Lara and the City of Angels (15 page)

“Tell me about it. I asked this Korean in some liquor store in the hood for a pack of Camel Crush and he pretended like he didn’t have a clue what I was talking about. I got so angry, I jumped over the counter, grabbed the pack and left a ten dollar bill on the counter.”

“You better watch it with those Koreans. You know you don’t want to mess with them—he could have easily blown your head off.”

“Oh come off it. Sean. We got bigger bullies than the Koreans back in Boston. Try walking through the wrong part of Charlestown as a woman and being harassed by a group of drunk ass Dominicans. I honestly don’t know what group is worse, them or the Jamaicans.”

“Oh come on, what about all those horny Irish guys sniffin’ after you like a bitch in heat.”

Gianna raised a curious eyebrow. “I just tell ‘em who my dad is and once they figure out I’m old man Sonny ‘The Gem’ Regan’s daughter, they run like the scared little boys they are.”

Sean leaned closer to her and their faces were barely inches apart from one another. “Do you remember what your dad did and do you think you can do it here now?”

“What? You mean fudge your numbers? I started doin’ shit like that when I was seven, Sean. Believe me you will never pay Uncle Sam as much as you owe him as long as I am part of Buchanan Enterprises.”

He kissed her hand and fixed her with a long crystal blue-eyed glare. “That’s what I am counting on.”

Chapter Fifteen

L
ara enjoyed wintertime; in fact it was one of her favorite times of the year. It didn’t hurt she spent it between her parents’ house in Connecticut, the brand new apartment she and Kristian had recently purchased together in Paris and time in Los Angeles.

The trip to Paris had been a bust as far as her sister’s relationship was concerned but it had cemented what she and Kristian had. Shortly after Thanksgiving, she had gotten her IUD removed and they decided to hopefully become unwed parents soon enough to a child.

Her parents weren’t terribly shocked while Kristian’s parents were completely blasé about the whole issue. They were both adults and if neither of them wanted to get married then it was their business and no one else’s.

Lara and Kristian created a “Brad Pitt-Angelina Jolie” controversy because they’d bought each other promise rings for Christmas they wore on their left ring fingers. Hers was a gorgeous platinum band with a white princess cut diamond surrounded by small pink diamonds while Kristian’s was a plain platinum band. He was much more excited about the Rolex Watch she’d bought him for Christmas instead of his promise ring. He in turn had bought her an exquisite Cartier diamond and ruby gift set which consisted of a necklace, bracelet and tear drop earrings.

The media had christened them the “Bling-Bling Couple” because of their love affair with jewelry but neither Lara nor Kristian wore much of anything other than their promise rings when they were out and about. The more expensive pieces they had given to each other were definitely for special occasions only.

Lara packed her suitcase as she and Kristian were about to leave for Paris the following evening to spend the rest of the winter there. Auriel ran around Kristian’s modest home in Santa Monica as they both packed. She wanted to take her daughter with them but Sean had insisted she stay in L.A. since she attended one of the top private non-denominational grade schools in Los Angeles County and Sorcha had her on a tight schedule.

Kristian kissed the back of her neck and she turned toward him before she smiled with bright green eyes. “Are you all right? I know you aren’t nervous about seeing Sean again, are you?”

“Are you kidding me? We won’t see him anyway as we are dropping Auriel off at Sorcha’s home in Sherman Oaks. He avoids the Valley if he can.”

He looked down at his watch. “What time are we due to drop the little one off?”

“We better leave now. Ms. Buchanan would rather us be early rather than late.”

They left shortly afterwards in Kristian’s late-model, silver Porsche Cayenne. Auriel sat in the back and looked out the window as she played a game on the ridiculously expensive iPad Sean had insisted was more than appropriate for their seven year old daughter. Her birthday had been in early December and it had been his gift to her as he had conveniently been in Tokyo promoting his latest piece of blockbuster crap.

“Mom?”

“Yes, sweetie?” Lara inquired as that one word from her daughter jarred her out of her contemplation.

“Do you think Daddy’s girlfriend will be at Aunt Sorcha’s?”

Lara stared at Kristian who looked back at her equally puzzled. The traffic on the 405 was a nightmare as usual and even though they were heading towards the San Fernando Valley at three in the afternoon, it was still bumper-to-bumper.

“What girlfriend would that be?” Lara questioned and tried her best to keep her voice light-hearted.

“She’s nice and really pretty but she isn’t as pretty as you are, Mommy. Daddy says she’s from the neighborhood, like him.”

“Good Lord, he’s dating some skank from Charlestown,” Lara murmured under her breath loud enough only for Kristian to hear who snickered at her remark.

“Her name is Gianna and she’s twenty-five. She told me she would be twenty-six in April so Daddy is gonna have a big party for her.”

“Are you sure she isn’t just your father’s friend?” Kristian wondered.

“I don’t think so…” Auriel trailed off as she spotted something interesting her game before she continued. “I saw her and Daddy in bed together and she didn’t have any clothes on.”

“Well I’ll just have to talk to your father now won’t I?”

“Mom, be gentle with him. Losing you was really hard on him and he still tells me how much he misses you.”

Lara couldn’t wait until they arrived at Sorcha’s house. She marched out despite the insistence from Kristian to remain calm, cool and collective. She felt none of these emotions as she rang her ex sister-in-law’s doorbell. Sorcha answered the door and smiled rather mildly though it was obvious she had no wish to see her.

“Lara, I thought you were just dropping Auriel off. Were you expecting to be invited in?”

Auriel ran past her mother, hugged her aunt and walked inside as Lara quietly stewed. “Tell your brother to be a bit more careful when he parades his
whores
around our daughter. She shouldn’t be subjected to naked women.”

“The only naked woman your daughter saw was I,” a young woman with a feminine voice laced with a thick Boston accent said from behind Sorcha.

Lara couldn’t believe it. The young woman in question was Gianna Regan—how the hell hadn’t she put those clues together?—and as far from a skank as Sean could get.

The sudden pain of seeing this woman only made the situation worse for her. Her stomach felt queasy and her heart thundered in her chest so painfully, she had to steady her breathing.

Was it enough this was the young woman Sean had been accused of having statutory rape with when he was twenty-five and she was merely fifteen? Hadn’t it been her father who had expunged the incident from his record so the press would never be able to get a hold of it? And wasn’t this the same woman Sean had cheated on her with during her pregnancy with Auriel?

The man had absolutely no fucking tact and now here she was again.

“Before you flip out and decide to ‘pull a Mike Tyson’, Gianna works for Buchanan Enterprises under me. She is well within her rights to sleep with your ex-husband and really, it isn’t any of your business to begin with so I think you can be on your way now,” Sorcha explained with cool blue eyes before she folded her arms underneath her breasts in a defensive position.

“It was you,” Lara began as she tried to catch her breath but due to all the emotions bubbling to the surface, she found it hard to breathe. “You were working against us the whole time. You never liked me and you slowly pulled Sean and I apart during our marriage. Tell me, when he wouldn’t fuck me for four years, were you sneaking Ms. Hotpants around for him to get off with? I was only good enough to suck his dick but he was fucking everything else that moved—men and women included!”

Sorcha grabbed her arm roughly and pushed her toward the side of her home. “Listen to me, I would shut the hell up if I were you because you don’t have a fucking clue what you are talking about. Sean wanted out a long time ago and I was the one who convinced him to stay. You’re nothing but a spoiled rich bitch who thinks she can get anything she wants. He was never supposed to marry you and his life would have been so much better if you’d never entered the picture. You’re out of it now so get the hell off my property.”

Lara, physically and psychologically shaken, just stared at her former sister-in-law before Kristian strode over and slipped an arm around her. “Let my spouse go before I call the cops and charge you with assault.”

“Assault? Sorcha barely touched her!” Gianna interrupted in a cold voice. “She’s the one who accused me of being a whore and breaking up her marriage when everyone back home knew you never had a marriage with Sean. Face it, lady, it was a sham! He married you ‘cause you had money and he benefited greatly from your family’s connections. Take your wimpy Euro boyfriend and you two best be on your way now!”

Kristian stepped closer to both Sorcha and Gianna who stood next to her. “Lara is six weeks pregnant. If she or our baby is harmed in any way due to what you two have put her through today then I will make sure both the Stenfeldt and MacIntyre families come down so hard on you, you’ll wish you never left that shithole, Charlestown, or Boston for the matter.
Both
of you. Fuck with the bull and believe me, ladies, you will get the horns.”

Sorcha reluctantly stepped back into her house with Gianna following close behind. Lara allowed Kristian to walk her back to his vehicle. She wanted to forget this whole day but unfortunately, she didn’t think that would be happening any time soon.

***

A
s soon as Lara and Kristian arrived back in Santa Monica, he sat her down on the sofa while he prepared a simple dinner of stir-fried vegetables and salmon. She enjoyed a four ounce glass of Merlot as her doctor had warned her a small bit of red wine wouldn’t harm the baby and her mother had followed up the doctor’s advice by telling her to double it.

“We French women can handle just a bit. Don’t over do anything and you’ll be fine. Don’t gain too much weight, don’t eat too much and get some exercise here and there. Your baby will be healthy as a horse.”

She smiled as she thought about her mother’s advice as it made her feel that much better about what had happened earlier that day between Sorcha, Gianna and herself.

Kristian entered the living room with dinner and she smiled at him as he’d also brought her a bottle of Evian water and a sixteen ounce Baccarat glass to pour the beverage into. Her smiled widened and she kissed him as he sat down next to her.

“The food smells heavenly, as do you. You’re so good to me. What would I have done if we’d never met?”

He slid a hand through her silky stresses and leaned toward her. “Don’t you ever think like that, baby. Everything happens for a reason and although your marriage to Sean was hell, I am going to make up for it. I will pamper you and love you and we will surround our children with love and warmth. They’ll have a normal life…well, as normal as possible with two parents in show biz and billionaire grandparents.”

Lara laughed and began to eat as he regaled her with stories from his childhood she never tired of listening to. He always knew exactly how to calm her down when she was on edge and tense; it was one of his most endearing qualities.

After dinner, there was John Coltrane on the Bose stereo and more talk before he reached over and kissed her but this time there was passion and longing in his caress and embrace. When their tongues brushed against one another, it didn’t take long before Lara found herself in his lap with her sweaterdress up around her waist and her thong forgotten on the blond hardwood floor.