Page 47 of Unscripted with Mila

“Yes. I’m okay.”

I handed Mila her phone. “I’ll say good night.”

Andi snorted. “I don’t think so. You’re coming with us. We all need to talk.”

I had no choice in the matter. I followed them closely, my hand ready to catch Mila if she went over again. In the elevator, she leaned against the wall with a sigh. “Sorry,” she mumbled.

I slipped my arm around her and kissed her temple. Andi already knew, so there was no point in pretending. “It’s fine. Everything is fine.”

Andi looked over her shoulder at us as she walked out of the elevator.

“I’ll be the judge of that.”

“Fuck,” I muttered. But I followed.

Tonight was full of revelations.

What was one more?

* * *

In Mila’s room, I sat beside her on the sofa, holding her hand, stroking the skin gently. She was still pale, which bothered me. Andi was busy again on her phone, pacing outside on the balcony.

“Busted,” I mumbled. “That didn’t take long.”

Mila sighed, rubbing her head. “Did they see you? The paps, I mean?”

“Yeah. Called out some slurs and tried to get me to interact, but I didn’t. Luckily, the guard at the gate recognized me, so he got me in fast. They didn’t get a lot of pictures.”

“How did they find you?”

“MJ,” I confirmed. I had called her from the car, and she had been unapologetic about her tip-off. I had cursed and raged. She had laughed and told me to grow up.

“No press at all is the only kind of bad press, Nicky boy,” she had sneered. “We need you out there.”

Then she had hung up, not caring she’d thrown me to the wolves or that I was upset.

“What a bitch,” Mila murmured.

I didn’t reply. She was right. MJ was a bitch, and although that had worked many times in my favor for negotiations, lately, it had become personal. I felt like a piece of meat, my only value the money I brought to her. She used to care about my well-being, but now I wasn’t so sure.

I lifted Mila’s hand and kissed it, just as Andi came in and sat across from us.

“Obviously, you two were out.”

Mila lifted her chin. “Yes.”

“Not running lines either.”

Crossing them was more like it, but I kept that information to myself. “I asked Mila to have dinner with me. She agreed. We went somewhere private.” I flipped my fingers toward the front of the hotel. “I didn’t expect the shitshow out there. I did my best to protect her from it.”

“Who is protecting you?” Andi asked, shocking me with her question.

I blinked at her words, unsure what to say.

“His agent tipped them off,” Mila said, leaning forward. “For publicity.”

Andi frowned. “Sounds like you need a new agent. But that’s beside the point. When did this happen?”