Page 153 of Checkmate
Josh sighed. “I’ll go check. You two get settled.” Exchanging a quick greeting with Marcus, Josh left the table, leaving them alone.
“So you ran into Sophie?” Marcus said, shrugging out of his jacket. “How did that go?”
“Fine, actually,” she replied, chewing her lip. “She accused me of stalling on the divorce, but I shut her up rather quickly, so it was no problem.”
“Oh yeah? What did you say?”
Erica hesitated, glancing towards the bar where Josh was still waiting to be seen. News like this really needed a drink at hand, but she couldn’t wait to tell him. She needed to tell him.
“Okay,” she said, clearing her throat. “Well, first. I had to lie to you earlier today.”
“You lied?” he asked, his brow furrowing.
“A little white lie,” she assured him. “I didn’t meet with the bank manager.”
His frown got even deeper as he pushed his hair away from his face. “Okay. So where were you?”
“I had a meeting with the London Group,” she admitted, chewing her lip.
“As in your ex-husband’s biggest clients? That London Group?”
“The very same,” she replied with a nod. “I’m not sure how much you know about them, but they’re a multimedia company. They’ve got a small record label and a couple of publications. But what they specialise in is television.”
“Oka-ay,” Marcus said. “Go on.”
“After we appeared on the news, I had a few people reach out to me on our website. The common theme in these messages was getting you and me on TV again.” Erica had never heard the phrase ‘TV pretty’ before speaking to these kinds of people. “And with all these people reaching out, it made me think they might be on to something.”
“Here we go,” Josh said, interrupting them, and placing a tray of drinks on the table. “What did I miss?”
“Erica was just telling me about all these TV offers we’ve received.”
Josh scoffed as he handed out the drinks. “They were nothing compared to the deal Erica secured you. They just wanted a quick one-off. But now you’ve got a ten-episode deal—”
“Josh!” Erica said, cutting him off.
“Erica?” Marcus said, raising an eyebrow. “Ten episodes of what?”
“You didn’t tell him?!” Josh demanded. “What have you been doing this whole time? Telling each other how pretty you are?”
Erica rolled her eyes. “I was getting to it,” she said, shaking her head. “Why are you so quick—”
“Wait, wait,” Marcus said, interrupting the playful fight between siblings. “We’re going to be on TV?”
Erica smiled, nodding her confirmation.
Not only were they going to be on TV, but she had secured them a pretty lucrative deal. The ten-episode series would focus on a different ghost from their tour, with the two of them presenting the story in their usual dramatic style. If that wasn’t exciting enough, the London group offered to pay them a bonus for exclusive rights to their brand and media. There were already talks of another series, another opportunity.
“We’ll have full creative control,” she explained, while Marcus listened patiently. “The only request they have is us allowing a few of their guys to take our tour so they can get a feel for everything.”
“She hasn’t even told you the best part,” Josh said, taking a drink with a grin. “You’re gonna be loaded.”
“It’s tacky to talk about money—”
“How loaded?” Marcus asked, knocking back his drink.
“One hundred grand for the ten episodes - ten grand per episode,” Josh said gleefully. “And then a further twenty-five grand each for you and Erica if you give them at least five years of exclusive rights to your content.”
“You’re telling me they’re willing to pay us one hundred and fifty thousand to tell a couple of ghost stories in front of a camera?”
