Princess of Hollywood (The Glitterati Files Book 2)

by Maggie Dallen

  They were my father’s eyes. I’d looked into her eyes a million times before, but I’d never seen it before.

  But now…

  Now, I couldn’t unsee it.

  She had his eyes.

  “Do you… did she…” I swallowed. Crap. I had no idea what to make of this.

  She patted my shoulder. “It’s okay. Take your time.”

  And so, we sat there. Collapsed there, more like. I fell back against the sofa beside her as I tried to process this.

  “So, my dad cheated on my mom with yours,” I said after a while.

  “That’s what she claimed.” Her wary tone had me turning toward her.

  “I think it’s true,” I said.

  Her brows hitched up, no doubt at the certainty in my tone. “You do?”

  I just nodded. I didn’t really care to explain that looking into her eyes made it feel undeniable. Like… how had I not seen it before? But too many thoughts were jostling to get out, to be reasoned and rationalized.

  “And the man who raised you as your father had an affair with my mom,” I said.

  She gave a little sigh like she was exhausted just thinking about the mess our parents had made.

  A whole new thought occurred to me, and I turned to her in horror. “Does your dad know? I mean your Devereaux dad?”

  She shook her head. “No.”

  “Good, because…” My mind raced with the way she’d hit on me back in Pinedale. I mean, nothing had happened because that wasn’t my thing, but I knew he’d sent her with that purpose and… “If he had, that’s just—”

  “Disgusting,” she finished. “Yeah. I know.”

  I looked over to see her crossing her arms over her chest like she was recoiling in revulsion.

  “And now, the world thinks…” I couldn’t even finish the thought.

  “Yup.” She was staring straight ahead, her hands balled up inside the hoodie she’d found in the backseat of my car and thrown over her fancy dress.

  I exhaled loudly in relief. “At least we never—”

  “Exactly.”

  I let out a loud exhale as we both faced straight ahead, each lost in thought. Maybe it was hysteria or whatever, but I felt a totally inappropriate grin forming. “You did totally come on to me, though. You basically tried to seduce me.”

  She threw her hands over her face with a groan. I laughed as she sank down into the couch. “Don’t remind me.”

  I rubbed a hand over my own eyes at the memory, as if I could erase it with a wave of my hand. “This is so messed up.”

  I was relieved to hear a soft chuckle escape from behind her hands beside me. “You think?” she shot back.

  “But also…” I nudged her arm with an elbow, and she let her hands slip down so she could face me. “I’ve always wanted a sister.”

  “I’ve always wanted a brother,” she said, a little smile curving up one corner of her mouth.

  “Too bad the rest of the world thinks you’re my girlfriend.”

  She let her head drop back against the sofa. “You have no idea how much that sucks.”

  That was when she told me the rest. The part about how Jack and his father were at risk, and how the secret that Tess had been so hopeful would bring about his downfall was now ammunition that he could use against us.

  Or that anyone could use against us if they found out.

  “So now…” I rubbed at my eyes again. My brain couldn’t handle much more news. “We couldn’t use that secret against your dad even if we wanted to.”

  “We would be the ones humiliated, not him. If he even suspects that I’m Frank MacMillan’s daughter, he’ll—” She wrapped her arms tighter around herself. “Well, he’ll hate me even more than he already does.”

  He doesn’t hate you. I wanted to say that. But how would I know? I barely knew her father, and that was thanks to Lila. She’d gone above and beyond to protect me from him. “So, now Jack and his dad could lose everything if… if what?”

  She shrugged. “If he doesn’t walk away, I guess. Go home and never come back. After his scenes are done filming, at least.”

  I wondered if she had any idea how sad she sounded. I leaned over and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close until she was resting against my side. We’d been doing so much of this non-kissing, touchy-feely stuff that it felt totally natural to cuddle like this.

  With my sister.

  I shook my head. “This is going to take some getting used to.”

  She snorted. “Tell me about it.”

  I turned to her as a new question formed, turning my stomach as it congealed into a thought. “Did my dad know?” I gave my head a little shake. “Our dad?”

  “No,” she said quickly. “My mom was very clear about that. He didn’t know.”

  I sighed. “Good.” I almost explained, but she seemed to get it.

  “Yeah, if he’d known and had left me there with Grayson and my mom…” She trailed off with a wince that spoke volumes.

  “Yeah.” The new bitterness I’d been getting so familiar with whenever anyone mentioned my dad came back in full force. “He’d be even more of a coward than he already was.”

  Lila sat up straight like I’d just hit her with a cattle prod. “Coward? You think your dad was a coward?” She rolled her eyes. “Our dad. Ugh, it’s gonna take time until that sounds normal.”

  I ignored the last part and focused on what mattered. “He was a coward. I mean, he killed himself. There’s nothing more cowardly than that.”

  I heard my mom’s voice in my head. All that nonsense about suicide being a sin. I didn’t know if it was a sin or not, but there was no doubt in my mind that he’d been weak. First to give in to alcohol and drugs, and then to take his own life rather than face his problems.

  That was what I meant to say, but when Lila stared at me, waiting for me to explain, what came out was, “He left me, Lila. He left me with her. He left me with the ranch and the bills and with her, knowing full well what she was like.”

  Lila’s eyes softened as she sank down beside me. “I’m sorry,” she said.

  We sat in silence for a bit, lost in thought. Whatever thought path Lila had gone down was clearly different from my self-pity because she sat up straight and turned to face me again, this time with a frown. “Your father was not a coward.”

  My brows shot up. I was going to argue again, but… Truth be told, there was a little part of me that wanted to believe her. That desperately wanted to be proven wrong. I wanted to be convinced because… I missed him. I missed the dad that I’d known, the man I’d grown up revering.

  I hated smiling as people on set talked about the legend that was Frank MacMillan but not feeling the same pride I used to. Even when I’d thought it had been an overdose, I’d been able to tell myself it was one mistake. That if he’d stuck around, he would have gotten clean for me. But him taking his own life made that a lie.

  “Listen to me, Brandon MacMillan.”

  I glanced up at her hard tone as much as at her use of my full name.

  The pursed-lip glower on her face was one I hadn’t seen in ages. This was the Hollywood princess in all her glory. Even with puffy eyes, a bruised cheek, and disheveled hair, she looked like some Viking warrior with that glare.

  I had to fight a smile in response. “I’m listening.”

  “I might not have known your father as… well, as my father, but I remember him.”

  “You do?” As I said it, a memory surfaced from our time together back in Pinedale. I had a vague memory of her saying something about him back then. About how she’d admired him. It was something lots of people said, whether they meant it or not.

  She nodded, shifting so she could face me head-on, her knees coming up under her. “He used to come over to Daddy’s house a lot, and I went to visit the set whenever I could.” Her eyes grew distant and soft. “Your father was my hero.”

  The sincerity in her tone made my throat ache with emotion. Once upon a ti
me, he’d been my hero too. “He was a great actor,” I managed.

  She shot me a withering glare. “I was a little kid, Brandon. I didn’t care that he could act. What I cared about was that he stood up to Daddy.”

  Her cheeks flushed, and that little bit of color made her look like she was coming back to life. The spark in her eyes put to rest some of the lingering fear I had that she’d be scarred for life by all that had happened tonight.

  “He was the only person I’d ever see stand up to him.” She looked to me. “Don’t you remember?”

  My brow furrowed in concentration as I thought back to my time on the set. “I remember shooting scenes with my dad. I remember how he’d tease me and play pranks on me in between takes to make the time pass faster. I remember… laughing.”

  “Was he funny?” She looked so curious, and I realized that she must have had a million questions about what Frank MacMillan was like as a father.

  “He could be,” I said slowly. “He could be charming and funny, always the life of the party. But at home, he was much quieter. He liked to hole up and read.” Although, I suspected now that he’d been hiding from my mother. Hiding rather than fighting.

  Coward.

  This time, I shook off the thought. Maybe he hadn’t been the hero I’d thought he was, but maybe he wasn’t a coward either.

  Lila placed a hand over mine. “Lots of people have demons, Brandon. It doesn’t make them weak or cowardly.”

  I nodded. Maybe the truth was somewhere in the middle. Something inside of me shifted as my perspective of my father and the whole situation shifted. Maybe he hadn’t been a white knight, but he hadn’t been the villain of the story either. “He really stood up to your—er, Devereaux?”

  She nodded. “He really did. And when he came to the house, he was always nice to me. And Tess. Most of the stars who came over either didn’t notice we were alive or were fake nice to us because they thought it was expected.” She smiled. “But your dad was nice. Genuinely kind. Sometimes, he even left my father to come play with us.” Her eyes grew distant as she got lost in memories.

  Her expression softened, and suddenly she looked so sweet, so vulnerable. It was like night and day from the hardened Hollywood cynic she played at school. I supposed this was the girl Jack saw. The reason he’d fallen head over heels for a girl he’d claimed to despise.

  She was an enigma, this sister of mine. And I could totally see how Jack would adore the hell out of her. The thought of him… how he was likely on his way as we spoke. Oh crap. “Hey, Lila, Jack was really worried, so I—”

  “I wonder how we never met back then,” she interrupted. Tilting her head to the side, she studied me closely. “I think I would have remembered if we’d met.”

  She looked so confused that I grinned. “I’m almost positive we didn’t. My dad wasn’t the only one on that set,” I reminded her. “My mom always went with me when I was filming. She stayed in my trailer during filming and made me stay there too when I wasn’t needed on set.”

  She arched a brow. “So you wouldn’t be tainted by the evil Hollywood people?”

  I laughed. “Something like that. She was overprotective.”

  Lila clapped a hand over her heart in fake shock. “No.”

  “It’s true,” I played along. “The woman is just a smidge overbearing like that.”

  She started to laugh until the sound of a key in the lock had us both looking over.

  “Speaking of overprotective,” I started.

  “You told him I was here.” Her tone was flat. Unreadable. Her face had gone deathly pale.

  I winced. “Sorry. He was really worried and—”

  The door flew open, and Jack’s wide frantic eyes darted around until they locked on Lila.

  Tension filled the room in a heartbeat. The connection linking the two of them was so clear I could practically see it, even from across the room.

  I held my breath until Jack broke the silence. “Lila… what the—” His eyes narrowed dangerously as they fixed on the bruises at her throat. “What the hell happened to you?”

  Fifteen

  Jack

  Murder. I was going to commit murder.

  I was going to kill whoever laid his hands on my girl.

  That was the only thing I could think as I took three giant strides to close the distance and drop down to my knees in front of Lila, running gentle hands over her hair, her face, trying to figure out the extent of her pain. “Who did this? Are you okay? When did this—”

  “Jack.” She cut me off with a hand on my shoulder, and I could feel Brandon’s heavy gaze on me.

  I’d interrupted something.

  But I had so many questions. For hours now, I’d been frantic. Panicked. First Devereaux had thrown bombshell after bombshell at me, but even worse than that was the moments after, when Tess and I had set out to find Lila only to discover that she was missing.

  Tess had been halfway to a club to see if she’d gone to some afterparty with Siobhan and Evie when I’d gotten Brandon’s text. I’d told Tess that she’d been found so she could go home, but the entire drive here I’d been wired, my heart pounding with fear and worry and…

  For good reason.

  Her perfect pale skin was bruised. Someone had done this. I tried to swallow. I tried to think.

  Next thing I knew, it was Lila soothing me rather than the other way around.

  “Shh, it’s okay.” Lila wrapped her arms around my shoulders and tugged me toward her until I had my head in her lap like a child. “I’ll explain everything,” she said as she leaned over so she was whispering in my ear, stroking my hair.

  I lifted my head, some of that panic easing in the face of her calm.

  “I’ll just, uh…” Brandon scooted away from Lila. “I’ll give you guys a minute.”

  For the life of me, I couldn’t read Lila’s expression when he went to leave. It almost felt like she didn’t want to be left alone with me.

  But that couldn’t be right.

  “Lila. Sweetheart. Princess—”

  “Don’t call me that,” she said with a wince.

  “Sorry. I—” It had been something I said to tease her, but tonight, hearing her father talk about his little princess. I cringed at my callousness. “I had no idea.”

  She nodded.

  I reached out a hand and stopped short of touching her. “Did he do this?”

  She nodded again, and my rage had my outstretched hand shaking and fire spreading through my veins. I’d never understood the phrase ‘seeing red’ until just this moment when vision was lost in a haze of anger that nearly knocked me over.

  I took a deep breath and lowered my hand to her knee. “I will kill him.”

  This is about her, I reminded myself. This wasn’t about me and my need for revenge.

  Not yet, at least. It was about Lila. My gut did a flip that had nothing to do with this all-consuming rage and everything to do with nerves.

  I had to tell her.

  I knew this.

  But telling her meant putting my father at risk. And more importantly… I eyed this face which had become so damn precious to me. This person I loved more than myself.

  Telling her might very well mean breaking her heart.

  And yet…

  No more secrets. That was what I’d demanded, wasn’t it? That was what we both deserved.

  I cleared my throat. “Lila, there’s something I need to tell you.”

  She tugged her hand away when I went to reach for it. Her gaze grew wary, or maybe that was disbelief I saw there.

  But how could it be when I hadn’t even told her yet?

  “Lila, your father… he’s been keeping a secret from you,” I started. “He should have told you, or your mother should have.” I dropped my head for a second and braced myself for her shock. Her hurt. “I’m sorry that it’s me telling you this, Lila, but you should know that your father—”

  “I know.”

  My head snapped up. “
What?”

  Her eyes were wet with tears. “I know. I heard everything. But I thought…” Her expression grew tight, those tears spilling over as she pressed her lips together and drew in a shaky breath. “I can’t believe you told me the truth.”

  She leaned forward and kissed me, her lips pressing against mine hard, like she was sealing this moment. Her tears wet my cheeks as they spilled, and I tugged her down onto the ground beside me so we were both kneeling as we held each other tight.

  “You told me the truth,” she said when she pulled back. “Thank you, Jack. Thank you for telling me the truth.”

  I let my gaze move over her face, so uncharacteristically filled with emotion, and that was when I realized. She’d overheard everything. Her father’s cruel words, his threats toward me and my father…

  She thought I’d keep his secret to protect myself.

  I gripped her to me, and she held on tight, wrapping her arms around my neck so fiercely it almost hurt.

  I closed my eyes and reveled in the feel of her in my arms. “No more secrets, remember?”

  She nodded, a sniff giving away the fact that she was still crying. I stroked her back. “I meant it.” When she didn’t say anything right away, I whispered the words I knew she needed to hear. “You can trust me.”

  She shivered a bit, and I whispered it again. I couldn’t even feel defensive after the scene I’d witnessed earlier. The way her father treated her, the way she’d been raised…

  Was it any wonder this girl had surrounded herself with walls and defenses a mile deep? A lesser person would have been broken by Devereaux’s cruelty, by her mother’s neglect, by the way Devereaux had pitted her against her sister, destined to fail because she wasn’t really his. Nothing she did would have ever been good enough for him.

  My heart lurched in my chest when she buried her face in my shoulder and cried in earnest. All I could do was hold her and rock her and whisper words of love. Remind her that I was here. That I would always be here. That I would be in her corner no matter what.

  I meant every word. But in the darker parts of my brain, all I could think about was how I wanted to kill Devereaux for all he’d done. For the way he’d touched her, the way he talked to her… the way he hadn’t loved her the way she deserved.