Page 16 of All That Glitters

Parker laces his hands in the air in front of his chin. “You know how important this movie is to me,” he says slowly.

I bob my head in acknowledgement. My lips straighten into a thin line.

“I want Empire Stone. There is no other Alicia for Wretched. You understand.”

“I know where you’re coming from, yes.” I keep my answers short and clipped, and the two of us stare each other down, rabid dogs with Empire as the bone between us.

I want her to take the part too, but Parker doesn’t need to know that.

“You’re a ruthless fuck, Marcus,” he replies at last. “You and I both know where you’ve come from, and Empire is your only client right now. I understand better than anyone how much you want to help her get her career going. Really going.” His knuckles tighten, go white. “It’s a career any girl dreams of, and this picture is going to get her there.”

“Stop trying to convince me. I get it.” I grind my back teeth.

“You’re the only one who is going to help change her mind. I’ve got to have her.”

“Duly noted,” I barked out. “Now, if you have nothing more to say, Heath, get the fuck out of my office and let me actually do my job in peace.”

Parker smiles, shaking his head ruefully as though amused. There is nothing warm about those blue eyes of his. “Fancy offices and thousand-dollar suits are not going to erase the boy you used to be. I know your old ties. This movie…is what I want. If you get the girl on board, then everyone will be happy and stay healthy.”

I shift my weight at the thinly veiled threat, soft enough for anyone eavesdropping to skip right over it. I need my life to stay the same, exactly where I am. It’s where I’ve always wanted to be.

When I started my career with Empire’s parents, I knew I’d hitched myself to the right horse. Escaped my past, gotten to every milestone of my childhood dreams. I’m not going back, never fucking again.

“I don’t like to be threatened.” There is no need to say it out loud, yet I do regardless.

Parker understands it, and the slight twitch at the corner of his lips tells me he’s well aware of how deeply he’s dug under my skin.

“I’ll take care of things.” I assure him stringently. “Now, if there is nothing else I can help you with, Parker, I know you’re a busy man.” I tap my fingers on the desk before leaning back, purposely nonchalant. “Don’t you have a massage scheduled or something?”

He stares at me for a moment longer.

Finally, he shifts out of the chair and stretches. His arms reach overhead and strain the lines of his suit jacket. “That's all I’m asking,” he says with a sharp salute as a final ‘fuck you’. “Keep in touch, Marcus. I expect an answer by the end of the week.”

“I bet you do, you prick.” I grimace into a semblance of a smile and watch him walk out. He whistles at my middle-aged secretary, his hands in the pocket of his jacket.

Cocky bastard.

He always has been, too, the kind of man who knows what he wants because he thinks he’s entitled to the world. Newsflash: I have just as much to lose if Empire refuses to take this part.

She’s my ticket, and she has no other avenues left to her if she turns it down. She hasn’t booked a part in her life. Her status comes from her parent’s careers and her own social media influencer status.

The rest of the day passes startlingly fast until the sun starts sinking and dulling the streets with shadows. There’s no more putting this off. Time to get my ass back to the house, even though I’m mostly sure that Empire hasn’t moved from her room. If she makes it to the living room, I’ll be surprised.

Fuck, how am I going to convince her to take the part?

It’s going to take a bit of finagling. She’s the type who will dig her heels in if she thinks it will spite me, and it will spite me. She’ll turn down the part even if she actually does want it. Deep down, she might be scared of it, but she wants it.

It’s made for her.

Not the Empire she probably convinces herself she sees in the mirror, but the real one.

I thrust my arm out the window, the breeze ruffling the dark hairs of my forearm and the tattoos muted by age along my muscles.

I’ll figure something out. There’s no choice, is there? Eat or be eaten. That’s the world I’ve chosen, and at least this one comes with a fucking nice bank account.

I get home to find Empire snuggled on the couch, reading the script out loud.

“What is it you really want from me, Mr. Patterson? Hmm? Tell me. I’m a big girl, I can take it.” Her voice filters down the hallway, amplified by the construction, and I pause a few feet outside the room.

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