Hi all,
Well this is my second effort and I would like to think that I have learnt from my first outing and eradicated some of my many many flaws. For that, I would like to send a huge thanks to Todger65 for all his hard work correcting my spelling and punctuation errors and hopefully making the story more enjoyable. For ease of reading, I decided to split the story into three parts.
As before, I welcome and look forward to your thoughts.
*****
Ladies, gentlemen and honoured guests, good evening and welcome to the Grosvenor Hotel, London! The announcement came across the loud speakers, ensuring that the packed room immediately fell silent and waited expectantly for the nights festivities to commence.
The great, good and influential of the literary world had all gathered in the Great Room for the second instalment from the new sensation Marsha Tillman. An unknown author less than a year ago, now one of the hottest writers out there. Her follow up book was eagerly anticipated.
However, tonight's event held an additional magical aura. Marsha Tillman since crashing onto the world scene with her number one best seller, had proved to be quite the enigma. As the book soared to uncharted heights, the press and the public clamoured to meet this new arrival. Only she had shunned the accolades and the limelight. The clamour had grown so vehement that the press had taken it upon themselves to establish the identity of the author.
'Why is she hiding? What has Marsha got to hide? Marsha, WHERE are you?'
were just some of the many headlines that dominated the press as her book achieved un-paralleled success. The paper campaign showed no signs of relenting, there were even rumours of attempted bribery. Finally, the pressure became unbearable forcing the publishers to react. Only instead of a great unveiling, they turned the tables on the press and appealed to the public to respect Marsha's wishes to remain anonymous! Let Marsha's words, speak for her, they cried! The public agreed, and the sales of the book rocketed. Publicly the press relented, or though in truth everyone realised that the hunt for just who Marsha Tillman was, was still very much on!
Then finally after months and months the publishers made a surprise announcement that sent a shockwave through the literary world.
Not only did they announce that the upcoming follow-up book was going to be released this Friday evening at midnight, but that the author would not only be in attendance but was willing to come forward and introduce themselves!
As you could imagine, the industry went into meltdown and the demand for both press credentials and admittance went into overdrive. The allure was not only fixed to the written world, but due to the immense global success of the novel, Hollywood had come calling. For the last month several production companies had been fighting for the rights to bring the story to the silver screen. The Grosvenor Hotel had been selected to host the event and for many people that night, their lives and perceptions were about to change.
Discovery:
Hi, my name is Nicholas Sheppard, Nicky to my friends. The announcement killed the conservation within our little group causing a momentary lull, but now a huge surge of excitement erupted from the masses as they all started to position themselves as close to the newly erected stage. The semi organised stampede was now in full flow, champagne, wine and tasty nibbles were quickly discarded. My own little group was no different. We were a party of Ten under the invitation of my wife's boss Michael Franklyn. He was the chairman of Aspect Media Holdings and had been in negotiations to buy the rights and turn the novel into a film. Alongside him stood his model wife Mary. He was good looking, charming and charismatic, a typical alpha male. Next to him was Tod, Simon and Angela, all key players in the upper echelon of AMH along with their wives and partners, leaving just my stunningly beautiful wife Zoe and myself. I have to admit that we all looked resplendent. A black tie and elegant dresses were the order of the day, and the rich and influential here tonight; did not disappoint. Of course, by now you'll all realise that my wife and her boss are in the midst of an illicit affair and that everyone in our little group are aware of it, possibly with the exception of his wife Mary and supposedly myself.
Yes, I think we can all agree my life is that complicated.
You see, I'm a firm believer in things happen for a reason and that when you eventually hit rock bottom then in reality, the only way in up! Easier to say, especially with a gigantic hole in your heart, but it's true. Zoe and I have been married for nearly five years. Before my discovery I would have called them glorious years and I would have happily shouted from the highest building, that I was the luckiest man in the world.
When I discovered her affair, I was destroyed. It was fortunate that she was away for a few days sampling her lover's charms; otherwise my life would be very different now if she had been near to me. Just thinking about it, even now, still send cold shivers down my spine. Destroying her would have been simple, but it also meant that I would be destroying the most important and precious person left in my life, my daughter Ellie. At that time, she was a precocious three-year-old. Protecting her and ensuring that I stayed in her life became my priority and was the real reason for my presence this evening, dressed up in a penguin suit. You see from the wreckage of my marriage, I rediscovered myself, re-found my talent and formed an everlasting bond with my daughter.
Oh, and tonight, I was going to wreak my vengeance!!
The beginning:
I was in my final year at University, studying English when she crashed into my life. I'll try my best to simplify the situation if I can. You see my last couple of years at Uni became slightly surreal. Somehow between studying and partying, myself and three fellow inmates penned a movie script. To make matters worse the idea grew traction and we brokered a deal to have it produced. This was all done under the eager tutelage of our professor Ivan Thomas. When I say tutelage, what I really mean to say is that he surfed on the back of our talent, but claimed his share because he took on the negotiations with the film industry and productions companies. He had a history in this area, this was one of the reasons we initially went to him. He quickly declared that without him we would have nothing but an unwanted script. So, with him at the helm, 'The Golden Lady' emerged from our subconscious and became a reality. Tonight, was a celebration of the fact that production had finished and very soon all our endeavours would be displayed on the big screen.
The large raucous Hollywood style crowd were celebrating the exploits of a tale of a classic adventure story, only this one included a fabled mythical treasure, love and deception and ultimately revenge. The flow of conversation was buoyed by the copious amounts of free booze and food available, complemented by the excellent music. It was a great and enjoyable party for, well nearly all! You see the four of us, despite being honoured guests were well out of our depths. Our illustrious professor and self-appointed leader had certainly made himself at home, flitting and rubbing shoulders with such an elite and illustrious crowd. The only benefit for us was, his shadow was so big and impressive that it enabled us to hideaway in the background without be noticed.
It was then that I saw her.