His demeanor had changed, almost gentlemanlike and not the deranged fucktard like before. He looked at someone outside the door and flourished a hand inside the room. The girl I chose to fight as me in the film strolled in, only now she wasn’t in her spandex and tank top. She wore an unbuttoned flannel shirt with just a black sports bra underneath and jeans with scuffed-up black boots.
When her eyes met mine, her mouth dropped. “I have to be dreaming. Peyton Emerson?”
Martin nudged her further inside. “I’m sure you two have a lot to talk about.” Then, when the girl turned to him, he continued, “When you’re done, your room is right next door. I had your things put in there.”
She nodded once. “Great. And thank you for choosing me. This is an opportunity of a lifetime.”
Martin smiled, the gesture chilling me to the bone. How could she not see the evil on his face? “Yes, it is,” he agreed. “See you tomorrow.”
He shut the door and I expected to hear it lock, but there was nothing. I stalked past the girl and opened it wide to see one of Martin’s men standing guard; he was the big and bulky one with the shaved head. He glared at me as if he was bored.
“Problems, Ms. Emerson?”
Huffing, I quickly scanned the hallway, wondering how many other guards there were lurking about. “You have no idea,” I spat, slamming the door.
I leaned against it and noticed there wasn’t a lock to keep people out. Great.
“What’s your name?” I called out. The girl flopped down on the fainting couch and propped her feet up.
“Wren Langston.”
My heart started to race. “Do you have a phone on you?” I could use it to call for help.
She folded her hands behind her head. “Nope. They took it as soon I stepped into the house.” All my hope drained away. “I hope my room’s as nice as this,” she gushed. “Talk about the lap of luxury.” She cocked her head to the side to look at me. “Not to mention, I get one-on-one time with Peyton Emerson. You’re the last person I expected to be here. Guess there’s more to Hollywood life than I thought.” She sat up and rested her elbows on her knees. “Talk about a dream come true, though.”
“I wouldn’t call it that,” I said, hoping she could see how serious I was.
Her smile faded. “Maybe not for you, but for someone like me, it's a life changer.”
Keeping my voice low, I moved toward her. “And I’m not here on my own free will. I was kidnapped, along with Ethan Jameson. Do you know who he is?”
Wren’s gaze narrowed, and then she burst out laughing. “Of course, I know who he is. What is this, a joke? You’re kidding me, right?” She scanned the room. “Where are the cameras?” I would’ve loved for it all to be fake. When I didn’t budge, her face fell. “You’re serious?”
I nodded. “Sadly, I am. What do you know?” I sat down beside her on the fainting couch.
Wren shrugged as if she didn’t have a care in the world. “I know I’m going to fight and get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to do it.”
“You’ll be fighting men, Wren. You’re playing the role of my mother. She was a competitive fighter when she was younger.”
Her eyes widened. “I was right, then.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
Excitement flashed across her face. “When I saw the website about the auditions, there were videos of a woman fighter. It looked exactly like your mom. I knew it couldn’t be her, but the fighting style was exactly the same.”
“You know who my mom is?” I asked.
“Seriously?” she scoffed, “your mother’s a legend. I’ve studied her moves my entire life.” She looked away. “She’s the only role model I had.” By the tone in her voice, I had to assume she’d had a hard life.
“Tell me everything,” I begged. “You said you saw a website about the auditions. How?”
Wren picked at her fingernails before meeting my eyes. It was the first time I’d really looked at hers. They were a pale green, a shade lighter than mine. “I have a friend. Well,” she said with a shrug, “he’s more than a friend. He’s practically my brother; his name’s Parker. We ended up in the same foster home several times over the years. When we turned eighteen, we left that life behind. It’s been hard, staying in hotel rooms here and there. Sometimes we’ve had to sleep on the streets. But, anything was better than what we dealt with our entire lives.” My heart hurt for her. I couldn’t imagine the kind of life she had. She waved a hand in the air. “Anyway, that’s enough of my sob story. You have better things to do than listen to it.”
“Hey,” I said, setting a hand over hers. “I’m no better than anyone. Keep talking. I need to know what you know.”
She blew out a sigh. “The website. Parker is kind of a hacker. He’s stolen money a few times from accounts, but only a little here and there if we were having a rough week. It just so happened that he came across the website one day. It mentioned auditions for fighters and stunt doubles. I love to fight, so he thought it was something I could do. And if picked, we’d get the chance to win three hundred thousand dollars. I couldn’t pass that up. That money could do so much for us.”
Martin had to realize that by bringing Wren in here I’d tell her what was going on. She’d be a liability. How was he going to keep all the other people that were supposed to star in his movie silent? That was easy, he couldn’t. If they saw Ethan and me, they’d surely recognize us. Martin would have no choice but to remove all obstacles that could trace back to him.