Groupie/Rock Star Bundle (75 page)

It broke his heart to look at her face. Deep
inside he had always believed there would never be an end for them,
but now he was willing to close the door on her forever. Only his
child was worth that kind of sacrifice. It was his turn to nod. “I
never thought I’d ever want this,” he confessed, but she already
knew that. “But now that it’s real I can’t remember what was so
scary before.” Her eyes fell as he kept going. “I can’t wait to
meet him or her. To hold my baby in my arms. To be the family I
never got to be. I’ve run from this my whole life and now I can’t
think of anything I want more.”

She closed her eyes. It was exactly what she
had feared. When she looked at him there were tears in her eyes she
refused to shed. “I’m happy for you, Vanni,” she choked out.
“Really.”

He took her hand in his. “Are you happy,
Andy?”

She smiled bravely. “Oh yes,” she lied right
through her teeth. “Graham is a wonderful, loving man. And we’re
going to get him back on his feet in no time.”

“And you love him,” Vanni prodded.

“Much like you love her,” Andy mused in
response. She glanced up at the altar. “Otherwise I guess you
probably wouldn’t be here.”

He glanced over to the altar himself. He would
stand there in just a few days and promise his life to someone
other than the woman sitting next to him. It felt almost sinful,
but they had both made their choices. There was nothing to do but
live out the lives they promised to other people.

The door to their ever being together again was
closing and there was nothing they could do but look on. “I should
go,” she whispered as she struggled to her feet.

He pulled her hand towards him until she sank
back onto the pew beside him. “I still love you,” he whispered, as
if in confession.

She gasped back the sob she never wanted to
release. “I’ll always love you, Vanni,” she whispered in
return.

His hand snaked behind her neck and pulled her
close, resting his forehead on hers. His throat constricted as he
placed a soft, long kiss on her nose which released one lone tear
to chase down her face. “Vanni,” she whispered and he was unable to
resist her call. He tasted her lips tenderly. It was their last
kiss, their last chance, their final goodbye. She submitted to him
for one long, passionate moment, then pulled away and stumbled out
of the aisle and out of the church.

It wasn’t until he got back to the apartment
that evening that he realized what a mistake he had made. The
computer had been left open to late breaking gossip, where a fuzzy,
dark photo of Vanni kissing Andy in the church had been published
by PING.

“He can’t even make it to the altar without
screwing around!” the snarky copy read. “Run for your life,
Holly!”

He immediately ran to Julian’s apartment, but
no one answered the door. He had no idea whether they were there
and pissed off or had left the building entirely. He assumed it was
the latter, because Julian didn’t come after him with a baseball
bat like Vanni feared.

He went back to his penthouse and into the
closet, only to find everything she’d moved into his house now
gone.

She’d done it.

She’d left.

And she took his child with her.

He raced to the studio where he found Leo in a
rage. “You stupid son of a bitch!” he bellowed as he advanced onto
the younger man. “How could you risk what you had with Holly on
that fat cow?”

It was more than Vanni could take, especially
in the desperate mood he was in. He shoved Leo back against the
soundboard. “You say one more thing against Andy and I swear to God
I’ll rip your fucking throat out,” he threatened through clenched
teeth. “And you better not be hiding Holly somewhere.”

“Why not?” Leo spat back. “She needs someone to
protect her from your sleazy ass. Just like a fucking Italian, man.
Do you got a little cock, man? I mean I really want to know why you
need to fuck any piece of pussy that moves.”

Vanni reared back and punched Leo right across
the jaw, bringing the older man to the floor. He jumped back up in
a rage as he flung himself against Vanni. In return Vanni promptly
decided to take out all his fear and his desperation of not knowing
where Holly was on this pompous asshole, the same guy who had
facilitated every bad decision he had made this past
year.

They broke expensive equipment as they tumbled
around the studio, where Yael and Davy and some sound techs barely
dodged the brouhaha. Yael had already called for back up the minute
Leo got the call from Holly and promptly lost his shit, so he
wasn’t surprised that within minutes Graham wheeled onto the scene
with two burly security guards to break up the fight. Andy trailed
slightly behind.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Leo
continued to rage. He motioned behind Graham to Andy. “You should
be keeping your dog on a leash.”

Though he was held back by a security guard,
Vanni lunged at him spewing profanities. He couldn’t believe he
ever trusted that worthless piece of shit.

Graham didn’t even raise his voice. “You have
two ways you can play this, Leo. You can leave here quietly and
respectfully and maybe, just maybe, you’ll be able to work in this
business again. Or you can keep talking and wind up in jail for
assault, trespassing, vandalism and sabotage. Personally I’m really
hoping for the latter.”

“I want to know where Holly is,” Vanni
yelled.

“Fuck you, man,” Leo goaded. “She’s going to
own your ass. She’s going to own all of your asses,” he declared
with bloody grin. “I personally can’t wait to see her take you all
down.”

Graham nodded at the guard holding Leo to have
him removed from the premises. Vanni struggled to follow. “I need
to know where she is,” he begged Graham, who just shook his
head.

“He won’t tell you anything, Vanni,” Graham
informed him. “But I’m sure she hasn’t gone far. She’s just making
you pay for humiliating her.”

The guard released Vanni, who slumped down in a
chair. “You don’t understand. She made me promise I would never
hurt her.”’

“That’s a promise you should never make to
anyone,” Graham said. “You hurt everyone you touch. Especially
women. Personally I think she’s smarter to stay away, but we
already know that isn’t possible with the great Giovanni Carnevale.
They all come to you like a moth to a flame, ready to burn up in an
instant rather than live a safe, boring existence without
you.”

Everyone in the room knew he referred to Andy
when he spoke. She closed her eyes and shook her head and tried to
pretend she was anywhere else.

Vanni saw her distress. “So sanctimonious,” he
sneered at Graham. “You think you haven’t hurt her just as much?
Haven’t pulled her in five directions just as much? Why did she
come back this time? Pneumonia, was it? I have to say I don’t quite
go to the lengths you do but I am in awe of your
finesse.”

Graham’s jaw clenched as he stared at Vanni.
“And how long did it take you to get over her?” he wanted to know.
“Was Holly in your bed that weekend? Or that night?”

“Stop it!”

All the men turned to where Andy cried out,
holding her hands to her ears. Tears flowed down her face as she
openly wept from how they were tearing her apart. Their triangle
had become a noose around her neck. Graham was right. She was a
moth dying to get too close to the flame.

In that instant she hoped she’d burn up and not
have to deal with one more minute of this impossible
situation.

She took one step toward the door before she
fell in a dead faint right in the middle of the wrecked
studio.

Chapter Twenty-Three

December 22, 2010. New York.

Holly

Holly paced back and forth in the expensive
hotel in the heart of Manhattan. She couldn’t yet afford this on
her own but Leo was glad to pull some strings for her the minute
that she called him.

That was right after she got the text from her
contact at PING to let her know he had trailed Andy just like she
had requested, and the lead was hot. Vanni was caught canoodling
with his ex on the eve of his wedding right in the church he was
due to be married. It was Hollywood Gossip Gold. She begged him not
to post the photos but she learned too late her partners in crime
were only loyal to a point.

When it came to making money off of the carcass
of Giovanni Carnevale, she had only been another link in the chain.
There was much more money to be made from the scandal, something
she had foolishly believed he’d be smart enough to avoid when he
knew PING tailed him relentlessly all over the city.

She hurled a glass across the room and against
the other wall, where it shattered. How had everything gone so
wrong? She almost had it perfect this time. She thought she had
played it so smart. When she heard about everything that had
happened in Philadelphia she had been quick to get in touch with
her good pal Leo Newman, someone she already knew was on the DIB
crew. She wanted to find out what she needed to do to get close to
a lonely, vulnerable star with a lot of money and no real sense
with what to do with it.

Obviously he let groupies close. He was the
perfect target.

The more she researched him the more she knew
just how to bend him to her will. She dyed her hair, bought some
bright contacts and rehearsed the story she’d tell him that would
endear her to him as more than just a little gopher in a studio. He
wanted someone wholesome, so she played the Midwest card. He didn’t
want a groupie, so she turned him down flat the minute he tried to
make a move. She played the victim to the hilt, knowing how it
tugged at his heartstrings with guilt and regret for all the
mistakes he was making.

Leo gleefully gave her all the information she
needed. He knew if she could get in there it would finally break
Vanni away from Graham and he would start his own label – with Leo
at the helm of course.

It was the big break for everyone. All she had
to do was play it cool and slip in under the radar when no one was
looking. They’d push the drama, keeping things antagonistic between
Graham and Vanni, and provide Vanni with enough distraction that
he’d never even know he’d let some weasels right into the chicken
coop.

The last five years had prepared her for this
moment. She had played this game before with others before him, all
in various stages of success and vulnerability. Eventually she
realized that the old tricks work best. All she had to do was get
pregnant and they would all live on easy street while he toiled
overtime to take care of the baby mama. She didn’t care about
Vanni… he was a weak piece of shit. But she cared very much about
becoming Holly Carnevale, the sainted wife and mother of his
children.

She’d grace every magazine, walk every red
carpet, tape every interview looking fabulous and wealthy, while
she kept her ne’er do well husband in line. If he fucked up anyway?
Then she’d take him for every penny he had.

But the fucker couldn’t even wait until they
were married to cheat.

And with someone like Andy Foster. Holly’s face
screwed up into a snarl just to think about her. She was dull,
drab, fat and ugly… yet she had two of the most powerful men in
rock music battling over her like she was Helen of Troy. Holly
never understood it.

She thought about that just the night before
when she and Vanni had made love. He twirled her around like a
doll, surely grateful that he no longer had to do the heavy lifting
with a size sixteen cow. They were athletic in their pursuits and
he never made her feel like he was missing out on anything, in fact
he acted more like they were the perfect fit.

Then, hours later, he was kissing that cunt
right in the church he was supposed to swear before God he was her
man till death do they part.

If either of them thought she was going to fade
quietly into the background and let them be together they were
mistaken.

The only reason she left was he needed a scare.
He needed to know she could leave at any moment and take the thing
he wanted most with her when she went. She had already zoned in on
his weakness: abandonment.

She’d give him a few days to mull it over. Then
she’d show up again and make him pay dearly for humiliating her
while he ran in guilty circles trying to make it up to
her.

Julian came out of the bathroom dressed in a
towel. “So. Any word from Leo?”

She shook her head and checked her phone again.
There were dozens of missed calls and texts from Vanni, but Leo
hadn’t contacted them yet.

He was supposed to let them know when she could
go back, when Vanni had reached the very limits of desperation and
was willing to agree to anything – including marriage without a
prenup.

Julian walked over to where she sat, stood
behind her and rubbed her shoulders. “It’ll be okay, Hol,” he said.
“We’re too close to give up now.”

She grabbed his hand. She was right. They
were.

“In the meantime,” he said with a lascivious
grin as he dropped his towel, “let me take your mind off your
troubles. ‘Sis,’” he added sarcastically as he pulled her to the
bed.