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Cretins?
I removed the pillow and sat up as Nolan spoke. “You should appreciate your fans, Wendy. They make your career possible.”
It was such a Nolan thing to say.
Ignoring the pangs of my heart, I sat up and Cassie turned the screen toward me.
Wendy, Nolan, and a woman famous for interviewing actors were on the set of a show I vaguely recognized.
But I didn’t have time to note anything else before Wendy said, “No, I made my career possible. They’re just a nuisance I have to deal with. Luckily, social media makes it easy to fawn over them while I’m secretly gagging at home.”
I blinked. What the hell?
Nolan frowned. “But I thought you adored your fans.”
Wendy waved a hand in dismissal. “No. I wouldn’t get within a hundred feet of most of them. But I need them to promote my movies. And to have leverage. I mean, having tens of millions of followers gives me social proof with directors. Who are another bunch I can’t stand.”
I sucked in a breath and asked Cassie, “Where did you get this?”
“It’s online. Now, shush. It gets better.”
The interviewer asked, “Why is that?”
Wendy shrugged. “They all have god complexes. I really struggled with it until I learned how to stroke their egos. Now, I have most of them eating out of my hands. And let’s just say that with the right type of persuasion, I’ve advanced my career much faster than most.”
By persuasion, she had to mean sleeping with directors to get roles.
Holy shit. Even though this was a train wreck about to happen, a thrill of happiness and relief threaded through me. Would this be enough to take Wendy down a notch, to the point she’d leave me alone? Or, at the very least, leave Nolan alone?
Nolan stood there, frowning hard. But the interviewer merely tilted her head and asked, “Did they pressure you to do it in exchange for a role? Because if so, you need to speak up.”
“Oh, nothing like that. I pursued them. Sometimes relentlessly.” She winked. “I have my tricks.”
Nolan stood open-mouthed, reacting like most of the world probably would.
Where had this come from? And how had Nolan gotten hold of it? Because I knew, in my gut, he had something to do with this leaked video.
The audio slowly died out, and the video ended. Turning toward Cassie, I said, “Tell me everything about this video. When did it show up? Where? What’s the reaction?”
“When I checked my phone while making coffee, it was already everywhere. The show, The Stars Behind the Movies, denies any responsibility. So I don’t know where it came from. But the world has completely turned against Wendy, that’s for sure. There was even an announcement about her no longer having the star role in an upcoming movie.”
“Let’s check. I need to know it’s bad enough that maybe…”
“Maybe what? What haven’t you told me?”
I sighed. “Well, I suppose it’s probably safe now since Wendy won’t be thinking of me in the middle of this shitstorm.”
And so I explained her threats. When I finished, Cassie lightly shoved me. “You shouldn’t keep secrets like that from us!”
“I know, and I’m sorry, Cassie. Last night, the BFF Circle talked with me and we were thinking of ideas. But now, maybe, just maybe, this scandal will overtake mine.”
“I should think so. Wendy’s been cultivating her fans for years and years. And now? When they learn she can’t stand them? They’re going to turn on her, if they haven’t already.”
“Does it make me a horrible person to want to see how bad it is?”
“Of course not. Wendy deserves everything she sowed. Let’s check the latest and then figure out a way for you and Nolan to talk.”
A flicker of hope flared in my chest. “Maybe. Let’s just make sure things are bad enough that Wendy won’t be thinking of destroying us.”
