Chapter 27

Sasha

Acting is so much easier when you’re drawing from real emotion. And, really, that’s a statement I couldn’t agree more with.

Standing in front of Alberta, I let the anger wash over me as we look into each other’s eyes. There’s a sinister silence between the two of us, and the only thing I can hear is the steady hum of the cameras around us. We’re shooting a scene where my character is arguing with Alberta’s, the moment our characters finally clash head-on, and I have to thank the universe for giving me this chance.

“How does it feel?” Alberta growls with a sadistic grin, taking one step toward me. Defiantly, she raises one hand and lays her index finger over my heart, tapping it there twice. “I told you I wanted you gone. You didn’t listen, and now you’re paying for it.”

“Is that so?” I whisper, forcing a smile to take over my lips. Narrowing my eyes, I allow Katya, my character, to take the steering wheel. Balling both my hands into fists, I then take a deep breath and grit my teeth. “You sound really confident.”

“Please, spare me your cocky attitude,” Alberta snaps back at me, giving me one hard push. I take one step back, but I manage to hold my ground. Even though the script only called for a soft push, Alberta went beyond it and pushed me hard enough for me to stumble back and fall down on my ass; unfortunately for her, I came prepared for a confrontation like this.

I’ve never been a fan of method acting, but now I can't feel more thankful toward my acting teachers, the ones who drilled me down on these techniques. I spent the whole night tossing and turning, waking up with cold sweats as dreams of Alberta and Kane pinched at my mind, and all these sleepless hours nursing my hate toward Alberta really paid off. Now, standing in front of her, I’m giving the performance of my life.

“You think you’re better than me, don’t you?” I hiss, closing the distance between her and I.

“I don’t think anything...I know it. I’ll always be Daddy’s favorite,” she whispers angrily, and I realize that we’ve moved past all the acting. Even though she’s still spewing the words from the script, Alberta’s the one saying them, not her character. “You come in here with your pretty face and easy smile, thinking that you can take my place...But you’re nothing but a stupid bitch.”

“That’s Miss Stupid Bitch for you,” I growl, that picture of her and Kane together resurfacing in my mind. Before I can stop myself, I cock my arm back and open up my hand. It happens in a fraction of a second; the palm of my hand flies straight into her face, hitting it with a dry snappy sound.

Not counting on my reaction, Alberta stumbles back and tries to steady herself awkwardly. Missing the edge of the swimming pool by an inch, her heel sinks deep into the water and all of her follows in a fraction of a second.

I see it all unfold in slow motion; her eyes widen and, flailing her arms around, she starts falling back. Hitting the water like a boulder, she resurfaces with a murderous expression, her usually silky hair now plastered to her face.

“YOU FUCKING BITCH!” She growls, grabbing the edge of the pool with both her hands. I just stand there with a smug expression, grinning as she crawls out, her drenched cocktail dress glued to her skin. “I’M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU!”

“I’m right here,” I tell her with a shrug, opening up my arms. From the corner of my eye, I can see Ryan and the director excitedly waving at the cameramen around us to position themselves better, so that they can get every angle of the scene. Even though none of this was scripted, it seems that our lovely producer is enjoying every second of it.

With a furious growl, Alberta starts rushing toward me. Her hands turn into claws and, before I can stop her, she grabs me by the hair and starts pulling it hard. “Ahh!” I cry out, instinctively grabbing her own hair and pulling with double the strength she’s using. There’s nothing like a good ol’ fashioned cat fight, is there?

“Jesus!” I hear Jasmine cry out and, even though she isn’t supposed to be on camera, she jumps onto the set and races toward us. Grabbing Alberta by the waist, she tries to pull her away from me—not an easy task, since Alberta seems hell-bent on murdering me.

Joining the fray, Stefan rushes toward me and, grabbing me by the arms, he pulls me back. Alberta and I finally let go of each other, but our eyes remain locked. Her face is red with anger, and she’s breathing so hard you’d believe she just finished a marathon.

“CUT! This was beautiful!” Ryan cries out, clapping his hands together. “You really out did yourselves, girls!” He continues, and both Alberta and I turn toward him. Judging by the happy expression on his face, I’d say he didn’t notice that we were no longer acting but simply trying to kill each other.

“She hit me, Ryan, you saw it!” Alberta cries out, walking toward the producer and gesturing at me. “She threw me into the pool!”

“I know, I know,” Ryan replies, clapping his hands together once more. “It was great!”

“Great? She’s insane! We can’t have her on set!”

“You’re the insane one!” I find myself saying, and I’d rush toward her if Stefan didn’t hold me back. “You’ve been trying to sabotage me ever since I stepped foot on set.”

Looking at me with murderous intent, she looks at Ryan with her teeth gritted. “I want her gone,” she tells me, spitting out each word. “I won’t shoot another scene until that bitch is gone.” With that, she marches off the set like a woman possessed, the anxious click of her high heels the only sound on set.

“Yeah?” I shout after her, placing both my hands around my mouth. “Then that means you’re never coming back...I’M NOT GOING ANYWHERE!”

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