Hot Off the Red Carpet

by Paige Tyler

  But how was she going to do that? She supposed she could Google the company or call the Better Business Bureau. Why do that, though, when she could simply go to the company’s LA address and check things out herself?

  Addison was just heading for the door when Trevor came in. He grinned.

  “I was thinking we could spend the day together. Maybe take a drive or something. Just the two of us. What do you say?”

  Addison caught her lower lip between her teeth. She couldn’t believe she was going to turn him down, but finding out what was going on with this investment firm was too important.

  “I’d love to, but I just remembered that I have to be somewhere.”

  He frowned. “Where?”

  “Um, a meeting,” she lied. “With the studio. About the premier.”

  “Call and tell them you’ll meet with them tomorrow.” He bent to nuzzle her neck. “Better yet, do it over the phone.”

  His lips brushed her ear and Addison had to bite her lip to stifle a moan. She was on the verge of saying the hell with playing private investigator and giving in to Trevor. But she couldn’t. She was doing this for him. So, even though she felt horrible, she gently pulled away from him.

  “I can’t,” she said. “I have to meet with them today. We can go for a drive when I get back if you still want to.”

  He sighed, but nodded. “Yeah. Sure.”

  She went up on tiptoe to kiss him. “I’ll be back as quick as I can.”

  Ignoring the look of disappointment on his handsome face, Addison hurried out to the garage. Once there, though, she stopped. Dammit. She’d been in so much of a hurry that she hadn’t even thought to check MapQuest for directions to the investment company. Unfortunately, she was terrible with maps and would never be able to find it without directions. Going back inside to look them up on the computer was out of the question, though. There was no way she’d have the strength to walk away from Trevor again, especially if he tried to talk her out of leaving.

  She glanced over at Leo. He was washing the limo and hadn’t seen her come in. As Trevor’s driver, he probably knew all the streets in LA by memory. Hoping he’d knew where 2582 Condor Road was, she hurried over to ask him. Luckily, he knew where it was and gave her directions. Thanking him, she jumped in her car and left before he could ask any questions.

  Even with Leo’s directions, it took her a while to find the address. In fact, she drove by it several times, mainly because it was smack dab in the middle of the warehouse district and she was sure she couldn’t be in the right area. But she was.

  With a frown, she put the car in park and shut off the engine, then grabbed her purse from the seat beside her. Even though it was clearly an abandoned warehouse, she got out of her car and walked up to the front door anyway. She’d come all this way, after all.

  “Can I help you, miss?”

  Startled at the words, Addison jumped and spun around to see an older man dressed in a security uniform standing behind her.

  She smiled. “I’m looking for 2582 Condor Lane. Is this it?”

  He nodded. “Yes it is, but the place isn’t occupied at the moment. If you tell what you’re looking for, maybe I can help?”

  Addison hesitated, unsure whether she should say anything. “I’m looking for Total Empire Investment Trust. Did they ever have offices here?”

  His brow furrowed as he repeated the name. “I’ve worked here for fifteen years and I’ve never heard of the place. Are you sure you have the right address?”

  She gave him another smile. “Seeing that it’s an empty building, I guess not. I’m terrible with directions. Thank you.”

  Hurrying past him to her car, she pulled out of the parking lot and headed back the way she’d come, more curious and frustrated than before. Regardless of what she’d told the security guard, she was sure she had the right address, which meant the information listed on the Total Empire Investment Trust website was obviously bogus. She was willing to bet the phone number was fake, too. She could probably call from now until doomsday and never get a real person. But why would a company have a number that no one answered and give an address that led to nowhere? They wouldn’t, not unless they were a front for something illegal.

  Just then, a nagging thought struck her. What if Trevor knew all about it and was involved? She shook her head. No, she wasn’t going to go there. Trevor couldn’t be part of anything underhanded, he just couldn’t. There had to be another explanation. Someone was clearly trying to pull something over on him. But who?

  She nibbled on her lower lip as she sat in traffic. It was a long shot, but maybe the actor portraying the company’s chief financial officer might know what was going on.

  Taking a right at the next corner, she headed for the studio. There weren’t a lot of people on the set since filming on the movie had wrapped, but luckily, she found a production assistant still hanging around. She was worried he might not know who she was talking about, especially since he had to think for a few minutes after she described the actor who had played one of the extras yesterday, but then he nodded.

  “I think I have a name and address in the trailer,” he said. “But I’m not sure I should be giving that out.”

  “I understand.” She smiled. “It’s just that Trevor really enjoyed working with him and thought he might like a part in Trevor’s next movie. I’d hate for the guy to lose out just because I couldn’t talk to him.”

  The production assistant was silent for a moment. “I could take your name and phone number and have him give you a call.”

  Damn. What now? “I really need to talk to him ASAP,” she said. “You know Hollywood. The offer has a short shelf life.”

  The man sighed. “Tell me about it. Okay, hang on and I’ll get you the info.”

  Unfortunately, Bill Worthington lived across town and it took forever to get there in LA traffic. It turned out the actor lived in an apartment building that had seen better days. Even so, it was in the nicer part of the city.

  Addison pulled into the parking lot and cut the engine, then got out of the car. Bill’s apartment was on the second floor. Once she found it, she rang the doorbell and waited. To her relief, he opened the door immediately.

  “Can I help you?”

  Damn, Addison was hoping he’d recognize her as Trevor’s assistant. She hurriedly introduced herself.

  “I happened to see you on that investment company’s website and thought you might know something about the place,” she continued. “You know, whether it’s a good company to invest with and stuff. I’m making pretty good money with Trevor and I figured I should be smart with it.”

  Bill frowned. “What investment company?”

  “You know the one. Total Empire Trust Investment Group. Don’t tell me you don’t have the 411 on the place.” She hesitated, then added, “Unless it’s so good you want to keep it a secret.”

  “Total Empire...?” He clenched his jaw. “Son of a bitch! You actually saw the website? My damn agent said the company went out business before it even got up and running. I haven’t gotten one damn penny for it.” He swore under his breath. “I’m going kill that squirrelly agent of mine. I knew he was screwing me over.”

  Yikes! She hadn’t realized he hadn’t gotten paid for it. She needed to get him back on track, though. “So, you don’t know much about the company, I guess?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know anything about it. My agent didn’t say much, just got me the job for the photo shoot. I wouldn’t even have known who the photos were for if I hadn’t overheard him talking to someone on his cell.”

  It was her turn to frown. “I don’t understand. Wasn’t there a name on the building?”

  “We didn’t take the photos in front of a building. We took them in front of a blue screen. My agent said the photos would be placed in different settings and see what worked best.” He shook his head again. “I should have known something was up when I didn’t recognize a single person on the set. All friends of m
y agent. Or that manager of Braden’s, I suppose. In fact, I’m sure Murray was actually the one who set up the gig.”

  Her ear perked up at the name. “Murray?”

  “Murray Sidle. My agent works with him occasionally. I’ve actually gotten a few gigs, thanks to him. Well, that’s finished now. I’m calling my agent the minute you leave and telling that bastard I want my royalties. Do you have the link to the website? I’m going to need proof.”

  Addison’s head was spinning. Murray was the one swindling Trevor? If he was, she couldn’t let word get back to him that she was onto his scheme. She needed time to talk to Trevor.

  It took some persuading, but fortunately, she was able to convince Bill to hold off on calling his agent.

  “Okay,” he said grudgingly. “I’ll wait a few days. But then I’m going after my money. You might want to tell Trevor his manager is involved with a scumbag.”

  “Don’t worry about that. I’m going to tell Trevor everything.”

  Thanking Bill, she left his apartment and headed back to Trevor’s mansion. It was all starting to make sense now. Not only was Murray in the best position to create a fake company, but he had easy access to all of Trevor’s money, too. Trevor would invest in anything Murray suggested. There was no telling how much of Trevor’s money Murray had already stolen. But how in the world was she going to convince Trevor that his manager was ripping him off?

  Chapter Seven

  When she got back to the mansion, Addison didn’t even bother pulling into the garage like she normally did, but instead parked her car in the circular driveway out front and ran inside. She skidded to a stop in the entryway when she saw Murray standing in the living room.

  His eyes narrowed at the sight of her. “Where are you going in such a hurry?”

  Her stomach clenched at his tone. Crap. He knew she’d figured out what he was up to. She didn’t know how he knew, but he definitely knew. She could either tell him she’d learned he was a lying, thieving scumbag and have it out with him right then and there, or she could pretend she didn’t know anything and let Trevor handle him. She decided to go with the latter. Murray worked for Trevor, after all.

  She reached up to tuck her hair behind her ear. “Nowhere in particular. I was just heading to my office. I have to check Trevor’s schedule and make sure everything is ready for the premier.”

  “Cut the crap!” he snarled. “I know exactly what you’re up to, you little bitch. Didn’t you think the security guard at the warehouse would call me?”

  “Wh-what security guard?” she stammered. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Like hell! As if that weren’t enough, I get a call from that crappy small-time actor, Bill Worthington. He said you stopped by to see him. He told me you were over there asking all kinds of questions about Total Empire Investment and Trust.”

  Dammit! Bill Worthington had promised he wouldn’t call Murray. She took a step back.

  “Oh, that.” She tensed to run, her hand tightening reflexively on the shoulder strap of her purse. “I heard he had some money with them and thought he might be able to tell me whether they were a good company to invest with.”

  His lip curled in a sneer. “You don’t really expect me to believe that, do you?”

  “I don’t care what you believe. I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She lifted her chin. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.”

  Addison tried to go around him, but he grabbed her arm. “Not so fast. Who the hell do you work for? FBI? SEC?”

  “I don’t work for anyone but Trevor. And he’s going to be mad as hell when he finds out you’ve been stealing from him, you toad.” So much for playing it cool and letting her boss deal with Murray. “Now, let go of me!”

  She jerked her arm from his grasp much easier than she would have thought. She didn’t stop to question why he let her go, but instead turned and headed for the door. Or would have if she hadn’t smacked into something solid and unmoving. She blinked as she realized it was a guy — a really big guy. And there was another one standing right beside him.

  She instinctively took a step back, but with Murray behind her, she had nowhere to go.

  “You may work for Trevor, but these men work for me,” Murray said. “And they’re not letting you go anywhere. Now, I’ll ask one more time before I start to get unpleasant. Who do you work for?”

  She whirled on him, intending to tell him to go to hell, but the sound of a car pulling into the garage stopped her. Trevor. Knowing she’d never make it to the door with Murray’s goons standing there, she opened her mouth to scream for help instead. Murray’s thugs must have anticipated the move because one of them grabbed her and slapped a hand over her mouth, muffling the sound.

  “Take her to the warehouse,” Murray ordered. “And make sure you use her car. I don’t want Trevor finding it. I’ll be there as soon as I can. Once I find out what she knows and who she talked to, we can get rid of her.”

  Addison’s blood went cold at the words. Getting rid of her meant killing her, she was sure of it. Terrified as much by the prospect of what Murray intended to do to her as by the realization she would never see Trevor, much less anyone else again if Murray’s thugs took her to that warehouse, she struggled like a mad woman to free herself. But it did no good. The man holding her wrapped his other arm around her waist and dragged her outside as if she were nothing more than a ragdoll.

  * * *

  To say Trevor was bummed that Addison had preferred to go to a meeting rather than spend the day with him was putting it mildly, especially since he’d given her permission as her boss to blow it off. He’d thought that after making love she would have been as eager to be with him as he was her. Clearly, he’d been wrong.

  After she left, he went for a run on the treadmill to work off his frustrations, but it didn’t do much good, so he went down to the local high school to throw the football around with Bob instead. They’d barely walked onto the field before his friend brought up Addison.

  “I thought you and Addison would be spending the day together,” Bob said, tossing the ball up in the air, then catching it as they walked.

  Trevor slanted him a sidelong glance. “Yeah. Me, too.”

  He tried to sound indifferent about it, but Bob knew him too well not to pick up on the sarcasm.

  “So, what happened?”

  “She had a meeting at the studio,” Trevor said. “At least that’s what she said.”

  Bob frowned. “You sound like you don’t believe her.”

  Trevor shrugged. “There wasn’t anything about a meeting on her calendar. I checked.”

  He was embarrassed to even admit it, but something about Addison had been off. Like she hadn’t been able to get away from his fast enough. He’d pulled up her calendar on her computer without even realizing what he’d been doing.

  “Maybe she didn’t write it on her computer,” Bob said. “Maybe she put it on her BlackBerry.”

  When Trevor didn’t say anything, his friend sighed.

  “You don’t honestly think she’s playing you, do you?” the other man asked.

  “I don’t know what to think.”

  Bob swore under his breath. “Man, you’ve been in Hollywood too long. You can’t even recognize when a woman is genuinely in love with you.”

  Trevor stopped walking to look at his friend in astonishment. “In love with me? What the hell gives you that idea?’

  Bob stopped, too. “Damn, Trevor, anyone can see it. Addison’s so into you, she barely knows anyone else is in the room when you’re there.”

  Trevor snorted. “I doubt that.” He gestured to the football. “We going to throw that thing around, or what?”

  Bob looked like he wanted to talk about Addison some more, but after a moment, he shook his head. “Whatever.”

  He and Bob didn’t talk while they tossed the football back and forth, which suited Trevor just fine. He was too busy having a silent conversation with him
self. Was Bob right? Did Addison have feelings for him? Sometimes, he thought she did, but the way she’d acted earlier made him doubt everything he knew or felt. His gut told him she was hiding something from him — something big.

  When he mentioned it to Bob as they were driving back to the house a little while later, his friend frowned.

  “You’re not going to let this go, are you?”

  “You’re the one who insists she has feelings for me,” Trevor said. “I’m just trying to figure out what’s up with her.”

  Bob let out a sigh. “Look, Addison definitely has some stuff she needs to talk to you about. And before you ask, no, I’m not going to tell you what it is. It’s her secret to tell. But take my word for it, she has feelings for you. Just like you have feelings for her.”

  Trevor scowled, but didn’t say anything. Was he that transparent? Some actor he was.

  Right now, he didn’t care if Bob knew he liked Addison — well, maybe more than liked her — he was more interested in the secret she was keeping from him. A secret she’d obviously confided in Bob about. He scowled again.

  To his relief, Addison’s car was parked out front when he and Bob got home, and he was suddenly impatient as his friend drove around back to park in the garage. As soon as he went inside, he was going to sit her down and have a long talk with her. Of course, if he wanted her to confide in him, then that meant he’d have to open up, too. After confessing his love for women in front of a camera for years, doing it for real should be a piece of cake, but it scared the hell out of him. Especially since he didn’t know if Addison felt the same way.

  When he and Bob walked inside, though, it was to see Addison’s car speeding down the driveway. Now, where the hell was she going?

  “Was that Addison’s car I just saw leaving?” Trevor asked Murray.

  His manager was standing in the kitchen with a frown on his face.

  “I’m afraid to say that it was.” The man frowned. “I don’t know how to tell you this, Trevor, especially since I know you were just getting used to having her as your new assistant, but Addison just quit.”