The Stars Trilogy (68 page)

Two gentlemen from Encana Corporation arrived to discuss a possible joint venture in the Alaskan gas play project.

He forgot the time.

Dare’s limo entered the gated mansion of his first ex-wife in Beverly Hills. He was on his way home when he received an urgent call from Alana.

“You have to come see me, Dare! It’s important! It’s about New York! Please, I need to see you!”

The mention of the past put him on automatic alarm. He asked Cruz to detour to Beverly Hills.

Alana was waiting for him at the front steps. She was wearing a shiny night gown topped with a wrap.

The moment he got out of the limo, she ran down the steps and embraced him tightly.

“Oh Dare! You came!” she exclaimed in a voice that was very emotional. Her eyes were brimming with tears, her hands, cold as they gripped both his hands with surprising strength.

He stared at his ex-wife. She was still beautiful but age was showing on her face. There were dark circles around her eyes and fine lines of worry beside her lips. But it wasn’t her physicality that was making her look old. It was the deep sadness in her eyes. Sadness that he had seen reflected in his own eyes before. But he didn’t feel it anymore.

The sudden realization staggered him.

“Alana...what’s wrong?”

She took his hand and guided him up the steps leading to the grand entrance of her palatial house.

He quietly followed her.

They proceeded to one of the mansion’s rooms that resembled a posh lounge.

“Alana...” he said again. He didn’t want to stay long. Celine was waiting for him.

“Drink?” she offered.

“No, thanks.”

“Come on, just one drink.”

“A Martini,” he reluctantly conceded.

She poured two glasses of Martini for them.

“Sit down, Daryl.” She gestured to the sofa.

He didn’t want her calling him by his old name. “Look, I came here because you sounded urgent on the phone. What is it?”

“Must we talk about that so soon? Aren’t you going to ask how I’ve been? I do want to ask how you have been, Daryl. I was so worried about you. I wanted to go to Thailand to see you after you’ve been rescued but...”

“Please, Alana, let’s just get to the point. Tell me what’s bothering you that concerns me.”

She sighed and didn’t talk for a while, just staring at her glass.

“Somebody knows, Dare,” she finally said quietly.

“What do you mean?”

She looked deeply in his eyes. “Somebody knows...about what really happened.”

His pulse seemed to slow down. He couldn’t speak for a few seconds. “Who?”

“I don’t know. I’ve been receiving anonymous text messages the past days. I don’t know how the sender even got my private line. It’s the same message every time. It says, ‘I know what you did in New York’.”

“It could mean anything.”

“No. I’ve never done anything...you know...in New York. Except that.”

“Do you have these text messages? Did you save them?”

“Yes.”

She showed him the messages from her cellphone. Indeed, they were all the same, a dozen of them or so sent within an interval of two to three hours.

“How come you didn’t tell me about this when you first got the message?”

“I didn’t think it was serious then. Like you, I thought at first, it could have meant anything or it was just a missent message. But it persisted. I didn’t want to cause you any trouble, Daryl. We’ve been apart for so long now but...I can’t handle it anymore. I had to tell you...” Her tears fell.

Shit. He didn’t want to see her tears, didn’t want to talk to her about their past.

But it was inevitable. All these years, at the back of his mind, he had always had this nagging doubt, despite his legal arsenal, that this would happen. Finally, it was happening. For real, it seemed. A single text message sent more than a dozen times to one recipient meant business.

“I know. I’m glad you told me. We need to get this carefully checked.”

She began shaking. “Daryl...I’m so scared...So scared!”

He held her shoulders. “Alana, don’t worry. We’ll deal with this,” he said calmly.

She grasped his forearms tightly, her nails digging on his skin painfully. It was then that she saw the desperation in her eyes. It was the same desperation she’d seductively wrapped around him many years ago that totally altered the course of his life.

“Daryl, please, help me...help me..!”

His defense mechanism immediately rose to the fore. He had to tread carefully around this woman.

He guided her to sit on the sofa.

She launched herself on him and cried on his chest. He let her, lightly patting her back, until she’d calmed down.

“What are we going to do?” she asked him as she dried her eyes with the hem of her voluminous night gown.

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“You will not respond to the messages. It doesn’t say anything else, so do nothing. Act like you’ve not been receiving them. Whoever is sending them must have an agenda and unless he shows up and tells us what he wants, we won’t do anything. I’ll have someone trace this number.”

“It’s pre-paid.”

“Yeah, it’s very difficult to trace. In the meantime, increase the level of your security. We don’t know what’s out there. Have a bodyguard with you at all times.”

“What if somebody really knows? What if—”

“If anything unusual turns up, let me know immediately, you understand?”

“I’m scared, Daryl. I’m all alone in this house…”

Alana wasn’t really alone, of course. Her mansion was managed by a capable, live-in staff with a full security. But he understood the meaning of being ‘alone’. Like him, Alana had said goodbye to her blood relatives a long time ago since she hit the big time in Hollywood. But unlike her, he was no longer alone in his heart. He had Celine who loved him unconditionally and would save him from harm. Brave a plane crash for him, kill a tiger for him. His valiant Mulan.

Alana and Celine were the exact opposite of each other. Alana was always the damsel in distress, always needing a protector. Celine had been his champion and defender since he met her.

He squeezed Alana’s hand in a gesture of sincere empathy. Yes, she was alone. It was so sad that despite  her tremendous success and fame, she still felt that way. And he was a lucky son of a bitch that they no longer shared the same boat. “You gotta be tough, Alana. Whoever said secrets can be kept forever was a liar. We gotta face this if it happens. Be ready.”

“Promise me we will face this together.”

He didn’t answer.

Her indigo eyes were imploring.

A fragment of fear crept inside him at the possibility of harm this anonymous messenger could do to them both. After all this time when he thought they’d buried all their past to the grave, it will come to haunt them right where the whole world was watching them under the spotlights. Their past nightmare will be magnified tenfold.

But did he have any choice? Their past locked them tightly together in that one moment of crucial decision. It was inescapable.

“I promise,” he finally said.

She hugged him tight. “Thank you.”

Dare stared at Celine’s sleeping form on the bed. Poor baby fell asleep waiting for him. His trip to Alana’s house took longer than he thought.

It was past midnight now. He would make it up to her tomorrow. Now that she had decided to enter the celluloid business, which was not a bad idea actually, he must show her the ropes of this dirty industry. He would be her mentor and guide so that she won’t have to suffer the usual struggles those young hopefuls had to go through to get a break. She will get all the privileges of having a super A-list boyfriend.

He was actually excited for her career. He would have her study acting under the best and he would produce movies tailor-made for her, hire the best directors for her.

Celine would be as huge as him, he vowed.

His beautiful Celine. He could stare at her forever.

Careful not to wake her up, he sat beside her on the bed and touched her face gently.

She suddenly turned on her side, away from him.

He kissed her shoulder softly and went to take a shower.

Celine’s excitement was totally deflated by the time Dare arrived at way past midnight. She pretended to be asleep even when she felt him kiss her shoulder.

Thank God he went to take a shower or she would have ranted at him in the next seconds, so pissed she was with him.

She cooked a special recipe for their dinner. She set up a candlelit table by the pool. She thought it would be a perfect moment for her to tell him about their baby.

But she waited in vain. If not for her baby, she would have gone to bed hungry in her ire but she needed to eat. Eating the food she cooked after her date stood her up was the loneliest thing ever!

She lost interest in telling him about her pregnancy. For now, at least.

When Dare came back from the shower, he joined her on the bed and put his arms around her. He was asleep in a few minutes.

She remained awake, wondering.

Her mind was conjuring all kinds of scenarios, of him and Alana, while he snored softly beside her, totally unaware of her emotional turmoil.

It was so unfair!

Chapter Twenty-nine

“I’m currently working for the family business. After Tisch, Dad asked me to work at our TV network. I would have wanted to go straight to LA and work there but he won’t let me. He’s so overprotective! Imagine, I had full security in Singapore while I was there and he and Mom were there every weekend, checking on me as if I’m still a child. I’m twenty two! But I’m gonna go with him on this one. I will work here for a year or two and then I’d ask him to let me go to LA on my own. He won’t be able to say no then. By the way, glad you’re no longer dating Irina. She’s dating a jock now, ha!:)) Hey, is it true you’re going to team up with Steve Goodwyn again in a movie? Cool! He’s a friend of my Dad’s, you know? The  other times you made movies for Zenith, we weren’t able to go to the States. But maybe next year, I can finally go to LA to see you shoot a movie. Cross fingers! Hey, don’t date a supermodel anymore please!

The Daredevils hate supermodels!!!”

KELSEY CALLED HER FIRST THING that morning. Her new manager was bursting with enthusiasm. Kelsey wanted to discuss her plans for her Hollywood career.

Celine went to meet up with Kelsey at a nearby park for a morning walk. Kelsey jogged there almost every morning before she would proceed to Dare’s mansion where she also lived part-time at the guest house.

“Hey, I have an idea!” Kelsey blurted as they were circling the park. “Dare is attending the Cannes Film Festival next week. It’s his first time to be included in the panel of judges, so it’s huge for him. We'll go with him. You’ll make your public debut there.”

Dare mentioned the Cannes to her in passing but she wasn’t sure if she would go with him. It was okay if she didn’t. What would she do in France when she couldn’t get out and be seen in public with him? She’d just get bored to death at the hotel. She knew Dare would be busy with his jury duties during the festival and he won’t have time to be with her.

If only things were different, if only he was already divorced, then she’d be happy to be with him everywhere he went, especially at the Cannes. The Cannes Film Festival was the most prestigious international film festival in the world.

“At the Cannes? But I’m not even a legit actress yet.”

Kelsey brushed off her remark. “It’s not about who’s legit. It’s about who has the potential. The moment you and Dare come out as a couple, I won’t need to do anything to drum up publicity for you. It will run on its own! With your beauty and stunning presence, producers would sign you up right away.”

She was doubtful of Kelsey’s assessment. The older woman was just genuinely fond of her (thank God, for that, too) so she was building up her ego. “But I can’t be seen with Dare, yet.”

“Well, can you be seen with say...Chris Pine?”