Page 61 of Cast to be Mine

“If Gordon had gotten his way, you would have never been born,” Dad said.

I couldn’t even begin to understand what the hell that mean. “That’s dramatic,” I said with a laugh.

Dad exhaled dramatically. “It’s a long story, but he tried to break your mother and me up. We were dating, and Mom had been attached to one of Gordon’s movies. That man tried to change the terms of her contract at the last minute. Your mother ended up quitting the production and went to do a movie with me. Gordon spread all kinds of lies about her sleeping around. Then he tried suing her for all kinds of damages. Then he sued me. So fuck that guy.”

That made sense and I would absolutely side with my mom on that one.

“Okay I get why you hate him, but why does he hate you?” I asked.

“Because that movie of his fell apart once your mother was no longer starring in it. Gordon claims we ruined him financially. And yeah he took a hit on the project but it wasn’t our fault. Plus he’s doing just fine financially. He’s a bitter prick who can’t stand that he lost the girl and that stupid movie.”

“He wanted Mom?” I asked.

“He could never have your mother.” Dad scoffed. “I’m not surprised the daughter is stirring up trouble too.”

“Dad, Grace didn’t do anything wrong. She wasn’t the one kissing Jack.” I explained the situation. “The studio wants us to let it ride. The press is still buzzing about it. We’ll clear it up eventually. No harm, no foul.”

“Still trouble,” he muttered. “You never should have hired her.”

“Dad, trust me, when you see what she’s done on screen, you’re going to see why I hired her. And to be fair, I had no idea who she was until recently.”

“See! She tricked you. She’s a plant.”

“Dad, no, she’s not. She didn’t want anyone to know who she was because she wants to make it on her own.”

He snorted again. “You mean she wants to slither onto a Blackwell set and bite you in the ass.”

“She’s not biting me in the ass,” I said.

“You need to be careful,” he warned. “Trust me on this. Everyone in Hollywood knows what kind of man Sterling is.”

“Maybe that’s why she doesn’t want to use his name,” I said. “You can’t blame her for what her father did.”

“Apples rarely fall far from any tree,” he muttered.

“And you think it’s fair for Sterling to blacklist me because I’m your son?”

He laughed. “As if he could. You’re a Blackwell. That is not the same as a Sterling.”

I shook my head. My father built an empire and he wasn’t afraid to brag now and then. “It’s fine, Dad. She isn’t him. She’s doing well. And when you see her on the screen, you’ll get it. You’ll be trying to recruit her for your next film.”

“Never going to happen,” he said.

I laughed. “I’m going back to sleep. I have a busy week ahead.”

“Get through this thing and never hire her again,” he said. “The fewer connections you have to them, the better.”

“Bye, Dad,” I said. “Tell Mom I said hello.”

I hung up and stared at the ceiling, the weight of it all crashing down like a ton of bricks. My father wasn’t a petty man. He didn’t hold grudges over nothing. If Gordon Sterling had gone after my mother, then the hatred was earned. I got it. I’d burn the world down for my family too.

But Grace wasn’t Gordon. She’d spent years running from his name, building something that was entirely her own. She didn’t even know the full story of what her father had done.

Neither did I, really.

Fuck. What a mess. Grace was Gordon Sterling’s daughter, and my father was ready to go to war over old grudges I barely understood.

The woman I’d spent the night with and I couldn’t stop thinking about was caught in the middle of a feud older than either of us. If Dad found out I was sleeping with her, he’d lose it. And Grace had no idea how deep this went. How feral my family could be when it came to protecting each other.