A Million-Dollar Marriage: A Story of Heart Over Contract

"Why the hell am I being fired?"Gianna demanded as she burst through the door in anger.

The manager looked up from his laptop, eyebrows raised. He leaned back in his chair but didn't say a word.

"I said, why am I being fired?" Gianna repeated, now leaning over the desk. She slapped the pink slip she'd been given down over it. "This says 'termination of contract' but gives no reason why. What did I do wrong this time?"

Rather than answering, the man picked up a stack of papers from his table and flung it across the desk at her. They went flying in the air around her.

Gianna flinched. She was stunned as the papers rained down around her.

She just stood there motionless for a few seconds then bent down to gather the scattered papers. While she picked them up, she read the words on one of them; "NOTICE ON COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT", "EARLY SCRIPT LEAKS FOR BRAVADOS III", as well as other evidence, including a chain of emails exposing the truth about the leaked scripts incident that happened a few weeks back.

A knot tightened in the pit of her stomach while she went through each of the documents.

She looked up at the manager imploringly. "I had nothing to do with this!"

"Maybe not directly," he said, steepling his fingers. "But it was your boyfriend who did the leaking, was it not?"

"Ex-boyfriend!" Gianna shouted, outraged.

"Marco and I broke up months ago, that asshole. This has nothing to do with me!"

The man shrugged. "Be that as it may, the agency has decided you share culpability since the leaked materials clearly came from your end."

"That's ridiculous," Gianna's face was bright red now.

"Marco and I aren't even on speaking terms. Why would I help him?"

"I neither know nor care about your personal affairs, Ms. William. Since the culprit has absconded and you're the only one we can link to him right now, be rest assured you'll be taking responsibility."

He picked up his laptop again, signaling the end of the discussion.

"The decision has been made. I suggest you show yourself out."

Gianna stood there, trembling with all the shades of anger, disbelief, and despair there could be. She looked down at the incriminating emails again in silence. Then she turned around and headed for the door.

"Our lawyers will be in touch," the manager added.

Gianna slammed the door behind her.

She found her way to the bathroom as soon as she got out, stumbled over to the sink and leaned against it while staring at her reflection in the mirror, feeling lost, hurt, unfairly treated.

How could this be happening?

After all her hard work, all her struggles to finally start making a name for herself in the industry? This was supposed to be her big break with the Bravado movie franchise. And now some ex and the agency were trying to snatch it all away.

Gianna dug into the back pocket of her jeans and pulled out her phone. She found Marco's name in her contacts, her thumb hovering over it as her hand shook with anger. They hadn't spoken in over a month, not since that horrible blowout fight after she discovered he'd been cheating.

She was disgusted just looking at his name on her screen.

But she had no choice. If she didn't confront the idiot, he was going to ruin her life and fledgling career over this stunt. Gianna was still one of the least favored talents at the agency. It took years of grinding it out in crummy student films and low-budget indies before she finally managed to get her foot in the door here after a streak of luck and perseverance.

She was just an upcoming actress, desperate to finally make her way into the limelight after struggling for so long in obscurity.

And now this masturbating jackass Marco was jeopardizing everything!

Her eyes watered with hot tears as she stabbed his contact and raised the phone to her ear.

The line rang...and rang...but then an electronic voice came on: "The number you have dialed is unavailable..."

"Son of a BITCH!" Gianna cursed under her breath in frustration.

She was going to have to actually hunt the bastard down herself if she wanted to clear her name and save her career. If they were going to file a suit against her, she didn't even have any dime in her name to foot her own bills, let alone that.

Wiping the tears from her eyes, Gianna straightened up, brushed her fingers through her hair, dabbed at the tiny beads of tears in the corner of her eyes and walked out of the bathroom then stormed out of the agency building.

Her jaw was clenched so tight it ached as she angrily made her way towards the street. Her phone buzzed in her hand and she looked at the screen, seeing the notice, "Rent Due" on the screen.

Shit, not today of all days.

While she was reading the details and mentally calculating what other bills were coming due, someone bumped hard into her shoulder.

Her phone went flying out of her hand and clattered to the ground.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" she shouted at the oblivious pedestrian. But they just mumbled an apology and kept walking.

Gianna crouched down to pick up her phone, now finding that the screen was spiderwebbed with cracks.

"Oh no, no no no, not now!" she groaned desperately.

As if her day could get any worse.

Her phone buzzed again whilst she was still sulking over the nearly destroyed screen of her phone. This caused her to angrily pick up the call and snap to whoever the caller was,

"Get the fuck off my ph-"

"Gianna?"

Her shoulder slumped when she heard her friend's voice more like all the anger she felt got drained out of her and was replaced by weariness.

"What's the matter? Everything okay?"

Gianna crouched down by the side of the street. The tears started coming to her eyes again and this time she didn't hold them back.

"Nothing is okay. I'm just...I'm fed up with everything. I can't do this anymore..."

"Hey, hey...it's alright, just talk to me. What's going on?"

"Nothing's working out," Gianna hiccuped between sobs.

"I can't get any work, any gigs...it's all so fucking pointless. And now, to top it all off, that bastard Marco is trying to sabotage and ruin the little bit I have left!"

She told her friend the whole story while the friend just listened patiently.

"Don't give up yet, babe. We'll get through this, I promise. Things always look their darkest before dawn, right?"

Gianna sniffled hard, wiping her eyes and nose with the back of her hand.

"I guess so."

"Actually, the reason I was calling you initially is because I heard about a potential acting gig...but, I don't think I should..."

Gianna immediately perked up at those words, sniffling again.

"Oh please tell me!"

"Well, it's happening in like an hour from now. A very minor role, just a few lines as an extra basically. But the actress they had lined up didn't show, so they need someone to fill in at the last minute. I mentioned that I knew someone who could do it."

"Oh my god!" Gianna clasped her hands with the phone.

"Thank you, thank you, thank-you! Of course I can do it."

Gianna priced a smile even with her reddened eyes, smeared makeup and disheveled hair from all the emotional stuff from minutes ago.

"Alright, calm down....I'll text you the address and where to go once you get there. They'll fill you in on the role and everything else."

"I don't know how to thank you enough for this," Gianna gushed, now feeling a little spark of hope.

Just the opportunity to get out there and act again, and maybe get a little bit of cash could be exactly what she needed right now.

"Quit thanking me and just run along, would you? Don't want to be late."

"Yeah, okay."

As soon as she hung up with her friend, she brought up her messaging app, squinting hard at the cracked screen. Sure enough, a new text from her friend popped up. She checked the message and tried to make out as much as possible through the hazy shards of glass covering her phone.

Gianna huffed out a relieved sigh as she headed for the bus stop, hobbling along on her aching feet. It might be a tiny and utterly thankless part, sure, but it was still work.

She waved down a passing taxi and soon reached the address. It was a luxurious hotel. She quickly paid the fare and hurried inside, checking her phone again.

"Two ten...two eleven..." Gianna muttered under her breath, checking each numbered door in the hallway.

When she reached the said door, her heart did a quick flip then she crossed the hall and knocked on it.

Here goes nothing, she mused as she bent the doorknob.

She opened the door.

A very tall, ruggedly handsome man turned around from the window, lowering his phone from his ear as he was clearly in the middle of a phone conversation.

"What do you mean 'call off the marriage?'"

Olivia tossed her head petulantly, hands on her hips.

"Exactly what I said. I'm not interested anymore."

"But...but why?" Mason sputtered, his mind spinning. They'd been together for years, building a wonderful life side-by-side. What had suddenly changed? That too at this dying minute??

"You can't just...the wedding is just three hours away. What has come over you?!"

"What came over me has already come off and that's why I'm saying I can't do this anymore."

Mason was stunned beyond words, he could barely bring himself to think or speak or act.

"You don't love me anymore?"

"Ha! Love? No Mason, I used to love you perhaps. But not anymore."

"What...what are you saying?"

"Oh, I'm not sure it ever was real love to begin with." Olivia sneered and began ripping off the diamond ring he'd lovingly placed on her finger months ago.

"Maybe it was all pity."

"Pity."

"Yes, pity!" She hurled the ring and it struck the wall with a sharp crack.

"I look at you now and realize I only ever felt sorry for you. A sad, pathetic man who based his entire world around me out of some desperate, farcical notion of romance."

Mason could only gape at her, utterly aghast as she ripped into him with her biting words.

"I'm surprised it took me this long to see it, really. You were never the one for me. I've been living a lie, putting on this pretty little fiancée act because I thought that's what was expected of me. But I can't keep it up any longer, Mason. I won't."

For some reason Mason wanted to believe this was some kind of joke, or a prank. Stuff like that was common these days.

"If this is a joke you should stop it now."

"A joke, right? Watch me," as she said this, she turned around and stormed off.

"Oliv–" He tried to follow her.

She spun around again and shot a finger defiantly in his direction.

"Don't you even try crawling after me."

Then she turned around again, and this time, never looked back.

Mason's jaws clenched until his jaws thrummed taut as well as his fists, where he stood. All the memories and plans and dreams that led them up to that point...a marriage. Was that how flimsy they all were, to be capable of being thrown away in a matter of minutes.

It felt like everything in front of his eyes was tilting and slowly spinning.

"...I only pitied you.."

Would he ever forget that statement?

Mason had always known he was...different.

From the others.

From a young age, Mason struggled to make the same natural emotional connections that most took for granted. While his peers eagerly professed their innocent puppy loves, he was always so staunchly aloof and detached.

Not until Olivia, at least.

He met her in his college days. Something about her bright, compassionate demeanor and warmth managed to chip away at the barriers he'd fortified around his heart since his childhood.

It was maddening at first-why he couldn't dismiss her as easily as any other attempt at wrangling his affections? But gradually, Olivia's caring nature slipped past every one of his defenses until she had completely captivated him from the inside out.

And now?

She dismissed everything like it never existed to begin with.

His feeling of hurt and rejection soon transmogrified into anger.

Mason slammed his fist against the nearest solid surface, which turned out to be his car. Again and again, he pounded his knuckles into the side paneling of the vintage until his hand bled.

How dare she?

After everything he had devoted, opened himself up to give her, only to have her turn around and spit back in his face?

He rammed his foot into the tyres with several kicks just try to let it all out.

Did she really think she could crush him to pieces?Or expect him to go sulk in a corner because his life revolved around her?

Pity?

He scoffed bitterly, gritted his teeth at that word then went on kicking and punching and letting out his anger on any thing his limbs collided with,

When he finally stopped he was soaked in his sweat and heaving heavily with loud gasps.

"Argghhhhh!"

Mason hurled his entire body on the hood of the car in a sideways smash. He held his throbbing fists over his head. Somehow, he felt...nothing. No pain penetrating his bleeding knuckles and aches from his outrageous fit even as his body trembled from the aftershocks of his exertion.

He just felt disembodied from reality.

He was like an unmoored astronaut floating in an endless void. His throat was bitter with spite for Olivia. He hated her for loving her in the first place...genuinely.

Mason shut his eyes tight. They burned.

This wasn't going to end like this. He wouldn't let that happen. Olivia can be replaced and he'll make sure he passed that message across to her.

She was now nothing to him just as he was to her.

Come hell or highwater, there WOULD be a bride crossing that aisle to join him at the altar she abandoned.

Mason wasn't one to accept defeat so easily.

"I don't care if you have to hire an escort off the bloody street. Just make sure there is someone, ANYONE, waiting in a white dress to be my bride when those goddamn doors open. Do you understand me? And do it discreetly."

This was his instruction to his assistant, who hurried off to set the new plan in motion.

When it was now one hour to the ceremony, Mason straightened up from his chair and tugged restlessly on the knot of his tie, leaving it disheveled and hanging loose around his collar.

The groomer who was still in the room with him, trying to fix his look each time he disheveled it, tried to fix it again.

"Leave," Mason snapped at him.

"Your necktie..."

"I said OUT!" Mason roared.

The young man meekly backed away and excused himself from the room.

Mason's fingers went to his collar, savagely undoing the first button with a yank. The fabric strained but held, not daring to relinquish its hold any easier than Olivia had.

He snatched up his tumbler of scotch and drained the entire thing in one punishing swallow. The bitter liquid seared down his gullet, almost dulling the chaotic storm of emotions inside him, but for only a few seconds.

He slammed the empty glass down with force before going over to the ensuite's sink. He angrily twisted the tap and bent at the waist. Bracing his hands on the wide lip of the basin, Mason doused his entire face and head with a torrent of cold water.

He stared at his disheveled reflection glaring back from the mirror. His black hair was soaked and disheveled like he'd just crawled out of a swimming pool in his tuxedo.

Mason returned to the center of the room on hearing his phone buzzing. As he picked it up and put it to his ear, he heard a knock on the door.

He turned sharply to see a slender figure walking into the room.

Gianna blinked in surprise at the figure in front of her. He was soaking wet, dress shirt clinging transparently to his muscular body and dark hair plastered to his forehead.

'Is he supposed to be the producer or director?'Gianna thought in her head.

She sighed and just let herself roll into action.

"Hi, I'm..." she started.

"I'm sure you were told what you have to do," he cut her off brusquely. "So let's skip the rehearsals and get on with it."

Gianna's brows peaked in surprise at his rudeness. She stepped further into the room, now taking in the general state of disarray.

"Yes, actually, I was told I'll be getting..."

"Good." He didn't let her finish, also raking over her disparagingly from head to toe.

"Go get dressed," he added, then pressed at a button on the desk beside him.

An older woman came into the room, almost startling Gianna.

She looked at Gianna's outfit briefly at first then at Mason, who silently and dismissively flicked his fingers.

She nodded and said to Gianna,

"Please come with me."

"Yeah," Gianna answered, shooting one last befuddled glance at the dripping, scowling man, before following the other lady out of the door.

They eventually stopped in front of the door and the woman, not meeting Gianna's inquisitive gaze, pulled one side of the door open. "Right through here."

It was a dressing room of some sort? It was far too luxurious and lavish for any ordinary dressing room, like the kind one would see in Hollywood.

"A wedding scene..." Gianna said, half-asking, half-musing. She expected one of the several ladies in the room to affirm or negate her statement but no one was talking.

Everyone seemed to be more bothered with getting their work done, hence she decided to also keep the questions to herself and just go with the flow as the women started getting her ready. She let them do their thing, and while she was getting prepared, Gianna still felt a tiny spark of excited curiosity come to life as the makeup process began in earnest.

She'd never had the money for such an elaborate cosmetic treatment, but hopefully she would get to enjoy something like this on her own 'actual' wedding day when she finally found 'the one'.

Everything around her stank of wealth. Huge money. On most sets she'd been to they would use the counterfeits of almost everything, but this looked so real.

This must be a really huge project, she thought.

Especially, it was different from the usual kind of movie set.

She looked like an actual bride- a thought that might have filled her with joyful butterflies if this wasn't all going to be acting.

At last, Gianna was ushered out of the dressing room towards a hall.

Somewhere in the distance, the sound of an organ swelled dramatically. Everyone turned in near-unison at the soft sound of her entrance into the room.

It was a magnificent vaulted space made up to look like the nave of a grand church. Rows of wooden pews were sparsely filled extras playing the role of guests.

At the far end, standing under an arched backdrop festooned with more flowers and gauzy fabric, was the tall man from earlier, apparently her groom.

So he was her co-actor...she silently mused.

It was a very small congregation, attended by some staff, the officiant and the lawyers. Mason had never planned for his wedding with Olivia to be a grand affair in the first place.

The first question that came to her mind was "where are the cameras?"

There sure were cameras in the room, but not the usual kind befitting of a movie set. There was no crew either, no director, nothing.

This had to be one of the weirdest sets and scenes she'd ever found herself in, with absolutely no preparation or context given. Just roll with it and stay in character, that was the only thing she could do.

Even if her "character" was essentially herself at that moment.

As she walked to the altar, the Mason gave her a look that was both quizzical and assessing, perhaps wondering if this last-minute bride would be up to the task. Gianna forced her features into a bright, blushing smile and let her eyes crinkle as if overwhelmed with joyful nerves.

The officiant began, "Dearly beloved. We are gathered here today to bear witness to the joining together of this man and this woman in the sacred union of marriage..."

On and on the officiant went, extolling the virtues of love and commitment. Gianna tried her best to stay focused and in the moment as the elaborate ceremony played out.

The officiant looked first at the groom. "Please state your name for the record."

"Mason Caldwell," he spoke clearly.

Gianna could swear she'd heard that name before...somewhere.

Then it was Gianna's turn. Wait, what was her character's name supposed to be? They couldn't possibly expect her to just make one up, could they?

The elderly officiant gave her an encouraging smile.

"Your name, dear?"

This was the time to fully commit, Gianna told herself. She'll just say her name, and if something happened to be wrong with that, she was sure whoever the invisible director was would inform her and ask her to retake that part.

"G-Gianna William."

The officiant nodded. "Mason and Gianna. Please join hands and repeat after me."

She turned to him. "I Mason Caldwell, take you Gianna William, to be my wedded wife."

Mason recited, "I, Mason Caldwell , take you Gianna William, to be my wedded wife."

"To have and to hold from this day forward," he repeated.

"For better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health."

He echoed the statement.

"To love, honor, and cherish, from this day forward, until death do us part."

The officiant then turned to Gianna.

Gianna stayed in character and steadily recited each portion of the vow as the officiant prompted her.

"I, Gianna William, take you Mason Caldwell, to be my wedded husband. To have and to hold from this day forward. For better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health. To love, honor, and cherish, from this day forward, until death do us part."

The wedding ceremony concluded with Mason and Gianna being pronounced husband and wife amidst cheers and applause from the gathered guests.

Around the same time, Mason's assistant rushed to the door, looking like he'd just ran a marathon, his jaw dropping slightly when he saw what was happening.

He walked quickly into the room.

"One moment sir," he said to Mason why excused himself and followed him out of the room.

The assistant took a quick and cautious swallow before speaking.

"She's not the one, sir."

A faint scowl started to form in Mason's forehead.

"What do you mean?"

"There's been a mix-up. The woman I found is waiting upstairs, per your instruction. I was delayed due to traffic circumstances, hence my tardy arrival. And you weren't answering my calls, so..."

Mason narrowed his eyes even further as he turned his head back in Gianna's direction.

Gianna assumed that was the end of the scene, as everyone else seemed to be moving about the place. She also stepped away from the altar, wondering what next, when a young woman holding Gianna's cracked phone came to her.

"Excuse me, ma'am? You have a call."

Gianna started, giving the woman an embarrassed smile as she took the phone.

"Oh, thank you."

She went off to a quieter corner, assuming it was probably her friend checking in on how the supposed acting gig had gone. As soon as she picked the call, her friend's voice came through the speaker.

"Gianna!"

Gianna was so ready to launch into an explanation of her bizarre experience but her friend spoke over her in a tense and impatient voice.

"Is everything okay? Why haven't you gotten to the set yet?! The director was so pissed when you were a no-show, he was regretting having me recommend you in the first place!"

Gianna slowly frowned. "What do you mean? I'm at the place right now, I just finished shooting some kind of...weird wedding scene?"

She glanced around the hall they were in, at the decorations and cameras set around the place.

"No, you're not!" Her friend insisted with a laugh of disbelief. "The guy who told me about the gig just called saying you never showed. Gianna...where are you right now?"

"But...I'm here," Gianna stammered, now feeling reality starting to bend and warp around her.

Her friend was silent for a long five seconds before speaking again, "Okay...hold on, just calm down for a second. You went to room 217, right? Like I texted you?"

Gianna felt her blood run cold as the pieces started fitting together. She quickly pulled up the text from earlier, squinting hard at the address through the cracked screen.

"It was...I thought...shit! I went to room 211," she replied hollowly, now noticing the slight difference in the numbers. She had misread the suite number due to her damaged screen.

"Oh my god..." Gianna whispered, then turned to look towards the door, where Mason was also standing and staring back at her.

"Sonia...I think I just got married..."