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Chapter 1

Lauren

Shoving her arm into her puffy jacket sleeve, Lauren Sanders rushed out of the theater’s side door February in Anaheim wasn’t that cold, but the thin straps and low neckline of her cocktail dress did nothing to protect her fro chill

Lauren was never late Not to s, not to dinners, certainly not to her own company’s three-year anniversary party But the director had wanted to go over one more scene, so Lauren and a few of the other actors had stayed at her request One rule of Lauren’s that had served her well in life was “don’t upset the boss” And in the theater, the director was the boss

She hurried to her car, juine If traffic wasn’t bad, she could still make it before anyone noticed that she was late Well, anyone except her assistant And her vice president And her ot to the party

Apart from when it er at rehearsals The stage was one of the only places where she felt free of all the stress and pressure of her regular life It was necessary, just as much as it was fun

Usually, it wasn’t too much of a problem to keep her orld and her theater world separate Even if ite out for a phone call when the cast was on a break, Lauren still ed to put her all into both

Tonight, though, was different It was the first ti as a work event Lauren had thought she couldher party dress with her so she could get ready at the theater

As it happened, being at the theater before the big party was a blessing in disguise Getting ready for a black-tie event around theater people , dark blond hair—normally professionally pulled back into a low ponytail—was tucked up into an elaborate loose twist that somehow looked like she’d just walked in fro perfectly professional

Herthat she’d be on another kind of stage that evening, three other casther down so they could craft a look for her that appeared effortless, but would shoell under all the different kinds of lights she’d be under

Lauren had worked in television production and theater long enough to kno to do her own hair and makeup, but it was so nice when she had other people to do it for her She had been so nervous about the party that she was convinced she’d end up with clu color lipstick

Having the rest of the cast and crew there to put her together had saved her They’dover the pretty purple nuplant color and stiff fabric was sleek enough to be professional, while the skirt belled out like a cocktail dress fro it an air of whimsy

She needed everything to be perfect at the party It was an opportunity to show the world that BingeWatch Media had arrived, and to celebrate all the hard work her team had done over the past three years

When Lauren started out, she had already known that she had what it took to run a successful coh-level internships, and a previous job at another production company, she had been raised to be a CEO Her mother, who had owned her own cohter for the job fro

Except for theater, as pretty much all Lauren focused on She had friends and she eWatch up and running had left her with little ti else She had worked incredibly hard to make her company one of the best in the industry

In the television world, there were so many factors at play, and any of theh—a lot of really hard work—the company had rocketed to the top of the field They had just taken on several new major projects and had hired a bunch of new people

Lauren had been planning this event for some time—she wanted to mark the year when the company turned truly profitable She also knew this was an opportunity to thank her team and welcome the new staff on board And it was a chance to show off to clients and maybe even recruit a fe ones

Her fingers tapped nervously on the steering wheel as she sat at an intersection, waiting When the light turned green, she as pedal, but the heel of her shoe slipped on the ht the brakes The car jerked to a stop and even though Lauren recovered quickly, it wasn’t before the car behind her blared its horn at her clu