I pause the clip on a particularly incriminating shot in which it seems as though he’s tugging Angel’s head back and kissing her throat. “As some wise man once told me, it doesn’t matter how things are, just how they seem. How do you think people are going to perceive you after this?”
Kent exhales and runs his fingers through his hair. His face has gone from ghost-white to completely red, and for the first time since I’ve met him, his composure has slipped.
“Of course,” Liam says with a smirk, “you can still walk away with zero consequences if you agree to kill our PR contract. Simple.”
Kent stares daggers at him. “You wouldn’t dare release this. If you did, I’d tell the world you’ve been lying to them for years about your relationship with Angel. You’d be blacklisted. No agent would touch you.”
Liam gives him an incredulous smile. “I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but there are many, many people in Hollywood who hate your guts. A lot of them are fellow agents. I’m sure if Angel and I offered to sign with them in the process of taking you down, they’d throw us a damn parade.”
I can see Kent’s gears spinning. He’s used to being the smartest one in the room. The one holding all the cards.
Well, you’ve just been trumped, bitch.
“In tonight’s interview,” Liam says patiently, “Angeliam is breaking up, one way or the other. You get to choose if we go out quietly, respecting our fans as best we can, or if we drop a giant shitbomb that will take you down in the messiest way possible. Your call.”
“What if my business partners won’t agree to void the contract?”
“They will. You’ve told me for years that you’re the best negotiator in the business. Convince them it’s in their best interests to drop it.”
Angel steps forward. “Either way, better get them on the phone. You’re running out of time. Tori needs to be briefed on what we’re saying in tonight’s interview, and trust me when I say my sister does not like to be kept waiting.”
Kent glares at each of us before picking up his phone and jabbing some buttons. “It’s Kent. Get me Davis.” He stands and heads toward the door. “I don’t care if he’s sucking the president’s balls. Get him on the damn phone. Now!”
Tension fills the room as we listen to Anthony’s voice reverberate in the corridor. Whoever’s on the other end of the phone is putting up a fight.
None of us talks. I glance at Liam. His shoulders are bunched and his hands are shoved in his pockets. Angel is next to him, arms crossed, gazing at the floor. They look like prisoners on death row waiting to hear if their sentences have been repealed.
After about ten minutes of tense conversation and some flat-out yelling, Kent comes back in. His usually perfect hair is disheveled, and he has a light sweat all over his face.
“It’s done.” He shoves the phone into his pocket. “All obligations have been fulfilled. Go fuck whoever the hell you like. Preferably yourselves. I’ll have the appropriate paperwork sent to you later today.”
He goes to leave, but I step in front of him. “Oh, one more thing. When you leave here, I expect you to have a private conversation with Ava, Mary, and Marco in which you explain about Liam and Angel’s relationship and clear my professional name. I don’t need my job back, but I do need them to know I’m not the horny home-wrecker they currently believe me to be.”
He crosses his arms over his chest. “I’m not admitting to the blackmail.”
“I don’t care about that. Just clear my name. And keep in mind, if you even think about starting a smear campaign against Liam and Angel, we have no problem leaking rumors that you have your own clients followed. And considering that what you’ve been doing is actually illegal, you have a hell of a lot more to lose than they do.”
He tenses his jaw so hard, he’s actually trembling. “Screw you, Elissa.”
Liam steps forward and puts his arm around me. “Sorry, asshole. That’s my job. Now, get out before I give you a reason to sue me for grievous bodily harm.”
Kent gives each of us one final glare before stalking out.
After the four of us release a collective exhale of relief, Angel squeals in triumph and pulls us all into a group hug.
“Hell, yeah! We did it! Free at last!”
After much jumping and laughing, Liam turns to me and takes my face in his hands. “You’re brilliant. You know that, right?”
I run my hands over his chest. “It was a group effort. It seems the four of us make a good team.”
“Yes, we do.” He lowers his head, and I’m holding my breath in anticipation of his lips when there’s a crash beside us.
We turn to see Josh pressing Angel up against the wall and kissing the hell out of her. For her part, Angel is kissing him back like her life depends on it.
“I hated seeing that asshole’s hands on you,” Josh says in between kisses. “I wanted to break all his fingers.”
Angels grips the front of his shirt. “Then show me what you’ve got, Kane. God knows I’ve waited long enough for you to put your hands on me.”