My Wife's Li'l Secret (24 page)

“When is he seeing you?”

There was a silence before she spoke. “Says he’s busy at work, but he’ll try. Says there’s little he can do to save me anyway. He suggests I try to persuade the judge here that I am an Australian citizen. Will be easier for me in the long run.”

“Oh.”

“But, he said he will come right away if you pay him one hundred thousand dollars.”

“What? Is he nuts?”

“Each. Two hundred thou for Cruikshank and me.”

“He’s fucking crazy!”

“We can afford it, Ritchie.”

I didn’t answer.
We
.

“Did you speak to Cruikshank?”

“Yes. They allowed me to talk to him for a minute. He was crying, Rich. He’s upset about the drugs, facing prison. Aristov, he was like a father to Cruikshank.”

A father who provides his son with coke on credit. Nice.

“He thinks Vlad
will
help us. He has a Balinese attorney, but he’s instructed me to ask you to find him a good Ukrainian attorney.”

Instructed
. I pointed at my phone with a can-you-believe-the-nerve-of-the-both-of-them look on my face.

“Okay,” I said. “It’s Friday night, so I can only approach the bank on Monday. I’ll do it first thing Monday morning.”

“Ritchie, please help me. I promise I’ll be good.
Please
, Ritchie!”

“Sure.”

“I’m sorry for all I did to you. I didn’t mean it. I’m so sorry. Can you help me?” Not a shred of sincerity in that hollow apology. Knowing what I knew about Olga and her borderline sociopathic tendency, I was dumb enough to still expect sincerity from her.

After I hung up, I shook my head. “I so wanna gloat. To give her the finger for her deception.”

“And you will,” Bear said. “When it’s time. Not before. You will be able to do that face-to-face, and in such a subtle way, only you and her will know what you mean. You savvy?”

I nodded. “Man, I can hardly wait for that day. And I want to look Cruikshank in the eye and say, “It was ME!”

“Look, look, look!” Arena said, pointing to the TV.

Aristov’s mighty bonfire had made the news.

We smiled when we heard the reporter say that that they may be drug-related murders. Seven men burned to death in their Merrylands home.

As I drove home, I thought about Bear and Arena. Such ingenuity. Such delightful crooks. Smooth. Thank God for them!

But then again, if someone had told me a couple of months ago that I would be involved in the gruesome deaths of seven men and responsible for the imprisonment of my (almost) wife and her lover, I would have laughed at them.

Tough as you may think you are, you cannot escape the level of trauma and deceit I experienced and remain unscathed.

Pain changes you, your personality, your outlook on life. It hardens you. Creates a shell casing around your heart to protect you from more hurt. I was happy with my casing; it was made from the same material they used to make the black box on airplanes.

Never again would I be trusting and gullible. Never again would I allow myself to be hurt.

I did secure an Australian attorney for Olga – my good friend and business associate Bradley Murdoch.

Since he was my friend, I decided to trust him, be honest with him.

I told him just about everything, with the exception of me planting the drugs in the suitcases and my bonfire of Russians who sell drugs, abuse animals, and litter.

See, with Nadia, the real Nadia, we could live in bliss as Olga and Ritchie MacMillan, and no one would know. Except Vlad, Aristov’s nephew. But there was nothing we could do about that except hope that Vlad was lost without his father, his uncle, and his henchman, and wasn’t in the mood to share the same fate as his father and uncle, because I would have to kill him if he came after me.

“Ritchie, you’ve been through the mill, mate,” Bradley said. “I’m surprised you still have your hair.”

Absentmindedly, I touched my hair. “Yeah, I have.”

“Well, don’t worry, I’ve got your back on this one. I’ll try to get you what you need. Leave it all to me. Just book our flights for Bali.”

Relief flooded me. “Wonderful! But…what’s it going to cost me, Brad?”

I braced myself for the six figures coming my way. A busy, successful attorney taking time out from his schedule to fly to Bali, stay over, and consult with Olga? Luckily, I had Aristov’s money to pay Bradley.

He squinted at me, appeared to think about it, then said, “Just flights and accommodation. I won’t charge you fees.”

“What? Why?”

“Rich, you’ve been a good friend to me. I’m doing this for you as a friend, okay?”

For a while I was speechless. What a good friend he was.

“Thanks, Brad,” I said, pumping his hand. “Thank you. Thank you!”

“Book three flights, though.”

“Three?”

He nodded and dropped his voice. “My assistant has to come along.” A lascivious wink followed.

I stared at him, surprised at the extent of his cheating. He was married with two beautiful kids, a lovely home, and his wife Rival, who I had met just once, seemed like a homebody. Why would he risk it all for a fling? But it was none of my business, so I went ahead and booked three tickets to Bali.

I kissed my kids, said goodbye to Girly, and boarded the flight with Bradley and his mistress.

Scarlett, Bradley’s squeeze, was slim, blonde, and sexy all right, and she seemed to have Bradley wrapped around her double Ds.  It was uncomfortable to be in their company with their public display of affection on the plane, in the cab, and at the hotel in Bali. In fact, I could swear she gave him a hand job on the plane under the blanket, with me sitting right next to them.

Even though Bradley was my friend, even though he had come through for me, I hated his cheating, and my respect for Bradley, I have to say, diminished slightly.

What made it worse was when I met Bradley for a drink at the hotel. While Scarlett visited the gym, I got an earful as to how amazing she was in the sack.

“She swallows,” Bradley reported with pride.

“She does? Great!” Too much info for me.

“And she’s nimble, flexible, and man, she is fucking hooooot!”

“Yeah? Is this something you…I mean, is it permanent, Brad? What’s the deal?”

“Nah,” Bradley said, taking a sip of his whisky. “I’m just having fun. She makes me feel alive, Rich. It’s always been work, work, work! But with her around, I have finally achieved balance between work and play, if you know what I mean.” He winked at me.

“Okay.”

“How does she feel about it?”

“She knows I can’t leave Rival and the kids, and she’s okay with it.”

“I see.”

I saw fuck all. No, actually, I saw smut. I saw Olga in Scarlett, and it left a bitter aftertaste in my mouth. It was a fact: I had become judgmental.

But Bradley was so happy, he didn’t even mind working for free! I was saving thousands, why would I mind? I owed him.

For the next ten minutes he waxed lyrical about his flame and how awesome she was in bed, but somehow, I managed to steer the conversation back to Olga.

“She’s looking at a minimum of ten years, Big. Minimum. Nothing less.”

I nodded.

“What are her chances of serving out her sentence in Australia?” I asked.

“Slim to none,” Bradley said. “Unless they buy that I-am-actually-Olga-not-Nadia bit. Then, there’s always a chance. You never know. What about her brother? Or lover?”

“Fuck him,” I said. “Let him rot in jail. I don’t give a shit about him.”

“He will
rot
all right. Count on that.”

“Good.”

Bradley turned to face me. “I have a plan.”

“Shoot!”

For a second he looked at me, a thoughtful look on his face. Then he shook his head. “Nah.”

“Wha…?”

“Leave it to me and just trust me, okay?”

“I trust you,” I said, because I did.

****

“Twenty minutes!” the stocky female warden yelled.

“Thanks,” I muttered, and shuffled into the visiting area of the prison.

Olga was seated and waiting for me. She was dressed in a high-neck, faded-green cotton top that robbed her of all color. Her blue jeans were faded and baggy, and her white sandals were dirty. Her stringy hair was in a ponytail, and she looked different without the dark eye-liner and red lips. Without her orange tan, she looked pasty and sick. And angry, of course.

For a moment I felt really sorry for her. After all, like Nadia, she too was a victim of Aristov and his father.

“You did this to me, you dirty dog! I know you did!” Those were her first words to me.

“Olga…”

“I plan to beat this, you hear. Then I will come for you. Those children, you will never see them again when I’m done. Never! I will clean you out of every penny, you sneaky dog!”

I said nothing as she spewed venom.

“You think you are so smart, huh? Well, let me tell you, you don’t know shit! This whole thing is big. Huge! You have no idea who you’re messing with. No idea!”

She sat back and looked at me, waiting for my response.

My silence seemed to unnerve her. A worried look crossed her face. “What?”

“Nadia, if you want my help…”

“Don’t call me Nadia!” she hissed. “Stop doing that!” She covered her face with her hands. “God, I hate that name,” she said from behind her hands, then fell silent, appearing exhausted and spent.

As I was equally exhausted and drained, I too fell silent.

“You need to see Cruikshank,” she finally said, breaking the silence.

“Why?”

“He needs help, Ritchie. He has nobody.” Her voice turned soft and appealing as she talked about her lover, the one who was once charged with human trafficking.

“The last time I saw him, his face was swollen and blue, Ritchie. I think they beat him. And he’s had severe diarrhea from this horrible, dirty prison food.” Worry lined her face and made her look older than her thirty-one years.

So far my wife, the mother of our two little girls, had not once asked how they were. Sure she was pretending to be my wife, playing a role, so asking about our daughters should be scripted in that play of hers.

“Give him some money for cigarettes at least, Ritchie. Please.”

How wrong is this picture? I thought. The cuckolded husband being asked by the unfaithful wife to buy her lover cigarettes?

“I don’t have money, Nadia. I struggled to get the money to get to you.”

“Why didn’t you go to the bank?”

“I did go to the bank.” I pulled out Maxine’s letter and showed it to her. “They declined my loan, see?”

“Mm.”

“But I am rounding up all my papers so I can go to that pawn shop you told me about,” I lied.

“You’re taking too long,” she snapped. “The trial is on Wednesday, don’t you understand? That’s two days from now.”

“Yeah, but Bradley Murdoch is seeking a postponement.

“I don’t believe you.”

“If you don’t trust me, I might as well take the next flight home and let you die in this hell-hole, okay?” I started to get up from my chair.

“Wait!” she cried. “I need you to say that I am Olga, not Nadia. At the trial.”

“Okay.”

“Where is Bradley Murdoch?”

“He’s consulting with your attorney. He’ll see you soon.”

“Is he any…?”

“Twenty minutes finished!” the warden called, to my relief.

I stood up. “Gotta go!”

“Wait!” she said, but I turned and walked away.

I was worried about some of her threats. She promised she would take away my girls. What if she managed to get out of the prison and make good on her threats?

I called Bradley. No answer. Probably fucking in the hotel spa, I thought bitterly. I knew that, because Bradley told me that they were going to. Said that Scarlett was a bit of an exhibitionist and liked the thrill of having sex in public places. I shouldn’t have been irritated with him. I mean, Scarlett was probably the reason he was happy to spend a few days in Bali.

****

The next morning, when I went to breakfast, Bradley was nowhere in sight. I dialed his number. Voicemail.

Where could he be? I wondered. This was important, surely he understood that?

I sat back and looked around me. Bali was a breathtakingly beautiful place, and the five-star resort we stayed in was nothing short of spectacular. Yet I couldn’t appreciate it. I was too edgy and distracted with the outcome of my stay in Bali.

After trying Bradley’s number a couple more times, I gave up and went for a swim.

At around lunch time, he called me. “Meet me at the bar,” he said. “I have something to show you.”

I raced over to him. “Wassup?”

He handed me a file.

“What is it?”

“General power of attorney. Olga gave it to you.”

“You're kidding me! She signed a GPOA? Here? She
signed
it? This is her signature?”

He nodded. “Her signature, backdated a month
before
her arrest.”

“A month?” I stared at him in utter disbelief.

“Yeah. If I dated it today, it would show that she is Olga and not Nadia. But it’s backdated, and the place it was signed is in Sydney, and I have Scarlett as a witness.”

“Scarlett witnessed this?”

“Yeah, did me a favor and asked no questions.”

“Wow!”

“Big, this way, if Olga should ever emerge from prison and start staking all kinds of claims, you have already handled and disposed of all your assets. Legally, at that.”

Speechless, all I could do was stare at Bradley.

“Nadia…?”

“Nadia has to live her life as Olga. Quietly ease back into your life and just continue as normal. If Nadia decides at any stage to play dirty with you, and you never know, she could, you just reveal her true identity. Which is Nadia, of course. You say you were a victim of a scam, you had no idea you were being deceived, and you just discovered this major sham. She’ll be shipped back to Ukraine right away. So, if she has a head on her shoulders, she’ll know it’s in her best interest never to fuck with you. All this may not be legit, but neither is she or her past actions. Get what I’m saying, Big?”

My head bobbed as he talked.

“It’s not about you pulling a dirty, it’s about you having no choice. You have children to protect, right?”

I nodded, a frog in my throat. Bradley, my friend, had taken a huge chance and managed to hoodwink Olga somehow into giving me what I needed. What a friend.

“The moment we arrive in Sydney, transfer your house onto your name or your sister’s name ASAP.”

“I will do that. Oh, for sure, I will.”

“Say nothing to Olga when you visit. By the time she finds out what she’s really signed, it will be too late and she’ll have to spend a fortune trying to reverse the decision.”

“I am indebted to you for the rest of my life,” I said after clearing my throat.

He slapped me on the back and grinned. “You sure are. The bill for all the bribes I had to pay is coming your way. Had to bribe her attorney and some of the guards to look the other way while she signed the docs.”

“Thank you, Brad. Happy to return the favor someday.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Now buy me a drink before you see her,” he said, loosening his tie.

I grinned. “Sure.”

I’d buy him and Scarlett a hundred drinks if they wanted.