“I don’t know,” Atlas said. “There’s a guy in Vegas who is pretty damn good at running complex IT for a multi-resort company looking into it.”
“Or you let me out of my contract now, and we part ways.”
For the first time all conversation, Tony’s smooth mask cracked. “No. Fuck no. If you try to break the contract, I’ll drag your ass to court.”
“Great,” Easton said, flashing a shark’s smile. “We’ll see you there.”
Tony’s frantic eyes moved back to me. “You can’t prove I was tied to any of this.”
“Maybe not. But I learned from you. No one cares if something is true or not. Perception is all that matters. One notes app post from me about this, and they’ll grab the torches and pitchforks to find you guilty in the court of public opinion.”
He slumped back and dragged his palm down his face. “Fuck.”
When that didn’t achieve the desired effect, he grabbed a stapler from his desk and chucked it across the room to shatter a framed award.
He looked at me with the same weariness I used to feel about the corrosive town. “Anything I did.” He held up a finger at Easton.“And I’m not saying I did. But if so, it was for you. For us. Think of the money we can make.”
“I already make good money, Tony. And you take a big enough cut from me alone that I know you do, too.
“But now you can have your pick of any movie. Any genre. Any location. You know how much you love acting. It’s literally in your blood. And these new offers are unreal. You’ll be set.”
“And I’d be fucking miserable if it were up to you. I’m not working with you.” I issued a threat for the second time that day. That might not seem like much, but as someone who only issued them in movies, it was odd it’d happened twice. “If you call off your media dogs, your blind item connections, and any other shit you’ve been manipulating behind the scenes, I’ll keep my mouth shut about the rest of it.”
“Plus, let him out of the contract,” Easton interjected as he pulled the papers from his case.
“Yeah, and that.”
Tony gestured to Easton. “Hand it over.” Unlike Josh, he read each line carefully, cursing to himself as he did. “Air-fucking-tight.” He snatched a pen from his desk but paused with it in his hand to look at me. “You sure this is what you want?”
I lifted my chin.
“And you don’t tell anyone about what you incorrectly suspect?” He scanned the three of us. “Any of you?”
“Already included our names in that contract,” Easton pointed out. “Along with the acknowledgment that if you badmouth Tripp, that part is null, and all of this is fair game.”
Tony scrawled his name and initials in the appropriate spot before turning in his chair to grab his own paper from the filing cabinet. He handed it to me, and I passed it to Easton.
Once he confirmed it was good, I signed it.
Ending my working relationship with Tony and Hullywod.
I left the office without a doubt in my mind that I’d made the right decision.
But I was still disappointed that a man I considered a friend was just like everyone else.
That he’d stabbed me in the back for a fraction of what I had.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
THINGS ARE CERTAINLY GETTING SHAKEN UP. ANYONE ELSE FEEL UNEASY ABOUT THE CHANGE IN THE AIR?
GREER
It was official.
I was freaking out.
Okay, that was technically the case the second I left Wells Law with Hank, but that unease grew as the day continued.
