"What are you going to do when you run out of stories?"
Rita jeered. "That's al you've got going, Emilio. You make enemies of these people, an' you're never going to work in this town."
"What do you know?" he snapped.
"Plenty."
Their argument escalated, and by the time they got back to his apartment, Rita was ready to move on. She got al her stuff together and cal ed a cab.
"You'l never find another guy like me," Emilio screamed after her.
"And I never want to," she screamed back.
And in the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, Paige kissed Gino on the lips and snuggled into his comforting embrace.
"Goodnight, Gino," she sighed contentedly. "Hey--what's so good about it?"
She shook her copper-colored curls. "We're together, aren't we?"
His hand reached down her leg, and traveled up it with his fingers. "For keeps?"
"I want my ring!"
"Sweetheart--you got it! Tomorrow we go shop-pin'."
They embraced again and settled down under the covers.,
"What took you so long?" he asked curiously, stroking her thigh.
"I was frightened."
"Of me?"
"Of making another commitment."
"Wel , this is it."
She smiled happily. "I know, Gino. I know." "Get used to it, kid."
"I already am."
"It's good to be home," Mickey said.
"You're not home yet," Abigaile replied tartly. "You can keep your bungalow at the Beverly Hil s Hotel until we're both quite sure. You're here on probation, Mickey."
"What is it with the probation bit? We've been married long enough to know we belong together."
"If we do decide to reconcile, it has to be different from before," Abigaile said. "No more mistresses. No more whores. I've been thinking, maybe we should see a marriage counselor."
Mickey roared incredulously. "A marriage counselor! You and me? We'd be laughed out of town."
Venus Maria had departed, but there were stil plenty of guests left. Ron wished they'd al get the hel out. He was destroyed about Ken's taking off with Antonio. They'd been together almost a year. Loyalty, ha! It didn't exist anymore.
Ken was a taker. Venus Maria had been right about him al along. The Ken Dol . What an apt description.
Adam Bobo Grant approached him. "Sensational party, Ron. You certainly do things with style." "Thank you, Adam."
"Tel me, where's your . . . friend?"
"He's not my friend anymore."
"Real y?"
"Real y."
"You have beautiful hair," Saxon said, reaching out to touch.
"Thank you," Leslie replied, backing away.
"In fact, you're a very" beautiful girl. Are you an actress?"
She stared at him, wide-eyed and luscious. "No. Are you an actor?"
He tossed his mane of hair. "Do I look like one?" "You're certainly handsome enough," she said shyly.
"Who did you come with?"
"Friends. Who are you with?"
"A married lady about to get a divorce who changed her mind and reconciled with her husband tonight." "Do you always take out married ladies?" "They're kind of . . .
attracted to me." He stared at her fresh beauty. "Why, are"
you married?"
She lowered her eyes. "I'm not sure."
Frankie and Arnie had picked up four girls. "We're goin'
back to the house to party," Arnie said, grabbing Eddie.
"Get your ass in gear."
Eddie had been pacing around al night long. He'd spotted Leslie early on and kept an eye on her. Now she was talking to some long-haired asshole, and it pissed him off.
He hadn't spoken to her because he didn't know what to say.
"Sure, sure, I'l be with you in a minute." He waved Arnie away.
"We're outta here now," Frankie said. "See ya later."
Eddie went to the john one more time. He laid out the last of his coke on the mirrored top, neatly arranged it into three thin lines, and snorted it through a hundred-dol ar bil .
As the cocaine exploded in his brain, he had a revelation.
Eddie Kane was going straight.
Leslie was going to help him.
Fuck everybody else. He'd made his decision.
And so the party slowly wound down. One by one the staff finished off their duties and went home for the night. The musicians packed up and left. The valet parkers produced the last of the cars.
Eventual y there was peace and quiet.
The party was over.
Chapter 105
In Venus Maria's house a shaking hand groped for the phone and desperately dialed 911.
"Help," a frantic voice gasped. "Please . . . please help us.
Someone's been shot. Get here as fast as you can."
Something woke Lennie. He didn't know what it was. Stil half asleep, he reached out to see if Lucky was in bed beside him. She wasn't. Where the hel was she?
Rol ing out of bed, he wandered into the bathroom, glancing at his watch on the way. It was past one o'clock.
There was something wrong. He had a feeling. The kind of gut feeling you get when you wake up after a real bad nightmare.
He checked around the house. There was stil nobody home. It occurred to him that the waves breaking on the shoreline sounded awful y loud.
He went into the living room and found the doors leading out to the deck were open.
Strange, he couldn't remember the doors being open before.
He walked across the room, and was just about to close them when he saw a man, il uminated by the moonlight, dragging a body into the sea.
Instinctively Lennie yel ed out, "Hey! What are you doing?"
The man turned around, dropped the body, and began to sprint off along the beach.
Lennie raced down the steps onto the sand and ran toward the raging surf, heading in the direction the man had been standing.
By the time he got there, whoever it was had vanished into the darkness.
Lennie waded into the surf. He couldn't see anything, and yet he was sure the guy had been hauling a body into the ocean. Another wave crashed in and then subsided.
Suddenly Lennie spotted a body lying there, slowly being dragged out to sea.
It was Lucky. Oh, Jesus Christ, it was Lucky! Stumbling and fil ed with panic, he managed to grab her under the arms, and little by little--because she felt like a dead weight--he slowly pul ed her up onto the sand.
Was she breathing? He couldn't tel .
Frantical y he tried to remember everything he'd ever learned about CPR. Drowning . . . drowning .. . what the hel were you supposed to do when somebody was drowning?
Get the water out, turn her upside down. Do something. Oh, God! This was his worst nightmare come true.
And the worst thing of al was that he had no idea if he was going to be able to save her.
Chapter 106
The funeral was a somber affair. The mourners wore black.
And a huge crowd overflowed the church.
Martin was there, ignoring the crazed paparazzi as he walked inside, head bowed.
Several il egal helicopters hovered overhead, jostling for air space as photographers leaned dangerously out.
Ahh . . . the price of fame .
"I stil feel like I went ten rounds with Mike Tyson," Lucky joked, speaking careful y. Her jaw was bruised where the unknown assailant had smashed into it with his fist, and her arm was broken. Apart from those two injuries she was fine, although Lennie had insisted that she stay in bed for a few days.
"If anything had happened to you--" Lennie began to say.
She silenced him with a finger to his lips. "I'm here, you're here. That's enough. Don't let's think about what could have been if you hadn't come back to me." He looked at her quizzical y and shook his head. "I guess you and I--we were meant to be, Mrs. Golden."
Rueful y she smiled up at him and responded with a simple
r />
"Yes, Mr. Golden, I guess we were."
"She was a fine woman," said the reverend. "Fine and respected. And she wil be missed."
Martin stared straight ahead as the reverend continued with the eulogy.
Yes, she would be missed, and so would Venus Maria.
She'd run off to Mexico City and married Cooper Turner two days after Deena had turned the gun on herself and blown her brains out in front of them.
. Fate.
Who could control it?
Not even Martin Swanson.
He'd been publicly disgraced and humiliated, al within days. It reflected badly on his image.
But he would rise again.
Nothing could hold Martin Swanson back. A tarnished image could regain its luster. He was working toward that goal.
They watched the funeral on television.
"Tough break," Lennie said quietly.
"For whom?" Lucky asked.
"Al of them."
She nodded in agreement. "Yes, I guess so." "Listen,"
Lennie said, "I talked to the police again. They've stil got no lead on who your assailant was. Are you sure you don't know anything?"
"I have no idea," Lucky said, casual y picking up a magazine and glancing through it.
Lennie wasn't certain he believed her, but what could he do?
Bobby raced into the room. "Grandpa's gettin' married," he yel ed. "Grandpa's gettin' married." He leaped on the bed and began bouncing up and down.
"When?" asked Lucky, throwing down the magazine.
"Soon as he can," shouted Bobby. "And I'm his best man.
He told me, he said so."
Brigette fol owed Bobby into the bedroom. "It's true," she said, ful of giggles. "Gino says he and Paige are getting married the minute her divorce comes through, and they're going to live in Palm Springs."
"Gino wil hate Palm Springs." Lucky frowned and shook her head.-
"If he's with Paige, Alaska wil do it for him," joked Lennie.
Brigette jumped on the bed too. "Can Nona and I borrow your car, Lennie? We're meeting Paul at the airport."
"The Ferrari? No way. Take the Jeep."
Brigette pul ed a face. "I do drive a stick shift, you know,"
she said haughtily.
"Good for you. Take the Jeep."
"Can I come with you?" yel ed Bobby.
"Keep the noise down, your mother's supposed to be resting," Lennie said.
"Can I?" screeched Bobby, jumping up and down. "Come on, brat," replied Brigette. "Catch me if you can."
They raced noisily out of the room.
"Hmmm," Lucky said. "And you want more kids? Aren't these two enough?"
He smiled. "I thought I did, but now that I know what it's like to almost lose you, we can do whatever you want. It's your cal ."
"And I made it."
"Huh?"
"I've got another surprise for you."
He mock-groaned, "What this time?"
She couldn't wipe the grin of her face. "You'l like it."
"What? Tel me for crissakes."
-Lennie . . . we're pregnant."
"We're what?", "Yup. We're pregnant, and we own a studio, and we're going to make your screenplay, and we're stil married, and hey, do you realize we've been married almost a year?"
He shook his head in amazement and grinned. "A year, huh? And they said it wouldn't last."
"Spring open the champagne, husband."
"You got it, wife."
Their eyes met and they both smiled. Two stubborn, crazy, smart people.
A new adventure was just beginning.
EPILOGUE
Mickey and Abigaile Stol i reconciled.
Mickey eventual y became the head of Orpheus Studios, although by that time it was owned by a Japanese conglomerate.
Abigaile continued to give tasteful dinner parties. Mickey continued to fool around.
Tabitha celebrated her fourteenth birthday by running away with an eighteen-year-old Hispanic waiter. Abigaile and Mickey were unamused. They sent her off to L'Evier, a strict girls' boarding school in Switzerland, and hoped for the best.
Johnny Romano took Lucky's advice and made a simple, heartwarming comedy in which he played the hero. He did not say "motherfucker" once.
The film--a Panther production--went through the roof.
Johnny celebrated by asking Warner Franklin to marry him in the middle of a promotional tour of Europe. He'd taken her along for company.
On the night before their wedding in Italy, she met a six-foot-ten American basketbal player and fel madly in love.
Johnny Romano was left waiting at the church.
Emilio Sierra sold as many stories about his sister as he could, until there was nothing left to say. When his money ran out, he returned to New York and got a job as a bartender in a hot discotheque, where he met an aging Euro-trash contessa, who took a shine to his somewhat sleazy charm.
Emilio accompanied her to Marbel a and learned how to tango.
They made an odd couple.
Eddie Kane tried for a reunion with his lovely wife.
Leslie wanted to get back together with him--after al , he needed her, and he'd faithful y promised to clean up his act.
But something held her back and she told him they had to wait.
On his way to the beach house, high on yet another final blast of cocaine, his prized Maserati ricocheted out of control and hit a solid concrete wal head-on.
Eddie Kane did not survive.
*
On his eighty-ninth birthday, Abe Panther married his longtime companion, Inga Irving.
His granddaughters Abigaile and Primrose were heartbroken.
the thieving arms of Antonio, Ron was granted his wish, and met an older, richer, and by far wiser man. His new friend was the owner of an important record company and reveled in megabucks.
For once in his life, Ron found himself on the receiving end, and he happily accepted a Rol s-Royce, a solid-gold Rolex, and a smal Picasso in fast succession.
Venus Maria was thril ed for him.
Leslie Kane went to work at Ivana's as a receptionist. This enabled Saxon to keep a watchful eye on her.
Unfortunately Eddie had left her nothing but debts.
One day Abigaile Stol i spotted her and thought she was the most exquisite creature she'd ever seen. "Are you an actress, dear?" she asked.
Leslie said no, but Abigaile insisted Mickey test her for his latest epic.
On screen, Leslie's beauty was incandescent. Within a year she was a star.
Brigette Stanislopoulos met the grandson of one of her grandfather Dimitri's business rivals. He was tal and blond and destined to be even richer than she. When she announced her engagement, Paul Webster stepped into the picture and declared his love for her.
Brigette was becoming wiser every year. "Too late," she said. "Try someone not so close to your own age."
When Steven first heard the news of Deena Swan-son's bizarre suicide he felt almost responsible.
"You couldn't have done a thing," Mary Lou consoled. "The woman was obviously bent on self-destruction."
"But maybe I should have tried to talk to Martin or something," Steven fretted.
"No," Mary Lou said firmly.
To his partner Jerry Myerson's dismay Steven found out the firm stil had Deena's mil ion-dol ar retainer, and after a long-drawn-out discussion he made Jerry donate the entire amount to charity.
After that he felt a lot better.
Gino Santangelo took care of business by making one phone cal . It was enough.
Carlos Bonnatti suffered an unfortunate fal from the nineteenth floor of his Century City penthouse. Nobody could figure out how it happened.
While Link, the former right-hand man of Bonnatti, was shot in an apparent mugging.
The perpetrators were never found.
Meanwhile Gino and Paige final y made it legal. She became his fourth wife.
Gino was seventy-nine years old.
/>
And very happy.
Martin Swanson slowly put his life . Together again after the scandal. He missed Deena--she'd been . His true partner and a help in every way.
He did not miss Venus Maria--too much of a responsibility.
When his business empire began to crumble because of shady investments in junk bonds, he moved to Spain to avoid being arrested and became involved with a voluptuous opera singer.
Gradual y he began to plan his triumphant return to New York.
Venus Maria and Cooper Turner remained the darlings of the tabloids.
What an explosive mix!
Everything they did was chronicled in great detail.
Their marriage was happy. But the paparazzi kept up a constant vigil.
Waiting . . . watching . . . ready to pounce.
Lucky and Lennie became the proud parents of a dark-haired, dark-eyed baby girl.
They named her Maria.
Together they ran Panther Studios, united in their quest to make chal enging, entertaining, intel igent movies of al kinds. From comedies to gritty dramas, they excel ed, and they gave women new opportunities at every level.
And just as Lucky had promised, Panther Studios became great again.
A year after Maria's birth they had another child--this time a boy.
They cal ed him Gino.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42