Riley had been struggling to maintain what little of her composure she could. When Mansour told her that he forgave her, the last of her self-control dissolved, and the tears flooded out of her. She threw herself into his arms, burying her face against his chest.
“I didn’t have a choice,” she said, the words leaving her in a near-shriek. “I was so afraid of what Alex would do…I didn’t—I couldn’t…”
Mansour hugged her tightly, brushing his lips against her temple. “Take a deep breath, Riley,” Mansour told her.
Riley did, and calmed slightly. She began explaining what happened; how Alex had come to her the night before filming began, how she had ended up agreeing to his proposal and the rewards he had dangled in front of her.
“When you asked me out the first time, I tried to back out,” Riley said. “Even before then I didn’t have anything I could give him—I didn’t know anything that was worth him knowing. And then when I met you…” she took another deep breath and exhaled slowly. “I really liked you. I tried to tell him that I couldn’t do it, and he threatened to release that recording to—I guess you, and whoever else he could send it to, to ruin me.” Mansour nodded. “So then I couldn’t…I didn’t have a choice; you see that right?”
“Yeah, you were definitely in a corner,” Mansour agreed.
Riley explained about the script, and the fact that she had actually been putting it back into the drawer—having decided that she just couldn’t betray him that deeply—when he’d come upon her.
After suggesting that Riley sit down on the couch, Mansour went into the kitchen and Riley heard him moving around, heard something clinking, water running. He came back moments later with two glasses of wine and sat down, handing one to her.
“Thank you,” Riley said, taking a quick sip of her wine.
“I don’t know how you’re going to feel about this, but I have an idea,” Mansour said, and Riley found the courage to meet his gaze; he was smiling. “A little bit of a comeuppance for our friend Alex.”
“What’s that?”
“Two can play the anonymous email game,” Mansour said, beginning to sound more confident in his idea. “I’ll send him an email, claiming to have the script for our movie; I’ll say I stole it from someone.” Mansour chuckled. “Maybe I’ll tell him I stole it from me.”
“But that’s what he wants,” Riley said, frowning.
“Of course it is,” Mansour agreed. “Only instead of the real script, I’m going to send him…I don’t know. I’ll get someone to write up a rehash of all of Empire State’s recent hits, with about two pages of a previous Galaxy Wars script at the beginning and end so he’ll buy it.”
Riley considered the plan, and slowly grinned. “He’s so anxious to get his bosses something, anything,” she said musingly. “He’ll pass it right along to them.”
“It’ll blow up in his face; he’ll be disgraced.” Riley laughed out loud, setting the wine aside to throw her arms around Mansour’s shoulders.
They kissed, and the last of Riley’s doubts and uncertainties dissolved away.
EPILOGUE
“Mansour! Mansour! Do you think this film is going to repeat the success of Galaxy Wars 3?”
Riley tried to keep her smile in place as she took careful steps along the red carpet, holding onto Mansour’s arm. Galaxy Wars had been released months before, and had been every bit as big of a success as it had forecast to be, smashing previous box office records into smithereens.
“Riley! Riley Townsend! Is it true that Mansour discovered you at a restaurant?”
Riley pressed her lips together to keep from laughing. “Yes and no,” she replied to the reporter, glancing at Mansour with amusement.
“This is a much smaller film than Galaxy Wars,” Mansour explained to the reporter who had asked the question. “I hope it will be successful, but I have no delusions that it’s going to break box office records.”
The film in question was a full-length animation—Mansour’s first as a director. Riley smiled as she heard her name on more and more journalists’ lips, as questions were shouted out to her about her experience as one of the hottest upcoming talents in Hollywood. Mansour had insisted on casting her in the new release, and Riley had been surprised at how much she’d enjoyed voice acting. Part of that, she was sure, was because Mansour had been directing her, working with her all along. The premiere had been a big success; everyone in the audience had loved it, and Riley hoped that it would perform well enough to merit a sequel, and justify Mansour expanding his animation efforts.
They made their way towards the bank of cars waiting to take the attendees away; Riley thought that the afterparty would likely rage long into the morning—she’d only been to a few of the events before, but all of then tended to go on into the early hours.
Mansour opened the door to the limo that was waiting for them, and Riley climbed in carefully, gathering the skirt of her dress and sliding across the seat. She was already exhausted; she had spent hours with stylists to look as glamorous as possible for the premiere, and then they had both had to spend two hours before the film began giving interviews.
Mansour climbed in after her and closed the door.
“I’m taking you two to the party, right?”
Mansour glanced at Riley in response to the driver’s question.
“We should go,” Riley said, sighing. “They’ll expect us to be there.”
“Do you want to go? I already had my fun for the night—nothing is going to beat seeing my work on the big screen.”
Riley smiled; she knew how proud Mansour was of his new production. “I’m pretty tired, I guess,” she admitted.
“I have an idea; how about we skip the party and just grab dinner and relax for the rest of the night? I’m starving.”
Riley considered it for a moment. “You know what? I am too. Where do you want to go?”
Mansour chuckled. “I know just the place,” he replied, then turned to the driver and gave him the address of the restaurant where they’d had their first date together.
Riley sat back in the seat and Mansour took her hand in his. As the driver pulled away from the curb, Riley wondered briefly about the flurry of press attention their “snub” of the afterparty would inevitably cause, but in that moment she didn’t care. All she wanted was to spend time with Mansour, and they didn’t need fancy parties to be able to do that.
Riley leaned against Mansour and thought about how far she had come; she never would have thought that an open call could lead her to the man she loved.
The End