Publicity! :
‘Death Becomes Her’
By Edwin Betancourt
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher/author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
The stories in this book are works of fiction. Any references to historical events, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places and scandals are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events, scandals, places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2017 by Edwin Betancourt
Created in the United States of America
First Printing, 2017
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[email protected] “Most of the successful people in Hollywood are failures as human beings.”
Marlon Brando
“Here at Publicity! My goal is to make sure every client no matter where you fall in Hollywood: A-List, B-List, C-List or D, have long lasting careers without suffering the bumps and roads of scandals that plague every turn in Hollywood. My name is Laurel Quinn and I am the CEO and President of Publicity! I founded this company after my mother, the late Oscar Award Winning Actress Elizabeth Quinn, suffered a scandal because of a jealous costar and committed suicide. Ever since that day, I have vowed to protect the reputation of these celebrities and turn their scandals around. With the help of my staff, no scandal is too big for me to handle! So give me a call and let Publicity!, fix your life!”
- Laurel Quinn
A Warm Welcome!
December 27th, 2017: 6:40 am @ The Office of Publicity!:
The elevator doors opened on the third floor of 3236 Amethyst Road. Laurel Quinn stepped out and began walking down the corridor which was covered with red and green Christmas decorations. She ignored the lonely pink and silver decorated Christmas tree that stood a few feet away from the main door of Publicity!.
The heels of her lavender stiletto pumps made noise with every step she took on the black and white marble tiled floor. Her shoulder length Auburn hair was placed in a neat bun on top of her head. She had on a black cotton trench coat that reached her knees-any longer and she would’ve felt like that flasher with the one eye who hangs out at the local park- a black designer bag was slung over her right shoulder and she kept her focus on the office door she was now approaching.
The day after Christmas was meant for resting or spending time with family. One thing about Laurel, she never rests and truthfully the sight of her father once a year was good enough for her.
Laurel stopped walking as she saw the lights to the waiting area turn on, a sight that made her confused as well as frustrated that anyone would bother breaking into the office-without letting her get her first sip of coffee. But it also made her excited to try out the new Taser she brought online last week!
Before she could dig inside of her purse to retrieve the Taser, her assistant Tony Vincetti walked over to the office door holding a cup of coffee in his right hand. He signaled for the Crisis Manger to enter and she lowered her eyebrows pulling open the door.
“I was two seconds away from frying your balls!” She stated. “What the hell are you doing here anyway? I thought you and Jace were headed to Toronto to spend Christmas and New Year’s together?”
Tony gave her a simple nod and he opened his mouth to speak but Laurel interjected with a gasp. “Please tell me you two did not split up! The last thing I need is to find another Private Investigator whom I can trust!”
Her assistant waited to see if she was finished talking and he answered her questions. “We did not break up.” This prompted Laurel to sigh in relief thanking Heaven that both men were in good terms with one another. “His father got sick so I drove him down to New York City. I would’ve stayed but meeting his parents this early on would be weird, yeah? Plus it doesn’t help he lives in the Big Apple which is the same city where Vincent Capella-I apologize- I meant your father rules the streets.”
“Ugh!” Laurel rolled her hazel eyes. She grabbed the hot coffee cup from Tony’s hand and made her way to her personal office as the main door closed behind her. “Are you still on that subject?”
“Still? When in bloody hell did we ever get off the subject? You’re acting as if this isn’t a big deal!” Tony followed her into the office and he was pretty much still angry that she never told him the truth about her father. He didn’t expect her to be honest about everything but he thought with the friendship they had together, the information she was withholding would’ve been something he would’ve liked to hear come from her mouth.
“Trust me Tony, this isn’t a big deal at least not for me. He’s my father so what? It’s not like he’s Santa Claus!”
Tony let out a chuckle, “Santa Claus would’ve been more believable if you ask me, yeah?”
Laurel took a quick sip of the black bitter coffee and she placed it down on her desk. She started to unbutton the trench coat while admiring Tony’s new apparel.
She wasn’t surprised to see him wearing a black long t-shirt with the name ‘TheForbiddenOnes’ on it, after all that was his favorite UK Rock band –although she never understood why, since she never considered their genre as actually being real music- but it did surprise her that he would wear the shirt she just got him for Christmas.
When she purchased the shirt she got a size large, as Tony was slim he enjoyed clothes that gave him room to breathe. The shirt was a bit big on him, but it wasn’t like he was complaining about it being bigger than he normally wears his clothes; he was too busy complaining about something else to worry about the shirt.
She took off her trench coat and placed it on the back of her black and red leather office chair.
“Tony, what is it that you want me to say? Do you want me to apologize for not introducing my father to you?”
The thirty year old Englishman rubbed his forehead, “It isn’t about that Quinn. You could’ve told me. I-I honestly feel like you’re hiding something else from me. Like maybe you’re married to Brad Aniston, or you’re a witch who feasts on the souls of bloody children!”
Laurel smirked as Tony rambled on about the other possible-yet outrageous- secrets she could be hiding from him. She sat down on her office chair and waited for him to catch his breath so she could finally have her input.
“Stop being so dramatic. First off, if we’re going to talk about secrets, you never once told me about you and Jace. I had to find that out by seeing you two making out on the staircase like Megan Lohan making out with her brother in rehab. Secondly, this so called secret you’re complaining about isn’t that much of a big deal. He’s my father and whether you choose to believe it or not, the relationship he and I have consists of us meeting once a year.”
“Yes. That’s because he’s a bloody killer!”
Laurel couldn’t help but snicker at the comment Tony made about her father.
Vincent Capella had a lot of blood on his hands even with the FBI, CIA, and DEA on his coattail-and on his payroll- but he was never an immediate threat. He was a modern day Robin Hood. He would set up meetings with Drug Lords, kill each and every one of them, steal their merchandise, sell it to various people on the street and use that money to give back to communities. He wasn’t any eviler than: [Insert Politician’s Name Here].
“Tony I appreciate your concern, I do. But to the outside world he is just Vincent Capella. I
n my heart I know who he is and thanks to his friends any documentations that prove he and I are related have been wiped clean and are gone. That is solely because we have covered our tracks. My mother raised me and brought me to Los Angeles for her to live her dream until I moved to San New. Hell, not even those bloggers knew she was married to him. Hate me if you have to or write a sad British ballad, but you need to know; secrets are a Quinn’s best friend.”
Tony understood the logic and he didn’t blame both parties from distancing themselves. Yet something still had him puzzled, “But why does he come here once a year wouldn’t that kind of put you both in danger? He could just mail you your Christmas present.”
Laurel could see that Tony was becoming more interested in her personal life and as much as she hated it, she couldn’t blame him for caring. They have a friendship that not many people can understand or even comprehend for the most part. It was easy to hide her father’s visits because Tony always went away for the holidays, but this year Vincent surprised her by coming unannounced after he found out Laurel hired one of his henchmen, to murder her ex-husband.
The question had an answer that Laurel had never discussed with Tony before and it was a topic that although she didn’t want to discuss it, her actions against her ex-husband and the man he hired to assassinate her- but instead killed her son- might seem out of the blue to Tony.
“Fine.” She stated causing Tony to sit down on the leather chair facing Laurel’s desk. “But I never want to discuss this with you again.”
Tony nodded his head and placed his hands on his lap reminding Laurel of an innocent child about to be told a very magical story by a loved one.
“Okay, so three years ago on February 16th I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy named Elijah. He was healthy, so happy and bubbly...basically everything I’m not. On what would’ve been his first Christmas Eve…he was killed. It turns out my ex-husband hired a hit man to kill me. Unfortunately the idiot’s aim was off that he fired his gun and a stray bullet killed Elijah instead.”
The mood in the office changed and Tony was at a loss of words. He didn’t have a smart reply or even a sense of sarcasm to add into the mix. Instead he looked down at his hands unable to come up with anything to say. It made him feel dumb and immoral that he would push the subject of Laurel lying when he finally knew why she was doing it this whole time.
“Quinn I’m s-“
“No!” She quickly interjected. “I do not want your sympathy or your pity apologies. I want you to realize that there are things I won’t tell you and you need to respect that. Got it?”
Tony gave his boss a nod. He secretly admired the fact she had suffered a very personal tragedy by losing her son and yet she never once shown any distractions in her professional life. She kept every appointment, every client and even kept her sanity through all of this. It was admiration sure, but he feared that she was a ticking time bomb and it wouldn’t be long until she exploded. Question was, when exactly will that happen?
The sound of a high pitch Ding caused Laurel to roll her eyes and Tony straightened his posture. The sound was Tony’s idea. He installed a motion sensor device somewhere in the waiting area. The alarm was programmed to signal when someone who wasn’t him or Laurel was in the office. When that happens the alarm would ring out similar to the bells various store owners have over their doors, to let the store owner know when a customer has arrived in their establishment.
Laurel got up from her desk and walked out of her office –with her assistant right behind her- and came to a halt when they spotted thirty eight year old Jared Morgan in the waiting room; he was scared, nervous and looked as if he had just seen a ghost.
Jared Morgan was the star of the smash television Hospital Drama ‘Dying Tomorrow’. The show was a huge success last year and it sent Jared into complete stardom. He was on the top of everyone’s list for being a talented actor as well as the most handsome bachelor. Laurel didn’t find him attractive, then again she was never into men who had longer hair than her.
“Can I help you?” She asked slowly stepping toward him.
Jared nodded his head frantically. “I-I sure hope you can. I came back from a long day on set and f-found this.” He handed her a folded up piece of paper.
Laurel noticed his hand was shaking and she wondered what exactly the letter could contain. It had to be something horrible if it made the middle aged man more nervous than a Republican riding the subway.
Tony watched as she took the piece of paper from his hand and unfolded it. She began reading the letter to herself and it made Tony question what was in it. He cleared his throat signaling to Laurel that he wanted to hear what the contents inside were. She apologized and read the letter aloud:
“I kno all about wat u did 2 her and I’m going 2 tell every1 on December 30th. While ur busy hosting the Image Awards I’m gunna destroy urs!