Vendetta: Lucky's Revenge (35 page)

“You’re a fortunate woman, Lucky. You were married to a man you loved, you’ve got three beautiful children.” He paused for a moment. “You know, I’ve never been in love with anyone, never had a meaningful relationship, or even wanted to. My only close relationship is with my mother, and that’s about as fucked up as you can get.”

“Take control,” Lucky said. “The power’s within you. Use it.”

“Maybe you’re right.”

He looked at her for a long moment. She suddenly felt very close to him. It took every ounce of willpower she possessed to finally break the look.

She realized Alex was right—they were unfinished business, but now was not the time.

“
I’M STONED,” TABITHA SAID AND GIGGLED. “THIS IS
,
like, real heavy shit, where’d you score?”

“School,” Santo replied, thinking she was really weird-looking in her orange spandex microskirt that barely covered her crotch, and cut-off skimpy top revealing most of her midriff. His eyes rested on the gold ring attached to her belly button. He controlled an insane urge to rip it out. Would she scream? Would her ripped flesh bleed? He wouldn’t mind giving it a try.

“Hey—what school you go to?” she said, running a hand through her spiked magenta hair.

“Why?” he asked suspiciously.

“’S’ not polite to answer a question with a question.”

“Where do
you
to go school?” he asked, noticing her fingernails were painted a creepy, dull black—like she was out of some vampire movie.

“Boarding school,” she said. “Switzerland. Here”—she snatched the joint from him again, jamming it between her lips—“more for me. Otherwise, I’ll tell ’em you were in here jerking off.”

“You wouldn’t do that,” Santo said, still trying to recover from the shock of seeing Venus in the flesh, more gorgeous and sexy than in her photos.

“I can do anything I want,” Tabitha boasted. “
I’m
the daughter of the house.”

He’d seen girls who looked like her hanging around the Strip on Saturday nights. Usually they were sitting on a curbside throwing up, or fighting with each other before crowding in to see some sleazy rock band. Rich punks. He’d never been into that scene. He preferred the gold Rolex, unlimited credit, and a very expensive car.

“So,” Tabitha said, sucking on the joint. “Your mom’s the one who kicked Lucky Santangelo out at Panther, right?”

“I guess so,” he mumbled.

“My dad hates Lucky Santangelo,” Tabitha said matter-of-factly. “She threw
him
out at Panther. I’ve never met her, but
I
think she sounds cool. And my great-granddad says she’s the best.”

“You’ve got a great-granddad?”

“Yeah, doesn’t everyone? Do you know who he is?”

“Who?”

“Abe Panther,” she boasted. “He founded Panther Studios.”

“Yeah, well,
my
father was murdered,” Santo said, scoring points.

Tabitha ignored that pertinent piece of information. “Why are you so fat?” she demanded.

“Why are
you
so rude?” he countered, hating her and her stupid outfit and her ugly hair. Who was she to call him fat? She was a total freak.

“’S’pose we gotta join the party,” Tabitha grumbled. “Okay, fat boy, let’s go.”

“Don’t call me that,” he said, hating her even more.

She giggled. “Give me another joint and I won’t.”

Abigaile looked around. To her relief, everyone appeared to be having a good time. She glanced at the clock. It
was eight-thirty. Where was Alex Woods? He was the only guest missing. She didn’t think it was polite to summon everyone to the dining table until he was present.

“Tin Lee, dear,” she said, going over to the bar. “Did Alex give you any indication of what time he was arriving?”

“I thought he’d be here before me,” Tin Lee replied. “He must have gotten held up. As you know, he’s starting production on Monday, he’s very busy.”

“He could’ve phoned if he was going to be late,” Abigaile said, hardly able to conceal her aggravation.

“I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if you went ahead without him.”

“Hmm…” Abigaile said, not pleased.

She was on her way to the kitchen when she spotted Tabitha, dragging Santo behind her. Oh, God, the outfit! Mickey would have a heart attack when he saw it. She swooped into her daughter’s path, blocking her way. “Tabitha,” she said, quietly seething. “May I see you for a moment?”

“Mom,” Tabitha said, her orange spandex microskirt riding up. “Have you met Santo?”

“Yes, I’ve met Santo,” Abigaile said through clenched teeth. “Come, dear, I wish to speak with you.”

Tabitha, who was feeling the effects of the grass, giggled stupidly. “What’re we gonna talk about, Mom? Sex? Do you and Dad still do it?”

Abigaile gripped her daughter’s arm and was on her way to maneuvering her out of the hall when in walked Alex Woods, accompanied by Lucky Santangelo.

Abigaile stopped short. Tabitha took the opportunity to wriggle from her grasp and escape.

“Sorry, Abbey,” Alex said, not sounding sorry at all. “Got held up in a meeting.” And before she could say a word, he and Lucky were on their way into the living room.

She hurried behind them, desperately trying to catch
Mickey’s eye. He was in such an intimate conversation with Venus that he didn’t notice.

Tin Lee jumped down from her bar stool and ran to greet Alex. “I was late getting to your apartment,” she started to explain, then she saw Lucky and stopped.

Alex’s worst nightmare was coming true. “What are
you
doing here?” he said, completely exasperated. “Didn’t you get my message?”

“What message?”

“You must be Alex’s date,” Lucky said, getting the picture, and feeling sorry for the poor girl who—pretty as she was—was way out of her depth. “I’m sorry I kept him. Alex and I had a business meeting. He asked me to come here for a drink.”

“I’m sure it’s okay if you stay for dinner,” Alex said quickly. “I’ll tell Abigaile.” He made his way over to Abigaile, who was still trying to get Mickey’s attention. “Abbey,” he said. “Lucky’s staying for dinner.”

“Lucky Santangelo is not Mickey’s favorite person,” Abigaile responded tartly. “They have a history.”

“She happens to be my date.”

“No, Alex,” Abigaile responded. “Your
date
is Tin Lee—who, I might add, has been here for half an hour without you.”

“My
date
is Lucky Santangelo,” he said, refusing to back down. “Tin Lee is the one you’re fitting in.”

“There’s no room at the table, Alex.”

“Pull up another chair, Abigaile.”

They glared at each other.

“I’ll see what I can do,” she said crossly.

Lucky assessed the situation. She knew all the players except George, Donna Landsman’s husband. Without hesitating, she walked right up to the woman and said, “So, we meet again.”

Donna was shocked to see her. She tried to compose herself, aware that it would be unwise to make a scene. Mickey inviting Lucky was a big mistake, one he would pay for. “How are you?” she said coldly.

“Pretty good, as a matter of fact,” Lucky replied, staring at Donna, trying to reconcile the new image with the old Donatella. There wasn’t the slightest resemblance. “Thing is, I’ve had time to reflect, get myself organized, consider the way things have been going.”

Cooper snuck up and grabbed her from behind. “Hi, gorgeous! Great to see you.”

“Cooper—have you met Donna Landsman?”

“Sure.”

“Isn’t it nice to know we have such an
experienced
woman at Panther—you
are
experienced in the film industry, aren’t you, Donna?”

George answered for her. “Mickey Stolli will do an excellent job.”

Lucky raked George with a look, summing him up instantly. Worshiped his wife, probably never got laid before, a whiz with finances, had no idea what Donna was up to.

She turned back to Cooper. “Are you making any deals with Panther?” she inquired.

“You’ll have to ask my agent,” Cooper said with a smooth smile.

“Oh, I’m sure Donna will pursue you. She probably has all the agents and managers crawling up her ass
begging
for deals. And, Donna, I must say—it certainly looks like it could accommodate them.”

Before Donna could respond, Lucky moved away, leaving Donna fuming. She was not fat. How dare the skinny Santangelo bitch make a comment like that. And why was Lucky walking around so cool and collected? Wasn’t it enough that she’d lost her husband, her studio,
and almost lost her father? What else would it take to bring her down?

“Did you hear that?” Donna said to George, her face red with anger. “Did you?”

George tried to calm her. “No scenes,” he said quietly. “You mustn’t let these people see she’s upset you.”

“What’s she doing here?” Donna seethed. “I thought Mickey hated her.”

“I’ll find out.”

“You’d better,” Donna snarled, her triumphant entry into Hollywood society ruined.

Abigaile finally managed to pry Mickey away from Venus. “Have you seen who’s here?” she said, amazed that he hadn’t noticed.

“Everything’s going great, honey,” he said, a stupid smile spread across his face. “What’s your problem?”

“My
problem
is Lucky Santangelo.”

“What about her?”

“She’s over there! Alex brought her.
And
he has a date here.” She glared at her husband as if it were his fault. “What are you going to do about it?”

Mickey shrugged. “There’s nothing we
can
do. What did Alex say?”

“He told me to lay another place at the table.”

“Go ahead and do it.”

“I don’t
want
that woman in my house. She
fired
you from Panther.”

“True, but in this town you gotta get along with everyone—you never know when you’ll need ’em. So, Abbey—go tell your maid to set another place. It’s no big deal.”

“It
is
a big deal,” Abigaile fretted. “It’ll ruin my placement.”

“Honey,” Mickey said mildly, “take your goddamn placement and shove it up your ass! Now do as I say.”

Still glaring, Abbey retreated.

Mickey headed straight for Lucky. “I see Lucky Santangelo has decided to honor us with her presence.”

“Hi, Mickey,” she said coolly. “How’s everything?”

“Pretty damn good. I’m back at Panther, where I belong. Now all I gotta do is dump that lineup of crappy movies on your schedule. The only good one is
Gangsters
.”

“I’m sure you’ll turn things around, Mickey. Only
you
can put Panther back where it was before.” A meaningful beat. “In the crapper.”

Johnny strolled over, joining in the conversation. “Lucky, baby,” he said. “No shit—you are my favorite.”

“
Everybody’s
your favorite, Johnny,” she said. “Do yourself a big one and get a new line.”

“Why?” he said, grinning. “The old one’s always worked for me.”

Jeff stumbled and almost fell off a bar stool on his way over to join the illustrious group. This was an opportunity too good to miss. “I’ve always wanted to meet you,” he said to Lucky, slurring his words. “You’re beautiful, rich, and powerful. There should be more of your kind of woman in Hollywood. I’m Jeff, I’m an actor.”

“Big surprise, Jeff.”

He grinned at her, swaying slightly. “An’ you’re as beautiful as everybody said.”

Alex walked over and took Lucky’s arm. “Come here, Lucky—talk to Venus for me.”

“What now?”

“Here’s the deal,” he said quietly. “Mickey wanted Leslie to play Lola, then changed his mind—now he wants Venus, only she’s under the impression she didn’t get the part. You’ll tell her she did, and not to mention anything tonight.”

“What am I—the mediator around here?”

“Do this for me, Lucky. Please.”

She sighed. “Yeah, sure, like I have nothing else on my mind.”

Tabitha sat Santo on a couch and proceeded to give him a brief rundown of the players.

“You see the woman with the long red hair? She’s Leslie Kane, used to be a hooker. My father doesn’t believe it, neither does my mother. I
know
.”

“How do you know?” Santo asked.

“My mom’s manicurist told me, she’s into everything. And the guy with her—he’s some freeloader out-of-work actor who’s living with her. That’s Lucky Santangelo over there, the one with the black hair. The dude with her is Alex Woods. You know who he is?”

“’Course I do,” Santo said, thinking that this girl wasn’t treating him very nicely.

“Okay, so he’s meant to only like slit eyes. I guess that’s his date—the one with the funny name.”

“How do you know all this?”

“I
observe
,” Tabitha said, twirling the gold ring in her navel. “See Cooper Turner—he fucks anything that moves. And Venus Maria—so does she.”

“What did you say?” Santo said, his face reddening.

“You heard. Venus is a
major
slut. Fucks everyone.”

“Don’t say that about Venus,” he said furiously.

“Why? Do you know her?”

“Yes. She’s a wonderful person.”

“Ha! Shows how much
you
know. Right now she’s fucking her masseur ’cause she can’t find anybody else since she booted Cooper Turner out. Tonight she’s hitting on Johnny Romano—he screws all his girlfriends in the back of his limo. Bet he gets it on with her tonight.”

“You’ve got a dirty mouth,” Santo said.

“Yeah?” Tabitha jeered. “And I bet you’d give anything to have it wrapped around your tiny little dick.”

“What are we doing here?” Lucky said to Venus. “And
what
are you doing with Johnny Romano?”

“Okay, okay—you caught me—this is pretty low,” Venus said, grinning sheepishly. “I wanted to come tonight—if only to see Mickey’s face when I walked in. He’s under the impression I’ll blow him if he gives me the role in
Gangsters
. I’m kind of stringing him along, then maybe I’ll slap him with a sexual harassment suit.”

“Great idea,” Lucky said. “You slapping Mickey Stolli with a sexual harassment suit is
definitely
a
Newsweek
cover.”

Venus laughed. “Yeah, but nobody would believe it. They’d say
I
was the one harassing
him
.”

“I’ve got good news for you,” Lucky said. “There’s some complicated thing going on here involving Mickey. However, according to Alex
—you
are Lola, and Leslie’s
out
, but you’re not supposed to say anything tonight.”

“Are you
sure
?” Venus said.

“Alex told me himself.”

“Oh, God—what a relief! Now I don’t have to blow Mickey!”