Page 141 of Collateral Damage
She pulls me into a side hug. “Aww, I love you, too.”
“For real, though,” I say. “I’m lucky to have you. I’m glad you’re my sister.”
She beams, and we continue on.
The crunch of fallen leaves beneath our boots is almost rhythmic, and the air smells damp and earthy. The sky above blends into gold and pale blue as the sun dips lower. It’s truly the perfect autumn evening.
The closer we get to sunset, the more crowded The High Line becomes. Soon we’re surrounded by New Yorkers and tourists,and while I don’t mind crowds and thrive around large groups of people, Arden is the exact opposite. I can see the panic creeping into her eyes as her cheeks turn blotchy.
“Let’s go,” I say, and we weave our way toward the nearest set of exiting stairs.
“Top of the World?” someone says, catching my attention. “It can’t be canceled already.”
“That’s what the news is reporting,” another young woman replies in a screeching tone. I find her as she holds up her phone. “Look here, TMZ says so, and everyone else is reporting the same.”
What the fuck?
I stop abruptly, no longer caring about the crowded sidewalk. Arden and I share a glance before pulling out our phones.
“It’s all over the entertainment news,” she whispers.
I go to my email first. Sure enough, there’s something waiting for me from King Media. I read through it quickly, the wordsregrettably not moving forward with a second seasonclear as day.
Denial. Shock. Rage. They all hit me at once.
“This doesn’t make sense,” Arden hisses, scrolling through her phone. “Why would they cancel the most popular show of the year?”
Oh, they’ll have a bullshit reason.
Numbers. Money. Talent. Lawsuits.
Who knows, but the real truth, the one that won’t be revealed, is this is a way for King to get revenge on Laurence? Our success was never going to be good enough.
“I need to speak with Cooper,” my voice comes out as coarse as sandpaper. “Can you get home on your own?”
“Of course,” she replies with a grim look. “Go get this sorted, and let me know if I can help.”
I give her a quick hug and then get the hell out of there.
My instinct is to call Cooper, but I want to see his face when I confront him about this. Does that mean I don’t fully trust him? Maybe so, but I’ll know if he knew about this ahead of time and didn’t warn me.
Maybe he planned this all along?
No, don’t think like that.I chastise myself.Give him a chance to explain.
I know Cooper, and I know he loves me. There’s no way he’s the one behind this. It has to be his scheming father.
Even though it’s Friday, Cooper isn’t at home. He told me he was going to be in the office a bunch this weekend, so I’m going straight to King headquarters. If I’m lucky, maybe I’ll run into Conrad, so I can give him a piece of my mind.
It doesn’t matter what kind of excuses the network has; they’re wrong for this. Laurence invested money in this show, too, and King can’t pull the rug out from under us. We deserve an explanation, and I’m sure our contract protects us from this kind of betrayal.
I head into King headquarters, and security stops me before I can go upstairs.
“Sorry, you’ll have to wait until you have an appointment. You’re not on the approved list.”
I frown. I’ve been on that list for months.
“Even on a weekend? My boyfriend’s upstairs.”
