Page 103 of Unruly

She wanted a quick getaway after this.

“You can still decide to approach Mr. Cornell elsewhere,” Miguel reminded her.

“I think this is better. Hits home, doesn’t it? Considering …”

Miguel smirked. “You are your mother’s daughter.”

Catherine huffed, and grabbed Cece by the hand. “Stop saying that.”

She didn’t bother to wait for Miguel’s reply. Quickly, she headed into the indoor playground. At the front desk, she paid for Cece’s bracelet to be able to play with the rest of the children in a more private, expensive section.

Basically, the rich littles playground.

L.A. was basically for the rich and famous, honestly. A little extra money got you a seat closer to someone you might have seen on the television. Name dropping got you into exclusive clubs. Notoriety earned your respect. That’s just how the town was run.

“Okay, baby,” Catherine told Cece, “just give Ma ten minutes.”

Cece peered up at her as they walked through glass doors that lead toward the back of the building. “Ma do bid-nez, right?”

Catherine lifted a brow.

Her daughter didn’t miss a click.

Cece had been listening to Catherine and Miguel’s conversations all damn week. Sometimes she talked while they did, babbling on in that way of hers. Other times, she kept quiet and listened. She might have only been three, but Cece knew what was going on. Or, she figured it out fast enough.

“Yeah, baby,” Catherine said with a smile, “Ma has some business to do.”

Cece nodded seriously. “Okays, Ma.”

In fact, Catherine was planning on closing yet another chapter of her issues today. Or she was going to get damn close to it.

Cece kept up with her mother, climbing stairs to the upper level of the indoor playground. Upstairs was where the private section was, and where Catherine knew she would find one of her girls’ former clients.

An A-list, forty-something father of four. A man who had starred in over thirty-five films, many of which had been blockbuster hits. Married three times; children with two women, and divorces that almost always ended with NDAs being signed. The wives walked away with a lot of money to keep them quiet.

Why the nondisclosure agreements?

Brad Cornell’s cocaine habit.

The celebrity movie star made a great effort to keep his habit a secret from the outside world. As far as Catherine knew, the guy snorted upwards of ten lines or more a day. He had been using since his first movie when a producer had given him the drug to up his energy when he wasn’t bringing it to the film.

Brad kept using.

A habit formed.

He was America’s golden boy as far as film stars went. A doting husband in the tabloids when he was married. A wonderful father when magazines came to his home to do spreads. Even his ex-wives spoke highly of him when asked.

His older children were like trained robots, never saying a bad word about their father to the press.

The man’s PR game was on point.

Catherine had to give him that.

It was just about the only thing she was going to give him. And today, he was going to give her something, or she was going to turn his precious PR-controlled, perfectly maintained public life upside down.

It was that simple.

The squeals of children echoed off plastic and rubber. Cece passed a disinterested look at things that normally would have made any kid her age go wild. Still, with a little press of Catherine’s hand to her daughter’s back, Cece darted off to play.