Mistaken Identity

Prologue

Sitting in her trailer, Bethany Martin took a deep breath to calm her nerves and enjoy her moment. They say a person has only fifteen minutes of fame and she was already living on borrowed time. She had worked hard for the success she felt today and she wanted to savor the memories to last a lifetime.

This day would rank up there in her top five days of her life... The day Grandma walking her to kindergarten, that was the first day she learned she was not only pretty, but smart. The day Grandma looked on with pride as she graduated from high school with offers of scholarships to college. Meeting Jackson Gates that day as she served him a slice of pecan pie, and he promised her the world. Seeing herself on the cover of a magazine for the first time. And today, the director had just called, “That’s a wrap!” and everyone exploded with applause. This was Bethany’s first big movie role. She had finally made it! Grandma would be proud! Grandma! How she missed the woman who meant everything to her.

Five years ago when her grandmother died, she thought she had hit rock bottom. Who was she fooling, she had. She had lost everything. Dropping out of college when Grandma became sick and getting a job, any job she could to pay off the medical and then funeral bills. Grandma had done everything for her, sacrificing along the way. Driving a car that barely made i t around town while Beth wore braces. Skimping to save up for a prom dress so the other kids would not make fun of her like they did with her Goodwill wardrobe. Living in that small house that was cold in the winter and stifling hot in the summer.  Bethany would have done anything for that woman. Giving up her scholarship to Juilliard and her dream of being an actress on Broadway was a small price to pay for spending the last few months taking care of the woman who raised her.  

Beth never knew her mother and Grandma did everything she could to make sure Beth had everything she needed. Times were tough for her widowed grandmother, but there was always love.  Growing up in a small house, just north of Atlanta, Bethany always dreamed of making it big. She wanted to give Grandma a better life. To do things for her that she could never imagine. Pay off the house, or better yet, buy her a new one with a live in maid. Personally take that old car to the dump and buy her one that actually worked on more than gasoline and prayers.

The only problem, she had finally made it big! She could buy Grandma anything she desired, but Grandma wasn’t here anymore. She was alone. Well, at least she had Jackson. Almost four years ago while waiting tables, Bethany had been discovered. Jackson Gates walked into her life and told her he would make her a star.

At first she thought it was just some pick-up line! A way to get some girl from the outskirts of Atlanta to fall into his bed. But when he came back five more times and then finally brought a contract, Bethany started listening.

He suggested she start with a modeling career. Now knowing that Jackson did nothing small, over the past four years she had graced the cover of some pretty big magazines. He not only promised her the world for her career, he wanted to give her the moon and the stars at night. She was on his arm for every big premiere and event since he pulled her away from that small diner. Heads turned when they walked the red carpet and she knew now it wasn’t only because of the good looking, smooth talker next to her.

She had been the talk of the modeling world for over two years when Jackson told her about the opportunity to play one of the most famous crime daughters who turned states evidence and brought down a mob kingpin, she jumped at the opportunity. The directors and seasoned actors she had worked with were talking about the award possibilities for this movie, and even for the newcomer Bethany Martin.

She had come a long way in just a few short years. Getting use to her new life was difficult at first. Smiling, she thought about her first real big shopping spree with Jackson. He kept assuring her she could afford it and made her stop looking at price tags. She still looked at price tags, when he wasn’t looking. The thing she did not expect was the paparazzi following her. It had only happened a few times, but they were like paid stalkers. Jackson assured her that they would not physically hurt her, but seeing them when she came out of Starbucks taking a picture of her drinking coffee or when she went shopping. It unnerved her that they were watching her every move. Yet even with the unexpected problems of paparazzi and media hounds. People who shunned her in high school were now trying to claim best friend status in order to make themselves famous. Everything was on a silver platter before her, all she needed to do was sit back and enjoy the time of her life.

A knock on the trailer door jarred her from her thoughts. Expecting Jackson, she quickly wrapped her short robe around her shoulders tying it hastily at the waist and called, “Come in.” Surprised to see one of the production assistants come through the door, instead of the man of her dreams. Well, the man of her dreams who still needed to make a lasting commitment. A commitment that would lead to a promise and then a vow to love, honor and cherish for a lifetime. Beth shook her head of her only dream Jackson had not helped her fulfill... the only person who could help her fulfill it.

“Miss Martin, this arrived for you.” The production assistant said, snapping her out of the daydream of white lace and lilac’s standing next to Jackson in front of a minister... ’A girl can dream,’ Bethany thought.

Bethany always tried to remember everyone’s name. Grandma raised her to believe that everyone was important to your life. Even those that you work for or that will one day work for you. She could still hear grandmother say, “We are only a cog in a large wheel of life and without that other cog, no matter how big or how small, the wheel stops working without it.” She quietly accepting the letter, “Thank you, Danny, and I told you to call me Beth.”

Danny smiled and gave a little grin, one that she knew meant he would continue to call her Miss Martin. He slipped out of her trailer quietly closing the door behind him.

Opening the large manila envelope, Bethany pulled out the paper with a look of confusion and dismay on her face. Her world that had been so perfect moments ago, now had the potential to shatter before her very eyes. At that moment, Jackson walked in, seeing the look of trouble on her face, he rushed to her side wondering what or who had bothered his favorite leading lady.

Bethany collapsed in to her favorite chair, a thinning tapestry covered chair that had been in the family for generations. She had it brought from home to remember where she came from and to remind her of Grandma. Bethany handed Jackson the letter as she tried to catch her breath, but couldn’t. Her lungs closed up and panic began to set in. Gasping she barely heard the string of curse words that escaped Jackson Gates’ mouth. Words that would not exhibit his proper upbringing and force his Southern Belle mother to wash his mouth out with soap, even though he was thirty years old.  Finally able to take a life saving breath, Bethany’s lungs filled with sweet oxygen. Shock on her face, Bethany looked up at Jackson. She wasn’t sure if she was shocked at the language she had just heard or was the shock from the letter itself?

A picture of Bethany was on the paper, but it was made up of different pictures from various covers and magazine photos. She recognized an eye from Vogue, her lips were from the Elle cover that just came out, her nose she wasn’t sure but thought it might be from the Cosmopolitan cover. There were also letters from magazines that had been cut into blocks and arranged on the paper to read, “Bang! Bang! You’re Dead!”