The Stars Trilogy (28 page)

“Hmm, bitchslap them when they get too excited?”

Kelsey laughed heartily. “I know my treasure is going to be safe with you.” She touched her nose lightly. “But don’t get any ideas yourself, honey. Here’s a piece of advice from me that you should heed. Dare is a really hard case. If you’re not careful, he will break your heart. I mean, really break your heart. I don’t want to see that. I like you.”

Jeez, what would she say to that? She just nodded.

“Okay, I need to run! Feel at home!”

Kelsey gave her a quick hug and walked out the door.

My treasure is going to be safe with you.
If Kelsey only knew her plans for Dare, she’d get fired from her job.

He will break your heart. I mean really break it
. She had a feeling Dare will, one way or another. Nobody had ever won a grand prize without some real pain.

But so far, he had not hurt her enough to quit yet. God, she hoped he won’t. When she thought of all the years she’d spent loving him, quitting was not in the agenda.

She got busy with her assignments.

She knew about the Cyclone!

First she knew that he used to work at Coney Island but he never mentioned in any interview that he used to help operate the Cyclone. Nobody knew about that, least of all him practicing his V lines while riding it. He used to do that a lot with Alana –”

Shit, shit, shit!

Maybe some paparazzi had dug some dirt about his past and wrote about it in some teen magazine way back because he was sure as his next breath that he had never talked about it. He was only grateful they did not find out enough. He had paid people to shut up about the whole thing. Being very famous with skeletons in the closet was the pits. He was constantly threatened by the possibility that it could get dragged out in the open and all his dirty secrets will be exposed for all the gossipmongers of the world to feast on. His dirt was no ordinary dirt. It was the kind of shit people would talk about for ages.

Dammit! His hands were shaking and he was sweating when he felt chilly inside.

Of all the things she’d read about him, it had to be that?! She was really a die-hard fan of his indeed if she was able to dig those old, old articles about him. He should ask Cruz to Google the source of the article on the internet if it still existed and have it taken down.

After he’d calmed down bit, he went looking for her. He found her in Kelsey’s office, busy with a laptop on the table.

She looked up just as he closed the door. She smiled at him tentatively.

“I don’t like your idea,” he said flatly.

“Pardon?”

“About V and the Cyclone.”

“Oh, I thought...But why not? It’s a beautiful story. Something the public doesn’t really know—”

“I said I don’t like it!” he thundered.

She jumped in fright, her hand on her chest.

He touched his forehead, reining his temper. “Think of something else. But not that. No mention of the Cyclone or Coney Island or anything connected to that. Is that clear?”

She nodded wordlessly.

He walked to the door again and opened it. “Be ready by lunch. I have a meeting to attend. You’ll come with me.”

“Okay...” she said quietly.

He sighed. “Look, I didn’t mean to shout...” He was at a loss for words. Apologies were not usual to him. He had been the boss for so long that people catered to his whims. In fact, he was only developing the habit with her because she had this uncanny ability to freak him out in all sorts of ways.

“I know. It’s okay, Dare. I’ll think of something else.”

He closed the door.

Dare finally got the call from Ulysses that day. His business partner was shouting in elation on the other line.

“Sorry, man, I should have called sooner but I wanted to make sure first.”

“It’s alright. I understand.”

“This is it, Dare! We have really hit the big time. We’re gonna take Sphinx public! I’m flying to LA the next day. We’ll talk about this.”

“Alright. Just let me know when you arrive.”

“Dare, Raine has an offer on the table.”

Uly was referring to Raine Devereaux, the CEO of Devereaux Oil. “We just struck gold, man. Don’t sell too soon.”

“It’s a really good offer.”

They talked for a few minutes more.

When the conversation was finished, he became pensive again. Things were happening way too fast.

He called his lawyers.

This time, he was driving. His bodyguards were behind them in another car.

Celine clung to the safety handle of the sports car as Dare navigated Mulholland Drive’s winding road with the virtuosity of a race car driver. Well, he was a race car driver but Lord, she had never ridden in a car like this and with a driver like this! He was going at it like a mad man! Any moment now they’d hurtle over the cliff!

She couldn’t stand it anymore. “If you don’t mind, I don’t wanna die yet!”

He didn’t seem to hear her.

The car took a sharp turn sending her body weight swerving to the passenger door. A car was coming towards them from the bend. She closed her eyes and screamed.

She waited for the impact.

Nothing happened.

“Are you trying to kill me?!” she shouted at him, forgetting her place.

“No. I can make you cream...errr scream and kill you in other ways.”

Her cheeks flamed, along with her temper. How can he even make sexual innuendos when she was scared out of her wits? “You’re a very insensitive person!”

“Relax. I’ve been driving on this road for a decade now. I know it like the back of my hand.”

“Sure, but you don’t control fate.”

“What’s that got to do with my driving?”

“You may be the best driver in the world but fate can end it for you in a snap.”

“Sorry. I don’t like the fact that my future depends on some pre-destination mumbo-jumbo. As you can see, I am holding the wheel.”

“Are you an atheist?”

“Wow, what a question. Are you aware you ask the most maddening questions?”

“It’s just a question. Why, do you need your lawyer to answer that?”

“Is my faith a matter of importance to you?”

“Yes and no.”

Seconds ticked.

“Well?” he prodded.

“What?”

“I’m waiting for your explanation.”

“Oh. Yes, your faith is important to me because you’re my driver right now, a suicidal maniac who doesn’t fear for his soul or doesn’t care about mine, that he could actually kill himself and me with his reckless driving. My life, as we speak, depends on your faith. But after I get out of this car, I don’t care if you’re the anti-Christ!”

He grinned, unaffected. “I’m so touched. I thought you were my die-hard fan?”

“Die hard? I don’t remember pledging my life to you. Sorry, I won’t have my epitaph written down as someone who died chasing her suicidal idol that she blindly rode with him in his sport scar and he drove them off a cliff along Mulholland Drive! That’s so neo-noir! I’m sure your life will be turned into a movie and I’d figure in it as the unlucky no-name passenger in your ill-fated devil car, but I’m too young to die a senseless death like that, thank you, no matter how cool the car, how famous the celeb and even if it will be directed by David Lynch!”

He laughed.

“I should stipulate in my contract that I shall not be compelled to ride with you in any vehicle if you are driving!”

“That’s an insult, you know. I have three championships in the Celebrity Challenge. If I weren’t making money in movies, I’d be in Formula 1.”

“Yeah, well, you drive in a one-way track in a race. Is this one way?” She gestured to the snake-like road. “By the way, are you aware that you’re hitting 50 mph on a winding road?”

“Baby, this car was souped up for Mulholland driving. My average here is 60.”

He navigated a mean curve that made her close her eyes tightly again. “Oooohhh Gooo–d! Let me out!”

He slowed down a bit.

“Thank you!”

“You’re welcome.”

She cracked her eyes open to check the speedometer. “But you’re still way above speed limit! I saw a 35 mph sign!”

“Where are the cops?”

The cops were probably tired of chasing him around and just indulged his speed mania as he was the most famous male resident in the area. “You are mad!”

He just laughed. He was so relaxed on the wheel. If she didn’t look at the speedometer or outside the window, she could hardly feel the speed and the twists and turns.

Dare can really drive. And this car was really suave! She tried to relax in her seat.

“That’s better,” he mumbled with a grin.

“Hah!”

Minutes later, they entered the Hollywood freeway. She sighed in relief. For sure, the cops would get him if he did the Schumi thing here.

The car accelerated again. He was driving a god-knows-what car that shot out like a rocket. She glanced at the speedometer again. 65. Okay, she can take this speed. At least it wasn’t a winding road.

“Can’t you drive like a normal guy?”

“Define normal.”

“45-50 normal guy on a regular freeway. 10 on Mulholland.”

“Sorry, that’s too slow for me. There’s only one kind of road where I can be really slow.”

“And where is that?”

He grinned lasciviously. “Tunnels.”

She thought about it and blushed when she understood. “Perv!” she snapped, rolling her eyes.

He chuckled. “Get used to this.”

“Remind me to get insurance!”

He slowed down again and sighed in exasperation. “There, satisfied?”

“Nice car,” she commented dryly.

“Thanks.”

“What is it?”

“It’s a Hennessey Venom.”

“Never heard of it.”

“Now you have.”

“Where are we going?”

“To see my soon to be ex-wife.”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me.”

“We are going to see your...wife?”

“Soon to be ex.”

“But...why do I need to be there?”

“You’re a good negotiator. I need you to convince her to agree to the settlement.”

“But...don’t you have lawyers for this?”

“I’d be saving more time if you talk to her. I’ll pay you the lawyer’s fees.”

“But I’m not a lawyer!”

He smiled. “Right. Who needs them?”

“W-w-wait! I don’t think...”

“Listen. This is the run down.”

“Okay...”

He spoke in monotone, and her eyes grew wider with the information she was hearing from his own lips.

“Wow! One can make a profitable career out of being your ex-wife! I thought it was all rumor! I bet the new applicants are lining up already at this early!”

“Don’t try to be cute.”

“What’s a straying fee?”

“Cheating fee.”

“Huh?”

“MY cheating fee.”

She shook her head. “Everything’s covered, including your future indiscretions? I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

“Now you have.”

“So, what’s the problem?”

“She wants more.”

“More? Is she nuts? She should be laughing all the way to the bank already!”

“Precisely my thoughts. But apparently, she’s still on my back. I just want this over and done with. She’s been stalling the proceedings for months and the tabloids are going nuts with her public drama.”

“Yeah, I read some. Did you really beat her?”

“Wha..? The fuck I did! No! Never!”

“Okay. I believe you. So, how can I possibly help?”

“I don’t know. You women have a way of expressing yourselves. Maybe you can talk some sense into her to stop playing games because I might just drop her with nothing extra at all and she can spend whatever money she has left fighting me in court.”

“But I have never been married. There is no divorce in my country, so I don’t know the process.”

He looked shocked. “No divorce in your country?! I have never heard of a country with no divorce.”

“Now you have.”

“I can’t imagine living in a country like that.”

“Why not?”

“It sounds like Alcatraz.”

She laughed. “Funny way of putting it. You’re so scared of not getting out of a marriage. Why marry in the first place?”

“I’ve been asked that before. I’d answer you later. On second thought, I’d rather not.”

“Why?”

“Just do what I’m asking you to do, okay?”

“I wonder why you think I can do it when your lawyers are failing. I don’t even know your wife.”

“She’s not my wife anymore. We’ve been separated a year. We haven’t slept together in the same room six months before we officially split.”

“But you got married only two years ago. How come...?”

“Six months of hanging out together doing dirty sex and nothing else got old pretty fast.”

She shook her head and fell quiet.

“What? Cat got your tongue, smartass?”

“It’s just so unromantic and so very sad...Hollywood marriages.”

“Yeah, welcome to the jungle.”

Well, she had never really entertained the idea that she might get divorced one day so divorce laws didn’t interest her at all. Her future marriage to Dare will be for keeps.

Dare continued to orient her on the nature of the divorce he and Gabrielle were trying to settle under. It was him who asked for divorce but they had agreed to call it quits amicably and settle matters out of court. The legal term for it was Uncontested Divorce. No need for both of them to appear in court. They just had to agree on a final financial settlement. Wow. Divorce in America was easy but costly, she thought. No wonder there were so many lawyers making money out of nasty break-ups.

“So, she’s contesting your prenup?” she asked, deeply interested now. She was actually privy to his personal affairs now, in the true sense of the word. Mere secretaries didn’t get involved in their employers’ divorces, did they?

“Yes.”

“Can she win?”

“I won’t let her.”

“Then just fight her in court.”

“I have a movie to shoot soon and I’m running on a tight schedule. The last thing I need is a judge asking me to appear in court when I’m working on the other side of the globe. I want it settled without a trial, as quietly as possible. Gabby has been loud enough with the media. A trial will detonate more shit and I don’t like that kind of bad press preceding my directorial movie. I want you to talk to her to sign the agreement.”