Chapter One
“Do you understand what I’m asking you to do?”
I stare at my boss and wish I could say no and that I’m just not up to this new assignment she’s giving me. Not that it’s all that new. She gave me a week to think about it, and I can’t figure a way out that doesn’t involve me leaving a job I love. I’ve been with Pinnacle Productions for five years now, and I’m so close to getting to where I want to be.
But where I want to be isn’t where she wants me to go for the near future.
“You want me to figure out if Joseph Helms is sexually harassing his crew because you can’t afford to hand over a multibillion-dollar franchise to him if he’s going to cause a scandal.”
Joseph Helms had been Hollywood’s golden boy until he’d gotten too invested in vodka. Now, he’s making something of a comeback. Pinnacle recently invested millions of dollars to acquire a super popular video game franchise, and the rumor is the board wants Helms to direct.
Yep. That’s why she wants me to put my career on hold. Not hold, exactly. It’s worse. I’m taking a step down.
All in all, not how I’d expected my year to go.
I’d started the year with the highest hopes. I’d gone to my bosses with a couple of projects I thought I would be good for. I’ve spent the last ten years in the trenches. First as an intern to a big network known for its educational and reality TV shows, and then as a production assistant on several projects. I’ve become well known as everyone’s Girl Friday. Need a latte at three in the morning because you have an early call and forgot to fit in some sleep? Call Anika Fox. Does the writer need to be soothed into coming up with a fourteenth draft? Anika is every writer’s best friend. Need someone to manhandle a morning news host out of a night club? I’m short but I put some time in the gym, and I can be persuasive.
The woman in front of me often calls me her secret weapon, and it looks like I’m about to be deployed.
Jessica Wallace has been the force behind Pinnacle Entertainment for the last thirty years. Her father had started the studio in the forties, and everyone had expected her brother to take over when he died. I’m still not sure if she had some shit on him or if he really did want to run away to Boca and retire at a young age, but when the board voted, Jessica had come out on top. She’d taken power when women were still mostly on the sidelines. Those are actual Oscars on the wall behind her. In an office that screams power and status, those golden men are hung almost perfectly like horns she could use to headbutt her way through anything. She sits back, looking comfortable and as casual as she ever gets in slacks and a silk blouse, her perfectly silver hair in a chic bob. “Yes, that is the general gist of this assignment.”
“And I have to pretend to be a production assistant on the reality show he’s directing in order to…” I need things to be made perfectly plain. “Am I bait?”
She stares at me for a moment as though trying to figure out how to handle me. “I wouldn’t call you bait, Ani. I hope you know I wouldn’t put you in a position I didn’t think you could handle. I have no idea if you’re his type, but you are everyone else’s, and by that I mean people will talk to you. People confide in you. They trust you, and I want you to let anyone who needs to be heard know that you are listening.”
Well, there’s a reason she’s reached the heights she has. She knows how to get a person on board. If there are women out there being harassed, they’re probably a lot like me. And she’s right. People do tend to talk to me. I think it’s because I’m one of those women—pretty but not too pretty, smart but not intimidating. I sometimes worry I’m a little mid, but I’m also comfortable being who I am. I’m on the basic side, and that’s okay with me.
Which is likely why people I’ve only recently met sometimes tell me their life stories.
“I’m not even certain anything is happening, though it wouldn’t surprise me,” she continues. “Joseph is an old friend of my husband’s. His wife is… Well, I would certainly cheat on her.”
“Jess,” I begin, because one of my jobs is to remind her this isn’t the eighties and we’re not all high on cocaine and meanness.
A slender shoulder shrugs. “I wasn’t talking about her looks. Sylvie is fine if one enjoys the crunchy-vegan look. I’m talking about her personality. That’s still fine to remark upon if one is not discussing something one can’t help. She could be less boring. And seriously, you need to loosen up. I don’t understand your generation. No one in mine was allergic to gluten. Sylvie goes on and on about gluten. Isn’t that one of those things that people make up?”
I shake my head because we’ve gone over this. “Nope. It’s real. Always has been, and if she’s allergic to gluten, then you shouldn’t make fun of her. We were talking about Joseph Helms, not whether or not his wife deserves to be cheated on. Which is also not what we’re talking about. Cheating implies the other party is interested. Sexual harassment is the better word.”
Jess sighs as though I’ve deeply disappointed her. “It’s a word that’s going to cost me a lot of money if I make the wrong bet. Look, Ani, you’ve heard the rumors.”
“No, I haven’t,” I reply. “All I’ve heard is what a great guy he is to work with when he’s sober, and not so fun when he’s not. I’ve heard he’s relatively happily married. I know he employs a lot of women on his production teams. I know he’s had a problem with alcohol in the past.”
Jess waves that off. “Everyone in this town does. Joe has done his time in rehab. He’s brilliant, you know. He’s slumming on this show.”
“Because he had a meltdown on his last film, and no one wants to work with him,” I point out. I do know his work, and he’s one of the reasons for those Oscar horns. I think it’s the one on the right. Needless to say, Jess is invested in Joseph’s career. Much of Pinnacle’s respect in the industry comes from those films directed by Joseph Helms.
The money, however, comes from a whole lot of television, including the over-the-top dating shows that bring in ratings and bank.
I’ve been working in the film side of the business for the last two years, specializing in movies made right here in NYC. I’ve done some TV and worked on the lower ends of film production. I have my first script ready and my dream staff as a list on my phone. I’m supposed to be ready to produce my first film, the start of my real career.
Then I hit this roadblock.
“Joseph isn’t the only one taking a step down,” I point out. “This is low-level production assistant work. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I’ve put my time in here.”
“I know and I understand your frustration, dear, but you are the only person I trust with this assignment.”
“Hailey’s show wrapped yesterday. I know she’s looking for something new,” I offer. Not only because I want out of this assignment, but because if anyone deserves to be shoved onto the hellscape of taping a bunch of women dating one European royal in the hopes of finding…I don’t want to say love. I think I might be contractually obligated to use the word love. But I think it’s mostly screen time and maybe a crown. Anyway, if anyone deserves that, it’s Hailey.
Jess’s lips form a straight line. “Hailey would bully the poor women into silence if she thought it would take her another rung up the ladder, and she’s got movie dreams. I can’t trust her to not side with Joe. The same with the men in your position. I understand that you do not deserve this, Anika. You’re smart and capable, and unfortunately you have a deep sense of morality that is not often found at this level of the entertainment industry. I did not fight tooth and nail for this seat so some old man can harass the young women beneath me. I would simply turn him away, but as I said, he’s a friend of the family, and his name has meant something to this company.”
She’s right. Damn it. She’s always right. She’s been my mentor, and she didn’t have to be. She’s the head of one of the world’s premier entertainment companies. And she doesn’t have to take time to meet the new crop of interns every year, to make sure there are always as many women as men, to take a few she sees promise in under her wing so they don’t get lost in the everyday shuffle.
The truth of the matter is I owe her.
“What are you hoping for, Jess?” Not that what she wants will change the nature of my investigation. I’ll be honest about what I discover.
She seems to think about the question for a moment. “I suppose I hope it’s all rumors. I’ve never seen this kind of behavior out of him, but I had power when I met him. Men’s behavior can change when the power dynamic is in their favor. I know I can be a bit much, and I don’t apologize for that. I had to be to make it where I am. But I’m not one of those women who thinks my daughters and granddaughters should suck it up because I had to. What am I hoping for? A different world for this generation. One where they don’t have to worry their boss will harass them. It’s a whisper right now, and that could be jealousy. No one has stepped up with an accusation, but I want to be prepared. I know you think this show is dumb.”
“I didn’t say that.” I didn’t think I had to. It is called The King Takes a Bride, which is perfectly fine if we’re talking about a Broadway revival of some fifties musical. But no. This is a reality dating show complete with a whole bunch of hot tubs I will be responsible for ensuring get cleaned.
I kind of want to cry.
“Of course it’s dumb, and I don’t know what the executive producer has over the king’s head that he felt he needed to do this,” Jess says. “His Majesty Reginald Lucannon St. Marten of Ralavia is gorgeous and has a crown on his head. He’s not known to be wild. Of course, it’s not like he’s Prince Harry. I think there are three hundred people in his country, so it’s not surprising the press isn’t all over him.”
“It’s around a hundred thousand,” I correct, though she’s right about the tiny principality not being big in the news cycles. I remember there being some kind of flooding in that part of Europe a couple of years ago, but otherwise I suspect it’s all castles and cobblestone streets and tons of tourists.
“Anyway, I wonder. The man is stunning, and if he’d been lucky enough to be born in a country that mattered, he would have been on the cover of every magazine, celebrated for his royal blood and a nicely made six-pack,” she says with a sigh.
I raise my brows.
She shakes a well-manicured finger my way. “That is not harassment or sexualizing him. He did it to himself when he posed for all the publicity photos.”
“I haven’t seen them.” The truth is I could do this particular job in my sleep. My nightmares. I haven’t studied up on the king because I don’t need to know more than what kind of drinks to order for him and if I will have to keep his drug dealer away from the set. I know that sounds crazy, but I’ve had to in the past. Like I said, most people underestimate me, but I know my way around some unsavory situations.
“Well, you should. They’re fabulous. The king himself is…not what I expected. He’s an interesting man. Not that it matters. You won’t be around when the show comes out,” Jess promises me. “Ani, you’re my best producer. Do this for me and I’ll green-light your movie. The silly one about… What was it about?”
“It’s the story of one of New York’s first woman firefighters. Her life and struggles.” It is my dream project, and it certainly isn’t silly. It’s about empowerment and the fight against discrimination in the workplace.
Jess’s surgically perfected nose wrinkles slightly. “Could she be fighting aliens?”
I growl. It’s an alpha sound I’ve worked on over the years since no one takes a small blonde woman seriously in my business until they catch sight of our three rows of teeth.
Not that I’m like that in my normal life. I’m a regular young woman. I try to be nice and kind to everyone around me, and if they cross me, I will bury them and no cop will look in my anime eyes and think me capable of murder.
Sometimes the patriarchy works in my favor. Not that I want to give up bodily autonomy and equal pay just so I can murder someone a little more easily. But for now I’ll take what I can get.
“Fine.” Jess has her hard negotiator expression on. “What’s the budget?”
I can do it for ten million, but she’s sentencing me to six weeks of dealing with women who think they are going to end up being queen. It will be spray tans and claws, and I will hear the words “the right reasons” so many times. “Fifteen.”
Her eyes narrow like she knows exactly what I’m doing.
I sit and wait. Like she taught me.
Don’t show a minute of your emotions, Ani.
“Fifteen,” she agrees. “And you’ll be fast-tracked. If you get this done, I might even be persuaded to tell publicity they have a slightly larger budget.”
She really wants this.
I wish I could talk to my friends, but I know what’s at the end of this conversation. I won’t be able to explain why I’m taking a crappy assignment. Ivy has her own issues and won’t question it. She’ll be all “rah-rah, girl power,” but Harper likes a mystery, and, even more, she loves to point out when things are going wrong.
Still, I’d like their advice, but I’m not going to get it.
I’m on my own. “I’ll do it.”
Jess smiles like she would have gone to twenty.
She wouldn’t have, but I give her a frown because it’s always good to let the boss think they’re still in control.
“One more thing, dear,” she says, sliding a stack of papers my way.
Yep. There’s the very long and binding nondisclosure agreement. My mouth is going to have to stay closed. But my eyes will be wide open.
Copyright 2024 Lexi Blake
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