Chapter 3

SAVANNAH

“Edward did what?” Wesley’s voice thundered in the coffee shop at Midtown we always went to.

“Hey!” I hissed.

“Sorry.” He gritted his teeth. “I’m going to fucking kill him, Savannah. I don’t care if he has a rich aunt.”

Riley patted her older brother’s arm. “Relax, dude. That’s not helping.”

The three of us had been best friends since our early teens. We were supposed to be four, but Sofia returned to Mexico for college, and we hadn’t seen her since.

“So, what are you going to do?” Wes asked.

I rested my chin on my palm. “He can go to hell. I’ll resign from my position at New Star Media.” I looked at Wes. “You said you have a vacancy in your department. Is it still open?”

“So, you’ve finally considered that now, huh?”

Wesley Allen was associate marketing director at Sebastian Entertainment Group. The company was founded as a record label, but after acquiring subsidiaries, it expanded into a global mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate with a net worth of eighty-five billion dollars.

“Well, Sebastian Entertainment is bigger than New Star.” I was also confident with my experience and MBA.

Wes beamed. “But I’ll be your boss.”

“Cocky.”

“Fine.” Wes chuckled. “Send me your CV. I’ll endorse you to my boss.”

“I’ll email it. By the way.” I turned to Riley. “Can I borrow your phone? I need to call my cell. I dropped it at the airport yesterday—” I showed them the phone I’d picked up “—and got this instead.” I skipped the part where the owner was some hot Greek God. Like he was Zeus and Hades combined.

“Really?” Riley held the phone and lit the screen. “No one called here?”

“No notifications either. It’s locked, so I can’t connect it to Wi-Fi.”

Wes snatched the phone from me. “And there’s no emergency contact.”

“Here.” Riley offered her phone. “Try calling your cell.”

I called my number right away.

“Hello! You’ve reached Savannah Reed’s voicemail. Please leave a message after the beep...”

“Mailbox,” I told them.

“Your phone is probably dead or something. Did you charge it?” Riley asked.

“I’m not sure. But maybe he doesn’t have my phone.”

“Do you still remember the face?” Wes asked.

Yes, the man was kind of hard to forget. Edward was handsome, but this guy was probably the sexiest man I’d ever seen. His blue eyes had green tones and a rim of gold around them. The way he stood and carried himself was an epitome of elegance. Thinking about him brought sex to mind. Incredible, raw sex. One that I could finally have a mind-blowing orgasm.

My throat dried up, so I drank my iced latte. “Anyway, I’ll prepare my resume when I get home. I’m staying at Michael’s.”

“That’s good. Edward’s not worth it,” Riley said and then ate her doughnut.

RAFAEL

The last thing I needed was my brother calling my assistant early in the morning. I was getting ready to attend Metropolitan Pictures’ press conference in Boston. The film production studio was now a Sebastian Entertainment subsidiary, owning a seventy-six percent stake.

“Julian,” I answered while adjusting my sleeves in front of a full-length mirror. Billy, my assistant, was holding his cell on loudspeaker.

“I know you’re busy, but there’s a little problem. I thought you should know.”

“Don’t stall. What is it?” I picked up my cufflinks from the vanity and attached them.

“Sue Winkler of PeekFlix called. She said there was a mistake with the initial proposal.”

“Elaborate. I didn’t tell anyone to send anything. No one has sent me the modified documents.”

“I know, but remember Diana Emerson? Carter’s assistant.” Carter was one of our brothers.

“What about her?”

“She delivered the draft to Sue.”

Diana fucking Emerson. I didn’t want to hear that name anymore. I asked Carter to fire her last week.

I snatched Billy’s phone and pressed it to my ear. My poor assistant stepped back in fright. “Didn’t Carter check?”

“He said he did, but Diana sent it anyway. We thought maybe she took the termination personally.”

I fired Diana because she sent the wrong dates for the upcoming fortieth-anniversary celebration on the MMS marketing announcement. Sebastian Records would hold an audition for new talents on October twenty-first. But she advertised the date on October thirty-first. It cost me a half million dollars to change the incorrect date.

I clenched my teeth. “But how’s the proposal going?”

“Nigel said it will be finished tonight. Seven, at most.”

“Fine. Please send the progress to Billy’s email. I want to see it.” I pinched my nose bridge, sighing. “I want a smooth, error-free deal with this, Jules. You know how big this is to us.” To dad...

PeekFlix was an online streaming service founded by a Mexican businessman, Emilio Estrella. The platform outran every available streaming platform in Latin America, making a revenue of one billion last year. Their original shows were popular internationally. So when Emilio opened it to worldwide distributions, for which reasons hadn’t been disclosed (yet), Dad saw it as an opportunity to obtain a large stake. Emilio was visiting New York in two weeks to meet with potential partners. Only, I wasn’t interested in mere partnerships. I wanted to fully bring PeekFlix to Sebastian Entertainment and broaden it to its maximum potential that their current management failed to see.

“I understand, Rafe. Hey—”

“Dude, just relax, okay?” It was now Carter talking. “I’ll take care of it.”

“How can I relax, Carter,” I said tightly. “Adam said you were at the nightclub last night when you should be working on this.”

“But what’s done is done.” I only left for a few days, and this had already happened.

This was how I thought we were different. While my three brothers could still find time to play around, I took every business deal Dad threw me very seriously. Over the thirteen years I was CEO, our stock rose by twelve to fourteen percent. I bought minority shares by acquiring independent studios with excellent growth potential to keep fifty percent of the majority stakes to the family.

“Go to PeekFlix and see Sue as early as possible,” I instructed.

“Me?”

“Yes, you. You said you’ll take care of it.”

“You want me to fly to Mexico City? It’s not what I meant.”

“It’ll only take two days. Discuss the initial plan with Sue. Don’t forget that she’s Emilio’s operations executive. Let’s have a meeting with Julian and Adam when you return.”

I cut the call.

“Everything okay, sir?” my assistant asked.

“No, Billy, it’s not.” I gave him his phone back. “Julian will send you the PeekFlix proposal today. I also need a phone to read my emails. I can’t use yours every time I need to check something.”

My phone was with the woman at the airport. She looked like she hadn’t slept for a week with her drowsy brown eyes. Despite the imperfection, the symmetry of her face was rather alluring. She had almond irises, a small nose, and a full and sumptuous mouth glazed with a shade of pale pink. Those characteristics were enough for me to notice. She was clumsy, but I supposed she wouldn’t guess my passcode. She didn’t seem to be that kind of person.

“Do you wish to keep your current number, sir?” Billy queried.

“Don’t change anything. I’ll get that phone back.” I put on a wristwatch and then fixed my crooked ties.

“Understood, sir.” He stepped aside to make way. “The car is ready.”