“Yeah,” Leo said as he cupped his aching head. “That plan worked out perfectly. I’m out and they’re together. You fucked up, Holly. You never knew when to quit while you’re ahead.”
“Shut up, Leo,” she snapped. “If anyone fucked up it was you. You were supposed to make sure he’d never go back to that fat whore.”
He shrugged. “What can I say? Love isn’t just blind, it’s stupid too.”
Julian reclined against the pillows of the bed. It was much more relaxed than how he felt now that Leo had arrived and delivered the bad news. “If Graham kicked you out then he must be onto us.”
Leo shrugged again. “He was throwing around some hefty criminal charges when I was being dragged from the studio. Even though we did everything we could to ensure he’d be glad to get rid of Vanni, maybe Graham really is looking out for the best interest of one of his biggest acts.”
They quietly considered the very real possibility they had all been uncovered.
They had carefully crafted this confidence trick to take down the most successful rock star in America the minute he showed a few cracks in the veneer.
Now they’d all be lucky they didn’t go to jail for fraud, especially since Holly hadn’t been able to get pregnant like they planned.
Plan B involved getting him to the altar anyway and then faking a miscarriage if she couldn’t get pregnant from the sexual marathon she’d made sure they had gone on since Vanni popped the question.
“Hormones,” she had said as an excuse. “And at least we know I can’t get pregnant!”
At the time he had certainly enjoyed consequence-free sex, especially with the sexual enhancement pills she had been slipping him since Thanksgiving. But who knew if anything had “taken” yet. According to her calendar she was still in the ovulation phase of her cycle, they wouldn’t know anything until mid-January at the earliest.
Without a pregnancy there would be no Plan C.
“So do I go back?” Holly wanted to know.
“If Graham does know what’s going on you’re likely going to have to produce a positive test in order to get him down the aisle now.”
“Maybe, maybe not,” she hedged. She’d managed to fool Vanni into thinking there was a baby without a positive test. “He said he loved me,” she finally offered, in a small voice. “Maybe I could use that.”
Leo just laughed. “Honey, did you see the photo from the church? That man doesn’t love anyone but her – God only knows why. Just wait it out. I’ll keep an ear open. If they don’t figure things out, and Vanni wants to go forward with a wedding, then you go back in a position of power, not weakness. Then you get married like you planned, and we go from there. We get our record company, Julian gets his band and you keep him happy fucking his brains out until you have a household of kids. And if he gets out of line,” Leo said as he took a flask from his jacket, “we always know how to get him back under control.” He took a long swig.
If Vanni hadn’t come at him swinging he could have had this whole thing taken care of by now. He could have gotten him drunk and Holly would have come to his rescue again.
But that lovesick asshole threw a wrench in all their plans. Again.
One thing was for sure. If they ever wanted to take down Giovanni Carnevale, they had to get rid of Andy.
Once and for all.
Chapter Twenty-Four
December 22, 2010. New York.
Andy
When Andy’s eyes opened she was starkly reminded of waking up in another hospital room in Philadelphia mere months before. Had it really been six months? She felt like she had aged twenty years.
She glanced over at the IV where it dripped down in a clear bag full of all the necessary nutrients she knew she’d been missing since she got that nagging stomach flu a month ago. She’d never been able to recover, but she knew that was mostly because she hadn’t wanted to.
Now that Vanni was truly gone from her life nothing would be the same. The sun wouldn’t burn the same yellow; the sky wouldn’t shine the same blue. Music and colors were muted as she forfeited joy for obligation.
After she destroyed Graham the way she did she knew she didn’t deserve joy. She hadn’t gone to New York to hurt him, but her intentions were for naught when she came back home and saw him clinging to a life that, for him, was as dull and lifeless to him as a Vanni-less existence was to her.
There was no way to salvage a happy ending. Happily ever afters were for fairy tales, where the feelings of very real, very complex humans weren’t involved. For one person to be happy, another had to be miserable. That meant there would be no spike of the ball or triumphant gallop into the sunset. It was real life. One where you settled and you compromised and you paid dearly for your mistakes.
In the end normal folks just stayed on their treadmills and simply pretended they were merry-go-rounds.
She had convinced herself that she could be happy knowing that Vanni managed to find his happy ending out of all of it, with the promise of a baby. Only she had somehow managed to screw that up too because she needed to see him just one more time before he stepped out of her reach forever.
Her eyes squeezed shut. She had cursed every man who had ever dared love her. Her father died in a fire, Graham essentially lost his legs and now Vanni may have lost his child. With a sigh she knew that as soon as she was well enough to leave this hospital bed she’d go back to Tennessee and resume the spinster life she was somehow destined to live.
How dare she think she could find her on happily ever after? How dare she believe she could live out some rock and roll fantasy?
There was nothing left to believe, no cause left to fight.
The female doctor gave her a comforting smile as she entered the tiny cubicle. “How are we feeling, Miss Foster?”
“Fabulous,” she muttered before promptly leaning over and heaving all over the pristine tile floor.
An orderly was quick to clean up the mess as the doctor wet a washcloth and gently bathed Andy’s face. “Haven’t felt well for a while, huh?” she asked as she pressed down on Andy’s tender stomach.
Andy shook her head. Was it that bad that it showed?
“Since, oh, about mid-November?”
Andy nodded again. This doctor was good.
“It’s typical,” she said in the same cheery tone. “For many women the first trimester is the hardest.”
Andy’s eyes flew open wide. “What?”
“Last period was what, early October?” she asked. Andy had to think about it. Ever since she moved in with Graham and stopped taking regular birth control her cycles had been sporadic if she had one at all. She never could keep the dates straight, and since she was no longer having regular sex it hardly seemed worth the effort.
“I don’t remember,” she stammered. “I haven’t been regular since I stopped taking birth control in June.”
The doctor nodded. “I’ll order an ultrasound,” she said. Within about a half hour the ultrasound tech rolled the machine into her cubicle. Within minutes of that a steady, quick heartbeat filled the room. Tears sprung from her eyes as she listened to the magical sound of her baby’s heartbeat.
Her baby, she thought. She was going to have a baby!
The doctor went over the results of the ultrasound with her, letting her know that she was about ten weeks pregnant. Her baby was due in mid-July. She congratulated her, after a stern warning that she’d have to take better care of her health now that she was a mommy-to-be. She then patted her leg and left her alone with her thoughts.
Ten weeks, she thought. October. Her birthday.
She was carrying Vanni’s child. As was a running theme in her life the revelation was both a dream come true but also a huge complication. He already had a child on the way with Holly. He had promised to marry her. How could he manage two families?
He’d constantly be torn between the two of them and never be able to be the father he wanted to be. And that was the kicker: he never wanted to be a fat
her. Both pregnancies had been unplanned. To tell him there was another “oopsie” when his life was chaotic enough just seemed to add insult to injury.
Whenever Vanni had to choose between Andy and other women, history had not been on her side. It was bad enough to be shafted all by herself. She couldn’t imagine doing that to a child too.
Graham, on the other hand, wanted a child of his own but was unsure if he’d ever be able to father one. His life was the more stable one. He wasn’t as much of a target for the paparazzi. He had the money and means to make any child have a somewhat normal upbringing, and Andy knew he’d be a patient and understanding parent. He’d also be deliriously happy with the news, and move heaven and earth to make everything perfect for her and her baby.
The temptation was almost immediate to orchestrate a few lies and right what the Universe clearly got wrong. Again. She and Graham had been together, and not long after she would have conceived. Just one little lie, just one little miscalculation, and she could wrap everything up in a nice tidy bow that really would have made life easier for everyone, including her child.
Her child, she thought again as she put her hand on her stomach. Vanni’s parting gift of their doomed love affair.
But did she really have it in her to pass off Vanni’s child as Graham’s?
More importantly, should she?
The minute that Vanni rushed into the room she had her answer. She couldn’t have lied to him and taken his child away from him even if she wanted to. Despite how complicated it would be she had to at least give him the option of being a proper father to their child. She was tired of playing god with all the people in her life. Everything she had done was to make life easier for everyone and it only served to make more of a mess.
It was time to trust them to make their own decisions.
Vanni took her hand in his as he sat down beside her. He looked like hell thanks to the cuts and bruises Leo had delivered in their studio brawl. He had been so panicked about Holly and now it was clear he was deeply concerned for Andy’s health too.
“Are you okay?” he asked as he brushed her hair from her face. She was still so pale. What if she had some horrible disease? Could God really punish them that cruelly for wanting a few stolen minutes of happiness?
She nodded, and bit her lip to contain her smile. “I’m fine,” she said before she burst out laughing, taking Vanni by complete surprise. He watched her giggle deliriously, wondering if he should call the nurse. Exactly what kind of drugs were they pumping through her IV?
Maybe she was dying and was having some sort of mental breakdown because of it.
She grabbed his hand in hers and brought it to her lips. She didn’t know how he’d take the news, so it was almost impossible to bring the words to the surface. Instead she placed his hand on her stomach and flattened it out to cover the soft swell there. Her eyes softened as she covered his hand with both of hers.
He glanced down with a furrowed brow, then as realization dawned his eyes shot back up to her face. “Are you kidding me?”
She shook her head as laughter once again spilled forth in pure, undiluted joy.
“When?” he asked stupidly, as if they had had more than one opportunity.
“My birthday,” she confessed. “The best gift ever,” she added before she pulled him down to her for a long, grateful hug.
“I don’t understand,” he mumbled against her hair. “When did you find out?”
“Just now. They just did an ultrasound. I heard the baby’s heartbeat,” she added with a happy grin. “I hadn’t been feeling well but I thought it was the flu. It started about ten days after I got back from New York, when things were so complicated at the house. Graham was getting over pneumonia and I was still reeling from letting you go.”
He clutched her tighter. If she thought he was going to go anywhere now she was crazy. She was pregnant with his baby. Surely there was nothing that could break their bond now.
“I had stopped taking birth control after being hospitalized in June and it made my periods all wonky. I wasn’t even sure if I was ovulating.”
“So when we made love in New York…” he began…
“I didn’t even think it was a possibility,” she answered. “I just wanted to be with you. Nothing else mattered.”
He kissed her mouth tenderly. “We’ll never be apart again,” he promised.
She touched his face. As usual he wasn’t thinking it through. “What about Holly?”
He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. I don’t have to marry her to be there for our child. I only thought I should marry her because I thought you and I could never be together. This,” he said as he put his hand against her stomach, “proves we’re meant to be together. We’re linked forever now.”
It warmed her heart to hear it, but she also knew that things were never that cut and dried for them.
And they still had to tell Graham. She didn’t think she could bear to break his heart again.
Vanni wanted to be there when she told him, which she initially resisted. In the end Graham requested to speak to them both in her private hospital room later that evening, where they treated her exhaustion and malnutrition.
Vanni sat over on the window ledge as Graham wheeled himself in. He carried manila envelopes on his lap.
“What’s up, boss?” Vanni asked, although the rougher edge of his discontent had considerably lessened since he learned about the baby.
“Good news and bad news,” he said. “Depending on your perspective, I guess. I hired a detective to see if I could track down your fiancé,” he said to Vanni. “Even though the investigation was cursory, I found a lot more than I bargained for. Holly and Julian didn’t just happen upon the scene. These are grifters and you were their target.”
Both Vanni’s and Andy’s jaws dropped open in shock. Graham went on.
“There are arrests in several different states for writing bad checks, forgery and theft.” He tossed several mug shot photos onto the table across Andy’s bed. Her hair had been blond, red and brown, she’d worn various contacts and had adopted several different looks along the way, which made her look like a half a dozen different people. “She was somewhat of a chameleon, possibly changing for each target. They find someone with means and get close, then rob them blind.”
That would explain her wanting to attach herself to someone like Vanni, especially so quickly. “Most of their cons have been finding powerful people to fund his music career. Her aim, apparently, is to marry powerful men of means. This way they could get all the money they want the minute they decide to split.”
“How did we not know any of this? You’d think PING would have dug that up the first week they photographed her on my arm.”
Graham shrugged. “This wasn’t their first rodeo. They’ve spent years perfecting their game, finding out what does and what doesn’t work, through the safety of different aliases and personas. Odds are she had PING in her pocket the whole time. They came to depend on her as a trusted source and since she was throwing you to the wolves on a regular basis, she could keep the focus off of herself. It’s a game they’ve played with meager successes until now. Most of the time they get paid a small settlement and can start over elsewhere. But they’ve upped their ante as of late.”
“The baby,” Vanni said as he felt heart sink to his stomach. What the hell had he gotten himself into this time?
“This isn’t the first time they’ve tried playing the baby card. Their last target was the owner of a Denver management group. He and his wife had gone public with their struggles to have a baby. Enter Holly… or Heather I think she called herself then. Worked as his assistant, got the guy to cheat and then used the promise of a baby to make him choose. Evidently when she told him the rabbit died he wanted to see the carcass. They split soon after and the Denver guy gladly swept it as quickly under the rug as possible once he realized she had lied about everything.” He glanced over at Vanni. “Did you happen to see the test?”
Vanni shook his head. She had him so convinced that it would be positive he didn’t even question it. Maybe by then he hadn’t wanted to. After everything he had been through it felt like a chance to make a new beginning, which of course was what she had been counting on.
“That’s what I thought,” Graham said. “Pulled a few strings and found out the only clinic that Holly had gone to in the last month is a fertility clinic.”
“How’d you find that out?” Andy wanted to know.
“Our good friends at PING,” he said as he pushed some grainy paparazzi shots taken outside a Manhattan fertility clinic. “They’ve been desperate to find any concrete proof that you guys were having a baby so they’ve had all of Manhattan watching her like a hawk. Apparently someone at the clinic recognized her and let them know she was coming in regularly, as recently as a week ago. She’s not pregnant.”
Vanni almost melted off of his perch by the window in relief. He wasn’t sure how he was going to manage two different mothers and two newborn babies, but he had been ready to face that challenge. In the end he was glad he didn’t have to.
All he had to worry about was Andy and their child she carried in her womb. Finally the Universe got something right despite all their mistakes.
“I’ve started the paperwork to get a restraining order against Leo, Julian and Holly. Yael has already headed for L.A. If,” he directed his attention back to Vanni, “that’s what you want to do. I know you’ve considered terminating your contract.”
Vanni stood and walked over to Andy. “That kind of depends on you,” he said.
Graham sighed as he placed all the paperwork and photos back into the envelope. “If there’s anything I’ve learned in this last year it is that life is short. You have to live it in the way that seems right to you and no one else. I knew when I saw that photo from the church that I’d been forcing myself to live a lie.” He glanced at Andy. “Forcing you to live a lie. And now look where it got you.”
The Complete Groupie Trilogy Page 54