One week. Who the hell is this Malcolm Blackwell?
That was the first thing she tried to find out as soon as he left her office. She couldn’t find anything other than the fact he was a well known, credible, highest paid lawyer in Goldstone. He’s clean. If he’s incorruptible, she can’t bribe him, the next best thing to do was to count how much she will loose if she gives up all those contracts.
She kicked the chair in her office after she crunched up the numbers. Who the hell had been in that building? How could she not know someone was in there filming the whole thing? Maybe that stupid Amber had someone followed her just in case. The dead girl had the final word.
She kept it to herself. She hadn’t told anyone about it, she wasn’t going to do it now. She drank. A lot. Her mood swings were off the roof. She had to make peace with the reality that she was losing this battle. But like so many times before, she’d fallen, got back up again, this is just a minor set back.
**********
Ever since he woke up in Amber’s room that morning, Tommy knew not to trust Vicky again. She was part of the reason he had gone off the rail in the first place. She was the one who introduced the drugs to him, it was part of Maxine’s game. The more her recruits fell into that dark hole of Goldstone nightlife, the easier she controls the situation.
He had been leaving his number directly to agencies and giving out his cards and portfolio to people of the industry outside of Arch Enterprise. He had been getting call backs.
He was careful with his moves, explained to these agencies that he was still signed with Arch, funny how they all seemed to know what it meant. It was no secret among people in the business, they all knew but never did anything about it.
“As soon as you are free from the contract, you can come back to us,” that’s what they all said. For most of Maxine’s recruits, they never came back.
The one week window Malcolm gave Maxine kept Charlie safe in the office. Maxine was occupied with herself, locked herself in the office and was always on the phone. Charlie had to pretend like everything was normal to avoid suspicion despite her mother’s plea for her not to go to the office again.
The deadline fell on the day of Amber’s funeral. Maxine called Malcolm for a meeting before the ceremony. The office was empty, everyone was given the day off to attend Amber’s memorial.
The files were lined up on her desk along with the tape. Seven files, seven names of her recruits including Amber Stewart and Thomas Raven. Inside those folders were signed and stamped letters of extermination of their contracts. As of that day, they were no longer bound to Arch Agency and were free to get signed anywhere else.
“Do you think I’m the only agency that will do this to these people?” Maxine asked.
“No … but yours is the worst,” Malcolm replied while checking on each file carefully.
She scoffed, “I’m the worst because I’m the biggest … they will all do the same if they get the chance … just wait and see, isn’t that what we all do when given the chance?”
Malcolm glanced at her, “We don’t have to … we have a choice.”
Maxine shook her head, “They were all given the choice, they all chose to do it … and I’m the one to blame because I simply gave them what they wanted, instant super stardom, instant fame and glory and everything that comes with it … but I’m in the wrong here, why? Because they all wanted it to happen for free, hah …” she laughed sarcastically. “Does anything ever come for free to you, Mr. Blackwell? Like this deed you are doing right now? Is it really for free? Or is there a gratification for you at the end of this where you can say … ‘hey, I did this for you, so what are you going to do to repay me?'”
Malcolm inhaled deeply, “You can try and justify your actions however you like … there are other ways to help young people to achieve their dreams without extortion,” he chuckled. “I think you should come to terms that you can no longer play this game … I trust that I won’t be seeing this again from your company, because next time … I won’t let you out this easy.” He stood up and gathered his things to leave.
**********
It was a beautiful funeral. Arch Enterprise had organized a well throughout the procession for Amber’s final resting place. It was a closed casket ceremony, they thought it was best to put a picture of her smiling face instead of displaying her battered body.
Everyone she knew, or knew her paid their respects. There was a space outside the church for her fans to gather and mourned.
Brad laid a stem of white rose on the casket, it was her favorite flower. He reminisced the times they were together, the beginning of everything. If she hadn’t met him, maybe her life would be spared. None of those terrible things would’ve taken place in her life.
“I told you she was a whore,” Maxine had said to him when he found her with an older man at the party. One of Maxine’s business partners whom she offered Amber to escort that night, right under his nose. Maxine had chosen that exact moment to convince him how manipulative Amber was. That never changed the fact that he loved her once, and it hurt him.
He turned around and found a familiar face sitting among the guests. Charlie, the girl he hoped to save from his aunt’s grip in exchange for what he could’ve done for Amber. Then there was a pair of blue eyes staring back at him. It was the first time they have ever seen each other.
Tom stared at Brad from across the room. They locked eyes for a brief moment. There was something about Brad that Tom just didn’t like. It was probably the way Brad had gazed at his girlfriend.