Page 5 of The Quiet Rebuild

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Thirty minutes after Taylor reached her hotel room in Tokyo after storming off set, there was a knock on the door. Taylor was in the bath, her ears below the surface, which meant that whoever it was had to knock and knock and knock before she realized it. Her first thought was that it was the director, Stanley, coming to grovel, to tell her that she was right and the screenwriter was wrong, that they needed her more than anything and anyone.

Taylor reached for her fuzzy bathrobe, tied it up, and walked to the door, unhurried. She felt as though she’d won.

But on the other side of the door were three people Taylor didn’t recognize: a Japanese man of about thirty-five, flanked by two women, an Australian and an American.

“Hello?” Taylor narrowed her eyes at them.

“Taylor Charron, hello,” the American woman said, her voice bright and snappy. “Can we come in for a moment?” The way she said it meant that it wasn’t a question.

“What is this regarding?” Taylor asked.

“Your manager sent us,” the American woman said, showing all of her perfect white teeth.

A little too blurry-eyed and confused to protest, Taylor stepped back and watched as they came in single file. They took control of the space immediately. The American woman sat on the edge of her bed, her spine straight, while the Japanese man sat at the desk and the Australian remained standing. They introduced themselves: the American, Mandy Berry; the Australian, Maddie Duke; and the Japanese man, Minato.

“I’m sorry, but who are you?” Taylor asked, leaning against the wall and crossing her arms.

“We’re a marketing strategy team here to take control of the narrative,” Mandy said. “We understand that there was a situation on set.”

“There wasn’t a situation, per se. The screenwriter and I had some creative differences, is all. I’m sure we can work it out tomorrow.” Taylor couldn’t believe what a ruckus they were stirring up.

“Yes. Maybe so. But the problem now is that a member of the set filmed the entire incident and put it online,” Maddie said.

Taylor’s stomach dropped. “I beg your pardon?”

She hurried to the counter to grab her phone, but Maddie intercepted it, shaking her head. “It’s better if you don’t see it,” she said. “It will only make things worse.”

“Shouldn’t I know what we’re dealing with?” Taylor demanded. “I like to face everything head-on.”

The three of them laughed happily, as though this was all a game to them. Maybe it was.

“We’re going to fix this,” Maddie said. “But we need you to keep a low profile for a few days while we craft a plan.”

“I have to be on set tomorrow,” Taylor said.

“Oh, no. You aren’t going back there,” Mandy said.

The Japanese man shook his head sadly.

“I beg your pardon?” She wanted to tell them that, in fact, Taylor had gotten the role more than a year ago. She’d beaten out numerous other names. She’d planned her return to cinema with this film. She and Jason had celebrated the announcement with a vacation in the Bahamas.

This couldn’t be happening. They couldn’t remove her from her own movie set. Only she could do that. Maybe she was dreaming.

“Can you sit down for us?” Mandy asked, as though she were a child. “We have a few questions we want to ask you before we take over your social media.”

“You’re not taking control of my socials,” Taylor said.

Mandy walked over to her and touched her shoulder. “Honey, if you don’t let us take control of this narrative, they will eat you alive. You’ll never see another film set again.”

Taylor was so stunned that she didn’t say anything else.

Taylor sat in the cushioned chair in the corner and watched as her so-called marketing team reviewed her social media, making notes and comments on whatever was happening there. They occasionally glanced up at her and asked her pertinent questions—mostly about her marriage and her relationship with her parents.

“Jason and I got married in 2005,” she said. “And my parents and I haven’t spoken since 2009. Well, I mean, occasionally on birthdays I talk to my dad, but never my mom.”

They nodded seriously, as though this were all essential information for their plan of attack. Taylor couldn’t fathom how this all related.