Page 42 of Hidden With You

ChapterThirteen

Aquadruple threat in the entertainment industry, Matthew Holt’s Hardline Entertainment dominated music, film, television, and publishing. Over the years, Holt had grown his company from a small music studio into a full-on entertainment conglomerate. Through its various divisions, the company produced bestselling novels, record-breaking and Grammy Award winning albums, Academy Award winning movies, and television series that shot to the top of everyone’s Best Of lists. The Hardline streaming channel had launched less than three years ago and was already one of the most lucrative in the business.

Holt was respected and revered. A major power player in Hollywood with a reputation for brilliance in business and eyebrow-raising antics in his personal life. He wasn’t a man to cross, and he could make or break a career.

And he commanded it all from his massive complex of offices, studios, and sets in Culver City. Now he leaned against a window in his fifteenth floor penthouse suite, the view of the lot that he’d bought from a defunct studio spread out behind him.

“There’s very little I wouldn’t do to publicize one of my movies,” Holt said, his dark eyes shifting from Ryan to Jasper, both of whom were standing in front of him. He lifted the photocopy of the threat they’d shared with him and shook it. “But faking a threat to the writer is on that very short list.”

He crossed his arms over his chest, his brows rising as he looked to Ryan. “We’ve known each other a long time now. Do you honestly think I did this?”

“What I think is that Zelda deserves the same level of protection all Stark Security clients get,” Ryan said. “And if that means I piss off the man who signs my wife’s paychecks, then so be it.”

Holt grimaced, then moved from the window to the sitting area in his office. He sank into a deep leather chair, then indicated Ryan and Jasper should take the sofa.

“The truth is, we don’t know where the threat is coming from,” Jasper said, leaning back and stretching his legs. The man was intimidating as hell, and Jasper was determined to look as casual as possible.

He knew the drill. Powerful men knew how to hold their cards close to the vest. Even if Holt wasn’t behind the threat—and Jasper didn’t believe that he was—he might know something. Someone on his team might be overenthusiastic, and Holt might have gotten a whiff of it. It would be in his nature to cover it up to save his studio. Or he might not even realize he knew it until they started talking.

Which meant that the more casual Jasper and Ryan appeared, the more likely Holt would talk to them as friends rather than as interrogators.

Matthew's’s gaze shifted from Jasper to Ryan and then back again. Then he glanced pointedly at Jasper’s legs. The laid-back posture. “Should we just go get drinks?”

Jasper frowned. “Sorry?”

Matthew laughed. “You’re getting all casual. Putting me at ease so I’ll talk to you as friends. Not as the man who owns this studio.”

Jasper cleared his throat. People said the man was sharp. They were right.

“I’ll make it easy on you. I don’t know the source of this threat, but I do know where it’s coming from. And I can guess when it’s going down.”

“You son-of-a-bitch,” Jasper said, his blood beginning to boil. “You think you can play with people’s lives this way? What kind of strings are you pulling to promote your goddamn movie?”

He started to launch himself out of his chair, but Ryan clutched his arm and tugged him firmly back.

“Calm down,” Matthew snapped. “I’m not pulling any strings. All I’ve done is think about what you told me. About this,” he added, crumpling the photocopy of the threat and tossing it at Jasper.

“What do you mean?” Jasper’s voice was tight as he tried to ratchet down his temper.

“Did you read the damn book? It’ll come from a crowd. A sniper rifle. Just like in Intercontinental. Just like Martin King when he was walking Darby down the red carpet to the diplomatic ball.”

In the book, the threat had been a hoax. But then someone else had stepped in, taking advantage after the original perp had been apprehended. A clever plot twist in which the characters believed all was well. They’d been wrong.

“The premier won’t be for another year,” Ryan said. “I don’t get the feeling our perp is a long-term operator.”

“No. Nor do I.” He lifted his hand, then used two fingers to rub his forehead as if staving off a migraine. “We haven’t announced it in the press yet, but Zelda will be joining Jamie at the gala opening of another one of our movies next week. A Francesca Murratti film. We’re going to show a quick trailer for Intercontinental, then have a 2-hour gala event celebrating both movies before screening the feature. Red carpet, full meal deal.”

Ryan and Jasper exchanged looks. Zelda hadn’t said a word about it. If she knew, that put her back firmly on the suspect list. A failed attack at a gala event would be one hell of a publicity stunt.

“Does Zelda know about this?” Jasper asked, and the few seconds between the question and the answer felt like hours.

“No. Everyone believes the gala is just for Frannie’s new film. We’re hoping for even more Intercontinental buzz following the surprise.”

Jasper nodded, almost melting with relief.

Ryan looked at him, his brow raised. Jasper shook his head, trying to dismiss Ryan’s curiosity as much as his own emotion. This wasn’t good. The relief he felt wasn’t simply that his client wasn’t dirty. It was Zelda. The woman. His woman.

How the hell had he gotten in so deep with her, and how the hell was he going to dig himself out of it?