Page 104 of Cast to be Mine

“Dad.”

“What the hell is going on over there?” His anger could be felt across the Pacific. “I’ve been fielding calls all day. Reporters asking me to comment on my son’s relationship with his lead actress. Do you have any idea how this looks?”

“I’m aware.”

“Are you? Because from where I’m sitting, it looks like you’ve lost your goddamn mind.” He paused, clearly reloading for another volley of insults and anger. “Is that why you chose her for the part?”

My jaw clenched. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me. Did you cast Grace Stone because you wanted to sleep with her?”

“No. Absolutely not.”

“If I find out you’re using the old casting couch routine, I’ll disown you. I mean it, Micah. That kind of behavior destroys careers. It destroys lives. I didn’t raise you to be that kind of man.”

“I’m not that kind of man.” I kept my voice calm even though anger was coiling in my chest. “I cast Grace because she was the best actress who auditioned. Period. Whatever happened between us came later. After she’d already proven herself on set.”

“Be that as it may, I don’t like it.”

“Things just happened, Dad. We spent time together. We connected. She’s a nice girl. A talented actress. None of this was planned.”

“You’re still betraying the family. Have you forgotten who her father is? Gordon Sterling tried to destroy your mother’s career. He spread vicious lies about her. And now you’re involved with his daughter?”

“Grace isn’t Gordon.”

“How do you know? How do you know this isn’t some scheme she’s working with her father? Get close to the Blackwell kid, dig up dirt, use it against us?”

I actually laughed at that. “You can’t be serious.”

“I’m deadly serious. You don’t know what that family is capable of.”

“I know Grace. I know who she is. She changed her name specifically to get away from her father’s shadow. She doesn’t want anything to do with whatever bullshit feud you have with Gordon Sterling. And neither do I.”

Silence on the other end. I could practically hear him processing, trying to find another angle of attack.

“Didn’t you and Mom meet on a movie set?” I asked.

He sputtered. “Well, yes, but⁠—”

“And you weren’t exactly uninvolved in the production, were you?”

“I wasn’t the director.”

“No, you ran the studio. Which is way worse.”

More silence. I could imagine his face, tomato red and the vein on the side of his head twitching. I’d made the man angry enough over the years to know that look very well.

“You’re making it sound sleazy,” he finally said.

“You’re doing the same thing with Grace and me.”

I heard him exhale heavily. The fight was going out of him, replaced by something that almost sounded like resignation. At the end of the day, my father knew me. He knew my character. I wasn’t some sleazy dude using my name and status to get a woman into bed. I didn’t need to.

“So you actually like this girl?”

“I do, actually.” I leaned against the truck, suddenly exhausted. “But all this bullshit might have wrecked things. She’s dealing with a lot right now. The press is tearing her apart. I don’t know where we stand after today.”

Dad was quiet for several seconds. “Finish shooting the picture.”