Skye’s stomach plummeted even further to the point she was nauseous. There was nothing that scared her more than what she feared Lenny was about to tell her.
“Another one?” she asked and Karri wrapped her arm around her.
Lenny nodded. “And this one wasn’t mailed to me like the others.”
Skye had layers of security to protect her privacy. To get to her, someone had to get through Jim’s secretary, Jim, Lenny, and then Karri. Only then would the phone get handed over to Skye or the email sent to her private account. Jim and Lenny had her private information, but for the general public to reach her, that was the protocol.
She’d gotten her first threat three days after Trent left. It had been mailed to Lenny’s home. Someone had tracked him down and he was shaken. They all were. The message itself wasn’t ominous, just the fact that it had been mailed directly to Lenny. The message was from a diehard fan. He wanted to meet her. They’d gotten tens of thousands of these kinds of letters sent to her PR firm. After they were all read by agency staff, the threats were taken out and the rest were sent to Lenny. He’d read them and filter out any that worried him. Then he gave the rest to Karri to review before they finally made their way to Skye. She loved her fans and wrote back to as many as she could.
However, this one was a little different. It was a fan letter, but it had given them all a bad feeling. Then, once a month a new one arrived.
“How did you get it?” Karri asked as she squeezed Skye’s hand.
Lenny looked to Jim who nodded. “It was attached to your gate.”
Skye gasped and leaned into Karri. The unknown fan had been too close to her. “I need to hire private security.”
Lenny nodded. “I’m on it. I’ll have candidates here tomorrow morning for us to interview, but everyone who is anyone here uses Star Power.”
Skye reached out and took Lenny’s hand. “Thank you, Lenny.”
“That’s what I’m here for. Let’s get this threat taken care of and get you safe. Then we can all sit down and read through this Tony Ketron script and see what we can do. Everything is negotiable. Right, Jim?” Lenny stared him down and Skye felt some relief at having someone on her side, even though she was not going to take this role whether hell froze over or not.
“I’m sorry, Skye. I got carried away. This puts everything in perspective. Your safety is paramount. We will discuss it later this week. Do you want us to stay with you tonight?” Jim asked and while Skye knew he would push this movie, here was the Jim she’d known for the past eight years.
“We’re okay, thank you. I think I just want to lock everything up tight and go to bed.”
Lenny hugged her and promised to let the neighborhood security know. Jim even hugged her. “I’m sorry. I’m just trying to do my job.”
Skye nodded and watched as they walked out of her house. She and Karri followed them and immediately locked the doors behind them and began to check every door and window in the entire house. As they closed the sliding doors to the patio, they finally took a breath and Karri turned to her with concern on her face.
“You know what Jim did was bullshit, right? That was not okay.”
“I know. Let’s get the contract and look over it. I don’t remember that section about lifetime rights, but I wasn’t going to argue that until I’d seen it with my own two eyes. Then I’ll talk to my lawyer about it.”
Karri shook her head as they walked to Skye’s private office. “You can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Bernie Ganoti might be your lawyer, but he was hired by Jim. The agency is his main client,” Karri pointed out and Skye stopped at her desk.
She looked up at Karri with surprise. “You’re right.”
“Haven’t you realized I’m the only person in your life not put here by Jim? He even hired Lenny”
Skye had thought all these others controlled her life, but it wasn’t them. It was all Jim. “He hired my PR people because they represent all his clients. Lenny hired my stylist and makeup person because they worked with Jim’s biggest stars. You’re right. You’re the only person in my inner circle not put there by Jim.”
Skye leaned down and pulled out the thick contract she’d signed eight years ago.
“I’ll stay in the guest room tonight.”
“Thank you.” Skye looked down at thick binder. “And I have some reading to do.”
3
“Skye!”
Skye’s eyes popped open as Karri flung her bedroom door open at six in the morning.
“What is it?” Skye was instantly awake. She might be a Hollywood actress, but it would take a lifetime to quash the up-with-the-rooster farm life she’d lived for the first eighteen years of her life. When she was in college, she and Karri were up at dawn to get their lacrosse workouts in before their first class.
Karri didn’t say anything as she grabbed the remote and turned on the local news. “Skye Jessamine’s sexy photo shoot was even hotter than the cover photo published by the architecture magazine,” the celebrity reporter said into the camera as a photo of Skye nude on Trent’s table flashed on the screen.
“What’s going on? This is the magazine cover and I’m not really naked.” Skye was confused until the next image snapped onto the screen. “Oh my God. That’s not me!” A woman wearing the same robe Skye had been wearing was snapped with her robe wide open. Hair covered her face, but it was made to look as if it were in Skye’s dining room. Skye couldn’t stop watching as image after image appeared. They showed her crawling naked on the table and jumping around as if she were dancing. They were blurred out but she knew they’d not be blurred online. “I never did that! You were there, you know that!”
Karri’s phone began to ring and she answered it. “Yeah, Lenny. I’m with her now. Yes, we know it’s not her. No, she’s not all right. Yes, we’ll see you soon.”
Her phone rang the second she hung up with Lenny. She snapped her fingers to get Skye’s attention, showed her the photographer’s name on the screen, and put the phone on speaker. “Please tell her we had nothing to do with this. I’m an artist, a professional. I would never leak film from my set and these aren’t even real.”
“You need to come out with a statement right now and tell the world these are fake,” Karri said sternly.
“I will. I’ll have my publicist send out my response immediately. Please tell Skye I’m so sorry. She’s too nice a person to have this happen to.”
“I’ll tell her. Thank you.” Karri hung up the phone and held open her arms. Skye collapsed into them and let the tears flow as both of their phones blew up. She didn’t even answer when Mason texted to see if there was anything he could do to help.
“The poor girl,” Tinsley said to Trent as if he had any idea what his cousin was talking about.
The morning air was invigorating and Trent was inspired. He was hard at work in his shop when Tinsley had walked in a couple of minutes ago carrying two coffees. Ryker lived in an enormous house on the river. Ridge lived in a neighborhood across the street from Ryker. Gavin and Harper were down the street from them, but in town. Wade was just a couple of blocks from downtown while Trent and Tinsley lived out in the country. Being the creative types they were, they found the quiet and beauty of nature inspiring.