She stares at me with an intensity which, a few years ago would have made me uncomfortable, but now? Yeah, it’s doing nothing to me.
“What I did, I did it in order to protect your career,” she states tersely.
“Oh, did you now?” I counter. “Could have fooled me.”
Her nostrils flare as the expression on her face contorts. “That girl isnotthe right match for you and the status you hold.”
“Andyouare, Amanda?” I take a step towards her. “Nia is the wrong choice, butyou’rethe perfect one? Is that what it is?”
She clenches her jaw as she looks at me. “I’ve givenyearsof my life to you,” she says a bit hoarsely. “Years, Cass. I built you; I built your brand. I made you who you are, and I won’t let some inanevillage girlruin everything I’ve worked so hard on. There’s no chance I would have let her take the fruits of my labor.”
I’m stunned by her words, by the crazy gleam in her eyes.
“Are you even listening to yourself right now?” I tell her. “You sound delusional, Amanda. While I appreciate everything you’ve done for me, I’m not a goddamn prize horse you can bait into obeying you by doing good on me. Everything you helped me achieve, you did it because I hired you to do so. And up until an hour ago, I had nothing but respect for you, and for your unrelenting hustle. But this…” I gesture vaguely in her direction. “Did you really think your behavior towards Nia would make me want you?” And here I am – a dumb fuck – thinking that she’dsavedme 3 years ago. How I thought she was the one who pulled me out of that phase because she genuinely cared. If only I’d known how wrong her intentions had been all along, things would have been different now.
How the fuck had I been so stupid?
“I’m delusional because I’m an ambitious woman who knows what she wants and has the means to achieve it?” she hisses, making me look at her.
“Achieveit?” I back away from her, because what the fuck? “Am I a thing to be obtained? Because last I checked, I’m a man who has the liberty of making his own choices. I don’t need anyone deciding what is best for me and my life. I don’t wantanyone ruling things out for me so that I can follow a parallel line and lead a life that isn’t mine to control.”
“But I know what you deserve,” she says with insistence, and gets close to me. “You deserve someone who thinks the way you do; someone who reciprocates your goals and dreams. Cass, you need someone who’ll walk beside you knowing full well what is expected of you. You need someone who won’t hold you back or affect your flow of work.” She swallows. “You need someone whobelongs to your world.” She reaches out a hand to touch my forearm, but I step away.
“Don’t,” I warn.
Anger flashes across her face. “What do you evenseein her?” She runs her fingers through her hair. “She’s acaféownerwith no status in the society, no importance. She’s nothing but another face in the crowd, whereas I,” she points at herself, “I’m powerful, influential. I know what you want. I’llalwaysknow what you want.” She looks crazed, almost like she’s overcome by her own words, and believes them to be completely true.
“I never imagined I’d ever say this to you, but you’ve proved everything I thought I knew about you to be wrong, so I have no other choice but to tell you that you’repathetic, Amanda. I’ve treated you with nothing but admiration since the day we met, but today, you put an end to that by acting the way you did, and by saying the things you said.” I let go of a short breath. “Nia…she’s nothing like you. She doesn’t bribe someone to be in a relationship with her because she’s got a few numbers on her phone that belong to some hotshot people higher up in the social world. She doesn’t need to bepowerfulorinfluentialto be herself. She doesn’t need threats and insults to show her dominance. She shines just by being herself. She outnumbers everyone just by being who she is. She is important tome; she’s everything Iwantanddeserve.”
“You’re acting like a child,” Amanda spits out. “You’re being immature and foolish. What you feel for Nia is nothing but a crush. But what you and I have – that’s something entirely different.”
A crude laugh leaves me, and it’s so sudden that it makes her jerk a little. “What you and I have?” I laugh again. “I’m sorry, but whatdowe have, Amanda? Have I ever given you any kind of a sign? Have my words towards you ever been suggestive? I most definitely don’t think so. And that’s because I’ve never evenconsideredthe possibility of us. I’ve always seen you as a mentor – someone I wouldn’t…” I shake my head. “You know what? Forget it. I don’t think anything I’m saying right now is getting through to you anyway.”
“You’re lying.” She gives me a once over before waving a hand at me. “I know you feel it. I’ve seen it in your eyes whenever we’re together. I’ve seen the looks you–”
“You’re simply proving my point, Amanda. Nothing I just told you got through to you.” This version of her is something I never, for the life of me, expected to see.
“You’re denying what we have because I took care of that bitch?” she asks. “She had it coming; she was dreaming too big and had to be shown the fu–”
“Juststop,” I sneer, then grit my teeth. “You did something you had no right to. Your interference in my lif–”
“I am yourmanager, Cass,” she says in a raised voice. “I am your goddamn manag–”
“Were,” I cut her off.
She pales, staring at me with hollow eyes. “Excuse me?”
“Youweremy manager, Amanda,” I clarify. “You’re fired; I am no longer in need of your services.”
“You can’t possibly mean that.”
“But Ido.” I bend a little and get in her face. “I need you out of this B&B by tomorrow morning. My lawyers will settle the last ofyour salary and book you a flight back to NYC in an hour, tops. The tour buses are occupied as I have a bit more filming to do, so you’ll be traveling through air this time.” I straighten. “Oh, and one more thing,” I say with a slight smirk. “You’ll be completely cut off from my work management and schedules, and papers will be drafted for the same so as to avoid any future confusion or conflict.”
She seethes. “You will benothingwithout me. You’ll be ruined and unguided – left for the dogs to piss on. You will be wiped away from the history of social influencers without my help and connections.”
I click my tongue. “If I were you, I’d worry aboutmyfuture more than anyone else’s, because Amanda…” I assess her from head to toe. “I am most definitelynotgoing to stay quiet about what you did tonight. I will not let you fuck up another person’s life with your toxicity and madness. You need help, and as much as I wanna say that I’ll get it for you, I don’t think I want to get involved in anything that has to do with you – not anymore.” Before she can say anything, I turn on my heels and walk away from her.
I march into my room and pull my phone out of my pocket, and don’t even think twice before pressing call on Nia’s number. My heart is in my throat as I wait for the call to connect, but when it goes straight to voicemail, I press the back of my head against the door and close my eyes.
