Page 86 of The CEO I Hate

Mia was knocking it out of the park with her answers. I took a beat to really appreciate how amazing she was. I couldn’t believe she’d ever doubted herself or her work. Mia caught my eye through the window again, and we traded smiles.

My phone started buzzing in my pocket.Paula. “Just gonna grab this,” I whispered to Jenn, taking the call into the lobby. I stepped out and closed the door behind me.

“You need to get down here,” Paula said as soon as I answered.

My skin prickled uneasily. “What’s wrong?”

“We’re being told the filming location wasn’t cleared with the proper authorities. They want to halt production.”

“What do you mean?” I snapped. “We had those permits filed weeks ago.”

“The director’s trying to sort it out, but no dice,” Paula said. “I think there was a mix-up when Lyle swapped the midseason finale episode away from the silo fire. I don’t think anyone ever went back to sort the permits again.”

Fuck. How the hell had we overlooked that? I let out a strangled breath.

What was the fastest fix here?

I racked my brain for how to deal with the problem. Technically, I could delegate the work to a location manager, maybe a production coordinator, but Paula had calledmebecause we both knew it would be faster if I did it myself. Iknewthese people.

You got friendly with the LAPD and LAFD when you needed streets cleared or fires set. I’d worked with them for years, cutting through that special brand of red production tape. If anyone was going tosmooth this over while the paperwork was being sorted, it was me. But that meant I needed to go. Now.

“Be there as soon as I can,” I said, hanging up with Paula. I jumped on the phone with Carl. “I’m gonna text you an address. Can you have a car service here within the hour?”

“Sure thing,” Carl said.

I hung up and ducked back into the producer’s office. “Can I borrow a piece of paper and a pen?”

Jenn handed me a small white board. “Will this work?”

“Perfect.” I scribbled my message in black dry-erase marker, holding it up to the window for Mia to see. END IN FIRE—URGENT. HAVE TO GO. CAR FOR YOU DOWNSTAIRS.

Mia’s face fell as she read it.

I shrugged a bit at the look on her face, erasing the message and handing the board back to Jenn. I knew Mia was disappointed now—but I was also sure that once I explained later, she’d understand. We both wanted what was best for the show, and losing out on an entire day of filming over some missing paperwork would throw off the entire production schedule.

When I glanced back at Mia, she’d recovered, nodding in my direction. There, see? She understood.

She always did.

29

MIA

Iyawned and blinked away a wave of exhaustion. There was a headache knocking at the back of my skull, and I didn’t know if it was from being stuck in this room, the severe lack of sugar in my system, or if Lyle had finally made me burst an aneurysm.

“Am I boring you?” Lyle asked, voice heavy with sarcasm.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “No, but I don’t think Cade’s character would say that. He sees the best in people, but he’s not naive, and right now he’s coming across as foolish.”

We were pulling a late night in the writers’ room, trying to make final tweaks on the penultimate episode, and I had clearly not caffeinated appropriately. Even Ash was curled up in the corner near the snack table, half asleep, one ear twitching every time someone raised their voice. He was the only reason the room didn’t feel completely soul-sucking right now.

“And you say I’m nitpicky,” Lyle pointed out.

He was. Very. “I’m just trying to stay consistent with the character.”

“Consistency would have been keeping him in a supporting role.”

“He can’tjustbe eye candy,” Tanya said.

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