Hot Off the Red Carpet

by Paige Tyler

  Trevor’s eyes went wide. “What?” he and Bob said in unison.

  “I know,” Murray said. “It surprised me, too. She came in a few minutes ago and said she found another job. She said working for you was too stressful.”

  Trevor was so stunned he couldn’t say anything. Even if he could have made his mouth move, he wouldn’t have known what to say. A few minutes earlier, he’d been ready to believe that Addison cared about him. How could he have been so wrong?

  “Listen, Trevor,” Murray said. “I have some other business I have to take care of. I’ll see you later. Then we’ll work on getting you a new assistant.”

  Trevor nodded automatically. He pulled a chair out from the table and sank down into it.

  “So much for Addison being in love with me,” he said bitterly. “I can’t believe she’d just up and leave without saying goodbye. She might not give a damn about me, but I know she cared about you, Maribel and Leo. I would have at least expected her to say something to you guys before she left.”

  “Me, too,” Bob said. “Something’s not right here. Hold on a second. I’m going to check something out.”

  Trevor started to ask his friend where he was going, but the other man had already left the kitchen. A moment later, he heard Bob run upstairs. When he came back a few minutes later, he was frowning.

  “I was right. Something is definitely off here,” he said “Addison didn’t take any of her stuff, not even the new dress you brought her for the Oscar. No woman walks out without taking a five-thousand-dollar dress, no matter how stressful the job is.”

  Trevor’s eyes narrowed. He wasn’t exactly clued-in when it came to women, but he had to admit Bob had a point. If he’d been thinking straight, he would have figured it out himself. “I agree with you about that. But then where the hell did she go?”

  Leo walked in before Bob could offer a theory. He opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of soda, giving Bob a curious look as he unscrewed the cap. “I thought you were with Addison.”

  Trevor exchanged looks with Bob.

  “Why would Bob be with Addison?” he asked.

  Leo took a swallow of cola. “I don’t know. She was in the car with somebody big and I figured it must be Bob.”

  Trevor frowned. “She left with someone?”

  “Yeah,” Leo said. “An SUV sped out right behind them, too.”

  Trevor felt his a knot form in the pit of his stomach. He quickly told Leo what Murray had said about Addison quitting. Leo looked as surprised as he and Bob had been.

  “She didn’t say anything to you about leaving, did she?” Trevor asked.

  Leo asked. “No. She came into the garage a couple of hours ago and asked for some directions to the industrial part of town, but she didn’t say anything about leaving.”

  Trevor’s brow furrowed. “The industrial part of town? Why would she want to go there?”

  “She didn’t say. She just said she had to look into something.”

  “Do you remember the address?” Trevor asked.

  Leo nodded, rattling it off. Trevor’s frown deepened. He’d always been good at remembering things and addresses were no exception.

  “I know that place,” he said. Pulling out his BlackBerry, he brought up the website for Total Empire Investment and Trust. “That’s the address of my bank.”

  Bob lifted a brow. “Your bank is in the industrial section? You sure?”

  “I’m sure.”

  “That never struck you as strange?”

  “I never realized it was the industrial section. Murray always took care of that stuff.”

  Bob let out a breath. “I don’t think Addison trusts Murray quite as much as you do. No wonder she wanted to go check it out.”

  “Do you think we should we call the cops?” Leo asked.

  Trevor considered it, then shook his head. What would they tell them? “Later. Right now, I want to get out to that warehouse and see what the hell is going on.”

  * * *

  Murray’s thugs took Addison to the same warehouse she’d been to earlier. She struggled the minute one of the men dragged her out of the car, but the brute only picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder, then carried her inside. Once there, he took her to a small office and dumped her in a straight-backed chair. Before she could even try to get to her feet, he’d tied her hands behind her back and put a piece of duct tape over her mouth. She glared at him, but her just gave her an amused look and left to go wait for Murray in the main part of the building along with his partner.

  How long would it take for Murray to get there? What would he tell Trevor when she didn’t come back?

  Tears filled her eyes and she blinked them away. God, how she wished she’d spent the day with Trevor liked he’d wanted to instead of playing Nancy Drew. Now, not only would he never know Murray was stealing from him, but he’d never know she was in love with him, either. If she’d just confided in him about her suspicions regarding Total Empire Investment and Trust, then none of this would have happened.

  Out in the other room, a door opened, then closed. She tensed at the sound of Murray’s voice. He was talking to his goons in low tones, so she couldn’t really hear what he was saying, but she thought she heard Trevor’s name.

  A few minutes later, Murray walked in, his thugs at his heels. She glowered at them, but the fury in her gaze had little effect on either Murray or the men with him.

  He glanced at the man on his right. She didn’t know if he was the one who had tied her up or not. As far as she was concerned, the assholes were interchangeable.

  “Take off the tape,” Murray instructed.

  The man crossed the room in two strides, ripping the tape off her mouth so fast she was sure he must have taken some skin with it. Addison winced, but wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of crying out. Instead, she glared up at Murray.

  “You won’t get away with this,” she told him. “Trevor will wonder what happened to me when I don’t come home.”

  Murray snickered. “Trevor thinks you quit. I told him you said the job was too stressful.”

  Addison blinked. “He won’t believe you.” He couldn’t. Not after making love last night.

  “Trevor believes anything I tell him. He’d just a farm boy. That’s why it’s so easy to dupe him out of his money.” Murray folded his arms. “I’m going to keep this simple. Who do you work for, how much do you know, and who have you told?”

  “I told you. I work for Trevor, just like you do.”

  Murray glanced at the man who had taken off the tape, then turned his gaze back to her.

  “Bruno here likes making people talk, and the methods he uses aren’t always very nice. In fact, they’re extremely painful. So, if you don’t want to experience those methods firsthand then you’d better start talking.”

  Beside Murray, Bruno smiled menacingly, and Addison swallowed hard.

  “Okay,” she said softly. “I-I wasn’t lying when I said I work for Trevor. But I’m not his personal assistant. I’m a private investigator he hired to find out where his money was disappearing to.”

  She didn’t exactly look like a private investigator, so she didn’t know if Murray would believe it or not, but it was the only thing she could come up with. If she kept saying she was nothing more than a personal assistant, he would turn her over to Bruno. Besides, if he believed she was a PI, then he might think she’d told someone what she knew and therefore be more reluctant to kill her. It had worked in one of Trevor’s movies when he’d convinced the bad guys he was a private investigator who’d stumbled on them by accident instead of the FBI agent he really was. But that was a movie and this was real life. Murray probably wouldn’t believe her, especially if he’d seen the movie, too.

  But either Murray hadn’t seen the movie or she was a better liar than she thought, because gave Bruno a sidelong glance.

  “Check her purse,” he said.

  Addison didn’t know what he expected to find in it — if she had a
gun, she would have tried to use it — but she watched as Bruno grabbed her purse from the table and dumped out the contents. There wasn’t much in it other than her wallet, keys and makeup. And the radio Leo had given her to use in case she and Trevor ever got into trouble. This certainly qualified as trouble. Unfortunately, the radio wouldn’t do her much good. Or maybe it would. Her pulse quickened as she realized she’d left it switched to monitor mode. She didn’t know what kind of range the radio had, but if by some chance Bob had his own radio nearby, then he’d be able to hear what was going on. For all the good it would do. Even if Trevor and Bob realized she’d been kidnapped, they’d have no way of knowing where she was. Her heart sank at that.

  Murray mustn’t have liked what he saw on the table because he swore under his breath. “I didn’t think Trevor was bright enough to notice I was stealing from him, but apparently I was wrong.”

  Addison’s eyes narrowed. How dare he think Trevor was stupid. “Of course he’s on to you. He suspected it was you for a long time. He just wanted me to get proof.”

  Murray’s mouth tightened. “Really? That’s too bad. Now I’ll have to take care of him, too.”

  Addison’s heart seized in her chest as she realized her mistake. If she’d just kept her mouth shut, Trevor wouldn’t be in danger. But it was too late to take it back.

  “I had a good thing going, too,” Murray continued. “But you have to know when to cut bait and head for deeper water. It was time to take our money and move on anyway. I’ve never played one con for this long, so I’m ready for something else.”

  She looked at him incredulously. “You’ve been Trevor’s manager for years. Are you saying you’ve been conning him all along?”

  Murray smirked. “I’m not sure if you know this, but there’s not much difference between a manager and a con man. They both involve blowing sunshine up the asses of a lot of gullible people. I’d only planned to suck a few bucks out of Trevor when I first convinced him that I could manage his career. Hell, back then he only had a few bucks. But what do you know, he hit it big. So, I went along for the ride. And on the way, I got money out of a few more stars, too.”

  Addison couldn’t believe it. Being a con man was almost worse than being a greedy manager out for what he could get. Then again, people who lived in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. As much as she hated to admit it, she was no better than Murray. Maybe her crime wasn’t as egregious, but she had conned Trevor, too.

  Murray turned to the two men. “Get rid of her. And dump her body somewhere it won’t be found.”

  Bruno and his counterpart looked only too pleased to carry out the order. Addison’s heart began to pound. She struggled against the ropes binding her to the chair, but it did no good. All she could do was sit there and watch as the two men approached her.

  The man with Bruno eyed her up and down. “You’re cute. Too bad we can’t have a little fun with you first.”

  “Don’t be an idiot, Carlos,” Murray said. “We have to be at the dock by four and we still have to get rid of Trevor Braden. You can have all the women you want when we get to Mexico.”

  Neither man looked pleased at that, but they must have seen Murray’s point because Bruno pulled out a gun.

  Even though she knew it would do no good, Addison opened her mouth to scream when she heard a loud noise from the main part of the warehouse. Bruno froze.

  Murray frowned and motioned with his head. “You two go check it out. I’ll stay here with her.”

  Bruno immediately headed for the door. Carlos reached behind his back for the gun he had tucked in his waistband, then followed him out. Hoping the noise meant someone else was in the warehouse, Addison drew in a breath to scream, but Murray slapped the piece of tape over her mouth again before she could make a sound.

  Addison sat there tensely, trying to hear what was going on with Bruno and Carlos, but all she heard was the sound of her own heart pounding. In a minute, the two men would come back and kill her. She should have been terrified, and yet she was more afraid for Trevor then she was for herself. She had gotten into this mess by foolishly snooping around. Trevor, however, would never know what hit him. The thought brought tears to her eyes.

  From outside, there came a loud crash, then a strangled shout. Addison jumped.

  “What the hell?” Murray muttered.

  He threw her a quick glance, then took a gun from inside his jacket and crossed the room to the door. The moment he stepped outside the office, a blur went streaking past the doorway, hitting him square in the chest and knocking him off his feet.

  Addison’s eyes went wide at the sight of dark hair and big, broad shoulders. Trevor!

  She screamed against the tape covering her mouth, trying to warn him that Murray had a gun, but the sound was muffled. Not that Trevor would have been able to hear her anyway because the men rolled across the floor and out of sight. Dammit!

  She struggled against the ropes again, but it was just as futile as it had been before. Terrified for Trevor and desperate to see what was going on, she tried to scoot the chair closer to the door and almost ended up tipping it over. She slid the chair across the floor again, more carefully this time, only to freeze when she heard a gunshot. Her heart stopped. Trevor. Oh dear God, no.

  She held her breath as footsteps hurried toward the room, expecting to see Murray. But it was Trevor. All six-foot-four glorious inches of him! Fresh tears streamed down her face, this time from joy. He was still alive!

  Dropping to his knee in front of her, Trevor carefully pulled off the tape, then covered her mouth with his in a kiss that left her breathless by the time he pulled away.

  “Murray had two men with him,” she said urgently. “We have to get out of here.”

  “Bob already took care of them.” He cupped her cheek, his eyes intent as they studied her face. “God, Addison, I thought you were dead. I’ve never been so scared in my life.”

  “Me, either,” she admitted softly. “I thought Murray was going to kill you.” She swallowed hard. “Is he…?”

  “Dead? Yeah, I think so. I didn’t really check. We fought over the gun and it went off. He can’t hurt us anymore.” Trevor leaned forward to kiss her again. “Let me untie you.”

  The moment Addison was free, he pulled her to her feet and into his arms, hugging her tightly. She wrapped her arms around him just as tightly. She never wanted to let him go, and probably wouldn’t have, at least for the next hour or two, if Bob hadn’t come in. Even then, she was reluctant to Trevor get too far away and only lifted her head from his chest so she could look at the other man. Trevor didn’t seem to mind, though.

  Bob grinned at her. “I see Trevor saved the day.”

  Addison smiled, shifting her gaze to look up at her handsome employer. “Yes, he did. Just like in the movies.”

  Now that Murray was no longer a danger, and she and Trevor were safe, she finally realized how dramatic — and heroic — his rescue had been. Trevor, however, seemed embarrassed.

  “I didn’t do all that much. If Murray’s gun hadn’t gone off, I’d probably still be fighting with him,” he insisted. “Bob had to deal with the real thugs.” He looked at his bodyguard. “Where are they, anyway?”

  “They were a couple of cupcakes. I left them tied up out there,” Bob said. “The police are on their way.”

  Trevor nodded, then looked down at her. He reached out to smooth her hair back from her face. “Leo said you came here earlier and after hearing the address, I figured out it belonged to the investment company. Or at least this is supposed to be their address. Then we heard Murray talking over your radio and realized he was a con man. What I don’t understand is how you figured it all out when we never did.”

  She quickly told him about recognizing Bill Worthington from the bank’s website and that he’d mentioned Murray. “Bill called Murray to have it out with him, and Murray decided he had to get rid of me because I knew too much.” Her brow furrowed as something occurred to her. “How did
you know to come to the warehouse? More importantly, how did you even know to come looking for me? Murray said he told you I’d quit.”

  Trevor’s jaw tightened. “I didn’t believe him, especially after Leo said he saw you leaving with a couple of guys. I figured there was something suspicious going on here and took a chance whoever kidnapped you would bring you here. I didn’t know for sure Murray was involved until we got close enough to pick up the radio signal. When we heard him threatening you, I knew we had to move. We couldn’t wait for the cops.”

  She shuddered as much from the reminder of Murray’s threats as from the memory of Trevor fighting with the man. Trevor must have seen her reaction because he hugged her close again. In the distance, she could heard sirens approaching. Before either of them could say anything more, Leo came in, along with half a dozen uniformed cops.

  Any hope Addison had of forgetting the nightmare they’d just lived through and going back to Trevor’s place disappeared when the police started taking their statements. Trevor might be a well-known movie star, but there still was a dead body to explain, plus two beaten-up men who wouldn’t be talking anytime soon, thanks to Bob. When Addison explained about the investment trust scam, saying Murray had hinted he might have duped other Hollywood stars as well, higher ranking police officers showed up and insisted she, Trevor, Bob and Leo go over their stories again.

  As if that weren’t enough, the press had somehow gotten wind of Trevor’s involvement, which meant it wasn’t long before the place was crawling with reporters. There were even news helicopters hovering above the building.

  By the time the cops were done with them, it was nearly midnight. Addison expected to be assaulted by paparazzi the moment she and Trevor left the warehouse, but the police managed to keep the crowd behind the yellow crime scene tape. Bob was able to hurry her and Trevor to the limo without incident, though the hundreds of flashbulbs nearly blinded her.