Mellissa smiled. “’Cause I like tall men.”
“Well, keep your fabulously manicured mitts off Logan. He’s mine. I plan to be smooching him until the meteor shower finishes. And more after that. Nice touch, by the way,” she said, focusing on me. “A meteor shower is way better than fireworks.”
“It’s why we chose the date we did,” I said, particularly proud of the fact. It was my idea.
The limo arrived downtown and turned near to where we needed to be, but traffic was held up. It was practically at a standstill.
“What’s going on?” Mellissa asked, concerned. “Has there been an accident?”
“I think we’re what’s going on,” I uttered. We had expected a fair turn out, but this went beyond all our expectations. The sidewalks were lined with people trying to get a view of the famous faces walking the blue carpet. Above, a helicopter hovered with the logo of a local news channel on the side.
Though ecstatic, I checked my phone, concerned at the time. Russell was expecting us now. In less than an hour, Dr. Giordano would be making his speech. I was supposed to be attending to him while he prepared.
“I don’t think we’re going to make it,” I said, biting my glossy lip. “Traffic is a mess.”
“Then there is only one solution,” Mellissa said, stepping out of the limo. “We walk.”
The crowd momentarily cheered as we got out, but realizing we were no one important, they quickly looked away.
“Our fifteen seconds of fame,” Annie said, practically dancing through the crowd as we pushed our way around the corner towards the old mansion house we had rented for the party. The mansion was primarily a wedding venue. As such, it had the earthy elegance to it that we wanted for the party—a large, airy function room, a lobby with an antique wooden staircase that twisted up to private rooms, and a small but beautifully decorated Romanesque garden for watching the meteor shower later.
The first thing I noticed when we arrived was just how impressive the blue carpet was. And not just because of the color. More media than I think Conrad even expected were lined up against the carpet, conducting interviews with the scientists and the celebrities. Standing tall against a backdrop with Alessa 3D X100 stamped all over it, along with Cepheus Scientific, a well-known fashion model—who happened to be married to a Nobel Prize winner—had won the attention of dozens of photographers. Their loyalties were divided between the model and the others on the carpet.
“Are we really invited to this thing?” Annie stammered as we headed towards the bouncers manning the carpet. We flashed them our badges.
“We’re not just invited. We’re running the show,” I reminded her.
The crowd suddenly roared loudly. The bouncers pushed us along, their guard up against those without badges. Logan Mitchell and his fellow cast mates had arrived. They quickly followed in behind us, within the safety of the ropes.
As a trio, we squealed.
“I swear Logan just brushed past me,” Annie claimed. “I can’t believe I’m heading into the same party as him!”
“Believe it,” I said. “Because I need to get inside. Dr. Giordano is on in half an hour.”
***
Against my will, my stomach growled. Seeing the huge buffet of food surrounded by tabletop floodlights in an otherwise dim room, I realized I hadn’t yet eaten that day. Under the stress of the last minute arrangements for tonight, I hadn’t eaten properly in days.
Leaving the girls to their own whimsies, I hurried to the back of the room where I knew an employee station had been set up, hidden behind a colossal cutout of a 3D image of Jupiter. On my way, I passed by a table of Carnivàle-style masks painted in shades of blue and silver. Each mask represented one of the constellations—kings, queens, princesses… and lions. The masks had also been my idea, to serve as a party favor. The eye sockets of each contained a thin lens—3D glasses. That way, the guests could enjoy the planetary cutouts all around.
To accompany the cutouts, the room was illuminated by a projector that not only cast a soft blue hue everywhere, but also every constellation in the sky, which rotated around the upper walls and ceiling of the room like a celestial merry-go-round.
“Madison,” Russell acknowledged when I reached the station. He immediately handed me a headpiece, which I attached to my ear. “Dr. Giordano is upstairs in one of the private rooms preparing. Go up to him and make sure he’s all right. I’ll reach you on the headpiece when it’s time to bring him down for his speech. Is Mellissa here?”
“She just arrived. Do you need her?”
“Not officially. I know none of the administration staff are working. But on your way up to Dr. Giordano, just ask her to help quiet the room when it’s time for him to speak. The problem with celebrities is that they don’t want to share the room with anyone else.”
Leave it to Russell to find a complaint in a near flawless party.
“I will, but isn’t that a job for the event manager? What are we paying him for if we’re doing all the work?”
“You would think, but Conrad has managed to charm the event manager so much and put him so at ease, the guy has forgotten he has a job to do,” Russell grumbled.
Conrad. He still perplexed me. As far as I could tell, he hadn’t done anything untrustworthy regarding the product launch—much to my relief. However, I couldn’t simply forget the sticky note, not when it had been so strategically placed.
After doing what Russell asked, I went up the stairs and found Dr. Giordano in his private suite—the guest of honor. I knew instantly that he was outside of his element. He fidgeted nervously with a bow tie, which hung slightly to the side.
“Here,” I said, fixing it. “We’re quite the distance from your farmhouse.”
“Yes, we are.”
“Is there someone watching over your donkey?”
Dr. Giordano grimaced. “That old thing? He can take care of himself. Much better than I, apparently.”
“You seem to be doing pretty well. We’re only here because of you.”
He nodded. “In many ways, we’re only here because of you.”
I stepped back and brushed off his shoulders. “What do you mean by that?”
“Signor Jackman never would have agreed to my terms without your persuasion.”
“Well, he would have been a fool not to. Based on the crowd gathered on the streets, your telescope is going to fly off the shelves tomorrow.”
“That’s all I wanted.”
We continued to chat until I heard Russell signal on my earpiece to bring Dr. Giordano down. A warm applause waited for him when he stepped onto the stage.
“Clearly, you recognize the man of the hour,” the CEO of Cepheus Scientific said, speaking into the microphone. Her long gray-streaked hair was pinned up in a classic French bun. “So with the greatest of honor, I introduce to you Dr. Francesco Giordano.”
Again, the audience cheered. Dr. Giordano took his turn at the microphone, fidgeting with it as he had his bow tie. While we waited for him to speak, I looked out over the crowd, trying to find Rawn. Mellissa and Annie were suspiciously close to Logan Mitchell’s table. On the opposite side of the room stood Conrad and Ms. Goldstein. But there was no Rawn.
A sudden flush across my body caused me to stagger. It wasn’t the good kind of flush. It was the massively lightheaded, I’m-about-to-faint kind. Standing in the unlit corner of the stage, there was nowhere to sit, so I began flapping my hand to cool myself off, recovering right as Dr. Giordano started his speech.
“I’m not a sad man,” he began, “but as happy as I am to see so many here for the launch of my telescope, I have to admit that I’m sad today. Alessandra Giordano was my wife. But as an individual, she was so much more. I worshiped her. She was kind and she was clever, and she was also patient. Such patience was mandatory to live a life with me. But overall, she was a little insane, a meteor burning through life. And I loved her more for it. We didn’t have children; all we had was each other. It was enough.
She was enough. But then she left. Not by choice, but that is the risk of mortality. She left, and I was left with nothing to remind me of her. Until I realized that with so many stars in the sky, it was impossible that Alessandra wasn’t up there with them. And so here’s my telescope. When you look through the lens, look for my Alessandra.”
***
“Why don’t you get something to eat,” Russell said as I returned to the station having just seen the fashion model safely to her limo out back. She had been an incredibly down to earth woman, and the first real celebrity I had ever talked to.
“Thanks,” I said. “What about you? You’ll be leaving soon.”
“We both know that’s not going to happen, so go eat. The sooner you do, the sooner you can come back and help. I have another to-do list for you.”
Of course he did.
I went to the buffet, my stomach growling. The food smelled amazing. There was Cajun shrimp and sushi and gourmet mushroom rolls—a fusion of all the foods under the sun. I even had Captain Mark ship up some of his cheesy casserole.
Thank goodness we left baby eel off the menu.
I could feel the void in my stomach, but the rich aroma that surrounded me made me nauseated, as delicious as it was, so I went outside to the garden to get some fresh air.
The garden really was splendid, with fairy lights in the shape of stars that hung around the trellises, tall hedges, and statues. The soft moonlight made the colors within the garden glow, from the lavender to the roses, their petals slowly giving way to the cool late autumn air. It was nearly winter now.
“Man, you guys really went into a lot of detail,” a man said.
I turned and nearly wet myself. It was Logan Mitchell! Knowing Annie would kill me if she missed this opportunity to talk with him, I tried to send her psychic best friend signals to come out to the garden.
Annie! Logan’s here! And he looks good! Come seduce him, you brassy vixen.
“The meteor shower won’t start for another hour or so,” I said, because it was the only thing I could think to say. “You should have received your complimentary telescope as part of your gift bag. The meteors move too fast across the sky to view them in 3D, but it should still make for interesting viewing.”
My god, was I really speaking to Logan Mitchell as if I were a robot manufactured in the lab at Cepheus Scientific?
He seemed amused. “Would you like to take a walk around the garden with me? I have a feeling you are much better company than some of the others I’ve been talking with tonight. Their interests…don’t suit me. Not anymore.”
I was confused at first by what he meant, and then I remembered. After almost overdosing last year, Logan had spent his time in and out of rehab.
“Sure,” I said, although I still felt weak. “A quick walk. Then I have to return to my post.”
“I saw you on the stage,” Logan noted as we passed through the tall hedges, the mansion house disappearing behind us. “Are you related to the Italian guy that gave the speech?”
With his gray hair and olive skin, and my dark honey-colored hair, the idea of me and Dr. Giordano being related was highly comical. I nearly laughed, holding back only out of fear of hurting Logan’s feelings. I didn’t know what trying to be sober after a heavy addiction felt like, but I assumed it made emotions run high.
“No,” I said. “I’m not related to the inventor. I am an assistant at Cepheus Scientific.” When he frowned out of a lack of understanding, I added, “The company manufacturing the telescope. We’re hosting the party tonight.”
Logan scratched his head, embarrassed. I didn’t realize celebrities got embarrassed, especially hot ones like him.
“Yeah, sorry. I have a short attention span. I go to so many of these things, it’s hard to keep track.”
“That’s understandable,” I said. “And enviable. I’d love to be jetting off to one red carpet event after the next.”
“Trust me, you wouldn’t. So many invitations takes the excitement out of everything. I know that sounds ungrateful, but it’s the reality of being on screen.”
I liked the way he avoided calling himself a movie star. “Did you work with a lot of scientists when you did the space travel movie?”
Logan chuckled. “Not at all. Just a lot of special effects people. I think NASA named it one of the most implausible science movies of all time.”
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“Don’t be. It’s broken box office records. Because of that movie, I’ve been offered a hundred more.” He stopped. “Hey, are you okay? You’re shaking.”
Engrossed in our conversation, I hadn’t noticed. But now that he had called it out, my hand did seem to be having trouble remaining still.
“Here, sit,” he said, guiding me to the side of a fountain. It was a replica of Botticelli’s Venus.
Filling my hand with the cold water from the fountain, I splashed my face, trying to regain control of my body, pushing away the fear that was growing at the pit of my stomach.
Please no, I prayed, looking up at the stars—to my sister. I know I have no right to ask, but please, not me too.
“You’ve gone pale,” Logan said, setting a hand on my cheek, testing for a fever. “Should I call for a doctor?”
Just then, Rawn broke through the hedges. “What is this?” he demanded, irate.
“I was just trying to help,” Logan began, but I cut him off, realizing how bad it looked.
“It’s okay, Logan. You don’t have to explain. Do you mind giving us a minute?”
He looked uncertainly at Rawn, then back at me. “You sure you’re okay?”
“I will be,” I assured him.
“All right,” he said. “I’ll be inside if you need anything.”
“She won’t,” Rawn snapped.
When Logan was gone, he turned back to me, full of hurt and fury. “I was upstairs conferencing with the CEO when I saw you go into the garden with him. Is this another midnight lover of yours? A new fantasy—to fuck a movie star during the meteor shower?”
Luke. This was about Luke. I should have known better than to think Rawn had handled me telling him about Luke so well.
I should have explained, told Rawn that he hadn’t walked in on Logan making a move on me, that the actor was merely concerned I wasn’t well, which I wasn’t. But I didn’t. Trust went both ways. If I started spilling out excuses now, I was afraid I’d always have to.
“What does it matter to you, anyway?” I challenged, converting my fear over my health into an irrational anger. “You’ve told me yourself you won’t commit to me, that you can never give me what I deserve. That I can never fully have you. So why play jealous now when, one day, you plan to let me go?”
The fury in Rawn died instantly, but my own did not.
“Madison, I know being with me is complicated, but you must know… I love you.”
“Do you?” I countered, standing to meet him, not allowing myself to process his words. “Because you have a poor way of showing it.”
It wasn’t true. He had showed me his love many times. With the trip to Hawaii. His endless nights pleasing me in bed. But I didn’t acknowledge it. This relationship had gone on long enough. I knew it wasn’t meant to last a lifetime. Not Rawn’s lifetime, anyway. Based on what was happening with my body tonight, it was time to bring the relationship to an end.
“Madison,” Rawn began, full of conviction.
I didn’t hear what else he had to say. The world suddenly went black around me as I collapsed to the ground.
Chapter Thirteen
Struggling to open my eyes, I was vaguely aware that I was in Rawn’s arms. And that he was walking into a hospital.
It’s happening…
Unable to speak, I nestled my head into the warmth of his chest, comforted by his strength. I needed it. I wasn’t sure I had much strength of my own.
“She needs help,” Rawn called out to a nurse.
“You’ll have to sign her in,” the nurse
instructed. My eyes were closed, so I could not see her face, but I could hear the impatience in her voice.
“She’s barely conscious,” Rawn told her. “She collapsed…”
“Mr. Jackman,” another female said, interrupting. “Please follow me. We’ll look after her straight away.”
“Thank you,” Rawn said. “I don’t mean to take you away from your other patients, Dr. Phelps. I’m just afraid of losing her.”
“We won’t let that happen. And no need to apologize. Half the reason the patients here receive the excellent care that they do is thanks to the large benefaction we receive from Cepheus Scientific every year.”
Rawn walked fast. In my semi-conscious state, I could smell the sharp bleach from the cleaning supplies, and I could hear the sound of a metal stretcher clanking as it was pushed down the hall, away from us.
“Tell me what happened,” Dr. Phelps prompted.
“I don’t know. We were outside in the garden of the mansion house, and she collapsed.”
“What was she doing right before she collapsed? Was she dancing or doing anything equally strenuous?”
“No,” Rawn answered. “But we were arguing.”
The guilt in his voice killed me. Don’t, I wanted to say. This isn’t your fault. I pushed you away. I didn’t want you to go through this.
“Any known ailments she suffers from? Any allergies? Any diseases?”
“I don’t think so. She’s never mentioned any. But we haven’t known each other long.”
I should have told him the night in Hawaii, when I knew his feelings for me were real.
Knowing it was important, I tried to speak.
“Shhh now,” Rawn told me. “Save your energy.”
I wanted to obey, but I couldn’t. They both had to know. So I tried again. This time, the doctor understood.
“MS,” she said. “She has MS.”
***
Multiple sclerosis. I hated the word. It had caused enough destruction in my life. It had taken my sister…
“You’re awake,” Rawn said, entering the hospital room with flowers.
The TROUBLE With BILLIONAIRES: Book 1 Page 12