Page 129 of No Holds Barred

“And what would be wrong with that?” Hope stood up, trying to keep as calm as possible, but the fact that Angelica still didn’t want the world to know about them hurt. “Why can’t we tell them?”

“This isn’t…” Angelica stopped. She took a deep breath, stretching her fingers out before closing them into fists again—trembling fists. “This isn’t going to end well. There will be questions. Josef?—”

“—is as good as out the door.” Hope furrowed her brow. “We don’t have to worry about him.”

“Don’t underestimate that man. Just because he’s been quiet this week doesn’t mean he’ll stay that way. And if Logan does end up removing him as showrunner, you can damn well be sure he’ll come after me with everything he has.” Angelica’s cheeks paled. “You don’t understand the depths of his hatred.”

“Maybe I just like to think that there’s some ounce of goodness in him. He wasn’t always this way.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. I think he was. And I think he was just damn good at hiding it.” Angelica sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of her nose. “It’s not just Josef, though.And you know that. You saw it with Rachel. They’ll blame me for breaking up you and Rex. I’ll forever be labeledthe other woman.”

“But you’re not,” Hope corrected. She stepped closer to Angelica and ran her hands up and down her arms. “And I’ll tell them you’re not, every chance I get.”

Angelica shook her head slowly, her cheeks pale and pained. “It won’t matter.”

“You don’t strike me as someone who is concerned with labels.”

“I’m not.” Angelica lifted her chin. “But I do care about this show and your reputation. And this will be damaging to that.”

A shiver ran through Hope. Was this really all just concern for her? For how the show would continue? Or was there hurt underneath all of it that Angelica wasn’t willing to admit to?

The knock shocked both of them, and Hope jumped back, putting a good foot of space between them.

“Ms. Shields. There’s a problem in the lobby.” Lyric’s voice echoed through the door.

Angelica shot Hope a sharp look and walked directly to the door, opening it to Lyric. “What’s the problem?”

“Mark and Alexis are arguing again.” Lyric folded her hands. “And it’s bad. They’re worried it’ll get physical.”

Angelica sighed. Hope’s heart sank. She checked her watch and sent Rex a text, telling him to go sit with Eva since this was going to be longer than she expected.

“Where’s Cadence?” Hope asked, stepping right behind Angelica.

Lyric shook her head.

“I’ll call her,” Angelica said.

“I sent Rex to sit with Eva.” Hope stepped into the hallway, the cool air hitting her cheeks and everything about the conversation they’d just been having gone.

She and Angelica headed to the elevator together in silence. They didn’t say a single word to each other, but when they arrived in the lobby, Sy was already there with a camera, and Cadence looked relieved. Well, at least they had one thing going for them tonight.

Angelica immediately stepped into the fray, putting her hands out as if to put physical space between Mark and Alexis. “Stop it!”

Hope looked around quickly and then stepped next to Angelica. “Both of you, come here.” She pointed to the counter they were currently fighting over. At least that would put space between them. Alexis looked at Mark confused, and Mark just shook his head before he stepped forward.

That was relatively easy to stop, Hope thought. She leaned her elbows onto the counter and looked directly at each of them.

“I’m going to say this once,” Hope started, flicking her gaze to Angelica, who was thankfully letting her take lead on this conversation. “You two either need to spend time figuring out how to work together, how to communicate, and how tostopcreating a hostile work environment for your entire staff, or you two need to give up this dream of a hotel right now. Either one of you buy the other out, or you both sell to someone who will do right by this place.”

“She’s—”

“He’s—”

“Shut up!” Hope’s voice rang through the lobby. “Both of you just shut up and listen to me. I’ve been there. Rex and I got divorced, and it was a long process. But we took the time, knowing we would still have to work together, to figure out how to do that. And yeah, there’s still pain points that we run into. But we act in mature ways so that it doesn’t affect the people we work with.” Hope pointed at Angelica, asking for confirmation.

“They have worked hard at this,” Angelica agreed.

“If the two of you can’t do this on your own,” Hope said, focusing back on Mark and Alexis, “then you need to find a therapist to help walk you through it. Because until you two do that, this hotel will continue to fail. We can’t fix what you’re unwilling to admit is the actual problem.”