It was the day of the 'Life Stories' preview party. Staff at 'The Palms' were making last minute preparations. Anthony had the PR interview pieces, speeches and his evening DJ set prepared. He had also arranged for a band to be present for some live music. By lunchtime, before the guests started to arrive the band found themselves tuning up and sound-checking their equipment. From a distance, Leanne found herself admiring the lead guitarist. His hair was slicked back, he wore tight leather trousers and a red-checked country-rock shirt. 'I must get to know that guy during the party' she thought to herself.
As the clock ticked past 2:30pm the girls started to get ready for the event pulling out dresses from the walk-in wardrobes. Security was heightened as David MacIntrye himself would be present.
At 2:45pm David arrived in his black limousine. He dressed in a formal tuxedo and wore a neat bow-tie. Aaron accompanied him into the villa and they made their way to the study. Before the party he needed to speak urgently to one of the girls.
Leanne, had four different dresses on her bed. She was freshly showered and wrapped in only a towel and trying to decide which dress would best fit the occasion as well as impressing the guitarist whom she had decided would be her target man of the day. There was a knock at her door so she left her bedroom and made her way across the lounge area to answer.
"Oh, Aaron, Juliette, I'm not ready yet." she said.
"Just pull on some clothes, David is in the study and wants to meet you." replied Aaron.
Juliette raised an eyebrow, "Seriously? You clearly know nothing about woman." She responded to him. "Would you like some help choosing something?" she had turned to Leanne.
Leanne smiled, "Yes please, thanks Juliette."
Juliette and Leanne made their way to the bedroom. As they got to the door Juliette turned back to Aaron, "You better wait here, us girls need some lady time!" She closed the door.
Aaron made himself comfortable on the sofa, "Women!" he muttered under his breath.
After about twenty minutes Leanne emerged from her bedroom with Juliette. She had dressed in loose fit cream trousers and a blouse. This wasn't the outfit she would be wearing for the preview event but something stylish enough to show a good impression meeting David.
"You do look great. Nice choice." said Aaron, "Ready?"
Leanne acknowledged the compliment with a smile, "Thank you, I'm ready, a bit nervous but lets go."
Aaron and Juliette flanked Leanne on the walk through the house to the study. Aaron opened the door to let firstly Juliette, and then Leanne through. Aaron followed them closing the door behind him.
"Ah, the beautiful Juliette," David began, "...and you must be Leanne. I'm so happy to finally see you."
Leanne smiled, she felt an immediate bond with David MacIntrye and began to relax.
"Aaron, Juliette would you mind leaving us?" David asked, "Do you mind us speaking alone Leanne?"
Leanne smiled, "No, that's fine. I'm really glad to finally meet you."
Aaron and Juliette left and finally Leanne and David were alone.
"Please?" David offered a seat to break the silence. "Drink?"
"No, I'm fine" replied Leanne sitting as David poured himself a stiff drink over some ice. "I hope you don't mind - I need one! It's not everyday you get to meet your daughter."
Leanne smiled, 'I'm actually here meeting my father' she thought to herself.
"I guess I should explain why I have only just contacted you, it's not that I haven't wanted to, it is just that I promised your mother I wouldn't until you were at least 18 years old. Unfortunately I lost contact with her, probably when you were about 5 or 6. At that time I was not in the position of wealth I am now. Fortunately as my fortune grew I decided that I would try and trace you... for the last five years finding you was my priority, and here you are." David explained nervously.
Tears formed in Leanne's eyes she got up and rushed over to David and hugged him. "Daddy!" She cried softly in his arms.
David MacIntrye opened up to his daughter and explained how he married young and had a son, Paul. He never really loved his first wife and while studying in the UK he fell in love with Leanne's mother. After he finished his studies he returned to the United States and his loveless marriage so he could be a father to his son. Only a few weeks after he got back he received a call telling him about the pregnancy. His first wife was suffering an emotional breakdown and he could not leave her and take her son away to return to the UK. Leanne's mother understood and told him it was probably for the best he stay in the US but she didn't want her child to be distracted by the emotional turmoil that would cause but that he should make contact when the child was an adult and would understand the decision they had made. When Leanne was born he was only informed that he had a daughter but was not given a name then after several years he had lost contact and his daughter was lost in the world.
David leaned over, taking a neatly folded handkerchief from his top pocket, and wiped away Leanne's tears. "I do hope that this is a new beginning for both of us - it has been such a coincidence the way I had found you and the way you had found me. I hope you wasn't too shocked when I asked Aaron and Juliette to talk to you the other day."
"Does Paul know I'm his sister?" Leanne asked.
"He knows of you and that I was trying to find you. He even flew to the UK to work in the leisure centre to help locate you. I haven't yet told him that your his sister though. Would you like to tell him our news yourself?" David replied.
Leanne blushed as she recalled her first meeting with Paul, "I can't believe I flirted with him when we first met! I think that would be a really nice thing to do, yeah, I would love to tell him. We're good friends now. Maybe I'll find sometime during the party."
Leanne was happy that she knew her fathers story and that she was simply not abandoned, as she had thought over the years. She was excited and eager to search out Paul and tell him they were related.
David smiled, "In which case I think you have a party to get ready for then." he said, "You are probably going to be more famous than me you know, particularly with those good looks of yours! There have been modelling agencies and social media influencing companies contacting the offices wanting to sign you up!"
Leanne beamed another huge smile, "I'll better get up to my room and change."
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In a motel in downtown Los Angeles Naomi and Wesley had hired some ill fitting formal wear and had got changed ready for the party.
Wesley's mobile phone rang, and he rushed to answer, "Yes, we are. In about ten minutes."
Naomi tried to hear what was being said by the caller but couldn't hear clearly.
"Oh, you have - who gave you that? Never mind we'll make sure you get in and the present is ok. Oh, Ok. Really - I totally get why you want to do that!" Wesley ended the call. "You ready to go Nay?" he asked.
"Sure, who was that?" Naomi replied.
"Just someone we're meeting at the party." Wesley replied cryptically. "Come on lets go."
In another hotel the college football team led by Martin, were all dressed and ready for the party.
"Hey, has anyone seen Jolyon?" he asked around.
"Probably with some strippers after last night" one of the team shouted back joking.
"We'll have to leave him behind if he's not hear in the next couple of minutes." said Martin as the team started to board an executive coach. He stood on the steps trying to look around the now near empty pick-up point.
Unknown to the team Jolyon wouldn't be getting to the party. He had found himself bound and gagged in one of the hotel broom cupboards. He was dressed in only his underwear as someone had stolen his tuxedo and party invite.
Back at 'The Palms' some of the guests and media had started arriving. The girls were in their rooms each deciding on what outfits to wear.
Leanne, excited and bouncing since formally meeting her father looked through her wardrobe again, she had taken back the dresses she had picked out and in their place chose something more grand and befitting of a woman whose background was that of a rich US family. The dress was formal in style, blue and strapless. It had an A-line fit with a large slit that allowed plenty of her toned thigh to be displayed. Beneath Leanne had picked out a Kiki de Montparnasse black lace thong. 'I'll have to be careful to not show my underwear' with this dress, she thought as she picked out some stylish open-toed matching shoes. Leanne fixed her hair in a flamboyant style and added some jewellery accessories. She was ready to party.
Down the corridor Joanne had been ready for ages. She had dressed in a sexy trouser suite befitting of her style. She decided that she would go without a blouse but wear a matching silk bralette that could be seen even when the suite jacket was buttoned. Jo had kept her hair loose framing her delicate facial features. Whilst sitting at the dresser her mobile rang, she answered excitedly when Martin's name appeared on the screen. "Hi Martin, are you on your way?"
"Yeah, the whole team is here." Martin replied, the rowdy team clearly in the background. "We had to leave without Jolyon though - he missed the bus! If he grabs an Uber and beats us to the party keep an eye out for him!"
"Hey, yeah sure, love you." Jo replied enthusiastically.
"You too - see you in a bit." It wasn't really the response Joanne wanted from her boyfriend but she understood that it was unlikely he would declare his love for her on a bus full of his team mates.
Abigail sat in her room with Anthony still wearing her bathrobe. He was already ready in his tuxedo. "I think this one is perfect!" she said having finally chosen what to wear, just about every dress in her wardrobe covered her bed and the sofas in the lounge area. Abi had picked out a formal evening dress by Ralph Lauren. It was a style inspired by Mr. Lauren's love of patchwork fabric, named 'Hailey' it united panels of shirting stripes and delicate florals into one singular design. A corset bodice, structured with boning, was pieced according to figure-flattering princess seams and detailed at the back with coordinating laces. The skirt, draped with layers that unfurl with movement created a stunning silhouette which suited her figure perfectly. Abi left Anthony at one of the sofas and went to her bedroom to change. "I want to surprise you later with what's going to be underneath." she teased.
From the lingerie drawer Abi picked out an Art et Volupte embroidered thong and matching strapless support bra by Lise Charme. She added sheer white stockings and the Art at Volupte suspender belt to complete the look. As she put the lingerie on she looked at herself in the mirror - 'This is so sexy, Anthony is going to die when he sees me later.' she thought to herself.
Jessica was freshly showered, "It's going to be tonight," she muttered to herself nervously. "I'll lose it with Paul tonight, I'm ready." She too was looking through the expensive lingerie sets. She picked out a beautiful Kiki de Montparnasse black beaded bra featuring spaghetti straps, a lace detail, a lace fastening and made with a sheer material construction. She pulled out a matching stretch lace brief. She felt sexy and confident as she looked at herself in the mirror. "Tonight." she beamed a happy smile.
Moving onto the dresses, Jess already knew what she was going to wear, or a least she thought she did - she had picked out a Norma Kamali low-back fishtail mesh dress. When she put it on she realised the look was not going to work - you could see every detail of her body, her areola and sparse dark pubic hair showed through the two sets of sheer material.
"Damn!" she cursed out loud, "The underwear is gorgeous, I'll need a different dress. I look almost naked in this." She took the dress off and put it back on the hanger and pulled out a Portia and Scarlett black London satin maxi dress and tried it on. Designed with a fishtail silhouette, open back and a daring cut-out detail at the waist, the dress was a dream piece for a black tie occasion - "Perfect!" she said finally satisfied with her choice.
Jessica applied some make-up, added some jewellery and put on her shoes. She was ready for the party and met the other girls and Anthony in the corridor. Together they made their way downstairs and outside into the now busy event.
Joanne spotted Aaron and made her way over to him. "Aaron, I've been speaking to Martin. He says his friend Jolyon is going to be late as he missed the bus, can you let your guys at the front of house know he will be here an on his own."
"Ok, no problem." said Aaron speaking into his wrist to confirm the request Jo had made. At the front of the villa the football team had just arrived and were being checked and ushered into the party. Wesley and Naomi arrived shortly after closely followed by some of the girls other college friends. Everybody mingled and small talked was had between the guests. Wesley and Naomi tried to avoid as many people as possible keeping themselves to themselves and staying around the periphery of the party.
The afternoon moved on quickly and the evening came around. Anthony asked the guests to be seated and began to introduce the 'Life Stories' preview. The girls took centre stage at the front of the assembled audience as the big screen came to life. The hub-bub of talking died down as the theme music played. Everyone sat mesmerised by the screen taking in every detail of the chat show and listening to every word the girls spoke as they were questioned by Piers Morgan.
At the front of the villa there was a late arrival.
"Good evening sir, can we help you?" A large balding security doorman asked the individual who looked rather lost.
"Oh, err, yes please, I'm not sure I have the right place. Is this the preview party for 'Life Stories'? I'm a little late." the person responded.
The questioning continued, "Yes, it is - do you have an invitation?"
"Yes, here." The lost young man handed the invite to the doorman who looked at it and scanned the unique barcode.
"Ah, yes, Mr Jolyon Drayton, we have been expecting you. If you could just walk through the security scanner - welcome to the party." The doorman handed back the invite and held onto the small gift as the guest passed through the security scanner. "As you are late you can sit at the back of the viewing in the main garden. We'll get you down their quickly in the golf buggy so you don't miss much of the show. I don't blame you for being late, the before show mingling can be so awkward." The doorman gave a laugh. Rick and Theo sitting by the golf buggy growled and snarled as they approached. "Hey guys, it's just another guest - beat it." The doorman ordered them. The two dogs stood their ground watching suspiciously as the men climbed into the buggy and drove through the grounds to the main party.
After the doorman had dropped off the guest and shown him to a seat he returned to his front of house post. "What did you do with the dogs?" He said to his colleague who was sat feet up reading the newspaper. "Don't know, I let them do their own thing. Have you seen what those dogs do if you upset them!" came the reply.
As the show featured four guests it was extended beyond its usual hour and lasted a little under ninety minutes. As the credits rolled their were rounds of applauds from the audience and Anthony invited the girls to the stage area to take a questions and answers session from the media. Friends were invited to stay for the media session or move onto the after show party where food and drinks were being provided.
As the friends moved to the after show party Caroline Fortune, an up and coming news reporter for Fox Network, spotted someone she thought she recognised. Rather than stay for the interview questions her journalistic instinct took over and she silently followed the friends into the party.
Fortune stood in the shadows of a tree as two of the large group split off and met another single friend by a large wall. It was the single friend who she recognised, but she couldn't quite place where she had seen him. Caroline had been tracking the girls ever since the story of Hugo's rescue broke. She had been driving the red VW Passat in London the morning the girls left the UK for California and she was also the first on the scene in Hawaii when the yacht came back to Honolulu after Jessica was attacked.
The reporter looked down at her phone and scrolled through the pictures she had taken or been sent, the social media leaks and the quayside photographs. "Jake Crosby! That's Jake Crosby - what is he doing here?" she muttered to herself. Caroline Fortune had spotted a story and chose to follow the threesome keeping a distance.
At the press conference Anthony wrapped up the Q and A session with the media and they too were invited to after-show party where they could mingle and chat with guests and the girls on a one to one basis.
Caroline watched from a distance and overheard the conversations. The young girl was arguing with Crosby and the other boy - "This is going too far - I'm not having any involvement with this." She went to storm off and was grabbed by Crosby.
"Hey, calm down - remember it was us - or should I say my father who paid your bail money. You better let Naomi go now or you'll be back inside! If it wasn't for your drunken attempted rape we would have had MacIntyre's daughter." the boy said addressing Jake.
Jake refused to let the girl go, "Well daddies boy, your father, Robert Wells isn't here running the show. He simply wanted a kidnap so he could ransom her safety to take over the MacIntrye-Wells business. Well I don't care about that. I was humiliated by that bitch - she broke my nose and smacked out my teeth and I want revenge. I'm gonna kill her!"
Fortune gasped - "Lucky I'm recording this!" she muttered as she pressed the upload button sending the recording to her cloud storage.
Crosby had ripped open the party gift he was carrying and revealed a Glock 26 handgun and connected silencer. He whipped Naomi across the head knocking her unconscious and as Wesley tried to stop him he shot him twice.
Caroline Fortune could not believe what she had witnessed, she backed away slowly but unfortunately the glow of her phone and the snap of a twig meant she was spotted by Crosby. As she turned to run he was already on her and she suffered the same fate as Naomi and knocked unconscious.
Back in downtown Los Angeles the police had been called to a hotel as staff had discovered a half-naked teenager locked in one of the staff storage cupboards. He gave his name a Jolyon Drayton - he explained he was due to attend a party at 'The Palms' in Malibu and was knocked unconscious and dragged into the cupboard. The police arranged for an ambulance to take him to hospital where they would question him further after being given a medical check-up. Constable Andrew Taggart thought there had to be more to the story and visited the security control room to check the CCTV of the incident. He shook his head, "Why would anyone steal a party invite and tuxedo!"
When Taggart viewed the video he could not believe what he saw, the kid was telling the truth. He called in the incident took the CCTV as evidence and asked for a black and white to drive up to 'The Palms' to check out the party and inform them they may have an intruder.
Naomi and Caroline were tied together to a tree on the estate. Naomi started to come around as did Caroline. As they tried to break free the reporter asked Naomi what was going on, she explained the story and how things had got out of hand. They could see from their position Wesley's body badly hidden beneath a pile of leaves, a large blood pool had formed on the ground around him.
At the party Leanne had finally managed to catch up with Paul, "When you get a moment do you think we can chat, you know, privately?" she asked.
"Sure, lets wait until it quietens down a bit though. We don't want the press to think we're an item again, not after we've managed to put that story to rest." he replied.
Leanne smiled, "Ok, I'll meet you in the morning room in a couple of hours."
Jessica just caught the end of the conversation, "You guys gonna have a private party later? Meeting in the morning room?" she joked.
Leanne lied, "No, not really. We're really looking for a way out of the party."
Jess looked at her best friend and sort-of boyfriend. Something wasn't right. She felt suspicious and were they hiding something?
Jake Crosby stalked his way into the main party, the gun was tucked into the waistband at the back of his trousers. He looked mad and the party guests tried to avoid him as he pushed and bumped his way through the crowd of people.
Juliette stood chatting to Aaron, drink in hand when suddenly from no where both Rick and Theo came bounding over. They sat deliberately next to Juliette. "Hi there boys, not going to growl at Aaron today?" she smiled and patted Rick on the head.
"Well they seem to be disinterested in me today?" commented Aaron, "Not even a growl. Something up?"
Juliette laughed, "They must be enjoying the party or they approve of your company now."
Suddenly Aaron had a buzz in his ear, "Code one - intruder on prem - L.A.P.D. at gatehouse on scene."
Aaron turned to Juliette and informed her of the situation as more information came through. "Suspect posing as Jolyon Drayton, possibly armed. Considered dangerous. Additional police being called to assist."
As Juliette looked down she noticed the two dogs had already left her side. They were alert and had started to run towards the main congregation of guests.
Aaron spoke into his arm microphone, "I'll secure Mr MacIntrye, team one secure the girls, but do not cause alarm or tip off any guests. Lets do this quietly."
Jake had spotted his target, Leanne was walking towards David MacIntrye. She was going over to tell him about the meet-up she had arranged with Paul and was preparing to ask him if he would join her to tell him their news.
When he was in range Jake pulled the gun, his finger sat over the trigger. The silencer has been removed - he wanted everyone to hear the shots. He levelled the barrel preparing to shoot when Rick and Theo bound over and jumped. The trigger had been pulled and a shot fired. Guests screamed and ran, others hit the floor but before any other shot could be taken Rick had his mouth around Jakes arm and the gun had dropped to the ground. Theo had joined the attack and Jake was pinned by the two massive dogs.
Juliette ran over and stood over the gun. Two of Aarons security team had arrived and she called off the dogs praising them for their actions as Jake was manhandled and handcuffed. One of the security team secured the area as the police arrived.
Juliette looked up and saw David MacIntrye laying on the ground with Aaron. Both were covered in blood.