“Where the fuck is that driver? I’m gonna kill him.”
“It wasn’t his fault.” She swallowed in pain. “I wasn’t paying attention when I was crossing the street.”
“You should’ve let me come with you. You shouldn’t have faced her alone. What happened?”
Tears brimmed her eyes as she shook her head. “It was terrible.”
He wrapped his arms around her shoulders, and her tears turned into sobs.
“You should’ve seen her face. That woman is sick, Mike,” she whispered. “She wasn’t even sorry, like she actuallywantsme to fail, her only daughter. As if I’m a threat to her or something. If I didn’t know better I’d say she was even jealous of me. Who does that?”
A monster.
“I can still hear her in my head. The sound of her scoff. I can see the roll of her eyes. The smirk.”
“Hey, hey!” He rubbed her back and squeezed her gently. “I’m here. I’ll take care of Andrea. I’ll end this.”
“No.” She gasped a few ragged breaths as she pulled away. “I don’t want you to do anything. No more talking. No more…anything with Andrea. She’s out of my life for good. I told her that. I know you have business with her, and I can’t interfere with—”
“Carolina, amore, I already fired her.”
“What?” Her eyes narrowed with suspicion. “When?”
He thought she’d be happy about this news, but the lack of enthusiasm in her voice proved him wrong. “After that night when you told me how she’d been treating you.” He dragged the guest chair over to the side of her bed and sat. “I couldn’t just continue to work with her knowing she…”
“But that was months ago. Why didn’t you tell me? Wait, is that what you were trying to tell me yesterday, when you made up all that living together shit?”
She knew all along I was lying?Sweat broke along his forehead as he looked at his feet. Was now even the right time to have this conversation? “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but the whole Callahan thing happened, and I didn’t wanna ruin the day.” He dragged his gaze to her face. “Andrea didn’t take no for an answer and came to me a few days ago with a new movie deal with an extra five million. She didn’t like it when I said no, and I figured she’d do something shitty.”
She nodded. “I get it now. She lost her power on you and got all worked up.” Her hand squeezed his. “Mike, you have to promise me you won’t talk to her or do anything about what happened.”
“You’re joking, right?”
“No.”
“Why are you always tying my hands? Let me fix this. I know how to stop her.” To destroy her.
“Then what? I don’t want another war. The only way to win with Andrea is ignoring her. Not giving her the attention she’s asking for. If she messes with us again, we’ll handle it legally, like Robello said, okay?”
“But—”
“Promise me.” She held his gaze.
“No, Maggie. I—”
“Please,” she pleaded. “For me.”
“This isn’t fair. You know I can’t say no to you. I just don’t want her to hurt you again.”
“She won’t. I won’t let her. Promise me, Mike.”
He sighed in defeat. “I promise. And I’m so sorry about all this. I didn’t mean for you to get caught in the middle.”
Her hand pressed to her chest, where her scar was. “I knew she hated me,” she mused. “But I never thought she’d go this far.” Tears rolled down her face. “It fucking hurts.”
“I know.” He rubbed her back, deciding to postpone telling her what he really was about to tell her yesterday. She was in too much pain already.
A commotion coming from outside the room distracted him for a moment.
