Authors: Catherine Putsche
Addicted To Greed (33 page)
“It depends on how you define blackmail
, I´d define it as
persuasion if you wouldn’t mind. Why? What’s the relevance of
this now? It was so many years ago, my memory isn’t what it
used to be.”
“It is of no relevance now however as you’re aware
I have
moved on and am happily married now, but I need to hear it
from your own mouth, it’s the principal you see.”
Felicity began to shuffle on the bench and waved the waiter over
to hide her embarrassment as to what she’d done all those years
ago, it wasn’t something she was particularly proud of and
buried it years ago, forgetting that’s how she became the wife of
Wilhelm.
“It wasn’t my original idea to blackmail your
now ex husband,
however I had very little choice in the matter, and it had been
arranged prior to my knowledge.”
Felicity felt herself becoming a lot drunker than she hoped and
her head began to spin, she confessed all to Jeannie knowing it
was fruitless to argue about the past, all she wanted was the
documents that were still in Jeannie’s possession.
Jeannie sat there patiently listening to
Felicity’s drunken
gibberish, she hadn’t expected the small white tablet to work
that she popped into her drink at the bar to work as fast as it had;
clearly Felicity must have had more to drink than she
anticipated.
How could you abandon your own flesh and blood like that?”
“You leave my son out of this; he has nothing to do with you,
nothing do you hear me, I’ll not discuss my son with you,
haven’t you enough to worry about with your own vile brats
without shoving your nose into my business?”
“Oh dear I do believe I have hit a nerve, more vodka Felicity?”
“Yeah why not, let’s make it a triple this time!”
and a double for me thanks.”
“You know
Felicity that I am in possession of some really
important documents, that of course mean nothing to me
however mean a whole lot more to you, In these documents I
read some disturbing things I’d like to bring to your attention, so
if you’d be so kind to enlighten me on why you’d would want to
strangle your own beautiful son to death and now try and gain
full custody. Is it the money that motivates your greed?”
“That’s none of your business no one knows about this except
my doctors and my dead husband, I was sick and sought help, I
knew what I did was wrong, but let me ask you have you ever
created a less than perfect baby, a monster who you cannot let
yourself bond with, a creature that only the devil is more than
happy to create, an abomination to society and all the things
wrong with it?”
Jeannie suddenly felt uncomfortable, in complete shock and
disbelief, she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She took a
few deep breaths in order to reply, “I can’t say I have and I
could never give up and disregard any of my children no matter
how sick they were. Your sons not a monster only a child with a
syndrome that would let him lead a relatively normal life, had
you taken the time to research, he is a little person who needed
his mother, just like any other child. That’s what brings here
tonight, Wilhelm informed me that you would try and seek
custody of Benjamin, is that right?”
“It’s none of your god dam business what I do concerning my
own son, of course I’ll be fighting for custody, as I am his
mother!”
“I think you’ll
find it very much my business as my children are
fighting to seek custody of their brother and I’ll do anything it
takes to support them in their quest to adopt Benjamin as they
love him and can offer him a beautiful life, a life he more than
deserves, where he is loved for who he is.”
Felicity stood up outraged by what she was hearing a little
unsteady on her feet.
her index finger at her ferociously.
“Don’t you think your stupid vile brats have more than enough
with their ridiculous amount of inheritance? How dare they try
and take my son away from me as well, this is absurd, they’ll
never get custody of Benjamin, I shall see to that!”
Jeannie waited for Felicity to sit back down bracing herself not
to react to what she was calling her children as it would defeat
the whole object of her meeting tonight.
She could secretly
strangle the vile woman
.
“My children are not vile brats; they’re
wonderful people who
know all about right and wrong as they were raised with lots of
love, respect and care, and as a mother I couldn’t be any prouder
than what I am right now and of course I fully back their
decision to adopt their brother and will do everything I can in
my power to ensure that they become the legal guardians of
Benjamin, that is what brings me here tonight Felicity, how
much money would it take for you to be happy and not pursue
custody of Benjamin that you’ve already referred to as a
monster?”
Jeannie pulled out a Dictaphone out of her pocket, playing back
what Felicity had said about her own son. Felicity sat
speechless and couldn’t believe what she was hearing, she had
been played by a better player than herself, and she hadn’t
expected it.
agreement out and laid it on the table.
Felicity grabbed the document and began to read it.
“I take it you’re aware of this document Felicity as it has your
own signature on several times towards the end?”
The realisation started to sink in and Felicity automatically knew
she had been framed unaware of it all those years ago in
Wallace’s offices, not only had she signed a document she had
no idea existed until now, she also knew her chances of getting
anymore of her late husband’s money were very narrow and it
was fruitless to even pursue it, the small print confirmed it.
“I’ll
give you some time to think all this over Felicity, the
documents are yours however rest assured I have made
photocopies in the event you decide to pursue custody of
Benjamin and I won’t hesitate to use them. Just let me know
your price, here’s my card with my contact details, I look
forward to hearing from you.
Felicity suddenly broke the silence.
“Ten million pounds and you and your family won’t
hear from
me again and I’ll leave Benjamin alone, you have my word.”
Jeannie pulled out her cheque book from her hand bag and wrote
Felicity a cheque for ten million pounds, holding onto it for a
few moments to make sure Felicity wasn’t about to change her
mind.
welcome to the little freak.”
Jeannie passed her the cheque, shook her hand and left, knowing
she had a lot of explaining to do to Charles with regards to their
whole life savings and their pension, but it was worth it and she
felt an enormous sense of satisfaction.
Felicity sat there wide eyed staring at the cheque, she was
pleased with the amount and happy knowing she wouldn’t have
to pursue Benjamin any further, she didn’t want him it was only
the money she was interested in, she ordered another double
vodka quietly congratulating herself on her new found wealth,
what would she do with it all? Grabbing the envelope, making
sure all its contents were neatly stacked together, she made her
way to her black Audi sports car, she could have called a cab
remembering all the vodka she had just consumed, but she felt
too excited and wanted to get back to the hotel as quickly as
possible to place a call to the Madame informing her of her new
windfall of money. Felicity excitedly put her foot down fully on
the accelerator exceeding the speed limit of seventy on the dual
carriage way to over a hundred and twenty, she wasn’t aware
she was on the wrong side of the dual carriage way, forgetting
she wasn’t at home in the states where they drove on the other
side of the road, but she was too late she didn’t even have time
to hit her foot on the brake pedal as she collided head on with an
huge tanker carrying petrol, both vehicles erupted in giant
flames. It took the emergency services a little over twenty
minutes to get to the collision and over half an hour to
distinguish the roaring flames. Unfortunately the drivers of both
vehicles were pronounced dead at the scene and would need to
be identified by their dental records, due to both corpses been
incinerated beyond recognition.
Benjamin collected his belongings into two large trunks; he was
surprised at how much he had accumulated in his years in
Pinderfields, he wouldn’t miss his bedroom too much as Chase
had shown his new giant size bedroom in his new home, it was
kitted out in his favorite Liverpool United wall paper, with
matching curtains and bedcovers with large poster of Steven
Gerard his favorite football player. He was so happy his brother
and sisters were going to look after him, he missed his father
dearly but found a great friend and loyal brother in Chase, he
hoped they could all stay together forever like a proper family
he had read about and seen on television and he adored Chase’s
new wife Zhaohui, she was so kind and bestowed so much time
and affection on him, he felt so lucky. He met his new nephews
and adorable little niece Broody, Carter and Anna; they were
awesome, the boys showed him their new tricks for him to learn
in football and currently taught him how to do the breath stroke
in swimming in their giant indoor swimming pool. Benjamin
found it funny at first as he thought this was how frogs swim.
For the first time in his life he felt like he belonged somewhere
with people who adored him, it was the most happiest time of
his life, he never wanted it to end, the only thing he wasn’t too
keen on was returning back to Pinderfields three times a week to
continue with his education, but he wasn’t too cross as he liked
the teachers there and made some good friends he liked to play
with.
Ella, Destiny, and Chase were all delighted that they were
granted full custody of Benjamin encountering no legal
problems to prevent them, as soon as they heard the news of
Felicity’s death, they were relieved that she would never fight
for custody, however they all knew one day Benjamin would
have questions regarding his mother and they all agreed they
would tread carefully not to upset him anymore, his life had just
began with them and they all vowed they would make his life as
wonderful and as ordinary as they possibly could, as they all
each loved him un conditionally.
Chase doted on Benjamin the most as he was to permanently
stay with Chase and Zhaohui, they did everything together,
movies pizza, fishing, camping at the lakes, mountain climbing
and cycling. Chase started to teach Benjamin all he knew about
motorcycles, and he absorbed everything new like a sponge
always willing to learn more. Chase never grew tired of all his
questions and tried to answer them the best he could.
Ella and Destiny couldn’t get enough of the
ir new brother often
fighting to take him out or have him over for the weekend and
much to their surprise their mother Jeannie also wanted to spend
time with Benjamin making plans for him to stay and come over
for dinner in the week and weekends. Jeannie embraced
Benjamin into her family with open arms treating him the same
as Ella, Destiny, and Chase as though he was her own son,
nobody questioned this or even thought it strange.
Benjamin loved Jeannie and saw her as the mother he never had,
she was funny, beautiful and kind, always teaching him to bake
some weird and wonderful concoction. Charles would often join
them and enjoyed their small food fights more than often been
the victim and wearing the most food.
Jeannie never told anyone about her meeting with Felicity and
never had to explain to Charles the ten million pounds she
offered Felicity as she had died before she could bank it, it was
her secret that she would take to the grave in honor of her ex
husband, although she wasn’t sad by the news of Felicity’s
death, she still couldn’t imagine a more horrible way for a
person to die.
Frank Chapman form Strut & Brothers who sold Ella Harwood
House invited Ella out on a number of dates, introducing
Destiny to his artist brother Joseph Chapman, the girls finally
found love with the brothers, it was arranged for both Ella and
Destiny to have a double wedding in June the following year,
the Chapman brothers were smitten and couldn’t wait to make
them their wife’s, they both fell in love with every member of
the Pearson family perhaps favoring Benjamin a little more than
they should, but they couldn’t resist his charms, he was simply
irresistible.
Destiny and Joseph purchased a beautiful large house only
twenty minutes away from Ella’s and Chase’s houses with a
large discount as Frank had arranged it for them.
Mr and Mrs Walsh moved into the spacious four bed roomed
cottage on Ella’s land. Mr Walsh enjoyed his retirement often
doing odd jobs around Ella’s house, making small repairs; Mrs
Walsh couldn’t be happier helping out with the boys and Anna,
now that the family had extended with Benjamin and Dylan.
Mrs Walsh befriended Mrs Myers and often visited her in her
new assisted home where she looked after Mr Myers often
cooking the greatest casseroles on earth.
Ella confessed all to Mrs Myers and Mrs Myers embraced her
new grandchild Anna with love and curiosity, she had the same
eyes of her dead son James and was the complete double of him,
and she was over the moon, little Anna gave her a new lease of
life, and so much hope and much joy. Dylan her oldest
grandchild was only too happy spending all his free time and
weekends at Ella’s with the boys and his new sister he adored.
Ella made sure that Mr and Mrs Myers accepted their new
modern four bedroom home as a gift from her and the boys, with
twenty four hour help for Mr Myers, freeing up more time for
Mrs Myers to spend with Dylan and Anna.