Mogul (15 page)

She gave him a smile but it didn’t do much to
assuage her anxiety. In fact, the closer they got to the weekend –
which would begin with his press conference on Friday – the more
anxious she became. She was essentially being threatened by an
unknown source as it was. Imagine how unhinged this person could
become, knowing she was expecting Vanni’s baby.

Was Holly experiencing this kind of threat?
Somehow Andy didn’t think so. Those things seemed to be reserved
for Andy alone.

She remembered back to her first encounters
with Talia years before, and how she immediately sensed the threat
was real even before anyone would take her seriously. Now the
threat could come from anywhere.

If it weren’t for Graham’s security team, she
would seriously consider staying in a hotel until they got to the
bottom of who was behind their doorstep packages. She didn’t say as
much to Vanni. She sensed that he wouldn’t take it well that
another man helped her feel safe when he couldn’t.

In fact, if anything Vanni was further
painting the target on her back by insisting upon going public with
their relationship. As each moment ticked past, Andy started to
lean toward Graham’s point of view they should hold off, at least
temporarily until the initial dust had settled surrounding
Holly.

The thoughts haunted her all day as the
remnants of her nightmare lingered. Not only was she jumpy, she was
irritable from her lack of sleep. Graham tried to corner her in her
office that afternoon but she sidestepped him. She didn’t want to
run the risk of Vanni finding them together again. She had to pick
her battles now, and she was beginning to suspect asking Vanni to
hold off on his announcement would require all of her energy.

She was quiet as they drove home. “You okay,
babe?” he asked as he glanced over at where she sat in the darkened
car. Their days at the studio were hectic and he didn’t get to see
her much, to check on her to see if she was feeling okay. From her
somber mood he wondered if maybe they had been overly ambitious
with her new work schedule.

She gave him an absent nod. “We’re fine,” she
said with a small smile. Pregnancy-wise, the day had been an easy
one. Even with her increased level of anxiety, their little Bean
had been quiet and low-maintenance. Every now and then she’d feel a
reassuring little flutter, but with her increased activity, her
constant motion had seemingly lulled their little bundle of joy to
sleep all day.

They grabbed some Chinese food on the way
home, and her appetite was good as they plowed through dinner. They
sat on the floor around their coffee table, with the TV droning on
in the background. They fed each other using their chopsticks, and
amidst stolen kisses and laughter over a mindless sitcom rerun, the
memory of her nightmare finally started to fade.

They cuddled together against the sofa as
they shared a fortune cookie. She pulled out the tiny scrap of
paper. “What does it say?” he asked as he nuzzled her ear.

She took a deep breath. “It says you should
hold off making any important announcements.”

He stiffened as he pulled away. “Andy…” he
started, but she cut him off.

“I’ve been thinking about it and I think… I
think the producers are right. It’s too soon with all this Holly
business.”

He glared at her. “You mean you think Graham
is right. Shannon already told us we could make the announcement,
that it would help our audience to know I’m in a committed
relationship with you and that was why I didn’t run back to
Holly.”

Her eyes met his. “I’m scared, Vanni. Not
just for me, but for our baby. There’s just way too much in the air
right now. Maybe once we get a new place…”

He pounced all over that. “Maybe?”

She said nothing. He hopped to his feet and
grabbed the discarded food cartons across the coffee table. She
rose to her feet as well. “Vanni, please. Don’t be angry.”

“Who’s angry? I’m just engaged to someone who
doesn’t want the world to know who she is. What in the world is
wrong with that?” he snapped as he went to the kitchen and busied
himself with cleanup. “Tell me, Andy. Will our daughter be able to
acknowledge me in public? Is that allowed?”

She sighed. He really didn’t like being
denied what he really wanted. “You’re acting like a child,” she
pointed out.

He spun around. “I’ll tell you what I’m
acting like. I’m acting like a man who just realized his fiancé is
afraid to be publicly linked to him. Or is it ashamed? Let’s be
honest. I mean, let’s face it. I’m not exactly the pick of the
litter anymore. Lost half of my fortune when I drove off a cliff
with a hooker, who I nearly killed. I got another girl pregnant two
months after I got you pregnant. I’m a recovering alcoholic and sex
addict. And now my biggest claim to fame is a reality show. Not
exactly ‘Most Eligible Bachelor’ material, am I?”

“I’m not ashamed of anything from our past,”
she asserted.

“Either way it puts a pretty big crimp into
our future plans, don’t you think?” He turned to face her. “And by
not telling the world the truth, you always have the loophole to
make a clean getaway. You can run back to Graham and no one would
be the wiser. I mean, you were living with him as of three months
ago, and you’re five months pregnant now. As long as you deny any
association with me, it all fits neatly together.”

Her mouth fell open. Is that what he really
thought? “I’m not going back to Graham,” she said.

“Really?” he challenged. “You looked pretty
cozy in your office the other day. And isn’t it convenient that he
offers me this show, and you a job, right when all the shit is
hitting the fan.”

“It’s hitting the fan because of our poor
choices,” she corrected. “But why do we owe an explanation to the
world about any of it?”

“I don’t want to explain anything,” he said,
his voice rising with his frustration. “I want to tell the world
that you’re mine. Most men like to do that when they fall in love.
I’m not jumping on a sofa on a daytime talk show, but I really
can’t see being faulted for wanting to set the record straight when
it’s all so horribly wrong right now.”

She walked over to where he stood in the
kitchen, and wrapped her arms around his waist as she stepped into
his arms. “I don’t care what they get wrong.”

He gathered her tight. “I do. I don’t like
what they’re saying about you. They’re making Holly to look like
this long-suffering Madonna while you’re being cast as the
opportunistic whore. It’s all backwards.”

She sighed as she rested her head against his
strong shoulder, and he planted his chin on the top of her head.
She realized that he truly believed that setting the record
straight would protect her, her honor if nothing else. How could
she fault him for that?

And she honestly hadn’t put the two thoughts
together that her reluctance to go public would feed his
insecurities with Graham. He had gone all-in with a proposal;
having her go public with their relationship after all this time
was her chance to do likewise.

She glanced up at him. “Okay,” she finally
said. He bent for a kiss and another long hug.

By Friday they had not only prepared a press
release and a press conference, but they had hired an assistant to
help Andy so she wouldn’t have to rely so heavily on Graham. He
understood that her first few months of pregnancy had left her
isolated, so they decided she would need an ally who could help
take care of her while Vanni was working. This new assistant could
run interference whenever she needed to call for Graham’s
assistance on security or even the show’s production, and since she
had been independently hired would have a loyalty to the couple,
rather than Graham and his label. In fact they had steered
purposefully away from Graham’s label, his security personnel and
even his P.R. firm where Gwen worked in order to find an assistant,
recommended instead through an employment service that dealt with
the special concerns and demands of celebrities.

Kelly Coletti was young and energetic, a
dark-haired college student of Italian descent who hailed from San
Diego, California. She was a communications major, who had decided
to pay her mountain of bills by becoming a personal assistant. She
needed a flexible schedule, and Andy needed a confidante
sufficiently outside of their professional circle. Though she was
an attractive girl, Vanni seemed uninterested in much contact
beyond the practical. He doted on Andy. His main concern was that
Kelly would do likewise.

Kelly’s first order of business was to find a
list of houses for them to look at over the weekend. They gave her
a list of what they wanted, so she stayed on the laptop in the
corner of Andy’s office while Andy did her job developing
relationships with sponsors for the show. Kelly was close enough if
Andy needed her, and her presence seemed to discourage Graham from
spending too much time in her office. He’d bring her lunch, but
Kelly had already taken care of it. He’d stop by with water or
juice, only to find Kelly was on top of any of Andy’s practical
needs. If he wanted to talk about the show, Kelly was always in the
background as a deterrent for things to get too personal.

By the time their press conference rolled
around, Graham realized with a sinking heart they fully intended to
go public with their happy news. This would wrench Andy even
further out of his life and cement her permanently into Vanni’s. He
himself was snippy and irritable as he tried to juggle his label’s
commitments and the new production.

He wasn’t needed on the studio lot, but he
found himself there at least a couple of hours a day. Maggie
sometimes accompanied him, especially since his hectic schedule was
doing a number on his recovery. Maggie suspected that had more to
do with his souring mood, but she didn’t say anything as she
basically stayed in the shadows until she was needed – like a true
employee.

If Graham was being honest with himself, he’d
have admitted that was part of his problem. He had gone from having
a comfortable friendship with a loyal roomie, and now he rambled
around his huge mansion feeling colder and lonelier than before. It
made all the aches and pains stand out more than they might have
otherwise.

It was almost like going through a divorce
without the benefit of marriage. And Maggie wasn’t giving an inch.
If he tried to adopt a more teasing, playful tone, she’d grow more
sullen and quiet. She was there to do a job, and she reminded him
of that at every opportunity – in word and in deed.

It was hard to believe it was only a few
months back when Andy, Maggie and he had cooked a Thanksgiving
dinner together and spent the holiday as a pseudo-family of misfit
orphans. Now he was the only orphan left in the giant white
mausoleum he called home. He started drinking to numb himself to
the pain, and had even begun to forsake his valuable therapy
whenever Maggie wasn’t there to bark orders at him like a drill
sergeant.

What difference did it make?

When Vanni appeared at the press conference
at an outdoor high-scale mall in West L.A., Graham couldn’t help
but show up. He had toppled over a masochistic hill. It made
perfect sense he’d want to watch the entitled asshole who had taken
the woman he loved away from him pound the last nails into the
coffin of that long-dead relationship.

He was surprised that Maggie showed up as
well, as if she sensed he needed her. She stayed toward the back
out of sight, as she always had done, and they waited for Vanni to
break the news.

The crowd that had accumulated to see the
breaking news went crazy when Vanni walked on stage and greeted the
celebrity journalist who hosted. Behind him were banners with the
logo for the new show, along with several faces of the hopeful
contenders who would compete. “Welcome, Giovanni,” the host said as
he motioned to a tall chair on stage.

“Thanks for having me,” Vanni said
amiably.

“So tell us about your new project,” the host
offered on cue.

“It’s a talent show
called
Fierce
, and
it allows those contestants to succeed based on talent and audacity
alone. We’re not looking for a product we can package. We want to
find true role models and idols that other generations can look up
to for all the right reasons. Dixie Entertainment and Baxter
Mega-Worldwide Media Corporation have partnered together to find
the next superstar from unexpected places.”

“How is this different than other talent
shows on air?”

“We’re committed to giving everyone the same
chance, no matter who they are. We don’t want some paint-by-numbers
process or paper doll, one-dimensional contestants already
hand-picked using some tired casting criteria. Once you see our
judging process, you’ll understand. It’s very thorough and
completely fair and unbiased. There are several stages our
contestants must go through before they get to the live shows where
America can vote for their favorites, and each judge has his or her
own vocal and professional standards for a contestant to advance.
We make these choices based on gut instinct alone, not because a
crowd tells us to or another judge influences our initial reaction.
We’re completely focused on giving each contestant the opportunity
to wow us.”

“Who are the judges?”

“Allison Ewing, who, I don’t
have to tell you, was a country diva from the 1980s. She enjoyed
several crossover hits, so she knows what it takes to succeed in
several markets. Most of all she tells it like it is and she’s
fully committed to finding a new face, and voice, for women in
music for the 21
^st
century. We are joined by Ryder Reed, a record
producer from New York. His work with several club DJs and
electronic music has an eye on the future of how music is packaged
for the public. And finally there’s me.” He smiled wide. “Just a
boy from Philly who got lucky enough to make a living in this
business. I get where these kids are coming from and I am totally
committed to making sure they catch the stars they’re reaching
for.”