"I would be surprised if this meeting goes even half as good as the last one. Though, I am hoping it goes well."

Tom said as he passed on the coffee to Aiden. He took a sip out of it and made a frowning expression as it felt a tad bit too bitter for his taste.

But he felt like his whole day was going to be like the coffee. There were certainly a lot of unpleasant things about the entertainment industry and dealing with unpleasant people was one of them.

"Well, Alberto is still a professional. He isn't going to be that blunt." Aiden said as they walked. They were currently in the Titan studios office, walking to the meeting place.

Wade wasn't accompanying them as he was busy with negotiating down the contract with Red Ant studios. Although the signing fee was decided, there were other things in the contract that were still being negotiated.

A few people from his legal team were obviously accompanying him too.

"Actually, from what I heard, he's kinda like that sweet and spicy girl you dated sometimes in your life."

"What?" Aiden stopped in his tracks and gave the strangest look he could muster to Tom who quickly explained himself.

"You know that girl who seems like the sweetest person in the world at first but after you breakup, she makes you feel like she's the descendant of Satan even if she acts like the breakup is mutual at first. Why are you looking at me like I'm spewing nonsense? You never have that kind of a relationship?"

"You are spewing nonsense and even if it's true, your analogy is weird."

Aiden shook his head but Tom kept telling him about the rumours he had heard about Alberto.

But Aiden didn't need him.

He had heard enough from Ava about the guy and she had told him that Alberto was surely going to ask him something in return for casting him. Or try to make some kind of a deal.

So, he was prepared for that.

Though, Aiden did wonder how Tom knew so many rumours. Once, he had heard from Sasha that Tom had the subscription of every tabloid and gossip magazine running in the country.

He had dismissed it as a joke before but that might just be true.

'The meeting can't be that bad. After all, everyone is an adult and a professional here.'

He thought and just half an hour later, Aiden regretted those words.

***

"You must be very brave to decide to ask for a meeting even after our last interaction. I thought you were too cozy with Ava to seek me out for [Hex]. It's not wrong to say that I was surprised when my assistant told me you wanted to meet me, so I will give you that."

Aiden looked straight at Alberto and thought that he really was blunt. There were other people sitting around him but they looked too used to it.

They probably thought that it was just another day at work.

"I seeked you out because [Hex] interested me and I'm a fan of the original books. Our last interaction wasn't in my mind."

"It was in my mind." Alberto said, looking like he had no intention of being even a tad bit professional.

"Don't you think that we should not hang on the past and try to see where our mindset lies in respect to the project? And try to work together?"

Alberto laughed hearing that.

"Nope. I'm not that naive to act all chummy with someone who isn't pleasant to my eyes. I thought you knew how the industry worked as you made your way from the bottom. Or you just got lucky."

A crack appeared on the expression of Aiden.

Tom looked at him with worry. As just an assistant, he didn't have the authority to speak here and he felt like Aiden was going to lose it any second.

'I guess it's not going to work.'

Aiden thought in his mind as he looked at Alberto.

Ava had told him that the man was bitter after [Action Hero]. To top it off, Titan studios also had a distributing partnership for [The Black Saint] and they had earned a lot with that even with a minimal share in the movie.

That's why Alberto was not even trying to be polite. In that case, Aiden also had no reason to stay polite.

"You are right." He said. "I was naive to think that you would try to be a bit professional as I thought you are a respectful producer with years of experience. Guess I was wrong to accept anything like that from you."

"What did you say?" Alberto glared at him and Aiden looked him in the eye.

"You already heard me."

People around them glanced between the two of them as they wondered if the meeting had already fallen off.

It was then that Alberto smiled.

"Finally you saw your real face. I don't like talking with people who are just trying to be nice when they don't hold good feelings towards me."

"You don't really give me any opportunities for me to have good feelings towards you."

"Then, how about I give you an opportunity?"

Alberto said and with the crooked smile on his face, Aiden knew that nothing good was going to come out of his mouth.

But he still said, "What?"

"Let's make a deal. You stop trying to get too involved with Ava and I will start to ponder about you heading [Hex]. I know the little girl is trying to plot against me and has offered you quite a few things in exchange for you supporting her endeavors. But I can offer you the same and a bit more than her."

Like Aiden had thought, the deal that Alberto offered was pretty cliche.

He was literally telling Aiden to betray Ava and form a relationship with him. A business relationship where both of them can help each other.

"Sorry, that won't happen. I don't have a habit of betraying people."

Aiden said, having no need to even consider the proposal. It had a bad deal written all over with it.

He didn't trust Alberto to support him like Ava. The man was only going to use him because Aiden was pretty versatile in terms of his talents and his movies were working very well.

"That's a good habit to have in the industry you know."

Alberto just said that and with that, the meeting was over. He had nothing else to say and Aiden knew that he wouldn't want him if he's not on his side.

The meeting was ironically over even before they could talk about the movie and their ideas about it.

While Aiden was walking out of the meeting room, one thing was in his mind and that was the proud, crooked smirk that Alberto showed him.

He didn't like it.

"What should we do now? [Hex] is out of our hands now just because the executive producer attached to it is a piece of shit."

Tom cursed as they walked out.

Hearing his words, Aiden stopped in his tracks. His mind began running as he wondered if it was really the end. The mature thing here would be to just get out of the movie and find a project where he can be more cordial with the producer.

There were tons of projects like that.

But Aiden didn't like Alberto's tone. Nor he liked that he was unable to do a project just because the producer didn't like him. It just didn't feel acceptable to him as an actor.

'I need to make one last try. At least an attempt to see if I can ruin that crooked smile.'

He thought in his mind and took the lift with Tom to the ground floor. His assistant kept glancing at him as he was unusually silent.

As an avid observer of Aiden, Tom knew that he would normally laugh out failures like this and try to move on as soon as possible. So he can be ready for the next big project.

But today it was different.

He felt like something big was going to happen. And it was confirmed when the lift stopped.

"Let's sit in that lounge area."

"Aren't we going to the car? Wade had already texted me five times."

Tom asked with a confused expression.

"No, I want to try something."

Aiden said and walked to the reception. He asked a few things from her and sat down in the seat that was closest to the elevator.

Tom sat next to him and couldn't help resist asking.

"What is your plan? Are you going Gandhi mode and protesting or something?"

"No, I'm following what Wade once told me. The producer is the most important person in the crew as he had all the rights of how he wanted to edit the movie. He is like a big bull who no one could stop. Depending on his mood, the movie could be nominated for a Raspberry award or an Oscar. But before the movie is completed, he is constantly battling with the bull that is the director. We now need to impress that bull and make him fight from our side."