Saving This (The McCallans #5) (31 page)

Chapter Thirty-Seven

“Welcome to the club,” Teague said. “I’m going on, what—? Four years of disownment from Dad now?”

Max couldn’t help but laugh, but the whole situation was a fucking nightmare. Headlines were everywhere, from shit with Olivia Douglas to defamation battles with Kate, and then the added crap about him and his father. Making light of it was seriously the only way he could deal with everything right now.

“I say you go on record with everything she did,” Teague stated matter-of-factly. He slid himself out from under Max’s Chevelle and stood, brushing himself off. “Maybe Dad is right on this one. Fight fire with fire.”

“Not you too,” Max sighed. “Come on, man. Why is this even happening? All I want is peace, not another world war.”

“Well you’re gonna get a war, whether you like it or not. And this is about Chase.”

“Exactly. So I don’t want to do anything that could affect my relationship with him in the future. You know what that’s like. I can’t afford to set myself up for that. You’ve already been there. You already did what you could to make sure Chase’s business stayed private.”

“And sometimes I wish I hadn’t. I mean…maybe it was the right thing to do and maybe it wasn’t. Sometimes I just don’t know.”

“Well neither do I. I’m doing the best I can, though. I can’t do any better than that.”

Teague exhaled as he grabbed the car keys from the wall and tossed them to his brother. “I know you are. And let’s test the timing on this.”

They both climbed in with Max behind the wheel. But just as he got to the gate to exit, another car pulled up the driveway. Max paused, his hand on his phone to call Jake, but he recognized that town car and watched his father step out from the back seat. He walked up to the Chevelle without hesitation.

“This doesn’t look good,” Teague mumbled.

“Return to the house, we have to talk,” Craig commanded. “And before you throw a little toddler fit, this is serious so just do as I say.”

Max’s first thought was something happened to his grandfather, or maybe there was some type of problem with the movie his father was producing and he wanted to bitch at him for causing it. Before he could object, Craig was already returning to his car and it started pulling forward.

Max sighed and began to back his car to the house.

“Grandpa?” Teague made a guess as they pulled back into the garage.

“I don’t know,” Max shook his head.

By the time all three men were in the house, Craig pulled out a tablet and set it on the kitchen table. “Kathryn sent this to me,” he said, referring to his PR specialist.

Neither Max nor Teague said a word as he pushed play on a video. It was an intro to a popular news show, announcing a major story they would be airing.

“You’ve known the McCallans to be one of the biggest names in movie history,”
the host announced.
“From big screen red carpet to some of the most intriguing Hollywood buzz imaginable.”

Several photos were being displayed during the narration. Max saw pictures of himself, his father and grandfather, and even his uncle, brother, and cousins. Some of the photos he’d seen and some he hadn’t, but it was quite a glamorous production.

“But behind all of that illustrious face time, do the McCallans have more to hide than they’ve let on? Are there secrets that have been hidden by lies and expensive smoke screens?”

Now there were more photos, but they were of the less-than-lovely variety; his uncle being arrested years back, Kellie’s anger lashing out at some paparazzi, and the last one…a very unpleasant photo of Nate Butler—bloody and bruised, and obviously roughed up. Max assumed it was the same photo his father had bitched about the other night.

“And then the latest, a nasty custody battle between Max McCallan and his ex girlfriend, Kate Donnelly.”
The picture of Kate holding Chase was plastered on the screen, and then Max’s photo appeared side-by-side.
“A bitter conflict that has been going on for years, even involving several members of the McCallan family.”

“I can’t believe she did this,” Max muttered, shaking his head.

“No?” his dad growled. “Keep watching.”

“If you’ve ever wondered what might go on behind the scenes with this family, we have an exclusive inside look for you tomorrow night. I sat down with Kate Donnelly in a full disclosure interview. We talked extensively on the McCallans, some of their dark secrets, and Max McCallan’s relationship with her and her son.”

It cut to part of the actual interview as proof, and there was Kate dressed nicely with very little makeup on. She looked like a well-respected businesswoman and nothing glamorous like how she normally appeared. Max was positive she had her hair and makeup done on a daily basis and that she had a personal tailor or wardrobe designer, but in the interview…she looked average.

“I think you’d be very surprised at what they’ve been hiding,”
she was saying to the interviewer.
“And you have proof of these offenses and misconduct?”
the host asked. Kate smiled and nodded her head.
“Yes. I do.”

Craig paused the video and turned to his sons. He waited for several seconds before he spoke. “This so-called news show will air at ten o’clock tonight.”

“It’s retaliation for the custody hearing,” Max replied. “She threatened she would expose whatever she could, and she’s sticking to it. And…in a grandiose manner.”

Max was going to ask how in the fuck she got on
Celebrity Insider
but he already knew. That particular nightly news show had begged for McCallan interviews for years and never got one. The show was a bit aggressive with their interviewing, and rarely acquired celebrities who were actually doing well and didn’t need the publicity. They pretty much liked the celebrity sob stories, the legal battles, and all the negative drama they could get their hands on.

“So what’s the worst they’re gonna air?” Teague asked. “I saw Nate Butler. I swear to God that is not what he looked like when Jay and I left him that night. The guy had a bloody mouth and may have puked a couple of times, but that’s it.”

“You think that really matters?” Craig asked. “They show that photo and say you did it, it’s as good as fact to all the viewers who believe this shit.”

“I don’t even care,” Teague answered. “And I have nothing to hide. I haven’t done anything to warrant any kind of public backlash. I don’t care about any of my shit anyway. I’m worried about what this is going to do to Chase in the future.”

Max had nothing to say. He felt sick to his stomach. 

“I’ve tried gaining access to the taping but have been unsuccessful,” Craig said.

“What for?” Teague shrugged as he walked into the family room and dropped onto the couch. “If it’s not that, it’s something else. I say she gets a taste of her own medicine once and for all. This shit has gone on long enough.”

Craig scoffed but turned to Max. “See? Even your brother agrees with me. Let me take care of this and—”

“No,” Max cut him off. “I don’t want that.”

“I don’t give a flying fuck what you want at this point! She has crossed the fucking line!”

“I didn’t say I wasn’t going to do anything about it,” Max narrowed his eyes. “I’m saying I don’t want you doing anything on my behalf. I wasn’t exactly expecting her to do more than just planting tabloid stories—I’m shocked she went this far, she’s lost her fucking mind—but I was preparing for her bullshit a while back, before the custody hearing.”

“Then give me what you have and I’ll let Marv—”

“No,” Max shook his head. “This is going to be
my
cabaret.”

***

Craig had stayed to view the interview that night. Teague went home to his wife, but Max knew they’d be watching it too. It was nothing short of bold, if Max were being honest. Kate eloquently laid out several McCallan stories that were as equally shocking as they were over embellished.

His father was furious, but Max contemplated in silence. This particular situation had happened to several other celebrities, but there wasn’t anything too over-the-top or outlandish. Kate was careful about that and did well making everything seem believable, which in turn made the McCallan family look like a bunch of lying, over-pampered, manipulative thugs. She even aired the five-second selfie video from the limo. Added to some of the other media clips of industry parties and other gatherings, it looked as if Max liked to hang loose with a lot of booze.

But all he could think about was his son. He put himself in Chase’s shoes and imagined him watching this interview some day down the road. Maybe it would be in five years, maybe ten or twenty, but Chase was a McCallan too. His predecessors had just had their reputations smeared across the world like a shit stain. There was no undoing what his mother had done, and whether or not Chase someday realized that Kate was a vengeful, self-serving
liar
, he would still be one more McCallan from a dysfunctional home.

Anna had come home halfway through the interview. Max was sure she’d had fun out with Sarah and Melanie, but she looked confused as she glanced from the television to Craig, and then to Max for an answer. But she seemed to figure it out once she heard Kate talk for a minute, and she sat down in silence next to Max for the next twenty minutes.

She kissed him goodnight when it was over but looked furious. From hearing how abusive the family was (a lovely photo of Kate’s black eye from Camryn, but she never actually said who gave it to her) to how much they bully and manipulated people, Max felt furious too. But he spoke parting words with his nearly silent father before he left, and then went into the bedroom to fill Anna in on the rest of the accusations.

She was speechless…until her emotions caught up to her and a slew of swear words flew out of her mouth. She wanted to bury the woman.

For the next few days, Max continued on with his life as usual. He never let Kate’s actions get an emotional reaction out of him, but he felt the urge every time he was offered a chance to set the record straight. In fact, he was bombarded with reporters at every turn, but instead of speaking his mind, he merely went about his business and let Jake and his crew handle the chaos.

Yes, Max was back to two and three bodyguards now. Cole had recommended another pair for private security—Wade and Lucy, a husband and wife couple—who he liked a lot for when Anna was with him. Jake arranged the rotations and details and Max never had to worry about it, but life seemed to return him to center stage again. More measures had to be taken to keep the media away from him, including extra security at filming locations or other places he frequented for business.

After Wade pulled the SUV past several cameras and reporters outside of the Gleason building, private security inside the parking garage had to intercede to keep the media out. Max was escorted into the building by Jake and Lucy that time, along with two other security officers from Gleason Productions.

It was a fucking madhouse.

“Good morning, Max,” Benita smiled. She was obviously aware of the nightmare and was a complete professional about the extra security with him today. There wasn’t a trace of intrigue or confusion on her face.

“Good morning, Benita.” His smile was genuine. He liked her quite a lot—and her husband as well, who worked as a prop manager inside the warehouse.

“Can you tell Anna thank you for the custom board. It is
sooo
beautiful, I cried when I saw it.”

“Aww, I’m glad you liked it. She’ll be thrilled to know. You can tell her yourself, though. She’ll be by this afternoon.”

“Perfect!” Benita grinned.

Max proceeded through the double doors. As soon as Dave saw him, he handed him the schedule for the day along with a cup of tea. He didn’t even ask where Mary was. Maybe he knew she was coming an hour later or maybe he didn’t, but no questions were asked.

The actors and crew were just assembling for the morning, and even though Max got a receptive response, he felt the need to address them about what was going on recently.

“I just want to say thank you for being on board with this project, it means the world to me,” he began. “I’m sure you all know what’s been going on lately, and if you don’t, you must live under a fucking soundproof Hollywood rock.”

That got an array of laughter, and Jeremy Robb said, “Nah, man, we know how this shit happens. I, for one, have been there a time or two. And yes, my twins really are my twins and don’t belong to my wife’s personal bodyguard. That’s such bullshit. I mean they’d be fucking ugly if they did.”

Everyone laughed again.

Smiling, Max replied, “Good to hear, buddy. I never had a doubt. And if I did, well, your wife is beautiful and I just thought the kids won her gene pool.”

“Ha, so funny,” he chuckled along with everyone else. “But all jokes aside, man… I’m with you. This movie is going to be worth all the personal obstacles. You’ll see.”

There were many in agreement with nods or verbal confirmation, but Max felt the need to add one more thing. “I appreciate all of you taking this risk with me. I haven’t done anything to warrant such retaliation, but if any of you have any concerns, feel free to approach me. I’d like business to carry on as usual.”