The small clacking my sandals make seem to echo in the vast empty space. It looks much bigger without anybody around.
The office is in the back, past the VIP room. The basic dark door has nothing on it except a small plastic sign that reads MANAGEMENT in all caps.
TJ knocks. “Paige Johnson is here.”
“Send her in.”
TJ opens it and stands aside to let me go in. The door closes behind me, then locks automatically with a loud metallic click.
The office is surprisingly small and plain. It doesn’t have any windows. The desk is neat with a large monitor, keyboard and mouse on it, all wired together. The wall to my right has five large filing cabinets, each one of them locked with a vertical rod through the drawer handles.
Anthony sits behind his desk in a cheap office chair with his blazer hanging off the back. The top two buttons of his white shirt are undone, and he’s rolled up his sleeves. The big watch on his wrist has several round displays, probably telling him what time it is elsewhere in the world where he has clubs and other business holdings.
He stands at the sight of me. “Hello, Paige.”
“Anthony.” I nod once.
“What a pleasure.”
“I wish I could say the same.” I give him a cold stare. “You made me think you were still friendly with Ryder so you could get invited to the party.”
“Don’t be angry with me. It isn’t my fault you assumed.” He gives me a thin smile. “I was always curious about what kind of woman Ryder would marry.”
“Well, you’ve wasted your curiosity on nothing of importance.” Anthony has no idea about the circumstances of our marriage. Not that I plan to tell him.
“I doubt that. You are nothing like I imagined.” He gestures at one of two plastic chairs. “Do sit down.”
“I just want to hear about Lauren and how she was involved with you and Ryder.”
“It’s a rather long story…”
Since I seem to have no choice, I sit, clutching my purse in front of me like a shield. “Well?”
He takes his seat behind the desk. “Her name was Lauren Tater. She was my fiancée for all intents and purposes.”
My mouth dries as a sinking sensation pulls at me.
“She had big dreams of being a star in Hollywood. I was a nobody back then. Well, I had the family name, but it didn’t mean much without money.”
“Your father didn’t give you any? Not even a little bit?”
“My father’s rather old fashioned about things like inheritances. I’m the second son. Virtually everything is going to my older brother, all because I had the misfortune of being born two years later.” His mouth widens into a smile that reminds me of a straight-razor. “Not that I’m bitter, of course.”
I wait as he takes his time. If he were smoking a cigar, he’d be letting out thoughtful puffs just about now.
“Ryder was a rising star back then. Every movie he made was a bigger hit, and people were starting to notice. Lauren thought he could take her along for the ride. All he had to do was have her costar in one of his movies. Then she’d be discovered.”
“That’s not a bad assumption, but he doesn’t do stuff like that for anybody.”
Anthony laughs. “He doesn’t now. But back then… Well, he was far less protective of himself, and besides, he did promise to help her. Told her she could be famous, a star in the firmament…somebody who mattered, somebody that people paid attention to.”
The revelation surprises me. A lot of aspiring actresses have slept with Ryder for that chance. Or at least they did it because they thought publicity from the affair would help them get the attention they so desperately wanted.
“The pressure and anxiety to be exactly that got to her, because becoming a star was taking longer than she liked. Eventually she started to experiment with drugs. Then, while she was down in Mexico on a shoot, there was a fire. And she died.”
I gasp. That ending for Lauren never crossed my mind.
“It’s his fault,” Anthony says, his voice without any inflection, as though he’s reciting facts from an encyclopedia. “If Ryder hadn’t dragged her into his crazy world, feeding her impossible dreams, she would’ve never left me or gotten herself killed in that apartment. You know the place was owned by another drug user who ‘shared’ with her for sex and money?” His voice remains the same, but his hands clench his armrests, his eyes burning with repressed anger and a sense of betrayal. “Ryder was supposed to be my best friend. Well, now I know how much that’s worth.”
“It’s not his fault,” I say. “If Lauren had really been deserving of your love, she would’ve never left you, no matter what. She would’ve stayed true to you, stayed with you even if you didn’t get a penny of your family’s fortune. And if she was as strong as you said, she would’ve never used drugs, no matter how much the pressure and anxiety got to her. She would’ve worked toward her dream.”