Past Sins Revisited

by Mary Goldberger

  “Damn,” he muttered as he walked to his car a sense of dread in his gut that he couldn’t shake although after a brief call from Tomas who told him that Mariah met him at the airport and she talked to Calida the day before, and she was fine.

  He had to be satisfied with that, Edric told himself, as he entered his hotel suite about twenty minutes later. He wanted to call Calida but if he did then he would mention his meeting with Mr. Robertson and when they had that conversation, he wanted to be able to look in her eyes.

  “Soon,” he muttered as he walked over to the window looking out into the night as he thought about the woman that he should hate, but unfortunately she had embedded herself into his heart and he just hoped that his sister would forgive him for falling in love with the sister of the man who had taken her life from her.

  Sophie smiled and leaned against the door giving Edric a few minutes as she waited for him to knock on her door. When no knock on her hotel door sounded, she opened it with a, “Ric, you know that…”

  Her voice trailed off as she stared in stunned silence at the empty hallway before she stepped back inside the room and slammed the door.

  “Damn his gentleman attitude,” she scowled as she walked over to the bed and threw her purse down on it. “Why is he being faithful when the whole thing is a damn charade to get revenge for Adella and ruin Jeffrey?”

  Her dress fall to the floor as she muttered aloud her feelings before she walked to the bathroom where she stepped into the shower after taking a quick look at herself in the bathroom mirror and smiling at what she saw.

  “I guess I will have to get rid of Calida first, though,” she said as the hot water rained down on her. “Ric seems a little more serious than I would’ve thought so he may go through with the wedding as the ultimate revenge, but I can’t let that happen.”

  She made a mistake a few years ago when she accepted another man’s proposal hoping to make Edric jealous and although he had been, Edric doesn’t go after someone if they walked away from him first.

  The proposal lasted less than a month and yet since then, Edric had been friendly and polite but he hadn’t renewed their intimate relationship.

  She started to laugh as she told herself, “He is paying me back for two years ago.”

  She believed that Edric still wanted her but for some reason he was putting a distance between them and now, there was this engagement with a girl who couldn’t compare to her. “Oh Ric,” she said in a husky voice as she allowed her hand to go down her lithe and silky body. “I guess I will let this play out for the time being, but I still have to do something about Calida since she is in love with you.”

  She smiled thinking about the plan that had already been put in motion although she had some misgivings working with Jeffrey. Although she didn’t tell him what Edric was really after, yet she saw his eyes that night at the restaurant and she knew that to get rid of Calida, he would more than gladly help her.

  She frowned slightly as she thought about what would happen if Edric find out about her part in Jeffrey’s plan but she shook her head pushing the thought away. In her mind, she believed that Edric wanted a way out of this marriage to Calida and her being the one to do it will finally show him that she was sorry for what happened in the past although she wasn’t going to admit to it.

  “No man controls me,” she muttered aloud as she turned off the water and reached for the towel drying her body off unaware of the fact at that moment, Edric was thinking about another woman entirely and in those thoughts he definitely wasn’t thinking about a way out of his wedding.

  The following morning, Edric was on his way out of the hotel when Sophie called his cell and he answered it with a brief, “Hello.”

  “Hi, Ric,” she breathed with a small laugh. “I just wanted to tell you goodbye as I’m leaving in about an hour heading for home. I hoped we could have lunch together before my flight…”

  “I’m sorry, Sophie, but I’m on my way to a meeting and I don’t know when it will end,” he told her as he nodded his head at the receptionist heading for the door. “I’m hoping that in the next couple of days, I will be on my way home too.”

  There was silence when Sophie asked casually, “You plan on coming home in the next few days?”

  “That is my plan if everything goes okay in this meeting,” Edric told her frowning slightly as he caught a certain tone in her voice which for some reason gave him a feeling of unease. “I will see you when I return, Sophie.”

  He heard her slight breathless, “You promise?” which he confirmed with a ‘yes’ although he wasn’t going to admit that it wouldn’t be right away. There was only one woman he planned on contacting on his return and Sophie definitely wasn’t her as he said politely, “Sophie, I need to get off and I will talk to you on my return.”

  He hung up a few seconds later as he slipped inside his rented car to start it up and head toward his meeting hoping that he could finish everything up today so he could be on the first flight tomorrow morning for home.

  Sophie flipped her phone closed as a frown slithered across her face and her driver asked, “Is there a problem, ma’am?”

  “I hired you to drive the car not poke your nose into my business,” she told him harshly as she tapped her cell against her lips.

  She may have to find a way to move up the plan because she had believed that Edric would be gone until the end of the week, but he seemed to be in a rush to return.

  Her eyes sparkled with anticipation as she thought about the reason he was rushing his return and a smug smile went across her face.

  “Maybe I don’t have to do anything after all,” she muttered to herself as she settled back against the back seat her eyes sparkling with her female arrogance unaware of what her action would do as she headed home.

  Jeffrey paced back and forward in the small cell they stuck him after he contacted his lawyer, and his teeth clenched as he thought about his call to Calida.

  “Damn bitch,” he muttered as his eyes narrowed and his fists clenched tightly next to his sides. “She will get what’s coming to her just as her mother did. No one tells me no.”

  His eyes flared with a manic light as a smile crossed his face and he turned as the guard came back to the cell door.

  “Mr. Reseda, your lawyer has posted bail,” the guard said his face tight with anger and yet he backed away when he saw the glittering light in Jeffrey’s eyes as he walked out of the cell.

  Jeffrey strode with full purpose behind the man once he locked the cell and escorted him out of the prison, where his lawyer waited for him.

  “Jeffrey, I suggest laying low for a few days,” his lawyer advised as they left the precinct.

  Jeffrey gave him a narrow glare as he said in a cold voice, “My cell?”

  His lawyer swallowed as he handed the man his phone before he shook his head muttering silently to himself as Jeffrey dialed a number. The look on Jeffrey’s face intensified when his call wasn’t answered and the lawyer stopped when Jeffrey slammed his foot into the backdoor of his car.

  “Jeffrey,” his lawyer began, but he stopped again when Jeffrey turned hard eyes to him before he opened the car door and got in closing it behind him as the car pulled away from the curb.

  “Your client seems to be upset, sir,” a voice said, and the lawyer turned as Matt stepped from the shadows his own eyes narrowed as he watched the car drive away.

  “My client has a lot on his mind,” his lawyer muttered nervously.

  “Your client better make sure that he stays away from our witness,” Matt told him warningly his eyes flickering with anger before he turned and walked away.

  The lawyer watched him leave before he turned and headed for his car muttering under his breath, “I must’ve been stupid to be that man’s lawyer. I should’ve quit when I was warned by his former lawyer.”

  He shook his head as he climbed into his car and started it up heading for home although the entire ride home his eyes darted behind him as if he w
as scared of someone following him.

  Sophie glanced at her phone as it rung for the tenth time and she sighed in frustration reading the caller id before she tossed the phone into her purse as the seatbelt light came on to indicate that they were about to descend.

  Sophie patted her purse where the pictures from her meeting yesterday with Edric rested although after her talk with Edric, she didn’t think she had to use them as Edric was rushing home to end his engagement with Calida now that he had what he wanted.

  As the plane touched down and parked in its assigned slot, Sophie got her things ready to get off the plane her head making plans to welcome Edric when she talked to him later getting the exact time he would be home.

  Her hired car was waiting for her as she left the airport with only the small case she had took with her as the point of her sudden flight was to see Edric.

  “Home,” she told her driver as he slid in the driver’s seat after escorting her into the car and closing the door.

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said with a nod as he checked his review mirror before pulling out into traffic leaving the airport.

  They were passing by a small boutique when suddenly Sophie called out, “Stop here.”

  The driver didn’t make a sound as he put on his blinker and immediately did as she ordered parking the car before he opened her door to let her out.

  “I will be awhile,” she told him offhandedly as she walked to the boutique entering without a word and going to the window where the sexy dress hung on the mannequin.

  “May I help you,” a young woman came over with a polite smile which Sophie ignored as she pointed to the dress.

  “I want this dress in a size eight,” she told the woman without hesitation.

  The woman nodded her head as she said, “Would you like to look at anything else…?”

  “Just get me the dress I asked for,” Sophie said in a cold voice glancing around the store. “Or I can get your manager to help me instead.”

  The woman smiled and nodded her head as she walked away although she rolled her eyes as she turned unworried about Sophie’s threat about talking to her manager.

  Sophie tried on the dress and smiling at herself in the mirror of the fitting room she muttered, “He will love it” before she changed back into her clothes.

  She bought it without hesitation adding a pair of heels that would make her legs look longer than they already were, and although she had a pair that would go with the dress, she decided to give herself a treat as she thought about what kind of wedding dress she was going to buy for her wedding to Edric.

  She went out to her car where her driver was waiting and he opened the door for her before sliding in the driver’s seat and heading for her home.

  Edric sighed as he sat in his seat taking a look at his watch as the members filed back in the room after being gone for over an hour.

  He didn’t allow his frustration show on his face at how long they’ve been in their meeting as one of the board members said, “Mr. Walwyn, you must be one lucky guy. We heard that you are engaged to Calida Reseda.”

  Edric couldn’t stop his surprise at the man’s words while he noted the others eyes staring at him with interest as he said, “We got engaged about a month ago, sir.”

  He watched as the men nodded their heads and relaxed in their seats as smiles crossed their faces.

  “Calida was her father’s pride and joy although he knew that after his wife died, he didn’t spend as much time with her as he should have,” one remarked shaking his head with a frown.

  One man cleared his throat as he glanced around the table before he said in a low voice, “He was also worried about Calida.”

  Edric frowned as he said, “Why was he worried about her?”

  “He believed that his son wanted his stepsister,” the man said bluntly. “He didn’t have proof of it and after she got a little older, he seemed to worry less.”

  “It is because Calida started looking less like her mother and more like him,” another interjected. “Jeffrey was infatuated with Calida’s mother although she only had eyes for his father and did from their first meeting.”

  “She was a beautiful woman and yet she loved him even more than his first wife did,” the first man said in full confidence.

  “She loved him for himself and not his money like his first wife,” another said in a harsh voice.

  Edric saw the narrowed looks thrown that man’s way and he merely grunted, “It is the truth.”

  Edric was confused though as he said slowly, “What does my marrying Calida have anything to do with this meeting?”

  They all looked at each other before the one who originally bought the subject up said, “Even though her father didn’t leave her many shares in Reseda Electronics, we would rather he had because then maybe the company wouldn’t be going bankrupt if he had. Although the company wasn’t what Calida wanted to do, unlike Jeffrey, she wouldn’t let it be destroyed.”

  “We did our research on you, Edric,” another said giving him a steady stare. “We know you can help Reseda Electronics, and in the long run, help us. If Calida is willing to give you her shares of Reseda Electronics, then we have no trouble helping you out also.”

  “Jeffrey, for all his arrogance, doesn’t own as many shares of the company as he believes,” another said giving Edric a hard look.

  “I’ve collected a few over the years,” Edric admitted in a gruff voice.

  They waved their hands at him as another said, “I willing to sell you my shares which will give you more than enough of the majority to do a takeover.”

  Edric stared at the man in complete silence before he asked, “Why are you willing to sell me your shares?”

  The man laughed before he told him, “I’m getting older and while I can live off the money from the shares, my wife wants to move away from here and I really don’t want to have to travel here every time there is a board meeting.”

  The others laughed at his blunt explanation while Edric chuckled and relaxed back in his seat folding his hands together as he asked in his negotiator’s tone that made him a good businessman, “So what are you willing to accept for those shares?”

  The man laughed as the others shook their head and settled back wanting to see the showdown between the two gentlemen and Edric smiled which caused them all to shiver slightly because they knew that face.

  Two hours later, Edric was shaking hands with the board members as they told him, “Take care of Calida, Edric.”

  “I will,” Edric told them sincerely as they left the conference room and Edric glanced down at his watch with a disgruntled look because he wouldn’t be able to leave tonight and he headed back to his hotel.

  Once there, he took a shower and then called Tomas who sounded relax, and more, when he answered and Edric laughed as Tomas cursed at him.

  “We did it, Tomas,” Edric told him as he sat down at the table looking at the hotel menu for dinner although he wasn’t exactly hungry. “As of two hours ago, I have more than enough shares to do a complete takeover of Reseda Electronics.”

  As he said this, he frowned before he uttered “damn” as Tomas grimaced on the other end.

  “Unless you plan on going back there, you better go ahead and implement the plan now,” Tomas told him.

  Edric sighed as he leaned back his head and pinched the bridge of his nose, “I wanted to come home because I miss Calida. Besides, she and I need to sit down and have a talk.”

  “You’re going to tell her the truth, Ric, right,” Tomas stated as Mariah came into the room and she stilled shooting him a narrowed look before she continued over to the couch.

  “I won’t go into our marriage without her knowing that I love her,” Edric told him bluntly. “I don’t care how long it takes for her to forgive me, but Calida is the one I want to marry. I think there are some things she wants to tell me too so I think we will take a small vacation to my cabin in the mountains.”

  Mariah heard most of his
words as she settled next to Tomas and he winked at her as he laughed on the phone.

  “I guess I should let your secretary know that you are taking a holiday,” he suggested watching as Mariah smirked at him before taking a sip of her coffee.

  “Mariah already knows as I arranged it before I left,” Edric told him with a smug smile.

  “You had already plan on telling Calida the truth,” Tomas uttered in astonishment.

  “She deserves the truth and after what I learned, I think she needs to get a few things off her chest too,” he hinted at as his eyes flared with passion at the thought of Calida.

  “I will finish up business tomorrow and schedule an evening flight,” Edric told him. “Have Mariah get a flight around nine or ten so I can be home by morning.”

  Tomas gave Mariah a questioning look as she nodded her head and reached for her pad making a notation on it.

  “Mariah will have the information for you tomorrow morning,” Tomas told him as he raised his eyebrows at Mariah who nodded her head in agreement.

  “All right,” Edric said a note of weariness in his voice. “Well, I will let the two of you enjoy your night and I think I will call my fiancée as I want to hear her voice.”

  Tomas was still laughing as he flipped his phone closed but Mariah saw the shock in his eyes as she said, “It wasn’t supposed to happen like that, was it?”

  “No,” Tomas admitted in a soft voice but he smiled as he put his arm around her and pulled her next to him. “But I’m glad it did because since he met Calida, my friend has laughed again in happiness for the first time in ten years.”

  Mariah sighed snuggling into him as she murmured, “I hope that Calida will forgive him.”

  “Oh, I don’t think Ric is going to let that stop him,” Tomas told her in a gruff voice. “As he just told me, he will wait as long as it takes for her to forgive him.”

  Mariah smiled as Tomas leaned down to kiss her and she sighed into his mouth forgetting about everything else as he ignited the passion inside her.