A Hollywood Bride(7)

“I always had the impression you were too sensible to fall for my son. If you were so stupid as to love him, he would’ve fired you a long time ago.” He regards me coolly. “Your wedding is in three weeks. I presume it’s still on? Or have things changed because of the tape?”

His blunt questions stun me. I haven’t given any thought to the wedding since the sex tape was released. My mind has been more obsessed with the fact that my parents saw me naked. That Ryder saw me having sex with my ex. And that millions of people out there are watching me on that horrible tape Shaun made without my consent. The enormity of the violation leaves me shaking all over again.

“Well, whatever the date, I want you to go ahead,” he says. “Proceed as planned with the wedding. Then, on that day, you’re to leave my son at the altar.”

I gasp. “That will completely humiliate him!”

Julian looks at me like I’m a dim-witted child. “Well, of course.”

“Why are you doing this? Why do you hate Ryder so much?”

“I don’t hate him.”

“Really? Is that why every time he releases a new movie you send a binder full of negative reviews? Of all the petty things to—”

“It’s for his own good. He needs to learn respect and humility.”

Is this guy serious? “You should be proud of him. He got to where he is without your help.”

“Is that what he told you?” Julian’s mouth twists. “Luck is nothing to be proud of. Nor is winning the genetic jackpot. Do you think it was through his own effort that he was born to me and his mother—to the best families in America? Or that it was through his own effort that he’s as handsome as he is? Of course not. He got most of his looks from me and perhaps a bit from his mother.”

I snort. If Julian really believes that, he’s deranged.

He continues, “And it’s not through his own effort that a bloodsucker like that agent of his discovered him and is using him to line her own pockets.”

“You don’t understand him at all. He’s smart, and works incredibly hard.”

Julian laughs until tears roll down his cheeks. Gasping for air, he wipes them away with an index finger. “That’s one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard. Oh, how I wish Geraldine’s mother were here. She always thought Ryder was slightly retarded.”

My jaw slackens. “What?”

“You didn’t know that? Shirley Pryce, the Matriarch,” he says, making finger quotes in the air and raising his eyebrows in mock awe, “considered Ryder too stupid to be a Pryce. Except he was one, much to her displeasure, and he didn’t even bother to go to college despite her insistence that he do so. I bet it killed that old bat she couldn’t deny he was one of them.” His mouth curls into a sneer. “He has the Pryce profile.” He hands me another mini-bottle of water. When I don’t take it, he shrugs and drinks it himself. “Now, let’s get down to business. I can double whatever Ryder’s promised you. And you won’t have to tie yourself to a man who probably hates you right now for that sex tape. It’s one thing to know your fiancée isn’t a virgin. It’s quite another to see her fucking another man.”

I tighten my hands into fists and force myself to breathe calmly. It won’t do me any good to get myself worked up over Julian’s words. “I have no intention of betraying him. And I don’t care how big the carrot you’re dangling is. You think you’re the first person to offer me money?”

“No. But I’m quite sure that I’m the first person to tell you that if sweetness doesn’t work, I’m willing to be more drastic.”

“Are you threatening me?”

“Oh, no. If I become drastic, my dear, everyone will get hurt, not just you.”

The absolute conviction in his words shakes me. The man is enough of a megalomaniac to believe he’s entitled to get what he wants, using whatever means necessary. And his threat to hurt the people around me is delivered in such a calm way that I start to wonder if he’s sane.

“If you go after people I care about, I will fight back,” I say.

“Then you are a fool,” he purrs like an amused predator toying with its prey. “And have no sense of self-preservation.”

I almost crush the water bottle in my hand. Julian may be right about my sense of self-preservation or lack thereof, but I won’t just sit back and let him walk all over me.

Apparently having made his point, he doesn’t bother to talk to me for the rest of the ride. I watch the scenery go by outside. The silence is better than his smugness and threats.