CHAPTER THIRTEEN
2059 Words
MALACHI’s POV.
Watching her finally fall asleep, I let out a sigh of relief. She has cried so much that it broke my heart and I don’t know why. I don’t particularly want to see her in pain but I don’t know why I am more concerned about her though.
Her wounds are slowly healing and I am glad about that.
Standing up from the bed slowly, I switch on the bedside lamp before making my way out of the room and shutting the door behind me.
Walking back to my favorite chair near the furnace, I lower myself on as the thought of Odette winds its way into my head again. She was in so much pain and I could see it. I genuinely want to sink my claws into Zach’s chest and watch him die slowly.
The mobile on the table beside starts to ring and seeing it is my assistant Emily, I immediately answer the call.
“Hello”
“Sir” her voice filters through, “we have a problem”
“What happened now?”
“We are unable to get a hold of the male lead that is supposed to take part in the movie, “survivor” we have called him, we have called his agency but he is not picking his calls and his agency do not know where he is. The unveiling of the casts starts in three hours”
I ball my hands into a fist, this is why I do not like working with rookies in the industry. Being the owner of Echo, the biggest entertainment industry in the country, I work with all sorts of people ranging from models to film stars, musicians to artists, you name them and I have my team always ready to work. I decided to work with this rookie because I thought giving him a chance would help him
and now..
“Send me his contact information and that of his agency”
“Yes Sir”
As soon as I end the call, my phone chimes with a message and I immediately call the number but as usual, he doesn’t answer. I go ahead to call his manager who answers almost immediately.
“Hello”
“This is Malachi Bromte” I tell him and I can already feel the blood from his body run cold.
“Mr Malachi, I wasn’t expecting you to call”
“Where is he?” I do not need to mention names because he already knows who I am asking about.
“We are still trying to get a hold of him sir” he says, “please give us a few minutes”
“Time is what I do not have. He is supposed to be out there briefed before the unveiling and you can not find him? Are you being serious right now? The anger from what happened to Odette and what’s happening now combine together and it feels like I am about to bring down the roof.
“If you can not find him in half an hour, I am terminating the contract and your company will have to pay all the compensation”
I don’t bother to wait for his response and immediately end my call. I did not become the king of the entertainment industry by working with people like this. I was ruthless from the beginning and that has kept me going.
I call my assistant again and she immediately answers,
“Half an hour, if he doesn’t answer then make arrangements for someone else to take the role”
“We haven’t shortlisted anyone to take that role yet sir”
“His second cast?”
“He was the only one”
“What the f**k do you mean?” I flare up, “what do you mean by he is the only one for the role, why?”
“I am sorry sir”
“What nonsense, Emilia. This movie is one of the biggest
we are going to produce this season and you… I clench my jaw together, trying not to let my anger take the best part of me.
I end the call and fling the phone on the table beside me, burying my head in my hands. I can readily call an A lister actor to take the role but most of them are busy with other projects. What the actual f**k.
“What’s going on?” Her voice reaches me from behind and I raise my head to meet her gaze, the frown on my face slowly fades away.
“I thought you were asleep?”
“I came down to get water and saw you…”
“Oh, sorry for disturbing you then. You should go back to bed and take some rest”
“Is everything okay?” She starts walking towards me, “you look…upset”
“It’s nothing, just go back to bed”
“Talk to me, Malachi” she lowers herself on the couch a few feet away from me, “it’s not like I can just go back to bed and sleep off”
I let out another sigh, it’s evident that she just won’t leave.
“It’s not a big deal, it’s just some stuff at work. An actor who is supposed to show up for cast unveiling is not picking his f*****g calls” I ball my hands into a fist just thinking about it, “and the unveiling is in three hours, filming starts tomorrow”
“And his agency?”
“They don’t know where he is either” I tell her, massaging the space between my brows, two minutes of silence pass, “but you do not have to worry, we are making arrangements for another actor to take his place”
“And how is that coming along?”
“Well” I shrug, “I don’t know yet”
“Uhmm” she smacks her lips together, “I dont know how this might sound but if the actor is not showing up, i might be able to help. If you are thinking of changing the actor, Kayden can fit into that. He majored in fine arts and has two degrees in that aspect. He just doesn’t like being on the screen but he is good at it”
“Okay….is he going to want to do this?”
“I can speak to him if you so desire but he is going to have my head for that, he doesn’t want anyone to know and just studied that for the fun of it”
“Well, maybe we can give him a try? Call him? If he agrees then we go ahead”
“Okay, let me just call him” she points to my phone and I unlock it before handing it to her, a reminder to get her a phone first thing in the morning.
I watch her punch in her brother’s number and he answers after the third ring and she places the phone on loudspeaker.
“Hello”
“Hey, Kayden. It’s me, Odette”
“Did you change your number? Are you good? Did something happen?”
“Of course not, I am fine”
She lies so well that I can’t help but want to kill Zach again for putting her in the spotlight.
“Sure about that?” He sounds so protective and part of me wish that is me, like i genuinely want to protect her.
“Yeah”
“Okay, so why did you call?”
“I need a favor”
“Okay? What’s up?”
“So..” Odette glances at me for a split second, “a friend of mine is in a dilemma and I was thinking you could help him”
“What’s this about?”
“So he wants to shoot a movie but the male character is nowhere to be found and shooting starts tomorrow, the unveiling is today. I might have told him about you and I don’t know if you will be available”
“You should have discussed this with me Odette before telling your friend about me”
“I am sorry, i just had to”
“We are preparing for the fashion week now and I don’t.. who is this friend of yours?”
“Malachi Bromte” she replies, “and I am sure you know him, he is a partner in the company. And for the fashion week, Jayden or I can handle it. He really helped me big time and….
Kayden lets out a sigh, “fine, he can email the script to me and I will make sure to be on the next flight back if the script catches my fancy. I will have to talk to Jayden to come take over here so..
“Thank you so much, i appreciate this”
“It’s fine, anything for you princess but I won’t be available for the unveiling, you know that”
She glances at me and I nod,
“Okay, as long as you get here”
“Okay, I will see you”
“I love you”
“I love you too, princess” and with that, he ends the call.
“Problem solved” Odette tells me, “maybe you can announce to the public that the male lead is a secret, that can heighten the suspense”
I can’t help but smile at her, she solved a major problem in a few minutes.
“Thank you” I tell her.
“That’s way of saying thank you for coming to help me, Malachi”
Her gaze remains on me and I swallow hard, should I be thinking about kissing her when she isn’t even in the right frame of mind?”
“You should call your people and let them know”
“Hmm” I nod but with my gaze still on her, I dial my assistant’s number, turning away from her for barely a moment.
As soon as Emily picks, her voice filters through.
“We have still not gotten to him sir”
“I have made arrangements for someone else to take the role. I will send an email address and you can email the script to him. As for the unveiling, you can go ahead with the other cast. Make an announcement that the male lead is a secret. I will be back in New York tomorrow before leaving for Texas”
“Okay sir”
After ending the call, Odette smiles at me and stand up to leave.
“I guess my work here is done, I should get back to bed”
“You aren’t sleepy, I know that”
“Well, it’s not like I have anything to say to you”
“Hmmm”
I pull my body from the chair and start walking towards her. I understand how intimidating my presence is but this lady in front of me doesn’t even look intimidated to say the least. Well, I can’t blame her. Not when her parents are both badasses in the game.
“Care for a drink?” I ask as I come to a halt in front of her.
Odette wet her lips with her tongue and my jaw clenches, is she actually allowed to do this? May the moon goddess help me because right now all I can think about is kissing her and not caring about what is going on right mow.
“I can not really hold my liquor, Malachi” she replies, “so I’d rather not”
“I will really love to see you in that state” something inside of me tingles with excitement as I grab a hold of her hand and start walking towards the wine rack, “and we can consider this a housewarming party since I haven’t being here since I bought this house”
“Malachi, I don’t really…”
“Shhhh” I shush her, “don’t argue too much, little silver”
“Little silver?” A frown forms on her face
I glance at her hair and smile at her, “Do you get it now?” Not waiting for her response, I pull her towards the wine rack again.
- Writer
