Temptations - The Complete Series Page 43

  I went to the terminal that had the private planes, and Dalilah and Luke were already there. “We both got a hotel near the airport,” she explained, giving me a big hug. “I’m so happy that this can happen. Trust me, this security team is amazing. They can do anything, anything at all. They’ve hacked into the government servers and it didn’t take them all that long. They’re the best in the business.”

  “I hope so,” I said. “Slade’s server, I’m sure, has a ton of security. He has to have amazing security, just because of what he does. He has to ward off corporate espionage.”

  “Well, my grandfather was a billionaire and extremely powerful and extremely paranoid. He got this security team to protect him, and I’ve been amazed at what they have been able to accomplish.”

  I gave Luke a hug too, and looked at baby Olivia. She was a beautiful child, just sleeping in her carrier. Oh, how I wished that life was as uncomplicated as it was for her. The only things that she had to worry about were when her diaper was going to be changed or when she would be able to nurse. There was nothing else in her world but those two things.

  She’ll find out soon enough how cruel the world can be. I hated that I was feeling so cynical, but this whole process was bringing that out in me – the cynical bitch. There were people in the world, like Charlotte, who ruined everything for the rest of us.

  “Hey, while they’re at it, can this security team do something else?”

  “What’s that?”

  “Can they find out information about Charlotte? I really would like to know if there’s anything in her background that we could use against her. When the shit hits the fan, we might need leverage.”

  “Sure,” Dalilah said. “We could do that.”

  “Thanks.”

  I had no idea what sort of information would constitute “leverage” when it came to a woman like Charlotte. Maybe there was nothing at all that we could find out. Or maybe there was nothing that would make a difference in this situation. I didn’t know, but I really wanted to find out.

  We climbed aboard the plane, which was a beautifully appointed jet with leather seats and a mini-bar. I had never in my life been on a private plane, and I was very impressed. “Man, I could get used to this,” I said as the sky hostess brought around mimosas and smoked salmon on crackers for Luke and Dalilah. I begged off, however, not able to eat the salmon and not feeling like drinking.

  Dalilah smiled. “My grandfather was a very wealthy man, and he wasn’t exactly good to my father, so he bought him this plane.”

  “Did you know him?”

  “Not really. I heard that he had a deathbed conversion, though, which gave my dad closure on all that he did to him.” She looked out the window as the plane flew high in the sky. I did the same, and saw the cars start to look like ants, and then saw as the land started to resemble a checkerboard. I tried hard to swallow my anxiety, as I imagined what Slade was thinking as he tried to track me and couldn’t. He was going to be infuriated. He might even call it quits. I had no idea what was going to be in store for me when I got back to San Diego, and I didn’t really want to think about it.

  “You okay?” Dalilah asked me. “You’re looking kinda pale.”

  “I’m fine. I just don’t know what’s going to happen with Slade and me after all of this goes down. Assuming that we’ll be able to get our hands on that videotape, that is. He’s going to be so angry, and his mother might be at risk. Not to mention myself.” I tried to quell the lingering doubts that were filling my head. I knew that I was doing the right thing – so why did it feel like the wrong thing?

  “Maybe that woman is bluffing,” she said.

  “There’s only one way to find out, I guess.” Of course, the way to find out was going to end up in disaster for everyone involved. I wondered if I could find any way possible to blackmail Charlotte into not doing what she was threatening to do. Lord, what had I come to – thinking about blackmail, illegally hacking into computer systems, lying to Slade…I had tried so hard to turn over a new leaf when I moved to San Diego, yet scandal seemed to follow me wherever I went. It hung on me like a cheap suit. I wondered if there was ever a way to get away from it.

  “Well, we’re going to be on this plane for awhile, and there’s nothing that we can do until we get there. So, let’s try to take our mind off of it for now. I have some movies to watch, or we could play some cards.”

  “Actually, that would be fine, but I really need some sleep.” After all, I got very little sleep the previous night.

  So, I closed my eyes, and to my surprise, I actually started to drift.

  Chapter 24

  Slade

  Serena had something up her sleeve, and I didn’t like it one bit. While I didn’t necessarily know what she was up to, I had some idea. She was going to try to find the one piece of evidence that would exonerate me. I loved her for doing that, but, at the same time, I hated her for doing that as well.

  I wasn’t going to be blindsided. I was going to have to find out if I had any options if the whole guilty plea were blown to smithereens. So, I called Charlotte.

  “It’s me,” I told her. “We need to talk.”

  “Huh. Don’t tell me you’re backing out.”

  “I’m not. But we still need to talk. There might be a problem. I don’t know, but I need to talk to you all the same.”

  “Slade, you know what you need to do.”

  “I know. But listen; there might be a kink in the works. I need to talk to you, and I need to talk to you now.”

  “Okay. Come up and meet me at my home.”

  I hung up without a word. I was apprehensive, more than apprehensive about everything that was going to happen. What I needed to do to make sure Serena and my mother were safe if Serena decided to take it upon herself to do the one thing that I didn’t want her to do.

  I drove up the coast, thinking the whole time about Serena. I loved her more than I thought I could love anyone. Going to prison was going to devastate me, mainly because I couldn’t be with her. Yet, there was the distinct possibility that I wouldn’t be able to be with her anyhow. I knew what Charlotte wanted from me. What she really wanted, if she couldn’t see me suffer, was to be with her. I couldn’t stand to be in the same room with her, yet…I shook my head. There had to be another option. There had to be some way that I could still be with Serena, and secure her safety and the continued freedom of my mother. I only wished that I still had something to hold over her head. Something good.

  She was dangerous. Of course, I always had the option of turning her in for the murder of Jordan. She would most likely beat that charge, but, even if she didn’t and she ended up in prison, Serena would be dead for sure. Charlotte would make sure of that. She would put a hit on her faster than you could blink an eye.

  Turning her in was out of the question. There had to be something else.

  The pit in my stomach was twisting, inside and out, as I continued my drive up the coast. I had to play the game on her level, because she held all the cards at the moment. I hated that feeling, but I knew that she was not only more ruthless than I had ever contemplated being, but she was also more powerful. Like it or not, she had the one of the most powerful mafia families in the area at her beck and call. They were second only to the Bianchis, in terms of power. Serena wasn’t an enemy for them, so ordinarily she wouldn’t be a target of a hit, but Charlotte was the daughter of the godfather, so she could make it happen. Only if I stayed one step ahead of her could I prevent this, assuming that Serena was going to do what I thought she was going to do.

  I could try steely determination and see if she blinks first. In other words, I could call her bluff and tell her that I would send that videotape into the proper authorities, and work with Malcolm to ensure that he rats on her as the mastermind, and see what happens. That was one option, one that I had considered, but one that I dismissed pretty early on. The downside to that was abundantly clear - she probably would just have Malcolm taken out so that he
couldn’t say a word, and then there would be no tying her to the crime. Then nothing would stop her from laying waste to both my mother and Serena. This made her dangerous.

  I could work with Malcolm first to have him give testimony to the prosecutors about his involvement, after I turn in the videotape to show that he did it, all behind Charlotte’s back. But if I did this behind her back, she would be infuriated to the point where Serena and my mother would be in danger immediately. If the authorities would go up and arrest her after this happened, she would immediately send word to her father about what she wanted to make happen, and I had no doubt that it would happen.

  Which left me with my other dilemma – how to prevent Charlotte from putting a hit on Serena and turning in my mother, even after I took the fall and went to prison. I had to believe that wouldn’t happen, because she would have gotten what she wanted out of this whole mess, which would mean that she wouldn’t have motive to hurt them. I had considered speaking with Malcolm about an insurance policy, should things go wrong, but I wasn’t at that point just yet. The last thing that I wanted was for Malcolm to go behind my back and tell Charlotte that I was speaking with him about him rolling on her if anything happens to Serena and my mom. If that word got to her, she would uncork her vengeance.

  I had thought about all of these scenarios in my head before, but they were even more present in my brain as I sped up the coast. Charlotte had secured the best trap that she possibly could, and I was in it completely. I had to accept the fact that my going to prison wasn’t going to 100% secure the safety of Serena and my mother, but it gave both of them the best chance.

  But Serena had something going on, and I was just going to have to work with that reality. I had to see if there was any option that would save both of them, should Serena somehow, someway, find that videotape, thereby putting a kink into the works.

  I finally arrived at Charlotte’s mansion, which was situated high in the Hollywood Hills. It was secluded and surrounded by iron gates and armed guards. I flashed my ID and told them that Charlotte was expecting me, and they nodded and waved me on. I drove through and then got to her door. A doorman, who evidently was expecting me, opened it as I approached. “Miss Boswell is in the sitting room,” he said. “She is meeting with her agency, but she is expecting you.”

  I nodded, and he led me through the maze of the house and opened up the door. Charlotte was sitting behind a desk, and there were five people around her. She saw me and immediately dismissed them. They looked at me, a bit stunned that I was there, evidently, and they left.

  Did she just make a mistake? She had her publicity people there, meeting with her, and obviously didn’t tell them that I would be arriving. They looked like they had no idea that she and I were still in contact. A kernel of an idea started to form in my head. It was a long-shot, as any idea in this arena was, but I just might have found my Ace in the hole.

  “Slade,” she purred. Whenever she spoke with me, she used her huskiest voice, one that was reserved just for me. She projected this voice very well, however. “I would have to say that this is a pleasant surprise, but, then again, it’s not a surprise, is it?”

  “No,” I said. My mind was flashing to those publicity people. Was there a rat in there who would sell their hottest client to the highest bidder? I shook my head. Even if I could get a whisper campaign going that Charlotte was involved in Jordan’s murder, it would only increase her cache in the eyes of the public. And it would bring her a ton of publicity. Any publicity is good publicity, I had to remember. A whisper campaign wouldn’t do it. I would have to definitively tie her to Jordan’s murder, and I was going to have to do it in a way that she didn’t know what was happening; as impossible and dangerous as that would be.

  “So,” she said, gesturing to the leather-backed chair in front of her desk. “What brings you up here today? I have a bad feeling that things might not be going according to plan.”

  “They are. I have my guilty plea teed up for next Wednesday.” I swallowed hard. It was gut-check time. I looked her in the eye, trying to discern what she was thinking, but it was impossible. She was slippery, and she always had been.

  “You know, Slade, I wish that it didn’t have to come to this. I never wanted to see you behind bars. But I also certainly don’t want to see you in the arms of another woman. As you know, I would rather see you behind bars than to be married to anybody but me.” She looked, at that time, like a vulnerable girl, not a heartless villain. That was her acting skills, though. They were honed to a T, especially now that she was Hollywood’s “It” girl. I knew that she had a real future in Hollywood. Not only did she have the looks to rival any supermodel, and she was a supermodel herself, but she was undeniably dynamite on the big screen. I had to grudgingly accept that fact after seeing her in the Gus Van Sant movie, and seeing her dailies in her David Fincher movie. She was a star.

  I drummed my fingers on the desk, wondering how far I needed to take this and how to play it. “How is your movie coming along?” I asked her, trying to buy time.

  “It’s great. The film is getting a ton of early-release buzz, so it’s an exciting time right now.”

  “Are you the next Rooney Mara?” I asked her. Rooney was one of the women that got all the early buzz for another Fincher film, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Unfortunately, that film didn’t live up to its own early buzz and was a disappointment at the box office. Rooney’s fortunes apparently fell with the prospects of that film. She was amazing in it, though, so it was a shame that nothing much happened with her career.

  She narrowed her eyes. “That’s a shitty thing to say.” Then she sat up straight and looked at her nails. I was getting to her, sensing her fear. She’s afraid of failing. She’s afraid that I’m right. She’s afraid that she’s going to fall flat on her face in front of the world. How was I going to use that to my advantage?

  It was always vital to find an enemy’s weak spot, and I think that I found hers; her ego. It was fragile. She desperately wanted the public to love her, and she desperately wanted to be a huge star. The next Jennifer Lawrence. I looked in her eyes and saw that she already imagined herself in front of the Academy, accepting the award for Best Actress. I also saw in her eyes the fear that she would be an also-ran before she even got the chance to begin. The next Rooney Mara, if you will.

  “Cut to the chase, Slade,” she said, her voice changing from kitten to pissed-off she-lion. “Why are you here?”

  I drummed my fingers on the desk, a plan suddenly starting to form. “I wanted to tell you in person that I am going to plead guilty on Wednesday. I wanted you to look me in the eye so that you can be assured that this will happen. The last thing that I want is for you to get itchy trigger fingers and pull the plug on this whole thing prematurely.”

  She leaned back in her chair, evidently satisfied with this explanation. Then she got up from behind the desk, and slinked behind me, unbuttoning my shirt and putting her fingers on my chest. I felt my skin crawl at her touch, and I immediately took her hand off of my chest.

  “I’m sorry,” she said in a tight voice. “I thought that maybe you were really here because you wanted to see me.”

  “No,” I said, realizing that I was probably riling her up. “I’m not here to see you. I mean, I am here to see you, but not for the reason that you thought. I simply wanted to talk to you face to face, to reassure you that everything is going according to plan.”

  She sat back down behind her desk, evidently disappointed. “Okay, Slade, well, you’ve seen me. Now I would like for you to leave.”

  I stood up. “Okay.”

  “I need my publicity people back in here, so, when you go, please tell them that I need to speak with them some more.”

  Oh, this was becoming too easy. “I will.”

  At that, I went out into the hallway, where the team was sitting around on chairs. They looked bored and put-out that Charlotte was so willing to dismiss them to speak with me. I caught the eye of a you
ng blonde who bit her lip shyly and looked up at me with seductive eyes. I knew that look. I had seen it all my life in the eyes of females. I knew the power of having a lot of money and the looks to go with it. I wasn’t full of myself, but I knew.

  “You guys can go back in there,” I said. They all stood up to go, but the young blonde hung back, looking at me. I smiled at her, and she looked like she was going to melt into the floor. “You know,” I said, addressing her, “I can always use somebody new on my own publicity team. Why don’t you give me your card?”

  With shaking hands, she nodded her head, and, without a word, gave me her business card. “Sarah Fuller,” it read, and I recognized that she was a part of the largest talent agency in the business. Her eyes never left mine as she walked into the door. Then she finally disappeared, and I thought that maybe, just maybe, I had found my ‘Ace in the Hole’.

  Chapter 25

  Serena

  We finally landed in New York, and the oppressive humidity hit me in the face. “Oh, summer in New York. I can’t say I miss this.” San Diego was hot, but it wasn’t usually humid. Not like this, anyhow. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Then again, that could also be because of the situation that I was in. I felt like I was trapped in a box, and there was no way out. Any way I looked, any way I turned, there was peril. If the security team was able to retrieve the video, there would be peril. If they couldn’t, there would be worse peril.

  Heads I lose, tails you win.

  Dalilah was sensitive to my mood, of course. She was carrying little Olivia in her carrier, and she caught up with me as I was rapidly walking down the concourse towards the gate. She put her arm around me. “It’s going to be okay,” she said. “I promise you.”

  I wished that I could believe her, but I couldn’t say much of anything at all. I was too in my head about all that was at stake. Not to mention about all that was going to happen when we got back. “Let’s just head over there and see what happens.”