Shadows of Pearl (The Pearl Trilogy, Part 2)

by Arianne Richmonde

  “I thought a little light BDSM.”

  I laugh. “Okay, now I know you’re kidding me. It’s that crazy Italian sense of humor. You Europeans - really. Alexandre does the same thing to me…you know, that poker face thing? Which is what you’re doing now. Very funny. You guys are expert at getting us Americans all worked up for nothing.”

  I think back to that time when Alexandre tied my ankles to the bedpost when he said I’d been disrespectful and needed to be punished – his wacky sense of humor had me fooled at first.

  As if reading my mind, Alessandra says, “I think we should play it out. Do a little improv acting – we thespians love that.”

  I burst out laughing at her unintentional (or perhaps intentional) onomatopoeia with the word, thespian. “Lesbian bondage?”

  She still dons her poker face. “Yes, why not?”

  “Not even my fiancé would approve of that.”

  She widens her eyes innocently. “He’s not into a little dominance play? A little S and M? He looks the type. So manly…so controlling alpha-male.”

  “No way. He won’t come near me with a whip. Personally, it’s something I wouldn’t mind experimenting with - but him? Not a chance.”

  She rolls her eyes. “My ex girlfriend is like that. Can’t play Dom and Sub with her ever – she has an aversion to any kind of physical power play. Except, I think in the past she’s got pretty tough with men. You know when she was kinda straight. But she would never lay a hand on me.”

  “Yeah, well, in my fiancé’s case, he has good reason. A violent childho—” Shut up, Pearl! I stop my sentence midway and change the subject. “Who did these paintings on the wall? They’re lovely copies. Got the colors just right.”

  “I did.”

  I raise my eyebrows. “You’re an artist as well as an actress? Why does that not surprise me?”

  I wander about the room feeling extremely uneasy. I promised Sam we’d get this script done and dusted but now I’m feeling like I want out of this part of the project altogether. This whole movie process is giving me the willies. Something about it just doesn’t seem right. The procedure doesn’t feel normal…both of us tinkering about with the script and we’re not the official script writers. Then again, having only ever worked on documentaries, who am I to judge? This is Hollywood, not a world I know well.

  “Do’you mind if I make us some coffee?” I ask, stalling my decision as to whether I should throw in the towel and let her get on with it with the script doctor. I don’t have time to play her silly games, right now, nor second guess what’s going on in her nutty mind. Besides, I find her disconcertingly attractive, mixed with my anti-male mind-set after my needle-dick nightmares – I’m an easy target right now. I don’t want to succumb to her sexual charms again.

  Alessandra gets up, the folds of her dress falling like ripples of water about her willowy body “Let me help you.”

  “No, really, I can do it. You relax. You take sugar, don’t you?”

  “Just half a teaspoon.”

  “Sure.”

  I slip off to the kitchen, relieved to get away from her for a moment and her quirky, oddball demeanor. I take two funky pottery mugs down from a shelf. They look like they were hand-painted by a child. I turn on the coffee percolator. The kitchen is chaotic. There are piles of scripts and baskets of fruit also stuffed with stray papers, magazines and bills. Lucifer comes in and jumps on the kitchen table, his tail up vertically swishing from side to side. He leaps across to the kitchen counter landing on a pile of papers in one of the baskets which he then begins to use to sharpen his claws. “Lucifer, you naughty boy.” I prize his paws away from the basket and take him in my arms. But something catches my attention. A name.

  Sophie Dumas.

  My heart is beating fast. It’s a business letter about Stone Trooper from Samuel Myers to Alessandra.

  Producers: Sophie Dumas / HookedUp Enterprises.

  Executive producer: Samuel Myers.

  Sophie is not meant to be involved with this project! In any shape or form. I stand there for a moment staring at the letter, a rush of blood pumping in my ears – I can feel myself redden with fury. This must be some sort of mistake.

  I march into the living room, still with Lucifer in my arms and say to Alessandra. “Who is the producer on this movie?”

  She sits up and looks at me surprised. “Sam Myers with HookedUp Enterprises.”

  “He’s the Producer or executive producer?”

  “Oh, you must have seen some paperwork in the kitchen.”

  “Yes. I wasn’t snooping. Lucifer landed on a very interesting piece of information which I - as co-producer and director of HookedUp Enterprises…” I stop myself short. This is so unprofessional. Alessandra has been hired as an actress – she doesn’t need to know about this cock-up. It makes me look incompetent to be so in the dark. To have been hoodwinked like this. To have been such a frigging, freaking idiot.

  “Do you know Sophie Dumas?” I ask, trying to sound casual.

  “I know who she is and we once spoke on the phone. She’s one of the producers of Stone Trooper. I mean co-producer with Sam and HookedUp Enterprises – you’re partners, aren’t you? I mean, HookedUp Enterprises is Sophie Dumas and Alexandre Chevalier fifty/fifty, isn’t it?”

  I want to scream. I want to shout out, No, actually, that meddling bitch is not part of HookedUp Enterprises at all. I can feel my knees trembling but I try to stay calm. “The coffee sounds like it’s ready. One sugar, you said?”

  “Half a teaspoon.”

  “Oh yes, that’s right.” I set the cat down and go back to the kitchen. I cradle my head in my hands and wonder what I should do next.

  I need to see Samuel Myers - find out what the hell is going on.

  Chapter Nine

  It takes a while to park my shark of a car in the garage of Samuel Myers office building Downtown. I haven’t warned him of my arrival in case he detects the anger in my voice. I have been duped – I need to get to the bottom of this without losing my cool. If that’s possible. Once I’ve got an answer from him I’ll call my sweet sister-in-law to find out what the fuck she’s playing at. On second thoughts, no. I won’t give her the satisfaction. I don’t want her knowing that she’s getting to me.

  And then I’ll call Alexandre.

  I take the elevator up to the seventh floor. I was not prepared for this. I look very casual in just a pair of jeans, T-shirt and Converse sneakers. I’m not even wearing make-up; I wanted to dress down for Alessandra, to try and keep her advances at bay.

  I needn’t be worried, though. The receptionist and everyone at his office is very laid-back, L.A style, although a little put out that I don’t have an appointment. I’m in luck. Sam is here, just finishing up a long distance call, they tell me. The setting is not as grand as I had imagined and a little dated with big old couches and a wooden and glass coffee table piled with out of date magazines. They offer me a drink and I glug down a glass of water – the heat I feel inside needs to be quenched. I sit there flicking through an old Vanity Fair. I hear a door open and I look up.

  Sam waddles towards me – his smile beaming as if he’s delighted to see me. He ushers me ahead of him into his office, pulling the door closed behind him. The book shelves are lined with movies and there is an Academy Award in prime position. There are family photos in gold frames on his large desk and at one end of the room a basketball net. I can just imagine him making million dollar deals while simultaneously scoring a goal.

  “Siddown, Pearl. Did they offer you a beverage?” He eases himself into his large leather swivel chair, panting with the effort.

  “Yes, thank you, Mr. Myers.”

  “Hey, sweetheart, what’s with the Mr. Myers? You look pissed.”

  “Well, yes, I’ve had quite a shock and I’d like you to explain yourself and the situation. Perhaps there’s been a typo on a letter I saw. I’m hoping that I’m completely wrong, hoping this has all been a mistake. However, if I am not w
rong I think your prerogative to call me ‘sweetheart’ will be null and void.”

  His eyes look shifty – he twiddles his fat, caught-in-the cookie-jar hands.

  I pin my eyes on him like darts. “Please can you explain why Sophie Dumas is one of the producers?”

  “Okay, Pearl, firstly, she is only technically a producer. She is not involved in any decision-making at all. Not a bit. That’s just you and me. It’s just money, that’s all. She’s fronting the money – she’s a silent partner, so to speak.”

  “So to speak? So to lie, more like.”

  “Hey, Pearl, nothing has changed between you and me! Sophie Dumas is not calling the shots here.”

  “Oh no? So if this is her money, not yours, she is kind of like your boss, wouldn’t you say?”

  “It’s not like that.”

  “What is it like then, Mr. Myers?”

  “You are the director of your company, HookedUp Enterprises but you are not the owner, am I right?”

  My blood is boiling. What has HookedUp Enterprises got to do with Sophie Dumas? I try to remain calm. “Sophie Dumas has nothing whatsoever to do with HookedUp Enterprises, Mr. Myers. It is owned by my fiancé.”

  “And I signed the deal with him.”

  “Co-signed by me.”

  “Nowhere in our contract did it stipulate that I could not bring in money from my side from whatever source I chose.”

  “That’s not true. You signed a deal saying that no backers would be involved in politically incorrect dealings—”

  “Sophie Dumas is not laundering dirty money, Pearl. Hey, she’s your sister-in-law, what’s the big deal? She told me you two were close.”

  “Don’t bullshit me, Sam. If we were so close you wouldn’t be red in the face from embarrassment right now. You would have been straight with me.”

  “What was the point of telling you? Money is money. The point is, the movie is going to get made – we have the money. You will make a lot from this - you still get your cut just the same - your percentage. Nothing has changed, Pearl, sweetheart.

  “My trust in you – that’s what’s changed.”

  “Okay, okay, I admit it. I screwed up - I should have let you know sooner. But she only just came on board a while ago. I’ve been having a rough patch and she came along at the perfect moment. She’s bailing out my ass. I had an unexpected loss on a project recently – as far as I’m concerned, Sophie’s doing us all a big favor. Your fiancé isn’t upset about this so why should you be?”

  I feel as if I’ve just been hit over the head with a baseball bat. Alexandre already knows about this?? I need to get information so I can’t let him know that this is such a shock. “What were Alexandre’s words to you exactly? And at what point did you discuss this?”

  “Just after he landed back in New York. The other day, I guess.”

  “I see.”

  “He told me it was best if he discussed it with you first. That’s why I didn’t mention it to you, Pearl. You know, I didn’t want to get out my big wooden spoon and stir about someone else’s family affairs.”

  I notice my fists are scrunched into balls as my nails are digging into my hands. I say between my teeth, “You and I are business partners – we are meant to tell each other about anything that could affect this movie. This is not some freaking family affair! I resent that you just said that!”

  “Calm down, Pearl.”

  “No, I won’t calm down! I could sue you for breach of contract. I won’t because I don’t want to waste my time and energy but this is the last time you will be doing business with HookedUp Enterprises. I will finish this movie because I’m a professional. The show will go on. But I do not want to have one single meeting with Sophie Dumas. Is that clear? I do not want to hear her name, nor see her at the premiere. If I so much get an inkling of her rootling about my business I will get my lawyers on to you. You are a powerful man, Mr. Myers, but my fiancé is even more powerful and richer than you are.”

  His eyes look down ashamedly.

  “By the way,” I spit out, “I don’t want Sophie knowing that we’ve had this conversation. I don’t want you running off tittle-tattling to her about what a bitch I’ve been.”

  “You can count on it, I won’t say a word.”

  “What you did was wrong. It wasn’t unethical. It was sneaky and dishonest.”

  He smiles at me weakly. “Welcome to Hollywood, Pearl.”

  ***

  I take the flamboyant powder blue Cadillac back to the car hire and swap it for a BMW. I don’t want to advertise my whereabouts to the whole of L.A. I go to the hotel and check out and call the airline to cancel my flight to New York.

  I will not be returning home tomorrow. I’m not sure what I should do now – I need to come up with a plan. Sitting in my new rental car in a parking lot near Santa Monica Pier, I call Alexandre. Over the phone is hardly the best way to manage problems in a relationship but I have had enough. I cannot live my life with mistrust. I cannot have this as-good-as incestuous relationship between him and his freaky sister barging in on me with every breath I take. He knew about Sophie producing Stone Trooper and he didn’t call to let me know! I’ll give him a chance to explain himself but if he doesn’t come up with an airtight answer, then that’s it.

  It’s her or me.

  He cannot have us both. He will have to choose. Now. Not tomorrow, not ‘when the time is right but – N.O.W.

  I need to have this resolved or nothing will ever change. This is the most painful thing I have ever done in my life but I have no choice. If I don’t stand firm now this Sophie nonsense will never end.

  Shaking, I press in his number. His plane will have landed by now.

  “Hello?” he says. Just hearing his deep, melodic voice has me trembling all the more. I am so in love with this man. But I am so furious with him, too.

  Without saying ‘hi’ I screech out, “Why didn’t you tell me, Alexandre?”

  “Nice to hear your voice, chérie. What’s up?”

  “What’s up is that I have just come out of a meeting with Samuel Myers. Nice to be working on a movie where I am the last person to find something out. And I say, find something out, as in, not be enlightened by people around me whom I am meant to trust, one of those people being my fiancé,” I cry out, my voice rising as I splutter out that last word.

  “Calm down, Pearl. I was going to tell you when the time was right.”

  “If you use this ‘time-is-right’ crap on me anymore I’ll—”

  “I was going to call you right now, in fact. It totally slipped my mind, chérie – I just didn’t think it was that important because the source of where the money was coming from was not going to affect you in anyway personally.”

  “What is wrong with you? This is meant to be a HookedUp Enterprises project. That is the whole point! HookedUp Enterprises is not part of HookedUp. This is not supposed to have anything to do with your sister at all!”

  “It’s just money, Pearl. Nothing more. I’ve already spoken to her about it. She swears she won’t get involved in the creative side. Sam Myers is in financial straits.”

  “You know what? I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s all a big fabrication – an excuse for Sophie to wheedle her way into my business. Because one minute Samuel Myers is one of the most powerful producers in Hollywood and suddenly he’s in a quagmire and Sophie just happens to bail him out at the perfect moment – sounds very fishy to me.”

  “Pearl, you’re reading way too much into this. He was in a bad way and, yes, maybe Sophie saw a good business opportunity and she snapped it up. She’s getting a chunk of his company in exchange. In the long term it could be a great deal for her.”

  “Well bully for her! But it is not a great deal for me! Or, I might add, for our future marriage. Or should I say, to be more precise, our ex-future marriage!” I am stumbling now, spurting nonsense but I mean every word of my jumbled phrases, however higgledy-piggledy they come out.

  There is si
lence. Has he hung up on me?

  “Alexandre?”

  I can hear his breathing. “You don’t mean that, baby. We’re going ahead with this wedding and nothing’s going to stop me. Sophie’s separate from all this. You have got to stop obsessing about her and just ignore her.”

  “Me obsessing about her? I think you’ll find it’s the other way round, Alexandre. You know what? That’s it. I thought maybe we had a chance to sort this problem out but I see that you are not budging – stubborn as ever. You are so fucking wrapped up and wrapped around your older sister’s devious little finger that you might as well be fucking her for all I care. You two can carry on and live happily ever after because I’m out. OUT! Do you hear me? Our relationship is over! I love you but I do not love her and I do not want her burrowing her way into our marriage. You said you were working on ways of extricating yourself from her with HookedUp and in your personal life. Like a fool I believed you. I trusted you. But it was all bullshit!”

  “Pearl, please, darling stop. I know she had good reason to do what she did. She—”

  “Alexandre, you can make excuses till the cows come home. I am not going to listen anymore. If the day ever, ever comes when you and she are one hundred percent separated businesswise, then give me a call. Meanwhile, we are over. I am not returning to New York. I’ll finish Stone Trooper from a distance by email and long distance calls. Once I have started a project I don’t think it’s professional to abandon ship. However, after that…well I don’t know yet…I’ll need to work that through but—”

  “I’m coming to Los Angeles tonight to get you. This is crazy. We’re getting married. We’ll get married in Vegas tomorrow and we can do the white wedding, too, if you want. I’m not standing for this, Pearl. I give you my word I’ll dissolve my part of HookedUp. I’ll make it go public or Sophie can buy me out but it will take time, I can’t do something like that overnight. We can draw up a contract with lawyers if you don’t believe me.”