Compulsively Mr. Darcy

by Nina Benneton

  “The timing makes sense now. She was losing the leverage to pressure William to marry Anne, so she and Anne targeted Georgiana right before she turned eighteen.” Mary stood. “Where is Anne?”

  “She was here briefly Monday but she returned to Chicago. She won’t be back until our board meeting next week.”

  “Does she have a computer here?”

  “There should be a desktop computer in her office here. Both her laptop and her desktop are DDF property…”

  He was speaking to an empty room. Rushing after her, he pointed to Anne’s office.

  Within minutes, Mary had hacked into Anne’s desktop and discovered Georgiana’s pictures, as well as pictures of Anne and Wickham in various bondage poses. She deleted Georgiana’s but left the couples’ on the screen.

  Richard had to turn away to fight waves of nausea.

  Mary clicked on a particularly explicit picture of Anne and nudged him. “Now that’s what I call good, dirty porn. Not that cheap, lightweight stuff you had on your computer.”

  One glance and he emptied his lunch into the nearby trash can.

  Showing no concern for his state, she left the room.

  After heaving a few more times, he scrambled after her. He found her in Darcy’s office. He gasped. “That’s the chairman of DDF’s computer with classified information!”

  “Then he should have had better safeguards so I wouldn’t be able to hack into it so easily. Besides, I don’t give a fuck what chairman he is. He’s married to my sister and I want to see if he has kinky taste too.” Her fingers flew over the keyboard. “What do you know? All the smut is at the VP’s level. The chairman is boring. No porn, nothing.”

  “Darcy is going to cough up a cow when he hears how easily you’ve breached the security system.”

  “Never mind that now.” She drummed her fingers on the desk. “So, what to do about slutty, wicked, greedy Anne?”

  CHAPTER 39

  Bang Bang

  Anne’s cell phone rang the minute she entered her hotel suite.

  “There’s a way for you to get rid of the two clowns and be back at DDF headquarters,” her stepmother said in greeting.

  “Tell me how.” Anne put down her laptop. “I can’t stand it here in Chicago anymore.”

  “I know it’s been hard, but it’s wise to keep a low profile until my nephew forgets the hospital business.”

  “He didn’t even say anything personal to me when I saw him in Oakland. He treated me like I was a regular employee, giving my report.” She had tried to tempt him with provocative pictures of herself—her best pictures, she must admit—but she detected no spark of interest. The man behaved, as usual, like an asexual piece of rock around her.

  “Never you mind that,” Catherine advised. “Focus on his weak area instead, his sister. Time to send her another email to keep her off balance.”

  “I sent one Monday from New York,” Anne said. Richard and Charles were in her office looking over her figures from Chicago. Angry at being supervised by them, she had impulsively sent an email to Georgiana. “That’s only two days ago. It’s best to wait a while before sending another. If we overwhelm her, she might go running to Darcy and we’d lose the chance to pressure her to sell her voting shares of DDF to us.”

  “Good thinking. Has that fool in Los Angeles sent you anything good yet?”

  “Not yet, but I’m expecting it soon. He has it set up.” Anne had received an email the day before from Wickham telling her he would move soon. He sent her sample pictures taken with some other girl to assure her he knew what to do with the Bennet girl.

  “Email the sample pictures to me,” Catherine ordered when Anne told her. “And tell him I also want to see all the pictures he takes of the Bennet girl before he leaks them to the tabloids. I want my nephew embarrassed good by his wife’s family. I want him sorry he married into trash. Are you sure Wickham got the right girl?”

  “Yes. I told him to target the Bennet sister who’s graduating from Stanford.”

  “Good. She’s of age then. I paid a lot of my money for them and I want to make sure he’s not wasting my money this time indulging in his perversion with girls too young for him.”

  “Don’t worry. He’s not messing with underage girls,” Anne soothed, then reminded her stepmother, “though, don’t forget that his perversion was what got us the pictures of Georgiana.”

  “Be very specific with him in your instructions. If only he hadn’t messed up last year. If only he’d specified you, not that fool Richard.”

  “It wasn’t completely George’s fault,” Anne defended Wickham. “We didn’t know she’d told Richard she had a boyfriend. And I myself should have thought of some work emergency somewhere to send Richard off that week, as I did Darcy.”

  “I still say that fool Wickham ruined it for himself and for us with that mistake. He could be collecting alimony right now from my nephew for agreeing to divorce Georgiana, and you would be Mrs. Darcy right now and on the company’s board.”

  “There was no guarantee Darcy would have married me.”

  “Of course he would have.” Catherine’s voice was confident. “He would have done anything to have you help get Georgiana released from that Wickham fool and his cult. You have leverage with Wickham.”

  “I do.” Anne knew Wickham wouldn’t be able to resist getting Georgiana into some bondage getup, even if he was able to stick to the agreement that he couldn’t touch the underage girl until her eighteenth birthday. Hiding herself in his apartment and doing a little subterfuge photography had been fruitful. With those photos, she had been able to control both Wickham and Georgiana.

  “About my news”—excitement returned to Catherine’s voice—“those two clowns in New York called a board meeting tomorrow instead of waiting until next week.”

  “Go on.”

  “Remember the company bylaws about board meetings? The one my father had put in to ensure that the DDF board couldn’t meet in secret and outvote a Darcy if the family’s ownership of the company’s shares dipped?”

  “Yes?”

  “Any member who called such a board meeting and knowingly didn’t inform or exclude a Darcy would be ousted. My nephew’s never missed a meeting.”

  Anne leaned forward. “And?”

  “He’ll miss this one. A little bird told me he’s tied up with some emergency with his wife’s pregnancy, and the two clowns aren’t going to bother him.”

  Restless with excitement, Anne paced.

  “Without him, it’s an illegal board meeting and you’ll have reason to force their hands. Show up and remind them all of the bylaws. I bet they forgot about it.”

  “Brilliant.”

  “Darcy will have no choice but to dismiss or suspend the two clowns from the board. They’re not expecting you at the meeting. You need to get to New York tomorrow and surprise them. Just show up and tell them you’re there to report to the board about Chicago.”

  “I’m going to check on flights right now.” Happily, she opened her laptop.

  ***

  “Damn Hollywood.” Darcy leaned his elbows on his legs, clasped his hands, and fought the urge to get up and wash them again. He’d been away from his wife since Monday, and already it was Wednesday evening. His hands were now red and raw. He hated not being able to control the situation, though he had no choice but to stay put. Lieutenant Denny of the FBI didn’t want to run the risk of having him accidentally run into Wickham in the hotel. He turned to the large man sitting beside him. “Are you certain Denny knows what he’s doing?”

  Brandon answered, “Denny’s a little young and eager, but he’s well supervised. I know his boss very well. Eleanor Dashwood is a sharp and sensible agent.”

  “Then why isn’t she here supervising?” Darcy said, peeved.

  “Because, like many brilliant people, Eleanor’s also a bit eccentric,” Brandon replied in a dry voice and a pointed glance at Darcy. “She’s attending a Star Trek convention.” He shrugged in r
esponse to Darcy’s disgusted snort. “When you’re head of the Law Enforcement Unit of the Anti-Child Pornography Task Force, you need to chill sometimes and have a hobby in order to deal with this kind of situation day in and day out.”

  “While she’s playing dress-up with some Vulcans, that bloody whelp Denny is going to falsely charge my mother-in-law.”

  “You know it’s not Mrs. Bennet Denny’s after. He’s only using the threat of charging her as Wickham’s accomplice to keep you in line and get you to cooperate.”

  “She’s silly and starstruck, and that’s all she is. No nefarious, deeper thoughts or complicity with Wickham’s ugly doings.”

  “I’m sure Denny knows that. Why do you think he arranged for her to be touring a few exclusive movie sets around Hollywood today? He wants her out of the way.”

  “Damn Hollywood,” Darcy muttered again.

  “I should have picked up Wickham’s trail when he re-entered the country.”

  “Don’t blame yourself. I had our guys watch him to make sure he didn’t get close to my wife and sister, not to track his whereabouts once he left the country.”

  “Wickham’s too much of a small-time guy to have the resources he’s suddenly acquired, bankrolling a reality TV show. Eleanor is certain it’s not the cult money behind this. Someone else is financing his child pornography.”

  Brandon lapsed into silence after that, leaving Darcy to his thoughts. When Lydia and her mother went to Hollywood, Darcy automatically had Brandon check out whether or not the show was a legitimate operation as a routine precaution. After Brandon informed him Monday morning George Wickham was the director behind Lydia’s show, going under his Dutch name of Ury, Darcy immediately flew down to Los Angeles.

  They discovered the FBI had also been watching Wickham. With the FBI involved, it wasn’t that simple to extract Lydia from the show without first proving to the FBI that Lydia’s mother wasn’t involved, for Mrs. Bennet appeared to be friendly—too friendly—with Ury/Wickham.

  Darcy made a deal with Lieutenant Denny. He would cooperate and provide all necessary help with the operation if Mrs. Bennet would not be pursued legally when the FBI found no cause to charge her. He didn’t trust the ambitious FBI agent not to trump up something to implicate his innocent, if exasperatingly silly, mother-in-law.

  The door opened. An eager look on his face, Denny entered. “Bang bang. It’s game time, gentleman. He has the two girls in the room and the equipment set up. We’re sure it’s not only cheerleading pictures he’s planning.”

  Irritated with the agent’s manner and anxious about Lydia, Darcy ignored him.

  Denny put his hand out. “We won’t let any harm come to your sister-in-law, Mr. Darcy.”

  Darcy headed toward the door.

  “We’re going to let him hang himself a little before we swoop in.” Denny raised his voice. “I’m in charge of the FBI operation here, Mr. Darcy.”

  At that, Darcy dropped his hand from the doorknob and faced the agent. “I don’t give a bloody damn if you’re in charge of the presidency of the United States, I’m not going to let Wickham or you or even her put herself in jeopardy so you can call this operation a success.”

  After a brief second meeting Darcy’s stare, the agent nodded and backed down.

  They walked in silence toward the hotel room where Wickham’s supposed studio was set up. When they neared it, Darcy noticed undercover men already in place. A mere three yards from the room, they heard a loud scream from inside.

  Darcy sprinted. Brandon pulled him back and shoved him behind. Undercover men appeared with guns drawn.

  “You motherfucker asshole dirty old man! Ew! Ew! Gross! No way am I doing any of that with you! Gross!” Lydia’s voice rang loud and clear. “Yuck! Yuck! Ew! Get somebody your own age! You pervert!”

  A loud scream of a man in pain followed.

  Denny opened the door to Wickham’s suite. He stood still… and laughed.

  Darcy escaped Brandon and lunged to join Denny.

  Wickham was on the floor, wearing nothing but crotchless black leather pants, writhing and screaming with his hands over his groin. “Owwwwww! Help me! The bitch kicked me!”

  “Don’t call me a bitch!” Lydia, dressed in a cheerleading outfit, screamed back and lifted her leg to deliver another blow.

  Brandon placed himself between her and Wickham.

  She screamed at Brandon, “He did something to Ashley over there. She’s all loony toony now. Look!”

  Ashley, half lying, half falling from a couch in a corner of the room, idiotically smiled and waved.

  Lydia noticed Darcy then. She ran to him. “Ew! William, he was gross!” she half sobbed, half shouted. “We were supposed to be posing for another set of cheer pictures when he ripped off the flap of his pants and tried to get me to… Ew! He’s old! He must be over thirty at least!”

  “Shh. You’re all right, now,” Darcy soothed.

  “Ew! Yuck! I’m going to get Mary to kick his ass. He bared his hairy ass and his old wienie. Gross! Gross! Yuck! I am never ever going to have sex with a man! So gross!”

  The FBI men laughed quietly. Brandon motioned for him to take Lydia away while they dealt with the scene.

  Darcy calmed his sister-in-law and arranged for Ashley to be observed at a hospital until her guardians arrived. When he later met up with Brandon for debriefing, he learned Wickham had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance. Lydia, with her strong cheerleader legs, had kicked the man so hard his genitals developed painful swelling and bleeding.

  CHAPTER 40

  Caught in a Pickle

  Mrs. Ching pressed a tissue to her nose and followed the hostess into the back room of Carnegie Deli.

  The hostess stopped. “I’m sorry. My mistake. There’s no free table back here.”

  “I’d be happy to share my table,” a young lady sitting alone said. “But I’m not sharing my pickles. She has to get her own.”

  Gratefully accepting the friendly offer, Mrs. Ching sat. After she ordered the matzo ball soup, she turned to her companion. “Why, you’re pregnant! Oh, I feel bad sitting here when I have a cold. I don’t want you to get sick.”

  “Why? I told you I’m not sharing my food.” The young lady’s hand covered her pickle plate. “I’m teasing. I’m Elizabeth.”

  “Lorna,” Mrs. Ching introduced herself. What a sweet, friendly thing. A waiter brought two giant-sized pastrami sandwiches for Elizabeth.

  “I was very hungry when I ordered,” Elizabeth said when she saw Mrs. Ching’s reaction. She pointed to her stomach. “Twins.”

  “That’s a lot of meat.” Mrs. Ching was stunned at the amount of food in front of Elizabeth.

  “These days, I eat everything. I’m also supposed to report my dietary intake to a very worried husband so he can graph it. He loves to work with numbers and graphs. Some days I make up a healthier diet to appease him. It’s our first pregnancy.”

  Mrs. Ching smiled. “He sounds like a devoted husband.”

  “He is. He’s trying to get as much work done as possible before the babies arrive. He’s a workaholic. It’s a good thing I met him when he was an unemployed accountant on vacation.”

  Mrs. Ching wondered why Elizabeth had laughed at the end. “Please, eat your food before it gets cold.”

  “Yumm. Nothing beats a New York pastrami sandwich. I’ve been craving this and the pickles the whole plane ride here this morning.” Elizabeth added she was in New York to take care of some family business. “Why are you out and about instead of at home resting when you’re sick?”

  “There’s an important meeting at work this afternoon. My boss is not in town at the moment. He can be such a bear if things aren’t done right. I don’t trust these young assistants they have covering for me.”

  “You must be a treasure then.”

  Over lunch, they chatted about pregnancy food cravings. Mrs. Ching revealed she used to crave Chinese dim sum. Elizabeth agreed that sounded good and that it might be h
er next craving, after pickles.

  Mrs. Ching asked, “Are you prepared for the little ones with supplies?”

  Elizabeth made a face. “Everything is so expensive. I can’t believe some of the babies’ outfits cost more than my own clothes.”

  Mrs. Ching hoped Elizabeth’s husband job was secure, with two babies coming. Thank goodness DDF was in good shape from Mr. Darcy’s diligence. Though he kept in touch with her daily by phone and email, she hadn’t seen him since he relocated to the West Coast. His employees had yet to meet or see a clear picture of the illusive Mrs. Darcy. That surprised no one. Mr. Darcy was fanatical about his privacy. “If you want to shop while you’re here, I know the best bargain places for children’s clothes.”

  “Thanks, I’d appreciate the stores’ names.”

  Mrs. Ching wrote the names of the stores and added her home number. “Call me if you have a craving for dim sum too. I know the best place in Chinatown. Now, I need to head to work.”

  “Thanks, Lorna.” Elizabeth pocketed the slip of paper without looking at it. “Good luck with the meeting. Tell your boss to go suck a pickle if he’s too much of a bear.”

  Chuckling at the thought of the serious Mr. Darcy sucking a pickle, Mrs. Ching left.

  ***

  Two hours later, Mrs. Ching positioned herself near the door of the DDF boardroom and observed the sea of serious faces. Elizabeth’s pickles would do some good for this crowd, Mrs. Ching decided. Mr. Fitzwilliam and Mr. Bingley appeared grave and the meeting hadn’t even started yet. A tiny young woman with unusually large eyes sat next to Mr. Fitzwilliam at the conference table in the center of the room.

  Assistants arranged themselves along the perimeter of the room, ready to take notes or run errands. Mrs. Ching saw a couple new assistants, like that one who seemed to be hidden from view, sitting behind Wendy, Mr. Bingley’s newly hired assistant. Mrs. Ching reminded herself to say hello to the new assistants after the meeting.