Page 1 of Under A Sicilian Sky
Prologue
After taking off from JFK, actress Ruby Locke sat in her business-class plane seat, with her head almost in her lap and her hands knotted in her otherwise perfectly styled, once titian coloured hair. She had always loved her natural, fiery colour and this was the first time in her thirty years on earth that she’d had to dye it for somethingotherthan a part. But this new chocolate brown was all part ofthe plan. Doubled over, she knew she must resemble the inflight emergency crash-landing diagrams, but, in reality, the only thing crash landing was her life. Oh, and her career… not to mention her reputation… and absolutelynotconsidering her pride, self-esteem and dignity. She’d gone from being adored to being hated in a shorter time than you could sayJack Robinson. Never had she experienced such venom, such malevolence and animosity, from people she hadn’t even met. And how quickly, she had discovered, a porcelain, English rose could be knocked from its pedestal and shattered into a million pieces.
Perhaps if the plane did crash, she’d escape with the pity of some people, at least.
She sat upright and balled her hands in her lap, fighting the urge to slap herself for the ridiculous, macabre thoughts. She knew that none of this was her doing. She wouldneverhavethoughtthose vile things, let alone posted them online for all to see. She clung onto her innocence like a life raft. Surely at some point in the next week or so this would all be over, the fact that she had been hacked would come out, and people would realise she was a victim in all this too?
At least the agency had splashed out on business class for the first leg of the journey. The space surrounding her had meant she didn’t have to smile at other people; or worse still, have other people berate her to herface. Although she hadn’t been separated completely from the other passengers, they had all seemed to be too busy sleeping or watching movies to bother her, so she had felt comfortable in her window-seat location, being brought delectable wine in proper glasses and served haute cuisine fit for royalty.
After a brief stopover at Leonardo da Vinci airport in Rome and a change of plane, Ruby sat in economy class for the second leg of her journey. Her skin was make-up-free and her hair was tucked up into an unflattering baseball cap with some American university logo on the front. She had slipped on an oversized hoodie and the largest sunglasses she could find that covered half her face. She got a few funny looks, but she put those down to the fact that she didn’t remove any of her disguise items for the whole hour-long flight, regardless of the heat in the cabin.
The pilot announced the plane’s descent into Falcone Borsellino Airport, Palermo, and her stomach flipped. She was about to step into her new normal. She was minutes away from the type of invisibility set aside for those in witness protection. Only, as a well-known, multi-award-winning actress, this would be the first time, since leaving performing arts school nine years earlier, that she’d be alone. All alone. And she had no idea how on earth she would cope.
1
Nine days earlier – Valentine’s Day
The colour drained from Ruby Locke’s cheeks. ‘Come on, Valerie, surely it’s clear I was hacked!’ She slumped into the plush leather armchair in the office of Montez and Spark, her New York agent. ‘I amnot, nor have I ever been, a vile bigot! Surely my fans will see that?’ Exasperated, she waved her hands at Valerie’s laptop as her heart pounded at her insides. ‘Those posts were so obviously not thingsIwould say!’
Valerie Montez sucked in air through her teeth. ‘It’s just not as simple as that, honey. Social Media can end the careers of stars that recommend the wrong toilet paper. But this… this issomuch worse than that. The posts went viral in a matter of hours. People jumped right on it with their responses. It’s out there now and there’s nothing we can do but fight the consequences.’ Her Brooklyn accent was strongest when shewasn’ton the phone; at those times, she put on this pseudo-British inflection that made Ruby giggle uncontrollably. But she had a heart of gold and for a born-and-bredEastCoaster, boy did she know the movie business and Hollywood.
Ruby stood and paced the floor, hands on hips, with a renewed determination firing in her belly. ‘No, I won’t accept this. I’ll go on TV and do a press conference. I’ll explain that I was hacked. Surely that will solve everything.’
Valerie gazed at her with a piteous expression, her eyes crinkling at the corners. ‘I’m sorry, Ruby, but I already tried to arrange that. No one will touch you at the moment. It’s only a matter of hours since this happened so let’s just give it a while, huh? Let’s allow the dust to settle and take it from there.’
Ruby flopped down once again. ‘I just want it to be over with. It’s like… like a bloody nightmare come true. There must be a way to find out who did this? There must be a way to clear my name. To… to trace the IP address or… or something!’ Her voice increased in both volume and pitch.
‘There is, and we will. Just go back to your apartment and wait it out. I’ll arrange for some security to—’
‘Wait,what?’ Ruby gripped the arms of the chair, her fingers leaving indentations in the chocolate brown leather. ‘Security? Why do I need security?’
Valerie sighed and leaned forward, resting her elbows on her glass desk and clasping her fingers. ‘People take these things very seriously. You only have to remember when Jack Matthias said those things about gun laws, his home was spray-painted, his maid sold her story. All hell broke loose. And now he’s back to minor commercials and it’s beenthree years.’
Ruby’s eyes widened and she covered her mouth with one shaking hand. ‘Oh. My. God. Are you telling me my career is over? Is that what you’re saying? My career is over for something I never even said? Jack Matthias wasfilmedsaying those things. He couldn’t deny them! My social media accounts werehacked. I didn’t make those comments. You know that!’
‘I do, honey, I do. And we will resolve this. We just need time. Look, I’ve been your agent for ten years, sweetie, I took you on when you were still a young dance student, you were still a kid, remember? Likemykid. I would never steer you wrong.’ She wagged her finger. ‘Don’t forget you could’ve located yourself over in LA but you chose to live here in New York so I could look after you. And I will. Please, leave it with me and let me do my job, okay?’
What she said was true. Ruby tended to look to the woman in her mid-fifties, with her dyed, perfectly coiffed hair, as a mother figure. Valerie had been in the entertainment business since her late teens, first as an actress, in a couple of cult favourites, before realising, in her thirties, that she had a knack for spotting talent in others. She was well respected in the business. Surely she could deal with this kind of thing?
Ruby’s eyes stung and her throat constricted. ‘I’ve worked so hard, I’ve sacrificed everything. I can’t lose it all now. What the hell would I do? Apart from dancing, acting is literally all I know. But I can’t even fall back on dancing. Even the Broadway theatre casting people will know about this.’ She lifted her chin and stared at her agent through a fog of tears.
Valerie stood and walked round her desk to crouch before her. ‘Hey, hey now, come on, Ruby. There’s talk of an Oscar nomination, don’t forget, that’s huge for a Brit. Huge! You’re a BAFTA winner, for Pete’s sake. You don’t get this far by having a crappy agent who doesn’t care. You know I’m behind you. The whole agency is here for you. We know this business and wewillget through this. I promise. No one’s acting career is over, okay?’
Ruby managed a nod.
Valerie stood and her knees creaked as she did. She smoothed down her dark green velvet skirt. ‘Good. Now I’ve buzzed Philippe. He’ll drive you home.’
Ruby scrunched her brow. ‘You’ve called Philippe? Where’s Shelby?’ Valerie’s new assistant had been absent more than present in the six months she had worked at the agency.
Valerie frowned. ‘Oh, she had to go home and deal with a family emergency. So, go open a nice bottle of wine and take a bath. Call Tyler and have him come over to cheer you up. I know he’s in town because he was in the news this morning.’
Ruby nodded again, dabbed at her eyes and considered calling her fiancé as Valerie had suggested. ‘Yes, yes, that sounds like a good plan. He texted to say he had landed at JFK last night but was too tired to come over.’
Unlike Ruby, Tyler Harrison favoured the bright lights of Los Angeles and although in the past he had tried to convince her to relocate, she had yet to take the jump, so he had given up. Somehow being on the East Coast was comforting for Ruby; it was a little closer to the UK. Their relationship was predominantly long distance but seeing as they were both so busy it didn’t seem to matter. They made it work.
When theyweretogether, things were intense, meaning they hardly stepped outside. And even then, in between their passionate times, Tyler was out on the balcony or in another room tapping away on his phone, trying his best to be discreet, but she knew he was chatting with someone. Ruby told herself it was just flirting and knew that it should bother her, but she wouldn’t let it. He was incredibly popular and in demand. It was the sacrifice she made for dating him.
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