Page 49 of Amore
“No. I want you as my bodyguard, so please, go talk to your captain.”
“If you need anything, call me.”
“I will, but I’ll just be looking over the script.”
“All right. I’m a little rusty, but I can help when I get back.”
I smiled, remembering how he would help Lucy and me in high school. Lucy had done drama with me, but her true passion was always baking cakes. “I might hold you to that.”
Luke stood and kissed my cheek. “I’ll pick up lunch.”
“Sounds good.”
* * *
While Luke was gone,I went over the script and practiced some of my lines forSnowballs in December. Even though I was becoming a well-known big-screen actress, I didn’t hesitate to audition when my agent said she had a Christmas movie for me. It paled in comparison to the movies I had done since starting my career, but I wanted to live out my dream.
Snowballs in Decemberwas about a strong-willed female executive who was unhappy because she had never gone after her dream job, and she believed it was too late. While being targeted by neighborhood kids throwing snowballs, she meets a handsome photographer covering the town’s big Christmas parade. They team up to take the kids down, and through crazy circumstances, and with a little help from the secretive old woman next door, she soon discovers sometimes success isn’t as important as following your heart.
While I was engrossed in the script, my phone chimed with a text.
Emily:Got Luke all set for Canada. Also, someone spilled the beans to The Daily Gossip.
The headline of the link she sent me made my heart drop to the floor.
FRANKIE BORELLI ATTACKED AT HER HOME, ALMOST RAPED.
“What the fuck?” I breathed, and without reading the article, I dialed my publicist.
“Hey, Frankie, what’s—”
“Did you seeThe Daily Gossip?” I asked, cutting Rachel off. I heard clicking as though she was typing on her computer.
“I—”
“I was attacked last night, and no one knows. Now it’s in The Fucking Daily Gossip.”
“You were attacked?”
I told her what had happened.
She gasped. “You were almost raped?”
“Yeah,” I responded softly.
“Are you okay?”
I hesitated for a moment and then replied, “Physically? Yes. Emotionally? Not sure yet.”
“I’m so sorry, Frankie. Are you still going to start filming forSnowballs in Decemberin a couple of weeks?”
I nodded. “Yes, but I need you to find out who leaked the story. No one knew.” Having my picture taken while out in public was one thing, but having the world find out I was attacked and almost raped in the privacy of my own home was where I drew the line. I didn’t want anyone to know.
“Okay, I can make some calls.”
“Thank you.” I had no idea what I would do with the information, but I wanted to know. It made me feel even more violated that someone had run to a tabloid.
After hanging up with Rachel, I tried to continue going over my lines, but I couldn’t. “Need to go potty?” I asked Amore.
