Many Shades of Gray (38 page)

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 that 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?”

“I just want to teach her a lesson.”

“Simon?”

“”If she needs anything…if she needs me, let me know.”

“Simon,” Harold called his name softly, “what is it that you really want?”

“I want you to make sure Janice is protected.”

“She needs to be protected from you.”

“I know.”

“Why don’t you stop all of this nonsense?”

“I’m trying. I had Davis give a retraction to the media saying Janice’s name was mistakenly put on the list. I called Janice and apologized. Then I told her to come home.”

“Told her?”

“Harold, for once, can’t you let go of my word choices?”

“No, you’re making mistake after mistake.”

“Just take care of my wife. Okay? Protect her at all costs, even from me.”

“Simon, you continue this and her family, your new family that you wanted so badly, will be lost to you. Let this go.”

A long sigh escaped Simon’s lips. “I’ve spent two hours on the phone doing damage control with her family. They called wanting to know what was going on, why we were separated.”

“And?”

“And I assured them when we were done with our war we would visit them again.”

“This isn’t a war. It’s a fight between a husband and wife. You need to go to her on your hands and knees and beg her to forgive you. You’re the one that’s turning this into a war. This isn’t a game, Simon. You’re going to destroy your life and hers if you’re not careful.”

“That’s why you’re going to look out for her, to make sure that doesn’t happen. You’re going to protect her.”

“Who’s going to protect you, Simon?”

A long moment of silence passed between then. Then it was Harold who sighed, the sound as defeated as he felt. “What are you planning on doing next?”

“I plan on getting her to come home where she belongs. She has the power to end this, Harold. She has only to come home.”

* * *

Janice’s supposed two days from home to give her and her husband cooling off time had slowly turned into two weeks. She couldn’t believe it. In the beginning Janice fought to understand her husband’s motivation. Now she was just plain angry and she intended to get back at him, only she had found no way. Her family was driving her crazy with their constant calls for updates, giving her advice on how to handle the situation. She could strangle Simon for that alone.

But she had to do something. Hiding in a hotel room was not the answer and besides, she’d run out of clothes and had been forced to call one of the upscale stores to deliver her some outfits sight unseen.

A knock sounded on the door and she went to answer, wondering who it was. The only people who’d knocked in the past two days were room service and housekeeping.

Janice was surprised to see the manager standing there looking embarrassed. She opened the door wider, permitting the man to come into the room, curious what had brought him to the penthouse.

“Mrs. Kohl, your husband called and asked me to deliver a message to you personally.”

Janice felt the baby kick and a lump formed in her throat as she waited for another hammer to fall. She didn’t know how much more she could take of this.

“Your husband said your bills are no longer being paid by him. He said to tell you if you want to live in a penthouse then you should pay for it.”

Janice’s face flamed with embarrassment. She had not thought that Simon would do this but wondered why it had not occurred to her. He had warned her. She calculated quickly the money she had in her checking account and knew it wasn’t nearly enough to cover the cost. She couldn’t pay the man, at least not yet. She had money, but it was just invested.

“Don’t worry,” she bluffed. “I can pay my own bills.”

“Good.” The manger smiled uneasily. “There is a bill for thirty-two thousand dollars. Would you like to write me a check for it or give me your charge card?” He coughed. “I’m sorry to have to get in the middle of this but if you choose to use a card it can’t be a joint one. Your husband said to tell you that he’s cut you off all of the accounts.”

Tears quickly filled her eyes and spilled down her face and she wiped them away. She wasn’t crying to gain the manager’s sympathy but out of frustration. She didn’t have thirty-two thousand in her checking or savings, nowhere near that. Three thousand was more like it.

“When do I need to pay it?”

“Tonight would be fine…but we need to make sure you can continue paying.” He hesitated. “We could move you to a smaller room if that would make it easier.”

“Thank you,” she answered. “That won’t be necessary.”

Damn, she thought the moment the door was closed. She should have thought of that. But in the past few years with Simon they’d never stayed anywhere but in a penthouse suite. She should have anticipated his move. Well, she wasn’t out yet; she had millions of her own in the market. She would sell.

Janice smiled for the first time in two weeks. If her husband wanted to play dirty, she would accommodate. She searched for Harold’s number and called him.

“Harold, I need to sell some stocks. I need money fast.”

“I need to talk to you, Janice.”