Page 52 of Dirty Big Sins

Vincent followed and found his phone first. He pressed to answer and placed it against his ear. He might as well have turned it on speaker. I could make out Nina’s panicked voice from the other side of the room.

“Slow down. I can barely understand you.”

The pit in my stomach grew as I wrapped my hand around my phone and saw that Julie was calling mine.

“She’s right here.”

I tuned out Vincent’s words and pressed theaccepticon and pressed the phone to my ear.

“Zia?”

“What’s wrong?”

“Oh my God. Finally. Where are you? We’ve been searching everywhere.”

“I know, I know. But I’m on my way now. Tell Zack I’ll be down in ten minutes.”

“No!” she yelled, her hysteria rising. “Don’t come down here.”

“What? Why the hell not? There are a million things to get— ”

“The sharks are here and the minute you step out of the elevator they are going to attack.”

I tamped down my annoyance at Julie’s dramatics. Yes, I was late. Yes, it was irresponsible all things considered. But fuck, it was NOT the end of the world.

“Sharks? Seriously? That freaking sous chef wanna be had better not be back in my kitchen or I’m likely to kill someone.”

“It’s—uhh— It’s not that.”

“Then what. For Christ’s sake, Julie. Spit it out. This day is going to be hell as it is.”

“It’s the network. They’ve been trying to get you on the phone. They wanted a meeting.”

Part of the fear I’d been feeling eased. Okay that didn’t sound nearly as bad as I’d expected. The big wigs weren’t exactly known for their patience.

“Okay, well let them know I’m available now so go ahead and schedule the meeting at their convenience.” Their impatience wasn’t lost on me nor was I about to let this set me back today. I’d take the meeting on the go whenever they were ready and then we’d get back to the finishing details for the restaurant.

“It’s too late,” she spoke quietly, an ominous tone in her voice.

“What does that mean?”

“I don’t know how to tell you this,” she continued slowly.

“Good lord, Julie. Just spit it out. We don’t have time for this today.” My to-do lists had to-do lists and if we didn’t get to work asap it wouldn’t get done. As it was, we were going to be at this all night.

“I don’t want to be the messenger,” she said.

“Julie.” My patience evaporated as I reached for my panties and bra.

“Okay, but don’t shoot me. They should have waited until they talked to you directly.”

“What. Did. They. Say?”

“They shut down filming. Even made the entire crew pack up and leave. I’m so sorry, Zia, but they fired you.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

VINCENT

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