Hollywood Calendar: Against the Clock

Some people have a plan with writing; New Book Weekly is my plan. The Hollywood Calendar trilogy is, by far, one of the most elusive books that I have (and probably ever will) write. Sophia Russo had plans, dreams, and expectations in life and this is something I think we can all relate to. But life doesn’t take our plans into consideration; and, it doesn’t take hers into consideration, either.

The second installment is where Sophia really started to grow as a character. To become a decisive person who was still flawed. To be somebody who wanted something, but knew the consequences that came along with those wants. This was a testament to her character, and it continues throughout this trilogy.

Prologue

Mason Winkler stood just behind a tree, watching a short distance from the funeral ceremony silently. His expression was impassive even though he wasn’t an unfeeling person. He was devastated at what he, and his late sister, had brought to Sophia Russo’s doorstep. Their moves… their ‘genius’ plans, had caused her to lose her parents in a manner eerily similar to the way he had lost his sister.

A lot had happened, and he was desperate.

That desperation had nearly gotten Sophia killed right alongside his sister.

Mason clenched his fists hard enough to draw blood, but he ignored the pain. He deserved it; didn’t he? For everything that he and his sister had done. It had led them all here, to this sad day.

The priest’s words were soft, and from this distance, Mason couldn’t make out precisely what he was saying. Mason’s gaze drifted to Sophia, who sat tall and held her brother. He was crying into her chest. Her lips were moving, and he imagined she was whispering sweet nothings in an effort to console his pain.

It was a nice thought, and he wondered how true it was. Perhaps it was only so he could believe that they weren’t breaking on the inside. That their pain could be healed. That their plan to steal the Hollywood Calendar hadn’t blown up in their faces and resulted in all of this… pain and misery and death.

It was a nice thought.

Well aren’t you a sight for sore eyes, he heard a woman whisper behind him. Mason stiffened immediately. Jocelyn stood dangerously close, and he felt his mind start to panic, his blood began to freeze when it wasn’t busy draining from the surface of his skin. And here I was, thinking it would be harder to find you. She chuckled a dark, fear-inducing chuckle. Silly me. Your sister was the one who thought through this whole thing, right?

You don’t know anything about my sister, Mason said, his voice harsh and low. He hated her for lying to them and betraying them. He turned, his blood streaked fist coming up hot and fast, but he never got the chance to throw that punch. The svelte brunette wasn’t alone, and the handsome, athletically built man looked at Mason with true impassivity through a pair of cold blue eyes. His jet black hair melted seamlessly into the all-black attire he wore, but the gun he held was shimmering in the faint sunlight.

We’re going to be seeing you soon, Mason, the man, whom Mason had never learned the name of, spoke with such aloofness that it sent chills down Mason’s spine. He looked at Mason’s hand and smirked, adding, And I have a feeling our next meeting is going to be even bloodier than this one.

Bastard, Mason said through clenched teeth, though he couldn’t bring himself actually to do anything to either of them. No matter how badly he wanted to kill these people, he couldn’t. The best he could do was stand there and stare them down.

He had to live long enough to expose them. That was the only way he could avenge Karen’s death and make everything right again.

It was the only way that Mason could live with himself.

Until then, Mason, Jocelyn chuckled dryly. Then she and the gun-toting man turned and climbed into a waiting car with an older, more mature looking male, who Mason hadn’t even noticed.

The Doctor… Mason whispered as he watched the car drive off along the winding pathways of the cemetery. He felt as if they were watching him until long after they were out of sight. He was afraid.

Deathly afraid.

But he couldn’t just ignore this. He looked over his shoulder and saw Sophia and Jordan stand up, their few friends standing around them. Alice looked ashen when she walked up to squeeze Sophia’s hand, and for a fleeting moment, Mason was worried she would say something. However, she looked away for a brief moment and then continued to put a flower on the coffin and rejoin Hank just off to the side.

It seemed that there were quite a few people who were there in an effort just to be near Sophia Russo, and in all of this time, Mason realized she’d grown up. She wasn’t the girl he had known for most of his life. She was a young woman who was confident and strong and who was being put through hell because of him… again.

Mason wondered, silently of course, if he should have even gone to her apartment. But he knew that he had to. He’d needed to see her, to explain, and yet when he’d had the chance to do just that, he hadn’t taken it. He’d told her not to trust anybody, and it was the truth.

Trust had put them into the precarious positions they were in now, and trust would do nothing but end their lives prematurely. It was a dark, painful truth, but if she knew ahead of time to be cautious and aware of those people she let in… perhaps she might survive this.

Perhaps they might all survive this horrible nightmare.

Mason backed away when he saw Sophia start to turn his way. He didn’t quite vanish, and he had a feeling that she had caught a glimpse of him in the process of his less-than-casual departure. But he couldn’t talk to her again. Not until he had put this investigation to bed.

She didn’t know what was going on, and already she’d lost her parents and in her mind, she’d lost Karen, too. If she actively knew what was going on, then he knew she would want to be involved, and that had been the last thing that Karen had wanted.

He was going to follow his sister’s last wishes.

He just hoped that Sophia wouldn’t pursue this as they had.

Chapter One

It was cool out on the terrace of her tenth-floor luxury apartment, and Sophia Russo didn’t mind it in the least. Nine months… since she had been ‘discovered’ at her best friend’s funeral. Seven months since her parents had died… murdered by a freak who had been obsessed with her. Six months since production had officially wrapped on A Lover’s Sting. Three months since she had cried herself to sleep every night, or every other night for that matter, now. At this point, that was just her life, which seemed to have been more than enough to keep the people from focusing on the most drastic change that had happened last year.

She could hear the television in the living room from here; Jordan was no doubt watching it with Jefferson and Amanda close at hand. The former was his bodyguard, at Cassandra’s suggestion and acquisition, the latter his good friend from high school, though Sophia suspected that they were more than friends. Even as she tried to distract herself, like the people of America were, she couldn’t.

A stark reminder that even if you reach the Presidency, as Calvin Richardson did in order to honor his older brother… the woman was saying, who died in a tragic helicopter accident almost six years ago…

She was too aware that the President had been forced to resign his position after suffering a stroke in December. A panic had flowed through the country, of course, as this was a rare occurrence. Presidents these days just simply didn’t resign or die before their terms were out, let alone only partially into their second year of office.

However, President Richardson had done just that, and now his Vice President – the President – Henry Thomas wore the proverbial crown of power and in his first hundred or so days, people had grown used to him. Most people barely even mentioned the former President, not when Farrah De’Mier’s latest crush was splashed across the front page, or Elisabeth Goldman and her cringe-worthy performance on stage; even Noah Michaels’ life had graced the silver screen in the ensuing months since production had stopped, and the President had resigned.

Above everything and everyone, there was a glittering star who had shot to sudden stardom and dominated the airwaves without even trying. And even though she had grown used to the spotlight, she still found it peculiar that people were more concerned with what she had for breakfast, how she kept so thin, and what products she used for her hair than a national crisis happening all across the country.

People were, of course, allowed to be peculiar. It was just so damned odd in her opinion, and it only highlighted, to her, that she hadn’t been like this before becoming a part of it. She had paid attention to what was going on in the world. It was how she knew that, after his stroke, President Thomas had brokered a deal with leadership in Spain and the riots had stopped, or at least, slowed down in intensity, the death rates dropping drastically.

Almost as drastically as the Dow had climbed this morning.

… The President has reached out to France, urging state officials to reconsider their aid package to-!

Soph…? Jordan called out from the living room. She slowly peeled herself off of her chair and sauntered into the room. Sophia gave Jordan and Amanda a half smile while she lingered in the doorway. I was gonna drive Amanda home, is that okay?

"You can ride with Amanda home, she said with a soft sigh. He frowned, slightly, though it was more for the restriction on his own driving habits. She still had the odd shiver about how their parents and Karen had died. Jordan wasn’t going to follow in their footsteps. Luke doesn’t mind, and it’ll give you more time to focus on a conversation and not on the road."

I don’t mind, Amanda said with a warm smile and then stood up with slow, refined grace. She gazed down at Jordan, and Sophia wondered if he realized just how easy it would be for a young woman like her to wrap him around her fingers. Amanda Danvers was a beautiful teenage girl who knew what she wanted and how she could get it; Sophia was only grateful that she had shown interest in Jordan last year, before Sophia’s positively meteoric rise. She’s right, you know.

Don’t encourage her, he snickered, and Sophia shot him a mocking glare and a stuck-out tongue that he returned in kind. I’ll be home whenever, then.

Homework, she said sternly, echoing their mother like she had tried so hard to do when putting down her foot about something. He looked at her, and for a moment there was more than just a whisper of that pain they both shared. He nodded slowly and smiled mirthlessly, and then he and Amanda walked out with Jefferson trailing behind them.

She looked up towards the balcony where Xander sat, per usual, and then towards the dining room table where Cole sat. Both of them were here constantly, living in the two guest bedrooms while Jordan took the third. Only Jefferson was a part-time bodyguard, if only because of the former two’s constant presence. Jefferson was needed for when Jordan was out in the world. Where she, and her team, couldn’t protect him.

She smiled, wryly, as she walked over to the couch and settled into it. Jefferson had settled in nicely, and the extra two hundred thousand added to her contract had made hiring him a simple process. She’d also been able to extend Greg and Willow’s contracts as well as hire Paul and Cassandra for the next six months to cover the duration of her filming schedule.

Or rather, Paul and Cassandra had handled the details of it all, and she had signed off. As simple as that had been, filming had been even simpler. Sure it was an action film, and the SFX department would handle the majority of the work in post-production, but she’d taken to doing most of her own stunts. On top of filming, a rigorous physical exercise program had been added to her schedule.

Her phone vibrated in her pocket, and she pulled it out with a knowing smile; it warmed while she read Valeria’s text, Can’t wait for the premier!

"Looking forward to it!" she sent back before setting her phone down on the couch and turning onto her side so she could curl up into a ball. President Thomas looked quite handsome on the television, with a commanding presence that was benefited by cool, blue eyes and a strong jawline. The six feet of height didn’t hurt, either, nor the light brunette hair that was cut smartly about his head. A narrow nose sat in the middle of his face, and for a moment she felt as if he were looking down at her through it.

It was a silly thought, but that didn’t stop her from thinking it as she watched his full lips move with clear, professional precision. Men like him were born to wield power and…

Sophia started where she lay, surprise coloring her face when she saw him as the camera moved just a little bit. She recognized that stately face and jet black hair, though this time she could see his eyes clearly. They were green as if emeralds set in a white stone face. He wasn’t handsome, but he wasn’t ugly either. He had average good looks and a calm, imposing demeanor. She knew exactly who he was - the man in the suit who had spoken with Cassandra and Paul while she’d given her interview with Melissa Chow last July. What was he doing in the White House Press Briefing Room standing mere feet away from the President?

That wasn’t the only question that this realization had brought to her mind. Why had he been talking to Paul and Cassandra that day of her first interview? That was the first, and to her, the most important question in need of an answer. However, did she even really want an answer?

Paul and Cassandra were the two people she had put her trust in over these past few months. Doubting them just seemed… wrong. Especially because they hadn’t actually done anything to make her distrust them. Whatever she asked of them they did; whatever they needed of her she did. And in nine months’ time, that was a lot for Sophia.

Distrusting them wasn’t simply difficult or something that she wanted to avoid because it would be inconvenient to her and her career. Distrusting them meant she would lose two people whom she had come to look up to, to rely on. And with her parents both dead…

There was more to it than just simple distrust.

Sophia turned the television off. She could look into it without losing her trust in them. After all, it was quite possible that there was a reasonable explanation for it all, and that she was just overanalyzing the situation and its meaning. It was always possible. She just couldn’t bring herself to admit that the most likely answer was the worst of them all.

Mason’s words echoed in her mind… ‘Don’t trust anybody’… Within minutes of him bringing those haunting words to her, she had sent her bodyguards away and found herself at the end of a barrel of a gun for the second time. She had, understandably, considered his warning to have been nothing more than a red herring in order to put that man within safe range of her.

Mason hadn’t been in California since then, and with her life tied to a production schedule, she couldn’t very well take off at a moment’s notice and fly to New York. At least, that was where his mother had so kindly mentioned he’d planned on going to next on his list of vacation spots.

That very simple problem, however, also had a very simple solution. A Lover’s Sting would be premiering in New York City on Manhattan Island, and she knew where he lived. She doubted it would be difficult to get him to talk to her. If he had really meant his warning then he would, hopefully, be willing to explain its meaning. This was the only time she could guarantee their schedules matched, but if he was the true threat…

She looked at Xander and Cole, a shiver creeping down her spine again. She hated doubting them, too. It was their sole job to protect her, and this doubt made their job difficult because it meant she couldn’t take them with her. Not until she knew who was on what side… and what the sides were in the first place.

Sophia felt as if she were twisting in the wind of some cruel, unknown game, and all of the players had their own motives and agendas. There were too many to count and not enough information on any of them, and with all of the unknowns running about, Sophia felt even more outnumbered than she hoped she was.

Sophia turned off the television and set the remote on the low table. Then she looked over towards Cole with a wry smile, hiding her fears with practiced ease. I’m off to bed, you two, so get some sleep yourself.

They both acknowledged the request with their own wry expressions, but they still waited for her to actually climb the stairs and disappear into her bedroom before going anywhere. She could trust Jefferson to get Jordan back in one piece as much as she could trust Xander and Cole to watch her with hawk-like precision.

Sophia didn’t blame them for Kevin’s ability to break into her apartment and shoot at her three times, drag her across a glass-covered terrace, and try to toss her off of it like a ragdoll. She’d sent them away, after all. However, they did blame themselves, and it was a horrid consequence of her doubts.

It was why she needed to be sure. Had her doubts been justified? Or had she allowed fear and paranoia to rule over her ability to make rational decisions?

Sophia feared the answers to those questions like the plague, but the answers were as necessary as any of the others. Despite her willingness to admit it, they might be more so than most of her other questions.

Sophia closed her door with a flick of her hand and then crossed her room. The blinds were drawn tightly to obscure even a hint of where she stood in the room at any given time. She brushed the side of her body, the small scar from a shard of glass that had cut her in the scuffle a reminder of what had happened to Kevin.

At times, she could even feel the blood that had splattered against her face, the only clue to her that someone had shot him from across the street at the time. She had stared up in shock and watched him crumple over the balcony, dead long before he had even begun to fall… before he had crushed the car ten stories below them.

She shuddered before chiding herself for letting her mind wander to such an unpleasant place for so long. She plodded across the room and sat on the edge of her bed. She couldn’t help letting her mind wander there, though.

Laying back, she spread her arms out to either side and let her eyes flutter closed… after a short while, she began to drift off to sleep.

A soft knock at the door woke her up, and she jutted forward with a scream, quickly catching herself when the door opened, and Jefferson looked around for a threat before he realized he had been the one who had scared her.

I’m sorry, Sophia; I didn’t…!

No, it's fine, she said with a quick shake of her head, her arms wrapped around herself trying to keep herself from shaking. I just wasn’t expecting it. That’s all… she looked up, feeling sorry for his guilt. It wasn’t his fault; it couldn’t be his fault. She was the one who still felt afraid when she let her guard down… when she wasn’t prepared for it. Is Jordan all right?

Yes, he’s just getting settled in for bed, Jefferson said with a small frown as he shook his hand slightly. She slid her phone out and ground her teeth at the time. I’m sorry; I tried to urge him back to the car sooner but…

Jordan needs to learn to respect your authority, Sophia sighed and lumbered forward for a moment, a decision made that was quickly dashed when a wave of sleep washed over her. And I’ll impart the message to him tomorrow.

Of course, and… I truly am sorry, Jefferson said with a mirthless smile. Jefferson was in his mid-thirties and had a full head of light brown hair, a full, broad torso, long muscular arms, and similarly long legs. He was about Jordan’s height, but his age was clear when you looked at his face, especially when he smiled or frowned. Jordan saw him more as a friend than an authority figure, despite over twenty years between the two of them. It was partly why she had chosen Jefferson to watch Jordan. It wasn’t his fault that Jordan saw him as a friend.

It was hers.

As long as he’s in on the whole piece for me to chastise later, it's fine, Sophia said with a sly smile. Now, go on and get some rest. School isn’t until eight, and I don’t want to hear from Catherine that I’m overworking you.

She’d never be so blunt with you, Jefferson said wryly as he slowly pulled back out onto the balcony.

A woman is protective of her man, Jefferson, she pointed out when she gave him a goodbye wave.

You’ve got me there, Miss, he chuckled before moving to shut the door. I’ll get Xander to lock the door behind me.

Thanks, she said before her door was completely closed. Sophia sighed before moving to get out of her clothes and get in bed.

She tapped the lampshade, turning it off, and then drifted back to sleep.

Chapter Two

"It’s not just that you took advantage of