“I’m sorry,” she said softly. He stayed in the doorway of the living room, not coming closer. Only a few nights ago she’d been sure she’d never been as close to another person in her life.
“Goodbye, Mahreen. I wish things could have been different, but I always said I would do whatever you needed me to do. Even walk away.”
She didn’twanthim to walk away, but yes, that was what she needed.
She nodded softly. “Goodbye, Nikhil.”
He nodded back. Then turned and walked out the door.
At that moment, McQueen jumped onto her lap. Marley hugged her cat close and cried into his soft fur.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Nikhil
Nikhil drove straight to his parents’ house when he left Marley’s. He thought about going to a hotel to save himself from explaining why he suddenly needed a place to stay, but the last thing he needed was to be seen in public again.
When he got to the house, his father was too engrossed in a new Bollywood movie to pay much attention to him. And Mom, of course, was resting upstairs. Nikhil gave some excuse for being there, made a plate of leftovers from the fridge, and took it downstairs to eat. Nalini joined him after a few minutes, but she seemed to understand that he didn’t want to talk about himself at all right now. She started telling him how her university classes were going and how she was starting to research medical schools.
“Pick whatever school you want. I’ll pay,” Nikhil said.
Nalini raised a brow. “I’ll get scholarships and can take some loans. I mean, doctors make enough money to pay them back. Plus, you don’t know—”
“I don’t know if I’ll get another role like the Shadow—I know.” And he’d already used a bunch of the money to pay off this damn house. He sighed. Was it possible this cheating scandal, or not-cheating scandal, was going to affect his future earning potential?
His phone buzzed with a call then. He checked the screen—it was Esther.
“My agent,” he said.
Nalini stood. “I’ll go. You do your damage control.”
“They want to see you at eleven tomorrow,” Esther said the moment he answered. “At the studio’s Toronto office.”
“Did they sound angry when you talked to them?”
“They’re not pleased. As expected, the biggest issue here is that the timing made Serena look bad. They need her to seem invincible like the character, not like a spurned woman.”
He exhaled. “God, I wish I didn’t have to face them alone.”
“Honey, if I could, I’d be on a plane to Toronto in the next hour. Don’t say a word in that meeting until you have me on speakerphone.”
“I know. You think they’re going to fire me from the movie?”
She huffed. “For taking your friend to the doctor’s office? Of course not. Remember, Nicky boy—you did nothing wrong here. Privacy breeches like this happen all the time. All they’ll do is tell you how they plan to spin the whole thing. Maybe they’ll have a statement for you to post somewhere saying the girl is just an old friend.”
“I don’t get it. I already said I wasn’t interested in a fake relationship with Serena. Why the hell did she post that?”
“Good question,” Esther said, sounding more than annoyed. “Believe me—I tried to get an answer to that. They kept talking in circles whenever I asked. But us exposing her lies now makes the movie look bad, and we don’t want that any more than they do.”
“Can theyforceme to be in a fake relationship with her?” It would mean the end of him and Marley. Not that he andMarley weren’t over already anyway. She didn’t want all his celebrity baggage. He closed his eyes, feeling a sharp pain behind them.
“Of course not. Like I said in LA, none of this nonsense is in your contract. You call the shots on your life, Nicky. But… remember what else isn’t in your contract…”
He opened his eyes. “A sequel.”
“You got it, babycakes. Serena Vox is the star of the Ironis movies. You want a place in the playground, you’re going to have to play by her rules. To some degree.”
“But it wouldn’t affect my prospects in other roles, would it?”
