Chapter 285: Parting Ways
On set Brooke pouured her energy into her perfprmance, she refused any breaks, surprising the director and the rest of the cast by her tenacity. Since the public apology from the police, no one on set dared to speak against her, and whatever side gossip was passed aroind gradually faded away.
Consequently, Brooke kept to herself while on set, speaking only to the director or Dylan when the need arose. She came into work, finished her scenes and then went straight home.
She repeated this cycle religously for a month, up until she ran into Kayden on set one fateful day. "Excuse me for a moment," she said, passing her props to the nearest staff member.
She went over to him, "What are you doing here?" she asked, her eyes scanning Kayden’s tired eyes, ruffled hair and rumpled clothes. "You should be at home resting, you just had a..." she left her sentence hanging, he had finished burying his aunt and she was certain he did not want to talk about it.
Kayden kept a straight face, "Brooke, I’m leaving the country tonight." he told her.
Brooke was not surprised, at the funeral he stayed silent and avoided small talk. He also stayed clear from his father like he was the plague. She felt bad for Julian but could not deny that Kayden had been wronged.
"What about Mr Julian-"
""That bastard could fall in a ditch for all I care!" he balled his fists. "I knew somethging wasn’t right, I remembered the accident clearly, my mother protected me...I knew she couldn’t have survived that...I knew that and yet I let myself get tricked-" he took a deep breath, gathering his thoughts.
Brooke reached for his hand, but immediately withdrew it, she could feel all eyes were darted on them. It took a lot for her rep to be as clean as it was, and she was not looking to taint it.
She straightened her back, and stretched her hand out to shake his, "Kayden, I know this won’t sound like much coming from me, but if there is ever a time you want to talk to me, or anything you need my help with, just give me a call and I will come rushing to help you." she told him.
Kayden returned the shake, but he gave her a warning instead, "That Cassie is a snake, and now that she has the old man wrapped around her finger, you’re going to have to be extra careful around her. I don’t know what the old man was thinking when he said that." he said.
Brooke nodded, the bitter memory of what had happened at the funeral plaguing her thoughts. Kayden looked annoyed as well, considering he was the most stunned to hear Julian’s sudden announcement after the funeral.
"Thank you, but I know better than anyone how crafty Cassie really is. I will be careful." she assured him, before they parted ways from each other.
Whilst Brooke used her month to seriously finish filming, Cassie’s month was spent planning what she coined the wedding of the decade, and of ciurse everthing needed to be perefct.
"How does this look on me?" she asked, flaunting her ring finger. Her ’friends’ whom she had only recently linked up with all gushed at the size of the gem.
Ava praised, "You really are something, Cassie, not only are you the actress of the year but you’re also getting engaged to THE Ethan Halton, you must’ve done something amazing in your past life to be this fortunate."
Her influencer friend Rosie added, "Not just that, did you not see the news, her real father has been exposed, that criminal Luther Crane’s dirty secret has been revealed."
"Not to mention she’s pregnant, Cassie you’ve really got it all, there is no competeing with you."
Their small talk was interrupted by the arrival of the store’s staff with her previous purchases packaged and ready to be delivered. "Miss Crane, your things are ready-" the woman was saying, only for Cassie to lunge forward and award her a tight slap across the face.
The woman fell to the ground with a silent thud.
She raised her watery eyes to Cassie’s scowling, "How dare you associate me with a criminal?" she scolded, rubbing her wrist. She looked around the room for something to hit the woman with, but her friends immediately got up and stopped her before she could inflict any more damage.
"You! Get the hell out of here! Before we get you fired." one of her friends scolded, sending the woman outside.
Cassie’s shoulders jerked in anger, "Just who the hell does that bitch think she is?" she hissed, "Why did you have her sent away? I should’ve taught her a lesson." she ran her jittery fingers through her hair, earning concerned looks from her friends.
They had sent the woman away to protect Cassie’s career, had she done something to her, her reputation would be ruined.
After calming her down, they helped carry her purchases to the car and then helped her into it, sending her off.
Once she was gone, Rosie frowned as she dropped her shoulders, "Did Cassie seem differemt to you? As if she’s..." she left her words to linger, fortunately her companions could relate.
"Cassie has always been a bitch, but she seemed hysterical, like she-"
Eva inserted, "On drugs?" she suggested.
Her friends exchanged all knowing looks, they had only come out to see Cassue because the air around all her scandals had started to clear, people had shifted her focus to her upcoming wedding. And, with the sudden announcement that Luther was not her father, the heat about the slavery contract had been taken off her.
However...
"Well, Cassie isn’t the only one in the public eye." Rosie brought up, her eyes darted to Ava.
Ava grinned, "Who would have thought that wench who used to work for Cassie would be such good publicity? Our president took a gamble announcing a new movie, but it seems that gamble is paying off quite nicely." she revealed.