Bad Boy Brody(59)

Anger burned my throat. “Why are you telling me this? To keep me from falling for her? Too fucking late. I fell. I’m in. I’m all in.”

A sadness fell over her face, and she patted my arm. “Then I am here for you not just as a manager, but as a friend.” Her hand fell from my arm. The sadness deepened. A tear formed in her eye.

She reached up to wipe away it away, but I caught her hand. She looked at me in surprise.

“I have to try. I’m so far gone that I’ll regret it more if I walk. Can you understand?”

She nodded. The tear slipped down her cheek. “I do.”

This was the mother side of her, the part that started to extend towards me. I’d gotten glimpses of it before, but a tear—that was new. I couldn’t remember my own mother crying for me.

It calmed me, slightly.

She pulled her hand free, going back to hugging herself as she looked toward the main house. “You say the whole estate is in her name?”

“Yes.”

“You’re worried about the father, aren’t you?”

I looked too.

The main house stood high up on the cliff’s hill, nestled into the side. It took on an imposing air, as if it were daring someone to challenge it. Authority clung to it tighter than it had before, and I knew it was Peter Kellerman’s effect. He had everyone on edge, whether they realized it or not.

Yeah, to answer her question. I was worried. I was more than worried, but I didn’t know what problems his presence would bring. I just knew they would.

A soft sigh left me.

It’d been a long night of shooting. An even longer few hours until I found Morgan, and all I wanted to do was hold her.

“Is everyone still here?” I moved around Gayle, going toward the house. There were more cars in the driveway than there should have been.

She fell into step beside me. “I suppose they’re all just waiting to be told what to do.”

No. They would’ve gone to the hotel or to a bar to do that. No one slept last night. They would’ve been tired.

My pace quickened.

If they were inside, there was a reason.

They were gathered in the main living room. Shanna was at the front, standing on the fireplace’s hearth and holding up the movie script. Everyone else was gathered inside, so tight all the chairs were filled. People were sitting on the floor. Others were lined against the walls, a few spilling out to the entryway and even in the kitchen behind.

“It is the right thing to do, so I apologize for the mess up in your schedules.”

I looked for the Kellermans, Jen, or Morgan, but none of them were there.

They weren’t on the back patio, which left Matthew’s office maybe?

“I realize you might have projects lined up after this, so we’ll be in touch to work out the new schedule. But, guys. I really think this will make the movie better. It’s the truth too.”

Shanna’s words got my attention, and I went back.

Her eyes were shining. Her neck was straining, and she was waving that movie script around. “This story is no longer about Karen Kellerman. It’s no longer the story the Kellermans have told us. It’s about Morgan—”

“What are you doing?” I was pushing forward into the room before Gayle could stop me.

That anger was back. He was pushing from the dark regions inside me, knowing he might have to be let loose soon.

Shanna’s hand went down to her side and she squared off to me. “I’m changing the script, Brody.”

I looked at Gayle in the doorway. She didn’t give me any nod to keep going or to shut up. She was as surprised as I was.

“You don’t have the right.”

“I do, actually.” Shanna pulled out the packet of papers that had been rolled up in her back pocket. It was her contract. “This gives me the creative license. I can change the script if I decide to do so. I’m sorry. I am. I know you want to protect your girlfriend, but this is going to happen.”

“They’ll fight you.”

“No.” She shook her head. “I talked to my lawyers before I had a meeting with Peter and Matthew Kellerman. They all agreed. I can do the changes, and I’m going to. I’ll need time to have the script rewritten.” She gestured around the room. “That’s what I was telling everyone. Everything is on hold for now. The rewrites and a new ending will completely change the entire scope of the movie, for the better, though. This will all be for the better.”

“For whom?”

I could see Morgan’s face in my mind. She would be so terrified. She’d go back to Shiloh.

“She is wild in her heart . . .”

“You’re from two completely opposite worlds.”

Gayle met my gaze, both of us remembering her words. Her face twisted in regret, a pitying expression pulled at her mouth. She tilted her head to the side as if to tell me she was sorry.

I didn’t want to see it, hear it, take it.

Shanna answered my question, “This is better for everyone.”

“Not for Morgan. She won’t want this.”

“You don’t know that. Everyone wants to be famous.”

Not her. Not Morgan. I shook my head. “That’s her worst nightmare.”

A step creaked behind me, and I whirled. Matthew Kellerman was on the stairs. His father behind him. Matthew paused on the last step before stepping all the way down.