Chapter 3

"Good morning Maverick." One of the agency managers greeted him as he entered the agency building on Monday. Normally he would have skipped the meeting, but his mind hadn't been settled since the interview on Friday evening.

They usually had a directors meeting once every three months and he had planned on skipping the one for this month and he was sure his friends had thought he was going to miss it. But he needed to tell them that the person in the video wasn't him.

" Hello Maverick."

He was greeted by some of the managers and workers at the agency. And also some other celebrities who came for agency visits or some other things. He answered them as well as he could without sounding dismissive.

" Hey Reagan. How are you this morning?"

Before he could enter the boardroom, Jason, one of the other directors and his best friend, came out of the boardroom and walked towards him.

" Hey Maverick, how are you?" He hadn't called any of his friends after the meeting. Which wasn't like him. He wasn't a really talkative person, but he always shared whatever was going on with him, with his best friends.

They were as close as brothers.

And the directors meeting was just actually a meeting between the three of them and sometimes, they were joined by Jason's father or brother.

They all had equal shares in the company.

He could remember the first time he had met Jason and King. He had stayed at the orphanage home, till he was fourteen years old and had stayed on the streets for a few days. He had been singing on the streets to make some money for shelter. and Jason had been amongst his audience. And after that, he approached Maverick.

He was sure that at the time Jason wasn't supposed to be in that part of town.

And he hadn't known what Jason had seen in him. But he had taken him home and Jason's father had taken him in. But now that he thought of it, if Jason had been like his father, he had probably seen a money cow.

Not long after they had met Miguel who was two years older than the both of them. Kingston Miguel, had also been living on the streets when they met him and Jason's father had also taken him in.

He was a widow taking care of four young boys. Because there was Henry, who was Jason's younger brother. He had been significantly younger than them, And so he had been the younger brother to all of them. He was also the official fourth member of the directors board. Jason's father might not have been the most caring father to his children. But he was a very kind man. He had sent two boys, he knew nothing about, to school and after they had graduated secondary school and King was in college, He had funded the agency and by the time Maverick was nineteen, he was already a household name. And the following year he won a Grammy award.

The agency had skyrocketed after that. Which made them one of the best entertainment agencies in the industry. They had several subsidiaries. Like their modeling agency, which was home to several internationally known models and they even managed some very famous actors. They had come so far, and in just a short time too.

He could boldly say that he and the other guys shared bonds that were tighter than some siblings shared.

They entered the office and Miguel was seated in one of the chairs while tapping his fingers against the tables.

He had to tell them that the guy wasn't in the video wasn't him, before the paps discovered it. And he knew if the paparazzi found the man, before he did, it was going to be crazy.

While they exchanged greetings, he could tell that his greeting to his friends was a bit stilted and he knew they noticed this.

" I have something to tell you guys." He said and then paused for a few seconds. They both looked at him impatiently and questioningly.

" The guy in the video isn't me." He said at last. He knew they knew which video he was talking about. Everyone saw the video. Even people that weren't his fans.

In Fact he was surprised that they hadn't asked him about the video till now. They had been waiting for him to tell them by himself. Because he always told them everything.

After almost a minute of silence, King asked, "what do you mean the person in the video wasn't you." He looked like the weight of the world just dropped on his shoulders. Which was just about right. But immediately he was back to his cool and composed self. That was one thing about King, he was always unflappable. He never let anything shake him.

And sometimes, Maverick didn't know if he should admire the man, or just punch him in the face. His position in the agency did require that he was always composed though.

As the de facto head of the agency, he was a celebrity in his own right. He appeared in magazines for interviews and such. Most times when scandals occur in the agency, he wasn't always directly involved. But this was Maverick, the biggest star in the agency. So he had to come forward and say something, before the media twisted everything up.

Jason was still in shock judging by the fact that he was still silent. And Jason was never silent,or at least quiet. Even if he was silent, you could still hear his mind running a mile a minute.

"I am saying, I might have a twin or doppelganger somewhere, that I know nothing about."

" How is that even possible?" Jason asked. "If there was someone who looked like you, what are the odds that someone wouldn't have found out?"

Maverick wondered about that too. Maybe people told the guy that he looked like a celebrity, but he just didn't think it was important or maybe the guy just didn't know about him.

While he was still thinking about this, King was coming up with ideas.

" We need to hire a private detective to find this guy. We need to get to him before the paps do."

In other words, we need to tell him what to say when the paps find out about him. Because they were going to find him. It was better for it to be on their own terms, than for the paparazzi to spin their own story.

It still baffled him that there was someone who looked exactly like him. When they met, what were they going to say to each other? Was it going to be awkward? Were they going to take a DNA test to find out if they are brothers or strangers who looked like they were the same person?

He had all these questions going on in his head.

One thing was for sure though, they had to find the guy before the paparazzi got their hands on him. After all he was just an innocent person, who was about to get his life ripped apart by the paps and general public.

And if the paparazzi should find him before King does, there was going to be a showdown and it wasn't going to be pretty.

At all!