“What? What does that mean?”
Mansi’s voice lowered and took on a serious tone that said she’d sobered up. “It means that I may have already looked into it and never told you.”
“What?”
“Shhh! You’re going to blow out my eardrum, Liv. Also, you are literally calling me right now to ask me to use my resources, so don’t act so surprised.”
She glanced over her shoulder at the house to see if her shouting had drawn Chuck’s attention. No doors flung open, and no apparitions appeared near windows. She lowered her voice to a hiss. “Okay, you need to tell meright nowwhat you are talking about, Mansi.”
Mansi took a big breath and perhaps another gulp of mimosa before she spoke. “Look, Liv. Your relationship with Chuck has always been…volatile—”
“That’s generous.”
“—and when he got fired and all those rumors started, I thought it might be a good idea to do a little diggingjust in caseyou ever needed the information. At the time, you were so concerned about supporting him and keeping him happy that you seemed willing to let it all go when he said he didn’t want to talk about it. And then it kind of blew over, so I didn’t bring it up. But I have connections at my firm who work directly with studios, so I asked around—discreetly—to see what I could learn.”
Olivia’s mouth was hanging open. She couldn’t believe the lengths Mansi had already gone to on her behalf. Not to mention, this bombshell boded well for her request regarding Astrid. “You are a terrifying and amazing friend.”
“I know.”
“So, what did you find?”
“Nothing.”
“Manse, you don’t have to protect me. Just tell me—”
“No, Liv. That’s what we found. Nothing. My guy knows a guy who can get the most off-the-books information, and even he couldn’t find anything. It’s like the truth about whatever happened…” She paused again. “It’s like it was covered up.”
The capacity for thought left Olivia like thieves fleeing a robbery. At the same time, her fear of coming near a scandal trotted up her spine. She could hardly string two sentences together.
“So, what. You’re saying Chuck is part of a conspiracy or something?”
“No! Yes? I don’t know!” Mansi was flustered, which was rare, and by the edge in her voice, Olivia could tell she’d been dying to get this news off her chest for ages. “I don’t know whathappened but, Liv, people in Hollywood don’t fuck around. When something happens that they don’t want to get out, forms are signed, deals are made. Money is exchanged.”
Olivia reflexively snorted at the last part. “Well, I know for sure Chuck wasn’t bribed to keep quiet. He’s too broke for that.”
“Maybe not him, but someone else on that movie? I mean, there are a ton of big names onSafe Gamble. Who knows what it could have been.”
It all seemed too impossible to be real. Olivia couldn’t even believe they were having the conversation with any seriousness.
But maybe?
She remembered how Chuck had saidnot todayand glanced at the camera the last time she’d asked him what happened. Perhaps there was some truth to what Mansi was suggesting.
“So, what does this mean? I keep prodding until he tells me?”
“Liv, that’s what I’m saying: maybe hecan’ttell you. Maybe you have to let it go.”
The thought that there was a secret between them, atruesecret and not simply Chuck being stubborn, put a sour pit in her stomach. She hated that he might have been forced into the position, and she hated even more that he was choosing whoever had forced him over her.
“I always hoped he’d taken Richard Sykes’s parking spot or drank his coffee and was too embarrassed to tell me about it,” she said, half joking in an effort to lighten the mood.
“I mean, that’s possible but it seems like it’s something bigger than that.”
Bigger than that.She let the words simmer in her mind, not really sure what to make of them.
Suddenly feeling overwhelmed by her two phone calls, Olivia decided she needed to head inside and lie down.
“I have to go, Manse.”