Mogul (28 page)

Andy started to panic when she realized that
the pains around her womb continued after he had dragged her where
he wanted her in the living room. She was nearly bent over in pain
when he told her to get into the chair.

She nodded but could barely move. “I will…
just… give me a second,” she said as she tried to catch her
breath.

“Now, pig!” he yelled as he kicked her in the
side, which only exacerbated the pain. This time she couldn’t hold
in the cry, but it only made him laugh. “You pigs are so weak,” he
spit as he bent down and grabbed her roughly under her armpits and
hoisted her onto the chair.

From the kitchen, her cell phone went off in
her spilled purse. He cursed under his breath. “Don’t move!” he
yelled in her face before he stomped over to silence her phone –
which he did by slamming it down on the floor into six broken
pieces.

Andy couldn’t move if she wanted to. She
finally caught her breath after what she suspected was a
contraction. Her mind raced as she considered what she could do to
escape this madman. If she had gone into premature labor, it wasn’t
likely she could outrun him on the beach. Her only recourse was
trying to reason with him.

She watched as he walked back to where she
sat huddled in the chair.

“What do you want?” she asked again. He said
nothing as he sat on the coffee table facing her. He took a large
hunting knife out of a sheath on his side, and with his gloved
hands began to run fingers along the intimidating blade. Her voice
trembled as she went on. “Look, I’ll do whatever you want me to do.
But please. I’m pregnant. For the love of God, let us go.”

He stood and walked over to her, then knelt
down to face her. He wore dark glasses underneath his ski mask, so
all she could see was her own terrified reflection staring back at
her. “You believe in God, pig?”

She gulped. She didn’t know what answer he
expected. She kept an eye on the knife in his hand. “Yes,” she
finally said, sending every prayer she had ever learned up to the
heavens to save herself and her baby.

“Good,” he said as he trailed the tip of his
knife over her full belly. “Because you’re gonna meet him
soon.”

“Please,” she tried again and he reared back
to slap her so hard across the face she nearly blacked out.

He went back into her kitchen and rifled
through drawer after drawer. She was still dizzy as she tried to
focus her vision on him. He withdrew a roll of silver tape and
headed back to the living room where she sat.

“What are you going to do to me?” she
asked.

He said nothing as he took her right arm and
put it on the armrest of the chair, which he used tape to secure.
She started to beg him to stop but he only had to lift his hand for
her to flinch, cower and submit to his will – whatever it was.

She bit her lip to say nothing as he took her
left arm and likewise secured it. He saw the fancy bauble on her
ring finger. He took his knife and ran it just above the ring, as
if marking a place for him to cut the ring off, taking her finger
with it.

She burst into tears. “Please!”

He punched her again before he went back to
the kitchen to grab a dish towel. She shook her head as he
approached, but was powerless to stop him as he shoved it into her
mouth to gag her.

He again poised the tip of his knife over her
ring finger. Just as the blade met her skin and drew blood, the
front door swung open and Kelly stood there on the threshold. She
had her cell phone in her hand, and the minute she put it to her
ear the unknown assailant sheathed his knife and took out through
the patio door, sailing easily over the railing to the sand
below.

“Andy!” Kelly called as she rushed to her
friend. She had the phone cradled against her ear as she made the
9-1-1 call for emergency help, as she tore the tape from Andy to
free her from her restraints.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Torrance, California

May 22, 2011

Vanni practically ran up the stairs to Andy’s
hospital room, and burst through the door the minute the doctor was
leaving. “How is she?” he demanded.

“Vanni,” Andy called from the hospital bed,
which caught his attention and he rushed to her side.

“Baby, are you okay?” he asked as he looked
over her black and blue face. It reminded him of the ugly assault
from Talia on the cruise ship, when he’d been responsible for her
being attacked by a maniac.

And now it had happened again. There were
tears in his eyes as he lightly touched her face. “Oh my God,” he
said, then looked down at her full stomach, which had bands across
it to monitor any contractions. “The baby?”

“She’s fine,” Andy told him, causing him to
break down with relief. He collapsed in the chair next to the bed
and covered her tummy with his arms, kissing that baby bump that
was even more precious than before.

“What happened?” he asked.

She shook her head. She still didn’t know.
“The police don’t know. It’s a home invasion thing as far as they
know. He said he didn’t want my money but he was going to take my
ring,” she said, but fell apart as she thought about that knife on
her finger.

He took her hand in his, kissed the cut just
above her ring. “Rings can be replaced,” he said with a catch in
his throat. “You can’t.” He touched her tummy, “She can’t.”

Andy nodded but couldn’t speak. It had been a
terrifying afternoon; all she wanted was to be in his strong arms.
He readily complied. “Are you sure the baby is okay?” he asked.

She nodded. “I thought I started having
contractions so they have been monitoring me since I got here. They
said it looks good. I’m not in labor from what they can tell. They
said that the uterus has sort of practice contractions throughout
the latter part of the pregnancy in preparation for the real thing.
But they did an ultrasound and have been monitoring her heart beat.
It all looks good.”

He kissed her tummy. He couldn’t imagine
losing either one of them. He took her hand in his. “I think
there’s something you should know. I don’t think it was a random
home invasion.”

“What do you mean?”

“You got another package today at the studio.
Kelly intercepted it. It showed a doll, like the other ones we used
to get, completely torn apart. And,” he gulped as he forced himself
to go on, “a beheaded baby doll.”

Blood drained from her face. “What?” she
breathed.

“I sent Kelly to the house to be with you
just in case. I’m so glad I did,” he said. “She called me while you
were being admitted. Graham sent his people to check the camera and
it had been disabled. This was someone who knew what he was doing,
and what he was up against.”

“I thought it was just another crazy fan,”
she said, referring to the disturbing packages. “I thought it was
someone who wanted you – not who wanted to hurt me.” Now she
understood that was exactly what that strange man in her home had
wanted to do. He said it himself, he didn’t want her money. He
probably hadn’t wanted her ring.

He just wanted to hurt her. She shuddered and
Vanni kissed her hands. “Don’t worry. Graham’s people are working
on it. They’ll repair all the surveillance equipment and get
everything cleaned up before you are discharged.”

“I don’t want to go back there, Vanni,” she
told him. “I can’t go back there.”

He touched her face. Her lip was cut and her
jaw was blackened where she had been hit. “Okay,” he said. “We’ll
just move into our house instead.”

She nodded and reached for another hug. He
stayed with her through dinner, leaving her only to confer with
Gwen how to handle the press, which had already leaked about the
home invasion. He couldn’t shield her before the attack; he was
damn well going to buffer everything after it. She needed her rest;
she’d been through enough.

It gave Graham time to knock
on her door and check on her. He’d been worried sick ever since
Vanni got the panicked call from Kelly that afternoon. Everything
stopped on the
Fierce
set. Graham and Vanni had one singular focus – Andy’s
safety.

“Hey, kiddo,” he said as he approached the
bed. This wasn’t the first time he’d seen her wear the bruises of a
fanatic. He had hoped it would never happen again, but there they
were. And now she was pregnant. The insanity had to stop. “How are
you feeling?” he asked as he sat in the chair next to her.

“Sore,” she answered honestly. “But good.”
She gave him a brave smile. “Thank you for all you’ve done,
Graham.”

He brushed away the thanks. He would have
given his life for her, and very nearly did. “I wish it had been
enough,” he said softly as he took her hand in his.

“You have to be crazy to fight crazy,” she
said. “No one could have seen this coming.”

He nodded. “If you need a place to stay…” he
started, but she shook her head.

“I appreciate the offer, Graham. But I think,
given the circumstances,” she said as she put her left hand on her
pregnant tummy, “it’d be inappropriate.”

He smiled wistfully as he reached over to
brush her hair out of her face. “Are you forgetting how close we
came to that being my baby?”

“What?”

Both Graham and Andy glanced around toward
the sound of an angry male voice. Vanni stood at the doorway.
Graham rose slowly to his feet, but he didn’t let Andy’s hand go,
even when she tried to pull it free. “I was just offering Andy
sanctuary at my house, Vanni. Since that’s the only place where she
seems to be truly safe.”

Vanni advanced on both of them, taking his
side on the other side of the bed. “And what else are you offering,
Graham?” he said as he looked down at his hand holding hers. “Or
maybe I should ask... how much more are you entitled to?”

Andy’s voice was low, “Vanni…”

Graham finally let her hand free. “I’m not
entitled to anything, Vanni,” he told him. “But what I told you on
that cruise ship still holds true. If you can’t keep her safe,
there are people who can. You might think of someone else’s needs
above your own for a change.”

With that he nodded his goodbye to Andy and
walked from the room with his head held high.

Vanni’s jaw clenched as he looked at her
pregnant tummy. “Is there something you need to tell me, Andy?” She
didn’t answer and his eyes shot to hers. She could see that he was
holding back angry tears.

“It’s your baby, Vanni. You know that.”

“Then what was Graham talking about? How
close did you get to having a baby with him?”

“Sit down,” she urged. She didn’t want to
have this conversation with him in bolting distance to the door. He
paused only a moment before he finally rounded the bed and took the
seat that Graham had vacated.

“Did you sleep with him?” Vanni wanted to
know. She had always maintained she never did. He couldn’t imagine
that she would have lied to him all this time, especially about
something so big. What would that mean for their future?

“Yes,” she finally admitted.

Vanni felt a knife slice through his heart.
“When?” he choked.

“After Thanksgiving of last year. Holly told
me you had found someone else and you were going to start a family,
and I thought we were over.”

“So you jumped in bed with another man?”

“I turned to someone I cared about for
comfort,” she clarified. “It was the first time since we met and he
was the only one since you.” Vanni quietly processed the
information, especially what she was saying in between the lines.
He knew she was drawing comparisons to his various indiscretions,
and he knew he had no room to judge. But he had never thought Andy
would have ever been the one to keep such a secret.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked.

“There seemed no point,” she answered as
honestly as she knew how. “I never cheated on you, Vanni. We
weren’t together when I turned to Graham. I thought we were over.
Once we got back together it just seemed hurtful to tell you. We
were so happy, and I never wanted you to question whether or not
this baby was yours. I was pregnant before I ever slept with
Graham.”

He shot up out of the seat and started to
pace. “As if that makes it better,” he said. He couldn’t imagine.
The very thought made his stomach tighten. And he knew he had no
right to be mad about it, but this was his Andy… and this was his
baby. He had never wanted to share either one.

“Nothing makes it better,” she said. “That’s
why I didn’t tell you.”

“And Thanksgiving was the only time?” he
asked.

“Graham and I were… together… until I kissed
you in that church in New York. Once I found out this baby was
yours, there was no way I could go back. Even if it would have been
easier…”

The minute the words fell from her mouth she
regretted them. “What do you mean, easier?”

She sighed. “I mean easier. I don’t have to
fight for him. I don’t have to share him. I don’t have to worry
about some psycho showing up at my doorstep, threatening me or my
child.”

Each comment hit him like a gunshot. “Is that
how you still feel?”

“Obviously not,” she said. “I’m with you. I’m
not going anywhere.”

“Even now?” he wanted to know.

“Even now,” she said. “Things have always
been complicated with us, Vanni. You know it’s true. But it’s also
been worth it. I’d rather be with you, riding out a tornado, than
with anyone else enjoying a clear, sunny day. I love you,
Vanni.”

Her soft voice was his undoing. He went back
to the bed. “I’m sorry, Andy,” he said as he took her hands in his.
“I know I’ve been an asshole. And I know I don’t deserve you. I’ve
always been afraid you’d figure that out for yourself.”

She smiled as she pulled him down beside her.
“Oh, I figured it out.” She touched his face with her hand. “But
love isn’t about getting what you deserve. Otherwise, it isn’t
really love.”