“Damn it, make it easy on yourself! I’m going to kill you anyway. You might as well go quietly. Now I’ll have to throw your body in the sea. Not a nice burial, my dear,” Jonathan called down the hall, as she raced into one of the bedrooms, aking no effort to favor her wound and trailing blood all over the cream-colored carpet on purpose.
No, it was definitely not going to look like suicide. The Tremaines would bring Jonathan to justice for her murder, and Brad would be saved.
Except that it was his house... And might be used as yet another charge against the man she loved if Jonathan ever figured out that he was being taped.
She scanned the room quickly, desperate now to live. This room also had a balcony overlooking the sea.
Zaira hurried outside, ducking low. She peered over the railing, calculating the distance between it and a low rock shelf. She saw the ground was higher by the living room window, so she made a dash for it.
Bullets shattered the glass behind her as she ran out.
Zaira knew she had only seconds before Jonathan came up behind her. She yanked the living room door open, and tumbled back into the room, turning to face Jonathan.
“You can’t do this. You and I were married once. Loved each other. How can you hate me so much?” she pleaded desperately, in an effort to catch him off guard.
Surprisingly, he hesitated. “I don’t hate you. Don’t think I want to do this. But you’ve been disloyal to me, and I can’t trust you. You love Brad. You never loved me. It’s bad luck really that the two of you ever met. I never intended for you to get hurt. I’m sorry it has to be like this, Zaira. You’ve wasted your time and life coming here today to blackmail me into changing my mind. I’m guilty of everything I accused Brad of, but I'll never willingly go to prison.”
“Is it all worth it?” Zaira screamed. “You used to be a good person.”
“There’s no such thing, only a less greedy one than the next man. Goodbye, Zaira.”
The gun went off, and the impact sent Zaira flying. She clutched her chest as she began to lose consciousness. Her last waking moments were filled with the sound of the front door to the house bursting open. Two more shots rang out, then all was silence.
Zaira couldn’t move to see what was happening, but she was sure she was dying, for she head Brad’s voice in her head.
“My God, if you’ve killed her!”
Suddenly there was a cry of “Stop him!”
The sound of footsteps echoed on the balcony.
Feeling herself falling, Zaira’s world went black.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Zaira opened her eyes, and looked up at a bare white ceiling. The brightness was so intense, it dazzled her eyes. For a moment she thought whimsically, “Gosh, I did get to heaven after all.”
She moved her head to look around, and her gaze met Brad’s emerald ones, glistening with tears.
“Thank God. You’re alive. Oh, my love. You’ve given me the fright of my life.”
As Zaira realised she wasn’t dead, she calmed for a moment, until a new fear took over.
“The baby! The baby, Brad?” Zaira cried, cltuching her flat stomach.
“Sush, it’s all right,” he soothed. “You’re going to be fine. You haven’t miscarried. But you have a few cracked ribs, and a broken wrist. You’ve lost a fair bit of blood, and will have to stay in hospital for a while. At point blank range, you were still badly bruised even with the bullet proof vest on.”
Zaira sighed as he stroked her face and kissed her softly on the mouth.
“Why did you do it, Zaira?” Brad asked quietly, a hint of anger in his voice.
“I started it, in a way, so I had to finish it. If it hadn’t been for me keeping silent about Jonathan being my criminal husband, none of this would have ever happened.”
“That’s nonsense. He’d been planning all this ever since he started working at Clarke Studios. We have all the papers and information to prove it. If anything, you saved us all. If Jonathan hadn’t got scared that you would tell us everything, he might not have messed up.”
“Cormac! Jonathan said he was dead,” Zaira gasped, clinging to Brad weakly.
“And so he would have been, if your surveillance team hadn’t spotted what he was doing on the cameras. Dad did turn up for the meeting, as Jonathan had arranged, and there was an explosion, big enough to be convincing. But Dad went in the front and out the side as fast as possible. He's a bit shaken up, but he would love to see you if you’re feeling up to it, as would the Tremaines.”
“Not just yet. I want to apologize to you first for all the secretiveness and lies. Jonathan was dangerously clever. I knew he had set it all up, had been trying for days to lure you back to LA with all those calls about “The Dark Lady,” so that once you were in police custody, you couldn’t clear yourself, or might have an accident. Then, when the evidence disappeared, I knew there was no one we could be sure of. I needed a confession from Jonathan to clear you.”
“Thank God they followed Jonathan. Kelly had a hunch. She checked the cameras in my house on the monitor in the van, and sure enough, you were there. It was a damned stupid thing you did, but I’m grateful, Zaira. All those people will be put in prison where they belong, and the police who were in on it all have been exposed as well.”
“Jonathan’s had it coming for a long time.”
Brad nodded quietly, but he looked at her piercingly for a few seconds.
“What are you doing here, anyway?” Zaira suddenly asked. “I mean, it isn’t really safe yet, is it?”
“When I spoke to you, I knew something was going on. That you were hiding something from me. It was silly that I hadn’t figured it out sooner. I came back through Mexico, just in case the police were still after me. I took me a bit longer than I expected. Thank God I came in when I did. I was at the Studios with Dad when Kelly phoned. If we hadn’t burst in when we did, Jonathan might have shot you again, and killed you.”
Brad’s tears choked him for a few moments, but finally he breathed, “God, it’s been hell without you for the past few weeks. What would I have done if you and the baby had died?”
“Kelly told you?”
“Yes, and the doctor too. What a day for surprises. But it’s no surprise I want to marry you, darling. So as soon as you're up out of that bed, we’ll go ahead and do it. Then we'll film “The Dark Lady.” Now that I’m back in California, I’m not going to let you go back to New York and your old life. We’ll finish what we started.”
“Brad, it is all finished. How can you ever forgive me? Besides, I’m still married to Jonathan,” Zaira protested.
Brad hesitated, looking away from her for a moment.
Zaira waited in agony for his next words. Was he going to agree with her that they had no future together?
“Zaira, I know you don’t remember it. I didn’t want to tell you until you were feeling stronger. I don’t want to upset you, but Jonathan is dead. He jumped from the balcony when the police tried to arrest him. You’re a widow, and free to marry me whenever you like.”
Zaira’s tears began to fall. “So it’s really all over then?”
“So far as the past is concerned, yes. I’m in the clear, and can go back to living a normal life. It’s the future I’m worried about. I love you, and need you, my most precious treasure. Please, I want you and the baby to make my life complete. Free yourself of the past, and marry me. I love you more than ever, Zaira, not less. How could I blame you? You’ve done everything to save me. You were willing to die for me. How can you even consider going back to New York, of making me live without you?”
“Oh Brad, I’ve missed you so,” Zaira cried, as she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately, all her pain of past and present finally at an end as the joyful future Brad was laying out for them both spread before her like a glimpse of paradise.
“The Dark Lady” went into production several weeks later, and Zaira and Brad were married on the set, in full costume. It wa
s an unusual wedding , an unusual film, and even more unusually, it swept the Academy Awards that year for all the technical categories, including Best Original Screenplay for Zaira. To her great delight, Brad was awarded the Oscar for Best Director, and no one could have been prouder of Brad's achievement than his wife, except possibly for his father Cormac, now his staunchest supporter for all his films.
“They may have named me Best Director, my love, and I may be surrounded by hundreds of actors and actresses, but you're the brightest star in this whole room,” Brad whispered as Zaira looked around the auditorium in awe. “You’re the star I revolve around, like the earth taking all its light and warmth from the sun.”
Zaira and Brad had settled in New York to teach and work on the film adaptation of her second blockbuster novel, Star Attraction, They were sure they could never be happier than they had been since the awards evening, but a couple of months after fateful evening, on a bright day in June in New York, their son Declan was born, anf gave a whole new meaning to the word bliss.
It was an easy labor and a quick recovery. Eager to take the baby home and start on the newest chapter in their fantastic romance, Brad couldn't wait to get his new little family back to their snug apartment where they had fallen in love nine months before.
As he wheeled Zaira and the baby out of the elevator, a lovely young girl with flaming red hair crashed into a busy young doctor trying to slip in through the closing doors.
Brad and Zaira caught each other’s eye and laughed.
“Let’s hope they have a smoother path in front of them than we had, darling.”
“The road to my journey’s end has been rocky, it's true. But I've had the most radiant star to guide me."
"No regrets?"
"Never. It's all been more than worth it, my love,” Brad said. He kissed his wife on the lips, a silent promise of more to come, and played with his son’s tiny hand. "Now let's go home. I can't wait to get started on the happily ever after you promised me."
"I love you, darling. Thank you for everything, the gift of your love, and our son."
"Thank you, Zaira, for the gift of my freedom, my reputation, and for being the most amazing woman I've ever met."
"You're welcome, darling. Now come, your father's waiting to spoil his grandson."
"And I can't wait to give him at least several more. And some granddaughters too, just like their incredible mother."
Zaira smiled up at him, her heart full of love. "The Dark Lady" had brought them together. Her dark past had nearly torn them apart. Now in the bright light of their love, there was no shadow to mar the brilliance of their happy future full of passion and bliss.
If you've enjoyed this novel, why not visit HerStory Books for more terrific novels by Sorcha MacMurrough.
http://www.herstorybooks.com
Table of Contents
Synopsis
Reviews
Also by the author
Dedication
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Star Attraction Page 20
