Hollywood Prince (Hollywood Royalty 3)

It’s even worse knowing that she is somewhere on the lot, and I can’t see her. I sit in my trailer until I hear a knock on the door, and my heart speeds up just a touch, thinking, hoping, but then the door opens, and I see it’s just Jeff. “You ready?” he asks me, taking off his glasses and tucking them into his suit pocket.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I say and walk out of the trailer, following him. My eyes roam everywhere to see if I can see her, to see if she is around here. We get to the table first, and I sit down at the far end, grabbing my phone and going through it. Nothing has been posted on Instagram since Friday night. I hear the noise of high heels coming closer, and my hands start to shake, my heart beating faster and faster. I look up for a second, and I see her. Her hair tied back in a ponytail, she’s wearing all black, and her head is down. I don’t stare more than that because I don’t think I can take it. The pain is so much more than it was yesterday. “I need a drink,” I say under my breath and then hear Jeff hiss.

“The last thing you need is a drink. You stink like the bottom of a fucking barrel.” I look at him, and then he turns to say hello to everyone. I watch Sylvia sit in front of me, followed by Ryan, who looks like he’s about to chew me a new asshole. He just glares at me, and then I look at Erin. Her eyes are sunken in, and she looks frail. She must have lost weight. I wonder if she’s still sick from Saturday. I want to ask her, to make sure she is okay, but I don’t. I sit in my chair and let the pain eat away at me.

“So there has been a change in plans,” Sylvia starts off, and I feel Jeff look at me, then back at Sylvia. “From now on, I will be the one working Carter’s case,” she says. I turn to look at Erin. I didn’t think she would actually come back and work with me, but I have to say a part of me was hoping she would. “Erin set up everything already, and the transition should be smooth.”

“No surprise there,” I say out loud, not listening to my brain telling me to shut the fuck up. No. Instead, I dig the knife deeper into her. “She got what she needed from me.”

Ryan now sits up straight. “If you will excuse us.” He pushes back from the table, and Erin looks up at him. “Carter, I need a minute.”

I push away from the table and follow him to the room on the side. I walk into the room and take it in. It’s supposed to be the house my kidnapped daughter is staying at, but instead, it’s me who feels trapped inside these walls. The living room furniture is all set up. He slams the door closed, and I stand in the middle of the fake room. “We are going to get a couple of things straight.” I know he isn’t playing.

“Listen,” I tell him, putting my hands in the back pockets of my jeans, “I know that she’s your employee and all that, but . . .”

“My employee?” He shakes his head. “I’m not going to beat around the bush with you.” I watch him. “You fucked up, Carter. So big you have no idea.”

“I fucked up?” I ask, shocked. “Me?” I point at myself. “She used me.”

“Carter, if you say another word about my daughter, so help me God, I’m going to put you through that fucking wall,” he says with his teeth clenched together. And I stare at him in shock.

“Daughter?” I ask, confused.

“Erin is my daughter,” he says, “my only daughter. She didn’t want people to think she got the job because of me, so we never told anyone until Saturday when I had to go and get her because she couldn’t drive,” he tells me, and he doesn’t stop there either. “She couldn’t drive because of the pain in her chest.” He starts to come closer. “She couldn’t breathe and ended up having a panic attack.” His voice gets louder. “And you fucking did that to her.”

“Ryan,” I tell him softly. His words cut me, taking whatever little I had left, whatever pieces in me that weren’t broken. I had no fucking idea he was her dad.

“If you so much as fuck with her or look at her, and I don’t like it, I’ll fucking destroy you,” he says, and I know he isn’t joking. “I told her that I wouldn’t get involved, but when you sit at a table and spew the shit that you just did in front of me, all bets are off.” He turns and walks away, stopping at the door with the handle in his hand.