Mogul (18 page)

“I’ll tell you who I do have sympathy for,”
she said. “These two babies. They didn’t ask to be born into these
situations and it’s up to us to protect them.”

“That’s what I’m trying to do,” he
insisted.

“No, you’re trying to make everyone happy. As
usual. When are you going to realize that’s impossible? Think about
it. As long as she has access to her child, she has access to you.
Like right now – she’ll text you and you’ll drop everything to run
to the hospital just to make sure she’s okay.”

“She needs me, Andy. And she’s carrying my
child. What the hell am I supposed to do?”

“I just want to know how far you are willing
to go. What’s it going to take to make her happy? Because we both
know that is the priority you’re chasing right now.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it. You’re the
one with my ring on your finger.”

“For now.”

He grew more annoyed with her. “You’re right,
Andy. You busted me. I want to marry the both of you. Let’s move to
Utah and have our own commune.”

“Stop being facetious.”

“Stop being paranoid,” he shot back. “I told
Holly tonight that my future is with you. That I’m in love with
you. She knows she has no chance with me.”

Andy chortled in disgust. “Then what does she
want? Because she wants something, that much I know.”

“I told you. She wants a little bit of
security. She’s had to fight for everything she’s ever had –”

“Stolen,” Andy corrected, but he went on.

“Whatever. But I’m not going to use her like
some brood mare and kick her back out into the streets once she
serves no further purpose. If we were all solely judged by the sins
of our past I’d be locked up in a jail cell right now after what
happened with Baylee. All that matters to her right now is the
wellbeing of her baby. She’s not strong like you, babe. She can’t
do this on her own.” He took a deep breath. “That’s why I’m
thinking about putting Julian back in the band.”

It was Andy’s turn to be aghast. “What?”

“Think about it. Julian is taking care of
her. If I invest in his future, she won’t feel so threatened and
want to come between us.”

“How can you even think
about trusting either of them after what they did to you last year?
These are not good people, Vanni. I’m bewildered why you keep
trying to treat them as though they just made a few mistakes. They
deliberately tried to con you out of your money. You were a target.
You
are
a
target.”

He shrugged. He couldn’t deny what she was
saying. But he also had very limited choices how to handle it.
“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer,” he offered.

She said nothing as she threw the towel over
the plate of fruit and veggies she had been preparing when he had
come in. She stalked from the kitchen.

“Aren’t you going to eat?” he asked her
departing back.

“I’m not hungry,” she shot back before she
climbed the stairs toward the loft. He sighed as he banged his head
softly against the kitchen cabinet.

Neither Vanni nor Andy resurrected the
argument that evening, though its shadow loomed large over them as
they stewed silently. Things were tense between them right up to
the following morning, when they met with the real estate agent
Kelly had found for them. They had four houses on their list, but
even looking at the nice properties available to them didn’t do
much to lift their spirits.

Finally liberated from the secretive bubble
they had lived in for the past few months, they were able to go out
to dinner and actually be seen in public. Everyone wanted to see
the ring on her finger, which she really wanted to flash by giving
them all the bird. Instead she kept her head down and they ignored
the paparazzi like the buzzing mosquitos they were as they tried to
carry on as normally as possible.

They spent their evening at a high-scale
shopping center, where she was finally able to purchase her first
maternity shirt and some odds and ends for their little Bean. They
picked out a receiving blanket and some one-piece sleepers, along
with a sling she could use to carry the baby close to her
heart.

It was the only thing to break the ice
between them.

They danced around the Holly/Julian topic,
and Vanni overcompensated by spoiling her rotten. Whatever she
wanted, he made sure she got. He even turned off his phone so that
he wouldn’t be at Holly’s beck and call.

The next day they were scheduled to see five
more houses. He wanted to stay toward the beach, but away from
Malibu, so they looked at secured estates in Rancho Palos Verdes,
just south of where they currently resided. It was on the second
house of the day where both Andy and Vanni fell in love with a
sprawling Mediterranean-style home that covered more than 6000
square feet, just blocks away from the ocean. The master bedroom
was located on the second floor, with a private deck with panoramic
views of the Pacific. It had five bedrooms, a den and a private
office, along with a gourmet kitchen with separate quarters for any
staff they might need.

It was warm and welcoming while still being
private and secure. Immediately Vanni and Andy knew they had found
the house they were looking for. Their mood brightened
considerably. By Monday they had made an offer, and by Friday they
began paperwork to own the magnificent mansion that was cozy enough
to be called home.

They even daydreamed about
an intimate wedding in the enormous back yard, which came complete
with a gazebo and lagoon pool. All this kept Andy busy as she
prepared to move into and decorate the new home, prepare for a
wedding and for the arrival of their child. There were only a few
months left to accomplish it all, so she leaned heavily on Kelly to
help keep her organized, particularly as part of the creative staff
on
Fierce
.

The first priority she had after their offer
on the house had been accepted was to schedule an ultrasound to
determine the sex of their baby. If Vanni had his way the entire
nursery would be painted pink by the time they moved in, with
dozens of frilly little dresses and stuffed animals and dolls to
welcome their little bean come July.

Now that she was twenty weeks along, they
could take tests to be better prepared for whichever color the
nursery would need to be painted.

They arrived early and were ushered into the
tiny room, where Andy bared her growing tummy for the ultrasound
tech. She applied the clear, cold liquid on Andy’s tummy before
using the wand to transfer the images from inside her womb to the
monitor. Tears sprang into Andy’s eyes as she realized what had
started as a blip on the screen was now filling out into the shape
of a baby. Vanni held her hand and kissed it repeatedly during the
procedure, as the tech told them what they were seeing on the
screen. Everything looked good, which was the best news of all.

“And the sex?” Andy asked.

“Let’s see here,” the tech said as she moved
the wand around on her stomach. Andy held her breath while Vanni
whispered in her ear, “It’s a girl. I bet you ten thousand
dollars.”

The tech laughed as she pinpointed the spot
on the screen she was searching for. “Seems like father knows
best.” She turned to Andy. “You’re having a girl.”

Vanni beamed with tears of his own welling in
his eyes as he looked down at Andy. “Told you so,” he said as he
bent to kiss her softly.

After they left the doctor’s office, they
headed straight to a shopping center to buy their little girl’s
first gender-specific outfits. Vanni surprised her by taking her to
a shop where they could build her a stuffed animal in honor of the
momentous day.

Duty called them back to the studio, where
they stayed late to make up for their long lunch. And Andy was
tired by the time she headed for his office that night, preparing
to go home. They could stop off for dinner and start thinking
seriously about names. It sounded like the best way to top off
their day.

Vanni was putting his things together to
prepare to leave, including some audition tapes he hadn’t quite
gotten to. She couldn’t help pouting. “You’re working at home?”

“Sorry, babe,” he said as he hoisted the pack
over his shoulder. “I’m going to be late coming in tomorrow
morning. It has to be done.”

Her stomach twisted in a knot. “And why’s
that?”

“Holly called me. They’re releasing her
tomorrow. I’m going to pick her up and take her to a nicer hotel
until we can find her an apartment.”

She didn’t care much for the “we” he had
included. “Send Kelly,” she said. “Why does it have to be you?”

He sighed. He was too tired to have this
fight again. “Because it does,” he said quietly as he approached.
“Let’s go home.”

They picked up some take-out on their way
home, where he spent most of the night going through the tapes. The
following week they would begin taping the show, and he had to
catch up with all the audition tapes to make his choice of which
contestants he’d put through. She admired his commitment, but it
left her puttering around the bedroom while she stayed out of his
way.

She researched baby names online to keep
herself occupied without going crazy, knowing he’d be spending the
next day with Holly.

She didn’t trust that girl as far as she
could throw her. It was like she instinctively knew whenever they
had a good day and she’d swoop right in to stake her claim just to
knock Andy off center. For every step forward they took, she was
right there to pull him back.

Andy was disgusted as she closed her laptop
and put it to the side. She relaxed in a warm bath for a while, and
then took some time painting her nails and spreading lotion over
her growing tummy. She read for a while and then finally fell
asleep, hours before Vanni himself came to bed.

He was gone by the time she got up the next
day. Kelly arrived to drive her to the studios, but work was the
last thing on her mind.

It had also been the last thing on Vanni’s
mind hours before he climbed wearily into bed with Andy at three
o’clock that morning. Once he made his way through the audition
tapes he had brought home, he, too, hit the Internet. At first he
looked at hotels where he could take Holly the following day, but
ultimately he found a two-bedroom corporate apartment in downtown
L.A. that came furnished and – best of all – was in a security
building. He could rent it on a short-term basis, and he decided
he’d feel much better knowing that Holly was in a secure, more
home-like atmosphere than some hotel.

Maybe she’d feel better about their separate
living arrangements if she knew that he was trying to find
something that met her long-term needs, rather than just a
hole-in-the-wall hotel room. He even thought ahead to give Julian
his own room, so she would know he wasn’t drawing any lines in the
sand over what had happened in the past.

Vanni was at the building by eight o’clock,
and everything was ready for her to arrive by the time he drove to
the hospital at noon. He’d even gone to the store and bought a
refrigerator full of healthy foods that would nourish her and the
baby.

Most importantly he set up a crib in her
bedroom – to remind her why it was so important to take care of
herself.

She was overcome when she walked through the
door. It was a luxury building with all the amenities, and much
nicer than any other place she’d ever lived apart from Vanni’s
penthouse in Manhattan. “This is too much,” she told him as she
cradled her baby bump. “I thought you were taking me to a
hotel.”

“I thought about it,” he said as he set the
suitcase on the floor. “But this seemed more practical. It was a
place you could get into right away, it comes already furnished
with everything you need. The building is safe, with no access for
the paparazzi. It’ll help you lay low for a while so that you can
get healthy.”

She nodded as she sat in one of the accent
chairs. She was still painfully thin, but looked much healthier
than when he’d first found her in Hollywood. He pointed to the
kitchen, where a bowl was stacked full of colorful fresh fruit and
vegetables. “You have everything you need. I already shopped for
you. I’ll start interviewing assistants this week so that you can
have someone take care of all your errands, that way you don’t have
to face the press.”

“You mean so you don’t have to answer for
your baby mama in the press.”

He sighed. He was dog-tired and he didn’t
want to have another fight with the other woman in his life. “Yeah,
that too. Okay? I don’t want all my mistakes trotted across every
tabloid cover from here to Florida. Sue me. But you’ll have to get
in line. Half of my money belongs to a comatose hooker from
Hollywood.”

Her voice was quiet. “Is that all I’ll ever
be to you, Vanni? A mistake?”

Yes
, he wanted to answer. But he said nothing. He placed the bag
from the hospital with her vitamins and supplements on the counter
in the kitchen. When he turned back toward the living room, Holly
stood looking out at the view. Her apartment was on the twelfth
floor, with a scenic view all the way to the Hollywood Hills. It
was way more expensive than a hotel, but he hoped that it was nice
enough to keep her happy – especially since she was the one who was
going to be in hiding for the near future. He had avoided any
questions about her in the press. As far as he was concerned, it
was nobody’s business that he was having two babies from two
different mothers.

He’d figure it out in the future. Right now
his priority was keeping her safe and healthy.

In the meantime it was as luxurious a prison
as any. Much better than a bug-infested rat-trap in Hollywood,
which was where she’d been hiding previously.