Pepper

Singing my own songs again feels good. My voice is better. I got acupuncture every day in L.A. and had no one to talk to. Now, as I stand on the Bellissimo stage holding the mic, my vocal cords feel rested and mostly healed.

Too bad the rest of me still feels like curling up in a ball and dying.

Everything about returning to the Bellissimo slayed me, from the sign with my name in lights out front to the clean vanilla and oranges scent of the lobby. I feel Tony everywhere. I look for him everywhere, even though I pray I won’t find him.

The time away did nothing to alleviate the gnawing anxiety in my gut nor the heaviness that drags my limbs down. I was still greeted like an honored guest when I arrived and informed that my suite was held for me. Even that made my heart ache.

To make matters worse, Sondra and Corey came backstage before the show. “Hey, I’ve been worried about you.” Sondra wrapped me up in a warm hug, like we’re old friends.

I blinked back tears. “I’m okay.”

“You are?” She peered at me doubtfully.

“Tony’s not,” Corey interjects. “The man would die for you. You know that, right?”

Lord. Just take my heart right out of my chest and get it over with.

“He’s not a criminal,” Sondra says. “I just want to say that. They may have come from organized crime, and they may still have family ties, but the Bellissimo men are legit. They have honor and compassion and run a clean business.”

I didn’t know if she was telling me to defend her own man or to advocate for Tony, but all I could do was nod and excuse myself to go on stage.

Now, as I sing my final song, my mind is on nothing but Tony. Is he here in the auditorium? Will he try to talk to me? What will I say? I doubt my ability to stay strong if I see him.

I’m also starting to doubt my ability to go on without him. The buoyancy I discovered since I met him is gone. Life feels heavy again, especially when everything looks the same.

Hugh’s still backstage, purportedly running the damn show, even though I reminded him he was fired. My parents decided to go home as soon as they found out I returned. I guess staying to hear me play wasn’t on their wish list of things to do.

The crowd loves me tonight, which is good, because I’m not loving myself much. I can’t stop the nagging feeling that I let Tony down. That Sondra spoke the truth and I misjudged him. I bow to the standing ovation and jog off the stage.

I hear a shout and see a flash of light.

Izzy shoves me from the side just as something huge and heavy slams down. It strikes her square across her shoulder, knocking her to the floor and pinning her beneath it. Her head smacks the stage with a sickening thud.

A giant metal light pole with the light still attached.

I scream and yank the light pole off her, burning my hands on the hot metal frame. “Izzy! Oh God. Someone call 911!”

She moans softly.

Thank God—she’s not dead.

“What happened? Is it Pepper?” Hugh comes running over. I register him standing behind us, staring, but I’m too busy talking to Izzy, trying to get her to wake up and say something.

Farley calls for an ambulance and casino security pour in, barking orders not to move her and to stand back.

Izzy slips in and out of consciousness during the long minutes it takes for the ambulance to arrive. Someone presses a grape Gatorade bottle into my hand and I guzzle half of it, the strong, salt and sweet taste burning my tongue. Izzy’s eyes crack open and she attempts to make a joke.

Everything’s a blur as the paramedics swarm in and take her out on a stretcher. Then Hugh takes me by the shoulder and nudges me to the dressing room. Anton escorts me upstairs.

I want to go to the hospital to be with Izzy, but when I get to my room, the sensation of being drunk and confused makes me stumble aimlessly around my room.

The door slides open. My foolish heart leaps, thinking it’s going to be Tony, but it’s not.

It’s Hugh.

Suddenly, I’m nauseous.

“What are you doing here?” It’s difficult to make my lips move and get the words out.

“The better question is what are you still doing here? You were supposed to be dead days ago.”

Tony

I don’t like the ‘accident’ backstage. Not one fucking bit. My security guys reported Isabel Fontaine—aka Izzy, the blue-haired stage manager—was struck by a falling light.

Lights shouldn’t fall at the Bellissimo, so this is either a case of gross negligence, or deliberate sabotage. And I need to figure out which right away.

I’m headed out to my car to drive to the hospital to find out exactly what happened when Corey calls my phone.

“What’s up?”

“Hey, I just got a call from Pepper’s stage manager, Izzy. The one who was taken to the hospital.”

“Yeah? Is she okay? What happened?”

“Uh, she was headed into X-ray when she called, but listen. She wanted me to get a message to you.”

The hair on the back of my neck prickles. “What is it?” I try to keep from crushing my cell phone in my hand as the realization that something is very wrong hits me.

“She said you should stick with Pepper and make sure Hugh’s not with her; I think that’s her manager.”

“What?” Fear lances me, sending adrenaline pumping through my veins. “Why?”

“That’s the thing, she wouldn’t say, exactly. I think she was in a ton of pain so she didn’t make total sense. Anyway, just go make sure everything’s all right.”

“I will,” I grit. I’m running before I even think. I don’t have enough information. I missed learning what Izzy knows or is afraid of, but her fear is for Pepper.

Which means I need to move.

As I run back into the casino, I call Pepper’s phone, call Hugh’s phone.

Cold douses me as I realize: Ernie Denesto.

Hugh.

These fuckers are connected.

Denesto wasn’t after me—he was after Pepper. He’s exactly the kind of low-life killer Hugh would pick out.

Pepper Heart is insured for six mil.

How would Junior know that, if it wasn’t for Hugh telling him? Maybe Hugh suggested we kill Pepper and when we didn’t bite, decided to take matters into his own hands.

I ask my security guys if they’ve seen either of them, and they report that Pepper returned to her room with the bodyguard at her side. No one has seen Hugh.

Fanculo.

Everything’s fine. Everything’s fine, I chant in my head, but full-body prickles tell me it’s not true. Everything is about as fucking far from fine as it can get.

Pepper

When Hugh says I should be dead, my brain registers the threat, but my limbs won’t react. I get up and stumble toward the door, only to have Hugh catch my arm roughly.

“Ouch,” I whine, tripping backward as he propels me toward the bed.

He looks deranged, like he’s on drugs or something. What in the hell is going on?

He pushes me and I fall onto my back on the mattress. Then Hugh’s on top of me, tearing open my shirt. Confusion swirls through my foggy brain. He wants me dead? Or he’s going to fuck me.

Oh God.

Omigod, omigod, omigod.

I’ve been here before.

I’ve been here, beneath Hugh, struggling to get him off.

More than once.

And like now, I couldn’t make my limbs move. Those times, he had sex with me and I wanted to puke. I couldn’t make it stop.

Not this time.

I shove at his chest with my hands.

He slaps my face, hard. “You think you have balls now, Pepper? Think you can talk back? Tell me no? You thought you could fire me? What a fucking joke. I made you into what you are. And your usefulness has ended, Pepper Heart. You’re worth more to me dead.”

He yanks up my skirt and pulls off my shorts and panties.

No! Not again. Never again.

This time is different. I don’t have to lie here and take it. I’m not going to let him fuck me.

Or kill me.

I don’t know how I do it, but somehow I muster the coordination to knee him in the balls.

He shouts and rears back. Then he grips my throat, cutting off my air, crushing my windpipe. Vaguely, I realize he’s trying to kill me.

I’m going to die.

I’m going to die and there’s nothing I can do to stop it. I’m going to die and I never told Tony how I feel about him.

That I love him.

My vision starts to black out but I fight it.

Fight to reach something, anything.

My fingers catch the cord of the lamp and I drag it to me, closer. Wrap my fingers around the base. I swing. It thuds against his head. His fingers spring off me, surprise choking his expression.

And then Tony’s here, pulling him back, holding his shirt and punching his face. The thud of bone crunching bone punctuates the air. He punches him twice. Three times. Four.

I sob, still gasping to get air into my lungs, through my crushed throat.

Tony may be beating Hugh, but his eyes are on me.

“Tony?” I warble.

He immediately drops Hugh to the floor and lunges for me. He scrapes me off the bed, gently lifting me into his arms. “Songbird. Christ, please tell me you’re okay.”

I cough. “I’m. Okay,” I manage.

He looks down at Hugh, groaning on the floor, and plants his boot in Hugh’s ribs. “Tell me what to do here.” There’s a pleading quality to his voice, and I realize he’s holding back from killing Hugh.

For me.

I want Hugh dead—I do. And maybe it’s the drugs talking, but I sense Tony’s soul is hanging in the balance here. I’m not going to ask him to kill for me.

“Call the police,” I rasp. “Please.”

Tony doesn’t move for a moment, still staring down at Hugh, then he curses in Italian and touches the comms unit in his ear. “Call for an ambulance and I need the police on the fourteenth floor—suite 1460. One of our guests has been assaulted.”

Then he turns his warm brown eyes on me. “Baby. I’m dying here. I should’ve protected you from him. You could’ve died.”

“I wasn’t going to die,” I promise, my head lolling against his shoulder. “I couldn’t, because I haven’t said I love you.”

Tony goes still. “What, songbird?”

“I said I love you. I missed you. I’m sorry.”

Tony clutches me tighter. I nuzzle into his neck. “Pepper. I-I have so much to say to you, and I don’t know where to start.” Hugh groans and tries to stand and Tony delivers another swift kick to his ribs.

“Maybe you’d better wait,” I mumble. “Hugh roofied me and I don’t even know if I’ll remember this tomorrow.”

“Remember this, songbird.” He palms the back of my head to lift and turn my face to his and claims my mouth like we’re in a Hollywood movie ending.

Pepper

The next few hours are a blur as the police and paramedics show up. I end up at the hospital for an examination, and Tony stays by my side, insisting he’s my bodyguard, and he’s not allowed to let me out of his sight.

We’re at the same hospital Izzy was taken to, so after she’s released, she comes into my room, her arm in a sling to stabilize a broken collarbone.

“Pepper, what happened?” Her face is pale against the blue hair. “One of the nurses told me you were here because she knew I was part of your show.”

“Hugh tried to kill her,” Tony growls. “How did you know something was going to happen?”

I’m starting to get my brain back, so I pick up what he’s saying. “Izzy knew?”

“She called Corey, who called me to tell me to make sure you weren’t alone with Hugh. She may be the reason you’re alive, baby.”

I want to cry, but shock and exhaustion left me too empty for tears. “How did you know?” I ask.

Izzy’s gone even paler than usual. “H-he tried to kill you?”

I stand up and walk over to her. “You knew, didn’t you? Because he’s done this before.”

Tony’s spine stiffens. “Done what before?”

“Roofied me. Raped me.” I don’t look at Tony, because I can’t. I know the fury I see there will make it hard to keep my footing. And I need to know the answer to this question.

Izzy bursts into tears. “Oh God, is it true? I wasn’t sure. I saw him come out of your hotel room once, back when I was first hired. I didn’t know you that well then and when I asked you about it, you blew me off. I guess you thought I was confused or something. So at first I thought maybe you were having an affair with him.” She wipes her tears and sniffs. “And later when I knew you well enough to know that wasn’t the case, I just kept an eye out. Made sure you were never alone with him at night.”

Nausea rolls through me. “He’s roofied me before. I don’t know when, but I remembered it when he tried to rape me tonight. It definitely wasn’t the first time.”

“I’m sorry, Pepper. I should’ve told you my suspicions.”

“Yeah, you should’ve,” Tony growls.

I hold my hand up to him, telling him to back off. “She’s the one who sent you tonight,” I remind him. “You both are the only reason I’m alive.”

“God, I didn’t trust him, but I definitely didn’t know he was trying to kill you,” Izzy says. Her eyes round. “Do you think this”—she points at her broken collar bone—“was an attempt to kill you?”

“I don’t think it was an accident,” Tony says.

A police detective comes in and the three of us all turn to him, armed with the ammunition to put Hugh away for a long time.

And I happen to be very confident that if things go wrong and Hugh walks free… he won’t walk free.

Not with Tony around.