Her Perfect Revenge (36 page)

"I know you did and how! Clever girl! And were you really going to marry me? Maybe get your hands on some Havenwood cash before destroying me completely?"

"I never wanted your damn money, only…" Christina stopped herself from saying the word.

"Revenge. The word is revenge, Christina and you played it like a maestro." Suddenly, the cool façade evaporated and he put his hands in his hair in anguish. "My God… I loved you… I… loved… you… and now it's all gone."

"Don't say that, please don't say that…" Suddenly, Christina's cool façade also dropped and tears started falling down her cheeks. "I'm sorry. I'm so… sorry. I didn't know who you really were deep down when I started all this. I thought I hated you but… I… I fell in love with you instead and I was wrong… so wrong… to have ever tried to get revenge on you. Please believe that… please…" She went to him then and tried putting her arms around him but he stepped back.

He looked at her and his torment was clearly etched in his eyes. "It's over, Christina. We're over and I never want to see you again in my life."

"Don't say that!" The tears fell faster down Christina's cheeks. "I… love you…"

"And I don't love you. That's finished… and gone… and we're through," Bill choked out the words. They were the most difficult words he'd ever said in his life and they were a lie. He still loved her—madly, crazy, and hopelessly in love with her—but he was so angry with her that he refused to acknowledge those feelings.

"No," Christina didn't want to believe it and she shook her head.

"My love for you is dead… and you're dead to me!"

"No, give me a chance. We can work this out…" Christina made a grab for his arm but he shrugged her off and started to walk to the door.

Suddenly, they both heard William shouting in the foyer. "Where in hell is that bastard!" he yelled at the top of his lungs.

The door of the office was thrown open and William came stalking in.

"You!" he shouted at Bill. "It was all you!" He pointed an accusatory finger at his son.

"What are you talking about?" Bill responded.

"This!" William seethed as he threw Christina's manila envelope with the photos at Bill—as Bill had done earlier with the journal book to Christina.

Bill caught the envelope and Christina, seeing what it was, audibly gasped. Bill turned to her and suddenly knew this was something that had to do with her. He slowly looked down at what was in his hands. It was a brown envelope addressed to William. Bill pulled out the photos and the pasted note. And he knew—he knew this was Christina's handiwork and that it was she that had sent it to his father.

William rounded on his son. "You… my own flesh and blood betrayed me. How could you do this to me? How?" he shouted at the top of his lungs.

Bill looked at the photos and at the note with the pasted letters, and uttered a self-derisive laugh. He turned to Christina then and saw the shock etched on her face.

"Brilliant move, Christina. I'm in awe of you. You've not only twisted the knife in my gut and in my heart, but one last stab and you've finished me off. You've destroyed me completely in every possible way that you could. Bravo."

"Bill… please… that was never supposed to have been mailed out. Please, you've got to believe me…" Christina was now desperate. How had that gotten into William's hands?

William was shouting at his son again. "What the hell has Christina got to do with your duplicity? You're the one who's betrayed me. You! My own son! Why, damn it, why?"

Bill shouted back. "Because dad, you were destroying the environment and you didn't give a damn about any of it. You'll do anything for profit and that's not right. And somebody had to do something about it. Somebody had to teach you a lesson."

"And that was you?"

"Yes, that was me. What you were doing was wrong and I couldn't stand by and do nothing, not anymore."

"I'm your father. You don't stand against me. Ever!"

"You were never any kind of father to me. And I was always your property, not your son."

"How dare you say that to me, after everything I did for you… everything I gave you… and this is how you repay me?"

Christina came between the two, trying to put a stop to this.

"William, please listen to me, Bill loves you…"

Bill turned to her and yelled, "Christina, stay out this. You've done enough for one night, don't you think?"

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry… for everything," she whispered at him.

The tears were falling down Christina's cheeks again and Bill felt his heart break for her but he held back. It was over between them and he couldn't ever forgive her—or trust her again.

William was shouting again. "Leave Christina out of this. This is between you and me."

"Yes, dad, you and me…"

"My own son tried to destroy me. How could you? And you did it with my money."

Bill laughed. "I was just washing the blood off of it, dad. Trying to clean up your tricks and lies and deceptions and every other evil you've pulled to make your goddamn billions."

"Well, you've lived quite handsomely off of my goddamn billions but that's going to stop tonight. I want you gone, out of this house, by the first light of dawn."

Christina interrupted again, "William, please… no…"

"Fine by me," Bill shouted back at his father.

"You're not my son anymore and I never want to see you again," William announced.

Even though Bill knew that was coming, he flinched—but he still stood his ground. "Goodbye, dad," he smirked, as he let Christina's envelope and photos flutter to the floor before stalking out of the room—and out of the house.

"Bill… wait…" Christina called after him but he didn't stop. She frantically turned to William. "William, please listen to me… he loves you… and… and… those pictures… they were a mistake…. and…"

"Christina, no. I don't want to talk about this anymore," William decreed as he, too, left the room.

Christina stared at the journal book in her hands, then slowly picked up the envelope and photos off the floor. Bill was never going to forgive her and she had successfully gotten her revenge on him. His life was destroyed. He had lost his belief in her love for him, had lost his father, the money, his position as a Havenwood—he had lost it all! He was ruined.

And she? The love of her life was gone and he didn't want to have anything to do with her ever again. She had successfully destroyed that too. Devastated, Christina ran sobbing from the room and up the massive staircase on the way to her bedroom.

"Christina, what's going on?" Maddie shouted up at her, as she and Gabriella and Nunzio came running out of the salon at all of the commotion they'd heard.

Crying, Christina just kept running.

Sobbing her heart out, Christina flung her bedroom door open, launched her journal and the photos in a corner of the room, and threw herself on the bed. She was inconsolable and it was all her fault. Her hunger for revenge against a fellow human being had destroyed him—and had destroyed her.

Gabriella and Maddie quickly came rushing in.

"Christina, my God, what's happening?" Gabriella said, as she ran to the bed and put a comforting arm on her daughter's shoulders.

Christina turned around and hugged her mother, burying her wet face into Gabriella's shoulder. She was still crying uncontrollably.

"Oh, mommy…" she wailed. "I… I did something… bad… and Bill… will never forgive me. He…he… said it's over… and… and… it's my fault, it's all my fault." She could barely get the words out between her sobs.

"Shhhhh…." Her mom hugged her tight and tried to calm her down as she gently rocked her back and forth. "Don't worry, sweetheart, he doesn't mean it. All couples go through things like this."

Christina shook her head back and forth as the tears continued to stream down her red cheeks. "No… you don't understand. I… I… did something… and it's over between us. It's over."

"What did you do?"

"No, mommy… I… I… can't tell you. I… just can't… Don't make me… please." She choked out the last word as a desperate plea.

A worried look passed between Gabriella and Maddie.

Maddie then silently shook her head as if to say 'I have no idea what this is about.'

She spoke up as she came to sit beside them on the bed. "Christina, darling, Bill will cool down and then you'll be able to work this out. He loves you, you've got to believe that."

Christina shook her head again as she raised herself away from her mom's shoulder to look at Maddie. Her eyes were red and her face was swollen, and tears were still falling.

"No, Maddie… you said it yourself… love is not enough when people do mean things to each other and forgiveness is not an option."

"Forgiveness is always an option, especially where there's love."

"No, not when love is dead." She paused and took in a steadying breath. "It's over. We're over. Bill can't forgive me and I don't blame him because I can't forgive myself."

Christina took a quick look around her large opulent bedroom. "And this isn't my home anymore." She turned her red swollen eyes to her mom. "Mommy, please. I… want to go home… to my home… tonight. I want to leave here tonight."

Maddie piped in. "Christina, no! This is your home. Bill will come back and you'll see. Things will look better in the morning but you've got to stay. You've got to be here for him."

Christina shook her head again. "No, Maddie; you don't understand… and I'm sorry I can't explain it to you. Please don't make me."

"Of course not, darling." Maddie put a comforting arm around Christina. "You don't have to tell us anything, if you don't want to. But please, reconsider your decision to leave. Please."

"I can't." Christina's tears stopped falling as she now had a mission to accomplish—to get the hell out of here before she really fell apart. She turned back to her mom, and then noticed her dad, Nunzio, impotently standing in the open doorway. "Please, help me leave here. Take me away tonight. Please, I'm begging you."

Gabriella hugged her daughter again. "Of course, sweetheart. Whatever you want, we'll help you."

Another very worried look passed between the two mothers over the top of Christina's head.

"If that's what you want, Christina, I'll help you too," Maddie added, as she stroked Christina's back.

Christina pulled away from her mother's arms and wiped the tears off of her face with the back of her hand. "It is. It's what I want. Thank you."

And for the next hour, Gabriella and Maddie helped Christina pack her things. It had been decided that her parents were going to drive her back to her own apartment in the city.

When she was ready to go, Christina approached Maddie with all of the diamond jewelry that Bill had given her.

"Maddie, I need you to do me a favor." She handed the luxurious boxes to Bill's mom. "I need you to give all of this back to Bill. It's a diamond necklace he gave me and a pin and earrings and both my engagement ring and my wedding ring."

"Christina, no! You keep this. This is yours. He bought it for you," Maddie countered.

Christina was adamant as she shook her head. "No, it's not right. He bought it for the woman he loved and I'm not that woman anymore. Please… just do this for me, I'm begging you."

Maddie reluctantly took the items. "Of course, I will."

Christina smiled, "Thank you." She hugged Maddie tightly. "I'm so sorry we're not going to be family anymore. I would have loved having you as a mother-in-law."

"Oh Christina…" Maddie was on the verge of tears herself. "Don't give up on him… please, please don't. He'll come around. He loves you so much."

But Christina knew better—she knew what she'd done—and she knew there was no hope for her and Bill ever again.

"I'm sorry, Maddie; I'm sorry for everything." She kissed the other woman on the cheek and hugged her tightly one more time.

And with one last look around the bedroom where she'd spent so many happy, delirious, loving moments with Bill—where they'd laughed and talked and sparred and made love for hours—Christina walked out.

It was indeed over—and she had no one to blame but herself.

* * *

That night, Christina's parents drove her into the city and helped her get settled back into her own apartment. After her things had been put away, Christina put on a brave face and convinced her parents that she was going to be all right. She told them to go back to their hotel because she needed some time to be alone and get some sleep.

Gabriella and Nunzio were not happy about her decision to be alone that night but their daughter was a grown woman with a stubborn mind of her own and there was little they could do to dissuade her of the idea. Reluctantly, they both agreed but Gabriella said that they would be back bright and early the following morning and they would brook no opposition to that plan. Christina smiled for their benefit and insisted that all she needed was a goodnight's sleep and she'd feel better in the morning.

As her apartment door closed when her parents left, Christina's brave façade dropped and the tears started falling again. And she sobbed her heart out all night long—for what she'd done to him—and for what she'd done to herself.

The next morning, her parents did indeed arrive at the crack of dawn and stayed with her all day. She put up another brave front for them and managed to convince them that she was fine.

By 6 p.m. that night, they had left due to her insistence that she wanted some quiet time again. Christina then called the only person in the world that could truly understand what had happened. She telephoned her friend, Jenny who had just come home from work—and told her everything.

When Jenny heard about the manila envelope to William, she gasped and apologized profusely to her friend. She explained that it had been she who had mailed it out but she had thought Christina had left it for her to do just that.

Christina instantly told Jenny not to worry over that. It had been Christina's mistake and what was done, was done.

Worried about her friend, Jenny insisted that Christina come to her apartment and she'd fix something for all of them to eat.

When the door was opened to Christina, Jenny flung her arms around her friend and hugged her tight.

"Chrissy, I'm so sorry," she said, as she pulled her friend inside.

"You were right, Jenny. I should have told him everything right away. Maybe he could have forgiven me then." The tears had stopped now and they had been replaced by a deep, dark depression. Christina had never felt so hopeless in all her life.

Jenny steered her friend to the living room couch and made her sit down.

"But are you sure it's really over? I mean, he loved you, Chrissy and that type of love just doesn't go away like that."

"No," Christina shook her head. "He said I was dead to him and that I'd killed his love for me... and that he never wanted to see me again in his life."

"But, we all say things in the heat of the moment that we don't mean. Have you tried talking to him again? Maybe… now that he's had a chance to calm down, he feels differently about everything."

"I don't even know where he is. His father threw him out and I can't ask William."

"Did you try his cell phone?"

Christina nodded 'yes'. "Several times but it's off."

"So call the house. Maybe he and his father have patched things up?"

"I… don't know," Christina was confused and didn't know what to do anymore.

"Well, think about it. Don't just give up on him," Jenny insisted.

Christina gave her friend a long look. "I was wrong to go after him like I did, Jenny. You told me not to but I wouldn't listen and now, I'm paying for it." She paused as she gave her friend another long, speaking look. "I loved him. I really and truly loved him."

Suddenly, the tears started falling down her cheeks again.

"Oh, honey, I know you did." Jenny hugged Christina and let her friend cry on her shoulder.

* * *

Christina spent the rest of the week, crying and moping around her apartment. At Jenny's insistence, she plucked up her courage and decided to call the Havenwood house to try to find out where Bill was. Maybe—just maybe—he would see her—and she'd apologize again—and maybe he could somehow forgive her—and…

With shaking fingers, Christina dialed the house and asked for Eudora. If anyone would know where he was, she would. The elderly maid came on the line.

"Eudora… it's Christina," she breathlessly said.

There was a pause. "Hello, miss," Eudora answered frostily. Obviously, she knew something of what had happened.

Christina's next words came out in a rush. "I…I'm calling because… I need to contact Bill. Is he there?"

"No, miss."

"Have you… seen him at all this week?"

There was another pause as if Eudora was deciding whether to get involved between the two ex-lovebirds. "He came once, miss, a few days ago, to pick up his things and then he left again."

"Oh, I see." Christina paused.

"Do… you know where I can reach him, maybe?"

"He said he was going to be at some office called GME and he gave me the number."

Of course, Christina should have thought of that on her own but her mind had been in such a fuddle all week that she wasn't thinking clearly.

"Can I… have that number please?" Christina was almost afraid to ask.

Another pause, then… "One moment, miss."

After a few minutes, Eudora came back on the line and gave Christina the number.

"Thank you, Eudora. Thank you so much."

Another pause. "I'm sorry, mum but my Billy is a good boy and whatever happened between the two of you, he didn't deserve. I just had to say that."

Christina's tears were about to fall again as she squeaked out, "I'm sorry too, Eudora."

After their goodbyes, Christina hung up. Quickly, she dialed the GME phone number before she lost her nerve. A receptionist answered and when she asked for Bill, she was put on hold. Christina waited as her heart beat frantically against her rib cage.

He came on the line then and she recognized his "Hello."

"Bill, it's me. Please don't hang up…" Christina's words gushed out.

But he did just that, as his phone was forcefully slammed shut in her ear. And Christina knew then that it was really over between them. He would never forgive her and he would never forget—and his love for her was gone.

Slowly, she replaced her own telephone receiver and suddenly, she realized that today would have been her wedding day—hers and Bill's. They would have been married today and they would have started their lives together today and they would have been happy and in love today and…

Feeling her stomach heave, Christina barely made it to the washroom before she threw up what little food she had eaten.