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So did I.
The time was right for me to add to the Rodgers bloodline before I got any older.
So maybe…
Just maybe…
I’d make her an offer she couldn’t refuse tonight.
PART TWO
The Past
The Stepfather
HONEY
Five Years Ago
It all started with a proposal—from my stepdad, Mr. Cal Tomms, a rather imposing stocky figure, with tanned leathery skin and white hair. A man who, for a long time, was the man in Hollywood for casting and movie production.
Lately, though, Dream Waves Studios struggled, although we’d had decent hits with recent romantic comedy adventure films, thanks primarily to me for turning things around.
Times changed fast in L.A., and if you didn’t keep up with trends, then you were left behind. I kept my fingers on the pulse of tinsel town at all times, unlike Cal, who’d aged out of this industry.
Fresh blood should take over the company—mine—a conversation we’d had a few times before. But he’d become a stubborn old goat, taking his damn time naming me as his successor.
Didn’t matter. His health wasn’t the best either, and, as his only child, even though I was his step-daughter, he’d inferred often that someday all of this would be mine. I was almost assured that meant he intended to leave everything to me in his will.
“Ah, there she is. The light of my life.” He greeted me and beamed as I approached his table on the patio at the Polo Lounge. The golden-age glamour of this famed restaurant always suited his style. He loved being seen and being fawned over by actors and actresses and industry professionals out in public.
His assistant, Delta, nodded and smiled at me, sitting to his left, always taking copious notes of every meeting. She’d share them with me later thanks to an arrangement we had. Someday, when Dream Waves Studios was mine, she’d be my right-hand, just as had been to my mother.
Cal pointed across the table. “Honey, you remember Edward.”
I stopped short when I realized the man with his back to me was none other than the man I despised most.
Edward Kingsman thought he owned Hollywood. But that’s the difference between Cal and him. My step-father actually earned his reputation through years of blood, sweat, and tears in this industry. Edward merely existed as an entitled brat, son of the owner of King Studios.
I ignored him and his despicable fake grin, instead lavishing Cal with smooches on both cheeks. “Hi, Dad. Don’t you look robust today?”
“You flatter me. I’m older than dirt, and you know it. Then again, maybe it’s these new green smoothies my chef has been making me drink.” His belly laugh roared out past our corner of the patio. I made a note to talk to his chef about reducing the amount of healthy drinks in his diet. Not that I wanted him dead exactly, but I didn’t see the need to prolong the inevitable.
My mother was driven to an early grave by him; why should Cal get the satisfaction of living a longer life? And I didn’t mean that vindictively—okay, yes, I did.
I rode a double edge with Cal. On the one hand, he raised me, gave me everything I had, taught me everything about the movie industry when mother couldn’t even get out of bed.
On the other hand, he could be cruel and ruthless, like the way he cast out women from his life like they were trash—like my mother and my stepmother.
It’s a wonder I survived all these years with him, but then I’d learned to play the game well. I was a step-daddy’s girl through and through, taking advantage of the fact that he had no other offspring. Someday soon, my big payoff—and my revenge on behalf of my mother—would arrive.
Edward jumped up from the table, offering me his chair. “Darling, take my seat. I need to dash anyway. Mustn’t keep my tennis coach at the club waiting.”
“I’m not your darling,” I hissed at him under my breath as I sat. Everything about him disgusted me, from his dark hair plastered with some kind of spray not letting a hair out of place, to the holier than thou designer scent he doused himself in. Neither enough to win me over.
With his dark looks, every pair of female eyes on the patio swooned over him and this tiny, gentlemanly act. If only they knew what I knew—and what happened when he got me behind closed doors one time at an industry conference, a place I refused to find myself again. The mere presence of him within inches of me now made me sick.
“Edward, we’ll be in touch soon.” Cal sent him a loaded glance. Thankfully, the air around the patio changed the instant Edward left our sight.
