Betrayal (16 page)

“I’ll give you a call this week if I have any other questions or if something comes up that you should know,” he said as they walked to the door. And after they shook hands and he left, she watched him as he drove away. She was glad she’d called, although she wasn’t thrilled about not being able to fire Brigitte yet. It was going to be uncomfortable playing a game for the next month or two. That sounded like a very long time. He had also explained to her that it would take them a while to get bank records that would allow them to assess the suspect’s financial activity. He
promised
that they would move as fast as they could, but banks moved slowly, and everything took time.

Her father called an hour later when she was in the midst of packing Hunt’s things again.

“How did it go with the FBI?” Sam asked, anxious to hear what they’d said.

“They said they’re going to check it out, and I can’t fire Brigitte yet. They want me to buy time, and not let on that we suspect. They want to see what she does.”

“Clever tactic, though hard on you, given what she did with Hunt.”

“She doesn’t know that I know that, Dad. I can just tell her that Hunt confessed about his current girlfriend. She doesn’t need to know that he admitted about her too. And she sounds a little nuts from what Hunt told me. Anyway, we’ll see how crazy she really is. I can pretend to have forgiven her for not telling me sooner what Hunt was up to, and then we can go about our business, while the FBI keeps an eye on her.”

“Sounds like a good plan to me. But tough on you.”

“I guess I’ll have to live with it. He says it’s the best way. So I can’t even fire the bitch tomorrow,” Tallie said, sounding angry, and Sam nodded, thinking unhappily about what an evil person Brigitte had turned out to be. He was furious on his daughter’s behalf, but there was nothing he could do. All they could do now was wait and trust the FBI. It was all hard to believe.

Chapter 10

IN ORDER TO
satisfy Jim Kingston’s request to appear normal, Tallie let Brigitte drive her to Palm Springs on Monday morning. And after their usual stop at Starbucks, Tallie fell silent for a while. She wasn’t sure what to say, and then she knew what she had to do, to throw Brigitte off the scent.

“How was your weekend?” Brigitte asked casually as they drove along.

“Not so great,” Tallie said, staring out the window sadly. “Hunt and I broke up. He moved out on Friday night.”

“Oh my God, how did that happen? Did you confront him about what I told you?” Tallie nodded without looking at her. She was as genuinely sad as she appeared, but not only for the reasons Brigitte had told her.

“Yes, I did,” Tallie said, turning her gaze toward her, and Brigitte could see how devastated she was. “He said it was true, about the girl in his office. I asked him if he would give her up, and he said he wouldn’t. And then he admitted she’s pregnant.” Brigitte caught
her
breath sharply at that, and she didn’t look happy about it either.

“Is he going to marry her?” she asked, looking astounded. It was pretty shocking news and had been for Tallie too.

“I think so. In any case, he says he’s in love with her and he wouldn’t leave her, so I told him to move out.” There was a long moment of silence in the car as Brigitte absorbed it. Tallie knew her well enough to see that she was distressed at the news of his marriage and a baby.

“Did you ask him about the money?” Tallie nodded in answer. “What did he say?”

“He lied, of course. He denied it. But that problem is solved. He won’t be asking you for money now.” They rode along in silence for a while, and then Brigitte looked over at her sympathetically.

“I’m sorry, Tallie.” She could see that Tallie had believed her that it had been Hunt taking the money, and was heartbroken over the girl. “Why didn’t you call me?” Brigitte said, trying to get close to her again, as they had been before.

“I was too upset. I stayed in bed all weekend and cried. I don’t know, maybe I told him to move out too fast, but if he wasn’t going to give her up, what was the point of being the pathetic one in a triangle? And if she’s pregnant, I didn’t have a chance.”

“I thought he didn’t want kids.” Brigitte frowned.

“So did I. But apparently he wants this one, and he’s crazy about her little boy.” And it didn’t help that she was thirteen years younger than Tallie. That point hadn’t been lost on her either.

And then Brigitte asked in a soft voice, “Are you mad at me for telling you about the girl in his office and the money?”

Tallie shook her head. “No. Someone had to tell me, and I’d rather it was you.” She almost retched as she said it. What Brigitte hadn’t told her was that she had slept with him herself for three years. Tallie had learned a lot about both of them in the past few days. Both of them had betrayed her and lied to her, he had cheated on her during their entire relationship, and one of them was stealing her money. They were a disgusting pair, both of them. And she knew she would never feel the same way about Brigitte again. It had killed any feelings she had for Brigitte when she had lied about the hotel bills and Meg Simpson had told her that she and Hunt had had an affair for three years.
Three years!
And all the while Brigitte had looked her in the eye every day, and pretended to be her best friend. They had both lied to her. It didn’t get lower than what they did, and she expected better from Brigitte if not from Hunt. It was a double loss for her. “I wish you’d told me sooner, that’s all,” Tallie said softly. She didn’t seem angry at all, just sad, which was an act.

“I was afraid you were still mad at me,” Brigitte said, looking relieved. Tallie had given her the impression that all the blame had been put on Hunt, and it was all over, and she and Tallie could go back to the way things were before. “I agonized over whether or not to tell you.”

“I’m sure you did,” Tallie said with a sigh, and didn’t pursue the conversation any further. All she could hope was that the FBI would move quickly and complete their investigation. She didn’t want to live this charade with Brigitte for many months. The two months Jim Kingston had said it might take sounded like a nightmare to her, and every time she looked at Brigitte now she would
remember
that she had lied to her, while sleeping with Hunt and meeting him in hotel rooms. She felt sick whenever she thought about it. It was painful, and she wanted Brigitte out of her life now, whether or not she was stealing money. She was a liar and a cheat anyway. It was like discovering that your best friend had been sleeping with your husband. She hadn’t been married to Hunt, but she had lived with him and she loved him.

“Are you going to investigate further about the money?” Brigitte asked Tallie, who shook her head.

“I’ll never get it back anyway. What’s the point?” she said to throw Brigitte off the scent and reassure her. Brigitte nodded and they drove on in silence.

Working on the set that morning kept Tallie busy, and she was grateful for her work now. It forced her to think of something else besides Hunt and his cheating on her, and Brigitte, and their betrayals. It was a hard one to swallow, and when she got back to her trailer at lunchtime, she called her attorney, Greg Thomas.

“How did things work out with Meg Simpson?” he asked her.

“That depends how you look at it. She found out what I wanted to know, even if it wasn’t what I wanted to hear. It turns out that Hunt has been cheating on me for the whole four years we’ve been together, for three years of it with my best friend. And I found out some other things that were equally unpleasant.” She sounded tense and unhappy.

“I’m sorry, Tallie. Was he taking the money too?”

“I don’t know. Maybe not. To be honest, I don’t think so. I’m keeping it quiet for now, but Meg called an FBI agent she used to work with, and I met with him over the weekend. He’s doing an
investigation.
There are some other possibilities as far as the money goes. It’s in the hands of the FBI.”

“I’m relieved to know that. They’ll get to the bottom of it. What can I do to help you?”

“I want you to send official notification to Hunt that I won’t be doing our next picture with him. I’m out. I told him that on Friday night before he moved out, but I’m not sure he believed me. I haven’t signed a contract for it yet, as you know. And I want to make it official. I won’t be part of the project. He needs to know for his investor, before he signs their contract.”

“Are you sure?” Their first film had made a lot of money, and giving up another one was a big sacrifice for her. But there was no question in her mind now. She had made movies before Hunt, and there would be successful films after him. She didn’t need Hunter Lloyd to make a movie, and if she wanted to produce, she could do it on her own. A movie directed by Tallie Jones was a sure box-office hit.

“I’m positive,” she said without hesitating. “I wouldn’t work with him again no matter how much we make on the back end. Besides, he’s a liar, and that’s not the kind of person I want to work with.” Tallie was a principled person, and her ethics were more important to her than money. “Just send him a letter.”

“I’ll take care of it today,” he said quietly. He could tell that she meant it. She hadn’t wavered for an instant.

“Thanks, Greg.”

“I’ll send his attorney an e-mail and give him a heads-up.”

Tallie knew Greg had notified them, when Hunt started frantically calling her at four o’clock. She didn’t take his calls, so he
texted
her about her withdrawal and begged her to call him. Reluctantly, she finally did at six o’clock when they finished shooting and she left the set. She had decided to drive back to L.A. for the night. She drove alone in one of the SUVs, and told Brigitte she needed some time to herself. She called Hunt from the car and put it on speaker, since there was no one in the car with her.

“Tallie, you can’t be serious. That’s crazy. This is about our career, not our love life.”

“That’s right,” she said coldly, “and both are over. I don’t work with cheaters and liars.” She sounded bitter, but she was tired after a long day, and still hurting over what he’d done. She knew she would hurt for a long time over this one. The agony had only just begun. She’d been there with her second husband ten years before.

“Do you realize what you’re going to cost us both? And Mr. Nakamura will pull out of the picture without you. I just spoke to his attorney.”

“That’s too bad, Hunt. Maybe you should have thought of that before you slept with my assistant for three years and the girl in your office for the last one. You didn’t really expect me to work with you again, did you?”

“Can’t we separate the two parts of our lives? We do such great work together. You can’t just wipe that out.”

“No, you did. Let’s be very clear about this. I won’t work with you again. I’m done.”

“Can we talk about it sometime?”

“No.”

“What am I supposed to tell Mr. Nakamura?” He sounded nervous when he asked.

“Tell him you screwed my assistant and some girl in your office and you lost your partner. I’m sure he’ll understand.” She was getting angry at him now, and it felt better than being sad.

“Look, I’m sorry, I know it was terrible. I was wrong. You didn’t deserve that, Tallie. But do we have to fuck over our careers to prove a point?”

“I’m not proving a point, Hunt. I’m not going to work with you again. I don’t want to. I’ll finish this picture and that’s it.” He suddenly panicked that she might walk out on that, but he knew that she was too professional to do that, but he also knew how principled she was, and how fair. And how stubborn if she thought she’d been wronged. And he knew she had been. There was no moving her off her position now, although he hoped she might reconsider it later, but he doubted she would. And then he thought of something else.

“Did you fire Brigitte?”

“No,” she said flatly.

“Why not?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“Why? You can forgive her, but not me? That’s ridiculous.”

“I didn’t say I forgave her,” she said quietly. She couldn’t tell him that she had kept her because the FBI had told her to. And he was under investigation too, so she couldn’t say anything to him. “That’s my business, Hunt, not yours. I gave you the option to stick around. You said you wouldn’t stop seeing Angela, it was your choice. My choice was not to live with a man who wants to sleep with two women, and lie to one, or both.”

“I still love you, Tallie, even if I screwed up.”

“So do I, Hunt. That’s unfortunate for both of us. We’ll get over it. But I won’t work with you again. That’s all I have to say about it. And one other thing. Please don’t say anything to Max about us. She’ll be very upset, and I want to tell her myself, in person, not on the phone. I’ll go there when I can. Thanks for your call. Take care.” And with that, the phone went dead in his hand. They were supposed to sign the contracts with Nakamura in the next few days, and now he had to tell him this. He knew it was the price to pay for what he’d done. And he knew he’d been rotten with her, and dishonest. He didn’t blame her, but he wished she’d at least work with him. They were going to lose the biggest investor they’d ever had, and without Tallie directing he had much less to sell. He needed her. But he needed Angela too, and he didn’t want to give her up. And he couldn’t leave her pregnant with his baby and go back to Tallie now. His whole life was falling apart, and he thought it was all Brigitte’s fault for telling Tallie and causing her to investigate further. He hated Brigitte for what she’d done. But even more than Brigitte, he hated himself for what he’d done to Tallie. He couldn’t hide from that.