THE CATCH

  SHARI LOW & ROSS KING

  CONTENTS

  About the authors…

  Introduction

  The Hollywood Cast

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  Chapter 61

  Chapter 62

  Chapter 63

  Chapter 64

  Chapter 65

  Chapter 66

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  More from Shari Low and Ross King

  About Boldwood Books

  ABOUT THE AUTHORS…

  When a budding radio DJ and actor, met a young nightclub manager in Glasgow in the late 1980s, little did they know that over thirty years and thousands of miles later they would still be friends.

  Los Angeles-based Ross King MBE is a four-time News Emmy award-winning TV and radio host, actor, producer, writer, voice over artist and performer. King has starred in London’s West End, appeared in over ten movies and hosted TV shows in the UK, Europe, USA and Australia. He has also presented countless radio shows and pens a Sunday newspaper column. In 2018 he received an MBE from the Queen for services to Broadcasting, the Arts and Charity.

  Best-selling author Shari Low released her first book in 2001. Since then, she has published over thirty novels, selling over two million books world-wide, including the recent hits One Summer Sunrise and One Last Day Of Summer. Shari splits her time between Glasgow and Los Angeles, and wherever she is, she’s probably writing the next chapter of a book.

  Visit Ross’s website at www.rossking.com

  Visit Shari’s website at www.sharilow.com

  From Ross – For David Johnston King and Isabel King, my heroes, my pals and my ‘Pops and Wee Bella’. Forever in my heart.

  And for the best sister in the world, Elaine, and the family, Jim, Hollie and Euan.

  From Shari – For Betty Murphy, a woman whose strength, love and substance live on in the ones she left behind. We miss you every day.

  And for my love, John, and our family, who are everything, always.

  INTRODUCTION

  Have you read The Rise, the first book in the Hollywood trilogy?

  If not, don’t worry, we’ve got it all covered right here.

  Here’s what you need to know from The Rise…

  Mirren McLean, Davie Johnston and Zander Leith – three Hollywood superstars who grew up together in a tough housing estate in Glasgow.

  Back then, Mirren’s mother, Marilyn, was the mistress of Zander’s father, a violent gangster called Jono Leith.

  Neglected, living in poverty, the three youngsters were inseparable, the family that they chose for themselves.

  Until the unthinkable happened.

  Jono Leith raped seventeen-year-old Mirren and her mother killed him. Not because Marilyn was protecting her daughter, but because she was consumed with jealousy that Jono had touched another woman.

  Desperate to escape the horror of what had just happened, the three youngsters covered it up, burying Jono’s body under the shed in Davie’s garden.

  Marilyn disappeared into the wind, and the world thought Jono had gone to ground to avoid rival gangsters. He wasn’t missed.

  That could have been the end of it. Case closed.

  However, as a way to process the trauma, Mirren wrote the story of what happened and against all odds, it found its way to a Hollywood producer, Wes Lomax.

  He turned Mirren’s words into a movie, The Brutal Circle, a cult hit that unexpectedly became a box office smash, winning Mirren, Davie and Zander an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

  The whole world believed it was fiction and the success brought brand new Hollywood lives for the three Scots.

  But fame and fortune came at a price.

  The shame and pain of finding success by capitalising on the worst moment in their lives, drove the three of them apart. They didn’t speak for twenty years, until a young journalist from Scotland, Sarah McKenzie, began digging into their past.

  Eventually, Sarah discovered the truth about what happened to Jono Leith, but by then it was too late. She’d fallen in love with Davie Johnston and killed the story to protect him.

  Along the way, the ghosts of the past brought the hope of resolution.

  Sarah’s investigation forced Mirren, Davie and Zander to reconnect, twenty years after they’d walked away from each other.

  It hasn’t been easy. The pain is still there. Mirren’s mother has been dead to her all these years. Davie’s discovery that Jono Leith was his father too has been hard to digest. And Zander’s demons from his childhood still push him towards a bottle.

  But they’re trying.

  Because in the City of Angels, everyone is chasing the fairy-tale ending.

  THE HOLLYWOOD CAST

  Mirren’s World

  Mirren McLean: Born and raised in Glasgow, now a major Hollywood player, best-selling author, Oscar winning screenwriter, director and producer of the iconic Clansman movies.

  Jack Gore: Mirren’s ex-husband of almost two decades, movie producer turned mid-life crisis cliché.

  Chloe Gore: Mirren’s daughter, wild child, addict, troubled soul. Died last year from an overdose, aged 18.

  Logan Gore: Mirren’s son, lead guitarist and singer in South City, the band that’s on the walls of teenagers across the globe.

  Marilyn McLean: Mirren’s mother, last seen on the day she murdered her lover, Jono Leith.

  Lou Cole: Mirren’s best friend of twenty years, journalist, gossip queen, and editor of the Hollywood Post.

  Perry Scholl: Mirren’s long-time lawyer and friend.

  Brad Bernson: A trusted private investigator who doesn’t ask questions, but always finds answers.

  Lex Callaghan: Movie star, plays the lead role in The Clansman but shuns the limelight when he’s off-screen.

  Cara Callaghan: Lex’s wife, a Native American beauty who runs an equine therapy centre at their fifteen-hundred-acre ranch in Santa Barbara.

  Deeko: the manager of South City. Keeps the band members Logan, Jonell, Ringo, Lincoln and D’Arby in check.

  Davie’s World

  Davie Johnston: multi-millionaire presenter/host and producer of some of the biggest reality hits on American television.

  Jenny Rico: Davie’s ex-wife, lead actress on hit TV cop show, Streets Of Power.

  Darcy Jay: Jenny Rico’s partner both on and off screen.

  Bella and Bray: Davie and Jenny’s 8 year old, red-haired twins, stars of the sitcom, Family Three.

  Ena Johnston: Davie’s mother and keeper of his secrets.

  Cal Wolfe: Davie’s ruthless, sharp-suited agent. A moral vacuum in a world where all that matters is power and profit.

  Mark Bock: Davie’s straight-shooting head of security.

  Drego and Alina: Davie’s loyal gardener/driver and his tempestuous housekeeper.

  Mellie Santos – the mildly terrifying, caustic producer on Here’s Davie and American Stars.

  Lainey Anders and Princess: country legend and obnoxious pop sensation, the other judges on American Stars.

  Lauren Finney: singer, songwriter, presenter, winner of American Stars. Under Davie’s guidance, she’s gone from being a small-town girl with a high-school sweetheart, to being one of the most popular young stars on television.

  Carmella Cass and Jizzo: stars of Davie’s hit show, Beauty and the Beats.

  Zander’s World

  Zander Leith: icon, actor, all-action hero and star of the Dunhill movie franchise. Also loner, addict, and no stranger to uninvited violence, rehab and jail cells.

  Jono Leith: Zander’s father, Glasgow gangster, and one of the most evil bastards to ever walk the earth.

  Maggie Leith: Zander’s faithful, abused and battered mother, who believes that the answer to everything is prayer.

  Hollie Callan: Zander’s personal assistant, right hand woman, and unfailingly loyal, smart-mouthed friend.

  Adrianna Guilloti: Founder of the eponymous luxury menswear
brand, Zander’s lover and latest addiction.

  Carlton Farnsworth: – Adrianna’s husband. New York millionaire property developer, shadier than the trees in Central Park.

  Raymo Cash: reality star, pond life.

  Don Michael Domas, actor, Lee Vandan, male model, Josh Wilson, script writer – Zander’s surfing and poker buddies.

  Wes Lomax: Legendary studio head, with a sexual appetite that’s as ferocious as his temper.

  John Wood: Lomax head of security.

  Sarah’s World

  Sarah McKenzie: Journalist from Glasgow. Came to LA to investigate rumours about Davie, Zander and Mirren’s past lives, but fell in love with Davie Johnston.

  Ed McCallum: Sarah’s former boss and editor of The Daily Scot.

  Manny Murphy: Glasgow crime boss, now deceased, the source of the stories about Jono Leith, his disappearance and his link to Zander.

  Myla Rivera: TV news reporter.

  PROLOGUE

  THE LOMAX OSCAR AFTER-PARTY, BEVERLY HILLS HEIGHTS HOTEL, 2014

  ‘Hollywood’ – Michael Bublé

  It wasn’t your typical Hollywood threesome. No one could take their eyes off them.

  All night the official photographers had been firing flashes like strobes in their direction.

  The managers, the PRs and the agents who’d kill to have them on their client lists would need a chiropractor to sort out the neck pain caused by keeping them within view no matter which part of the room they moved to. Even the A-list movie stars who demanded all the oxygen in the room, the ones who’d thought of nothing but themselves since their cheap Sunday-best shoes first hit Hollywood tarmac, were fascinated by the trio, who had been inseparable all evening.

  Zander Leith. Mirren McLean. Davie Johnston. The actor. The writer. The producer.

  Individually they were people to be reckoned with, stellar forces that were circled by lesser beings in an industry that prized profit, power, beauty and talent. In that order. But together they were Hollywood royalty – three childhood friends from Glasgow, Scotland who had won their first Oscar when they were barely in their twenties. Two decades later, they still had the kind of three-in-a-billion careers that others would kill for. They had history, they had a unique connection, and they all shared the knowledge that the very event that created their success could one day bury them.

  But not tonight.

  Tonight, on the most hallowed of Hollywood occasions, the ballroom at the Beverly Hills Heights Hotel was a glittering collection of industry stars and heroes past and present, of $10,000 suits, beauty queens and billionaires, all gathered at the invitation of Wes Lomax, studio owner and – when it came to making movies – more powerful than God.

  There were three other big events in town on that balmy March night in 2014: the Vanity Fair party, Elton John’s AIDS Foundation benefit and, of course, the Governor’s Ball. But it said everything about the power and status of Lomax that the tickets everyone wanted would gain them exclusive entry to his celebration, where they could breathe in the most rarefied atmosphere of all. And if they didn’t get access? Better to leave the country, feign illness or find another career, because if they weren’t seen here, it said they either weren’t big enough or they were over – and those were the two Hollywood crimes that could never be forgiven.

  The walls were solid masses of flowers, banks of ornate white roses and lilies rising from floor to ceiling. The chandeliers were glittering crowns on a room filled with jewels, haute couture and enough silicon to fill a valley.

  It was manufactured perfection. And it didn’t come any more perfect than the trio at the centre of the star-filled galaxy.

  A hundred and ten pounds of former Miss Alabama sashayed past Zander and smiled.

  ‘Can I get you anything, Mr Leith?’ Her low purr oozed promise, an offer that replicated a million others over the course of his twenty years as the most messed-up but utterly irresistible bad boy of the movie world.

  Most of the women in the room would fail a polygraph if they claimed they’d never thought about having a night of passion with Zander Leith. He was the nation’s go-to action hero, the Hollywood personification of sheer down-and-dirty, give-it-to-me-now sex, his physical perfection made all the more attractive because he was totally unaware that when the gorgeous woman at the next table looked at him, all she saw was her next orgasm.

  Zander acknowledged Miss Alabama’s offer with a smile that said ‘gentle refusal’.

  Not because any of the rumours swirling about his relationship status were true. He’d been linked in the press to everyone from his PA, Hollie, to Madonna.

  Tonight he was off the market because he was only here for the beautiful woman beside him in the exquisite blush Dior gown, her Titian curls swept up to emphasize her perfect bone structure, her eyes the same deep shade as the sapphires that glistened in her ears. Mirren’s wide smile didn’t waver as she shared the love with everyone she spoke to, paying grateful thanks to an industry that had just given her yet another small, gold, naked but genital-free statue, this time for original screenplay on the new Clansman box office smash. Clansman was Mirren McLean’s baby. She’d written twelve novels featuring the Scottish hero, penned scripts for five of them, and nailed down a studio deal that now allowed her to direct and produce her own movies.

  Her power in this town had grown with every dollar of the hundred million plus that each one had earned at the box office.

  ‘Hey, don’t let me stop you,’ Mirren murmured, having caught both the blatant offer and the subtle refusal in her peripheral vision. Zander’s green eyes crinkled at the side as he returned her smile and Mirren realised she’d never seen him looking this good. The months off booze and drugs had been good for him, as had the training regime for his next movie, the seventh in the Dunhill spy series. There was no danger of a Bond-like scenario in which the leading man was replaced every few years.

  Zander still had it.

  A couple of inches over six feet, he had the craggy good looks, the action-hero jawline, which contrasted with a disarming grin that made even the staunchest resolve crumble. His blond hair, naturally wavy, curled over the collar of his shirt, a captivating contrast to the formality of his Tom Ford suit.

  On the other side of Mirren, Davie Johnston leaned into the centre of the triumvirate and joked in hushed, serious tones. ‘She only gave you that come-on because I’d knocked her back.’ They laughed, the irony not lost on any of them. On any other day, Davie Johnston was a catch. Multi-millionaire producer, a serious power player and physically cute. Yep, cute. Tom Cruise-short, Bradley Cooper curls, Michael J. Fox grin, Simon Cowell ego – all of which was elevated to ‘A-list desirability’ by the fact that he was Davie Johnston, the man who could turn any nobody into a star.

  ‘Oh fuck, ex-wife at nine o’clock,’ Davie muttered. ‘Brace yourselves for incoming hostility.’ The others immediately went to movie-star DEFCON 1 – wide smiles, utterly fake but convincing, designed to disarm the two approaching females. Jenny Rico, Davie’s ex-wife, tall, dark-haired goddess, star of the crime drama Streets of Power, holding hands with her co-star on the show and co-recipient of the hottest woman on earth award, Darcy Jay.