A Muse Her

Chapter 21

"Faye, just give Sven the lead in the films."

Faye rolled her eyes. "I don't have time for this, Ronald. I told you from the beginning, Sven wasn't going to have any part in these films, yet you still fed him lies and sent him thirsting after my sister."

"And now she's magically engaged to some bullshit prince," Ronald seethed. "You did this on purpose. You crafted the optics on this to make even more money off my client's ideas and won't let him be apart of it."

"You think I crafted this for some kind of media ploy?" Faye let out a bark of laughter. "You're just as delusional as Sven and he doesn't deserve to make any more money off Maia's intellectual property. Sue the agency if you really think you've got a case."

"I've got proof that this engagement is a sham and you're going to need Sven's good image to keep that movie deal intact and save what little reputation your agency will have when this blows up in your face."

Faye fought the urge to curse under her breath at his accusation, but she held it in. "You do what you have to do, Ronald." She smirked. "But I doubt the royal family of Oost den Burg will appreciate you meddling in their Prince's affairs."

"Then it's a good thing my information is coming from a reputable source within the family," Ronald said. "I'll be waiting for your call to partner on this film deal soon."

Faye scowled at her phone as Ronald hung up. She dragged a hand over her face and heaved a deep sigh. She had everything sorted between the media, the agency and even Mateo's PR team. The narrative of Maia and Mateo's relationship and their unexpected engagement was damn near rock solid, but she couldn't plan for one of Mateo's family members messing it up.

"Fuck," Faye groaned.

Ronald was right, if anyone knew their relationship was a sham, it could jeopardize the film deal, Maia's image and her integrity as an author, but now that the news was out there, it would be worse if Maia pulled out.

Getting up from the desk, Faye tucked her phone in her pocket and grabbed her coat from the back of the chair before she slipped out of the office to the terrace to tell Maia and Mateo about this very precious and potentially damaging news.

They needed to know that while it was important that they looked the part in public, they were going to have to be careful how they acted around Mateo's family. She had a feeling the source Ronald was referring to was Mateo's brother or his sister-in-law feeding bullshit to Sven.

"Alright, I need – Oh!" Faye said as a blush burned over her cheeks at the sight of Maia and Mateo cuddled up and kissing on the couch. "You two are really getting into making that content, huh?"

"Just uh, just a bit," Maia said, laughing as she pulled away from Mateo. "So, some things have changed."

"I see," Faye said, shrugging off her coat as she sat in the chair beside the couch. "I'm guessing you two had a nice talk about things, hm?"

"We did," Mateo said, smiling as he brought Maia's hand to his lips. "And we decided to be honest with each other."

"Well, thank God for that," Faye said, reaching for one of the joints in the wooden box on the table. "This makes my job a little easier."

"Wait," Maia frowned. "You're okay with this...with us?"

"Mm-hm. For once, I actually like your choice in a boyfriend, but we'll talk about that later," Faye said, taking a nice long toke of the citrus tasting herb. "Right now, we need to revisit the issue of your brother and Sven's relationship with his wife."

"Why?" Mateo said, gripping Maia's waist. " What happened?"

Faye eyed Mateo's protective embrace and a grin tugged at her lips. At least her intuition was right about him. "Nothing happened, per say, but Sven's agent, Ronald, is determined to undermine your engagement to secure Sven's role in the film deal."