"And how exactly did anyone find out I was pregnant? I'm not even showing and I've never been photographed with Michael for the past year. This whole thing is confusing." I say, dropping the newspaper.
"You're pregnant? Congrats!" My makeup artist says.
"Thank you. Back to this Ryan." I say, turning to him.
"They claim it was an anonymous tip. I can get it pulled if you want." He says.
"Well no. I'm not gonna lie, but I was hoping to wait until she was born to tell everyone. Anonymous tip?" I ask, frowning.
My phone rings and it's Michael. I answer it.
E: Good morning.
M: Darling, I thought we were keeping this all under wraps. We're on the news.
E: Ryan says it was an anonymous tip.
M: I guess we got a snitch then. I'll find them.
E: I'm mad about this too, but I don't want you roughing up anyone to get answers.
M: You should only be concerned when I do get my answers. Then it will get interesting.
E: Michael...
M: Focus on your movie. I love you.
He hangs up on me and I take a deep breath.
"When Michael finds out who gave that tip, he is gonna be pissed." I say, closing my eyelids so the makeup artist can finish.
"Pissed probably doesn't come close. Anger management won't help that snitch out." Ryan replies, texting.
"I can't think about this. I have to memorize these lines." I say, waving him away.
"All I'm gonna say is, the only people who knew first was his family. So... Somebody betrayed him. Makes that nice little trip seem kinda morbid now, huh?" Ryan says, walking out of my trailer.
I run my fingers through my hair and sigh. I really don't want to have to deal with this. But I don't want Michael dealing with it either cause he is crazy. The door opens to my trailer and the director walks in with his headset.
"Are you ready? You look amazing!" He says, smiling at me.
I smile. "Yes I am." I say, taking his hand as we walk out of my trailer and onto the set.
"Congratulations by the way, are those rumors true?" He asks.
I smile lightly. "Yes they are true. Thank you." I reply.
"I hope you can focus on this project. We really have high hopes for you and this movie. We can even hire extra security for you if you want." He comments.
"That won't be necessary, but thank you. Michael has enough security for the both of us." I explain.
He nods and takes his place. The designers put me in this leather outfit and puts my hair in a ponytail. I see Ryan stage left and I call him on the set. He runs over.
"What is it?" He asks.
"I need you to call around and see who gave that anonymous tip. If we find out before Michael, maybe we can calm him before he faces them." I explain.
"You got it." He says, running off set and clicking on his Bluetooth.
"Action!" The director yells.
I look over at the other actor on set with me and shake my head. "These files... They're corrupt. Wanna tell me what's going on?" I ask, raising my eyebrow.
He smirks. "How does it feel to be a let down? That's how I feel everyday. Now, I'm gonna make sure that you disappear... Forever." He spews, cynically.
"Try me." I say.
He runs over to me and I flip him.
"Cut! Great job guys, but we want this fight scene to be longer, so go back to the gym okay?" The director yells.
The other actor smiles at me. "Haven't seen you in a while, you look good." He says, holding his arms out for a hug.
I hug him, smiling. "Good to see you too Liam." I say, breaking the hug.
We walk into the gym to rehearse the fight scene and our instructor is stretching. We follow suit and begin stretching on the mats.
"Oh hey congratulations on the baby. When are you guys getting married? Or did you already?" He asks, looking at my wedding ring.
"Oh this isn't... We aren't getting married. I mean, not right now. This is my old wedding ring." I explain.
"You still kept that thing? The minute I got divorced I chucked that ring! Maybe cause I hated her cheating guts, but whatever. At least now that's thousands of dollars you won't have to spend on a ring, again. I'm happy for you." He says, smiling.
I smile faintly. "Thanks Liam." I say.
"If you ever feel sick or fatigued, tell us so we can stop. You're the star, you have to be 100%." He explains, stretching his back.
I touch my toes. All of this is very pleasant, but I know the moment I walk off of this set it will be pandemonium.
~~~~~~~~
My security surrounds me tightly as we walk off of the studio grounds and into my car. People are pulling at my guards, shoving microphones at me, yelling, and throwing things at me. I finally get in the car and they slam and lock the door behind me. My guards are pushing them off, the fans and paparazzi are shaking my car! I take a deep breath and notice all of the stuff they threw in my car. Stuffed animals, rattles, ribbons, and a parenting book. That must have hurt whoever got hit with this. I guess the fans are harmless. I guess. We slowly escape from the pandemonium and Ryan gets off of his phone.
"They aren't giving anything away. One person is leading to another person. I need to find out who got the story first. They know I can pay them top dollar for the answers, I just need to talk to them." He explains, answering his phone.
This is taking too long! Michael probably already knows and is on his way back to New York to handle it. I hate to think what he will do to any of them. We pull up to my house and there is a limo in my driveway. I get out of the car with my guards and Michael steps out of the limo.
"What's with the limo?" I ask.
"Its good to see you too babe." He says, kissing my forehead.
"This whole thing is ridiculous. I've got a backseat full of gifts for the baby, my guards have been roughed up, everyone at work thinks I need my hand held. This is why I didn't want to tell anyone. Not that I could control any of this." I say, grabbing his hand. "How was your day?" I ask, smiling.
"Its was great. I hope you're ready to make another trip." He says.
"Trip? Where?" I ask.
"Missouri. St Louis to be exact." He says, smiling.
"Why?" I ask.
"That's where Sabrina lives." He says, his smile dropping immediately.
I put my hands up. "Okay... Maybe we should confirm that it was Sabrina before we pay her a visit." I reason.
"The jet is full of gas and at the landing pad. I'm not waiting." He says, opening the car door for me.
"You can't jump to conclusions about this. Sabrina is a hater, but it could have been any of your family." I explain.
Michael waves his guards over. "Stay here with her. I'll be back tonight." He says, kissing me gently.
His guards come over to me and he drives off, to his landing pad. I don't like this idea at all. Ryan calls me and I go to meet him.
"Down the street in a rinky dink store is the man that broke the story to all the major news channels. He will tell us who gave him the information." He explains.
"I was mad at first, but I think this is silly. We can control the media. It's not a big deal. Michael already left." I say.
"Left? Where did he go?" He asks.
"He went to find his cousin, Sabrina. She bitched me out during the reunion and he thinks she has some vendetta against me." I explain.
"Well let's just make sure he's going in the right direction." Ryan says.
"Fine. But I'm bringing the extra security with me just in case something happens." I agree, walking down the street with him. "So how is your wife and the baby?" I ask.
"She's doing better and my son is wonderful! He's a little fussy, but, I still love him." He says, smiling.
"That's good to hear. I hope I'm as happy as your wife was when she was pregnant." I say.
"Even if your aren't, you'll be happy when the baby comes." He says, taking his phone out to show me a picture of his son. "We named him Bradley." He says.
I cover my mouth. "He is adorable!! Look at his little hands!" I say, feeling myself get emotional thinking about what my baby will look like.
He puts his phone away as we walk into the store. "Please don't cry in here. We're trying to instill fear in him so he can tell us the truth." He whispers.
I wipe my eye and clench my fists. "He's gonna tell us everything we need to know." I assure him. "Wait out here for us." I tell the security.
I storm into the store and push a door open, a skinny, nerdy looking man is sitting in a chair. "I could break this little thing in half! I'm not paying him to tell me who snitched on us! He better tell us right now!" I say, gripping his desk so that he knows I'm not in the mood for his games.
He puts his hands up. "I got paid a lot of money to keep my mouth shut. Don't hurt me!" He says, looking scared.
I reach for him and Ryan pulls me back. "Are you really trying to anger a pregnant woman? I will let her go." He warns.
"Okay listen! I will give you one hint." He says, pulling out some papers.
I kick his desk, making his papers fall to the ground. His eyes get wide.
"Okay please stop! The person who gave me the tip, it was a guy. He didn't tell me his name, he just told about the story. He was talking to a few people when he called me too. You said you came from a reunion?" He asks.
"How did you know that?" I ask, getting madder.
"They were talking about it. Being real funny about everything. They had me on three way actually. It's a real fishy situation." He says, looking scared.
I walk out of the room.
"Where are you going?" Ryan asks.
"I'm calling Michael to tell him to turn around. I don't want him chasing dead ends." I say, walking outside of the building.
M: Esmeralda! Why haven't you been answering your phone?
E: Whoa slow down! I didn't even know it was ringing. Listen, Sabrina did not snitch us out. It's someone else. Some guys. Check with your brothers.
M: Listen to me. I'm on my way back. Get a taxi or something home or get a ride with Ryan. I just got a phone call from Kenny.
E: Kenny? What? Michael what are you taking about?
I feel a cloth go over my face and I drop my phone, fighting the body behind me.
The chloroform is quickly knocking me out and I feel my lifeless body thrown on the ground before I am out cold.
~~~~~~~~~~
I wake up groggily and reach my hand up, feeling a tug on my arm. I look down in the semi darkness and see that I am handcuffed to a chair. My mouth is duct taped and my legs are also handcuffed to a metal ring in the ground. A spotlight suddenly turns on above me, hurting my eyes. I see a figure walking towards me and I squint my eyes. They stop in front of me.
"Congratulations." He says, sinister.
"Kenny." I whisper, raspy.
To be continued...