesterday?
She'd heard a rumor that the actress playing the third female lead might be tangled up in a scandal, so Diana had immediately called in a few favors and sent over Avery's resume and headshots.
The response had been swift and brutal. They'd taken one look at her resume, noted she was a newcomer with no formal training, and rejected her flat out.
And now, Avery had somehow landed an audition for that very same project on her own. It was true what they said: smart people were just good at everything. But how did she even get her foot in the door?
This actress was almost *too* easy to manage. She'd landed the second female lead in *You Are My Defender* by herself, and now she'd conjured up an audition for *Bones of Mountains and Rivers* out of thin air. Was Diana, the agent, just going to coast to success on Avery's coattails?
She couldn't be bothered with the variety show director anymore.
The villainous third female lead in a prestige period drama like *Bones* was a much juicier role than some fluffy reality gig.
Word on the street was that a major national network had already bought the series.
When it aired, it would be in a primetime slot on their flagship channel.
Diana made a quick excuse and bolted from the director's house. The second she was outside, she was frantically dialing Avery.
"How did you get an audition for *Bones of Mountains and Rivers*?" Diana asked, her voice tight with a mix of shock and curiosity.
Avery, who had just finished washing up, was casually scrolling through the script Vance had sent. "Simon Vance recommended me," she said.
Diana wasn't buying it. "You played a tiny part in his movie. Why would that old fox be so nice?"
Simon Vance was a shrewd man who guarded his reputation and never got involved in other people's business.
He definitely wasn't known for recommending actors to other productions.
This was the first time Diana had ever heard of him pulling strings for anyone.
She frowned, her mind racing. A sick thought started to form.
Was Vance making a move on Avery?
The more she considered it, the more her stomach churned.
Just then, Avery's calm voice cut through her spiraling thoughts. "He was returning a favor."
"What favor?"
"The day I was on set, a weapon rack fell and gave the production manager a lung rupture. I administered first aid. This was his way of saying thank you."
Diana was floored. She never would have guessed that the opportunity she'd been rejected for one day would be handed to them the next because of something like that.
"Why didn't you tell me?" she blurted out.
"It wasn't a big deal," Avery said, completely unconcerned. She changed the subject. "The audition is in three days, and I'm heading to New York the day after tomorrow. Has the company arranged a place for me to stay? And what's the deal with my assistant and driver? Did you get me a company car?"
Since signing with Stellar Media, she'd been stuck in California and hadn't even seen the headquarters.
She had no idea if Shane and Wyatt were officially on the company payroll or if she was supposed to pay them herself.
They hadn't talked about any of it. Once she hit New York, things were going to get busy.
"Everything's arranged," Diana said, her efficiency kicking back in. "Since you won't be in New York long-term, the company has you in corporate housing. Wyatt and Shane will stay there, too. Don't worry about a thing; I handled it all as soon as I got back from California."
"That works," Avery said. "We'll talk more when I see you the day after tomorrow."
After they hung up, Avery felt the pressure settle in. Four days. She had four days to completely absorb the character of the Barbarian Princess. She never walked into a battle unprepared, and she wasn't about to let an opportunity this good slip through her fingers.
For her last couple of days in California, Avery locked herself down. She either studied acting with Alden Pierce or spent every waking minute dissecting the *Bones of Mountains and Rivers* script.
Wyatt and Shane, on the other hand, were so busy they barely had time for lunch. When Avery finally took a moment to ask what was going on, they were cagey, only saying they were still investigating her car accident.
The trail had gone cold outside the California First Responders Hospital.
The police report was technically correct: the driver of the van was a cancer patient who, half an hour after leaving the hospital, had decided to go on a homicidal rampage.
But there were holes. Where did he get the van?
And in that thirty-minute window, how did he manage to connect with the person Ronan Bowen had hired?
Avery listened quietly as they laid out their analysis, but in her mind, one name was flashing in bright red letters: Xavier Cross. He was the one who had popped up on their radar right after Shane started digging into the accident, and he perfectly fit the description Caleb Sterling had given them.
Caleb had mentioned that Ronan Bowen had ties to the criminal underworld from his younger days. And Xavier Cross's own business history wasn't exactly clean.
It was obvious. Those two were cut from the same cloth.