"Let me talk with Krystal, Dwayne. But all in all, that’s the best news I’ve had in a while.”
Dwayne nodded. "Erica was wrong about one thing, though."
Julian cocked his eyebrow and looked over. "What's that?"
"That you're looking swole. Stomach might be looking a little more swollen, but I swear you look a little soft compared to the last time you and I had a workout together."
Julian grinned fiercely. "Is that a challenge, Dwayne?"
"Maybe."
"Tell you what then," Julian replied. "You get yourself out of this high fashion world for a bit, and meet me down in the employee gym in about a half hour or so. I won't even wear a t-shirt, I'm going to kick your butt so hard."
Dwayne's own fierce grin answered. "You're on."
* * *
Dwayne had decided on a family group dinner with Peter, Kelly, Tina, and Elizabeth all at the same table. He would have made space for Steve, but he begged off, stating he needed to do last minute security preparations for the next day's event. Julian and Krystal were taking the evening to explore the grounds, and to have a private family dinner on the other side of the dining room. Dwayne could see them and their son Kristopher. He was a handsome boy, very tall and angular for his age, with a wild shock of black hair and a mischievous grin that reminded Dwayne of Julian. The table was circular, and the conversation flowed easily.
Elizabeth sat next to Dwayne on his right, Erica on his left with Liz next to her in a booster seat. She was tired. It had been a long day, and was barely keeping her eyes open in her seat, playing with her mashed potatoes and turning them into abstract pieces of artwork before munching on some slowly. Erica thought their little girl would be ready for some dessert and bed before too much longer.
"Thanks for playing with her so much today," Erica said to Tina, who smiled and attacked her dish of ice cream. Erica chuckled at her assistant's insistence at having dessert before the main course. It was a trait she tried to keep Liz from copying, with limited success.
"You know I love playing with my little niece," Tina replied, licking the vanilla bits off the back of the spoon. "And it was easy. Once she and Kristopher got together, the main thing was just making sure the two of them stayed safe, more or less. Besides, who else is going to teach her what I know?"
"That's what worries us," Peter said ironically. "I think Dwayne and Erica would prefer not to have a thirteen year old Liz copying you."
"She could do worse," Elizabeth answered. "She could be like her grandmother."
"How did that go, by the way?" Dwayne asked, sipping at his soup. The head chef had made an excellent gazpacho, cooling after the warm day. He was looking forward even more to Krystal's cooking tomorrow, when she had promised to make breakfast for everyone.
"I don't know," Elizabeth said, sipping her own soup. "She said all the right things, but there was something in the way she said it, something that just wasn't sincere. I saw how she would be in board meetings and business arrangements being around her so much. You always had the buffer of Dad, and then distance as you took over what became your own hotels. Mother is manipulative, and she's played the emotional bit before. Never like this, but I just don't trust her."
"Then after tomorrow, she can go back to Chicago and we'll have that distance again," Dwayne replied easily. "Enough of that though. This is a private time, for the people I consider my family now to come together and let me say 'thank you.' You're all special to me, and Erica and I both know without you, we'd not be where we are today."
Everyone raised their glasses, with a soft cheer going around the table. Erica left her glass raised, looking at Tina and Peter. "Tina, Peter, I'd also like to use this as a chance to make a public offer. Tina, you were the first employee of EW designs, and for years you have been the right hand to my mind. Peter, you're obviously much newer, but I've known you just as long. After watching you two tag team this show, I was talking it over with Dwayne. I'd like to offer you both promotions, Tina to general manager of EW, and Peter to fashion coordinator."
Tina sat back, blinking, and Dwayne thought there may have been a tear in her eye. She sat silently for a few moments before clearing her throat.
"You know I'm always by your side, boss."
"Me too," Peter replied, looking over at Kelly. "Let's make tomorrow a success."
After dinner, Erica let Dwayne carry Liz back to their suite, while she walked over the show site with Tina.
"You seemed caught off guard with my offer."
Tina was uncharacteristically quiet for a moment before answering.
"Erica, I'm not sure I'm really ready to be a manager."
They were about halfway down the runway, and Erica stopped, turning to her.
"What do you mean? You've been my rock and support for years. You know everything about the business side of this company, and can probably do everything needed to keep this company going for years. The only thing I do is the designs, you know that. Why couldn't you be the manager?"
Tina turned to her, shaking her head. "Erica, I’m a wisecracking, man chasing, smart talking girl from Iowa who spends just as much time screwing off as I do working. Managers are supposed to be professional and controlled. Is your general manager supposed to be trying to get with every heterosexual single male that comes in the door? Is your general manager supposed to be back talking you and commenting on your sex life?"
Erica laughed and pulled Tina into a hug. "I want you as my GM because of exactly those reasons, and a thousand more that I can't list right now. You're the one who keeps my head right. You're the one who kept me fighting when things looked down, and you're the one who, if you've forgotten, more or less smacked me in the head and told me to go after Dwayne. Now where would I be if I didn't have you?"
Erica could feel Tina nodding, her head pressed against Erica's breasts due to her height, until she pushed away, her eyes shining with tears in the security lights.
"All right, all right. You convinced me. "
The two friends finished their inspection together. After they left, a solitary figure walked through the shadows of the stage, moving carefully and silently, avoiding as much of the light as possible. It knelt next to the podium that was set up for tomorrow, working quietly and quickly in the dark before leaving, keeping to the shadows. The night fell quiet, until the security patrol came through ten minutes later, seeing nothing out of place.
CHAPTER 23
T he next morning, the media rolled in early, the first photographers and reporters from Vogue arriving at seven in the morning. By noon, every parking slot in the hotel was filled to the point that the reporter from the Miami Herald Tribune, who was running a bit late and arrived at twelve fifteen, had to park his car next to the off ramp from the Seven Mile Bridge and walk almost a half mile back to the hotel. The event was scheduled to start at five in the afternoon, and as Erica looked out on the crowd from the restaurant, which today had been commandeered as the staging room for the show, she felt a certain sense of accomplishment she had never felt before. She could see press beyond the narrow fashion realm, local television and even a crew from a NBC affiliate.
Amongst the fashion press, she saw the top names, not the second stringers normally assigned to men's fashions, but the top reporters and photographers, those who normally spent their times writing bylines about the women's fashions that moved the needles of sales.
"Look at all that out there," Tina whispered, touching the glass. "I haven't seen some of those faces except at fifty meters covering other shows."
Erica nodded and checked her outfit one more time. A self designed piece from her private women's collection, she had specially made a piece for herself, Tina, Elizabeth, Krystal and Kelly. Looking over the notes of her prepared speech, she took a deep breath.
"Yeah, that's what scares me. I'm supposed to be backstage right now, not talking to the media. Designers don't make speeches."
"Could be worse," Tina joked, looking over at Dw
ayne, who was checking his own clothes and checking his speech. "You only have to talk for two minutes. He's got a whole ten minute spiel to lay out, talking about both the hotels and your designs. Then I get to play emcee for the rest of the show. I'm just glad that most of my stuff I can read from cue cards on the side of the stage. Peter and the guys will be the ones everyone is looking at."
Erica patted Tina on the shoulder and went over to Dwayne. "You ready, love?"
Dwayne took a deep breath, and Erica could see his face settle into a familiar mask, the one she had seen in all of his media appearances. It was partly his old playboy look, partly the executive face that he had developed in the past few years. He looked confident, but also like he had a humorous little secret that only he knew. Erica thought it was ironic, in that while Dwayne many times told her he could never do the things models did, he went through a similar process of putting on a mask that she did, and every model did for that matter. It made her feel special to know that she could see him without his mask.
"Let's do this," Dwayne said, holding his arm out for her to take. Arm in arm, they walked out looking confident and happy, a power couple for the new generation. The crowd broke out in polite applause with a smattering of cheers from the friends and employees of EW in attendance.
Making their way to the stage, Dwayne did a small turn, earning laughter and applause from the assembled group.
"Thanks," Dwayne said, holding up his hands for silence. "But to be honest, it's taken me close to six months to get that down."
"I first met Erica Williams in London, almost four years ago now, and to say we hit it off immediately would be an understatement," Dwayne began, earning a smile from Erica. While the tabloids had twittered a bit, the truth about the immediacy of their intense passion had never gotten out to the public. "But it wasn't easy. I'll take the blame for that one, being a fool and almost losing the best thing in the world. Thankfully, she forgave my idiocy, and since then I've been the luckiest man in the world.”
"I learned about Erica's award in what might be the most unfashionable of ways, but one that is the greatest thing in my life, playing with our daughter Liz, who I think is perhaps Erica's greatest design. Unfortunately, Liz is a bit young for a model, so she's not able to join us on stage this evening." Dwayne's words earned both applause and a few chuckles from the crowd. Dwayne let the laughter ripple for a moment before continuing.
"The first thing that struck me after Erica told me the news was, don't they have an award for best in the world, like some sort of championship belt or something? I figured a championship belt and some theme music really says that you are the best of the best. After Erica informed me of the truth, that I really have the maturity of your average sixteen year old, I reflected on how amazingly blessed the past three years has been for our family. Starting with Liz's birth, EW has seen its fortunes skyrocket, with highlights that I'd go into, but would end up robbing our emcee Tina of half of what she wants to say. At the same time, Forrester Hotels has had the good fortune to not only see a continuation of our top flight service and continue our reformation for the new generation of resort hotels. After the passing of my father, the two wings of the Forrester Hotels chain came back together under one umbrella, and I've recently been made aware that I even have a rising star in one of our newer hotels, the Forrester Kennebunkport, where executive chef Krystal Aksoy has been awarded a James Beard Award. Krystal, stand up and let everyone give you some well deserved applause."
Krsytal, who was seated in the front row next to Julian, stood up in her EW dress and waved, before sitting down and crossing her legs. Julian and Kristopher were sitting next to her, and Julian gave his wife a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Dwayne continued. "Finally, I'm happy to have you all here at our newest hotel, the Forrester Aurantifolia. Now don't worry, we just call it the Aura, so you don't have to spell it out all the time. I know myself that if it weren't for spellcheck, I'd never get anything done.”
"I could go on for hours about the Aura and what it has, but tonight is about EW designs and Erica Williams Forrester, so let me turn it over to the mother to my daughter, the light of my life, my wife, and the best damn designer out there. Erica, the runway is yours."
The cheers and applause for Erica as she took the microphone from Dwayne washed over her and caused a tear to spring unbidden to her eye. Thankfully, she had a few moments to recover while the cheers and applause continued, and thought she could speak clearly when the noise subsided.
"Thank you, Dwayne. With that much praise, I think I'll have you start off all of my shows from now on. It balances out what the writers tend to say later."
Dwayne laughed and bowed slightly before stepping back, out of the spotlight. Erica blew him a kiss and continued. "While I'm the one up here on stage, the fact is that EW wouldn’t be where it is now without the hard work of a lot of people who don't really get the attention they deserve, and I wanted to have tonight be a celebration not of me, but of you. You're the ones who put in the long hours, you're the ones who sweat and fuss and work under impossible deadlines in order to pull off miracles. While all the members of EW are important, I'd like to highlight one person in particular, Tina Youngblood, who will be our emcee for tonight. I'd also like to announce that Tina has, as of yesterday, agreed to become the general Manager of EW, a position she's long deserved. Thank you Tina, thank you every member of EW, and thank you all for tonight."
Erica stepped back, blinking as the spotlights shifted, smiling out at the crowd. She was forced to keep her eyes open and perfect under the powerful lights, and she was glad when it was over.
Turning to look towards Tina and her coming on as emcee, Erica didn't see Steve rushing from his position backstage, his arm outstretched. The commotion of the crowd roared in her ears though and she turned just as Steve's shoulder caught her in the stomach, driving the air out of her and sending both of them crashing to the stage. The impact drove all of the air out of Erica's lungs, and she wasn't sure what the hell was happening, wondering if the lights in her eyes were due to her head hitting the stage, or spotlights, or something else.
"Get her!" she heard someone call out, and darkness washed over her, her eyes fluttering shut.
* * *
Erica woke up feeling like her head was still ringing. She looked around, and saw that she was in the Aura's infirmary, lying in one of the three beds that were in the small room. Dwayne was seated next to her, looking down with concern on his face.
"You okay?"
"What the hell happened? And someone tell Steve if he wants to play football, at least warn me next time."
"Steve saved your life," Dwayne said, pointing with his chin over Erica's right shoulder. Turning her neck carefully, she saw Steve being patched up by a medic, who was carefully using forceps and gauze pads to pull shards of metal and plastic out of his back.
"Sorry about the hit, but my team detected the signal just moments before the detonation occurred," he said, wincing as rubbing alcohol was dabbed on another wound. "But we were able to track the device that sent the detonation signal."
"Who did it?" Erica asked, wincing herself as she saw the doctor take an inch long sliver of shiny aluminum out. "Did you get the triggerman?"
Dwayne nodded, his lips tight and pained. "It was my Mother,” Dwayne said, anger and pain coursing through his words. "Steve's men apprehended her as she made her way out through the confusion, still with the trigger in her pocket. A security sweep later found nothing else, but it was my Mother. She's in police custody now."
Erica's eyes widened, and she put her head in her hands.
"Jesus Dwayne, your mother tried to kill me?"
Dwayne's eyes filled with tears and he nodded, pain written on his features.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let her stay. I knew she wasn't a good woman, but I would've never thought she had that in her. I don’t know what she was thinking, she must’ve known she’d be caught.”
Erica fell silent, wanti
ng to snap in anger and pain, but she couldn't. Dwayne had done the right thing, even if he had been taken advantage of.
"No, you couldn't have known. I mean, that level of hatred..... you couldn't have known. So what now? Was anyone else hurt?"
"No, although Julian Castelbon got his coat pretty well peppered with shrapnel when he covered Krystal and their son. The show's off for sure," Dwayne said, "and we surely made the national news. From what Tina told me before you woke up, the whole thing was caught on camera by NBC, and its making the rounds of the cable networks as we speak. The scandal is going to rock the tabloids for quite a while."
"But what about the Aura? And your hotels?"
Dwayne shrugged. "We'll get over it, I'm sure. Once Elizabeth is able to focus on this, I know she's going to find a way to turn this to our advantage. I know she'll go after Candace both professionally and personally. She's taking care of Liz right now, but who knows, I may end up with ninety percent of the shares of this chain in my name by the end of it all. Mother deserves everything she’s about to get.”
Erica nodded, then looked at Steve. "Thank you. You saved my life."
Steve shook his head. "No, what I did was royally fuck up. My teams never checked the podium after it was installed yesterday, and my team already caught when the bomb was placed. We don't have a face yet, the image is too dark, but we're going to be sending it to the FBI for forensic analysis."
"You did nothing wrong," Dwayne said, "and if anyone tries to bring this up in a negative light, send them to me. You have my full support and recommendation in the future."
"Thanks Dwayne," Steve replied, wincing again. "Doc, do you have to dig so deep to get those out?"
CHAPTER 24
A s Dwayne had predicted, the scandals rocked both the fashion and the resort industry for months. After police were able to connect Candace Forrester with Ivan Zhubukov, they were able to arrest and prosecute both, trying them together as co-defendants. The Federal Prosecutor's office worked a deal with Peter that allowed him to stay in the country in return for his testimony, which he gladly gave. Ivan Zhubukov was sentenced to fifteen years without parole, while Candace got twenty, acting as both the financier and the actual trigger person. The Feds also brought charges against Ivan for his other Mafia activities, but it would be years before that case saw the inside of a court room. The Feds weren't worried, they had time.
Mr. Forrester: An Alpha Billionaire Romance Page 16