Betrayal

Chapter 14

THE NIGHT THAT Tallie was packing for New York was a busy one at Victor and Brianna’s house too. The war between them had been raging for weeks, and Victor had finally accepted defeat. Brianna had never relented on the postnup or the money she wanted, and Victor’s not getting them invited to the Academy Awards nearly two months before, or any of the parties afterward, was the last straw for her.

“You know how badly I wanted to go!” she railed at him. “You promised!” She was half-whining and half-shouting. All she had done was accuse him of things for the past months.

“I didn’t promise, Brianna,” he said reasonably, looking unhappy. He looked even older than he had before. “I’m not a member of the Academy. I don’t get invited to the Oscars. I never told you I could pull that off.”

“You didn’t even get us invited to the after parties,” she accused him with a fearsome pout.

“I would have had to ask one of my clients, like Tallie Jones, and I didn’t want to impose. Besides, she has much bigger problems to deal with right now, than getting us invited to the after parties of the Academy Awards.” Vanity Fair always gave the best one, but he had no access there either.

“So do I.” Brianna looked surly as she threw her clothes into Vuitton suitcases she had spread out on the bed and floor. “I have a husband who doesn’t give a damn about me, who doesn’t want me to feel financially secure, and who broke every promise he ever made about helping me with my career.”

“I did everything I could,” he said unhappily, as she emptied racks of platform shoes into a suitcase, and the bed was piled high with her furs. This was more than just a statement to impress him. It was the end, as far as she was concerned. “Where are you going, Brianna?” he asked with a worried look.

“I reserved a suite at the Beverly Wilshire.” Her announcement filled him with terror for what it would cost him, and even more so for the location. It was across the street from all her favorite stores on Rodeo Drive, which was why she had reserved there. The expense for Victor didn’t bother her at all. She turned toward him with an angry look then and confirmed what he had known was coming at him ever since she brought up the postnup, and he no longer believed it had been suggested by her lawyer. The concept was typical of her.

“Victor, I’m getting a divorce. You’re not the man I thought you were.” He felt her words like a physical blow, but he was no longer surprised. He knew that there was no way he could keep her, and he hadn’t been able to afford her for many months, or even the past two years. What frightened him now was what kind of settlement she would want, and how much alimony she would demand. Even with a prenup, he knew that the divorce was going to cost him a fortune. Brianna had been a disaster in his life. He quietly left the room while she was packing, and went to sit in his study alone. All he could do now, he knew, was let her leave, and hope that he would survive the aftermath of the war.

Brianna packed all night, and when Victor woke up in the big leather chair in his office in the morning, she was gone. It was over. He felt a thousand years old, and numb. She had left no note, no message. Leaving financial chaos in her wake, and closetsful of empty hangers, Brianna had moved on.

The early flight from L.A. touched down at JFK in New York at three in the afternoon. With the time difference, Tallie lost most of the day getting there. And after she got her bags off the carousel, and took a cab into the city, she was at her New York apartment at five o’clock. Max had said she’d be back from class at six. And the apartment was dark and empty when she let herself in. It was a spacious, sunny apartment in a high-end modern building in the West Village with a doorman and security. Tallie liked the fact that she felt Max was protected there, and she had agreed to let her stay at the apartment instead of the dorms. It wasn’t showy, but it was a nice building, and the neighborhood was safer than most. And the apartment was bright and sunny, and simply decorated.

There was the usual student debris lying around, clothes in her bedroom, books spread out on the table, full ashtrays, some empty Coke cans, and a pizza box from the night before. Tallie tidied up while she waited for Max to come home. She threw the garbage away, made Max’s bed, and ran a bath for herself. She was wearing a cozy pink terrycloth bathrobe and lying on her bed when Max walked in, gave a squeal of delight when she saw Tallie, and took a flying leap at the bed and lay laughing next to her mother in tattered jeans, a red sweatshirt, and flip-flops. She looked no different than she did in L.A., or than Tallie did anywhere. They almost looked like clones.

“I missed you so much!” Max said as she clung to her mother. They had big plans for the week ahead. Dinner out, meeting Max’s new friends, all the places, shops, and restaurants Max had discovered since living there, and Tallie was dying to see at least one Broadway play.

“I missed you too,” Tallie said, holding her in her arms. She suddenly felt as though she had come home. Being with Max was like sinking into a big cozy feather bed. For the first time as she lay there, she realized just how brutal the past few months had been, and what a toll they had taken on her. Max could see it too. She thought her mother looked tired, although she didn’t say it to her.

“You’ve been working too hard, Mom,” her daughter scolded her. “I’m so glad you came!” And then a minute later, the question Tallie had been dreading. “How’s Hunt?”

“I guess he’s okay,” Tallie said, sounding vague.

“What do you mean you ‘guess’ he’s okay?” Max sat up on the bed and looked down at her mother. “What’s that supposed to mean? Is he away?” Tallie didn’t answer for a minute, searching for the right words.

“Kind of.” And then she took a breath and plunged in. “I didn’t want to tell you till I saw you,” but she had hoped this question wouldn’t come this soon in her stay, “Hunt moved out.”

“When?” Max looked shocked.

“About three months ago,” she said gently.

“And you didn’t tell me? How could you do that?” She was suddenly angry at her mother, for keeping a secret from her, especially something as major as this. She had lived with Hunt since she was fifteen, and he was the closest thing to a father she’d ever had, even if he had arrived late.

“It was complicated. It’s really been kind of a difficult time,” Tallie admitted, and there were tears in her eyes. She didn’t want Max to be angry at her too. The rest was bad enough.

“Complicated how?” Max wanted to decide for herself.

“Well, a lot of stuff has come up in the last few months that I didn’t know about. It made it impossible for me to go on living with him.”

“Like what? Stop being so mysterious about it. I’m not a child. I’m eighteen.” It sounded like childhood to Tallie, but she could still remember how grown-up she had felt at Max’s age. She’d had a baby two years later. But Max was nowhere near that, and had no intention of getting married and having a baby at twenty in whatever order.

“To be honest, I don’t know where to start. It’s a long story, but we had a new Japanese investor for our next movie, which I’m not doing with Hunt, by the way, since you want to know everything. The investor wanted an audit, so we did one, and our accountant discovered that I had quite a lot of missing money, as in close to a million dollars. Someone had been stealing about twenty-five thousand dollars in cash from me every month for several years. So that was the beginning. My accountant was worried. I couldn’t understand it. I asked Brigitte about it, she said she didn’t know anything, although she should have since she took care of all my bills. And finally, a couple of days later, she told me that Hunt had been stealing money from me, or having Brig get it for him, and swearing her to secrecy-” Max interrupted her before she could go on, and looked irate.

“Mom, that’s bullshit! And you know it. Hunt would never take any money from you, or anything else. He’s always giving me money. Hunt would never steal anything from you. Was Brigitte crazy or what?”

“Actually, that turned out to be the case. Brigitte is crazy, and Hunt wasn’t stealing money from me, but someone was, and I didn’t know who. Brigitte really did convince me it was Hunt, for a while.”

“That’s shitty of you,” Max said, looking annoyed, as she lay down next to her mother on the bed again, and listened to what had happened. It sounded like a long story, and totally insane to her.

“Anyway, aside from the money, Brigitte gave me more bad news.” She took a breath before she continued. “She said that Hunt was involved with another woman.” With that, Max rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“That’s bullshit too. Hunt would never do that to you, Mom. What’s wrong with Brigitte? Why is she saying all this stupid stuff about Hunt? Is she mad at him or something?” Max had always loved Brigitte, but the whole story sounded ridiculous to her, and mean to Hunt.

“Yes, she is mad at him. But it turns out she was right. He was seeing someone else, he had been for the last year. I didn’t believe her either, so I went to a private investigator, and she showed me pictures of them. To cut the story short, he was involved with this other woman, he’s in love with her, and they’re having a baby, so that’s not such great news,” Tallie said with a lump in her throat as Max sat up again and stared at her mother.

“You’re lying,” she said, wanting that to be true, but it wasn’t.

“No, I’m not, sweetheart. I’m sorry, I know you love him, and I do too, or I did… but he lied to me. He admitted it about the other woman, though. I asked if he’d stop seeing her and he wouldn’t. He loves her. So he moved out.” She made it sound matter-of-fact, but it was an ugly story, and that wasn’t lost on Max, who was crying by then, as her mother put her arms around her. It was a huge disappointment to them both. “I don’t know what happened to him. He just kind of went off the deep end, I guess. But it was very dishonest of him. And as much as it hurt, I’m glad Brig told me.”

“How did she know?” Max asked, cuddled up next to her mother like a child. She was badly hurt by what she’d just heard.

“Someone told her. Anyway, the story’s not over.” Not by a long shot. “When I went to the private investigator, she also told me that Hunt had had an affair with Brig for three years before that. He cut it off when he started seeing this other woman, so you’re right. She’s pissed at him. Meanwhile, if you add up his three years with her, and the year with this other woman, that means Hunt cheated on me for all four years we were together. Brig claims he forced her into it, he says she did, but you don’t force anyone to do something they don’t want to do for three years. They were having an affair behind my back. Hunt’s a very sweet guy, but he’s a cheater and he lied to me. And even if you love him, I couldn’t stay with him.”

“Of course not, Mom. I understand,” Max said, wiping her eyes and hugging her mother. “That’s so sad. How could he do such a terrible thing to you? And how could Brig? You’re always so good to them, and she’s been your friend forever.”

“Yeah, I know. I felt pretty bad for a while, a little better now. And there’s more. The money. Since they both lied to me, I didn’t know who to believe, so the private investigator sent me to the FBI. They investigated the whole thing. Brig has been embezzling from me, maybe for a few years, maybe longer. It turns out that nothing she ever told me about her history is true, she’s a liar, and a thief. She’s been ripping me off.” Max looked totally shocked.

“Oh my God! Mom! How awful!”

“Yes, it is,” Tallie said quietly.

“Is she going to give it back?” To Max, it was all so simple. If she took it, she should give it back. Tallie wished she would, but Jim Kingston said that wasn’t likely to happen, or not in full anyway, probably only a fraction of what she lost, if that.

“I don’t know yet,” Tallie said with a sigh. Telling the story to Max, even in a simplified version, made her realize again how truly awful it was. “They’re going to arrest her next week. There will be a trial in about a year, and I’m going to sue her to try and get some money back, or her house or something. And she’ll probably go to prison.” Max was shocked into silence. The man who had been her hero and father figure had cheated on her mother for the whole four years and lied to them both, and the woman who was like an aunt to her was an embezzler, a cheat, a liar, and was going to prison.

“Did you fire her?” Max asked in a hushed voice.

“My lawyer is doing it this week.” Tallie made it all sound so straightforward, but it wasn’t that easy. “And you know all those gifts she always claims she gets, all the jewelry and furs and Prada bags and stuff? It turns out she was buying them with my money. So that, my love, is what’s been happening at home. Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the performance?” She tried to put a note of levity into it, but Max looked as shaken as Tallie had been herself, for months.

“Shit, Mom. How did you get through all that? It must have been so awful for you, with Hunt and Brig and everything.” She looked appropriately and profoundly shocked, about all of it.

“It was pretty bad,” Tallie admitted. She wondered herself now how she’d gotten through it. And it wasn’t over yet.

“Why didn’t you tell me? It must have been terrible for you to go through all that alone.” Max looked sympathetic and hugged her closer.

“It was too much to tell you on the phone. I wanted to wait till I saw you. So there it is. Not a pretty story.”

“Will Brig really go to prison?” Max couldn’t imagine it, and neither could Tallie. It seemed unthinkable, but Brigitte had done it to herself. More important, how could she have stolen money from Tallie day after day, and year after year, and look her in the eye, not to mention sleeping with Hunt?

“The FBI says she will.”

“I’ll bet Brig is really shocked when she gets arrested. Does she know she’s in trouble?”

“Not yet. I think it’s all going to happen pretty quickly in the next couple of weeks.” But nothing had gone quickly so far. Everything had seemed to move in slow motion to Tallie. And it would be a long time before she got any money back, if she did.

“Do you still talk to Hunt?” Max asked her quietly. She was very sad about him and she could see that her mother was too.

“Not really. I try not to talk to him. Our lawyers communicate about business issues. That’s all. There’s nothing left to say.”

“Can I talk to him?”

“If you want to.” Tallie didn’t want to just cut her off from him. If nothing else, she needed some kind of closure, or maybe she needed to keep contact with him. If so, Tallie wasn’t going to stop her. She was eighteen, and had a right to do what she wanted about him, as long as she didn’t bring him to the house. He was a weak man who had taken the easiest course of action, and the most painful for her. “It’s up to you. If you see him, don’t bring him home.”

“I wouldn’t do that to you, Mom,” she said solemnly.

“I just want to tell him what I think of what he did to you. It’s disgusting. He’s a huge liar. And Brig too. What they did is as bad as the money.” There were times when Tallie thought so too. The money was dishonest but impersonal. But what they had done together was a knife in her heart. She couldn’t bear thinking of either of them anymore. It was the definition of betrayal.

“I think so too. Anyway, it’s wonderful to be here, and I’m happy to be with you. I’m sorry to start it off with an awful, sordid story.”

“I don’t know what to say to you, Mom. It’s so terrible. Do you think you’ll ever date anyone again?” Max couldn’t imagine her trying again, or trusting anyone after this, neither woman nor man, since she had been exploited by both, and sorely abused.

“Not at the moment,” Tallie said firmly. “That’s the last thing on my mind, and the last thing I’d want to do.”

“Does Grampa know?”

“Yes. As always, he gave me good advice.”

“How is he?”

“So-so, kind of weak right now. But he gets that way sometimes, and then he perks up. I hope he will.”

“I’ll be home in a few weeks, and I can keep him company. I’m coming home before summer school.” Unlike most of her peers, who wanted to drag their college education out for five or six years now, Max wanted to finish in less than four, and go straight to law school, if they’d let her. She had signed up for summer school that summer, and Tallie was proud of her and so was her grandfather, with good reason. She was an outstanding and dedicated student, and always had been. “When do you finish the picture, Mom?”

“A few weeks after I go back. Then I’ve got post-production, and then I’m done. We can go somewhere when you come home after summer session. I’m taking some time off after this movie. I need it.” And since she wouldn’t be working with Hunt on the next one, she wanted some time to find a new project that appealed to her. She loved the movies that Hunt produced, but there were plenty of other good ones out there. She was determined to find one of them.

They lay cuddling on the bed for a while then, while Max tried to absorb all that her mother had told her. It was so enormous that it was hard to get her mind around it. It was huge!

“What a dick Hunt is,” Max said sadly. She had lost all respect for him after hearing the story. “And Brig is a total crook.”

“You’re right on both counts. No morals, no principles, no honesty, no integrity. They’re rotten people.”

“Are you glad she’s going to prison?” Max was curious.

“Yes, I am. It’s not very forgiving of me, but I think she should pay for what she did, and pay me back as much as she can.”

“Will she?”

“I don’t know. Supposedly you lose money on these deals and you don’t get much back.”

“Let’s hope it will be different for you. I’ll say a prayer for you, Mom.” When she said it, Tallie nearly cried. She had all the correct instincts about right and wrong.

“What do you want to do for dinner tonight?” Tallie asked her. Max wanted to go to a small neighborhood restaurant with her mother. It sounded good to Tallie too. After all her hard work and misery in L.A., she wanted to get out, and she loved being with her daughter.

Tallie loved Max’s favorite restaurant too. They had burgers and French fries, and they walked home afterward in the balmy spring air. New York was beautiful that time of year, and when they went back to the apartment, Max got in her mother’s bed, and they watched TV and relaxed. Max’s head was still spinning with all the news.