I still ’t believe that it happened. I felt as if I was in a daze. The wyer that Dad sent over to us, Joel Sullivan, arrived at the same time as the polid the paramedics. The paramedics were mostly fia because she was the one who had passed out, but that didn’t mean I came out of the fight unscathed. Most of my face was bruised, and my head still hurt a little from when I hit it against the bathtub at the start of the fight. After establishing that I didn’t have a cussion, the paramedics cleared me to be questioned by the police.

  Only for Joel to step iween.

  “Don’t talk to them at all,” Joel instructed me brazenly before turning to the officer on the se. “I’ll be answering all the questions for my t.”

  The police officer, Sam Malrd just nodded, apparently aware of high-profile cases, and focused on iing the se—the bathroom, the window where Gia broke in, and my bedroom. Theuro me, “You have nothing to worry about, Troy. This woman is going away for a long time. You answer my questions without worry. We’ll his information to build a solid case against her.”

  “e on, Sam,” Joel said in a patronizing tohis is not my first time doing this. Redirect all your questions through me and I’ll answer everything, everoy is ba London.”

  Sam frowned, “But he ’t ght now. Our case will fall apart without his testimony.”

  Joel was adamant, “Roger will stay behind to give you testimony. You have Troy’s testimoher right now after I approve all his answers, or ter over the phone. Unless you’re charging Troy with something, he won’t be staying here when his parents are in London.”

  Sam seemed as if he had lost a battle, but he could only nod in resignation.

  What followed was a gruesome questioning round sting a few hours, where eay answers was carefully examined by Joel before I was allowed to speak. At the end of the day, the police were charging Gia with twelve ts: Breaking aering, Assault and Battery, Attempted Sexual Assualt, Lewd Acts with a Minor, Child Endangerment, Attempted Kidnapping, False Impriso, Assault with a Deadly on, Attempted Murder, Trespassing, Possession of a Firearm During a Crime, and Criminal Threat.

  Given the severity of the charges, it was unlikely for her to see the light of the day anytime soon.

  My parents weren’t sitting idle in Londoher. As soon as they learned about the i, they made some calls and got my private jet ready for takeoff. So as soon as my questioning ended, a new driver and a whole team of security arrived to apaobias, and Loki back to the airport. Just a day ago, I would have scoffed at the excessive arras, but the st day had opened my eyes to the dark side of fame all ain. The st few years of routine media activity have made me a little pt. And given how intehe reporters accosted our car both outside our home ahe airport, the security retty necessary. But I ig all in favor of just thinking about my day.

  I almost fug died.

  That bitch brought a gun to my home, my safe space, and wasn’t shy about using it. If anything had gone even a little awry, I could be six feet under right now. Not only that… she was willing to do the unspeakable to have my baby. If you think about it, it’s disgusting because my st film was released nearly two years ago. I’ve grown a lot sihen, but everyone who sees me does a double take because they’re still expeg a small kid, not a tall teenager. Usually, viewers don’t realize the passage of time, which is why it’s difficult for them to accept child actors in adult roles. So it means that she was ready to do it with me thinking I was the same 12-year-old kid as I was during [The Chamber of Secrets]. If a girl says that they want to do it with, say, Brad Pitt, it makes sense because he’s a grohysically. I’m not.

  A small part of me still wishes I had shot her befer stopped me. The only problem I have is the blowback it may have had on my life and career.

  “Are you okay?” Tobias asked for perhaps the huh time from ay seat on the pne.

  “Yes, Tobias,” I intoned bndly. I was in no mood to talk to anyone and just wao brood in peace.

  “I’m so sorry you had to gh that while I was out there at that party.” His guilt was evident in his voice.

  “Will you stop that already,” I said irritably. “It happened. Shit happens. Let’s just move on. We just have to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again.”

  “Oh yeah,” he nodded emphatically. “I’ll make sure to tell your father to add at least two more perma guards to your prote.”

  I scoffed at that thought. “I’d be lucky if I had just twuards. Knowing my parents, they’ll probably get me five guards at the minimum when I'm not at our London home.”

  Tobias was about to say something, but I raised my hand, halting him. “I don’t want to talk about this i. If you have anything else to say, then go ahead.”

  He hesitated before asking about something that had totally slipped my mind. “What about our tract with Universal? And our deal with Rian Johnson? We didn’t sigher of those tracts.”

  I rubbed my forehead ihought. This was a little messy. Had Gia attacked me a day ter, both those tracts would have been finalized, but because they weren’t…

  “Call Rian Johnson as soon as we nd,” I instructed Tobias, who took out a notepad and scribbled it down quickly. “If he agrees to the tract that we offered him, tell him that you will personally fly back to L.A. ter to work with him on the produ pn. Meanwhile, transfer him 50K advance for his script as a show of good faith.”

  “You think he be trusted?” Tobias asked. “What if he sells the script to someone else in the meantime?”

  “Then it’s your job to make sure he doesn’t,” I pointed out, to which he appeared clueless about. Taking pity on him, I added, “My wyer, Joel, has power of attorell him to sign a temporary tray behalf until you get there.”

  “Gd to know that,” Tobias muttered under his breath before speaking up. “Okay, what about Universal, then?”

  And that was the big problem I didn’t have any solution to. As far as I khey had po begin shooting [Dawn of the Dead] in ada in 2-3 weeks. It would be difficult to vince my parents to let me go shht now. Even if they somehow agreed, it’s entirely possible that Universal would drop me from the film altogether. Big studios hate any kind of public sdal. If Warner could pause the produ of the third [Harry Potter] film, which art of the biggest film franchise in the world at the time, then a small-budget horror film was nothing for Universal.

  “Let them call us first,” I said after a few moments. “I’m not sure at the moment whether I want to do it or not given the circumstances.”

  “Would your parents agree to send you now?”

  “If I decide to do the film, it will be your job to vince my parents to let me do it,” I said bluntly. Then I pulled out a sleep mask and put it on. “Now let me rest a bit. I didn’t sleep at all st night.”

  (Break)

  I removed the eye mask when I felt someoly shaking my shoulder.

  “What?” I asked sleepily.

  “We’re about to nd,” Tobias announced. “You should do your seatbelt.”

  Had it been that long already? heless, I did as I was told.

  “Ready to face the music?” Tobias asked somberly.

  “As ready as I’ll ever be,” I shrugged, not knowing what else to say or do.

  It didn’t take long for the flight to nd and for us to be ready to get out. The best part about using a private jet is that you don’t have to wait for little things like security clearand such. Another positive point was that I could bring Loki along with me in the . Most ercial flights don’t allow that. You don’t even have to walk over to the parking area when you board or deboard; instead, your driver drive right up to your pne. And that’s exactly what happened here.

  As soon as the pilot gave us the go-ahead, we exited the pne, and my parents were there waiting for me. I hadn’t even stepped on the ground before Mum rushed over and hugged me tightly. She didn’t say anything, just held me close. A few moments ter, she released me, only for Dad to take her pce.

  “e on, guys,” I groaned. “ we go home first? I had a very long day.”

  “Not a bad idea,” Dad ented while patting my back. “e on then.” He separated from me and turo Tobias. “You should go home a as well. We’ll take care of things from here. There’s another car here that will drop you off.”

  Tobias nodded and took his leave.

  Soon, we were in our car speeding off home. The only thing remindihat something was different was the reporters’ cars trailing our fleet of security guards.

  “Thank God you’re safe and sound,” Mum said after some time. “I’ve been worried sick ever since we ger’s call. The media has goo a frenzy. I ’t turn oV without hearing about you. Tell me truthfully, love. Are you really alright? That woman didn’t hurt you, did she?”

  “She tried,” I said holy. “She tried hard. But I didn’t let her. That reminds me, I want to restart my martial arts training. If I hadn’t stopped all those years ago, the situation would have been much better today.”

  “Don’t worry too much about that right now,” Dad said. “Focus oier. We’ve arranged a therapist for you. It’ll be better to work on that first before doing anything else.”

  Not this therapy crap again. I really didn’t want to talk to another person about my feelings, especially since I couldn’t tell them my deepest, darkest secret. So I’d be lying to them anyway. Still, I knew my parents only had my best is at heart.

  “I’ll agree to do it,” I relented. “But only if you get me a martial arts trainer within two days.”

  Dad grinned. “Just started being a producer, and he’s already naming his terms to me. Believe me, Kathy, our son will go far in this business.”

  “You and your busialk,” Mum shook her head despoly befetting serious. “Troy, you have to be very careful about what you say to the media in the ing days or months. They will try to provoke you into saying something about this i when you’re promoting [Harry Potter], so you have to keep it in mind.”

  I her. “Don’t worry, Mum, I ha,” I said with a fidence I was not feeling at all.

  Reag home aing Evan was usual business. He was also excessively gy and inquisitive like my parents, but I didn’t mind. I would be too if our positions were reversed. I also received a lot of calls from almost everyone I eveely knew. And to top it all off, an in-person visit from my girlfriend.

  It felt great hugging my beloved Emma once more after so many days.

  “I was surprised when you didn’t reply to me immediately,” Emma whispered in my ear, resting her head in the crook of my neck.

  I kissed her temple gently as we sat together in the living room. I wao do so much more than that, but Mum was vely “dusting the house” right from where she could keep an eye on us. It’s not like we didn’t have full-time servants ready to do the same.

  “I thought you just lost e or something,” she tinued. “So I just went to sleep. When I woke up the day… well, Mum woke me up to give me the news.”

  “I called you in the m, didn’t I?” I said, caressing her soft curls.

  “Yeah, but it was harrowing for me to not know what was happening for hours. I tried calling your parents, but they must have turned off their phones because of the excessive calls. And then I realized that we were just talking about fame when you stopped responding. I felt like that talk backfired and I jinxed you somehow by bringing it up.”

  I bonked her head at her admission. At her sdalized look, I hugged her tighter. “You silly girl. You ever jiop believing in such superstitions.”

  She smiled at me before moving forward and pnting a kiss on my lips. I kissed her back.

  At that moment, I didn’t care about anything else in the world. I felt plete and loved—not just because of Emma, but because of every one of my friends and family who had called me or e to meet me in person. It made me realize that these moments were more satisfying than anything else in life, much more thaisfa that the box office colle of any film could ever give me.

  (Break)

  Emily was more than a little relieved when she could finally ect with Troy once more.

  “Are you okay, Troy?” was the first thing she said as soon as their call ected. The video was a little pixeted, but not terrible.

  Troy sighed audibly. “I am. Although I’m sick of hearing the same question again and again.” Then he rubbed his forehead for a moment before adding, “I’m sorry. It’s just been a long day for me. I had to turn off all my phones because of the calls and messages I was receiving. And now everyone else has goo sleep, but I ’t because my internal clock is all messed up from the different time zones I’ve been ily.”

  “I uand,” she said softly. “You don’t have to apologize. Let’s talk about something else. What’s up with the film you were signing in L.A.?”

  “I’m not sure if the offer still stands,” he said. “This troversy could be a deterrent.”

  “Ah,” Emily said knowingly. “And we’re back to the topic we didn’t want to talk about.”

  “Tell me about your day, then,” Troy said with a grin. “What did you do today?”

  “I…” Emily bit her lip to stop herself from speaking further. After a few moments, she said, “I don’t think you’ll find what I did very iing.”

  “Sure, I will,” Troy emphasized. “e on, tell me. I o hear something mundane.”

  When it seemed like Troy wasn’t going to budge, Emily relented. “I’ll tell you, but promise me you won’t judge me.”

  “Okay, I promise,” Troy said with utmost seriousness, and Emily was ined to believe him.

  “So, yesterday, I didn’t know anything about you or the situation. I called Benji, and he was also relut to give me full info, so I went online.”

  “As you do,” Troy butted in.

  Emily gave him a look. “May I speak?”

  “So on.” Troy raised his hands in surrender.

  When she was vinced he wouldn’t interrupt again, she tinued, “I was browsing different news articles to see if there was anything I could find about the situation. I didn’t find anything that NBC hadn’t already covered, but I kept searg and stumbled upon this forum that was just talking shit about you.”

  Troy shrugged as if it didn’t matter to him. “Ignore people like that. I do.”

  “I’m not you,” Emily asserted fiercely. “I couldn’t just sit bad let them talk shit.”

  Troy grinned again. “What did you do, Emily?”

  “I…” She hesitated for a moment before firming her resolve. What’s the worst that could happen if Troy knew? “You asked me what I did all day? I spent all this time telling those assholes why they were wrong. And as soon as I started, it felt like I wasn’t the only one doing that. It’s like a team of your fans desded from the sky, and suddenly the haters were overwhelmed. For every ive ent, at least five people were speaking for you.”

  Troy looked flicted for a moment before asking, “Let me get this straight—you spent your entire day dealing with some oers?”

  Emily shrugged. “Go on. Tell me I’m a crazy, obsessed fangirl just like my mom did.” Then she mimicked her mother’s shrill voice, “Oh Emily! Grow up! There is a life beyond Troy and the Spice Girls.”

  Troy chuckled at that before shaking his head, “No, I find it quite sweet actually. I just hope you’re not ing other things like your studies or ag csses for this… new online avenging hobby of yours.”

  “Of course, I’m not.”

  “Good,” Troy nodded. “Then I have a role for you. Well, more of an audition. You’ll get the role if the directrees to cast you.”

  Emily sat there stunned, her mouth agape. She had not expected the versation to go this route at all.

  Troy chuckled. “Don’t be that surprised. You knew I rodug a film. While in L.A., I ran into another director, and I loved his story as well. So now I’m making two films. I’ll reend you for both. You’ll have to go to L.A. for a few days for auditions. I’ll cover your stay and travel. If either of the directors likes you, the film or films, as the case may be, shall be yours to do. I’ll email you the details of the stories and your respective characters ter.”

  “Are you sure?” She asked hesitantly. “I’m literally a nobody. I’m not that beautiful either.”

  “You look pretty good to me,” Troy said as if it was the universal truth. “If you don’t believe in yourself, no one would. e on! Do you want this job?”

  Emily could only nod silently. As much as she didn’t expect the offer, she appreciated it a lot. And she would be a fool to turn it down.

  ________________________________

  AN: R.I.P. Dame Maggie Smith.