George met Rina days later in front of the building, where she sat idly in her car by the sidewalk, waiting for him. It had been intentionally five days of not accepting their offer because Rina had to let them know that she wasn’t hungry for whatever proposal they had to give her. She earned more than enough already at Pages of Claire, so her acting under Scottsdale Entertainment was more of a win for them than for anyone else. That was because their movies would gain more trajectory since working for Claire already made her a popular face everywhere in the world. People shopped the brand and Rina was the brand’s face for a whole year.
She knew her worth and where Scottsdale was concerned, she wasn’t going to bother hiding any of it.
George rapt her window with his knuckles and Rina motioned for him to get out of the way so she could alight the car. The breeze rustled her hair as she donned her dark shades, and walked beside George, striding into the building. She knew packing her car there was not advisable, but since they were still trying to buy into her good books, they could do nothing about it.
“How do you feel to be back here after they threw us out?” George asked as they walked in through the doors. He held it open for her to step in too before allowing it to swing shut.
“Like I am the boss in this game,” Rina muttered, heading straight into the board room. “If they weren’t the best entertainment house in the country, and if Zayn wasn’t a major shareholder, I wouldn’t have accepted their offer. But then again, I am tempted by the idea of working with Kayla again. Keep your enemies close by.”
“This should be fun,” George chipped as
they filed in, meeting everyone else already in their seats. Kayla was there as well, as a member of the board doubling as an actress. It was obvious she was not in support of Rina returning, but she couldn’t let the others know because they thought she was an angel who would do anything to have her best friend back.
“Rina,” Kayla sighed in fake relief. Her eyes moistened as they circled on Rina’s face. “Oh my God! I can’t tell you how much I have missed seeing your face around here, around anywhere at all.”
Rina took her seat right in front of her, just like the last time she’d been in there, getting offered a role in a podcast to confirm all the rumors being said about her. She crossed a leg over the other, happy she had opted to wear a red suit. It screamed power and affluence, and that no one better messed with her. Leaning forward, she clasped her hands on the table, allowing her expensive engagement ring to show, the stones sparkling on every surface.
“Kayla,” Rina said with fake sweetness dripping from her tone. “I can’t tell you how much I hate seeing your face right now. But I guess we can’t always have what we want.”
Silence suddenly settled in the room as the eyes of the board settled on the both of them, waiting for something to happen. Rina settled back in the seat with a smirk on her face, knowing Kayla wouldn’t be able to respond the way she wanted to. Image was everything for the lady, and right now, her image was on the line. Rightly so.
Her gasp came a tad too late, and it made Rina chuckle. She was becoming too slow in her reactions and it was a wonder how she had managed to keep everyone fooled, including her father. “Rina, how could you say that? I have been rooting for you all this while. When I heard you were going to return, I was so elated. How…”
“I’m not here to talk to you, Kayla. If you were not a member of the board, I would have asked that you be locked up in one of the rooms in the building. Now, if you don’t mind, a meeting is about to start. Kindly keep your mouth shut.” Then she tilted her head and added sweetly, “Please.”
Kayla’s lips fell and opened in rapid succession, but she settled on saying nothing, turning to the Chairman of the company to go ahead with his agenda for the day. Seemingly out of the crossfire, he turned to look at Rina. “First of all, I want to address the fact that it took you seven days to send us your response. You know Scottsdale is a very busy company, with loads of jobs coming in. We had to keep a spot for you for that long just to ascertain that you were interested, even though we have other actors.”
“The apology should come first,” Rina replied. “I don’t need it, but I want to hear it. My fiance was quite particular about that.”
Hearing about Zayn put fear in their eyes, and at once, the Chairman scooted to the edge of his seat. “Ms. Power, we are really sorry about the mistake, and about blacklisting you and everything that came with it. You didn’t deserve to go through that without a real investigation into the rumors, and we are going to take full responsibility for that.”
“How?”
“Scottsdale is going to be paying you for the one year you were away. Every single dime.”
“That wouldn’t do.”
“What?”
“I was going to talk about increasing my percentage for every production. I work for Claire. I am a global face. I can easily walk out the door and still be settled for life with the best things. You need me more than I need you.”
“Ms. Power…”
“George,” she said, getting on her feet. “I guess they will call us when they are ready. I don’t have the time for this.”
“Okay! Okay!” the Chairman muttered. “We are going to revise your pay.”
“60%.” George smiled at him. “That or nothing.”