Starlet: A Dark Retelling - Cora Kenborn Page 0,31

I don’t. It’s hard to differentiate when they’re all swarmed together.

I’m not pissed because they’re here. After all, I just alerted the whole damn world I’d found a missing heiress. I’m pissed because they’re here. At my house. A place I’ve gone to great lengths to disassociate from both BTN and the McCallum name.

Angel has a white-knuckled grip on the dashboard as she leans forward and peers out the windshield. “Are all those…?”

“Paparazzi,” I finish for her. “In the blood-sucking flesh.” Although I admit, I didn’t expect quite this many of them. Just goes to show how quickly news travels.

Angel stares holes through them without blinking. “How do they know where you live? Don’t you pride yourself on your omniscient presence in this town?”

The way she says it isn’t a compliment. In fact, it’s a pretty direct insult, and if we didn’t have the tabloid apocalypse closing in, I’d call her on it. Instead, I settle on an irritated smirk as I kill the engine. “Well, you can’t expect to make history without making a few waves.”

Her breath catches. “So, what do we do?”

No time like the present.

“Give them what they want,” I say, opening my door to a storm of lights and flashes.

Chapter Fourteen

Angel

I grab Dominic’s arm as he rounds the car. “You can’t be serious.”

Oh, but he is. Evidenced by the dark eyebrow he cocks as his gaze drops to where my nails dig into his wrist. “I’m sorry, were you unclear about the job description? This is what your life is going to be from now on. I suggest you get used to it.”

“But I’m not prepared.”

“Even better,” he says, his eyes shifting over my shoulder.

“What do you mean, even better?” Twisting around, I stare at the chaotic mob rushing across his lawn. As they draw closer, time rewinds, and memories I’ve fought so hard to lock away resurface, clawing at my chest and hissing in my ear.

“Jade, what do you have to say about the allegations?”

“Jade, did you really trade sex for stardom?”

“Jade, what do you have to say to Paulo Bellini’s victims?”

“I can’t do this,” I whisper.

“Angel—”

Resentment slices through me like a hot blade. “Don’t ‘Angel’ me! You sat behind your computer screen while they tore my life apart.” I pause, swallowing the bile rising in my throat. “You don’t know what I went through.”

I expect him to deflect with one of his sarcastic comebacks, but instead, he stands quietly, his jaw locked, and his eyes shadowed in thought. “You’re right. I don’t. But they’re not in control this time; you are.”

“It doesn’t feel that way.”

“Look at them.” He tips his chin toward the lawn. I want to defy him, but something holds me back, and I comply, turning toward the herd as he adds, “They’re not strong; they’re starving.”

“For what?”

“Information, rook. Their Romanov addiction has been unfed for fifteen years. All I’ve done is throw a scrap of bread into a hungry crowd. What they sink their teeth into next is up to you.”

“How is it up to me?”

“You claim to be a good actress, so prove it.” A deadly challenge flickers in those glacial blue eyes. “You blame me for what could have been. Well, this is your stage, and those are your fans. Take everything you learned in the last twenty-four hours and create Alexandra Romanov.”

A second chance. It’s all I’ve wanted and feared tied together and laid at my feet. Losing everything once was hard enough, but I got through it. I salvaged the pieces Hollywood left behind and went on with my life. Because I didn’t fail me. Fate failed me. Luck failed me.

Dominic McCallum and his unholy crusade failed me.

But along with a second chance at success comes a second chance at failure. And this time, fate came for me. Luck sought me out. And Dominic McCallum opened the door. If I blow it this time, I have no one to blame.

“But I don’t know her personality,” I push back.

Dominic meets my excuses head on. “It’s whatever you want it to be. You’re writing your own lines in this movie, rook.”

So, despite the fear still swirling in my chest, I step forward. Because despite what Dominic says, deep down, a part of me knows this is all temporary. All fame is fleeting, and my star will burn out. However, I’ve wasted a lifetime wishing to be someone else. Now I can be.

I don’t look at Dominic again, but I know he’s behind me as the band of paparazzi close