by Hadley Quinn
“What for?” Teague shrugged as he walked into the family room and dropped onto the couch. “If it’s not that, it’s something else. I say she gets a taste of her own medicine once and for all. This shit has gone on long enough.”
Craig scoffed but turned to Max. “See? Even your brother agrees with me. Let me take care of this and—”
“No,” Max cut him off. “I don’t want that.”
“I don’t give a flying fuck what you want at this point! She has crossed the fucking line!”
“I didn’t say I wasn’t going to do anything about it,” Max narrowed his eyes. “I’m saying I don’t want you doing anything on my behalf. I wasn’t exactly expecting her to do more than just planting tabloid stories—I’m shocked she went this far, she’s lost her fucking mind—but I was preparing for her bullshit a while back, before the custody hearing.”
“Then give me what you have and I’ll let Marv—”
“No,” Max shook his head. “This is going to be my cabaret.”
***
Craig had stayed to view the interview that night. Teague went home to his wife, but Max knew they’d be watching it too. It was nothing short of bold, if Max were being honest. Kate eloquently laid out several McCallan stories that were as equally shocking as they were over embellished.
His father was furious, but Max contemplated in silence. This particular situation had happened to several other celebrities, but there wasn’t anything too over-the-top or outlandish. Kate was careful about that and did well making everything seem believable, which in turn made the McCallan family look like a bunch of lying, over-pampered, manipulative thugs. She even aired the five-second selfie video from the limo. Added to some of the other media clips of industry parties and other gatherings, it looked as if Max liked to hang loose with a lot of booze.
But all he could think about was his son. He put himself in Chase’s shoes and imagined him watching this interview some day down the road. Maybe it would be in five years, maybe ten or twenty, but Chase was a McCallan too. His predecessors had just had their reputations smeared across the world like a shit stain. There was no undoing what his mother had done, and whether or not Chase someday realized that Kate was a vengeful, self-serving liar, he would still be one more McCallan from a dysfunctional home.
Anna had come home halfway through the interview. Max was sure she’d had fun out with Sarah and Melanie, but she looked confused as she glanced from the television to Craig, and then to Max for an answer. But she seemed to figure it out once she heard Kate talk for a minute, and she sat down in silence next to Max for the next twenty minutes.
She kissed him goodnight when it was over but looked furious. From hearing how abusive the family was (a lovely photo of Kate’s black eye from Camryn, but she never actually said who gave it to her) to how much they bully and manipulated people, Max felt furious too. But he spoke parting words with his nearly silent father before he left, and then went into the bedroom to fill Anna in on the rest of the accusations.
She was speechless…until her emotions caught up to her and a slew of swear words flew out of her mouth. She wanted to bury the woman.
For the next few days, Max continued on with his life as usual. He never let Kate’s actions get an emotional reaction out of him, but he felt the urge every time he was offered a chance to set the record straight. In fact, he was bombarded with reporters at every turn, but instead of speaking his mind, he merely went about his business and let Jake and his crew handle the chaos.
Yes, Max was back to two and three bodyguards now. Cole had recommended another pair for private security—Wade and Lucy, a husband and wife couple—who he liked a lot for when Anna was with him. Jake arranged the rotations and details and Max never had to worry about it, but life seemed to return him to center stage again. More measures had to be taken to keep the media away from him, including extra security at filming locations or other places he frequented for business.
After Wade pulled the SUV past several cameras and reporters outside of the Gleason building, private security inside the parking garage had to intercede to keep the media out. Max was escorted into the building by Jake and Lucy that time, along with two other security officers from Gleason Productions.
It was a fucking madhouse.
“Good morning, Max,” Benita smiled. She was obviously aware of the nightmare and was a complete professional about the extra security with him today. There wasn’t a trace of intrigue or confusion on her face.
“Good morning, Benita.” His smile was genuine. He liked her quite a lot—and her husband as well, who worked as a prop manager inside the warehouse.
“Can you tell Anna thank you for the custom board. It is sooo beautiful, I cried when I saw it.”
“Aww, I’m glad you liked it. She’ll be thrilled to know. You can tell her yourself, though. She’ll be by this afternoon.”
“Perfect!” Benita grinned.
Max proceeded through the double doors. As soon as Dave saw him, he handed him the schedule for the day along with a cup of tea. He didn’t even ask where Mary was. Maybe he knew she was coming an hour later or maybe he didn’t, but no questions were asked.
The actors and crew were just assembling for the morning, and even though Max got a receptive response, he felt the need to address them about what was going on recently.
“I just want to say thank you for being on board with this project, it means the world to me,” he began. “I’m sure you all know what’s been going on lately, and if you don’t, you must live under a fucking soundproof Hollywood rock.”
That got an array of laughter, and Jeremy Robb said, “Nah, man, we know how this shit happens. I, for one, have been there a time or two. And yes, my twins really are my twins and don’t belong to my wife’s personal bodyguard. That’s such bullshit. I mean they’d be fucking ugly if they did.”
Everyone laughed again.
Smiling, Max replied, “Good to hear, buddy. I never had a doubt. And if I did, well, your wife is beautiful and I just thought the kids won her gene pool.”
“Ha, so funny,” he chuckled along with everyone else. “But all jokes aside, man… I’m with you. This movie is going to be worth all the personal obstacles. You’ll see.”
There were many in agreement with nods or verbal confirmation, but Max felt the need to add one more thing. “I appreciate all of you taking this risk with me. I haven’t done anything to warrant such retaliation, but if any of you have any concerns, feel free to approach me. I’d like business to carry on as usual.”
Alex put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “We’ve got a great cast and crew on this set. Nothing else should matter.”
Being assured by his director was even better, so after a bit of last minute preparations, filming for the day began. Max sat in his usual spot just behind the director and film crew, where he could observe everything but remain out of the way. When his opinion was sought after, he’d interact until the issue was solved. Other than that, he liked to watch the magic unfold from behind the scenes.
He honestly loved his cast and crew. It’d been just as important to find the right people to work with as it had been writing the script. In two weeks they’d be filming the outdoor scenes, and then it was time for post-production with editing, music, mixing, and test screening.
The final product was getting so close.
“All right, that’s a wrap for today,” Alex announced after the final take on a very emotional night terror scene. He took a deep breath like he needed to shed some of the mood in the air. “Tomorrow we’re at the café and the next day at the tattoo parlor. Have a good night, folks.”
Max rose from his chair in the back to meet Alex halfway. Neither of them said a word for several seconds, almost like they each needed to take a minute.
Finally Alex said, “You did good selecting your cast on this. I can’t think of a single movie that has emoted so many feelings in me.”
Max had been on countless sets—as
an actor, a director, an observer—and although he’d experienced plenty of emotion on the front line, this movie seemed to hit him in a way that was different. He thought maybe he was just too close to the project, but if Alex could feel too, they were definitely doing something right.
“I couldn’t have picked a better director, either,” Max told him. “Thank you for sharing my vision and making this exactly how it should be.”
“I feel connected to it. Partly because of my own military background, but really because there’s such a deep vein of life that runs through this story. Reality. There’s a depth of struggle that any person can relate to, not just someone who has been through this. This is Oscar material, Max. No doubt in my mind. It gives me the goddamn chills just thinking about it.”
It honestly hadn’t even entered his mind, but Max appreciated the compliment as they each spoke parting words for the day. He was off to pick up Chase to have for a week until Christmas Eve, and despite the shit storm of negative press constantly swarming around him, he couldn’t have been happier.
After Wade drove them, Jake walked him up to Kate’s penthouse suite an hour later. Max was right on time, and after ringing the bell once, and then twice, and then three times…
He officially started to panic.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
“Nope, she won’t answer his calls either,” Jake spoke over the phone. He listened for a moment as Max sat dejectedly in the back of the Escalade. “Okay, will do.” Hanging up, he told Wade to drive them back to the house.
“What?” Max objected. “I’m not leav—”
“She’s not here, and while I have professionals tracking her down, you’re going to lie low and wait until we hear anything. Now answer a few questions for me. We’ve already checked her friends Shelbie, Nicolette, and Angel. Are there any other friends or places she could be?”
Max paused, but only because he was thinking negative thoughts. If Kate wasn’t answering his calls, maybe she didn’t want to be found. And he hadn’t spoken to her for weeks while the custody case was being handled. He could have called Harvey for the next step, but Max already knew Kate was breaking the court order. He didn’t need his lawyer to tell him that. They had a neutral liaison they could each discuss custody details with, so without answering Jake’s question, he called Sharon next.
“This is Max McCallan. I’m here at Kate’s apartment to pick up Chase like we agreed, and she’s not answering the door, nor is she answering my calls.”
After a brief pause, Sharon replied, “Let me try myself.” Max waited for over a minute until she returned to his call. “She’s not answering me either. She’s violating the court order, so I’ll have to contact the police on this matter.”
Max groaned to himself, wishing it wasn’t so hard to do the right thing sometimes. He wanted to find Kate himself and deal with things privately.
“Fine,” he agreed. “I’m heading home, then.” On the drive, he called Harvey anyway, just so he wasn’t missing any steps.
“I want to file an action for contempt with the court,” he replied. “If she’s willfully disobeying the court order, she needs to be called out on it. I have a feeling this is not the end of it.”
Max felt it wasn’t either. And the sad continuation of that was Kate’s obsessive need to play games, so it actually wasn’t a surprise that her Mercedes was in his driveway, parked at the gate when they got there. Due to the custody decision, he’d had to share his residential address with Kate’s attorney. He didn’t, however, agree to her ever coming to his home like this.
Max stepped out of the SUV before it even stopped completely, and Jake hopped out with him. The dogs were nowhere to be seen or heard, so he figured they must be up at the house with Anna.
The driver’s window rolled down and Kate forced a fake smile his way. “Lovely, um, woods you have here, Maxwell. So is this your lousy attempt at appearing less fortunate so my child support is practically cut off? You get rid of the mansion, invest your money in various places so it doesn’t appear like you have as much?”
He honestly did not know what to say to her. From where she was parked, all she really could see was trees. The house was up the hill a bit and over a slight crest. But he didn’t even care about her assessment of his “downgrade.” He just couldn’t believe she still had the audacity to bring up his money.
He peered over the top of her head to look for Chase and could barely see him in the back seat.
“Hey, buddy,” he called into the car. “You okay?”
“Hi, Daddy,” his little voice replied.
Max looked at Kate and quietly asked, “What are you doing here? I came to your apartment to pick him up—like the agreement stated.”
“Oh is that what was supposed to happen?” she smiled at him with a phony apologetic grin, batting her eyelashes. “I’m so sorry, I must have gotten confused, being that this is the first time for all this nonsense and all. I’ll have to try harder to get all of this straight.”
“Nonsense?” he asked with disbelief. But he chose to disregard her attempt at baiting him. “Why are you sitting out here?”
She shrugged, but Max could feel another insult to his intelligence coming next. “Well I pushed the call button,” she spoke with sugary sweetness, “but it seems as if someone doesn’t want me to come up.”
Just the implication made Max’s temper test the edge. He wasn’t sure if he was glad that Chase was sitting there or not, but it forced him to focus on using his brain instead of his emotions to respond.
“I’m sure you tried really hard,” he replied. “I’m sure your fingerprint will be all over that call button when we check it, and I’m sure the video surveillance will catch how hard you tried to reach someone.”
Darkness covered her face immediately, just as a police cruiser pulled up the driveway behind them, followed by another police car.
“You called the police?” she growled at him, looking in her rearview mirror.
Jake met them halfway, so Max took a step back from Kate’s car to let justice take its course.
“You Max McCallan?” the first officer inquired. It was obvious he knew the answer, but he probably had to ask anyway.
“Yes, sir.”
“I’m Officer Ulrich, this is Officer Dietz.” He stepped to the side of Kate’s vehicle. “Are you Kate Donnelly?”
She gave him a perfect smile. “Yes, I am. What seems to be the problem? I’ve brought my son to see his dad for the week.”
Max had to refrain from making a retort. Instead, Jake filled them in on what was happening so far, including the most important aspect that Chase was okay and in the vehicle. The second officer made a call to dispatch on their findings.
Kate disagreed with Jake’s story, but kept herself nicely composed. “I just got here when they pulled up behind me. It was completely my mistake and I forgot Max was coming to my place instead.”
“She’s lying,” Jake stated. “She told us she pushed the call button on the gate but no one answered. I’m sure if you check the security cameras, you’ll find that’s not true.”
Kate scoffed. “This is not fair. You two are going to bully me into making me look like a liar? So typical!”
“And this is so typical as well,” Jake said, pulling out his tiny digital recorder. “Which story would you like to repeat so it goes on record?”
Max could never relish in another’s misery, but this time he didn’t care. Officer Ulrich instructed Kate to pull her car to the house, so Jake motioned for Wade to open the gate with the car remote. They both climbed into the vehicle and followed Kate up the driveway.
All he wanted was his son and for this bullshit to all go away. Both officers had followed them up and both exited their vehicles. Ulrich asked Kate to remove “the boy” from her car, so she did. Begrudgingly. Max could see it on her face, but she remained poised for an audience. He also didn’t miss the look on her face when she looked over his house. Obviously she was a bit s
urprised at how “average” it was.
The front door to the house opened and Anna appeared, the confusion apparent on her face. But the dogs came outside too, happy to greet Max and Jake, and then curious about the new strangers.
It appeared like Dietz may have been intimidated by the pair of canines, so Max said, “Don’t worry, they’re really friendly.”
Chase was grinning ear to ear at the dogs, so Max introduced them. “Hi, Doggies!” Chase smiled. They were wagging their tails and licking his arms, so he pet both of them.
But it was such a strange moment when Bo went rigid suddenly, and then Luke did the same thing. Their noses went to the ground, almost knocking Chase out of the way, so Max picked up his son.
“Get out of my car, you assholes!” Kate chewed them out, trying to shoo them away. “Max, control your dogs!” She was attempting to shut the back door, but they were in the way and wouldn’t let her. Bo jumped into the back seat and continued sniffing, and then Luke jumped in through the front door that was still open and did the same thing.
“What the hell are you doing? Get out of my car!” Kate yelled at them.
“Sir, control your animals please, so Ms. Donnelly can leave,” Ulrich told him.
Both dogs started barking from inside the car, and when Max looked to see what the hell they were doing, Bo was digging furiously at the center console.
“You’re scratching my leather!” Kate screamed at them. “Get out!” She attempted to bully them out of her car, but Luke turned on her and started barking incessantly.
At that point, Ulrich pulled out his gun.
“Stop! No!” Max held up a hand. Anna had come down the steps, so Max shoved Chase in her arms so she could turn away with him.
Jake stepped up to the car, right in front of the officer’s pointed gun. “Good find, boys, good find!” he told the dogs. “Heal.” They stopped barking and jumped out of the car to sit on the ground right next to him. Jake turned to Ulrich. “They are former narcotics dogs, Officer. This is what they are trained to do.” He motioned to the car. “They’re trained to search and find narcotics. So…if it’s not obvious to you like it is to me…they’ve found narcotics.”
