by Dyanne Davis
“You…you…I don’t believe you did that.”
“Why? I wasn’t lying. We’ve both known since the day of that banquet that we were going to pick up where we left off. I have no doubt we’re going to eventually sleep together.” He laughed again. “Your husband’s really worried about that. I saw how he looked when I told him.”
“That made you happy, Tommy?”
“Somewhat.”
“It shouldn’t. You don’t know anything about Simon. He’s a good man.”
“If you came here to extol his virtues you came to the wrong place. Tell me something, Mary Jo. You knew what I was going to say about this, you had to. Why did you come? If this act of pretending to care about your husband is to save face, don’t worry about it. You’ve taken the first step by moving out. Make it permanent.”
“I came here because I remembered how much I loved you for four years of my life. I came because until the day you walked back into my life I had not allowed myself to feel anything, not even anger.” She felt the quaking begin in her limbs and trembled as it spiraled through her.
“I wanted you to know that you don’t have to attack Simon because of your anger with me. That’s why I came. Seeing you again after all those years made me open myself to the truth, that I love Simon, that I had loved him all along. For that, I’m grateful to you. I wanted us to get past this. I’m sorry that I didn’t wait to see if you would come back.”
She sighed, knowing that she was sorry she’d not given him more time, but not sorry that her life had taken a different turn, that she was now in love with Simon. And she was, regardless of what Tommy thought.
“About our baby: I had a hard time making that decision, Tommy. Please don’t hate this baby or my husband because of it. I had pain then and have had every day of my life since for making that choice.”
Tommy looked down. “I will admit that I have regretted for twelve years that you thought I didn’t love you. I regret that I ran off like that. But this is about Simon. I still don’t believe you love him.”
“That’s too bad because I do.”
“Yet you’re living in a hotel.”
“For a day or two. Then I’m going home.” She sighed again. There was no use in continuing the conversation. Tommy saw what he wanted to see and none of it was true. She reached for her purse and spilled it. Watching her belongings tumble to the floor, she felt a lurch of sadness. Janice quickly picked up as many things as she could. She needed to get away from Tommy. If she left a tube of lipstick she didn’t care.
“Tommy, if you ever loved me like you say you did, please stop trying to destroy my marriage.” She practically ran out of the door.
* * *
Tommy stood staring after Mary Jo, wishing he could make her understand he wasn’t doing what he was doing out of anger. If he didn’t believe there was something left between them he’d let go, he’d forgive her. Hell, he’d even admit to the jealousy that gnawed at him. Why shouldn’t he be jealous? She was going to give to another man what she’d taken from him.
He couldn’t get over the fact that she was having Simon’s baby. Tommy looked up as Neal came into the room. “I thought I asked you not to bother me.”
“I didn’t come in while she was here but, man, maybe we should lighten up on her. She was crying when she left here. It’s not good for her baby for her to be so stressed out.”
Glaring would have to suffice. If Tommy spoke to Neal now, that would be the end of their friendship. He didn’t give a damn about the baby Mary Jo was carrying. It wasn’t his.
“There’s something under the table,” Neal said.
Tommy bent to retrieve the velvet jewelry box. He opened the cover and took the bracelet out and held it up for inspection.
“Wow,” Neal whistled, coming closer to examine the bracelet. “That’s some serious bling-bling. Is it Janice’s?”
“It’s Mary Jo’s, yes. Before you give me that suspicious look, she dropped her purse. I didn’t lift the damn thing; you saw it under the table.” Tommy turned the bracelet over again and examined it, smiling as he did so. “I wonder how much I would get for this.”
“Aren’t you going to give it back to her?”
“Sure. I was kidding. I’ll make sure to return it. Matter of fact, I think I’ll leave and do it now. Do you think you can handle things here for the afternoon?”
Without waiting for an answer Tommy left the store laughing. After all, it wasn’t as if Neal could very well say no. Tommy was the boss.
* * *
“What?” Simon barked into the phone. All day long he’d been in a bad temper. All day his secretary had buzzed him even though he’d told the man he didn’t want to be bothered.
“There’s a Mr. Tommy Strong to see you. He said he had an appointment with you.”
Simon growled low in his throat. “Send him in,” he said, rising from his chair, not believing the man had the gall to come to his office.
“What the hell do you want?” Simon asked.
Tommy smiled. “I came to give you something that might belong to you.” He smirked and pulled a pair of panties from his jeans pocket—a pair of panties he’d stopped in a boutique to buy.
He brought the panties to his nose and sniffled. “Too bad you didn’t believe me before,” he said. “You could have saved yourself a lot of trouble.” He sniffed the brand new panties again. “I’m sure you recognize your wife’s scent.” He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them.
“You dirty filthy liar!” Simon lunged at Tommy as fury cold as a winter’s snow raked over him.
“You think so?” Tommy laughed. This time he reached into his other pocket and brought his hand out, dangling the sapphire and diamond bracelet in front of Simon, stopping Simon in his tracks. “I guess you need to repair the clasp. It fell off in my bed.”Tommy laughed and threw the bracelet to Simon before he turned on his heel and walked away.
It hadn’t felt as good as he’d thought it would. The man had turned a ghastly shade of white and for a moment Tommy had thought he was going to have a stroke or a heart attack. He looked back and saw Simon standing in the same position he’d left him in. Simon’s eyes came up and Tommy saw the pain.”
Join the club, he thought as he walked away. Simon Kohl wasn’t the only one hurting. If Janice couldn’t realize on her own that she belonged with him, then he had no choice but to show her. He pushed away the pain in Simon Kohl’s eyes. He knew all too well how it felt to have someone ram a sword through your heart.
* * *
Simon clutched the bracelet in his hand. He’d been about to slam his fist into Tommy’s face for lying about his Wife, and then he’d shown him the bracelet. There was only one way he could have gotten it and that was from Janice. He clenched and unclenched his fists, willing the pain that had gathered in his chest to go away.
Simon didn’t know how long he stood in the middle of his office like that. He only knew when he moved that he was going to keep another promise he’d made to his wife. He’d warned her not to sleep with another man; he’d made it perfectly clear. She’d chosen to leave him. Disgust for her actions filled him. How could she do that while she was pregnant with his child? “Is it yours?” a little voice said. And Simon raked every item off his desk in one massive sweep of his arm. When several employees ran in, he screamed at them to get out and slammed the door.
He was feeling clear about what he was going to do. He made several calls, then looked again at the bracelet and made several more.
* * *
Janice turned on the news, wondering if she should call Simon, surprised that he’d not called her to apologize, to ask her to come home. No matter, she would return home tomorrow. She would make her husband understand if she had to get a hammer and pound him over the head with it. Suddenly what the news anchor was saying broke into her thoughts.
Publisher William J. Davis has acknowledged that the buzz around town is true. They are severing ties with several of their w
riters who have used ghostwriters. New York Times best-selling writer Janice Lace is one of those authors. According to him, they will be seeking a return of the two million dollar advance for Janice Lace’s last contract, due in part to missed deadlines. Janice Lace, for those of you who don’t know, recently married billionaire Simon Kohl. This reporter doesn’t think having to return an advance, even a two million dollar one, will send Janice Lace AKA Mrs. Kohl to the poorhouse.
Stunned wasn’t the word, for Janice’s reaction. She was almost paralyzed with outrage. She reached for the phone and dialed Michelle.
“Did you see the news tonight?”
“I saw it.”
“What the hell’s happening? What is that about? You know it’s not true. I have never missed a deadline.”
“I know that.”
“Then why are they saying it?” When Michelle remained silent, Janice knew. “Is it true about the advance? Did they ask for the advance back?” she asked, knowing that she didn’t have money sitting around in a bank. It was invested, Simon had invested it all. “Oh God, no! Simon, what have you done?” she moaned.
“What?”
Janice had almost forgotten that her agent was on the phone. “Never mind,” she said. “I’ll call you when I straighten this out, if I ever do.” She hung up the phone and screamed in frustration.
She had one more call to make. Shaking in fury, she hit the programmed number. “Simon, what have you done?” she asked.
“Just exactly what I told you I would do. I warned you and you wouldn’t listen.”
“Warned me about what?” she screamed.
“I warned you not to go, not to leave me for him, not to sleep with Tommy and you didn’t listen.”
“I didn’t go to Tommy. Simon, stop talking crazy. I’m staying at the Edwardian.”
“You haven’t been with Tommy?”
“No.”
“Then how the hell did he get your bracelet? Magic?” Then he slammed the phone down.
Janice hopped off the bed and ran to her purse. No jeweler’s case. It didn’t take an Einstein to figure that it had fallen out with all of her things and she hadn’t seen it. And it also wouldn’t take much figuring to know that Tommy had taken it to Simon. So much for Tommy not using her to hurt her husband.
Janice sat on the bed cradling a pillow against her chest, rocking her body. She’d had good reason to leave home, at least she’d thought so at the time. Her intention had been to give them a chance to cool off, to not do anything that couldn’t be undone.
Well, this couldn’t be undone. Simon was gearing up for battle just when she’d lost interest in fighting.
* * *
“You’ve gone too far. You’re destroying her career. How is she supposed to continue writing with this kind of slander.”
“Too far?” Simon glared at Harold. “I’ve only just begun. I warned her.”
“She’s your wife, man. For God’s sake, how can you do this?”
“Easily.” Simon snapped his fingers. “That’s all that it took.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“She slept with Tommy Strong.”
“How do you know this?”
“He came here to rub it in my face.”
“Simon, how do you know it’s true? Did you give her a chance to defend herself?”
“Why? She’s been lying to me this entire time. She didn’t admit kissing him until I cornered her. Do you think she’s going to admit to sleeping with him?”
“The man hates you, he could be lying.”
“He gave me proof.”
Harold paled, thinking Simon had pictures or a tape showing his wife committing adultery. “He filmed her?” he asked disgustedly.
“No, he gave me her bracelet.”
“Her bracelet.” Harold frowned. “How the hell does jewelry prove that she slept with him?”
“She was with him,” Simon yelled. “She was with him and she lied to me about it. Why did she feel compelled to lie if she wasn’t guilty?”
Harold ran a hand over his face, feeling tired and old, feeling as though he was reliving a part of his life best left dead. He crossed the room and slumped into a chair. “Talk to her, give her a chance to explain. Stop what you’re doing before it’s too late.”
“It’s already too late.”
Harold looked at Simon and saw Simon’s father saying those exact words. He’d didn’t want to see Simon self-destruct but in sixty years he still hadn’t learned how to stop a man hell-bent on destruction.
“It’s evident that she loves you. Anyone can see it. She’s expecting your child. What are you going to do about that?”
“What if it’s not mine?”
“You’re traveling down a very dangerous road, Simon, one that you may not be able to turn from. What is it with the men in your family? Why this need to find a way to destroy your happiness? You’ve dumped one burden and picked up another. Don’t you think it’s time to stop?”
“I can’t. And I wouldn’t if I could. She left me!”
“And I don’t blame her,” Harold said, softly rubbing his face. “You started this mess, Simon. You went looking for trouble and you found it. You’ve had me fooled all of these years. I thought all you needed was a woman that you loved, a woman that loved you and everything would be better for you. Now I see it won’t, you can’t be happy.”
“How the hell could I be happy wondering each day if that would be the day she’d stop loving me?” Simon answered, allowing the pain he felt to surface in his words. “It’s over. I don’t have to wonder any longer.”
“You think she doesn’t love you any longer?”
“How could she? If she loved me she wouldn’t have left. She wouldn’t have gone to him.” Simon stopped, closing his eyes in pain.
“It’s done, Harold. I’m doing what I told her I would do.”
“Simon,” Harold whispered softly, coming to stand in front of the man he had loved like a son from the moment he was born, “are you telling me that you don’t love your wife?”
“I’m telling you I’m going to do what I need to do. I told her that she didn’t want me for an enemy. She didn’t listen.”
“Simon, I’m begging you. Stop this nonsense before it’s too late.”
“Like I said, it’s already too late, unless you have a time machine and can go back and erase the past.”
“It’s not the past that needs to be erased, Simon, it’s the present. What you do now is on your head, not your ancestors’, not Tommy Strong’s and not your wife’s. Just remember, what you do to her, you do to your child.”
* * *
Damn Harold for always being so reasonable. Why couldn’t he ever see his side of things? He’d warned Janice. Why shouldn’t he carry out his threat? Because she’s your wife, moron, because she’s pregnant with your baby, because you would be worse than a rotten bastard to destroy her career. Simon listened to the voice of his conscience and sighed, knowing that destroying her career would make him worse than a rotten bastard, it would be unforgivable. A shiver ran down his spine as he thought how he’d crushed his enemies in the past.
“There’s one more reason that I can’t destroy her career,” he said aloud. “I love her.” She is my Achilles heel, the line I can’t cross, he thought, and picked up the phone.
“Janice, are you ready to come home?” he asked.
“You’re incredible. Do you know that you are totally unbelievable? You try to ruin my career and now you think I’m going to just come home.”
“I was wrong in that. There will be a retraction.”
“There shouldn’t be a retraction because you should have never said those things. This is my career you’re messing with. You’ve crossed the line.”
“I’m admitting to crossing the line on that. But if you don’t come home in the next twenty-four hours I hope you plan to pay for that suite because I’m pulling the plug on that. If you’re leaving me, I won’t finance it. And if tha
t makes me a bastard, oh well. You can always come home.” I want you home, he thought, but didn’t dare say.
“You are a bastard, Simon.” Janice yelled as loud as she could. “I have money. I don’t need yours. Do you understand? And you’d better be telling the truth this time. I’d better see a retraction in the paper and on the news or you’re going to live to regret it.
“I’d advise you not to issue any more threats. I called you to apologize.”
“Funny, I didn’t hear an apology, only another ultimatum.”
“Come home, Janice, this isn’t doing you, me, or the baby any good.”
“You should have thought about that before I left,” Janice answered and slammed the phone down in his ear.
For a moment Simon stared at the phone. He twisted his mouth to the side. He’d gone too far trying to damage her reputation. That much he knew and had known from the instant he’d done it. He’d also known that his call to her was only going to make her dig her heels in and remain at the hotel. But she couldn’t do that, not without money. He’d meant it. He wanted her home. He picked up the phone again and dialed the hotel manager.
“Listen,” he said, after giving rapid fire orders, “you will not give reports on this to Harold, is that clear?” He waited for an answer. “I want my wife home.” He issued his remaining orders, then was about to hang up when another pang of conscience struck him. “If she needs me it’s your job to let me know. Do you understand?”
Assurance that his orders would be followed allowed Simon to breathe easier. Janice wasn’t his enemy, she was his wife. A wife he very much wanted to return home. And even if he was going for the jugular he had to make sure that she and the baby would be protected at all cost.
Sighing, Simon dialed again. “Harold,” he said when the phone was answered, “I have something very important I need you to do. Janice is still at the Edwardian, she’s not budging. I need you to watch out for her.”
“I won’t spy on her.”
“I want her home, Harold. I’m not trying to hurt her.”
“Then what are you doing?”