CHAPTER 18 ALEXIS
It’s amazing how quickly the bliss of the last two days is snatched away the second I step foot back home.
It’s my father’s house. I never really needed to purchase one for myself since I’m hardly ever home, and I essentially have my own wing in this mansion. Brooks lives here, too, and of course Gregory. And a small staff who cooks and cleans for us.
But it’s moments like these when I wish I had my own home. It was my father who convinced me I didn’t need one. My father who said oh but Alexis, you travel so much, and I already pay a staff here.
Like he cares about spending money—mine or otherwise.
I feel the tension the moment I walk in, and my father is waiting for me in the foyer.
“Alexis, my darling, home again,” he says, kissing my cheek.
I lean away from him, sure he’ll be able to smell Danny on me, but if he does, he doesn’t say a thing.
“How was Hush?” he asks.
“It was a great shoot. Good people, and it was a nice getaway.” I smile tightly.
“Well I’ve been busy at work on the wedding plans, and we have a date,” he announces, and he sounds…happy about it.
“I’m not marrying him.” My words are flat.
“The hell you aren’t,” he says.
“Why are you planning a wedding to someone I never agreed to marry?”
“Oh, but you did agree to marry him, very publicly, might I remind you, when he asked you, and you said yes, and he slid that ring on your finger.” He says it so flippantly, so carelessly, that my blood boils.
My yes did not equate to an actual yes, but there’s never going to be any convincing him of that. I try anyway. “I did that under the agreement we had—that you would amend my contract when I accepted the proposal.”
“That wasn’t the agreement, Alexis.”
“So now you’re saying I have to marry him?” I keep the emotion out of my voice even though it’s raging inside me.
He sighs deeply as if he’s tired of having this boring old conversation, and then he levels his gaze at me. “As soon as your last name is Donovan, I will give you anything you want. Even if it’s a new agent.”
“And all my masters?”
His jaw tightens for a beat at the question, but ultimately, he agrees. “Yes.”
Why do I feel like that is a lie, too?
We stare at each other for a few tense beats.
“I’m really disappointed that you don’t trust me to do right by you, Alexis.”
“Maybe I would trust you if you were really acting in my best interest,” I point out.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean? Every move I make is in your best interest!” he booms.
I think that’s the whole problem. We used to align in what we considered to be my best interest. We no longer do.
But the last two days told me what I want out of life.
They told me I’m a strong, confident woman capable of taking control of my own destiny.
They told me it was okay to stand up to this man.
Actually, the last two days didn’t tell me any of that. But you know who did?
Danny Brewer.
“It means you’re forcing me to marry somebody I don’t want to marry to benefit your own goals. You aren’t thinking about me here, about what might make me happy. You’re thinking about yourself, and it makes me sick.” I hiss the last sentence, finally allowing some emotion into my voice.
“I wish you could see how I’m doing this for you. I’m doing this to protect our company, to protect our future, to give you the kinds of opportunities you keep begging me for.”
“Those are tired, old excuses, Dad. Any of the people on that roster would be damn lucky to work with me. I’ll get the parts I want with or without this merger, and saying that this is to protect my future is a complete joke.
My future is protected because of the hard work I’ve put in over the last twelve years.
” I purse my lips and level a glare at him.
“Right. The hard work I lined up for you. The hard work you were able to get because your agent arranged those opportunities for you. And the protection financially? You have your father to thank for that.”
“Well, thanks,” I spit as sarcastically as I can manage at him.
I storm out of the room, fury after that conversation overtaking the bliss I felt from the time I just spent with Danny.
There’s some deep level of disappointment that my father is the one who has forced me into this situation, and I wish I could see things from his point of view, but I can’t.
All I can see is that he’s holding onto me like the teenager I was when I signed with him. He’s not allowing me to grow into an adult capable of making her own decisions.
I know he has some deep emotional wounds from losing my mother. But it’s not okay to take those out on me.
I run up to my bedroom and head straight for my closet.
And then I pull up the contact information for the director of the movie I’m set to start filming next week.
One of the things I thought of as I was sitting in the back of the car carrying me back from the mansion I stayed in the last two days toward…well, a different mansion, was how I could recreate the same sort of time for Danny and me.
And then it hit me.
When I’m on location filming…what if he’s in the same location?
What if I can get Brian Hall, the director, to give him a small part in this film?
He answers right away. “Alexis Bodega, lovely to hear from you. Calling to tell me how ready you are to start filming?”
“That I am, Mr. Hall. I’m absolutely thrilled to get moving on Break Free, and I wanted to let you know I have a connection with a World Series Vegas Heat superstar who may potentially want a role on this film when we’re on location in Vegas if you have anything for him.”
“Who is it?”
“Danny Brewer.”
The name is familiar to Brian, of course—just as it is to pretty much everyone in America at this point. Between his heroic baseball efforts and the many products he endorses combined with his pension for landing himself in the headlines, it seems like everyone knows who the guy is at this point.
“Impressive. He wants to get into acting?” he asks.
I didn’t say that exactly, but I also know he isn’t going to turn this down. “He’s interested in a guest spot if we’re able to find one for him.”
“Let me talk with casting and our producers. I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thanks, Brian.”
We hang up, and I have this renewed sense of hope that we’ll be able to recreate the magic we found this past weekend. With that in mind, I text Danny.
Me: Hope you’re ready to break into Hollywood…
His reply comes shortly after in the return of a phone call, and I happen to be sitting alone in my bedroom still.
“Hey,” I answer.
“What did you do?”
I offer a nervous giggle. “In an attempt to get some time with you, I called the director of Break Free and told him you were interested in a guest spot when we’re on location in Vegas. Brooks never comes with me when I’m shooting on location, so I’ll have a little bit of freedom.”
He chuckles a little. “Solid plan. But won’t the director be suspicious if you’re throwing my name around?”
To be honest, I hadn’t really thought of that. Or maybe I didn’t care about that. What happens between a director and his actors is confidential. Scandalous things have happened on pretty much every set I’ve stepped foot onto, but nobody ever blows them up. It’s part of the code of this industry.
“Do we have the potential to get caught? Yeah, maybe,” I admit. “But we had that potential at the mansion over the last couple days, and it didn’t stop us.”
“When do you think it’ll be?”
“He told me he’d talk to the casting director and the producers about finding a spot for you.
With the recent championship win under your belt, your stock is high right now and having you attached even for a bit role would be a huge marketing ploy.
I’ll send you the schedule for filming so you know when we’ll be in Vegas. Think you can make time?”
“For you? Here in my hometown? Yeah, I think I can swing it.” His voice gets all husky.
My chest tingles and warms at the same time at his words.
“We need to come up with a way to break you out of that prison, Lex,” he says softly.
Just as he says the words, I hear a knock at my door.
“I have to go,” I say.
“Call me when you can.”
“I will.” I hang up and can’t help but think how right he is.
I need to find a way out of this prison I find myself in.