Page 14 of The Restaurant on Plum Island
“Don’t test me,Carly,“ Alex warned before pulling his dark visor down and sneaking out without Ethan recognizing him, leaving Carly seething in his wake.
Tammy, one of the wait staff, approached her. “Carly, Mr. Blackwell is here to see you for your ten-thirty meeting.”
“Please send him to my table upstairs in the gallery,” Carly told Tammy.
Carly turned and went to order refreshments and snacks for the table while gathering herself after her meeting with Alex. A memory of the last time he’d shown up at her house uninvited flashed through her mind. Carly had never socialized much, even when her star was shining bright. She’d always been a homebody, and while she’d loved her career, Carly had always hated the spotlight that illuminated her life because of it.
The two went hand in hand. Carly had always known she wanted to become an actress and had worked hard at it. She had taken ballet, modern dance, tap, gymnastics, singing, and drama as far back as she could remember. Carly had loved doing stage plays throughout school and college. She’d love the applause and adoring fans watching her in the audience and being enchanted by her performance. Carly had even loved being recognized after her first musical Broadway show, where she’d landed the lead.
She’d chosen her stage name after her mother’s mother, who’d been a famous Broadway actress. Stella Hart had been Carly’s maternal grandmother’s real name, and she could remember seeing many of her grandmother’s shows. Carly would love to visit Stella after the show when they would go to her dressing room. It was the most amazingroom with beautiful costumes and a mirror surrounded by lights. Carly had begged her parents to buy her a dresser that mimicked it, and they had for her thirteenth birthday. Only they hadn’t been able to give it to her as they died two months before. Uncle Sam still had that dresser in her childhood bedroom at his house.
“Carly?” Ethan’s deep, husky voice snapped her from her thoughts.
“Oh, hi.” Carly wasn’t even aware she’d taken a seat. She’d been so deep in her memories. “Please, sit.” She glanced toward the stairs. “I’ve ordered coffee and some snacks.”
“Thank you,” Ethan said, sliding into the booth before her. He looked around. “This is beautiful.”
“Thank you.” Carly looked around the landing. “I had it built so I could get some privacy in the evenings when I work, and I’m still able to keep an eye on the restaurant.”
“You’re the queen of your castle.” Ethan smiled, but she could see a more profound, darker emotion in his eyes. “The view is magnificent.”
Carly’s gaze wandered to the expansive windows framing a breathtaking scene. The elevated platform provided a panoramic view from the restaurant, perched at the cliff’s edge. Before them, the vastness of the Atlantic Ocean unfolded, its mighty waves crashing against the rugged rocks and cliffs, sending frothy cascades onto the shore below.
“I like it,” Carly stated, smiling as Tammy came up the stairs with a tray laden with coffee and snacks.
“There you go.” Tammy put the tray down before arranging the contents onto the table and giving the docket to Carly to sign. “Thank you.” She took the slip of paper. “Enjoy.”
Tammy’s admiring glance that slid toward the incredibly handsome, dark-haired, blue-eyed Ethan didn’t go unnoticed by Carly. She hid a smile. While Carly may not have socialized with the Blackwells, their paths crossed a few times during her career. She remembered Alex and Ethan had always made an impression wherever they went. Carly was sure if they’d lived in a bygone era, they’d have had people swooning at their feet because of their looks, money, and power.
She suppressed a shudder when their eyes met, and Carly felt herself drawn into their blue, broody depths. She gave herself a mental shake.Get a grip, Carly. His double was just in here threatening you. Like he had three years before.But still, she couldn’t pull her eyes away, and his intense stare was broken when his phone rang. He looked at it and frowned.
“Sorry, I have to take this.” Ethan excused himself and walked a few feet away to take the call.
While she watched him, Carly wondered for the millionth time what had driven Ethan to do what he’d done to her three years ago?One moment, he was wooing her to take the lead in the first screenplay he’d ever written, and the next, everything was falling apart. After reading the script, Carly knew it would top her other performances. She could feel the powerful emotions of the bittersweet story and knew that the words were torn from Ethan’s soul. Carly was sure it would be her fourth Academy Award for Best Actress, putting her on par with the grand Katherine Hepburn. Ethan’s movie was going to be a huge box office draw. Especially if Parker Drew played the male lead and being a good friend of Carly’s, Parker was keen to take the role.
Carly turned down a fantasy film that didn’t do as well because she’d pulled out of it to do Ethan’s movie, and the tabloids had a field day with that. But Carly didn’t care because she was about to play the role of a lifetime. One that would get her closer to her goal of beating Katherine Hepburn’s four Academy Awards for Best Actress. Over the two weeks after she’d gotten Ethan’s script, Carly and Ethan were in contact nearly every day to discuss it. They’d even gone to a few dinners, a sunset cruise on his yacht, and a picnic in Central Park.
Carly felt drawn to him, and she was sure he’d felt the same way as Ethan would find any little excuse to call her. He finally confessed to doing just that the day before he went to Paris. That was a week before the final contracts for the movie deal were drawn up for Carly andParker to do Ethan’s first movie he’d written and would be directing. While Ethan was the most sought-after director in the entertainment business, his real passion was writing films and series. Carly knew that because he’d told her on their sunset cruise and how much this movie meant to him. Not only was it his first screenplay, but it was also based on his life.
The first few days Ethan was in Paris, he’d messaged her nearly every day, but on the fourth day, he went radio silent. Carly thought he was busy, although she’d found herself missing their daily calls. She’d been separated from Shaun, whom the world knew as Davin Giles, for almost two years. But they had kept it quiet because his manager and PR representative thought it best, and the movie franchise he’d been cast in the lead for took him on because he was seen as a family man. Little did they know Shaun was a lying, cheating user who’d gotten to the top thanks to Carly. In their fourteen years of marriage, he’d cheated on her five times.
Because they were the silver screen darling couple, most of their marriage, after Reef was born, had been a sham. They’d stayed together for the sake of their careers. Carly had always been a dedicated mother. No one was more important to her than her son. Shaun wasn’t that good a father. To him, Reef had been another publicitystunt. Carly sighed and shook thoughts of Shaun away as her mind focused on the disaster that imploded her career.
A week after Ethan went to Paris, Carly got a call from his office asking her to meet with him. She’d been excited because Carly thought it was to sign the final movie deal, and she was surprised at how much she’d missed hearing from him. Only when she’d gotten to his office the man sitting behind his desk wasn’t the man she’d come to know. It was the man the public had portrayed him to be. He was cold and cutting when he’d slammed a copy of what would be released the next day in one of the leading newspapers in front of her.
Stella Hart Breaks Davin Giles’s Heart with Ethan Blackwood
Carly had been shocked at the photo of her and Ethan standing on the deck of his yacht, laughing with champagne in hand. She hadn’t read the caption under the image:Photo courtesy of Stella Hart.Carly’s attention had been drawn to the article. The article painted her as the one who’d cheated on Davin with Ethan. It also leaked information about Ethan’s new movie and that Stella had stolen the lead from Daphne Rose, whom Stella had accused of having an affair with Davin.
Carly couldn’t believe what she was reading. She’d known that the media could be brutal, and their lies had ended careers, marriages, broken families, and friendships apart. But Carly had never been onthe receiving side of that brutality until that moment. Ethan had coldly told her she no longer had the part and that she’d better hope they never crossed paths again.
The newspaper hadn’t come out the next day, and Carly had breathed a sigh of relief that Ethan had been able to stop the article from being released. But that was just a slight reprieve. Somehow, Davin had found out about it and went public with serving Stella divorce papers as he’d found she’d been cheating on him. Davin had been a mediocre actor, but he’d excellently played the part of a scorned and hurt husband who, even though Stella had broken his heart, he’d let her have full custody of their son.
Just because my heart is shattered into a million pieces, I can’t put my son in the middle of a bitter battle. That won’t heal my pain, and a child needs their mother.
The man should’ve gotten an Academy Award for that alone. Carly could’ve hit back as she wasn’t a fool, and her Uncle Sam had always warned her to keep records of these things. And Carly had. She had all the ammunition to ruin her ex, but she didn’t. It wasn’t worth it, and she was sure Stella Hart’s fans would see through his lies. But as it turned out, fans were just as fickle as the media and would turn on you in a heartbeat. Suddenly, Davin and Daphne were the victims, andStella Hart was the woman with no heart who thought nothing of breaking others.
Parker pulled out of Ethan’s movie as he knew the truth about Davin and tried to stick up for Stella Hart. The media twisted his words, and suddenly, Parker and Stella Hart were an item.
