The Other Woman (40 page)

The fact that Bradley invited me to his house to watch our kids is proof that I have won back his trust. The fact that he asked me to lunch and dinner at
Giant Fiddler
with my kids, for a chance to be a family, leaves me simply thrilled. Doesn’t Ritchie realize how much progress I have made?

I am on the cusp of glory– why can’t Ritchie be happy for me?

****

SCARLETT

When I hear Bradley’s car, I make my way to the front door, phone in hand.

Bradley walks, his lips a thin line. “Explain this text.”

“There’s nothing to explain, Bradley.”

“You’re threatening to
hurt
her if I don’t come back? That’s sick, Scarlett.”

“Maybe. But I will hurt her – just like she’s hurting me and my family. That’s all. She’s behind all of this. Time for all this shit to stop.”

“Bullshit!” He flings the keys to my Porsche on the table.

“I’m telling you, she is. When did she publish her book?”

“About two months ago.”

I look at the ground, my fingers tapping furiously at my forehead.

Slowly, I turn my head to look at the computer. As much as I am reluctant to touch the computer right now, I have to know. I rush to it and Google Rival Murdoch Author.

“What are you doing?” Bradley asks, standing at the door and eyeing me, his brows knitted.

Rival’s book appears in front of me.
Ramblings of a Psycho.

Oh, please don’t let this be my book. Please, please, please!

With shaking hands, I hit sample. Bradley looks over my shoulder.

As I read from the book, the room starts to spin. “No, no, no, no—”

“Wow, she writes well!” Bradley says, his voice bursting with pride. “Number three on Amazon? Wow, she
is
good! Imagine, I lived with a writer for years, yet—”

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, NOOOOOO!” I jump to my feet, and with a scream, I swipe the PC monitor off my desk.

“Scarlett, stop!”

“She stole my book, Bradley! She stole my book. She stole my BOOK!”

“Scarlett, calm the fuck down, will you?”

“Bradley, you don’t understand – she came into this house –
broke
into it, then set us up. She…she stole my book and she PUBLISHED IT!” I start to cry for the first time in my adult life. And for the first time ever, Bradley sees me cry. I unabashedly bawl my eyes out.

“Scarlett…man, this is bullshit. She could never have done that. She’s too—”

“S…she did. I s…swear.” I cross my arms and rub my shoulders. “You have to trust me. She—”

“She’s highly medicated, Scarlett. She is not well enough, she is not
smart
enough to—”

“She is, Bradley. I’ve underestimated her and…” I drop my arms and walk over to the window.

“Wha…Scarlett, what are you thinking?”

“I’m going to kill her,” I whisper. “I’ve underestimated her and it has cost me. Now she has to die.”

“Scarlett, don’t be dumb. You are not going to touch her. Understand? One, because you have your court case coming up and—”

“I don’t care. I don’t care! I’m going to KNIFE her!”

“—you can’t—” He grabs me by the shoulders and shakes me. “Scarlett, if you touch her, I will leave you, you hear?”

I stare at him as his words wash over me. If I touch her…he will leave me. That means he won’t leave me right now, even though he saw those incriminating photos. Okay.

“Scarlett! Did you hear what I said?”

Don’t you fucking take that tone with me, you son of a bitch! Don’t you dare, limpdick!

“Okay, I will leave her alone, Bradley.” My voice is measured, calm.

He continues staring at me, his eyes searching, fear flickering in them. “Promise?”

I look him in the eye. “I promise.”

“Good.”

He releases me and walks to the lounge, where he places both hands on a table and stares vacantly at it.

I pace. Rival – what a mastermind. She is good, I have to give her that. She’s achieved a lot even though she is supposedly buzzed from her medication.

I thought all wives were dumb. Never thought I could learn from one. Learn from a woman scorned. It will be so much fun getting back at her. Finally, I have found an opponent worthy of me. Imagine that. A
female
opponent. I can hardly wait to shred her.

I follow Bradley into the lounge and silently watch him, the man who is protecting and defending the woman who not only ruined our lives and our relationship, but who also stole my financial future.

Now I know
how
she has twisted Bradley’s head around – she’s helped herself to all my tips on seduction, and she’s using it against me. Playing me at my own game.

I look at Bradley. He hasn’t reached for whisky, which surprises me. It also tells me he is really troubled.

“I can handle the theft, the kleptomania, even the solicitation,” he says in a low voice, his eyes still fixed to the table. “But to see you so blatantly suck another man off like that? Wearing my
wife’s
pearls?”

“Ex-wife!
I
am your wife now. Or have you forgotten?”

He doesn’t answer, he just shakes his head from side to side as if he’s having a conversation with himself. When he does turn around and speak, my heart plummets. “We need some time apart, Scarlett. I have to think. Alone.”

“What? You said you weren’t going to leave me?”

“I can’t shake off the images I saw. Man…” he presses his palms to his eyes, “I can’t even look at you right now.”

“Bradley! How can you say that after all I did for you?”

He removes his hands from his eyes. “What did you do for me, Scarlett?”

“I did a lot.”

“What? What did you do for me, Scarlett? What?”

“I saved you from, Rival. You
and
our girls, baby.”

“How, Scarlett, how the—”

“She was going to take everything from you. We would have…
you
would have had to start all over again, Bradley.”

He slaps his forehead with his hand. “Scarlet…this is bull—”

“I changed her pills.” There it’s all out.

“What pills?”

“I substituted her medication with placebos.”

He cocks his head at me. “Wha—”

“Placebos, Bradley. I replaced her normal pills with sugar pills. She didn’t know. When I visited her the day before she went…” I twirl my finger next to my temple and whistle, “I added ecstasy to her tequila and it made her go cuckoo. That’s how she landed in Dunhill. That’s how you could have your freedom, Bradley.”

Now he will know just how much I love him, what lengths I have gone to help and protect him. I have no doubt in my mind that he will be eternally grateful to me, and my secret, or should I say
our
secret, will be the tie that binds us. Forever. I smile as I await my husband’s gratitude.

He stares at me, unblinking, his mouth hanging.

“That’s what I did for you, baby. Me. I pulled such a huge move all by myself. Why? I’ll tell you why. Because I love you, and I wanted to make your problem go away, Bradley.”

Silence.

“Say something, Bradley.”

He starts to shake his head.

I walk over to him, and as I do, he starts to back away.

“Don’t do this,” I say. “I have your back. You need to have mine, Bradley.”

“No, no, no, no, no…” That look on his face – it’s not one of admiration or gratitude. It’s one of intemperate fear.

“What? Don’t you look at me like that, Bradley. I am your soul mate. I was prepared to
murder
for you.”

“Oh, Jaysuz!” he says, both his hands over his head. “Rival, oh God! Rival, what have I done to you?”

“What? Stop thinking about her!” I slam my fist into my chest. “Think about me. Think about
us
, Bradley. We have to overcome this.”

He raises his palms to the ceiling. “Who…who are y…you?”

“There you go again,” I snap. “Making me feel like I have short-changed you.”

His eyes dart around, then he grabs the keys off the table. “I’m going to the cops,” he says, and backs out of the room.

“What?”

“I want no part of this. I can’t believe what you did to Rival. My poor wife—”

“And tell them what?” I fold my arms and eye him.

He steps out of the house and onto our patio. “What you…did, Scarlett. How you…poisoned my wife, sent her over the edge. All along—”

“How
we
poisoned your wife, and sent her over the edge,” I say through clenched teeth. “
We
.”

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no! I had NOTHING to do with it,” he says, swatting the air in front of him with both hands. “I would
never
have done that to Rival. You did this, you crazy fucking psycho!”

“And I will tell them that you and I did it
together
. Who do you think they will believe?”

He stops backing away and stares at me, his eyes as big as the wall clock.

“That’s right.” I stab my chest with my index finger. “Moi. You will be the one they will go after when they find out that
you
were the mastermind behind the attempted murder. The transferring of the house into my name, the sole custody of the kids, the backdating of the power of attorney, the money we transferred into my account…” I cock my head at him.

His shoulders drop, and a hysterical chuckle escapes him. “I was only trying to protect my kids’ future. You kept telling me—”

“That’s right. You be sure to say that to them.”

He gawks at me, his lips moving like a barracuda’s.

“
You
got the placebos from one of your clients you represented in the past, and
you
substituted your wife’s medication, Bradley. The cops, the detectives, the media, they will love that angle. Those sobs will vilify you before the crucify you,
Murdoch
.”

I smile. “No matter what you say, my daddy and his army of fucks will protect me, while you will be fighting your defense with a Legal Aid lawyer who struggles with an alcohol addiction.” My smile widens. “You have no money, remember?”

He doesn’t answer – he doesn’t need to. The car keys that drop from his hands speak volumes. He stares at them, but doesn’t pick them up.

“You take your chances and go to trial. If the jury doesn’t buy your innocence, you go to prison for twenty years or so. Poor Holly and Phoebe. An unfit and mentally unstable mother and no daddy. Poor Scarlett has to take care of them for the rest of their lives.”

Again, his mouth does the barracuda thing before he clutches onto the patio table for support, his pallor suddenly matching the gray shirt he’s wearing. I pick up the car keys and dangle them at him.

“Go fetch the kids so we can have that picnic I’ve planned. It’s such a lovely day, and it would be a pity to waste such expensive caviar.”

He doesn’t answer; he just stares at me.

With a victorious smile on my face, I back away from my husband.

See? That’s how you do it. I have my soul mate exactly where I want him. He can’t go to the cops, and he’s mine for life. I will be Mrs. Prime Minister. Nothing and no one will stop me. I will be the face of Australia. I will be one of the most famous women in the world.

As for Rival, don’t worry about that bug that needs squashing. Nobody fucks with me and gets away with it.
Nobody
. Count on it.

****

RITCHIE

It’s Monday and I’m on my way to Bradley’s office. Earlier on I received a text from him telling me he needs to see me urgently. I’m a little nervous. I don’t know what he wants to talk to me about – guess I’m a little afraid he may have an inkling about Rival and me.

Well, he needn’t worry. I’ve stayed away from Rival since Sunday morning. Ignored her texts and her calls. I’m being unreasonable, even childish I know, but seeing her and Bradley together is messing with my head, so I’ve decided to back off and give them both the space they need.

It’s hard. I really miss her. More than I’ve ever missed anyone in my life. Often I think about calling her, but I don’t. It confuses and even scares me that I could feel this way about someone. I'm embarrassed, actually. Best I stop thinking about her.

“Hey, Brad,” I say as I enter his offices and take in the open bottle of Scotch. He pours a double and pushes it over to me.

I take a seat. “Big case or something?”

He shakes his head, then gets up and walks around to sit next to me. “Big, I…” he exhales loudly before he continues in a low voice, “I’m in deep shit.”

“What d’ya mean?”

He hesitates before he answers. “I want to leave Scarlett, but—”

“You’re kidding me!”

“—I can’t.”

I slam back in my chair. “Brad, what the hell? You just got buckled, man?”

He stares at the desk as he nods. “I’m gonna tell you everything, Big. Because…I trust you. And I feel like you have my back.”

“Sure.”

“Not a word to anyone. Please.”

“No, absolutely not.”

He puts out his hand and we shake on it. “Thanks. I really need a friend right now, Big.”

“I am here for you, Brad. What’s going on?”

“Scarlett, she’s done some shit, and …she’s using it to blackmail me.”

“Blackmail. Wow! Okay, what can I do to help you?”

“Kill, Scarlett.”

“What?”

When I see his wry smile, I exhale and grab my drink. “Thought you were serious for a moment there, mate,” I say with a nervous chuckle.

Then he leans in, tells me about a fight between him and Scarlett, and as I listen, my jaw drops.

“She swears the photos aren’t recent. Swears they were taken
before
we got together, but those pearls she’s wearing…” He shakes his head. “And her
voice
last night; it was almost like someone else was talking to me, Big.”

“Yeah?”

“First she was furious, yelling, then she became really quiet. Subdued. Like, meditative. I got scared, man.” He takes a gulp of his drink, a huge frown on his forehead. “I mean, how…evil was she to replace pills with
placebos
? The calculation that had to go into it, Big? It’s nothing short of sinister, man.”

I’m astounded. Rival kept telling me that she didn’t take drugs. To be honest, I didn’t believe her. Now it all makes sense. “Guess Rival must have felt the way an innocent man on death row would feel,” I intone, the frown on my forehead deeper than his.

“Absolutely. And to think I took away the house, the kids –I abandoned her, Big. How could I have done that?” Tears fill his eyes.

“You didn’t know, Brad.”

“I
should
have known. I know Rival. How could I have not believed her? How could I have treated her like that? Every time she tried to hold me, I pushed her away. She seemed so confused with my behavior. But she didn’t do or say much because she was struggling with her mental issues.” He looks up at me. “How do I make it up to her?”

Give her the kids,
I want to shout.
And her share of the house, the furniture.
I don’t say that. Instead I say, “What did she always want?”

“The kids. That’s all she ever wanted. Never fought about money. That was it, Big – the kids.”

“So give her the kids, then.”

He nods. “Totally. I will suggest she petitions the court for shared custody, and I will support her petition.”

I long to pump my fist in the air at his words. “Good. What ’bout money?”

Slowly he runs his hand over his mouth. “No can do. Scarlett the bitch controls everything. The house is in her name. I…I made a stupid mistake by…by ‘selling’ her fifty percent of my business.”

“Whaaat?”

He shakes his head slowly. “Pressure from Scarlett. She just twisted my mind. Seriously. After shouldering all the responsibility in our marriage, it was a relief to find someone like Scarlett who like, took care of things, Big. Know what I mean? I could just relax. And I did.”

I nod.

He takes a big swig of his drink. “I allowed Scarlett to…to calumniate Rival to all our friends, Big. They all think that Rival is a drug addict, and they shun her because of what
we
said. How could I have allowed Scarlett to sully the rep of an innocent woman like that? The mother of my children?” He covers his face with his hands. “I was such a fool. Enamored. Under a spell. I swear this arrest has broken the spell and freed me, Big. Only problem now – I’m trapped in a nightmare.”

“Yeah. So, like, how are you gonna stay in touch with Rival without Scarlett knowing?”

He pulls out another small disposable phone and flashes it at me.

“Ah.”

“I refuse to stop talking to Rival. I was a fool to let a good woman go. To
not
value someone like her, and I’ll be damned if I make the same mistake twice. I didn’t protect her then, Big, and now, she’s in even
more
danger, ’cause if I leave Scarlett, she’ll hurt Rival.”

My turn to shake my head. “So…so what you gonna do?”

“Nothing. For now. Our court case is this Friday. That stresses me out. If I am convicted, I’ll lose my license to practice law, Big.” He gets up and pours himself another drink, downs it in one gulp, and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand.

“I have a plan. But I have to wait until
after
the case to outsmart that bitch.” His mouth curls with contempt. “She’s dirty. Our bedroom – I never wanna spend another night there again. I used to think it was a sexual haven – paradise. Now, after seeing her blowing other guys, it’s a fucking sewer. I feel sick thinking about it.”

“Yeah, I get it. Couldn’t sleep in my bedroom until…” I catch myself in time.

After listening to Bradley say the same thing over and over again for more than an hour, and after promising never to mention any of this to anyone, I get into my car and drive home.

How do I keep this vital bit of information from Rival? How do I
not
tell her that she has won – because of her, Bradley now loathes Scarlett? That Bradley is terribly remorseful about all that happened? Best of all, that he is going to allow her shared custody of the kids? I can’t say a word, even though I really want to tell her. I shook on it, so I have to live with that bit of information.

****

SCARLETT

Bradley and I are driving to court. I’m not nervous about our court hearing, as I know my daddy will get us off. I’ve managed to convince him to represent both Bradley and me. I wish Bradley would relax a little, though. He’s been really morose, and that permanent scowl on his face – not a good way to win friends and influence people.

“It’s going to be okay,” I say in a reassuring voice.

“How would you know?” he snaps. “Have you fucked this attorney too? Given him a blow job in the men’s toilet? Rode him like a mechanical bull with my wife’s pearls on?”

“Really, Bradley. You need to—”

“Shut up, Annie. Just shut up!”

“Don’t call me that,” I warn.

“Annie, Annie, Annie!” he goads. “Orphan Annie. Are you adopted, Annie?”

A red curtain appears before my eyes and I have the urge to poke out his eyes with my acrylics.

“Keep your fucking eyes on the road!” he snaps.

“Grow up, Bradley,” I mutter.

We are in court for less than forty minutes before our case is heard. Drum roll, please...during the hearing, all charges are dismissed! Thanks to our attorney’s indisputably cogent defense, both Bradley and I are exculpated of all the preposterous charges levied against us.

“Didn’t I tell you my daddy would get us off?” I say to Bradley with a smug look on my face. “He’s pulled a lot of strings to—”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, your daddy is the Muhammad Ali of the courtroom,” he scoffs and strides off without even thanking my daddy for all his help.

I shake my head. One would think my daddy got us off some picayune infraction like a parking ticket.

“What’s with him?” my daddy asks as he watches Bradley storm off.

“Oh, Daddy, he’s stressed, that’s all.”

“Well, he’d better snap out of it; now that this is over, it’s Kirribilli all the way.”

“All the waaay!” I sing as I give my daddy a hug. “Thank you, Daddy. Can’t wait to move into it.”

“I’ve got Anderson John on board too. Martin Job can go fly a kite.”

I gasp. “You serious? Anderson John?”

My daddy nods. “Only the best to take us to the top.”

This is such exciting news, even though my daddy has used the word “us.” Everything is coming up roses. Really, it is. If only Bradley would snap out of his childishness. For an attorney, he sometimes displays immense weakness. I wonder how I never saw that in him before.

As I step out of the court building, I see him in the distance talking on his secret phone. No guess as to who he is talking to. I search his car every single night using the spare key, and during my searches, I found the charger to the secret phone he’s acquired. Did he really think he could outsmart me with my intelligence quotient being what it is?

Anyway, I really need him to stop being so mad and focus on our dreams, because now that the court case is behind us, and we have Anderson John on our team, we’re going to fly to the top. And life is going to be just dandy.

****

RIVAL

“All charges dropped, Bradley?”

“That’s right.”

“Gosh, I’m so relieved.”

I mean it. Bradley’s been nothing but nice to me recently, and I’ve really had a change of heart about hurting him. I genuinely believe that he thinks he may have made a huge mistake when it came to leaving me and treating me the way he did. He is remorseful, as evidenced by his recent behavior toward me – without prompting, he’s given me the wonderful task of picking up our kids from school every day. That means I get to see my darling daughters
every
single day. How fantastic is that?

Anyway, after I pick up the kids, I am picking Bradley up, and we’re going to an early dinner. Just him, me, and the kids. Although I have to wonder what Scarlett is thinking –Bradley sure is spending heaps of time with me. If I were her, I’d be concerned. Or mad as hell.

When I stop outside his offices, he is waiting with a bunch of red roses.

“For you,” he says, thrusting them at me.

“Oh, thank you, Bradley. They are lovely.” I put them to my nose, then reward him with a smile from under my lashes.

“You look really pretty, today,” he blurts.

I am about to say thank you, when I stop. What did Scarlett’s manual say about reacting to compliments from a man? That’s right – you do
not
thank them. So, taking her advice,

I kiss two fingers and place them on Bradley’s lips. His response is to grab my hand and kiss my palm. Bradley, my ex-husband, who left me for another woman, is complimenting me
and
kissing my palm. Wow!

He gives back my hand. “You look so different. It feels like…like I’m interacting with a
different
woman.”

“Maybe you are,” I say in a coy voice as I tuck my hair slowly behind my ear.

With a huge grin on his face, he reaches over and touches my cheek with the back of his fingers.

How I longed for this – for his gentle touch. To think my dreams are being realized one at a time. Life just gets better as the days go by.

I drive to
Amigos,
a local, upmarket restaurant which is also child friendly. I’m surprised that Bradley hasn’t suggested an out-of-area restaurant. It’s like he doesn’t care if anyone sees us. Anyway, I do not question him about it, as I am once again heeding Scarlett’s advice on seduction:

Provide a playground for them. A pleasurable concourse where they are temporarily relieved of all responsibilities, all duty. Play and pleasure, play and pleasure – that’s all there is to it while time stands frozen…

I will do that – I will focus solely on play whenever I’m with Bradley.

After we order from the menu, the waiter brings us a bottle of Moet.