Page 141 of No Holds Barred

Holding her breath, Hope answered Logan’s call. She hadn’t been expecting this. She’d had her conversation with him, answered the questions as best as she could and withheld as much information as she could.

“Hello?” Hope said as she answered the call, putting the phone against her ear this time since it wasn’t a video call.

“I hope I didn’t catch you at a bad time.”

“You didn’t.” Hope bit her lip. “Eva’s still sick with whatever bug she caught, but I think she’s on the mend.”

“That’s good to hear.”

Logan always was such a kind soul. Hope would have to remember that, because she’d need to make friends with him and keep that friendship if she was going to survive another season—assuming they had another season to film. There was still no word on whether or not that would happen.

“I’m calling about an upcoming season.”

“Have we been renewed?” Hope asked, desperate for information.

“There’s been no word on that yet.”

Hope’s stomach sank. She just wanted answers already. She’d been paying attention to social media, to the press that was building up as they finished snippets and trailers for the upcoming season and all of the hype. Everything pointed to the fact that they might be renewed for at least one season if not more.

“If we were to renew, I wanted to get the contract in order.”

“Contract?” Hope furrowed her brow in confusion. Mary usually handled those things as her go-between, and production staff didn’t come directly to her.

“Because of the delicate situation, I wanted to come to you first.”

That meant he hadn’t even spoken to Angelica about it yet. Hope held her breath, standing up and walking through to the living room to check on Eva and make sure she had everything she needed, and to keep her hands busy.

“What did you want to talk about?”

“If Angelica weren’t offered a contract, we have two options—you either take over the show yourself or we find someone else to work with.” Logan sounded nervous even saying those words out loud.

“Leanne?” Hope’s stomach tightened at just the thought, but Josef had thrown that in her face so many times before that she couldn’t help but think this was where he was going.

“No, not Leanne.” Logan chuckled. “Never Leanne.”

“Well, that’s good to know.” Hope handed Eva a new glass of water and then stepped back into her office. “In all fairness, Logan, before we get into that, there’s only one way I’ll sign another contract and that’s if Josef isn’t involved.”

She was greeted with silence, and Hope took that as a bad sign. He was probably trying to find a way to tell her that they didn’t have enough evidence, that Josef was the show runner and creator that he?—

“Josef isn’t going to be further involved withHotel Bombshell. He was released from his position and contract earlier this week.”

Hope plopped down onto the couch in her office, her hand over her mouth as she drew in a shuddering breath. Tears prickled her eyes as relief rushed through her.

“Are you still there?” Logan asked.

“Uhh… yeah. Yes.” Hope cleared her throat to get her words out better. “Yeah, I’m still here. I didn’t realize just how that would feel, hearing that.”

“Relief?” Logan asked.

“Yes, way more than I anticipated.” Hope let out a little laugh. “I don’t imagine that was an easy conversation to have with him.”

“It wasn’t.” Logan sighed. “But it was necessary.”

“Thank you for choosing everyone else over him.”

Logan hummed, but he didn’t acknowledge what she said beyond that. Hope sat with the knowledge a bit longer, letting it truly sink in that the entire tone of the show would be different going forward, not just because Josef would be gone but because she and Angelica had found a balance. One she longed to explore even more than she had already.

“I won’t do this without Angelica.” The words left her lips before she could stop them. But she repeated them just to make sure that Logan understood her. “We do this together—it’s her and me or no one.”