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must have looked like a maniac.
    â€˜Got any ID, girlie?’ asked one of the men, his nose wrinkled in disdain.
    Panting, I tried to say, ‘M … Max, tell, tell, Max, I’m Maddie, p … please …’
    The big man spoke into a walkie-talkie, received a crackly answer, then turned to me, his eyebrow raised. ‘Alright, you can go aboard.’
    â€˜Thanks.’ I scampered up the gangplank, the entrance to the ship leading inside the grand foyer, four stories high—a homage to decadence and beauty. Everywhere I looked, there was marble and plush carpet and crystal.
    â€˜Wow.’ I wondered if I’d get a chance to change before meeting Max, to make a better impression.
    â€˜You must be Maddie. I’m Maxine.’
    Of course not.
    I turned to face my new boss. In a flawless white suit and shiny red heels, she was immediately intimidating. With an accent that made the Queen sound like a cockney bum, she said, ‘Is this normally how you dress for your first day of work?’
    â€˜Mum just rang me half an hour ago,’ I explained.
    Waving a dismissive hand, she turned and walked away, still speaking. ‘You should be aware I’m not one for excuses, Maddie. Just results.’
    I followed her meekly. ‘Yes, Maxine. Uh … Mum was a bit short on the details. What, exactly, is my role?’
    We padded down a long corridor with immaculate white walls, Maxine strutting and me squelching into the rich scarlet carpeting. ‘You will be a production assistant.’
    Inwardly, I felt another small piece of my pride break off and float away. I’d been an AD for years; it was a drop of several levels to a mere assistant.
    Maxine continued. ‘I had a young man lined up, but he took another position at the last minute. Your mother said you’re good at relaxing people, getting them comfortable on camera. Is that true?’
    â€˜It is.’ I wasn’t bragging; I had a skill with actors, talking to them and getting the best performance possible.
    â€˜Good. You’ll be working with Beau, as one of his rotating assistants. You’ll conduct his interviews, give him his schedules, that sort of thing.’
    The name Beau caught in my mental teeth for a moment. Tanner’s first name. God, would there be anything ever again that didn’t remind me of him? Forcing myself to concentrate, I took a stab in the dark. ‘This is a sequel, right? Was Beau a contestant on Erotic Island ?’
    â€˜Yes, one of the most popular cast members on the show. Women all over the world have been clamouring to see more of him.’ She smiled, a strange look for her. ‘We’ve been chasing him for months to do this show. He’s a gold mine to us, and you need to keep him happy.’
    We ascended a flight of stairs and emerged onto a deck. The sky had cleared, Sydney Harbour sparkling around us in the morning light as we streamed forward.
    Maxine railed on me. ‘Now, I looked you up before I agreed to take you on as crew, and I found a great many people unwilling to talk about why you left your last job. Tell me the story right now, or I will see to it that you are placed in a lifeboat and rowed back to shore.’
    I didn’t doubt it. ‘I was seeing the first AD of the second unit of The Hobbit ,’ I said, my cheeks crawling with shame. ‘We were sleeping together, but he failed to mention he was married until his wife visited the set and tried to gouge my eyes out. The film didn’t want any more bad press, so they fired me.’
    Maxine surprised me by tilting her head and asking, ‘Did he lose his job as well?’
    â€˜No.’
    â€˜This industry is full of bastards,’ she said simply. ‘It’s your job to protect yourself from them. You’re a stupid girl for mixing work with pleasure; you opened the door to your own doom.’
    â€˜Yes, I did.’
    â€˜So, hear me well.’ Maxine