Betrayal Read online

  He didn’t want to tell her he was exhausted and wanted a quiet evening at home. “Where did you have in mind?” He never denied her anything, and now wasn’t the time to start.

  “Mr. Chow,” she said with a gleam in her eye. She loved seeing the stars who went there, and the paparazzi gathered outside. It was loud, trendy, expensive, and the food was very good. It was definitely the place to be and to be seen.

  “All right. I’ll call and see if we can get a reservation,” he said quietly.

  “I already did,” she said with a broad smile. “We have to be there in ten minutes. I invited Carla and John to join us.” They were her friends, not his, ordered the most expensive things on any menu, and fancy wines, and never reached for the check. And they were her age.

  All of her friends expected him to be their sugar daddy, and so did she. His own friends had disappeared long since. The women he went out with, and now Brianna, made their wives uncomfortable. Victor felt they were just jealous. It never occurred to him that they thought he was a fool, and Brianna unbearable. She never talked about anything but plastic surgery and the gossip she read in movie magazines. He wasn’t looking forward to an evening of hearing about which Hollywood couple had broken up, who was sleeping with or cheating on whom, and whose facelift or new breasts looked the best. But it was the life he had chosen for himself, high-stakes marriage with a gold digger half his age. He never thought about it that way, although her insatiable appetite for his money had begun to frighten him. None of his clients had ever met his wife, although Brigitte had run into him at a nightclub one night and told Tallie she looked terrifying. She would never have expected somber, sedate, mousy Victor Carson to be married to someone like her. And he had looked proud when he introduced her to Brigitte, which was even worse. Brigitte thought he should have been embarrassed to be seen with her. She was expensively dressed, but it didn’t help. The obvious designer labels and flashy diamond necklace and ring didn’t alter the fact that she looked like someone he had rented for the night, not invested in for a lifetime. To Brigitte, Brianna looked like a colossal mistake.

  Brianna’s friends were already waiting for them at Mr. Chow when they arrived, and they had brought another couple with them whom Victor had never seen before. They ordered everything that appealed to them on the menu, two expensive bottles of wine, cocktails before that, and champagne with their dessert. Victor could feel his credit card straining when he paid the bill, but Brianna looked happy when they went home. She sank into a bubble bath and thanked him for a nice evening, and then she asked him when they were leaving for Europe.

  “I haven’t made the reservations yet,” he told her honestly from her bathroom doorway. She had remodeled his apartment when she moved into it, which had also cost him a fortune, and she had a gigantic pink marble bathroom. “I just heard about a big audit I have to cooperate with for one of my clients. I don’t think I can get away until that’s been taken care of.” Otherwise he would delay the start of Tallie’s next movie or lose her investor, and he would lose an important client, which he could not afford to do, and he was too conscientious to do that anyway. Victor was meticulous about his work.

  “Are you saying we’re not going?” She looked instantly suspicious.

  “No, I’m just saying that I won’t know when for a few weeks. But we’ll go, I promise.”

  She nodded, mollified for the moment, and he felt as though he’d gotten a momentary reprieve from the pressure she always put on him. And just as he was about to leave she announced that she wanted to redo their bedroom. It was a new idea, and yet another way for her to spend his money. “I heard about a new decorator I want to try. She did J-Lo’s bedroom,” Brianna announced with a determined look. Victor didn’t answer, he just quietly disappeared into his closet to undress and put on his pajamas. He sat on a stool he had in there, and thought about what lay ahead if he was going to try and keep Brianna with him, and he wanted to cry when he thought about it. Other than robbing a bank, or winning the lottery, he had no idea where to find the money to satisfy her. Her demands were getting bigger, and the funds he had left were dwindling day by day.

  Chapter 4

  HUNT CAME TO Palm Springs to stay with Tallie the day after. They spent a nice evening at the hotel, although Tallie finished late, but Hunt never minded. They lay out by the pool for a long time late that night and chatted. He told her that everything was in place for the audit to begin the following week, and then he asked her if she’d talked to Victor Carson.

  “Not lately,” she answered. “I usually have Brig talk to him. She called him about the audit. Why?”

  “Nothing. He sounds incredibly stressed about something. Maybe he’s insulted that we’re doing the audit. It’s a smart thing to do anyway.” Hunt was sensible and cautious about business, although he spent a considerable amount of money, but he could afford it.

  “My father always said that too. He’s been bugging me to do one for years. He never trusts anyone. He was a lawyer for too long.” And then she remembered what Brigitte had told her about meeting Victor’s wife at the nightclub. “Apparently, he’s married to a real bimbo, half his age. Maybe she’s giving him trouble.” Hunt laughed when she said it.

  “He doesn’t look the type. He looks so dull and respectable, I figured he’d be married to some nice conservative old lady.” He assumed Victor was older than he actually was. Tallie always had too. He looked ten years older than his age.

  “Maybe that’s the one he left for this one. Sometimes guys go a little crazy at his age. Just warn me if you ever decide to dump me for a bimbo or a younger woman.”

  “I’m not that old yet,” he said, smiling at her from a deck chair. “Besides, I love what I’ve got.”

  “You never know,” she teased him. “Give it a few years, you might want some twenty-year-old bimbo too.”

  “I hope not. If that ever happens, just shoot me. Besides, I can’t afford one.” He could, but he didn’t want to.

  “Maybe he can’t either. Maybe that’s why he sounded stressed. I can never understand why guys do that. Someone half my age would just make me feel older.”

  “Men think it makes them look young and virile, instead of old and foolish,” Hunt explained. It was a phenomenon they saw a lot in Hollywood, but Tallie had never known Hunt to lust over young women. He was totally focused on her, and devoted to her. She thought not being married kept their relationship alive and fresh, and that was how she intended to keep it, and Hunt had never objected. He didn’t want to get married again either. They shared that point of view.

  He told her about the agents he’d talked to that day, about the potential stars of their next film. They had two locked in already, the biggest ones, and two who were almost sure. The last hurdle they had to get over was the audit, and they both knew it wouldn’t be a problem. Their finances were in good shape, and their last movie had made a fortune. The audit was just a formality to satisfy their investor, and not a concern to either of them.

  After shooting the next day, Tallie had given the cast the weekend off, and she and Hunt drove to Santa Barbara. He had rented a beautiful house in Montecito for the weekend, and they were both looking forward to it. Brigitte went back to L.A., and Tallie was going to drive back up to Palm Springs with her on Monday morning. It was going to be a treat to have a weekend to relax and get away from the film. Tallie always got new ideas when she got a little distance from it. She would wake up in the middle of the night, and make notes on a pad she kept next to her bed. And this weekend was no different. But most of all, she and Hunt enjoyed each other’s company. They walked on the beach, slept late, and went out to dinner, and by the time they got back to L.A. on Sunday night, Tallie felt as though she’d had a vacation, not just a weekend.

  She felt alive and fresh when she left for Palm Springs with Brigitte at four o’clock on Monday morning. She chatted with Brigitte all the way there and told her about the weekend. Brigitte said she’d had a couple of date
s but didn’t volunteer with whom, and Tallie assumed they couldn’t have been important, or Brigitte would have said more about them.

  And she reminded Brigitte to call Victor Carson a couple of times that week and see how the audit was going. She was expecting everything to go smoothly, and Brigitte assured her she’d do it.

  Tallie and Hunt both had a busy week ahead, and he warned her that he didn’t think he’d be able to come to Palm Springs. She promised to come back to L.A. when she could, but she had a lot to do too. She didn’t want the location shoot to fall behind.

  And by six o’clock that morning, Tallie was off and running, and she didn’t stop till midnight that night. The cast was utterly worn out by then, but Tallie was still going strong. Brigitte smiled as she watched her in action. There was no one in the world like her.

  The independent audit got under way as planned. The firm that was doing it was based in San Francisco, and they were cool and businesslike when they went to Victor’s office, and asked for what they needed. They used his conference room to spread out Tallie’s books and accounts, and they had brought their own computers. There were two accountants, and they had brought two assistants with them. And they kept to themselves all week. Now and then they asked Victor for an explanation or some substantiation as they pored over her general ledger, and they offered very little comment. But Victor found it stressful anyway. He felt as though they were checking his work and questioning his competence. They were a very high-flying firm, and he was sure they were charging the Japanese investor a fortune for the audit, but apparently the investor thought it was worth it.

  On the second day of the audit, Brianna had a surprise for him when he got home, looking nervous and exhausted. She’d been to see a lawyer, she explained, and she said she wanted a postnup from Victor. She looked very pleased with herself as she said it.

  “A postnup?” He looked shocked. “What exactly do you mean?” A cold chill ran down his spine as he said it.

  “You know, a postnup. Like a prenup, but after the marriage.”

  “We already have a prenup, Brianna. We don’t need a postnup too.” He didn’t like the sound of it at all. It sounded like blackmail to him, or a serious threat at the very least. He had done a prenuptial agreement with her, and she had insisted that he put a sum of money in an account for her before they married. He had been so desperate to marry her that he agreed.

  “I’ve already spent most of the money you gave me in the prenup, Victor. I need more. My attorney says that you can give me an amount now, and pay me an additional sum for every year we stay married.” It was like paying her to be married to him, and something told him that the amounts weren’t going to be small.

  “Why did you go to an attorney?” he asked her somberly. He wondered if she’d been asking about a divorce but was afraid to tell him. He had given her seven hundred thousand dollars when he married her, and she had spent it in three years, in addition to what she had cost him. He couldn’t imagine what she had spent it on, but she went through money like water. Despite his careful accounting, she constantly slipped through his fingers.

  “I just don’t feel comfortable without money of my own,” she said, whining at him. “I don’t want to ask you for everything. If you give me a lump sum now, and pay me an amount every year, I’d feel a lot better,” she said, sidling up to him.

  “I honestly don’t think I can afford it right now,” he said sadly. “Some of my investments haven’t been doing well. I’d rather just pay your bills and take care of you, than put a set amount in an account every year.”

  Despite the Angelina Jolie-lookalike pout, Brianna set her mouth in a firm line. “I don’t think I can stay married to you if you won’t do that for me,” she said with a nasty undertone in her voice. “If you love me, you’ll do it. You didn’t do anything you promised for my career. This is the least you can do for me. I wouldn’t feel secure without it.”

  “And if I don’t, or can’t?” he asked, feeling discouraged and frightened. It was a race he couldn’t keep up with. He had nearly ruined himself for her, and she was insatiable in her demands and need for money. It was why she had married him in the first place. That was finally coming clear even to him now, with her demand for a postnup.

  “I’ll have to discuss it with my lawyer and let you know,” she said with something very hard in her eyes. “Think about it, Victor. You don’t have any choice.” She was making her position clear, and he felt desperation clutch his throat. He was sixty-five years old and he didn’t want to lose her. And despite her ulterior motives with him, he had grown attached to her. And how many more women who looked like her were there going to be for him? He felt suddenly tired, defeated, and old.

  He sat in his study alone that night, thinking about what she’d said, and he drank too much Johnnie Walker. Brianna went out with her girlfriends and came home at two o’clock in the morning. Victor was passed out on the couch in his study. She looked at him from the doorway and went to bed alone. She didn’t wake him or try to get him into bed. She was sure he would give her what she was asking for. He had no choice if he didn’t want to lose her, and she knew he didn’t. She had him by the throat, or worse.

  She heard him in the shower the next morning and left for the gym. And by the time she got back, Victor had left for the office. The independent auditors were still in his conference room, and he was using the opportunity to go over Tallie’s accounts himself. It never hurt to double-check things. And late that afternoon, he came across several entries that confused him. Brigitte paid all of Tallie’s bills, and she was always very organized and careful about it. She recorded the entries in the general ledger, and then turned over the accounts to him. Brigitte signed the checks, and had been doing it for years. What was puzzling him were regular stays at several hotels. It was none of his business what Tallie did and how she spent her money, but he wasn’t aware of why she was staying at various hotels in L.A. And if they were business related, he wanted to take them as deductions.

  There were a few stays at the Bel-Air, and quite a number at the Chateau Marmont and the Sunset Marquis. The same hotels appeared in Hunt’s accounts as well. Brigitte didn’t pay his bills-he had a bookkeeper he’d had for years. And Victor wondered if they spent romantic nights at hotels, or used the hotels for meetings, but he just wanted to confirm that with Tallie, as long as he was going over her books. He was sure it was nothing important. He also noticed that she was spending a considerable amount of cash, which he didn’t like, because whatever she spent it on, he couldn’t use as a deduction for her taxes, and he wanted to tell her that too. He wanted her to use her credit cards instead of cash.

  Victor tried not to think of Brianna as he went over Tallie’s books. What she had said about the postnup was very upsetting. He knew he wasn’t going to be able to give her large amounts, and he was afraid that what he could give her right now wouldn’t impress her. And her request for a postnup had sounded like an ultimatum to him. His personal life was in turmoil. But he had to get this audit taken care of for Tallie and Hunt. He didn’t want to hold up their next picture, or frustrate their very precise Japanese investor. Tallie was counting on him to do it promptly, but it was hard to concentrate while he worried about Brianna.

  Victor carefully went over Tallie’s accounts for two weeks and made a list of questions. There were expenditures relating to her daughter, some of which the IRS could have viewed as gifts, in which case Tallie had to pay taxes on them. He didn’t think they could take the Paris apartment as a business-related deduction since she never went there anymore, and up until then they had been. She hadn’t made a film in France in years. And he had a list of other expenditures that he wanted clarification on. The independent audit was to establish her solvency and net worth, but the one Victor was doing was just to make sure that her accounts were in good order, and they were taking deductions properly. Victor was conservative in his approach. He never liked taking too many deductions, if they were questi
onable, and he wanted to be able to defend all of their positions if they were ever challenged by the IRS. He didn’t want to get anyone in trouble, or let his clients stick their necks out too far. Some of them wanted him to be more aggressive than he thought reasonable, although Tallie never had, but this was a good opportunity to reevaluate their positions, and he was doing the same for Hunt.

  Hunt’s bookkeeper’s accounting system was less precise than Brigitte’s. A lot of money came in and a lot went out, but he spent most of it on his credit card, so they had a good record of it. Victor met with him and asked him several questions. It was all very straightforward. And when Victor asked him about the local hotel stays, he said he’d stayed there with Tallie, and once in a while he rented suites at hotels for meetings with out-of-town investors so those were business deductions, and Victor wanted to know which charges were for business if Hunt remembered, and most of the time he did.

  It all made sense and Victor was comfortable with the deductions they were taking for him, and they hadn’t put Hunt at risk for an audit. Victor was satisfied with Hunt’s answers, and the accounting firm of the Japanese investor seemed pleased too. They were almost finished at the end of two weeks, and very happy with what they’d seen. It looked like the deal would go forward. All Victor had left to do was ask Tallie similar questions to those he had asked Hunt, just for the sake of clarity in their ledger. And in Tallie’s case, he thought they should be taking more deductions. He also wanted to be sure that they were up to date on her California Use Tax, for things she had purchased out of state or abroad. He checked diligently that Tallie was keeping track of it, and Brigitte was recording it correctly, so Tallie didn’t get hit with penalties later. Most of his questions were about that, money spent on Max, and the considerable amount of cash that Tallie was spending, instead of using her credit cards, which he would have preferred.