Park Avenue (Book Six in the Fifth Avenue Series) (61 page)

The last time Leana got
ready for a party that approached anything close to what she had planned for
tonight, it was for the opening of the Redman International Building.
 

Celina was alive and
drove most of it.
 
Her mother also
assisted, and Leana remembered her making certain everything met her high
standards and expectations.
 
At that
point, her father was at the top of his game, but unaware of what was coming by
way of Louis Ryan, who, over the course of four short weeks, changed their
lives forever.

Leana was a different
person then.
 
Immature.
 
Irresponsible.
 
Angry.
 
But now, as she sat in the salon off her
master suite with Michel doing her hair and makeup, she realized with a sense
of shame that so much of what she considered her misfortune came down to her
own bad attitude.
 
Not all of it was
on her—her father’s dismissal of her certainly contributed—but a
fair deal of it absolutely was on her.

When Michel finished, she
went to her dressing room, dimmed the lights until they emulated what she had
created at her hotel, and looked in the mirror.
 
What she saw was exactly what she had
envisioned for herself.

“I love it,” she said to
Michel.

“It’s hard to go wrong
with vintage Dior, Leana.
 
And you
were right about your hair.
 
I
wanted to do an updo, but taking the flat iron to it allows it to move
beautifully when you walk.
 
Everything about you is chic and slender.
 
It works.”

“What did you do to my
eyes?”

“I gave you a smoky eye
and a pouty lip.”

“Really?
 
That’s funny.
 
I used to get those on the playground
during recess, only they weren’t so skillfully done.”
 
She winked at him in the mirror, and
turned once more to face it.
 
“The
dress is so pretty.
 
Thank you for
getting it for me.”

“If Dior were still with
us, he’d be thanking
you
.”

*
 
*
 
*

When Michel left, Leana took a moment to collect
herself.
 
This was it.
 
At last, she was here.
 
She was worried about how it would
go.
 
Would she be safe?
 
She didn’t feel safe.
 
She felt terrified about what tonight
might bring, but she didn’t want Mario to be more concerned for her than he
already was, so she was making an effort to be herself.

I have him, I have Sean, I have Sean’s team, I
have Zack, I have Marty, and I have Anastassios.
 
They’ll all be watching the crowd.
 
They’ll take care of Michael and
me.
 
I need to trust them.

Before going to Mario,
she felt she should do something.
 
Perhaps because there was a last time for everything, and this might be
it for her.
 

When her father called
that morning, they smoothed things over between them.
 
She apologized for her outburst at his
meeting with the Japanese businessmen.
 
Given the circumstances, he said that he understood.
 
When they were finished, she felt as
though they were back on track.
 
Now, she wanted to hear his voice.
 
If things didn’t go well tonight—for either of them—she knew
she’d regret not calling him later.

“This is a surprise,” he
said when she called.

“One of us has to check
in on the other one, Dad.”

“Believe it or not, I was
going to call you.
 
I thought you’d
be getting ready now, so I didn’t want to interrupt.”

She didn’t know whether
to believe him, but it didn’t matter.
 
Tonight was an unknown.
 
It
had the potential to change everything.
 
She wasn’t about to go into the evening without reaching out to
him.
 
What if she lost him?
 
What if he lost her?
 
Either way, she had one thing to leave
him with.
 

But not just yet.

“By now, your security
team is in place,” she said.
 
“You’ve vetted them, you’ve talked to them, and knowing you, you’ve
given them a laundry list of orders.”

“As if you haven’t.”

She smiled at that.
 
“Well, of course I have.”

“I thought so.
 
Like father, like daughter.”

That caught her off
guard.
 
“How do you feel about your
team?”

“Good.
 
Not great.
 
But not because of them.
 
They’re actually very thorough and
professional.
 
And, yes, they take
direction well.
 
What I can’t get
out of my head is what happened to us before, Leana.”

She was surprised that
her father would open up to her like that, that he would reveal that he also was
on edge and concerned.
 
It wasn’t
like him.
 
“You’ll have someone with
you all night?”

“All night.
 
So, will Pepper.”

Leana bit her
tongue.
 
She couldn’t reveal what
she knew about Pepper.
 
Or what she
thought she knew.
 
Until the facts
were in, she couldn’t share them with her father.
 
If she couldn’t back them up with proof,
he’d just challenge her and defend Pepper, which she couldn’t bear.
 
So, it was best to move forward and say
nothing.
 

“Please be careful
tonight,” she said.
 

“I appreciate that.”

“I mean it.”

“And I mean the
same.
 
It won’t happen again.
 
Last time we had security, but nothing
like what we have tonight.
 
Even if
someone does try something, we should be reasonably well-protected.”

“I agree.”
 
But she didn’t, regardless of how good Sean
and his team were.
 
She had had a
premonition about tonight, and it haunted her.

“You’ve had a tough day,”
he said.
 
“How are you doing?”

“I’ve been better.
 
Today was rough.”

“I’ve been thinking about
you.”

“I’m glad that you called
this morning.
 
That meant a
lot.
 
Mom also called.”

He didn’t respond to
that, but Leana understood why, and she couldn’t blame him.
 
Much of his marriage had been a
lie.
 
Her mother had kept critical,
damning information from him.
 
He
had a right to feel betrayed by her, even though Leana was nevertheless happy
to hear her mother’s voice.
 
Life
was too short.
 
It’s why she chose
to call him now.
 
Telling him this
was something she had to do.

“You know I love you,
don’t you, Dad?”

He went quiet.
 
For a long moment, he said nothing, and
she wasn’t sure why.

She decided she didn’t
care.

“Tell me you know that.”

“My question is,
why
?”

“Let’s not rehash the
past.
 
I think we’ve done enough of
that.
 
Or, at least, I have.”

“Working with you on the
Columbus Circle project showed me just how much I screwed up.
 
And now you tell me that you love
me.
 
It should be me telling you how
much I love you, which I do.”

“Well,” she said,
refusing to give in to her emotions because doing so would just ruin her for
tonight.
 
“Who knew?
 
Look at us.”

“Leana, I want you to be
happy.”

“Despite the past four
weeks, I
am
happy.”

“I want you to be happy
with Mario.
 
I want you to be able
to trust him.”

“I trust him with my
life.
 
And I love him more than you
know.”

“He’s good to you?”

“He’s better than good to
me.
 
He’s my rock.
 
What you need to know is that he’s happy
his family is in jail.
 
He wants
them all there.
 
He wants his father
to die there after what he did to me.
 
What does that tell you about him?
 
He is not one of them.
 
He
loves me more than I’ve ever been loved.
 
I’m beyond lucky to have him as a husband.
 
He’s my world.”

“I used to think that way
about your mother.”

“This isn’t the same
situation.”

“That’s not what I
meant.
 
I was just remembering how
it used to be with her.
 
Things were
good when I was still in the dark.
 
I think she loved me.
 
I
remember that feeling of being loved.”

She didn’t know what to
say to that, so she let it pass.
 
“Have a good opening,” she said.
 
“We probably should be leaving soon.
 
Mom always used to get angry with me
because I was always intentionally late.”

“I think you’re a
different person now.”

“Maybe.”

“You are.
 
And I’m proud of you.
 
And so is your mother.
 
And Harold would have been proud of you.
 
And I know Celina would have been
too.
 
We all are.”

“Have a fun party, and
try your best to keep Pepper in line.”

“I don’t think that’s
possible.”

“Feel free to use a
whip.”

“She’d probably turn it
on me.”

She laughed at that and
told him that she loved him again, but when she ended their conversation, she
felt a sense of finality that was foreboding.

*
 
*
 
*

She went to Mario, who
had promised not to steal a look at her until she came to him.
 
He was in the library enjoying a glass
of Scotch when she stepped into the room and cleared her throat.

He turned to her.

“Look at you,” she said.

“I’m supposed to say
that,” he said.
 
“You look amazing,
Leana.
 
Perfect.”

“You don’t look so bad
yourself.
 
That tux fits you like a
glove.”

“I could say the same
about your dress.”

He put his Scotch on a
side table, walked over and pressed his cheek against hers.
 
“I want to kiss you; I want to put my
hands all over you, but you’d kill me if I did either, so I’ll behave.”

“You’re right,” she said,
kissing him back.
 
“What you see
before you now didn’t happen naturally.
 
It’s all an illusion.”
 
She
drew a circle around her face.
 
“This right here?
 
This isn’t
real.
 
And let me tell you something
about Spanx.
 
I’m convinced a sadist
made it.
 
I’ll be lucky if I can get
a chicken wing in me.”

“You’re not serving
chicken wings.”

“A girl can dream.”

“Have you been in touch
with Sean?”

“I have.
 
He and his team are ready.
 
He brought in twenty extra people, most
of whom will be wearing black tie.
 
The idea is for them to move through the crowd and eavesdrop on the
conversations.
 
He’s had success
with that method before.”

“How’s Michael?”

“Nervous.
 
He knows that your father wouldn’t
target him.
 
He’s aware that there’s
another threat.”

“Did you tell him that
Marty suspects Louis Ryan?”

She shook her head.
 
“That would only confuse him.
 
What’s important is that he knows that
there is another threat, that we’ve beefed up security, and that he knows that
he will be flanked by three trained guards who will protect him.”

“You have the pepper
spray I bought for you in your clutch?”

“I do.
 
Part of me wishes it was a pepperbox,
not that I’d know how to use it.
 
Point and shoot, I guess.”

“You’ll have your share
of protection tonight, including me and Sean.
 
You won’t ever be left alone.
 
If the crowd is too tight and you sense
that you’re being separated from either of us by the crush, I need you to stop
and let Sean or me get back over to you.
 
Agreed?”

“Agreed.
 
I’m not screwing around tonight.
 
Despite all of Sean’s efforts, I know
what could happen.”

“How long is your
speech?”

“Three minutes, give or
take.
 
Short enough?”

“That should work.
 
The shorter the better.”

She looked at her
watch.
 
“We should go.
 
I want to be there at least two hours
early to go over everything with Zack.
 
He’s probably a wreck right now.”

“Are you joking?” Mario
said.
 
“Zack is in his element.
 
This business is in his blood.
 
He’s probably having the time of his
life.”

CHAPTER
EIGHTY-EIGHT

“It doesn’t go there,”
Pepper Redman said to one of the decorators.
 
“It goes here.
 
See?
 
Like this.
 
And do you see why I cut the stems so
the flowers sit so low?
 
It’s so
people can talk to each other easily across the table without the flowers
getting in the way.
 
Every table
should look like this table, but they don’t.
 
You’re a professional.
 
Why you don’t know that at this point is
beyond me, but you’ve got time to fix the rest, so fix them.
 
Cut the stems, bring the height down,
place the vase correctly, and move on to the next table.
 
Do it quickly—we’re opening
soon.
 
But don’t you dare fuck it
up, or I’ll have your ass.
 
Understood?”

“Yes, Miss Redman.”

She glared up at
him.
 
“If you understand, then why
are you still standing here?
 
Move.”

Pepper watched the man
hurry off to the next table, scissors in hand, and waited for him to do as he
was told.
 
Only when he got it
precisely right did she turn to Parker, who was standing beside her, his face
slightly flushed.

“I’ve never seen you like
that,” he said.
 
“You were pretty
harsh on him.”

“Really?
 
I thought he got off easy.
 
This isn’t exactly the opening of Aunt
Mama’s Chick’N’Leg.”

“Isn’t that a chain in
the South?”

She waved her hand
dismissively.
 
“I wouldn’t
know.
 
What I do know is that I’ll
receive their bill tomorrow, and it will be substantial.
 
I’m not paying for a crap job on what’s
one of the biggest nights of my life.
 
They’ll get it right if it kills me.”
 
She looked around the room.
 
“What do you think?”

“I don’t think I’m
qualified to answer.
 
But because
you’re so tense, what I am qualified to do is slap you hard across your ass and
get you in line.”

“Parker,” she said.
 
“There’s a time and a place for that,
which isn’t here.
 
OK?
 
Oh, please.
 
Don’t look so wounded.
 
I know you were only joking.
 
Or I hope you were.
 
I have a feeling that after tonight, I’m
going to want you to beat my ass sideways and screw me senseless, but right
now, I need to focus.
 
You know,
like that right over there.
 
Look
what he’s doing.
 
Why, why, why
won’t he listen to me?
 
I’ve asked
him three times not to turn up the fucking lights.
 
People want to look young again.
 
Lighting is an illusion, lighting is
critical, lighting must be sensitive, and that man, probably because he has one
foot in the grave and is chockablock full of cataracts, keeps turning up the
lights because he thinks they’re too dim.
 
I need to deal with him now.
 
Come with me.
 
Jesus!
 
Hands off the goddamned lights!”

“You’re a piece of work,
Pepper.”

“Oh, stop it.”

“And looking at your ass
right now in that dress?
 
I can’t
wait to get my hands on it.
 
You’ll
see.
 
You’ll be crying for me to
stop.”

And Pepper, as tense and
overwhelmed as she was, couldn’t help a giggle.

*
 
*
 
*

An hour later, when her
uncle arrived in what Pepper thought was an immaculately tailored tuxedo, the
white collar of which set off his deep tan, she went over to George, took his
hands in her own, and with a sense of trepidation, introduced him to Parker.

“Pepper hasn’t told me
about you,” George said.

“We’ve just recently made
it official, Uncle George.
 
Parker
and I have been seeing each other when we can, but now we are exclusive.
 
I haven’t mentioned him to anyone
because I needed to make sure that it was serious.
 
Otherwise, what’s the point?
 
Right, Parker?”

“Absolutely, Pepper.”

“So, this is serious?”

“It is.
 
My first serious relationship,
actually.
 
I’ve never been so
serious, Uncle George.”

George appraised
Parker.
 
“What do you do, Parker?”

Parker was about to
answer, when Pepper interrupted.
 
“Later.
 
Let’s do
brunch.
 
Just the three of us.
 
There’s still so much to do before the
doors open.
 
I want you to get to
know him, Uncle George.
 
But we’ve
got no time for chitchat.
 
We’ve got
to get this party started, y’all.”

“Pepper, did your
Southern accent just come out?”

For a moment, Pepper
looked shell-shocked.
 
Though the
lights were dim, she felt in her soul that her uncle could see the color drain
away from her face.
 
“It happens
when I’m nervous.”

“I haven’t heard an
Arkansas drawl for years,” George said.
 
“It was actually pleasant.
 
It reminded me of your father.”

“Atlanta,” Pepper said,
glancing at Parker.
 
“Always
Atlanta.
 
Not Arkansas.
 
Everyone always gets them mixed up.”

“Right,” George
said.
 

“You’re from Arkansas?”
Parker asked.

“No,” George said with a
smile.
 
“Atlanta.
 
Always Atlanta.
 
And I’m assuming this was after Atlanta
burned?”

“You’re so funny, Uncle
George.
 
I wasn’t even born when
that happened.
 
I’m too young.
 
I heard about Atlanta burning in history
class.
 
Seriously!”
 
She winked at him.
 
“Look around.
 
After tonight, it’s Manhattan that’s
going to be set on fire.
 
Nobody
will forget tonight.”