A week later, it was the day before Kaye was due to start shooting.

She had signed her contract and sent it back to Amir, and he had sent her a quick reply thanking her for going along with it. She promptly began scanning the web for houses, cars—whatever she could splurge on with the money she would make from the show.

It was a daydream for the ages!

She was going through the background information on her “character” when her doorbell rang. Glancing up, she walked over to the buzzer and pressed the button to talk.

“Who is it?”

“Um, hi, Miss Kearney. I’m here with your delivery?”

There was a question in his voice that gave away the fact that even he was unsure why he had stopped by. Kaye had not ordered anything in several months.

“I didn’t place an order for anything?” she replied, using the same question in her tone.

“Right, sorry. It’s actually a gift from Mr. Al-Asfour for before the shoot. There’s a note with it; I just need you to sign.”

“Oh—okay, yeah. I’ll be right down!”

Her belly fluttered at the thought of a gift from Amir. The man was kindness personified. Paired with his good looks, it would be quite the challenge keeping her thoughts purely friendly over the course of their work together. Then she thought about the money, and all thoughts of Amir and his stunning face disappeared.

When she reached the bottom floor, she opened the door and nearly bumped into the delivery boy, who was a young, gangly fellow.

“Hi,” he said, painfully shy. “Here’s where you sign, and here’s your note.”

“Where’s the gift?” Kaye asked, staring around them in search of a box.

The boy stepped aside, revealing a brand new version of her car, in gleaming canary yellow.

“The Sheikh said something about a new ride for a new bride…he’s funny like that,” the kid mumbled.

Kaye stood with her mouth hanging open, staring at the shiny new vehicle. When she realized what she was doing, she closed her mouth, taking the pen from the delivery guy and signing for the car.

“The note, miss?” he said, holding it out to her.

She took it, and the set of keys that came with it, before coming back to life and making eye contact with the deliverer.

“Thank you very much,” she breathed.

He shrugged.

“Don’t thank me. The Sheikh is a generous man. I’m one of his assistants, Joshua. You can ask me for anything when you’re on set and I’ll make sure you get what you need. Sounds like the first thing you needed was a new car, eh?”

“You have no idea,” Kaye said, still breathless.

“Mr. Al-Asfour has a keen eye for what’s needed on all his projects. He’s a very smart man.”

“Interesting that you call him that,” Kaye observed, her eyes bouncing from Joshua to her car and back again. She didn’t want to take her eyes off it for too long, lest it disappear and she wake up from this dream she was having.

Joshua’s eyes lit up with a gentle humor.

“Mr. Al-Asfour? I just use that term in professional situations. He hates it.”

“You do it to tease him?”

“Sometimes. Or, to make him feel old.”

“He’s thirty-two.”

“I’m nineteen.”

“Ah, I suppose thirty-two is ancient to you then, isn’t it?”

“In this town? It’s pretty ancient, period.”

He chuckled, and waved a fond farewell to her as a cab pulled up. He slid into the back seat and was gone before Kaye had a chance to thank him one last time. Instead, she gazed at the shiny new car, stepping forward and unlocking it with the fancy key fob. Sliding into the driver’s seat, she pulled Amir’s note from its little envelope. His handwriting was neat, the sign of a perfectionist.

Kaye,

Wanted to make sure you’d be able to get to my house for filming tomorrow in one piece. Please enjoy this gift, as a token of my appreciation. I look forward to working with you.

All good things,

A

Kaye squealed with excitement as she turned the engine, which purred to life without any sign of struggle. She beamed out at the world as she took it for a test spin, thinking about where she could sell off her old car and start a new life entirely.

Finally, things were starting to look up!

* * *

The next morning, Kaye was up bright and early, anxious to get to Amir’s house. She packed a small bag, unsure of what to really expect, then she looked up the address he had emailed her earlier in the week. Based on the street name, Kaye knew she’d be driving to a part of Santa Monica she had never been in before. Sliding on a pair of sunglasses, she plopped her little bag in the back seat of her beautiful new car and left her dinky little apartment behind, ready to start a new adventure. As she got nearer to the coast, the scent of salt wafted on the breeze, and she breathed it in, feeling totally alive.

Her new car’s navigation system led her up a winding series of hills, until she finally approached a gated entryway. The black cast-iron bars were looped and laced together, creating a stunning pattern. There was a buzzer box to her left, and she pressed the button to gain entry.

“Password?” a voice said through the speaker.

“Al Rayyan rocks,” she said, trying her best not to laugh.

She’d had to look up the Sheikh’s home country online—there was not much she knew about the micronation of Al Rayyan, but the pictures showed it to be a tiny little country tucked deep in the heart of the Middle East.

“Yeah, it does!” the man on the other end said.

The box buzzed as the gates automatically folded open, granting Kaye access to the mansion.

“Thank you!” she called, though there was no answer on the other end as she pulled forward.

A winding driveway curved through palm trees until an open courtyard appeared before her, laid entirely with a beautiful gray cobblestone brick. The mansion itself was white with wide archways along the first floor, a red brick rooftop capping it all off. It was massive, towering above the series of vans and crew members bustling around with video and sound equipment.

Kaye found a place to park in the corner of the courtyard, grabbing her bag and locking her door behind her, though she had no idea why she would need to. They were quite secure behind those iron gates, tucked away on a hilltop presumably overlooking the ocean. Kaye couldn’t wait to get a tour.

“Kaye! It’s about time you showed up!”

The nails-on-chalkboard voice of Merle echoed across the courtyard, and Kaye noticed that everyone in the vicinity shirked away, as though glad they weren’t on the receiving end of his attention. Kaye tried giving him a smile, but it ended up coming out as a wince.

“I’m twenty minutes early,” she said.

“Yeah, and we need you to be dressed and made up for filming twenty minutes ago. It’s a good thing you’ll be staying on set. We can’t waste time like this.”

“Waste time…” Kaye began, ready to give Merle a piece of her mind.

A million dollars, Kaye. A million dollars!

She took a deep breath, calming her temper. Before she could say anything else, a woman bustled up behind Merle.

“Is this our leading lady?” she asked, cheerful.

Merle grumbled.

“It is. Make her look presentable, Jen, and for Christ’s sake, make sure she knows the part inside and out, will you?”

“Of course. I’ve got everything under control.”

“Yes, well…see that you do.”

As he walked off, Jen rolled her eyes at Kaye, who smiled. Once Merle was out of earshot, Jen reached for Kaye’s arm, looping it with her own as she led Kaye toward the entrance of the mansion.

“Rule number one when working with Merle: just smile and nod and move on. His bark is a lot worse than his bite.”

“Really? He resonates as pure evil to me,” Kaye replied, laughing.

They stepped inside the mansion, and Kaye did her best not to look completely stunned by the beauty of the interior. It was spacious and open, the tile floor echoing as they made their way toward a series of rooms off of a massive living room with a mini theater inside. Jen opened a side door, granting access to a bathroom that was larger than Kaye’s apartment. A makeup and hair chair had already been set up, and Jen released Kaye, patting the seat.

“Get comfy. This might take a while.”

Kaye plopped into the chair, and Jen instantly began styling her hair, launching into a speech about how she’d been working with Merle for years and how many meltdowns she had seen on set.

“You can’t let bozos like that get to you, not in this industry. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that talent beats ego. If you’re good enough, they can’t touch you.”

“That is a good lesson,” Kaye agreed.

Her hair was curled and fluffed, and by the time Jen was done, she looked like a movie star, her makeup perfect. She opened a side closet that was filled with clothing items, and dressed Kaye in a pair of designer jeans and a stylish white top. She finished the look with a pair of gold sandals.

“The perfect fiancée,” Jen said, kissing the tips of her fingers and spreading them out at the room.

Kaye took another glance in the mirror, and she barely recognized herself. Is this how celebrities felt after getting glammed up for a scene? Would this be her new normal?

Jen picked up a radio and pressed the button to speak in it.

“The dove is ready. I repeat, the dove is ready.”

Kaye lifted an eyebrow.

“The dove?”

Jen shrugged.

“We all have code names. Usually, the female lead is the dove. I hope that doesn’t offend you.”

“Not at all,” Kaye answered, smiling.

She liked being the dove. A man’s voice on the radio came on, directing them to go to another room for the profile filming.

“Come on, let’s get you on set,” Jen said.

Kaye glanced around, keeping an eye out for Amir. They stepped through an open set of glass doors, where a luxurious pool sparkled in the back, facing a stunning view of the ocean in the distance. On the other side of the pool was a smaller house, and that was where Kaye found herself meeting her first camera crew.

“Hi! I’m Jesse,” a tall, handsome man said as he held a hand out for her to shake. “We’re going to film some of your background information this morning before we start going over a couple scenes. Are you ready for some fun?”

Kaye smiled at him, enjoying his positive energy.

“Always,” she said.

He winked at her.

“That’s my girl. Go ahead and take a seat over here in front of these plants. This is the guest house. I believe it’s where you’ll be staying during the filming.”

“It is?”

Jesse shrugged.

“That’s what I heard. We’ll talk with Amir and Merle about it later. Until then, let’s get started.”

Kaye sat in front of a camera, taking a deep breath and releasing it, along with her nerves. When the light turned green, Jesse began asking a series of questions.

“So, tell us how you and the Sheikh met.”