Her fingers tightened around the paper. The handwriting was jagged. The words made her stiffen, a chill crawling up her spine.
Welcome back, Golden Girl. I’ve missed you.
23
The movie Emily was cast for,Don’t Break My Spirit, had begun pre-production shoots and now they were in the middle of script reading.
“What if I say I won’t die? How can you know when I’ll die? What if I refuse to die, then what?” Emily’s character, Jessie, asked. She’d endured a lot of obstacles in her life, but this was the worst of them all. Now the doctors were telling her she was dying.
All that consumed Emily’s mind was blotches of black and white. The ink tore through the pages she’d memorized. The lines seeped into her bloodstream like oxygen.
“No!” she gasped, her voice cracking. “I don’t believe you. Ican’t. I’ve spent my entire life working my ass off and now you’re telling me—” She swallowed, a tear finally rolling down the side of her face.
The conference room fell silent.
The monochrome colors inside her were flooded out as she let the tears flow freely.
“You’re telling me that I won’t live to see my thirties?Forties? That I won’t have kids? Won’t see my parents retire?” Her lips trembled.
Fist slamming against the desk, she hissed,“I. Don’t. Believe. You.”
Five. Four. Three. Two. One.
Emily’s expression returned to normal.
Her head turned to see everyone staring at her with eyes blown. “What? Did I miss a cue?”
“No, you were perfect!” the director, Aaron Tsang, exclaimed. The rest of the cast and staff began to clap, still looking dazed. “So good! I—oh my God. Let’s take a break, then we’ll regroup in ten minutes. I think I’m having a stroke from that masterpiece of a performance.”
A masterpiece?Thatshe wasn’t sure of, but Emily had tried her best.
She walked past everyone giving her astonished looks, before heading outside the hallway for a refreshment. Talia had set up a small area designated for her in a small kitchenette.
“E! I wouldn’t drink that if I were you,” a familiar voice said. “At least, not if you want to end up in the emergency room.”
She drew her hands back from the cup of tea and turned to see Valentina, who happened to be playing her best friend in the movie. Emily had been more than relieved to have someone she was close to around.
“Why? Is there something wrong?”
Valentina leaned forward. “I’m pretty sure I saw Adrianna pour something in that drink when Talia stepped away for a phone call.”
Adrianna Black played a supporting role.
Emily’s mouth fell open. “You’re kidding.”
She slung an arm over her shoulder. “Wish I was.”
“Is she always such a?—”
“Crazy bitch?” Valentina finished bluntly.
“Yeah.” Emily found humor in what she’d said, but she was also reeling from the fact that Adrianna allegedly tried to poison her.
Heavy on the allegedly.
“As they say in Spain,la mona aunque se vista de seda, mona se queda.”
Spanish had never sounded more lovely coming from someone like her. It helped that Valentina was undoubtedly stunning with warm, sun-kissed skin, doe eyes and brown curls. Even if Emily had understood the language, she doubted it would have resonated with her—she was too distracted by the woman’s looks.
