Lucky

  ‘Olympia Stanislopoulos is challenging the will,’ her legal advisors informed her.

  It came as no surprise.

  ‘Tell her I’ll double what her father left her,’ Lucky generously decided. ‘And she can have the yacht as a gift.’

  Olympia’s answer was swift and to the point. ‘No.’

  Lucky tried again. ‘I’ll treble what Dimitri wanted her to have, and I’ll throw in the New York apartment. If she doesn’t accept my offer within ten days I shall withdraw it and all previous offers.’

  Olympia’s reply was, ‘Why wait ten days? When I get that bitch in court and prove she killed my father and forced him to change his will, everything will be mine.’

  The lawyers rubbed their hands together gleefully. And so did the press.

  * * *

  ‘I’m leaving,’ Lennie said.

  Olympia favoured him with a glare. ‘You don’t mean it,’ she said. ‘You wouldn’t walk out on me and all the things I can give you.’

  They had been fighting for weeks, ever since the reading of the will. In the Bel Air house he could escape. But in their New York apartment there was no such luxury. Lennie knew he couldn’t take it any more. Why was he hanging around anyway? Olympia’s looks were restored – plastic surgery had taken care of every one of her scars. So she was fat. Was that his problem? Was he supposed to feel sorry for her and stay with her forever?

  ‘I don’t want anything from you,’ he said wearily. ‘You can have every single thing you’ve ever given me. The cars, the house, the furniture. I’m going to walk away from this marriage empty handed.’

  ‘Empty handed, my ass,’ she yelled. ‘What about all the money you’ve made?’

  ‘I made it, didn’t I? It’s mine, isn’t it?’

  ‘Not when I’ve finished with you,’ she ranted. ‘California law. Half of everything you have is mine.’

  ‘And vice versa. But I don’t want anything from you. So leave me alone, and I’ll show you the same courtesy.’

  ‘You fuckhead!’

  ‘Such a lady.’

  ‘Piss off. You’re only leaving me now because I’m not as rich as you thought I was going to be.’

  ‘Money has nothing to do with it, and you know it.’

  ‘Sure,’ she jeered. ‘But you’ll be sorry, just you wait. The will’ll be reversed and I’ll be the richest fucking woman in the world. Then you’ll be really sorry.’

  He threw clothes in a suitcase, snapped it shut, and walked to the door. ‘Goodbye, Olympia.’

  She followed him and hurled a lead crystal ashtray. It missed his head by inches.

  He opened the door and stepped into freedom.

  He should have made the move a long time ago.

  Chapter One-Hundred-Eight

  ‘How was it dear?’ asked Alice gaily, as a taxi delivered Brigette to the door of the mansion just before noon. ‘Was your girlfriend delighted to see you?’ She didn’t wait for an answer, just fluttered on with, ‘Gino telephoned. He’s here in Beverly Hills with Roberto – and your little uncle wants to see you.’ She snickered. ‘Fancy having an uncle of four and a half! Gino’s sending him and CeeCee over this afternoon.’

  ‘Why are they here?’ Brigette mumbled truculently.

  ‘I don’t know,’ trilled Alice, happy after a night with her tiny lover. ‘Je ne sais pas’

  Brigette frowned. She had been looking forward to a nice quiet day thinking about Tim. What an evening they had spent together! The most exciting night of her entire life. Tim Wealth was the biggest babe ever.

  She loved him.

  She would do anything for him.

  He was absolute boss.

  * * *

  Tim’s dressing room was their only escape. ‘How did it go?’ he asked Eden.

  There were deep circles under her eyes and bruises on her body. ‘Once for the camera, and once for Santino when he got me home,’ she complained bitterly. ‘If I’d had a gun I would’ve killed him.’

  ‘You don’t have to go that far. I’m working on a plan to get us out of here first class. How would you like to spend the winter in Acapulco?’

  ‘I’ve got to get away from him,’ she said urgently. ‘I can’t take any more.’

  ‘Don’t worry. It’s in the works.’

  She put her thin arms around his neck and kissed him with her thin lips. So different from the baby girl he had spent the night with, but much more of a turn-on. Eden Antonio pressed all the right buttons. She was one woman he knew he could spend time with and not get bored shitless.

  A knock on the dressing room door made them leap apart.

  ‘Who is it?’ Tim shouted.

  ‘You’re wanted on the set.’

  ‘Be right there.’

  * * *

  Gino, Costa, Ria, and CeeCee with Roberto, lunched in the Polo Lounge of the Beverly Hills Hotel. Gino enjoyed the scrambled eggs and smoked salmon. He also enjoyed the passing parade.

  People stopped by his table. A Senator with steel-grey hair and a young secretary on his arm. A large woman dripping in daytime diamonds who had once sold him a house. A stoned entrepreneur with darting nervous eyes. And finally, Paige Wheeler.

  She entered, spoke with the maitre d’, saw Gino, wanted to walk past his table, but good manners overcame her. Not to mention Costa, who waved and called out her name.

  Paige wore one of her famous split to the crotch skirts, and a linen jacket with a polka-dot blouse underneath. Her full breasts pushed aggressively against the fabric of the blouse. She wasn’t wearing a bra and Gino could make out the firm swell of her nipples.

  ‘Gino!’ Warm smile. ‘Long time.’

  He smiled, ‘Hya, Paige.’

  They hadn’t seen each other since he had caught her with Susan, and his subsequent divorce.

  He rose, always the gentleman, and kissed her on both cheeks. She smelled the same. Musky and sexy. But she looked a little older. So did he. Big deal. Neither of them were spring lambs.

  ‘And Costa,’ she beamed. ‘How nice to see you.’

  Costa introduced Ria, and mentioned the fact that he was about to become a father. Paige was duly impressed.

  ‘And this is Roberto, Gino’s grandson,’ Costa continued. ‘Don’t they look alike?’

  Paige smiled at the little boy. ‘Exactly,’ she said.

  Roberto stared at her with his huge long-lashed Santangelo eyes and nibbled on a roll. He was a shy child, and was only just getting used to being among people.

  ‘How about joining us for a drink?’ Costa asked. He knew nothing of the circumstances which had forced Gino to stop seeing her. Nobody did.

  She glanced at Gino fleetingly. He didn’t react.

  ‘I can’t,’ she apologized. ‘I’m meeting a client for lunch. Maybe some other time.’

  ‘Call us,’ urged Costa, writing their phone number on some book matches. ‘We’re here for a month.’

  She stared straight at Gino as she murmured, ‘Maybe I will.’

  He still didn’t react.

  ‘Well, it was nice to see you all again,’ she said cordially, and left to join her client.

  ‘I like her. She’s a very classy woman,’ Costa said. ‘How come you let her go, Gino?’

  Gino didn’t say anything. He was too busy remembering.

  * * *

  In front of the camera Eden ran her hands down Tim Wealth’s chest. She kissed him passionately and felt his sharp response as he peeled the dress from her shoulders and bent her back across a table.

  ‘Cut!’ the director shouted.

  Santino hunched forward in his usual ringside seat. He did not like the amount of time it took for them to separate. He mumbled curses under his breath.

  They broke the clinch and Eden walked over to her hairdresser who began to fuss with her hair.

  ‘Hey – cunt,’ Santino called out loudly. ‘C’mere.’

  She ignored him.

  ‘I said come here, movie star cunt,’ Santino repeated. r />
  The hairdresser’s hand began to shake. Eden was cool. Inside she was raging. The entire crew was on full alert. Tim had vanished into his dressing room.

  Slowly she walked toward her keeper. He was a monster. A short, bald, hairy pig. And he was getting crazier every day.

  ‘What?’ she hissed.

  He stood up and pulled her roughly by the arm. ‘Ya got a few minutes, movie star?’ he questioned.

  Her voice was strained. ‘Yes.’

  Everyone was listening, even though they pretended they weren’t.

  ‘I feel like a blow job,’ Santino announced lazily. ‘Let’s go to your dressin’ room, movie star, I’m gonna let you suck me off.’

  She froze inside. It wasn’t enough she was his. He had to publicly humiliate her. He had to show the world he could treat her how he liked. If she’d had a gun she would have shot him right between his beady little balls.

  Chapter One-Hundred-Nine

  Lennie needed time to be alone and think things out. So he told no one he was returning to L.A., not even Jess. He flew in and took a cab from the airport to his old apartment, which he had kept for sentimental reasons.

  The one-bedroom penthouse on Doheny smelled musty and unused. He opened up the shutters. It felt like home. More home than the multi-roomed mansion in Bel Air had ever been.

  Harriet, the old crusty maid who had looked after him when he lived there, was supposed to come in and clean once a week – she was still on the payroll – but it was obvious she never did. He fingered a shelf, and thick dust ran riot.

  He looked around. The bed was unmade – fond memories of a thousand little blondes. The living room was untidy. He found half a bottle of vodka, and a stack of yellow legal pads he had been working on. Once. A long time ago.

  The apartment was peaceful. No servants padding around, no telephones ringing, no secretaries, and most of all – no Olympia.

  He had made the move.

  He was free.

  Almost.

  * * *

  After the lunch break Santino left the set.

  Eden held her head high, although deep down she was mortified. He had forced her to her knees like a dog, and threatened her when she tried to object. He was definitely becoming unhinged. Escape had to be soon. She was convinced that eventually he would threaten her life, not just her face.

  Tim held her close in front of the camera, and then later, in his dressing room between set-ups, he held her for real, and they made love urgently. She did things to Tim Wealth willingly. Things Santino had to force from her.

  ‘I’m working on getting us out as soon as possible,’ Tim assured her. ‘Maybe tomorrow. I want you to be ready for my call.’

  ‘We can’t go any place where Santino can reach me,’ she worried.

  ‘Money’ll take us a long way, and I’m scoring us plenty.’

  He had figured out a scam – of sorts. It involved Brigette. So what? She was a spoilt, rich brat. It was about time she learned the ways of the world.

  * * *

  The last thing Brigette felt like doing was playing with a four-and-a-half-year-old boy. And she had always loathed CeeCee.

  They sat around the pool like one big happy family. Alice, in a cutaway swimsuit revealing gnarled flesh and an alarming growth of pubic hair straggling from the crotch. Alice’s friend Claudio – who was perfectly formed in every way, but hardly taller than Roberto, who played happily in the pool. CeeCee, watchful as ever. And Brigette, in a white bikini, looking at least nineteen.

  Brigette sunbathed enthusiastically, knowing that a tan went well with her long blonde hair. She wanted to look her best for Tim. The summer was ending, and soon it would be time to return to hateful school. She couldn’t bear it. Her thoughts were all of Tim Wealth. He was unlike anyone she had ever met before. He was so moody and smart and sexy . . .

  After dinner at Trader Vic’s he had taken her to his apartment in Hollywood. One room. One bed. Oh! Was he sexy!

  He had undressed her, made love to her, caused her to shiver and shake, and then – as a joke – he had said, ‘Let’s take some pictures, little girl.’

  She had giggled with embarrassment when he told her how to pose in front of his polaroid camera. ‘Do this. Do that. Smile. Look happy.’

  At first she was shy – but after he told her the photos were for her to keep, she had relaxed and enjoyed the game. He presented her with the pictures. She presented him with the bag of white powder she had taken from Olympia’s dressing room. He was really pleased.

  What a brilliant adventure, spending the night with Tim Wealth. She wished she could spend every night with him.

  In the morning he called her a cab, said he would phone her later, and sent her on her way.

  She waited eagerly to hear from him.

  * * *

  After delivering Roberto to spend the afternoon with Brigette, Gino was at a loss. Ria had taken Costa shopping along Rodeo Drive – and the afternoon stretched emptily before him.

  Since divorcing Susan he had no order to his life. He did whatever he wanted whenever he wanted. It was good, but there was something missing. He liked the companionship of a steady woman. He liked to be able to wake up in the morning and find someone there. He was too old for the quick lay – and most of the women he went to bed with now failed to hold his interest.

  Finally, Gino had to admit, he was getting old.

  With Paige Wheeler he had never felt old. Seeing her again had rekindled all the memories, and they were pretty good memories.

  He thought he had noticed a gleam in her eye when she looked at him today. Was he mistaken, or did she miss him too?

  Impulsively he drove to the Beverly Wilshire Hotel and checked into a suite.

  ‘No luggage, Mr Santangelo?’ questioned the desk clerk.

  ‘It’ll be over later. Send up a bottle of Dom Perignon and a dish of your best caviar.’

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  Once upstairs he paced the suite.

  So – he had caught Paige with Susan. Well, she had never professed to be a virgin.

  So – was he going to call her or what?

  * * *

  Outside ‘Lina Lee’, on Rodeo Drive, at four o’clock in the afternoon, Ria broke her water.

  ‘Omigod!’ she squawked. ‘Get me to the hospital – quick!’

  Costa, a calm man all his life, panicked completely. A tourist from Minnesota and a concerned salesgirl took charge of the situation. If it wasn’t for them, Ria might have started labour on the sidewalk.

  * * *

  ‘I need an estimate on a decorating job,’ Gino said formally into the telephone.

  Paige recognized his voice immediately. She waved an assistant from her office and leaned back in her comfortable leather chair. ‘What kind of a job?’ she inquired, equally formal.

  ‘Urgent.’

  ‘Urgent?’

  ‘Very.’

  ‘Hmmmm . . .’ She paused as if consulting a full appointment book. ‘I’m afraid I have no free time until next week.’

  ‘Fit me in.’

  She propped her legs on the desk. ‘I don’t know if I can . . .’

  You can.’

  ‘Where?’

  ‘The Beverly Wilshire. Where else?’ He gave her the suite number.

  ‘Have you any idea what you require?’ she asked in a businesslike tone.

  ‘You. And fast.’

  Smiles suffused both their faces as they hung up.

  * * *

  ‘Have a piece of fruit cake, I made it myself,’ trilled Alice, offering it around. ‘All pure ingredients. Oooh la la! It’s so good!’

  She had covered her swimsuit with a garment which resembled a flowered tablecloth, and was trying to impress Claudio with her skill as a home-maker. Last night he had confided that he came from a titled French family. He was a secret Count. Countess Claudio! Ha! That would really impress everyone.

  CeeCee took a bite, and promptly lost her front capped tooth on
a stale walnut. Clutching the offending cap, CeeCee glared.

  ‘I suppose we’ll have to get you to a dentist,’ Alice said reluctantly. ‘What a nuisance!’

  CeeCee nodded. She had no choice. The cold air was hitting a nerve, and she could feel the onslaught of a nagging toothache.

  ‘I have a dentist in Marina del Rey,’ Alice said with a martyred sigh. ‘I’d better call him.’ She huffed with the inconvenience of it all, and picked up the telephone.

  * * *

  ‘Hello, little girl.’

  Brigette almost jumped with delight. ‘I was waiting for your call,’ she said. ‘I didn’t think I’d hear from you this early.’

  ‘Wanna come over to my place and play?’

  ‘Oh no! I can’t. I’m looking after my stupid uncle.’

  ‘Your uncle?’

  ‘He’s four years old. And dumb.’

  She missed the catch of excitement in Tim’s voice as he said, ‘Roberto?’

  ‘How’d you know his name?’

  ‘I’m not just a beautiful actor.’

  Brigette giggled.

  ‘Where is everybody?’ he asked curiously. ‘How come you’re looking after the kid?’

  ‘Roberto’s nanny broke her tooth, and Alice and her boyfriend – he’s a freak – like they all went off in the limo to get it fixed. Alice’s dentist is in Marina del Rey, and Alice wanted to take her friend – you should see him – to look at her apartment. So . . . like I got stuck, didn’t I?’

  ‘I’m fond of kids,’ Tim said quickly, his mind reorganizing the scam he had planned.

  ‘You wouldn’t like this one,’ Brigette said grimly. ‘He’s a geek.’

  ‘Bring him. I’ll let you know.’

  She giggled. ‘I can’t do that.’

  ‘Sure you can. Take a cab to the corner of Fairfax and Sunset, and I’ll meet you there. We’ll buy the kid an ice cream and I’ll drive him home. Then we can have the whole evening alone together. How’s that?’