Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 149137 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 746(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 497(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 149137 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 746(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 497(@300wpm)
Fain sat up, pointing down at the folder in front of her. “Have you read this?”
She sighed and put down her champagne. All work and no play was going to make Kayla a crabby girl. “I promise I read the file twice. I’ve seen every single movie Joshua Hunt has ever made, but why don’t we go over it one more time? In case I missed something.”
Because it was obvious there was some storm banging around Ezra’s head. There was more than the Joshua Hunt operation going on here and it was up to her to figure it out. He’d been on edge for days and that wasn’t like him. She’d come to rely on Fain being calm and collected. Prissy she could handle, but this anxiety she sensed in him had her worried.
Given that they would be working together for months, possibly, she needed him calm and cool.
“It’s a simple op,” Green said with a wave of his hand. “You could do it in your sleep.”
“There’s no such thing as a simple op,” Fain replied. “There are nuances to this thing and about a million moving pieces. Hunt himself is a bit of a mystery.”
She reached over and flipped the file open. She’d lied to Ezra. She’d gone over this file way more than twice. Joshua Hunt. America’s hottest action star. His last film banked over a billion worldwide. He was roughly six foot three, with dark hair and piercing eyes, but what he was truly good at was selling a scene. She believed him when he told a woman he loved her, when he squared his shoulders before some fictional battle, when he put a hand on his heart as he was dying.
He was an excellent actor, even better than the films they put him in, but he was also known for being incredibly private and reclusive.
He was fascinating, and that should scare her on some level. She knew it. She also knew that since she’d felt nothing for so long, feeling anything at all was worth it. Joshua Hunt could be dangerous, but more than likely she would find out he was a douchebag, over-privileged prince of a man and then her job would be a chore.
Because she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this job would require sex.
“He doesn’t like to talk about his past,” she said. “I’ve spent the last few days going through every interview he’s ever given and while he will sometimes talk about little things in his life—who he’s dating, what shows he’s enjoying—he never talks about the past. Not even his childhood. The one time he got up from an interview and walked out, it was because the reporter kept asking about his father. I take it we know more.”
“Daddy was a nasty drunk.” Green crossed his long legs, sitting back and getting comfy. “We’ve got at least five domestic abuse complaints over the years. Joshua Hunt, whose real name is Joshua Stemmons, was born in a small town in Kansas. His mother died of cancer when he was five, but Daddy had a parade of girlfriends he liked to use as punching bags. Senior Stemmons went to jail when Josh was twelve and Josh hit the system.”
“He didn’t stay long,” Fain said. “At least we don’t think he did. Records show that Josh’s foster care family was paid for at least a year, but the police believe he ran away shortly after he arrived at the house. The parents and social worker were caught cashing checks for kids who were long gone. Josh was one of them. Whether he left on his own or they kicked him out, we have no idea. Those years are a blank. No arrests. No sign of him being in the system at all. He doesn’t surface again until he shows up in Los Angeles at the age of eighteen, living with a woman named Tina McArran, who became his first agent. He books his first commercial about six months later and the rest is history.”
Fain’s fingers tapped along the edge of his chair. He did that when he was thinking things through. Kay liked to know everyone’s tells. “As far as we know, this version of Joshua Hunt has stayed out of trouble. He’s been working in the film industry for fourteen years. He kept his first agent with him until she died a few years ago. Breast cancer. She left everything she had to him. He stood by her through the end, and by all accounts genuinely cared for her. He’s careful with his money. He’s never been accused of drug use or sexual indiscretions. He’s practically a saint in Hollywood.”
“He’s never been married, right?” She’d had a lot of Hollywood gossip to catch up on when she’d returned to the Western world. A decade as a double agent, pretending to be her own twin sister, had taken a toll on her pop culture knowledge.