Chapter One
Chase Warwick pulled his BMW into the parking lot of the nondescript office building in Torrance and cut the engine, wondering what he was about to walk into.
He normally had no reason to be this far south of Los Angeles, but this wasn't a normal day. A month ago, his publicist got a call from a lawyer informing them that Dorothy Colton, known affectionately as Nana, had passed away. Nana was one of those big-name fans in the Project Lyonheart community, and everyone loved her from the actors to other fans.
She had become a friend to Chase over the past few years and he would always set aside the Friday night of a convention just for her. They would meet in the hotel lobby at eight o'clock with her in a vintage purple sweatshirt with graphics from the eighties and him in a button-down shirt, skinny tie, and a fresh pair of Ray Bans. They would specifically ask the concierge to recommend a quiet local place.
Chase and Nana would sit at a corner table and order drinks and maybe mozzarella sticks if they were on the menu. It was one of Chase's favorite cheats from his strict diet and training for themovie series. He would get a gin and tonic, she would get a dirty martini with three olives. They would catch up with each other and talk about life. She would tell him about the students she used to teach or her granddaughter the librarian. He would tell her about the latest movies he saw. She always loved getting the scoop on the new things that were coming out.
At the end of the night, they would walk back to the hotel together, and he would make sure she got to her hotel room OK. She would give him two dozen chocolate chip cookies with a secret ingredient that she would never confirm, but he was pretty sure it was cinnamon. He would give her a spoiler from an upcoming Project Lyonheart movie that was only for her. He felt a little bad that he couldn't share with her the biggest spoiler about his character Smith's real name. She would've loved that one!
In between conventions, she would send emails to his assistant to pass along to him and he always made sure Marcus would send her a gift on her birthday. Marcus was a bit smitten with Dorothy too.
At a convention two months ago, he sent her a text to make sure she would be waiting for him the lobby, but she couldn't make it because she had a cold. He asked if she would be at the next one in a few months.
Not sure yet,her text read in reply.But if you could, remember our challenge.
He promised he would. But he also was pretty sure that meant something bad was going to happen. He turned out to be right. Her attorney told his agent that Nana's cold ended up being the flu and there were complications.
He thought back to that bar in San Diego a year ago when she told him she was updating her will and said she would leave a little challenge for him in there.
"You don't have to do that for me," he had told her. "And it's not like you're going to die anytime soon."
"I'm not a spring chicken," she replied. "And the challenge isn't really about you anyway."
He both wondered what she meant by that and hoped it would be a long time before he found out. Unfortunately, he was going to find out today. It felt way too soon.
Chase walked into the building and found the office for the George Gordon Law Firm, which was just as nondescript as the building.
"Hey, how are ya?" Chase said as he flashed his superstar smile at the receptionist behind the beige counter.
She looked up with a fake smile on her face that changed as soon as she saw who was standing there. Sometimes, he liked getting women all flustered just with his presence and he was going to enjoy this experience as well.
"Oh, Mr. Warwick," she stammered as she nervously got to her feet. "Thank you so much forcoming. It's really a pleasure to have you here."
He flashed a bigger Hollywood smile at her and leaned over on her counter. "It's great to be here."
She smiled again and fluttered her eyelashes a bit even though he was sure she didn't realize that she was doing it. "George Gordon, Esquire, will be with you shortly. You can have a seat until he's ready for you."
"Thank you. And what did you say your name was?"
"Becca. Well, Rebecca," she said in that flustered tone of hers.
"Rebecca, I appreciate it."
She nodded and gave him a flirtatious smile before she ducked into a hallway that Chase assumed led to offices.
He turned to find an empty seat in the beige waiting room — and well, they were almost all empty — and noticed there was at least one woman there who didn't seem impressed with him. She just scowled and turned away, looking down at her feet. She looked familiar to him for a moment, but the only woman he knew who lived in Torrance was Nana, so this was definitely not someone he had crossed paths with.
Chase pulled out his phone and scrolled through nothing important, trying to distract himself from the horrible instrumental version of "Pour Some Sugar on Me" floating out of a speaker near the receptionist's desk. He loved eighties music, and he loved acting in a movie franchisethat was set in the eighties because it exposed him to even more good music from that era. But this rendition of Def Leppard was awful.
"Mr. Warwick, Mr. Gordon is ready for you."
He looked up to see the receptionist standing in the doorway giving him a huge smile. "Thank you, Rebecca."
She beamed back at him. He would forget her name as soon as he left this place, but for now, he would flash as much charm as he could at Rebecca. It's what a good actor would do.
"And Ms. Colton, he's ready for you too."
