Chart Toppers (Star Maker Book 3) (46 page)

Her
eyes widened in horror. “What do you mean?”

He
laughed for a moment and then became serious.
 
His eyes were wild and menacing.
 
He yelled.
 
“Write me the fucking check, Kit.
 
Now!”

She
held up her hands for a moment.
 
“Darren, why don’t you settle down?
 
Let’s talk about this a minute.
 
If I write you a check, they won’t take it.
 
The amount is too large.
 
They’ll put a hold on it for at least a
week if not longer.”

He
picked up the receiver of the phone and shoved it toward her.
 
He yelled again.
 
“Then call your fucking bank and tell
them it’s legit.
 
Or better yet, do
a wire transfer.”

She refused
to take the receiver, and he shoved it at her again as Giselle was coming
through the door.
 
Kit heard her
voice as she approached.
 
“Oh my
gosh, you’re never going to believe who I ran into.”

Before she
could warn her, Giselle walked into the office and gasped.
 
Darren turned the gun on her.
 
“Stupid move coming back so soon,
assistant girl.
 
I have a score to
settle with your boss.
 
You need to
leave now!”

Kit
struggled to dial 9-1-1 quickly and left the phone off of the receiver
purposely.
 
She could faintly hear
the dispatcher say “9-1-1, what’s your emergency?”
 
She yelled at the top of her lungs.
 
“Darren, take that gun off of her!
 
She has nothing to do with this.
 
If you have a score to settle, settle it
with me.
 
Let her go!”

He
turned to look at Kit, keeping his gun trained on Giselle.
 
“I don’t know.
 
She’s kind of cute.
 
I may have to play with her a bit while
you call the bank and transfer that money.”
 
He laughed demonically.

Giselle
and Kit exchanged a quick look.
 
Kit
yelled.
 
“Darren, look at me.
 
Give me your gun, and you can have your
money.”
 

He
turned to face her and aimed his gun at her again.
 
“Do you really think I’m that stupid?”
 
He glanced at the receiver off the hook
and slammed it down, unknowingly disconnecting the 9-1-1 call.

Kit
held up her hands and noticed Giselle had quietly slinked out of the
office.
 
She knew she had to play
into it.
 
She tried to use the
calmest voice she possibly could.
 
“No, no, I don’t think your stupid.
 
How about we start all over, ok?
 
I know a lot of people now. I’m an executive at Diamond Records, and I
develop artists.
 
I could get you a
deal today.
 
We could make you a
superstar.
 
After all, I owe you,
right?”

He
stared at her, carefully evaluating what she said.
 
“I dunno.”
 
His eyes narrowed, rapidly turning into
an evil glare.
 
“I mean last time
you screwed me.
 
You got all the
credit for the good stuff, and I got credit for all the bad stuff.
 
You fucked me over, Kit.
 
Why should I trust you now, huh?

“Y’know,
if you’d been cooperative and done things
my
way, I wouldn’t have to take it this far, but as usual, you’re difficult.
That’s why I beat the shit out your ass and put you in the hospital in Philly.
 
You deserved it, bitch!
 
Should have finished the job then and
taken you out permanently, but fucking Joe Arden had to step in and save your
sorry ass.
 
I’m gonna finish what I
started this time around.
 
We’ll go
out with a bang… together this time.”

She
shook her head and felt her calm demeanor start to crack.
 
She pleaded with him as tears welled up
in her eyes.
 
“Darren, don’t do
this, please.
 
Darren, don’t.”
 

He
snickered.
 
“Your time is up, baby,
and so is mine.
 
It’s over.
 
And, by the way, don’t go dreaming of
meeting your beloved Kirby on the other side.
 
That asshole never died.
 
K.G. ain’t dead, baby.”

The
color drained from Kit’s face.
 
All
of her strange intuitions about Kirby’s suspicious death swirled through her
mind.
 
She swallowed hard.
 
“What? What do you mean?
 
Darren, I will give you the money and a
recording contract, but please tell me what you meant by that.”

He
shook his head and smiled.
 
“No
point.
 
It’s over, Kit.
 
Goodbye.”

He
pulled the trigger and the gun aimed at her chest fired loudly.
 
She flew back from the force of the
bullet and fell to the ground, screaming out in pain and seizing her
chest.
 
She trembled and looked
down, noticing the blood gushing through her fingers.
 
She heard the gun cock again and
squeezed her eyes shut, knowing he was about to blow his brains out when she
heard a booming voice yell.

“Freeze.
 
L.A.P.D.
 
Drop your weapon.”

She was
breathing hard as she struggled to get up, watching uniformed officers
handcuffing him and two rushing toward her.
 
She started to feel faint and yelled out
to the officer that was leading Darren away.
 
“Wait, please!”

He
turned to face her.
 
“Ma’am?”

She
pointed at Darren with her other hand, struggling to breathe and manage the
intense pain that coursed through her body now.
 
They turned him around to face her, and
she met his strung out, bloodshot eyes.
 
“Tell me what you meant... about Kirby.”

He
laughed maniacally.
 
“I knew
it!
 
You never did get over that
stupid fuck, did you?
 
Ugh, I
hated
that guy.
 
Such a fucking do-gooder.”

She
swallowed hard, feeling herself starting to slip into unconsciousness.
 
“Darren, please…”

He
chuckled.
 
“Ok, I’ll humor you,
because with that much blood loss, they’re never going to be able to save you,
and you’re going to die anyway. I definitely hit an artery or maybe even your
heart.
 
That was what I was aiming
for in the first place, but I haven’t been to target practice lately, so my bad
if I didn’t hit my initial target.
 
That being said, I’ll grant your dying
wish ‘cuz I can see you’re slipping away as I speak.”

He
grinned and snickered.
 
“How do you
think his dad and that big drug lord got convicted, huh?
 
That star witness… The kingpin and
mastermind of the whole trial whose identity was concealed.
 
Mmm-hmm.
 
Who do you think
that
was?
 
The feds can
be pretty sneaky rubbing out an identity, Kit.
 
Believe me, I know.
 

“Oh,
and about that trial, you may want to talk to your papa about that too.”
 
He laughed again.
 
“K.G. didn’t love you, Kit.
 
If he did, he wouldn’t have started a
whole new life… without you.”
 
His
eyes narrowed, and the cop lost his patience.
 
He tugged at him, leading him away as
Kit slipped into unconsciousness.
 

Giselle
rushed over while the paramedics swooped in to attend to Kit.
 
Her head bobbed frantically.
 
“She’s pregnant.
 
Will she be ok?”

One of
the paramedics gave her a concerned look.
 
“She’s bleeding out pretty rapidly.
 
Call her family.
 
We’ll do
our very best for her.”

As they
were loading Kit into the ambulance, she roused and attempted to sit up.
 
The paramedics held her down, and she
called out for Giselle.
 
One of the
paramedics leaned out of the back and relayed the call, prompting Giselle to
come running.
 
She hopped into the
back of the ambulance and took Kit’s hand.
 
“What is it, Kit?”

Her
green eyes were a disturbing mix of anguish and terror as she struggled to
relay her thoughts. “G, Darren made threats about taking Sully
out—probably with an accomplice.
 
You have to call Sean.
 
I think
there’s going to be an attempt on his life.”
 
She faded back into unconsciousness, and
the paramedic looked at Giselle.
 
“We have to go now.
 
Are you
coming with us?”

She
shook her head and jumped out.
 
“No.
 
I’ll catch up at the
hospital later.
 
Go.”
 
She darted into the office and shared
her discovery with the police who encouraged her to make a call while they
evaluated the crime scene.
 

Her
voice was harried and frantic.
 
“Sean,
is the band in the hotel or at the arena?
 
Where did they go after soundcheck?”

“Early
check today, G.
 
They’re in the
hotel, why?
 
Are you looking for
Bryan?
 
What’s wrong?
 
You don’t sound like you.”

“Sean,
listen to me.
 
Cancel the show, tell
Danny to do whatever he has to do to make sure Sully is protected and get him on
a private charter to L.A. immediately.
 
I can’t explain right now, but there is someone out there that may try
to hurt him tonight or worse.”

“What
do you mean worse?
 
G, that’s a very
serious threat.
 
You know we can’t
just cancel a show without Kit’s ok to do it.
 
We haven’t heard anything here.
 
Did you receive that threat directly?”

She
struggled to regain her breath.
 
“This
is coming from Kit.
 
Put bodyguards
on Sully. Pull all access unless you, Danny or Jay know them personally, even
press.”

“Shit, Giselle.
 
This sounds serious.
 
Talk to me.
 
What’s going on?”

“I
can’t talk right now.
 
I’ll call you
later.
 
Make sure you have your
mobile with you and that Danny has his too.”

“Giselle,
I can’t just cancel the show.
 
I can
put bodyguards on Sully for sure, and we can hype up security, but without
Kit’s authorization…”

She
raised her voice and held back tears.
 
“Sean, Kit just got shot.
 
She’s on her way to the hospital in an ambulance.
 
Before they took her away, she told me
there was a credible threat to Sully’s life.
 
Please cancel the show and protect him.”

There
was a long pause on the line.
 
“Done.
 
Whatever else you
need, Giselle, let me know.
 
I’ll
get Sully out to L.A.
 
Keep us
posted, ok?
 
Is it really serious?”

Giselle
started sobbing.
 
“I dunno.
 
She was shot in the chest, and she’s
losing lots of blood.
 
Get Sully
here safely, please.
 
And if you or
Danny would escort him personally, that would be ideal.”

“We’ll
take care of it, Giselle.
 
Hang in
there.
 
Call us with updates.”

Danny
pounded on the door to Sully’s hotel suite.
 
He opened it seconds later.
 
“Dude, would you relax?
 
I can barely take a piss without you
pounding my door down.”

Danny’s
look of warning and stern tone of voice got his attention.
 
“Pat, we gotta go, now.
 
C’mon.”

He
frowned.
 
“Jesus.
 
What the fuck is wrong with you?
 
Go where?
 
It’s too early to head over for the show.”
Danny pushed past him and threw open the closet door.
 
He seized Sully’s suitcase and started
packing up his belongings.
 
Sully
frowned.
 
“What the fuck are you
doing?”