Virtuous Deception

by Leiann B. Wrytes

  “I love you too, Nan.”

  Sophie gave Nanette a reassuring hug and joined Lewis in the car.

  That was the last time she had any contact with any member of the Freemont family. She left with Lewis, believing that he would take care of her. Instead, she spent most of her pregnancy feeling abandoned and emotionally starved. It wasn’t long before she realized Nanette had been right: Lewis was not ready for a family. . . not even close. Many times she attempted to leave but did not have the finances to do so. Her pregnancy forced her to accept a very difficult truth: her financial security rested solely with Lewis. She was completely dependent upon him. She could not go home and had no technical skills and no formal education to strike out on her own. Sophie was broken spiritually and dying slowly.

  She needed a way out. The life forming within her womb kept her alive. She never missed a prenatal appointment. She ate healthy, balanced meals and always took her vitamins. Sophie was perhaps the healthiest, physically, that she had ever been in her life. She had significant weight gain, in her opinion, but the doctor assured her that it was completely normal. Lewis never inquired about how things were with her. His affairs were always more important and took precedence over all else.

  Lewis was noticeably absent when Sophie went into labor. He was home when she showed the early signs of labor but dismissed her request for a ride to the hospital, saying he had business to tend to. That was the last straw. Sophie’s screams and cries of desperation did nothing to warm his cold disposition. He left her holding her full belly, round with his only daughter, in the worst pain she’d ever experienced. Sophie waited for over an hour for Lewis to return, wishing he would have a change of heart. Instead, she ended up taking an ambulance to the hospital. Imagine her surprise and shock when the doctors informed her after she had given birth to Michelle that another child was on its way out.

  Sophie couldn’t believe it. She had been pregnant with twins! She didn’t understand how that was possible. The doctors tried explaining to her that sometimes the second child was not visible because it was hidden behind the first. Sophie nearly went into shock, crying uncontrollably. She was not prepared two raise two children all alone. She was only seventeen! How would she ever break the news to Lewis? She still had not been able to reach him and was sluggish to accept the reality of her situation. It seemed that the universe somehow answered her prayer, however. Something aligned exactly right and sent a man into her room with an offer she could not refuse.

  She didn’t even know his name or why he had come into her room, but his words were cemented into her memory. He told her that he and his wife needed and wanted a child, her child. Faced with no other alternative, Sophie did the unspeakable. The stranger swore that her daughter would grow up in a good, loving home, that she would have nothing but the best. Sophie thought this proposal was her way out, though she couldn’t have foreseen the irreparable damage her emotional decision would do to her psyche.

  She didn’t realize that when she took the $5 million from the pleasant man and gave him her baby girl that she would lose a part of herself. To this day, she still does not know where he came from or how he knew she had twins. She never said a word to Lewis about it. She had been at home, alone in their dingy, one-bedroom apartment with Michelle for over a week before she saw him again. The power of her own transgression kept her from asking where he had been, why he hadn’t bothered to at least return her phone calls. Her pain brought her silence.

  She thought she could take the money and move away with Michelle, but once Lewis saw her . . . She realized she could not take her away from him. He was different with her. It was obvious how much he loved his daughter. She would not dare tell him that she sold one of their children to a complete stranger. She hoped every day that she might see her somewhere, but she did not. She guessed they must not live in Dallas. Her daughter was gone forever, and she had only herself to blame. The guilt fed an awful postpartum period which she barely came out of. She did not keep any of the money for herself, instead, giving it to Michelle as a gift after she graduated from college.

  Sophie had kept her dreadful secret and lived with the repugnance no amount of Suave or Dove could remove. She had played the part of the good and faithful wife and doting mother. She accepted Lewis’s disrespectful behavior; the weight of her truth anchored her. Now, after seeing with her own eyes her husband’s truth, being forced to face his philandering ways firsthand after all that had happened, Sophie was finally ready to go.

  Lewis was still on the floor, begging for her to acknowledge him. “Sophie, talk to me.”

  * * *

  He was fuming inside, but he would not direct his anger at Sophie. This was not her fault. He would save it for whoever was responsible.

  He did his best to repeat his question without arousing her anger. “Sophie, where did you get these?”

  She turned to face him. Even in the dark, he could feel her eyes boring into him.

  He was undeterred. “It’s a logical question. Someone is trying to destroy our happy home. Don’t let them do this. I know you’re disappointed, but haven’t I taken care of you? Have you ever wanted for anything?”

  Sophie rolled her eyes at him, irritated at his arrogance.

  “Unbelievable.” Sarcasm was evident in each syllable. “Seriously, what is wrong with you? Do you know what I gave up to be with you? My parents. My family. They disowned me, Lewis! I walked away from my life to build one with you. I was only seventeen. A child. This house is the very least you could do!”

  Sophie turned on the light and walked around the den, pacing, trying to calm down. It was no use. “All the crap you promised me! I loved you, and you do me like this? How could you?”

  “Sophie, I know that, all right? I know you gave them up for me, and I busted my ass to give you the life you had! But it’s never enough . . . I could never be enough for you.”

  Sophie laughed. “You bastard. Of course, make this about you. You are not the victim here. Don’t you dare try to blame me because someone got the ladies’ man on film.”

  Lewis was speechless. How did this happen? How did the situation spiral so far out of his control? It was true that Sophie’s family, with its strong, old-money, Anglo-Saxon heritage, had rejected his rich African ancestry and exiled his wife. He did everything he could to make it up to her by being certain that she wanted for nothing. He would not apologize for his decisions. He did everything he was supposed to do as her husband. In his mind, the liberties he took were his right as a man.

  He walked to the minibar in the far corner of the room and poured himself a glass of Louis XIII. He drank it quickly and poured himself another. Sophie was irate and was not the soft-spoken, docile women he married. She had been angry before but not like this. Regardless of whether he felt she deserved to feel how she felt—he could not handle her being disrespectful. Not without a little help from his “friend,” that is. He looked at Sophie motioning toward his drink. She waved him off and left the room, clearly frustrated.

  Chapter 14

  Sophie hurried to the kitchen cursing Lewis as she stomped down the hall. “Son of a bitch. I could have gone on to college, married, and lived happily! But, no . . . I got knocked up and fell for his crap. I don’t need this. I don’t need any of this!”

  Her eyes bounced along the stucco wall darting in between various family pictures that hung on each side. She came upon a photograph they had taken during one of their prebaby trips, her round belly on full display. She gingerly removed it from the wall, reminiscing for a moment about a happier time. They were on day three of their four-day getaway at Silver Leaf Resort and someone, smitten by their obvious adoration for each other, insisted on capturing the moment. Lewis stood behind Sophie, his long arms cradling their bundle of joy. They had forever ahead of them.

  Craaaaack! Sophie smashed the frame against the wall, sending big chunks of glass flying everywhere. He’s such a liar! She let the frame fall to the floor and with her hands
, frenetically tore the picture into tiny pieces. She held the shreds in her hand, closed her eyes, and like a flower girl in a wedding, resumed her walk, dropping the pieces along the way.

  She switched on the fluorescent light, illuminating the kitchen as soon as her feet hit the black-and-white tiles. The floor’s shine temporarily impaired her vision, but she kept moving like it did not affect her at all. Some people went to church, to confession, engaged in meditation to calm their nerves. Sophie went to the kitchen, her sanctuary. Lewis was a piece of work, and she needed to invite the calm before things got any worse. With the door of the fridge slightly open, she grabbed a pitcher of fresh lemon water from the morning and placed it on the marble countertop. Then Lewis sauntered into the kitchen. Sophie watched him in the reflection on the stainless steel face of the dishwasher as he dragged his large frame to the island in the center of the room. He plopped down on a stool, wasting the small amount of liquor remaining in his glass.

  “Tell me the truth, damn it!”

  Sophie opened the fridge to return the pitcher to its place after pouring herself a glass of water. Her eyes never left Lewis. A fresh cauldron of bile started swirling around in the base of the small fleshy pouch that replaced her taut tummy when her body had extended itself into motherhood. Lewis should not be this intoxicated so quickly. He was sauced and could barely keep his seat on the round bar stool. But this emotive aggravating her senses stretched beyond inebriation and into something larger, more profound. She denied her legs’ request to run and her arms’ request to find some cookware that would suffice as weaponry. There was no need for either of those things. Lewis was drunk and being an ass as usual, but nothing more.

  “Lewis, I have told you everything.”

  “Liar! Dirty liar!”

  Sophie smacked her head against the door of the fridge in frustration. “Lewis, please, drop this.”

  Lewis continued slurring his words and speaking incoherently. “Why you be stupid, Sophie? Don’t be stuuuupiiid.”

  Sophie was on edge. Lewis had successfully stolen her peace. It jetted out of the room the moment his foot entered. She didn’t want to talk about any of this and decided to go to bed. “I’m not stupid.”

  “Whatcha say?”

  “I am not stupid, Lewis.”

  Lewis stared at Sophie through his bloodshot eyes. The room was spinning a bit, but he felt in control. Sophie was going to tell him what he needed to know.

  “Who are you protecting? Huh? Whoo aree yyoouuu pro . . . tect . . . ting?”

  He got up and wobbled around the island until he was close to Sophie, leaning against the edge for support. His consumption of hard liquor was evident in his breath and nearly made Sophie lose her lunch. The stench consumed the air between them, making it unbearable. Suffocating seemed better than to allow that putrid gas into her lungs.

  “Tell me where you got the damn pictures, Soph.”

  He poked her shoulder with each word. She moved slightly to her left, toward the door, to avoid his touch.

  “I told you the truth.”

  “Liar!” he spat in her ear.

  She screamed as a bomb exploded in her head. The tension erupted into the largest fireworks display Sophie had ever witnessed. Variant hues of the color spectrum danced before her eyes as a migraine attacked her with the force of a tsunami wave. She staggered, weakened by the pain shooting through her head as she covered her ears and turned to leave. Lewis grabbed her arm and pulled her back across his body. The counter kept her from hitting the ground, and she paid for its service. Craaaaack . . . Pain ripped her insides as her rib connected with the counter.

  “Ahh! Lewis, what are you doing?”

  Lewis snatched her off the counter by her hair and tossed her to the ground.

  “Lewis, stop!”

  “Tell me!”

  He stood over her, straddling her body, as she tried to scoot away. He grabbed another fistful of hair and lifted her to her feet. “Give me his name!”

  “I don’t know!” Her cries bellowed against the walls of the spacious area.

  His hot breath warmed the tears flowing from her eyes. Taking advantage of her position, she rammed her knee into his family jewels and tried to make a run for it. But the liquor turned his gems to steel, and he felt nothing. Lewis remained on his feet and sidelined her before she could flee the tight space between the island and the counter. Her head took the brunt of the impact as her body collided with the ground again. Lewis pestered her for more information, asking questions she did not have any answers to.

  “Why did they send these? Huh? Who was it, Sophie?”

  Bam! She felt his foot find a soft spot in between her bruised ribs.

  “Please stop, Lewis. Please.”

  She wormed her body away from him, disregarding the avalanche of hurt consuming her and rose to her feet. Courageously forcing her legs to hold her upright, she faced her husband, the man she had shared the majority of her years with, and for the first time, she feared for her life. She saw Lewis as she had not ever seen him before . . . as the raging monster he was. She quickly scanned the room for something to defend herself but found nothing. She cursed her OCD. The kitchen was spotless.

  Smack! Lewis slapped her with such power that the force immediately caused her nose to bleed and her lips and eye to swell. She stumbled backward, nearly falling, but managed to stay on her feet. Blood covered her hands, and there was not one part of her body that didn’t ache.

  “Sophie, just tell me.” The clarity in his voice alerted her to a scary conclusion: her husband was sobering up.

  He was no longer slurring his words. With each blow, the effects of the alcohol left him, and Sophie could plainly see this. It was perhaps what frightened her most. Though he was no longer under the influence of his adult beverage, the look in his eyes was still that of a possessed man. Lewis was drunk with power.

  Her lips were so swollen she could not answer. Not that she had anything new to say. Her jaw hurt too much to move, and it wasn’t even worth the effort. Lewis started closing the space between them, and her mind shifted to Michelle. She had loved Michelle with all of her heart, and she was proud of the young woman she had become. Michelle would be fine. Sophie felt a peace pass over her with the thought. Lewis put his hands around her throat, but Sophie didn’t make a sound. If he was going to kill her, she was ready. She only hoped he would make it quick. She had nothing left to say.

  Chapter 15

  “Hey, love . . .”

  “Armand, before you start, this is not a social call.”

  Armand had been hoping that Michelle would come around. She usually did, and although he suspected this time would be different, it had been a little over a week since she asked for space.

  “That’s unfortunate. Forgive me, already. You know I only have eyes for you.”

  Michelle had to stifle her laugh. This whole thing was utterly ridiculous, and as far as she could tell, unnecessary, but if he wanted to play, who was she to stop the game?

  “All right, Armand. I love you too. Can we move on now? That package you sent to my client, what was in it? The package was intercepted, and some unauthorized parties may have viewed its contents.”

  Now it was Armand’s turn to laugh. “What, are you auditioning to be the next Bond girl or something? Okay . . . uh, that’s terrible, Agent Lewis.”

  “Hush and answer the question. Someone else got what you sent and hid it. Now, what was in it, Agent LaCroix?” Michelle could joke too, but she needed to know what she was dealing with before she got to Brianna’s.

  Armand cringed. He was afraid that would happen. He didn’t know that family, but he knew that what he had found had the potential to rip it apart. Michelle had asked him to handle this for her, and it seemed simple enough. However, once he started doing surveillance, he found some disturbing things, and, frankly, he didn’t even want to share what he’d seen with Michelle.

  “That’s not good,” he stated.

 
“What did you find out?” Michelle didn’t know what to expect given all that she had learned from her conversation with Charlie.

  “Let’s say I’ve seen people get iced over less. This would not have happened if you let me meet with her.”

  “Fortunately for you, she canceled that morning.”

  “Look, I know what your instructions were, but it all seemed ridiculous to me, and that stuff was important.”

  “I understand, but my request for you to remain anonymous was important too, Armand. She saved your butt. I’m still a little angry that you were going to meet with her after I gave you express instructions not to do it.”

  “I don’t know how lucky it was, seeing as though she didn’t get it.”

  Armand was right. Maybe she should have let him meet with Brianna. She wasn’t sure if she was ready to tell Armand about her, and it’s not like she could keep a secret after they met. A twin was not something you could lie about. “What else can you tell me about what was in there?”

  “Nothing. Talk to your client. It is not my place to issue the information.”

  “Oh, now you want to follow my directions? Typical.”

  “Yep. Agent Lewis knows best.”

  Armand was not going to be the bearer of bad news. Michelle had never forbidden him meeting clients before, so he knew this one was special. He would keep his distance until she told him why. Besides, he had enough on his plate.

  Armand didn’t want to tell her. Thankfully, she did not press for details at the moment. She already had plenty to ponder.

  “Okay. Hopefully, we’ll find it. Listen, I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to alarm you, but I think some guys have been watching my place.”

  Armand panicked. “What? Watching your place? Have they tried to do anything? What makes you think that?”

  “Well, I noticed them awhile back, but then they left for a while, but now they’re back. Black sedan, license plate 75Y6TH. Could you look into that for me?” Michelle asked.