“Nothing a drink won’t cure,” Cassidy mumbled.
I could tell something was going on with her and having everybody around wasn’t the right time to talk. Hugo followed behind Sabrina’s driver and pulled back on the road that led back to the main street. I took my phone out and texted Joaquin about the house.
Me: The house is beautiful.
Joaquin: Beautiful house, for a beautiful woman.
Me: Do you realize this house is huge for just the two of us?
Joaquin: Once we have babies, it won’t be.
Me: You’re talking crazy now.
Joaquin: We have plenty of time to practice.
Me: I bet you had it all planned out.
Joaquin: Do everything with a purpose.
I giggled at his statement and shook my head.
“Is that my brother?” Alessandra asked.
“Yes.”
“I could tell by the wide smile on your face,” Alessandra said.
“He’s crazy, but I love him.”
“You calmed the beast. That’s a good thing,” Alessandra said.
“He’s said that in not so many words, that I bring him peace.”
“My brother is crazy, but I love him. My father trained him to be a machine,” Alessandra advised.
“What do you mean?”
“No emotions, especially love or affection. His only job in life was to take over the Cartel until you came along,” Alessandra mentioned. I felt a weird flutter in my chest at her statement.
“Are you saying all he does is go out killing people?” Cassidy queried.
“He’s a contracted killer, well mob boss. I thought you knew all of this,” Alessandra said.
“I knew some of his work, not the extent of what his father wanted him to become.”
“He’s leveled out now,” Alessandra randomly blurted out like having a contract killer for a brother was a normal thing you tell people.
The car finally stopped in front of the Cherry Hill mall. Hugo helped all three of us step out and I put my shades on to try and cover myself so I could shop without being bothered.
“Where do you want to start first?” Alessandra asked.
“We can try Michael Kors first,” I replied as I followed behind her as Janice locked arms with me.
“I know that look, you're feeling overwhelmed. Trust your man,” Janice said.
“I do, he told me in not so many terms that he killed two people. One being my manager.”
“Send flowers to his mother and keep it moving. If he killed him, it means he hurt you in some way.”
“Carlo talks to you about what he does?”
“Some things, but we’re not meant to be involved like that, Sofia. Your job is to be that place for him to shed the day away,” Janice stated as we stepped on the escalator.
“Am I being too naive to all this?” I responded.
“Sabrina was in your place at one point,” Janice told me.
“And now.”
“She’s a gun toting Donna that will cut your tongue out and financial advisor during the day,” Janice nonchalantly said.
“What about you?”
“Oh, I’m crazy in general, this doesn’t faze me.” Janice laughed and I shook my head.
All of us got off then headed to the Michael Kors store that was up front. I went to the dress section and picked over a few cocktail dresses when a flash bulb went off in my face.
“Sofia, is it true your manager is missing?” a photographer asked.
“Step back,” Sabrina said.
“We have every right to be here,” the photographer called out as a second one started taking my picture.
“Let's just go,” I said, covering my face.
“Edward’s family put out a missing person’s report,” the photographer called out.
“Edward’s a grown man. Get out of her face,” Janice snapped and pushed them back as we walked out of the store.
“Don’t touch me, lady!” he told me.
“Get out of the way,” Janice shouted and pushed through the crowd that started to surround us.
“What if I don’t, you're going to make me disappear too?” he chuckled, and continued filming us.
“I can make that happen if you want,” Janice remarked and Sabrina covered Janice’s mouth.
“I guess the day is officially ruined,” Alessandra said.
“We’ll come back another day.” I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and we walked back out to the car.
“I need to head home and start dinner. We can set up another day to have lunch,” Sabrina said through the window of our car.
“No worries, sorry about this,” I said, and leaned up against the back of the seat.
“One of the things I wanted to talk to you about was the news,” Cassidy remarked.
“Edward’s disappearance has nothing to do with me or Joaquin.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” Cassidy said and passed her phone to me with a picture of an SUV in front of a house.
“Whose house is that?”
“Edward’s.”
“I don’t understand.”
“This was posted on social media Celebrity Underdark, they say it’s Joaquin’s car in front of Edward’s house.”
“Set up an interview, it’s time I talked.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive. I can’t let this overshadow my career.”
One Week Later.
I was sitting in front of Jean Shaw of Morning American news preparing to answer some questions. Cassidy was here officially as my manager now, until I could hire another publicist. The director wanted to meet with me and the executive producer as soon as possible to talk about everything that was going on. The afternoon we walked out of the mall, photographers followed us back to the city and continued trying to force me into conversation about Edward. I even had a call from the police about coming in to answer some questions. I hadn’t said anything about the police to Joaquin yet, my goal was to try to handle what I could without him being thrown in the mix more than he was.
“Miss Chambers thank you so much for joining us today,” Jean said as the lights shone down and the mic in her ear was fixed.
“Thank you for giving me the chance to talk about everything.”
“America loves you and wants to know how you're doing through these terrible times,” Jean said.
“I’m doing better, Jean. As you know I went through something awful and wouldn’t wish it on anyone.”
“Take us back to that day,” Jean said.
“It was another beautiful night in the city. I was meeting with my friend for dinner.”
“Your boyfriend, a Mr. Fuertes correct?”
“Yes.”
“What happened exactly?”
“I trusted someone that didn’t have my best interests.”
“The police have mentioned Leonardo was one of the men that took you.”
“Leonardo and unfortunately, my ex-manager, Edward.”
“This Leonardo person has mob ties to your boyfriend?” Jean questioned.
“My boyfriend has been nothing but supportive through all of this and the way stories are being written about him have nothing to do with who kidnapped me.”
“Are you saying your boyfriend is not a Cartel leader?” Jean asked.
“I’m saying I was taken and almost killed and if it wasn’t for my boyfriend and his friends, the outcome might have been far different. Wherever Edward is, I hope the police find him soon and he gets the help that he needs.”
“Thank you, Sofia. We understand this is a difficult time for you.” Jean leaned over and passed me a tissue. I wiped the tears that pooled in my eyes.
“Extremely, I just want to focus on my career.”
“What do you have coming up for the future?”
“More acting and music hopefully soon,” I explained.
“Thank you again, Sofia, and America, you’ve heard it here first from Sofia Chambers on the kidnapping and rescue,” Jean said into the camera. The producer called cut and I checked my makeup one more time and shook hands with Jean then strolled to Cassidy.
“What do you think?”
“I think you're a good actress,” Cassidy joked.
“I think so too.” I laughed and followed behind her out of the building.
“What do we have to do next?” I asked, checking my messages.
“We need to meet with the director and executive producer,” Cassidy said.
“That’s fine, give Hugo the address,” I told her and pulled my mirror out to fix my makeup.
Cassidy leaned over and showed Hugo the address to the studio. Dante told me they were thinking of recasting my part and I was beyond pissed. That role was made for me and we were halfway with filming before the kidnapping happened. Hugo took a right turned on 23rd and Avenue, stopping at Lincoln Studios. I stopped him from getting out. This wasn’t that type of visit and having Hugo walking inside with me would have paparazzi roaming around. Cassidy came around to the passenger side and got out. The security guard let us walk through without any issue as I smiled.
I saw Jeremiah talking with Bob Stinger, the executive producer and vice president of the studios.
“Sofia, thanks for coming.” Jeremiah extended his hand and I put on a fake smile and reached over to cup his palm.
“Thanks for calling me, Jeremiah.”
“We can meet in Bob’s office,” Jeremiah said.
“How are you doing, Sofia?” Bob asked.
“I’m good, Bob, we just left Morning America news.”
“That’s why we texted Cassidy since you had an interview already and we wanted to catch you early.”
“Of course.”
“Have a seat,” Jeremiah said, and I took the seat on the couch next to Cassidy.
“I know Cassidy probably told you our concerns,” Jeremiah started to say.
“She did and I can assure you my personal life won’t affect the filming.”
“Sofia, you just dealt with a kidnapping and now your manager is missing,” Bob said.
“I’m aware, but Cassidy’s taking on more responsibility and Edward as you know was involved.”
“We’ve heard rumors your boyfriend is in the mob,” Jeremiah stated.
“Rumors.”
“Yeah and I know from the one time when he barged in on set trying to fight Dante,” Jeremiah reminded me.
“That won’t happen again. He can be a little jealous at times, but we’ve talked about what my career means to me.”
“Can you guarantee he won't interfere if we bring you back on set?” Bob asked.
“Yes.”
“How is the investigation going?” Jeremiah questioned.
“I’m not sure, my lawyer handles all of that. Listen, I'm here to work, that's it.”
“We understand, but financially we can’t take a loss,” Bob said.
“Are you saying you’ll remove me? The biggest star on this project.”
“Try to understand, Sofia. We have to think about the safety of the entire crew and staff,” Bob responded.
“I’m telling you everything will be fine; my personal life won’t interrupt my business.”
“Give us a little time to think it over,” Jeremiah told me.
“I’m still in the process of recording my album and I just finished signing a contract to model.”
“If the investigation closes we can see about starting back,” Jeremiah explained.
“Okay, keep me updated. I don’t want to take on another project, but I will,” I stated and stood up shaking hands with them both before leaving the room.
“You think they’ll call you?” Cassidy asked.
“In three, two, one.” Cassidy's phone rang and she answered as I climbed inside of the car.
“Hugo can we drop Cassidy off, then head home?” He motioned in agreement and reversed in the street and headed into traffic.
“Yes, sounds good, Jeremiah. We look forward to working with you as well.” Cassidy grinned and hung up, screaming in excitement.