Marcus Webb's POV
The coffee mug broke against my office wall, and my assistant Derek jumped backward.
"You did WHAT?" I shouted.
"I sent Isla Chen the contract like you asked—"
"I asked you to send it THREE DAYS AGO!" I grabbed another mug off my desk. Derek's eyes went wide. "She was meant to have time to prepare. Time to rehearse. Time to understand her role!"
"She signed it last night," Derek said quickly, putting up his hands. "Thomas brought the signed contract this morning. She's coming today at noon. Everything's fine—"
"Everything is NOT fine!" I threw the second mug. It missed Derek and hit my filing box. Coffee spilled everywhere. "This show is too important. Too expensive. Too big to mess up because you can't follow simple rules!"
Derek looked at the floor. Good. He should be afraid.
I took a deep breath and sat down at my desk. My office was a mess. Papers everywhere. Empty coffee mugs. Folders stacked three feet high. But I knew where everything was. I controlled every detail.
And details were everything in reality TV.
"Get out," I told Derek. "And send me all the competitor files. Every single one."
He ran out like his pants were on fire.
I opened my notebook and pulled up the show's budget. Fifty million dollars. The network's biggest bet of the year. And if I failed, if the scores weren't perfect, I'd never work in this town again.
But I wouldn't fail. I never did.
Because I knew the secret that made reality TV work: find people with real pain, then make them act it for cameras.
My email pinged. Derek had sent the files.
I opened the first box. "VANESSA BRIGHT - Lead Female Contestant."
Perfect Instagram face. Perfect smile. Perfect lies. I'd cast her because she was desperate for fame and ready to do anything to get it. She'd play the sweet girl, the sufferer, the one America loved. But I knew the truth. Vanessa was just as fake as everyone else.
Next folder. " JESSE MORENO - Hero/Bachelor Lead."
America's star boy. The nice guy who helped old ladies cross the street and gave to charity. The actor with the perfect image and the perfect job.
I pulled up his background check. There it was—the thing his agent had tried to hide. Three years ago, Jesse had dated someone. Someone "inappropriate" for his image. Someone his team made him break up with right before his big Marvel interview.
I smiled. Jesse Moreno had secrets. And lies made good TV.
Last folder. "ISLA CHEN - Villain/Antagonist."
I opened it and started reading. Failed actor. Money worries. Sick sister. A dozen reasons to be worried.
Perfect.
But then I saw something that made me stop.
A sticky note on the inside of the box. Derek's signature.
"NOTE: Isla Chen and Jesse Moreno dated 3 years ago. Messy breakup. Might be awkward???"
I sat up straight.
Dated? Jesse and Isla had DATED?
My fingers flew across the keys. I searched their names together. Nothing came up at first. They'd kept it secret. Smart.
But I was smarter.
I found an old news blog from three years ago. Someone had spotted them at a coffee shop in Brooklyn. The picture was blurry, but it was definitely them. Jesse's arm around Isla. Her head on his shoulder. Both of them smiling like nothing else in the world mattered.
The blog post was titled: "Nobody Actor Spotted With Failing Actress - Is This The End Before It Even Starts?"
Mean. Cruel. True.
I kept reading. There were only two comments on the post. One said Jesse could do better. The other said Isla was using him for fame.
Then nothing. No more shots. No more sightings. They'd disappeared from each other's lives like it never happened.
But it DID happen. And now I had both of them coming to my show.
I leaned back in my chair and laughed. Really laughed. This was better than anything I could have written.
"Derek!" I shouted. "Get in here!"
He opened the door carefully, like he expected another coffee mug to come flying.
"Did you know about this?" I spun my laptop around to show him the blog post.
His face went pale. "I... I saw the names together when I did the background checks, but I didn't think—"
"You didn't think it important that our hero and our villain used to DATE?" "They broke up three years ago. I figured it was over—"
"Nothing is ever over in Hollywood!" I stood up and started walking. My brain was spinning with options. "This is PERFECT. This is better than perfect. This is Emmy-winning perfect."
Derek looked confused. "I don't understand—"
"Of course you don't. That's why you're a helper and I'm the producer." I pulled out my phone and started making notes. "Here's what's going to happen. Jesse shows up today at noon, thinking this is just another date show. We put him in the main house with the other contestants. Make him comfy. Give him the story about falling in love with Vanessa."
"Okay..."
"Then Isla arrives. We don't tell Jesse she's coming. We put cameras EVERYWHERE. And we wait."
"Wait for what?"
"For the moment Jesse Moreno sees the girl who broke his heart three years ago." I smiled. "The look on his face will be worth a million dollars. Maybe more."
Derek was taking notes now. "What about Isla? Does she know Jesse will be there?"
"Oh, she knows. Her boss told her this morning." I pulled up Isla's script on my computer. " And according to this, she's supposed to target Jesse first. Create a love triangle. Make him fall for her, then destroy him on camera."
"But if they used to date—"
"Then it won't be acting, will it?" I turned to face Derek. "That's the magic of good reality TV. We're not making them fake feelings. We're making them perform their REAL feelings for cameras. Jesse's anger. Isla's guilt. Whatever mess they left behind three years ago. We're going to drag it all out and make America watch."
Derek shifted uncomfortably. "Isn't that kind of... mean?"
"It's not mean. It's television." I closed my laptop. "And it's going to save this show. Maybe even make it the biggest hit of the decade."
"What about the other contestants? Vanessa and everyone else?"
"They'll play their parts. But Jesse and Isla are the real story now." I looked at the time on my phone. Eleven thirty. "In thirty minutes, Jesse arrives. In two hours, Isla arrives. And in three hours, we start shooting the greatest trainwreck in reality TV history."
Derek headed for the door, then stopped. "What if they don't fight? What if they just... ignore each other?"
I laughed. "They won't. Trust me. You can't avoid someone who destroyed you. And you definitely can't ignore them when you're trapped in a house together for six weeks with cameras watching everything."
"But what if—"
"There is no 'what if.' This is happening. Get the camera teams ready. Tell them to focus on Jesse's face when Isla walks in. I want every angle. Every reply. Every tear if he cries."
Derek left.
I sat back down and opened both files again. Jesse and Isla. The hero and the evil. The beautiful boy and the girl who ruined him.
On paper, they were perfect foes.
But that blog post picture told a different story. The way they looked at each other. The way they fit together.
That wasn't hate.
That was love. Real love. The kind that doesn't just disappear because someone says it should.
My phone buzzed. A text from the gate security. " Jesse Moreno has arrived. Sending him to the main house now."
I smiled and pulled up the security cams on my laptop. There he was. Jesse Moreno. Walking into my home. Walking into my trap.
He had no idea what was coming.
I moved to a different camera angle. Watched him meet the other contestants. Watched him smile and shake hands and pretend to be excited.
My phone buzzed again. Another text.
"Isla Chen just arrived at the gate. Should we send her in?"
I looked at the timing. Thirty minutes early.
Even better.
I typed back: "Wait five minutes. Let Jesse get settled. Then send her straight to the main living room where everyone's gathering. I want him to see her walk in."
I switched all my monitors to the living room cams. Jesse was sitting on the couch, talking to Vanessa. Looking easy. Looking happy.
Looking like his life was about to fall apart.
"This is going to be good television," I whispered to myself.
But then something happened that I didn't expect.
My helper Derek burst through the door, holding his phone. His face was white as paper.
"We have a problem," he said. "A big problem."
"What now?"
"Isla's sister Diana. She just got rushed to the emergency room. Critical condition." Derek looked at his phone. "Isla doesn't know yet. She's about to walk onto set, and her sister is dying."
My blood went cold.
If Isla found out, she'd leave. No sister in the world would choose a TV show over dead family.
And if she left, I lost my show. I lost everything. "Don't tell her," I said.
Derek's mouth fell open. "What?"
"I said don't tell her. Not yet. We need at least one episode shot first. Get that footage of her and Jesse reunited. Then we'll tell her."
"But her sister—" "Her sister is in a hospital with doctors. There's nothing Isla can do there that doctors can't do better." I stood up. "We're shooting this reunion, Derek. Today. Right now. Whatever it takes."
Derek looked like he might throw up. "This is wrong."
"This is television." I grabbed my radio to call the camera group. "Now get out of my office and make sure Isla's phone stays in her trailer. No calls in or out until we finish shooting."
Derek didn't move.
"NOW!"
He left.
I turned back to my monitors. Isla would be walking through that door any second. Jesse would see her. And I would finally get my perfect show.
Even if it meant separating a girl from her dying sister.
Even if it meant destroying two people who'd already destroyed each other.
Even if it meant I was the real evil in this story.
On my screen, the door started to open.
And everything changed forever.