She had to find a way to salvage this. Suddenly, she wished John were with her. It had been nice having someone in her corner, someone who wasn’t trying to use her for his career. Thinking of him steeled her nerves.

“Just give me the movie back.” She could finish it somehow. All it needed was some money for postproduction, and she could make something of it. “You don’t really want it.”

“You’ve got nothing, and you want your terrible movie?”

“Why do you care?”

Tom stilled. “As if you didn’t know.”

Anna scrambled, trying to conceive of a solution. She could find a way to release the thing. Tom had won. She could give him that. “I get it—you humiliated me, but can you not ruin everyone else’s lives with your petty revenge? Some of the performances are surprisingly good. We all worked our asses off on that movie. The AD—”

Tom laughed, bright and sharp. “Funny you mention John.”

Tom spoke of John like he knew him, but that was impossible. John would have said so, and Tom wouldn’t have anything to do with someone so far beneath him.

The articles. She forgot Tom would’ve read about the set leaks. Why did he care about her fling? Tom had dated every struggling actress in town after the divorce. The rumors should’ve been beneath him, but Tom had proven with this whole mess that she didn’t really know him. What a fool she’d been.

“You’re just like the rest, aren’t you? All those directors you hated,” Tom said. “Chasing after some piece of ass.”

Anna jerked her head back. She knew his words weren’t true, but the cruel tone hurt. He always said the one thing that would make her question herself, to keep her in line. There was one thing that would make him go away. There was one thing Tom wanted more than anything. In all those years, she had never given him the satisfaction, but she didn’t hesitate. John was worth it.

“Please, Tom.” She took a deep breath. “Do whatever you want to me, but leave him alone. Don’t punish him. I’m begging you.”

Tom quickly wiped away his look of shock at her pleading. He had always wanted her to grovel, but she guessed he didn’t want it to happen on behalf of someone else.

“I’m not going to punish him,” Tom said. “I’m going to reward him.”

Her heart stopped. This was too much. “Stop lying. This is too low, even for you.”

“I’m not lying.” Tom glanced over her shoulder. “Ask him yourself.”

Chapter Thirty-Six

John walked into the hotel suite. The cheerful sunshine glinting off the gold-tinted furniture and bright pastel colors of the formulaic art on its walls belied the tension within. He wanted to shield himself from what he saw. The scene before him made no sense.