Billion Dollar Boyfriend (Celebrity Love)

Chapter Thirty-Two

Shelby yawned and raked a hand through her hair in an unsuccessful attempt to tame her slept-on curls. She gave up after a few tries and grabbed a hair elastic instead, then padded out of her bedroom and down the hallway, toward the kitchen of her apartment.

She found Emily sitting at the table when she got there, although Emily didn't appear to hear her come into the room. She was focused on something on her phone screen, and it wasn't until Shelby had made herself toast and a cup of coffee that she glanced up, finally realizing Shelby was awake.

"Have you seen this yet?" she asked.

"Seen what?" Shelby took a bite of her toast, then carried her plate and mug of coffee to the table.

Emily pushed her phone across the table. "Wally's post from this morning. Not that you don't know all of this already."

"Nope. I just woke up a few minutes ago." Shelby sat down and picked up the phone. Emily had left the article from Wally Hood Goes Hollywood open on her screen.

She started to read, even though none of what Wally had to report would be new to her. She'd been getting firsthand updates from Aiden about Keira, Seraphine, and what authorities had uncovered about the night someone shot at him, right after he learned anything new. Even so, it was just as surreal to see the full story in print as it had been to hear the details unfold.

A smoking gun and Keira Griftyn's fall from grace

It's a story full of the kind of twists and turns you'd expect from a TV show or movie. This is real life, though, complete with passion, lies, cheating, and a gun that was aimed at British billionaire heir and rock star Tristan Thornbury, who recently revealed he grew up here in the US as Aiden Montgomery. For the sake of keeping things clear, we'll use Aiden Montgomery, the name he goes by now, when referring to him.

As if the mystery of London's lost son and exposure of Montgomery's real identity hasn't been intriguing enough, the reason behind his second disappearing act from London a few years ago—just as his band's music was climbing the UK charts—also recently came to light, with an ending no one could have predicted.

When Montgomery vanished after several years as a fixture of London's celebrity and night life scene, his girlfriend at the time, actress Keira Griftyn, wailed to the tabloids that she'd been dumped cold, and that Montgomery had left her without any warning or explanation. Montgomery was made out to be a cold-hearted wealthy rock star, but much like his very identity then as Thornbury, all was not as it seemed.

Montgomery had good reason for sending Griftyn packing, and it happened before he left London. It was a reason Griftyn was quite aware of. Days before, Montgomery had caught her in the throes of passion with Decker Flaherty, her TV co-star who also happened to be married to Gemma Thayne, a programming executive at the network their show aired on at the time. The night someone shot at Montgomery outside of his Kensington home was the same day Griftyn had come to the house to collect her belongings.

While Griftyn's reps have declined to comment on any of this to confirm or deny, and while Montgomery hasn't issued an official statement, here's what we know so far.

♦ Authorities received several tips about the attempted shooting of Montgomery following the release of the video in which he spoke about his true identity and a gun being fired at him.

♦ One of the tips was from Boyd Cormack, an estranged friend of tabloid reporter Seraphine O'Dell, who is—or was—Griftyn's best friend. Cormack is currently doing time for selling illegal firearms. After learning about the contents of Montgomery's video, he told police of the transaction he'd arranged for O'Dell to purchase an unregistered and illegal handgun a few days before Montgomery dropped out of sight and Griftyn began her media sob story that he'd abandoned her without a word. He recalled O'Dell's claims of purchasing the gun for a famous friend who wanted it for self-protection from stalkers, and that her friend needed it faster than she could secure it legally because of a sudden onslaught of threats and being followed.

♦ O'Dell was in Los Angeles when Montgomery's video went live and the tips started rolling in, and she was soon tracked down by authorities at her hotel a few miles away from Montgomery's Santa Monica home. She was told she would need to answer a few questions about the night of the shooting in Kensington. Unconfirmed reports allege that when O'Dell was confronted with evidence of her involvement, she was quick to offer Griftyn's name and ask for a lawyer.

♦ Authorities have secured video of Griftyn and O'Dell waiting in a parked car down the street from Montgomery's home on the night of the attempted shooting, placing the pair there several hours after Griftyn texted Montgomery that she'd left. The short video was filmed by one of Montgomery's former Kensington neighbors who was a fan of Griftyn and who had wanted to share his sighting of her with his friends. The video has been published online for quite some time, but it only came to the attention of authorities following Montgomery's public disclosure about being shot at.

♦ Along with the video evidence, cell phone records were recovered, showing Griftyn was still in the vicinity of Montgomery's home at the time of the attempted shooting.

♦ The gun allegedly sold to O'Dell was recovered at Griftyn's home, and ballistics tests were performed.

♦ Griftyn has reportedly confessed that she never intended for the rounds she shot to make contact with Montgomery, and that she'd only wanted to shoot at nearby objects to scare him.

As for the motive? A source tells us O'Dell has been quite cooperative in this investigation and told authorities that Griftyn feared Montgomery would spill news of their breakup and her affair with Flaherty to the media. She claimed Griftyn wanted to shake up Montgomery in the hopes he would be concerned for his safety and keep a low profile. Griftyn's alleged logic was that if Montgomery stayed away from the media, he would be less likely to say something about their breakup and the reason for it.

Griftyn feared being written out of her TV show or it being canceled following that season if Flaherty's then-wife learned of their fling, since Thayne's influence at the network was strong. O'Dell also suspects there was pressure on Griftyn from Flaherty to make sure their secret was kept under wraps. While he's since divorced Thayne, being caught cheating then could have led to an even messier divorce and settlement than what he eventually ended up with.

Griftyn and O'Dell have both been charged, and Griftyn's current TV series has stopped filming. Reports out of London indicate auditions are underway to re-cast her role.

Shelby put the phone down and slid it back across the table to Emily. "This still seems so crazy. Wally got everything right, though."

"How is Aiden doing?" Emily asked.

Shelby took a sip of her coffee and considered the question before answering. "He's been surprisingly okay," she replied. "I think I'd be losing my mind, but he's seemed more relaxed and less worried since Keira and Seraphine were charged. We're even going out today."

"No more house arrest?" Emily grinned. She knew Aiden and Shelby had been staying in and watching movies for the last couple of weeks, keeping away from the public eye and any paparazzi who might still be looking for sound clips or photos. "Where are you guys making your grand re-entrance into the world?"

"He won't tell me," Shelby said. "He's back to keeping me in suspense, just like the first couple of times we went out."

Aiden wanting to surprise her with plans for their evening was a welcome return to something familiar. It was a sign of life settling down again, which was something she knew Aiden craved every bit as much as she did, if not more.