Page 7 of Ruthless Passion

"I'll reach out to you once I know what I want to do or if I have any questions, Luca," I tell him with a timid smile.

He reaches into his pocket, pulling out his phone, and tells me. "Give me your number and I’ll text you so you have my private number. Text me, call me, tell me once you're ready to be my leading lady."

"You are relentless."

"No, I'm persistent. Take care, Josephine. I look forward to running lines with you, my Cadence, my siren of the sea." He flashes a grin, confident I'm going to take the roles, and walks out of the room.

Once I step into the corridor, Daphne and Austin are standing there, both wearing ridiculous grins. Daphne's eyes beam with excitement, holding the script in one hand and reaching out to grab my hand with the other.

"Jo, you have no idea how rare it is to get Mr. Devlin out of his office to watch auditions. This is a great sign. You already have the look, and after that read, I'd say you got the part."

The smile spreading from cheek to cheek pushes me to hug the woman. The honesty in her face tells me she genuinely believes in my talent. However, I still have to ask, "Did Mr. Devlin tell you to give me the role?"

Austin interjects. "Even if he did, you still have the talent to carry the part. We're not making Academy Award winning material here, Jo. It's a straight to stream, scream queen, monster flick. If you don't want the part, we won't cancel the rest of the auditions we have lined up. But my advice is, take the part and put your talent to use."

I offer a timid grin. "Thank you both. I appreciate you taking the time to see me. I guess, send me the details, shoot dates, wardrobe fittings and everything else."

"Perfect." Daphne beams. "We'll reach out in the next few days to confirm the schedule. Thanks again, Jo, for coming in and reading with Mr. Devlin."

Austin and Daphne walk off, talking amongst themselves, while I make my way back out to the reception area. The attraction between me and Luca shouldn't matter. There's a hint of doubt that wonders if they would have picked me had he not been there. Or, perhaps Jett's right, and my brother's stinky socks truly are lucky.

The steady pulse of my phone vibrating pulls me out of my head. I hope it's not Duke to ruin my afternoon. Fortunately, it's Monique, the person who got me this audition in the first place.

"I got the part," I tell her before she can say hello.

"Of course, you did. Are you still at Luca Brisco?" she asks. "I'm on the Parliament Studio lot about to head to lunch. You want some free food?"

"What kind of question is that?" I laugh.

She giggles and gives me directions to get to her. A walk through two massive parking lots has me near the set of a movie. A high-speed chase is underway as I near the area behind the cameramen and equipment. I see an entire area is roped off as Monique trots over to me with a takeaway tray in her hands. Her mohawk lavender hair sides buzzed short makes her perfectly bronze tan pop in the late morning sun. With one arm extended, she pulls me in for a hug before putting the tray of food in my hand.

"Come, follow me to my trailer," she commands, pulling me toward a quieter area of the set outside of the actual studio building.

"You get a trailer?" I ask.

"It's not much but being first on the call sheet has its perks. So, how was it? You must have knocked it out of the park to get offered the role on the spot. I'm so happy for you. I'll be in the front row for the premiere."

"Slow down, Mojo." The name only a few people from our childhood days together get to call her, sounds so much louder in her trailer.

The space is about the size of a walk-in closet, but all the trimming are nice and cozy for the leading actress. There's a loveseat, a vanity, and a high stool for her to do hair and makeup.

I plop onto the small couch while she opens up another tray of food. As we eat, I tell her, "Mr. Devlin read lines with me for my audition. What do you know about him?"

"Luca Devlin?" she asks between bites. "Um, pretty much a straight shooter. I've only worked on two of his projects, but I've never met him personally. His reputation is better than most of the sleazebags in the business. He read lines with you?"

"Yeah, and we kissed. It was part of the script, but there was something, I don't know, exciting about him. He's got this energy, this charisma, and even though he's the guy in charge, he can be silly, dramatic."

"You sound smitten s that must have been some kiss.” She grins. “Seriously, Jo, that's great. It's about time you stop letting Duke scare you away from looking at other guys."

I roll my eyes. "Don't even get me started on him."

"Oh boy, what did he do now? Wait, let me guess, he wanted his girlfriend to babysit and he'd pay her your child support payment because she watched Jett."

"I wouldn't put it past him, but no. He said he wants to terminate his rights. He's filing the court documents tomorrow."

"If he does that, it means he's no longer responsible for Jett, financially or otherwise right?"

I nod. "Yeah, but somehow, I feel like it's a trap. He's up to something."

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