Breaking Hollywood

by Shari King

  59.

  ‘Holding Back the Years’ – Simply Red

  Mirren

  Someone in the room. Someone there. A touch. Her hand. Someone . . . Heart beating faster, can’t breathe. Oh God, no. No. No.

  ‘Mom? Mom?’

  Logan’s voice. Open your eyes. Her boy. Her boy was there.

  Smiling.

  Mirren forced her eyes to stay open, to see him.

  ‘Hey,’ he said.

  Head. She couldn’t move her head. Her eyes scanned the room. A hospital room. She was in a hospital bed. Someone there, in the corner. Who? Coming towards her now. Brad Bernson.

  ‘What happened? Tell me what happened.’ She didn’t recognize the throaty rasp as her own. Her neck hurt, her vocal cords, her head, everything.

  Logan’s eyes looked searchingly at Brad, on the other side of her bed now.

  ‘Mirren, it was Marilyn. She was in the street outside the hotel. We think she was carrying some kind of device, and it exploded when she reached your cars.’

  Heart racing, blood pumping so hard, excruciating pain in her head. And fear. So much fear.

  ‘Where is she now?’

  A shade on Brad’s expression.

  ‘She’s gone, Mirren. She died in the explosion. It’s over.’

  And Mirren’s world went dark again.

  60.

  ‘Everybody Hurts’ – R.E.M.

  Zander

  Hospital waiting rooms. The closest thing to hell on earth. How long had he been here? Hours? Felt like days. Beside him, Lex Callaghan, both of them bloody, dishevelled, both staring straight ahead at the white double doors in front of them.

  In his peripheral vision, he saw Lex’s hands clench into fists, then flex, then fist, then flex. The actions of a man on the verge of despair.

  Inside those double doors, his wife, Cara, on a table, surrounded by strangers.

  Zander reached out, put his hand on Lex’s shoulder, said nothing.

  They’d been brought here in the same ambulance, the one that rode behind Cara’s.

  Hers got priority. Female inside, life-threatening injuries, stopped breathing, cardiac arrest, intubated at scene, blood loss critical.

  By the time they’d arrived, she was already in theatre and Lex had refused to go to A&E. His wife was behind those doors, and he was waiting until he could be with her.

  Zander understood. At the ranch that morning, she’d told him she’d help him heal. Now it was her turn – it was her turn to find her way back.

  Until then, Zander was going to stay by both their sides.

  61.

  ‘We Found Love’ – Calvin Harris & Rihanna

  Sarah

  ‘I don’t give a fuck. The media blackout stays until we know what we’re dealing with. I’ll speak when I’m ready and they can go screw themselves.’

  Sarah had no idea who Davie was speaking to, but whoever it was definitely got the point.

  ‘Davie, you need to stay in bed. The doctor says . . .’

  He stopped, looked at her, eyes challenging. Sarah met the gaze, held it. He buckled first.

  He climbed back onto the bed, wincing as he moved.

  Behind her, Hollie came into the room.

  ‘Any word?’ Sarah asked urgently.

  Hollie shook her head.

  ‘She’s still in theatre. Lex and Zander are waiting up there.’

  ‘And Mirren?’ Davie asked.

  ‘She’s OK. Logan is with her. Lou is on the way. She’s going to be fine.’

  Sarah felt the tears spring to the back of her eyes and she blinked them away. If she was religious, she’d be thanking God right now.

  There was some activity outside the door, voices, and Sarah got up, looked out of the window. Mike Feechan was arguing with one of the cops posted outside. Sarah opened the door. ‘It’s fine, officer. He’s with us.’

  The cop stood to one side and let Mike pass. Sarah gave him a grateful smile as she closed the door behind him. Hollie and Davie both eyed him expectantly.

  ‘Tell me, Mike,’ Davie said simply.

  Mike stood by the side of the bed, black suit, tie, unflappable.

  ‘Positive ID. It was Marilyn McLean.’

  ‘I saw a woman running towards me. Why didn’t I recognize her?’

  Mike sighed. ‘She looked nothing like the photographs we had. Black hair, not blonde.’

  ‘You sure it was her?’ Sarah asked.

  ‘Yep. Positive ID from her fingerprint scan when she entered the country. We had a contact in the feds rush that one through. Passport in her bag too.’

  Hollie looked at him quizzically. ‘I don’t get it, Mike. Why? Why?’

  Mike shrugged his shoulders in resignation. ‘The CSIs are still at the scene; cops are reviewing footage. The truth is, we don’t know yet. And the only person who can tell us is dead.’

  His words silenced the room for a few moments. Marilyn McLean. Dead. If it didn’t terrify them, it would be laughable. The woman travels thousands of miles, comes up with some messed-up plan, and now she’s dead.

  Sarah’s eyebrows knitted into a frown. ‘She didn’t do it all.’

  Only when she saw that everyone was staring at her did she realize she’d said that out loud.

  ‘What are you talking about?’ Davie asked, irritated, confused. Shit, this wasn’t the time. She should have left it, let things settle.

  But now she’d started . . .

  She dipped into her bag, retrieved her tablet, fired it up. The others waited in silence until she pulled up an image. A freeze frame. The Guilloti press conference the week before. ‘This guy here,’ she said, pointing at the bodyguard standing behind Adrianna and Carlton Farnsworth.

  ‘You thought you recognized him when you saw that clip up at the ranch,’ Hollie exclaimed.

  Sarah nodded. ‘I did. Couldn’t say where from, though. Took me a while to put it together, but now I’m sure I saw him a few weeks ago with Raymo Cash in LIX. The security cameras there will back it up, but I’m positive. If he was with Raymo Cash, I’m guessing he was planning the attack on Zander. If he did that, I think it’s logical that the other stuff was connected.’

  ‘I don’t get it. Adrianna Guilloti did all this to Zander?’ Hollie asked, confused. ‘But she wouldn’t . . . I mean, why would she? They were together. They had a . . . thing.’

  ‘I don’t think it was Adrianna,’ Sarah said. ‘Look at the guy’s eyeline in this shot.’

  All four of them stared at the image as Sarah magnified it. The bodyguard’s gaze wasn’t directed at the woman in front of the camera.

  ‘It was her husband’s guy?’

  Sarah nodded. ‘I think so. Mike?’

  Mike Feechan nodded. ‘I’ll have my people check it out.’

  ‘So it was, what? Revenge?’ Hollie’s voice had stepped up a notch, bordering on shrill. ‘He did all that stuff to Zander because he was fucking his wife?’

  62.

  ‘Through the Barricades’ – Spandau Ballet

  Davie

  Davie was tired. So tired. The morning sun was scorching through the windows, but he wouldn’t let Sarah close the curtains. He wanted to see sky. How ‘movie of the week’ was that? All he wanted to do was to lie here, hold Sarah’s hand and look at the daylight.

  He must have had a severe knock on the head that the docs had missed.

  Mike Feechan had gone, back to his office to update his team and get them moving in the right direction. They knew what had happened now, but they didn’t know all the whys. Adrianna Guilloti’s husband looked square in the frame for all those fucked-up things that had happened to Zander. The guy had a reputation for being shady. He was also richer than God. A dangerous combination for someone who could have believed he was in danger of losing his wife? It was up to Mike to get the answers on that.

  All that mattered now was that Marilyn couldn’t do any more harm.

  ‘Hey?’ A voice at the door. Mirren in a chair, Hollie pushi
ng her.

  Davie felt a huge lump form in his throat and realized that he was about to cry. Shit, what had happened to him? There was definitely a concussion going on here somewhere.

  Sarah moved back to let Hollie push Mirren to his side, put her hand over his, her eyes full of unshed tears too.

  ‘You OK?’ he asked, choking on the words.

  Mirren nodded. ‘Davie, I’m so, so sorry. Marilyn . . .’ She lost the rest as she put her hand to her mouth to stop the sobs. Davie leaned over, wrapped his arms around her, not caring that stretching hurt like fuck.

  ‘She’s gone, Mirr. It’s done.’

  He held her until her shoulders stopped heaving.

  ‘I can’t stand that I came from such an evil bitch, Davie. The things she’s done . . .’

  ‘We don’t think she did them all,’ Sarah said gently.

  ‘You don’t?’

  Sarah shook her head, then told her everything. The connection between Raymo Cash and the Guillotis, her assumptions as to why.

  ‘So Marilyn didn’t try to hurt Zander?’ Mirren said, more thinking out loud than asking a question. ‘That makes sense,’ she said, before laughing. Laughing. But it was a twisted laugh, one that was steeped in bitterness and hate.

  Davie put his hand on hers, squeezed it tightly, trying to stop the hysteria that was clearly building. ‘Mirren, it’s OK. It’s OK.’

  ‘Of course,’ she spat. ‘Perfect fucking sense.’

  ‘Marilyn would never hurt Zander, because he was Jono Leith’s son. But she would go after you. Of course she would. She was there when you and I were together, knew how much I loved you, how much I wanted to be with you back then. I took away the man she loved. So it makes perfect sense that she would want to do the same to me.’

  63.

  ‘I Will Always Love You’ – Dolly Parton

  Mirren

  Mirren couldn’t bear to look at the devastation on Lex Callaghan’s face. She’d been there, knew how much it hurt to face losing someone who was part of your soul. How long had it been since anyone spoke?

  An hour? Two?

  She’d asked Hollie to bring her up here after she’d spoken to Davie. He was fine. Zander was too. Lou was here now, downstairs, sitting in a chair in her room, fending off press and calling the shots. Beside Lou, Logan had fallen asleep on her bed, and Lauren was on her way in to support him. Her world was almost complete.

  Almost.

  The lift doors opened and Sarah appeared with a tray of coffees, passed them round. ‘Davie is sleeping. Thought I’d make myself useful. Any news?’

  Mirren shook her head. ‘None.’ Sarah handed a coffee to Hollie, then sat down next to her, seeing what Mirren had already spotted. Everyone’s gaze was trained on those white double doors. Hollie’s eyes flickered between the doors and Zander, the doors and Zander, as if she just had to keep checking he was there, he was safe, he was in one piece.

  Mirren saw that she loved him. In the midst of the carnage, the worry, the terror and the prayers, there was a tiny piece of goodness.

  A tiny piece of hope.

  At that moment, the doors swung open, and a doctor who wore the posture of a weary man, of someone who had been in surgery for twelve hours, who had been the one person between Cara’s life or death, walked towards them. Lex was already on his feet, heart breaking in front of them, raw emotion pouring from his soul.

  ‘Mr Callaghan?’

  Lex nodded, unable to speak.

  ‘Your wife sustained a life-threatening wound in the explosion. As you know, a piece of metal lodged in her throat, cutting her windpipe. She stopped breathing and was intubated by a doctor at the scene. Mr Callaghan, it was touch and go, but we managed to repair the damage. It’s too early to say for sure, but I think she’s going to be fine.’

  As the tears ran down her face, Mirren gave a silent prayer of thanks.

  Now her world was complete.

  64.

  ‘I’ll Stand By You’ – the Pretenders

  Zander

  Lex held out his hand to Zander. ‘Thanks, man. For being here.’

  Zander said nothing, just nodded, smiled, hugged him. He didn’t know Lex Callaghan well at all, yet right now he felt like there was no one he knew more. They’d barely spoken, just sat there, side by side, for hours. Some things didn’t need words.

  Lex said goodbye to Mirren, Hollie and Sarah, then followed his wife’s bed along the corridor to the recovery room.

  Zander, still in the suit he’d worn last night, headed for the women sitting on the chairs behind him.

  Hollie stared up at him as he walked towards her, eyes wide, hair ruffled, tear streaks down her face.

  He leaned down, hugged Mirren, kissed her cheek, told her he loved her. He did. He had never been more grateful than he felt right now.

  Sarah stood up, put her hands on the arms of Mirren’s chair. ‘Come on, I’ll get you back downstairs. Lou will be causing havoc by now.’

  Not the most subtle departure, but Zander appreciated it. And then there were two of them – him and Hollie – in an empty room.

  ‘I learned something tonight,’ he said.

  For the first time ever, Hollie didn’t have a smart-arse retort, so he continued, incredibly calmly, sure of what he needed to say, even if he wasn’t sure how to say it.

  ‘When I kissed you at the ranch, it was spontaneous. In the moment. A reflex.’

  Hollie nodded sadly. ‘I know.’

  ‘And I’m sorry. Impulse control has never been my strong point.’

  ‘I know that too. It’s OK, Zander – you don’t need to say it. It’s gone. I knew then what it meant, and I know now too.’

  ‘You don’t.’

  ‘What?’

  He totally broke the moment by laughing. ‘Hollie, I swear you don’t know everything.’

  ‘I do,’ she retorted automatically.

  ‘I love you.’

  ‘I know that,’ she said, softer now, like a friend reassuring another.

  ‘No, Hollie . . .’ He was getting exasperated. ‘I actually love you.’

  Their eyes were locked now, hers questioning, his hoping.

  ‘Zander, I can’t. I know you too well. This will pass, like everything else. Like the booze. Like the pills. Like Adrianna fricking Guilloti. We need to talk about her, by the way. But that’s not the point. Things come and go with you, Zander. It’s your nature. It’s who you are. I can’t come and go.’ Her voice cracked. ‘I just can’t.’

  He reached over, put his hand on the side of her face, wiped away the tear that was falling there.

  ‘Hollie, tonight with Lex, I watched him suffer because he thought he could lose Cara and I realized the one person I couldn’t lose was you. It’s not a craving, or an obsession, or the need for a fix. I just love you. And not as a friend. As you.’

  He leaned forward, kissed her, and breathed again when he felt her arms go around his neck. Eventually, her mouth left his as she pulled him into an embrace.

  ‘Zander,’ she whispered in his ear.

  ‘What?’

  ‘I love you.’

  ‘You do?’ he teased.

  ‘I do. But if you fuck this up, I’ll kill you.’

  A passing nurse couldn’t help glance at the couple on the chairs who were laughing and crying at the same time. He looked like that guy from the movies. Just another day in a hospital.

  ‘Listen, I want to go down and see Davie. Is that OK? I didn’t want to leave Lex before, so I haven’t looked in on him.’

  Hollie stood up, reached for his hand. ‘Sure.’

  The elevator had gone down three floors by the time she spoke. ‘I don’t know if I can do this strong, silent stuff all the time, Zander.’

  ‘Sorry. What do you want to talk about?’

  ‘Nothing. Tell me you love me again.’

  ‘I love you.’

  ‘Excellent,’ she quipped. ‘At least once an hour, please. You don’t have to say anything else
. I’ll get by on that.’

  They made their way down the corridor, their broad grins out of place in the tension-loaded atmosphere of a busy ward.

  They didn’t care.

  ‘That’s Davie’s room,’ Hollie told him as they approached a door on the right. She let Zander go first, pausing to answer her cell phone. ‘Hey, Mike. Yeah, he’s just here . . .’

  Zander pushed open the door.

  Hollie suddenly sounded agitated. ‘What? She didn’t? . . . What guy? . . . Mike, I’m not getting this. So who planted the bomb, then? . . . Zander, stop!’

  Too late. He froze. Unable to comprehend what he was seeing in front of him.

  A bed, a figure on it, Davie . . . Yeah, it was Davie. Standing over him, a cop, staring down, pushing down. Why the fuck was he doing that? A pillow. Over Davie’s face. Davie’s legs kicking under the sheet, his body twisting, then slowing, then . . .

  Zander was across the room in a split second. He threw himself over the bed, took the cop out in a flying tackle. Hollie screamed. Screamed. Screamed.

  The two men hit the floor, Zander on top, wrestling, got to his knees. He was stronger, fitter. He was punching now, punching the cop’s face, pummelling it, the adrenalin calling the shots.

  Then he was being dragged, kicking, shouting, off a cop by two others.

  And he had no idea what the fuck had just happened.

  65.

  ‘Creep’ – Radiohead

  Payback.

  Retribution.

  Justice.

  He took her away. My Lauren. My love. My soulmate.

  She was everything.

  We’d made promises that we’d be together.

  Davie Johnston made her a star. Took her into his galaxy and out of mine. He stole her.

  And then she didn’t want me.

  My Lauren didn’t want me.

  Mine.

  She was mine.

  He took her.

  So he had to pay.

  66.

  ‘Starting Over’ – John Lennon

  Every seat around the kitchen table at the Callaghans’ ranch was taken: on one side, Davie and Sarah, Zander and Hollie, Lou and Mike Feechan; on the other side, Mirren, Brad Bernson, Lex and Cara.