Chapter Twelve
Later that morning, I was abruptly woken up by Leah barging into my room.
“Leah, what the hell are you doing here this early, and how did you get in?”
“Early? It’s two in the afternoon and Carol let me in. Now, get up, we have a lot to plan before you leave.”
“Plan what?”
“The wedding, hello?”
Oh God, I did not want to plan a wedding, something about marrying Cal did not excite me in any way.
“Leah, darling,” I said, trying to be nice. “Today is not the day to make wedding plans. I have to finish packing before Billy finds out that I’m not done yet.”
“Nonsense, we have been given an extra day before you leave for a couple of months and I need you to make some decisions so the wedding planner and I can get started.”
“Wedding planner?”
“I went ahead and hired one for us.”
“You did, did you?”
“Yes, now let’s get down to the living room where I have everything set up.” She clapped her hands together, then grabbed the sleeve of my pajamas and pulled me, begrudgingly, down the stairs.
My front living room was a sea of samples—fabric, flowers, invitations, and any other sample you could think of.
“Leah, this is insane.” Not only did I not want to plan this wedding I was overwhelmed with the amount of stuff and I just wanted to go back to bed.
“Sit,” she demanded.
I sat on the couch in obedience.
“First thing we must choose is a color scheme, because nothing else can be chosen until that is complete.” She took out a large sample pack of fabrics. “Did you want to go with a black and burgundy theme? That would bring out your dark eyes, or would you prefer to go with a royal blue and white theme? That would bring out Cal’s eyes or, and this is my personal favorite, did you want to go with a classic black and white theme?”
“Uhm.” I tried to think. “You know I really like the color purple.”
“Purple is not in the mix, these are your only choices.”
“I thought it was my wedding?”
“It is, now choose.”
She was getting a bit aggressive.
“Okay, well if I have to choose from those then black and white.”
“Good choice.” She seemed pleased that I had chosen her favorite.
“Good, so we’re done here?” I tried to get up, but she nailed me with a glare.
“Not even close.”
I sat back down with a thump. I was not in the mood. Plus, I was starting to panic because I wasn’t fully packed yet.
“Since you went with the black and white theme, I think red roses for the flower arrangements would give a perfect pop of colour.”
“Are there any purple-colored flowers instead?” I stupidly asked.
“No, there are not.”
Ouch, she then began prattling off other details that I really had no interest in.
A little bit later, while she was showing me invitation ideas, I heard the distinct sound of a key going into the front door lock and clicking open. A few seconds later, Billy came into the front hall.
“You have a key?” I practically shouted at him over Leah’s speech on the importance of calligraphy fonts.
“Of course I do. How do you think I keep getting in?” He looked around the room. “Woah, what’s going on here?”
“We’re beginning to plan Elizabeth’s wedding before you guys leave so I can continue while she’s away.”
“This’ll be fun.” Billy sat down next to me on the couch. “What’s the color theme?”
I looked at him in disbelief.
“Black and white,” Leah responded.
“Classic. Nice,” he approved. “Is there going to be a single complementary color?”
I boldly stared at him not believing my ears.
“Yes, red,” Lead proudly said.
“I would’ve gone with purple,” he commented.
I smiled at his response.
“What is it with you two and purple?”
“You wanted purple too?” he asked, turning to me.
“Yes, I did, I thought it would be perfect,” I answered as the butterflies began to flutter again.
“Nice, when we get married, we’ll have black, white, and purple,” he decided.
“Agreed.”
“Hello?” Leah sarcastically interjected. “We’re dealing with her first wedding right now, not her second.”
Billy and I both barked with laughter as Leah moved on to the samples of invitations.
Two hours later, I was finally able to get Leah to pack up her stuff and say goodbye.
“Have you seen the news yet?” Billy asked as I locked the front door.
“No, she literally yanked me out of bed.”
“Read the news.”
I went to the kitchen and turned on my iPad with Billy following closely behind.
“Known mobster, Marco Trassari, was gunned down execution style near his Las Vegas home late last night.” I read the headline out loud. “Jesus, they didn’t even try to keep that quiet, did they?”
“Nope, they went all old school on him.”
“Marco Trassari, owner and operator of the Phantom Casino and Hotel on Las Vegas’s main strip, was driving home alone around eleven last night. While stopped at a red light, he was approached by two hooded men who opened fire on his car, killing him instantly. Traffic cameras recorded the incident but could not identify the assailants. Chief of police Larry Fraser said that they do not have any suspects at this time but are certain that it was a professional hit.” I stopped reading and looked at Billy who was sitting across from me at the kitchen table.
“Wow, that was pretty violent, even for Sonny.”
“I believe that’s what the olden days would have called sending a message.”
My cell phone, on the counter, began ringing. I checked the caller ID and it was Al.
“Where are you?” he demanded to know.
“I’m at home.”
“In Los Angeles?” he continued his barrage of questions.
“Yes.”
“Billy?”
“Sitting right here.”
“Where were you two last night?”
“Billy had a big party and, yes, before you ask,” I cut him off, “the paparazzi was there.”
“Good,” and he hung up.
“You know we’re going to give him a stroke, one of these days.” Billy commented when I set the phone down.
“Yeah, probably.” I read the rest of the article and it said nothing else except they were hoping witnesses would come forward.
“Now that that’s over, we have clearance to head to Vegas. I have a private plane booked for tomorrow morning at nine. That should give us plenty of time to settle into the hotel and meet with the cast and crew. We have a table meeting set up for early afternoon.”
“Great.” I bit my lower lip. At least I had a few hours to get three months’ worth of packing done.
“You’re really not packed yet, are you?”
He must have caught the expression on my face.
“Pshht, of course I’m packed,” I lied.
“Elizabeth, are you kidding me?”
“Listen, Billy, I really need some alone time right now.” I got up from the table and took him by the hand. “I feel I need to spend some time enjoying the quiet and serenity of my lovely home before I have to leave it for twelve weeks.” I lead him to the front door.
“You are fooling no one.”
“Darling, I don’t know what you mean.” I shoved him out onto the front step and closed the door.
“You better be ready by eight tomorrow morning when the car service gets here,” he yelled from the other side.
I barely heard him as I sprinted up the stairs.
Chapter Thirteen
The next day our private plane’s wheels touched down on the tarmac at Las Vegas International airport. As soon as we had come to a complete stop, a large SUV pulled up alongside the plane.
“Don’t tell me the driver works for Sonny,” I complained to Billy as we came down the plane’s steps.
“Okay, I won’t tell you.”
I rolled my eyes, he could be such a smartass sometimes.
“Good morning, Mr. Stone,” the driver greeted us. “Mr. Micheletti sends his regrets that he couldn’t personally be here this morning. He is still on his trip to Monaco.”
“Monaco? Oh, that’s rich, and convenient.” I commented sarcastically.
“I love Monaco,” Billy chimed in as we sat in the back of the SUV. “The women, the gambling, what’s not to love?”
I rolled my eyes again at the typical male response.
Once our luggage was packed in the back of the SUV, we were off to our hotel.
“Sonny’s hotel?” I wasn’t shocked, I half figured we would end up there.
“Of course. We are doing a lot of filming there, we might as well stay there.”
The Micheletti casino and hotel was a massive compound on Vegas’s main strip. There were waterfalls and a beautiful walkable garden in the front with lush greenery and exotic plants.
Inside, the main lobby was grandly decorated similar to the hotels in Italy. Large ornate statues with waterfalls were scattered around the main entrance, lush greenery that matched the gardens outside and pristine marble floors.
“Wow.” I was impressed. “This is incredible. He did a great job.”
“Wait until you taste the food.”
“Good morning, Mr. Stone and Miss Stanfield.” We were greeted by the hotelier with a thick Italian accent. “We have your suites available.” He clapped his hands, and from some invisible place, three bell hops materialized and took our luggage carts to the ornate gold and marble elevators.
“Follow me, and I’ll take you up to your suites. My name is Aldo, and if there is anything you need, please let me know.”
We followed Aldo into a separate elevator from our luggage. We travelled up to the twenty-second floor that required a key card to open the elevator doors. Once inside the hallway, there were only two suites on opposite sides of the corridor.
“Mr. Stone, you are to the right, and Miss Stanfield, you are to the left.”
The doors to each room were open as our luggage was being delivered.
“You will find,” Aldo continued, “the suites’ have balconies that join on the north side of the building where there is a private pool for you to share.”
I went in my suite and looked around. There was a kitchen to the left, a living room with plush chairs, an oversized couch straight ahead, and a winding black staircase that I assumed led to the bedroom.
Beyond the living room, a wall of windows with large glass French doors overlooked the strip. I stepped out onto the stone balcony that resembled something found in Sicily. The chest high wall offered some privacy and there was a small breakfast table with two bistro chairs that I’m sure had been stolen from an outdoor café in Florence.
I followed the balcony around the side of the building where I met Billy coming from his side. We stood together admiring the crystal blue private pool that had lounge chairs and awnings complementing it.
“This is incredible,” I could barely breathe out.
“Bet you’re feeling guilty now, for always being mean to Sonny,” Billy joked.
“A little.” I answered, memorized by the surroundings. “But only a little.”
Billy laughed.
“Here are your keys. One is to gain access to the suite and the little black one is to open the elevator to the floor.” Aldo handed us each a set of keys. “Also, Mr. Suarez wanted me to let you know that he is waiting for you in the conference room on the fourth floor.”
“Already? The meeting wasn’t supposed to be until this afternoon.” Billy answered, sounding confused. “Thanks, Aldo.” Billy then turned to me. “We should to go.”
As much as I didn’t want to leave the serene landscape, we were there for work. We took the elevator down to the fourth floor where there was a long reception desk as we exited the elevator.
“Hi,” Billy said to the tall blonde woman behind the counter. “Billy Stone and Elizabeth Stanfield for the cast and crew meeting.”
“Yes, Mr. Stone, they’ve been waiting for you for a while now. Please follow me.”
She took us to a large conference room that had blocks of windows covered in white sheer curtains. There was a huge table in the center of the room that sat thirty people. Every seat was filled with cast and crew members except for two.
“Nice of you to finally join us,” Antonio chastised from the head of the table.
“The meeting wasn’t supposed to start until two o’clock,” Billy reprimanded. “As the producer, I set the time.”
“As the studio head, I changed it,” Elena answered from her perch beside Antonio.
“You neglected to tell us of the time change or we would have been here,” Billy sharply responded.
“So, it begins,” I whispered to Billy as we took the remaining two seats. I had figured there was going to be a power struggle the entire time we filmed this movie and it was starting already.
“As I was saying before being interrupted,” Antonio began. “This is a casual meeting where we all get to meet each other face to face before we begin actual filming later this week. It’s also a chance for us to read through the entire script and if anything is missing or doesn’t work then we have the writers here to take notes and make any appropriate changes. Any questions before we begin?”
No one had any questions, so we moved on to the table reading, which is where all the actors with speaking roles read their lines directly out of the script.
“Thank you everyone,” Antonio said when we finished hours later. “Enjoy a couple of days off in Las Vegas and we will see all of you on set on Thursday. Billy, can I speak with you for a moment?”
Billy went to the other side of the room to have a private conversation with Antonio and Elena while I spoke with fellow cast members.
One by one, each cast and crew member left and I was left alone in the hall by the elevators, waiting for Billy to finish his conversation. After a few minutes, Antonio and Elena left the conference room without Billy. I scooted behind a large statue on the opposite side of the hallway as soon as I saw them coming.
“Billy is such an asshole,” Antonio said as they stood waiting for the elevator. “I’m not sure I can handle this for three months, Elena.”
Clearly, they hadn’t seen me.
“You won’t have to wait that long, just keep making life unbearable for the little princess and she’ll quit.”
“I hope you’re right. It’s going to be a challenge making it tough for Elizabeth when Billy protects her all the time.”
“Don’t worry, just stick to the plan.” The elevator doors opened and they stepped inside.
Billy finally emerged from the conference room, hanging up his phone, as the elevator doors closed and the pair was gone.
“What took you so long?” I asked as I came out of my hiding place.
“I had to make a call, what were you doing behind there?”
I relayed the conversation I had overheard while we rode the elevator down to the lobby.
“That’s interesting,” was all he said as we exited the elevator and he led us to the hotel restaurant.
“That’s it? That’s all you have to say?”
“What do you want me to say? You told me we had to put up with them for the time being, so there’s nothing I can do.”
Damn, he threw my own words back at me.
“Didn’t you say that?” Billy teased as we were led to a table at the back of the restaurant near large windows with a view of the waterfall.
“Yeah, I did,” I whined. “But—”
“No buts.” He cut me off as he took a menu from the hostess.
“I wanted to have it taken care of already,” he hissed as soon as we were alone at the table. “But you said no, that it would be too obvious. Now we are stuck with the prince of darkness and his studio head for the time being.”
“Fine,” I conceded knowing full well he was right and that had been what I had said. “What did they want to talk to you about anyway?”
“Nothing much.” He opened his menu and began perusing. “Just complaining that the hotel they were booked into is thirty miles away.”
I burst out laughing.
“They aren’t staying here? I thought the whole cast and crew were staying here.”
“The cast and crew are. They are not.”
“Nice play, Mr. Stone. Nice play.”