Facade (19 page)

As she sang, the audience seemed to disappear, everything vanished, and she was standing on the stage alone with Erik in her mind’s eye. Her performance didn’t rely on any theatrics or gimmicks. For her final act on this stage, she could only count on talent, hers and Erik’s combined. She turned, singing the words of longing and loss to the one man who owned her heart and as the verses echoed through the theatre, the heaviest sensation weighed down on her. “Shadow Light” was a song of goodbye.

The music ended, and her last note hung in the air to a deathly silent audience.

Then the applause began. The clapping practically vibrated the building and the crowd stood.

She earned her first standing ovation. Erik needed to be here beside her. This was his moment as well.

The emcee and Chimera’s Dungeon joined her on stage. Way off in the distance, she heard the judges critiquing them, but she didn’t pay attention, she knew she was off the charts, but she also couldn’t shake the feeling she just sang a farewell to the one man she loved. Her family. The pressure built behind her eyes, but she couldn’t, wouldn’t cry.

“Judges, have you made your final decision?” The emcee went to the edge of the stage.

The judges nodded.

Michelle, the record producer, got up and handed the emcee an envelope.

Red envelope in hand, the emcee stood between her and her competitor. A drum roll overtook the theatre, and he pulled a card out. “Christine Day you are our star!”

The pyrotechnics that had not been used since that fateful night rained down gold and silver sparkles and people cheered.

“Your life is about to change, Christine Day!” The emcee hugged her and the judges joined her on the stage, offering their congratulations.

She waved to the audience, smiled and nodded, and in a fury she was swooped into the back stage. The few tears that fell were acceptable, no one would question the true meaning behind them.

Her focus solely on getting to Erik, she blindly listened to more congratulations and barely noticed when her thick exit packet was thrust into her hand.

With the fanfare dying down, her heart pounding and her stomach in double and triple knots, she snuck away to the trap door.

Where last week she simply flung herself into Erik’s arms, she knew this time she couldn’t take a leap of faith. “Erik?” She crouched down.

“Christine.” Nash’s voice met her ears.

She shut her eyes, but the tears fell anyway. Rather than jumping into her lover’s awaiting arms, she sat and lowered herself through the little escape hatch.

“Erik wanted me to give you this.” Nash shook his head and held out a large envelope. “He wanted me to make sure you knew he will always take care of you.”

Could he not handle her winning? Did he not love her? He promised he would never leave her, but somehow it made perfect sense he wasn’t here. She felt it all night, from his cryptic words, to allowing her to sing their goodbye. “As Erik said earlier, I’m set, I don’t need any help, and I always make sure I earn everything I have.” She swiped the documents away and walked through the exit. No matter her financial state, without Erik she was homeless once again. A roof meant nothing. She didn’t need another exit packet, especially after he promised he would never leave her.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Christine sang his song to him. In an audience full of people and with the world watching, her performance tonight was for him. For the rest of his life, he would cherish the gift she gave him.

In turn, he would give her freedom.

Christine would be set for life. Free to do everything she ever wanted to without the encumbrance of a deformed ex-musician tying her to a promise because he couldn’t bear to be without her. He knew he couldn’t keep her.

Up in the flies at his theatre, he took off his mask, let it fall to the stage floor, and wiped the tears out of his eyes. For hours, he sat there, reliving every moment with her, replaying her song over and over in his mind. Her song was perfection. Back in the day, he couldn’t have performed it better.

He sent her away and though they were parted for only a short time, it might as well have been an eternity. This was going to be how he spent the rest of his life, and he couldn’t bring her into his madness.

With only one option at his disposal, he did the only thing he could and returned to the work he had focused on before the most amazing woman in the world entered his solitary life. He would have to remember the experience as one bright spot, and he would forever take care of her any way he knew how.

Off in the distance, the back door opening and closing banged through the theatre.

He told Nash not to come here, told him to take Christine to the hotel. No one could be here now or ever again, and he went to jump down, but stopped when he saw her.

Oh, she was an angel, a gorgeous angel dressed in her white leather outfit, his jacket still draped over her shoulders.

He tightened his hold on the railings, he couldn’t stop her, he could only watch.

She made her way to the center of the stage and picked up his mask. Holding it to her chest, she stared out into the theatre, and began to sing.

Where “Shadow Light” was a song of goodbye, here in his theatre, she chose a different Spectre song, “Light Play,” a song of hope.

Though they never practiced this song, she was amazing. Her voice took over the theatre, and gave it a life it would never have without her.

There would only ever be Christine for him. When her song ended, he went to jump down, tell her to leave and save her fate. If he looked at her any longer, he would never be able to let her go.

“Erik!” As if sensing his next movement she held her hand up, stopping him. “I followed the darkness, and it led me here, especially since you left the door unlocked.”

He remained at the ready to act, but needed to hear her out.

“I love you. I loved you when you were a ghost, I loved you when you were a mystery, and I love you now that you’re a man.” As if to prove her point, she held up his mask.

“Christine.” He whispered her name and reached out to her.

“One time you told me life was nothing but a big façade. Your mask is a façade. Stardom is a façade. The fact we live on a stage is a façade.” She slipped his ring off her finger and placed it down on the stage. “Though I know you would always keep your promise and never leave me, I don’t want you watching me from afar. I want you to be real, and if you love me, be with me.”

His heart filled. She came back of her own free will and unable to resist her, he jumped down, landing mere inches away from her.

Rather than gasp or be startled, she looked at him.

“Christine.” He motioned to his face.

Tears sparkling in her eyes, she smiled. “That’s the real you, the one I love, the one who promised he would never leave me. The one who gave me a home.”

“Life is nothing but a façade if you are not with the one you love.” She was his, always would be, her returning proved that to him. He picked up the ring and placed it back on her finger.

“Forever.” She wrapped her arms around him.

He picked her up into his embrace, he would never let her go again. “Forever.”

Epilogue

Stage of Stars
–
The Following Season

The standing ovation.

Erik Renevant and his wife Christine, stood off stage watching the standing ovation. The clapping continued until it took on a chant like rhythm. Everyone there was waiting for one thing, the final song, the one that came after the standing ovation. The encore.

“You’re on.” The Production Assistant to the famed reality show,
Stage of Stars
, prodded them to go on.

Erik held his hand up. One had to wait for precisely the right moment to give in. “Now.” Christine’s hand in his, he led her out to the stage and they both took their microphones.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the moment you’ve been waiting for.” The emcee motioned toward them. “Erik Renevant, former lead singer of Spectre, and his wife Christine, last year’s winner, singing their new hit, ‘Behind the Façade.’”

The music started and right on cue, he and his wife began to sing. Their new song spoke of new beginnings and happy endings, and seeing beyond, everything that his wife taught him. He was now back in the light, with his love, with his career, with more than he had before. The world accepted him with the mask.

They had practiced the tune many times before, but here up on the stage that led to their happily ever after, the music took on a magic all its own. They sounded as if they spent a lifetime singing together, and they would spend the rest of their lives in harmony.

The music ended and they took their bow, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her. Then, as the crowd applauded, they made their way off stage. They both looked at each other and snuck to the back of the theatre, and disappeared through the trap door together.

Dear Reader,

Thank you for reading!

I hope you enjoyed this look in to the world of Hollywood Stardust. If you would be so kind as to remember to rate and review the book, it would be more than appreciated.

If you would like to keep on top of the latest news and releases by signing up for my newsletter here,
www.kimcarmichaelnovels.com
you will also receive a free short story right in your inbox!

Kim Carmichael

Acknowledgements

My Husband – Who loves me unconditionally.

My Sons and My Fur Babies – Who share my time with my passion.

Tamara Eaton – With this novel you gave back to me something I had lost and I had loved and I thank you for that. Also as always thank you for making my words shine.

Julia Claire – Thank you for being there, helping me and beta reading it. You always support me no matter what.

Theresa Neely-Martin – You polish my words and make them all sparkly. Thank you!

Emily Smith-Kidman – Thank you for always being the calm in my storm and designing a beautiful cover.

JR – You make my writing possible.

Alexis, Michelle, Lisa – You guys ground me thank you.

Tracy Hyland – You are always there for me thank you!! Purse buddies forever.

My street team – Thank you in advance for all the work you will put into this book!

Scott Evans – You told me I could so I did.

Gaston Leroux – You are the originator, the inspiration.

Erik – I have loved you since I saw one of your many incarnations on the stage. Each and every version of your character brings out something different. You have touched me in ways that will be with my whole life. Thank you for sharing this part of you with me.

Sneak Peeks!

Here are some sneak peaks into a couple other Kim Carmichael books:

Typecast
–

A Hollywood Stardust Novel

Available now from
Amazon

What’s Your Fantasy?

Twenty years ago, the movie
Hollywood Stardust
defined a generation of teens and changed the four actors’ lives forever.

Typecast as the villain both in front and behind the silver screen, Logan Alexander has purposely allowed his star to fade. Now with the 20th Anniversary of the movie on the horizon, he is the only one fit to step into the spotlight, deal with the unwanted publicity, and make sure that things meant to be left on the cutting room floor remain there.

Ivy Vermont has always longed to be a leading lady, yet her paralyzing stage fright has relegated her to stay behind the scenes as a fact checker for Chargge.com’s entertainment webcasts. However, when her one-time poster-boy crush walks in to the studio demanding only she be in charge of his story, she knows she must take advantage of her big break.

Now, Logan tightropes between old loyalties and new love, while Ivy struggles to stay in reality with her ultimate fantasy.

An Excerpt

“There is absolutely no way I am going out there and interviewing some B-list has-been bad boy.” Julia Davis, the lead entertainment reporter for Chargge.com crossed her arms. “Your little fact finder screwed up again. Seriously, Craig, how can I be expected to work this way?”

Heat encompassed Ivy Vermont, but she met Julia’s crossed arms with a set of her own and glanced between Craig Stockton, her boss, and Julia. “Technically, Logan Alexander is not a B-lister. He doesn’t even act anymore.”

“Your ridiculous details mean nothing.” Julia’s nostrils flared.

“Ivy, what happened to getting Ryder Scott or Erin Holland from
Hollywood Stardust
?” Shaking his head, Craig approached. “It’s a little hard to do a story on the twentieth anniversary of the movie without one of the stars. You told me everything was set.”

With facts, rather than stature on her side, Ivy stood up straighter and lifted her chin. “Logan Alexander was as much a star in the movie as the other two of them, well three.”

“Last week, rather than getting that little boy in the hot dog commercial with the catchy line, you brought me the dog.” Julia stared her down. “How can I interview a dog?”