The Complete Groupie Trilogy (103 page)

Donny nodded. It was the only way.

As they left the hospital, Leo thought to himself maybe this miscarriage was the best thing that could have happened to all of them.

He stopped by to see Julian, who was still out from his bender the night before. Blood was smeared all over the bed, which turned Leo’s stomach. Julian was a loose cannon too. He was fairly easy to control when he was high, which is why Leo tried to keep him that way when they’d talk about their future plans. Julian was the only one with his foot in the door of Vanni’s business, especially when Vanni had proven himself ready to walk if Graham hadn’t accepted Julian as part of the band.

So what if he wasn’t “technically” a member? That would come.

The problem with both Julian and Holly is that they had no patience.

Kids
, he thought. Stupid, stupid kids.

When Julian woke up he freaked out at the sight of his body, the bedroom and, of course, Holly’s absence. Leo was watching the sports channel in the other room when Julian ran out, fastening his jeans over his dirty body. “Where’s Holly? Is she okay?”

Leo tipped a glass of whiskey. “A little late to be concerned about that, don’t you think?”

Julian rushed Leo and knocked the glass from his hand. “You motherfucker!” he screamed, but Leo easily knocked him back with both girth and experience. Julian ended up sprawled on the floor underneath the towering man.

“Back off, boy,” Leo told him in a deadly growl. “You fuck with me and I’ll knock your dick in the dirt.”

“Where’s Holly?” Julian asked again, although this time quieter.

“Holly’s fine,” Leo informed him. “Baby’s dead, though.”

Julian fell back on the floor and covered his eyes. He had really done it this time.

Leo kicked Julian’s bare foot with the edge of his boot. “No need to cry over spilled milk. Turns out it may be the best thing that could happen.”

Julian sat up. “What do you mean?”

Leo went for another glass. “Let’s just say… I have another plan.”

Holly was still dozing when her cell phone rang that afternoon. She fumbled for it, then sat up a little straighter when she saw that it was Vanni. She answered it in a small voice. “Hi.”

“Hey, Hol,” Vanni said, sounding so happy in his blissful ignorance of their loss. “I just wanted to see how you were feeling.”

She swallowed the lump in her throat.
Feeling as shitty as I’ve ever felt, thanks
, she thought to herself. “Tired,” was all she said. “I was sleeping.”

She could practically hear the smile in his voice. “That’s good. You’ll need it. I hear that there’s not much sleeping after the baby’s born.”

She gulped again and squeezed her eyes shut to fight back the tears. “That’s what they tell me,” she eked out.

“How’s th
e little linebacker?” he asked.

Her hand went to her empty tummy.
Gone
. “He’s fine,” she found herself saying, finding comfort in the lie. “He’s sleeping,” she said, imagining a plump, pink baby boy slumbering on a cloud. “Like an angel.”

Angelo
.

He laughed. “Did you get a nurse arranged yet? Because I’m more than willing to do that for you, you know.”

“No need,” she said quietly. “I’ll take care of it. You have a lot to do with your own family.”

“You’re part of my family too, Hol,” he said softly and with such sincerity it broke the last remaining piece of her heart. “Should I come over tonight, make you dinner?”

She shook her head. “No, I have something arranged. I’ll call you in the next few days to keep you updated, though.”

He didn’t sound convinced but he didn’t push. “Okay. If you’re sure.”

She wasn’t. “I’m sure.”

“Tell our baby boy Daddy loves him,” he said. “And take care of yourself, Hol.”

“I will,” she promised in a small squeak of a voice. “Bye, Vanni.”

She hung
up before she burst into tears.

In Burbank, Vanni sat in his trailer, cradling his phone. He didn’t know why but he felt something was wrong. Maybe he’d go by the apartment and see her anyway. She sounded down. Maybe she was feeling overwhelmed by the pregnancy, or perhaps she thought that she was somehow a failure because there had been a problem.

He’d done some research that morning and he had a better idea of what to expect from her condition. He felt confident that they could take care of her properly so she could deliver a healthy baby boy by September. He thought about Andy, who was thriving with her own pregnancy. In days they’d be moved into their new house and decorating their little Bean’s nursery. He couldn’t wait to meet both of his children, whom he loved so much already.

There was a knock on his trailer door. He opened it to find Kelly, who looked distressed. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

Her hand shook as she pushed away a stray strand of hair from her normally neat ponytail. “I think you should come with me.”

He followed her to the security office, where a package for Andy had been intercepted. It was a box like those formerly left on his doorstep. It had a doll of an adult woman, broken into pieces, as well as a beheaded baby doll.

Vanni’s stomach turned when he saw it. “Did Andy see this?”

Kelly shook her head. “I opened the package and brought it straight to security. The return address is invalid, and the postmark is somewhere in East Los Angeles. Graham’s people are on it, but it looks like your stalker found a new way to harass her.”

“Where is she?”

“She went home early to rest. She’s been kind of tired today. I told her I’d be there in about two hours to start dinner.”

He nodded. “Well, we have the cameras there so that should be safe,” he said. “But I can’t wait for her to move into the new house.”

“You may want to consider her working from home,” Kelly advised. “This is a warning.”

He nodded again, and then he reached for his phone to call her. It went straight to voicemail. “I guess she’s asleep,” he said. “Why don’t you go ahead and head out there? I’ll feel safer knowing she’s not alone.”

She nodded. “Thanks, Vanni.”

“No, thank you, Kelly. You did good.”

She gave him a smile before she left the room. Vanni glanced back at the dismembered dolls. Kelly was right. This was a warning.

Vanni knew they couldn’t afford to ignore it.

He went back to his trailer and called the contractor, to check up on the status of the safe room at the new house.

When Andy approached the front door of their beach house, she didn’t notice that the security camera mounted above the front door had anything at all wrong with it. In those early days after it had been installed, she generally checked to make sure it was working every single day. But as uneventful weeks passed she had grown complacent. There were so many other things that required her focus. There was the show, of course, but also all the preparation she had done in regards to their new home and preparing for her daughter’s arrival. After a while she felt safe enough to come and go without ever checking for those things that normally pestered her, like stalkers leaving packages on her doorstep, or the paparazzi milling around trying to get pictures of her baby bump.

Now that they went public with their relationship, there was no real need to hound them. Their having a baby was not breaking news anymore. She’d been delegated to a footnote, nothing more than “and fiancé” on any caption from red carpet events she was now allowed to attend.

It was a safe, almost normal, world for her. She’d even begun to wonder why she’d ever been so concerned in the first place. All the things she had fretted over prior to “coming out” as Giovanni Carnevale’s future wife didn’t seem as overwhelming in the clear light of day.

So she was completely taken off guard when she opened the door and found her love nest completely trashed.

Furniture had been slashed, the piano had been overturned. Ashes from their fireplace had been scattered all over their pristine walls, spelling out “Rich Pigs” everywhere. She dropped the bag she was carrying and turned around to sprint from the doorframe, only to find a masked intruder standing two inches from her, blocking her passage.

“Who are you?” she demanded. “What do you want?”

With one broad hand he pushed her face back as he forced her into the house, slamming the door behind them. She stumbled off the step of the foyer and fell onto the floor in the kitchen. Instinctively she covered her stomach with her hands to protect her child. “My money’s in my purse,” she said. “You can have all of it. Just take it and go!”

“I don’t want your money, you pig,” he snarled, taking care to mask his voice – like had tissue stuffed in his cheeks.

Her panicked eyes widened. “What do you want?”

He laughed as he took her leg and dragged her down into the living room. Each step sent waves of pain through her back and around to her womb. She suppressed every cry as she struggled to free her foot from his strong grip.

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.