Hollywood Triplets - Layla Valentine Page 0,49

assume this girlfriend of yours doesn’t want to appear in any negative press.”

Curt shook his head. “What are you, a mob boss? Are you actually threatening my family?” He turned to Jacob. “Really? This is how it’s going to be?”

“What do you want me to say, Curt?” Jacob demanded.

“I want you to say that you’re on my side,” Curt said. “You’ve always been on my side. That’s why I kept you as an agent even after I got big, you know. I believed that you had my best interests in mind. I believed that you cared more about me than you did about money.”

“I have to care about money a little bit,” Jacob said. “This is a business I’m running.”

“You have to care about people a little bit too,” Curt said. “And you don’t, do you?”

“Of course I do,” Jacob said.

But he wasn’t making eye contact with Curt when he said it.

“This is ridiculous,” Dimitri said. “I don’t know what we’re debating. What it comes down to is this—our marketing strategy for the film is reliant on having a single leading man. Curt Slade signed a contract to that effect.”

“Come up with a new marketing strategy,” Curt said.

“No,” Dimitri said.

“Then fire me,” Curt said. “Those are your choices.”

“Curt, don’t do this,” Jacob said.

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Curt said. “I’ve listened to you for way too long, Jacob. I’m going to find new representation. I should have done that a long time ago.”

“You’re firing me?” Jacob said disbelievingly.

“Yeah, that’s right,” Curt said. “There are plenty of agents out there who want to work with me, Jacob. They’ve been after me for years. You know that. And I’m willing to bet I can find one who will be accommodating of my personal life, and who will help me negotiate contracts that give me the flexibility to do that.”

“I’m going to take you to court,” Dimitri said. “You’ve lost me a lot of money. If I have to start the shoot over with a new actor—”

“That’s fine,” Curt said. “You take me to court. I’ll settle. Whatever you want. But I’m not going to work for a dictatorial director anymore. And I am going to warn my industry friends about what working for you is really like.”

Dimitri fumed.

“Of course, I could keep our difficulties to myself,” Curt went on. “You and I could simply agree to say that we had creative differences and decided mutually to go our separate ways.”

“If I agree not to sue you?” Dimitri guessed.

“Seems fair to me,” Curt said. “I’d be happy to make a financial contribution to your film, of course, out of the goodness of my heart.”

Dimitri ground his teeth. Curt understood. The director was bound to get a lot more money from a legal settlement than he would from any donation Curt would give.

So what? He has more money than I do anyway. And when this film eventually makes it to theaters, he’s going to pull in millions for it. He’s fine.

“Okay,” Dimitri said at last. “You have a deal.”

“Good.” Curt got to his feet. “I assume we’re done here, then?”

“We aren’t done,” Jacob objected.

“Yes we are,” Curt said. “If you need me to sign any termination paperwork, you can send it to my house. I don’t have anything further to discuss with you.”

“I can’t believe you’re doing this, Curt,” Jacob said. “You and I have been together from day one.”

“I know,” Curt said. He couldn’t deny that he felt a little sad about parting ways with his agent. “I thought our shared history would mean that you would be more of an ally for me when things like this happened. I hate to have found out how wrong I was.”

“Now that you’re not under contract with Dimitri anymore, things are different,” Jacob protested. “We can sit down and discuss your expectations going forward. We can make sure that any future contract you sign doesn’t prohibit you from doing things you might want to do.”

Curt shook his head. “The thing is,” he said, “when push came to shove, you sided with Dimitri over me. It’s not about discussing my expectations going forward. Any agent can do that. What I need is someone who I can feel confident is always going to have my back, no matter what.”

“What are you going to do now?” Jacob asked.

“I’m going to take a sabbatical,” he said. “At least until I find a director who can deal with the fact that I have a girlfriend and a baby on