A Woman's Revenge Read online

  We sat in silence for a few minutes with him sulking and me doing everything in my power not to laugh at how pitiful he looked.

  I finally reached over and stroked his hair and then moved down to massage his shoulder. It took awhile, but he relaxed after a few minutes.

  “Sorry for yelling at you. None of this was your fault. It doesn’t make any sense. First the credit cards and then my car. It’s all so ridiculous.”

  I continued massaging his shoulder. “It’s okay, honey. I’m sure that was upsetting for you.”

  “I needed that account. I don’t understand what’s going on. It’s like someone is out to get me. Trying to sabotage me from making partner. I wonder if it’s someone in the company.” He sat there brooding for a second. “I bet it’s Lila Strauss. She probably sent hers and the other two packages to make me look bad. She probably ordered the subscriptions to those . . . disgusting magazines.” He stroked his chin, deep in thought. “You think she’s trying to sabotage me so she can make partner? I bet that’s it. Well, if she thinks she can get away with this, she’s in for a rude awakening.”

  “She wouldn’t do that, Blake. Tamper with your credit cards and personal financial information? That’s illegal. She wouldn’t go that far.”

  “Then who else could it be? Who else would do these types of things to me? I’m a good, hardworking person who treats everyone honest and fair. Why would anyone want to destroy me?”

  “I can’t imagine, honey,” I said sweetly. “I just can’t imagine.”

  We rode in silence the rest of the way back to his building. When we got to the front door, he placed his hand on the door handle to get out and then froze. He looked at me and then at the front of his building and then back at me again.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. I . . . Can you take me around back, through the garage?”

  “What? Why?”

  “Sabrina, please. Not a million questions. I’ve had a horrible day. A horrible week, really. Can you take me through the back?”

  I leaned past him to look at the front door to see what had made him so jumpy. There stood Roxie chatting with the doorman. It was all I could do not to laugh as Blake nervously turned his entire body in my direction and held a hand up to cover the side of his face. “Sabrina, please. I just want to get inside and rest.”

  It was time to make him really suffer. I took a deep breath and used a trick Roxie had taught me as a child when we were trying to get something over on my grandmother. I burst into tears.

  Blake’s eyes widened. “What is wrong with you?”

  “Why are you so ashamed of me? You asked me to marry you, but you’re embarrassed to be seen with me.”

  Blake turned to the front of the building to see what Roxie was doing. She looked like she was having the most interesting conversation with the doorman—like she didn’t plan on being finished anytime soon.

  “Ashamed of you? What are you—”

  “I always have to go up the back elevator. You take me hours away to another city to go out to dinner. You bought me that beautiful ring and I can’t even wear it. And now you’re embarrassed to be seen getting out of my car in front of your building. How can I marry you and you can’t even be seen with me in public?”

  I covered my face with my hands and let my shoulders shake dramatically, letting out deep sobbing sounds. “Do you even love me?”

  Blake cursed under his breath. “I can’t believe this.” He put a hand on my shoulder. “Of course I do. That ring should prove it. The very fact that I’m willing to risk my career and everything to be with you should prove it.”

  I uncovered my face. “You love me? You’re not ashamed of me?”

  “Of course I’m not ashamed of you.” He looked at the front of the building again and back at me. I enjoyed watching him squirm at the dilemma I had created. He couldn’t ask me to drive around to the back of the building after my outburst. But he also couldn’t get out of the car with Roxie still standing there with the doorman.

  He said, “Okay, here’s the truth. That woman in the door there . . . she’s this lonely old cougar who’s always hounding me. I was nice enough to hold the elevator for her one day and she took it as an invitation to sleep with her. So I avoid her as much as possible. I asked you to take me around back so I wouldn’t have to run into her.”

  Blake put a hand on my face. “See, I’m not ashamed of you at all. You know how I feel about you, Sabrina.”

  I refused to let him get away with the lie. “This is the perfect way to get rid of her then. If she knows you’re with someone, she’ll leave you alone.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “You don’t know women like that. They’re desperate. It’ll only make her chase me harder.”

  “No, it won’t. You’ll see.” I opened my car door to get out. I knew the doorman would come running. He turned from Roxie and spotted Blake in my front seat. He quickstepped down the walk to get Blake’s door. Roxie didn’t leave her post at the front of the building, only yards away from us. Blake looked horrified. I walked around to his side of the car after the doorman let him out.

  “I love you, Blake.” I threw my arms around his neck and planted a big kiss on his lips. I thought he would die.

  I guessed Roxie decided to let him off easy because when the kiss was over, she had disappeared. Blake was visibly relieved. He put his arms around me. “Thanks for coming to get me tonight, honey. I do appreciate you.” He looked at the front door of his building and then back at me. “I know things between us aren’t ideal, but soon everything will be different. You’ll see.”

  “I know. Sorry I got so upset. I . . . love you so much. I just want us to be together and everything to be normal.” I almost puked saying that I loved him.

  He kissed me on the nose and took one last glance at the front of his building. “I know, dear. They will be.” He walked around to my side of the car and opened the door for me to get in. He leaned into the window and kissed me. “Thanks again. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  You’ll soon find out. I gave him a syrupy-sweet smile and drove off. As soon as I was out of his sight, I wiped the back of my hand across my lips.

  A few moments later, my cell phone vibrated. I looked at the screen and saw a text message from Roxie:

  Did you see his face when he saw me? I thought he would pee in his pants! Can’t wait to hear what the tears were all about. Drive down the block, wait five minutes, then come back and see me. We need to plot out the next steps in our plan.

  Chapter Nine

  I made my usual trip up the service elevator to the tenth floor where Roxie lived. I walked down the long hall quickly, watching to make sure the coast was clear as I approached her condo and knocked. When I did, Roxie pulled me inside quickly and closed the door and leaned against it. A broad grin spread across her face. “Now that was the most fun I’ve had in a looonng time.”

  We both laughed and I followed her into her living room.

  “You have to tell me everything! I trust the packages and the magazines arrived as ordered?”

  We both howled with laughter as I explained the scene in the office she had created with her packages from Izzy’s.

  She wiped her eyes and leaned back against the couch. “And I was right to guess that you’d be the person bringing him home tonight. I knew he’d be too embarrassed to let anyone else know his car got repossessed.”

  “How in the world did you do that?”

  Roxie held up a finger and shook her head. “Ah ah ah. Remember the rule. The less you know, the better. You let your mama handle the bad stuff.”

  “Did you see him sweating in my front seat when we pulled up? That was so perfect.”

  Roxie said, “The tow truck driver called when he pulled off so I was able to guess what time to plant myself downstairs. Now what were all those tears about?”

  I told her about Blake’s wanting to be dropped off in the garage. Her eyes went wide and she burst int
o laughter. “You really wanted to make him suffer, huh? I’m gonna make him suffer for calling me a desperate, lonely old cougar. He might get twenty steps for that.”

  We both laughed. Roxie looked me in the eyes and her voice went soft. “How are you doing with all of this? I know it hasn’t been easy, still being around him and all. You okay?”

  “I’m fine.” I looked away from her. I hated seeing the care and concern in her eyes. I didn’t want her thinking we were going to have any relationship when this was all over. “So what’s next? What information do you need?”

  She stared at my face for a second, with that guilty, regretful look. “Did you love him, Sabrina?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Roxie, I’m here because you said we needed to plan out the next step. If I had known you wanted to have a mother-daughter chat, I would have gone on home.”

  “I just want to make sure you’re okay before we go on.”

  “I said I was fine.” The words came out mean and venomous. I didn’t care. She deserved it.

  She sat there quiet for a few seconds. “Is it a crime for me to ask about your feelings? You were engaged to this man and now we’re destroying his life. Before we plot out the next step, I was—”

  “Spare me. It’s too late for you to be worried about my feelings now. Were you thinking about my feelings when you left me twelve years ago? I mean, now all of a sudden you want to be my mother and care about what I’m going through? Where were you when I got my first period? Had my first kiss? Went to the prom? Was trying to figure out what college I was going to? Where were you when Grandma died?”

  Roxie’s eyes widened. “I was there when she died.”

  My mouth flew open. “You came to the funeral and sat in the back and left after you viewed her body. You didn’t say even a word to me. Just rushed out the back door.”

  Roxie’s head dropped.

  “Where were you when I was trying to figure out how I was going to live without her? When I had to drop out of college and get a job because I couldn’t afford to stay in school without her support? It’s too late to care, Roxie.”

  She sat there, deflated. “So you’re gonna hate me forever?”

  I let out a deep breath. “Do you want more information about Blake or should I go?”

  She rose from the couch and disappeared into one of her bedrooms. A few moments later, she returned with her legal pad.

  Without making eye contact, I laid out Blake’s schedule for the week in great detail. Normally I would have been proud to know his schedule and plans so well. Now I felt like a stupid idiot, completely lost in the life of a man who could not care less about me.

  “He has a huge presentation next Saturday morning. You throw a monkey wrench in that and he’s doomed.” I smiled at the thought of what she would dream up and what it would do to Blake.

  Roxie laughed. “Hmmm . . . I guess you got some of your mama’s devilment in you, huh?”

  The smile left my face. “No. I’m not anything like you.”

  She smirked. “Really? You’re more like me than you want to believe. More than you want to be.”

  “How so? You don’t know anything about me so how can you say that? I’m not like you at all.”

  “No?” She leaned in close to me and stared me straight in the eye. “Then why were you going to marry Blake?”

  I pulled back from her. “What?”

  “Why were you going to marry Blake Harrison? I asked you before, did you love him? Or was he just a way up in the world?”

  I opened my mouth to protest and then stopped. Was I marrying Blake because of his money? His social status?

  “You judge me for marrying Mr. St. James for money, but yet you were planning to do the very same thing. You don’t love that man, Sabrina. How could you? He’s as mean as a snake and only cares about himself. But he could rescue you from struggling and living the poor life. You could move into the penthouse, get a new wardrobe, a new car, everything you ever dreamed of. Isn’t that how it works?”

  I just stared at her.

  “See, Sabrina. You are just like me.”

  I wanted to scratch her eyeballs out. “There’s a big difference. I didn’t leave a little girl behind like you did.”

  “Didn’t you though? Look at you. You don’t have any friends, no life, everything centers around Blake. You did leave a little girl behind. You.”

  Her words slammed into my chest.

  Her cell phone let out a short jazzy tune. She rose to pick it up from the end table and smirked when she looked at the screen. “Just as I thought. After the little show you put on downstairs, Mr. Harrison knows he’s got some serious making up to do. I need to get upstairs.”

  I rose and walked slowly to the door, still reeling from the words she had said to me.

  Roxie followed me to the door. “Sabrina, there’s nothing I can do to make up for what I did. I would give anything to go back and change that decision. If I had it to do all over again, I would have stayed poor and broke just to see my little girl grow up. And maybe if I had been there, you wouldn’t be making the same wrong decisions and choices I made. All I want is for you to forgive me and give me a chance to be in your life again.”

  I reached out for the doorknob. “If you need any more information on Blake, send me a text or an e-mail. Hopefully, you have all you need to finish your ten steps.”

  I opened the door. “Good-bye, Roxie.”

  As I closed the door behind me, I tried not to see the tears trickling down both her cheeks.

  Chapter Ten

  The next morning I woke up and arranged a car service for Blake to get to work. I knew there was no way he would want me driving him to work in my car. Roxie made the necessary calls to get his car released and I arranged to have it towed to the office so Blake could drive himself home. Roxie did whatever she had to do to fix Blake’s credit card situation and all was well in his world again. At least until Roxie unleashed the next step in her plan.

  Blake spent the entire morning thanking me and then slipped me some money to take the rest of the day off to go to the spa. I decided to put the $400 he returned and the extra money in the bank. I needed to save as much as I could. I could rest at home rather than at the spa.

  As I was driving home, my phone rang. I thought it was Blake, realizing he needed me back at the office. When I looked down at the caller ID, Janine’s number was flashing on the screen. It was her weekly call.

  I paused for a second and decided to answer it. “Hello?”

  “Sabrina, I can’t believe you answered the phone. How are you? It’s Janine.”

  “I know who this is, silly. I’m . . . fine. Ummm, how are you?” I got out of the car and started up the walk to my apartment.

  “I’m fine. Wow, I can’t believe I’m actually talking to you. Thanks for answering. It must be God. The past couple of weeks you’ve been on my mind a lot. I’ve been praying for you. Everything okay?”

  I stared at the phone, not knowing what to say. “Sure. Everything’s fine.”

  Janine laughed. “I know we haven’t talked in months but I still know you. You’re not fine. What’s going on?”

  My silence for the next few seconds messed up any chance I had of convincing Janine that I was okay. She was one of those people who could see straight through a person, so lying wouldn’t do me any good. I decided to give it a try because telling the truth about my messy life was too embarrassing. “Work is stressful right now. That’s all. Blake is up for partner and we’re both working really hard. I had to take the afternoon off to recover.”

  “So things are still good between the two of you?”

  I couldn’t dance around a direct question like that. As I sat there trying to think of a lie to tell her, she said, “I made your favorite—chicken and dumplings—almost as good as your grandmother’s. You remember where I live?”

  “Janine, I—”

  “I’m not taking no for an answer, Sabrina. I won’t have any peace until I
know what’s wrong with you. Don’t you think God put you on my heart for a reason?”

  “I really appreciate you and God being concerned about me, but I really need some rest.”

  “Okay, I’ll be over there, then. See you in about thirty minutes. You still live in the same place, right?

  “Janine . . .”

  “Come on, Brina. Don’t you want to see your best friend?”

  I almost started crying when she said those words. “You still consider me your best friend?”

  “Always, girl. And I’m about to perform one of the most important best friend duties: being there when things go wrong with your man. Should I bring gummy bears?”

  A few tears did stream down my face when she said that. “Yeah. Gummy bears. And Skittles, too.”

  Janine laughed. “Wow, that bad?”

  I started crying full force into the phone.

  “Oh, Brina. I’m sorry. Be there in a few.”

  Janine just sat there with her mouth open when I told her about Blake’s proposal and then my meeting with Christine. When I got to the part about Roxie, she fell off the couch in her classic, dramatic Janine fashion. When I told her that I had gone to Blake’s building with knives in my purse and ran into Roxie instead, she rolled on the floor, clutching her chest.

  “Oh my God!” She stopped rolling and sat up and looked at me. “You saw her? You actually saw your mother? What did you say when you saw her? Does she look the same? Were you glad to see her? Oh my goodness, Brina, this is really big! God is so good! I can’t believe He brought your mother back into your life.”

  I frowned at her. “God is so good? How you figure? I just lost my fiancé and found out that my long-lost mother was one of four women sleeping with him. Now, years after abandoning me when I needed her the most, she wants to be all up in my life again. What’s good about that?”

  Janine popped up off the floor and onto the couch next to me. She grabbed both of my hands. “I can’t believe you. This is God and it’s all good.” She jumped up off the couch and started pacing the living room. “What do I always tell you? It’s just a matter of perspective.” She put her hands on her hips. “Have you talked to God about all this?”