Page 101 of Cast to be Mine

I’d worked so hard to escape my father’s shadow. Changed my name. Fought for every audition. Earned this opportunity through years of rejection and persistence.

And now it was all going to be reduced to gossip.

My phone buzzed. I glanced at the screen, expecting Loretta. I had no idea how she was spinning this. But it wasn’t her, it was my father.

My stomach dropped. Ignoring him wouldn’t make him go away.

“Dad.”

“What the hell is going on over there?” He wasn’t yelling, but it was that voice. I knew it. The way it got when he was barely containing his fury. “I’m getting calls from colleagues who know who you are. Do you have any idea how this looks?”

“Dad, I can explain.”

“Explain what? That you’re sleeping with a Blackwell? You’ve turned my daughter into tabloid fodder?” He let out a harsh laugh. “I raised you better than this, Grace. Did you go there to act or to humiliate me?”

The words hit like a slap. “I didn’t plan this. It just happened.”

“Things like this don’t just happen. You made a choice. A stupid, reckless choice.”

“We have a connection, Dad. Micah is a great guy.”

“Micah is a Blackwell.” He snapped. “And like all Blackwells, he’ll use you for his own gain. He’ll take what he needs, turn on you when you’re no longer useful, and forget you ever existed. That’s what they do. That’s who they are.”

“You don’t know him.”

“I know his family. I know what they’re capable of.” There was venom in his voice. Decades of bitterness filled every syllable. “His mother nearly destroyed my career. His father has spent thirty years spreading lies about me. And now you’re in bed with his son? Literally?”

I flinched. “That’s not fair.”

That was the worst part—having my father privy to my sex life.

“Life isn’t fair, Grace. I thought you understood that.” He paused, and when he spoke again, his voice was quieter but no less cutting. “You’ve worked so hard and now you’re throwing it all away for what? A man who’s going to toss you aside the moment the movie wraps?”

“He’s not like that.”

“They’re all like that. You know better. You couldn’t just wait to get to the top the honest way? You had to go sleep with the director.”

“Don’t you dare,” I snapped. “That is not the case. Shame on you. You don’t get to judge me.”

“You wouldn’t use my name but you’ll crawl in his bed.”

“Stop it,” I heard my mother say. “Gordon, give me the phone. You’re not helping.”

There was a shuffle and my father muttering something.

“Grace? Honey, are you okay?” Mom’s voice swept over me.

I couldn’t speak. My throat had closed up, tears streaming down my face.

“Grace?”

“I have to go,” I whispered.

I hung up before she could respond.

I sat there, tears falling freely now, my father’s words echoing in my head. They cut much deeper than I wanted to admit. I knew Micah—right?

Was I just another conquest for Micah? Another actress seduced by a powerful director, too naive to see the truth until it was too late?