Secret Obsession (6 page)

O
ver the last couple of weeks, Paige’s swelling had gone down considerably and was basically undetectable, thanks to her mad skills with makeup. Even the black circle under her eye was no longer visible, and she felt a whole lot better. Although her great mood likely had more to do with all that she’d been up to—she’d been a very bad girl over the last few days—and less to do with her physical healing process. She’d finally done her job, and at this point, all she had to do was sit back and enjoy the fireworks—​fireworks that were starting now. As expected, Pierce had just stormed up the stairs, yelling out Camille’s name, and now he was inside the bedroom screaming at her. Paige opened the door to the guest room so she wouldn’t miss a word.

“So, who is this bastard, William, you’ve been sleeping with?” Pierce shouted.

“William? What are you talking about?” Camille asked.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about. The man you’ve been seeing and emailing almost every single day over the last two weeks.”

“Excuse me?” Camille said, and Paige could only imagine the horrified and confused look on her sister’s face. Namely, because Camille really
didn’t
have a clue what he was talking about.

“Camille, please don’t play stupid with me. Don’t insult my intelligence. Not when I have copies of everything.”

There was a pause, and Paige guessed Camille was reading through all the email she had anonymously mailed to Pierce yesterday at his work address by overnight service through the U.S. Postal Service. Paige had been very busy over the last week and a half, creating more and more email exchanges between Camille and
William
, and it was finally paying off. She’d also done something different with a number of them, because it had finally dawned on her that if Camille ever looked closely at these messages, she might figure out that they’d all been sent at times when Paige was alone in their house. So what she’d done was schedule five of the latest messages to go out on days and times when she and Camille were together—that day last week when they’d spent the entire afternoon at a spa, last Wednesday and Friday when they’d gone to lunch, and while Camille didn’t know it yet, two more would be going out from her to William two days from now on Thursday morning, times when Paige would either be out on business all day or would have moved back home, and William would be responding to each of them. Paige had known about this particular Internet feature for a while and knew she was taking a huge chance that Camille might come straight home from each of the places they’d gone last week and sign into her email. But just as Paige had thought and hoped, Camille hadn’t. So once everyone had gone to bed on each of those nights, Paige had tiptoed into Camille’s office, printed copies, and deleted all evidence.

“I’ve never seen these messages a day in my life,” Paige heard Camille trying to explain, and Paige hoped her deep thoughts hadn’t caused her to miss anything.

Pierce laughed out loud. “My God, Camille, what do you take me for? A complete fool?”

“No, but I really don’t know who sent these.”

“Do you see your email address on all of them? Those that you sent out as well as those you received back? Do you?”

“No…I mean, yes. I mean, I see them, but what I’m saying is that I didn’t send them. I don’t even know anyone named William.”

“You are such a liar, Camille. You’re a lying whore.”

“What? Why are you calling me that? And why are you doing this?”

“Because the proof is right here, Camille. It’s staring us straight in our faces. And you even had the audacity to tell him how no man, not even I, had ever made you feel the way he does. Then there was another note where you basically bragged about the fact that I thought you were at a church meeting when you were really laid up with him at a hotel.”

“But none of this is true, baby. I swear. I swear on our children’s lives.”

“You’re a real piece of work, you know that? I mean, I can’t believe you would actually sit here, swearing on PJ’s and Crystal’s life, knowing good and well you’re guilty. Unbelievable.”

“But I didn’t do anything. I would never, ever sleep around on you, Pierce, and you know that. I would never even talk to another man on the phone. Not unless it was family- or business- related.”

“Oh yeah? Then why do a number of the messages say you
have
been calling him?”

“I don’t know, but it’s not true. You can even check my phone if you want.”

Pierce laughed again, his tone markedly cynical. “Oh, like you don’t know how to delete phone calls, I guess.”

“I’m telling you, this is all a big mistake. These are all lies.”

“Well, if that’s true, then where did these messages come from? And how did someone so miraculously send them back and forth from your email address?”

“I don’t know. It must be some sort of mistake.”

“Okay, let’s just say it is. I know it isn’t, but just for the sake of conversation. If it’s a mistake, why would someone randomly choose you and your email address and then purposely send them to me at the bank?”

“I don’t know.”

“I mean, who hates you so much that they would try to harm you like this?”

“I don’t know. But what I’m telling you is that none of this is true. These are all lies, and I have no idea why this is hap—”

“You know what?” he said, interrupting her. “Just save it, Camille. Save it for someone who’s crazy and naïve enough to believe you. I knew when you started spending all that time away from home there was someone else, but I just didn’t want to accept it.”

“Pierce, please. Baby, you have to believe me,” Camille begged in tears, and Paige stood near her doorway smirking and loving every bit of it.

“You make me sick,” he said. However, Paige was surprised to hear tears in his voice also. “After all the years we’ve been together, Camille. After all the years I’ve gone out of my way to prove how much I love you. And that still wasn’t enough for you?”

“Of course it was. And you know how much I love you, too, baby. I’ve always loved you, and I would never hurt you. I would never sleep with another man. I just wouldn’t do something that horrible.”

There was silence, and then Paige heard footsteps plodding down the hallway. Next, she heard someone walking down the staircase, and she could tell it was Pierce. Camille rushed behind him, crying hysterically and trying to reason with him, but it wasn’t doing any good. Seconds later, a door slammed, and Paige knew Pierce was gone. She wasn’t sure if he was gone for good or only for a little while to gather his thoughts, but he was gone just the same and Paige saw that as a plus. It was a sure sign her hard work was paying off nicely and that it wouldn’t be long before Pierce came running to her for comfort. It was only a matter of time before her brother-in-law would be hers. Permanently.

P
aige waited silently in her room, trying to figure out how she was going to approach Camille, but she knew she had to handle her with kid gloves. She had to console her, make her see that she believed she was innocent, even if Pierce didn’t, and that she would stand by her until the end. Paige lingered in her room a few more minutes and then walked out to the top of the staircase. She heard Camille bawling loudly and knew it was time she went to her. When she made it to the main floor, she watched Camille pacing back and forth, wiping colossal tears from her eyes and stroking her hair from front to back. She was a nervous wreck, and Paige pulled her sister into her arms. Camille hugged her back and wailed even louder.

“I’m…so…sorry…you…had…to…witness​…​that​…​fiasco​​…​​between​…​Pierce and me,” she said between deep breaths and sniffles.

Paige caressed her back with both hands. “Honey, please don’t do this. You have to stop crying, okay?”

Camille sobbed even more, but finally after a half hour she quieted down and was able to speak.

“I just don’t understand what’s going on, because I have no idea what Pierce is talking about. I’ve never emailed anyone by the name of William in my whole life.”

“Of course you haven’t, and even if Pierce doesn’t believe you, you know I do.”

Camille took a couple of steps back and grabbed her sister’s hands. “Thank you so much for that, Paige. Thank you for believing in me. And I’m so glad you’re here, because I really need you right now.”

“I’m glad I’m here, too, and I’ll be here for as long as you want.”

“You know what?” Camille said, suddenly leaving Paige standing where she was. “I haven’t even checked my computer, because when I glanced through all those email messages, they really did have my email address on them.”

Paige followed her up the stairs and into her office. Camille sat down and signed into her AOL account. She immediately searched through all of her new mail, old mail, and sent mail, but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary or anything with the name William on it. She even checked her folder of deleted messages, and still there was nothing—although Paige could have told her that there wouldn’t be. Not when she’d carefully removed all traces of her masterful scheme.

“I just don’t get it,” Camille yelled. “I don’t understand how this could have happened.”

“Sweetie,” Paige said, standing behind her sister and rubbing her shoulders. “Please try to calm down. There has to be some sort of an explanation for all this, and the truth will prevail. It always does.”

“I have to call Pierce,” she said, reaching over and lifting the cordless phone from its base and dialing his cell number. Paige had a feeling he wasn’t going to answer and knew Camille was wasting her time. But she stood there supporting her efforts in silence. When his voicemail answered, however, Camille left him a message. “Baby, this is Camille. Where are you? I’m so sorry about all of this, but as God is my witness, I don’t know any William, and I never sent anyone those emails. Please call me, and please come home. Baby, I’m freaking out here, and I don’t want to lose you. I love you so much, so please, please come home, Pierce.”

Camille pressed the end button. “Mom and Dad should be bringing the children home pretty soon. They took them out to dinner, and I’m so glad they weren’t here a little while ago.”

“I’m glad they weren’t either. But what are you going to say to them if Pierce doesn’t come back tonight?”

“He’ll be back.”

Paige wasn’t so sure about that, and to be honest, she was hoping he wouldn’t. She was praying he’d checked in to a hotel and would only return tomorrow for the rest of his things. If she was lucky, he’d already decided to move out for good.

“Maybe I should have given up all of my outside activities. Remember, I was just telling you about all that a couple of weeks ago.”

“I know, but why should you have to give up doing things you love? Things that give you fulfillment. You’re well-educated, outgoing, and you should be able to do whatever you want.”

“Maybe. But my husband should have come first. I should have been a lot more mindful of that.”

“I agree with you, but only to a certain extent.”

“And why is that?”

“Because every husband should want his wife to be happy. He should want her to be just as happy as he is. Both inside of their home and outside of it.”

“Still. If I could do things over, I wouldn’t get involved in nearly as many activities or attend so many meetings. And I’m going to do everything I can to make things up to him. I can’t and won’t lose my husband over something this silly.”

Paige knew it was time she raised the bar and placed a bit of doubt and suspicion in her sister’s mind, too. “Yeah, but if you think about it, Camille, Pierce never should have accused you of messing around just because you weren’t at home the way he wanted you to be. It’s almost like he became paranoid for no reason. And as much as I hate saying this, when people accuse you for no reason, it’s normally because they’re the ones who are guilty of something.”

Camille looked at Paige, her forehead wrinkled. “You don’t really think that, do you?”

“I’m just sayin’. Because it’s not like he’s ever accused you of having an affair before now, has he?”

“No.”

“Then why would he all of a sudden start accusing you last month, and now he’s gone as far as thinking he has proof of it. For all we know, he could have been the one who sent those email messages.”

“But why would he do that?”

“I don’t know. Maybe so he could justify messing around himself.”

Camille stood up, clearly defensive. “I don’t think so, Paige, and I wish you wouldn’t say things like that about my husband.”

Paige hurried to soften her accusation. “Camille, I didn’t mean any disrespect, and you know I love Pierce. But at the same time, you’re my sister, and I’m always going to look out for you more than I will for him.”

“I know, and I appreciate that. But Pierce would never play games like this. He would never have sent those emails.”

“I’m sorry,” Paige said quickly. “I guess my imagination sort of got the best of me, and I never should have said those things. Please forgive me.”

“It’s fine,” Camille said, walking out of her office. “It’s been an upsetting evening for both of us.”

“If you want, I can go downstairs and wait for PJ and Crystal to get home, and you can go lie down.”

“You don’t mind?”

“No, not at all.”

“If Mom and Dad come in, just tell them I wasn’t feeling well and I’ll call them tomorrow.”

“I will. And Camille, I really am sorry. There’s no doubt that Pierce loves you, and you love him. And when he gets back, the two of you will be able to sit down and figure this all out.”

Camille exhaled deeply. “I sure hope so.”

Yeah right. You can hope all you want, but sweetheart, your marriage is over.

I
t was a chilly yet bright and sunny day in October, and Paige simply couldn’t be happier. It was true that Pierce had eventually come home shortly after midnight, but the good news was that he’d slept in the other guest bedroom, and as far as she knew, he hadn’t said a word to Camille. Not even this morning when he’d gotten dressed and spent a little time chatting with the children or right before he’d driven off to work. He was still outraged, and Paige couldn’t have felt more satisfied or tickled. Things were certainly going her way, and later today she would call her brother-in-law to see how he was doing. She’d make sure he knew she’d always be there for him, the same as he’d been there for her over the last two weeks.

Paige contacted a couple of her clients and then called her good friend Derrick at his office. Derrick owned a private insurance agency, and since he was his own boss, he could talk anytime he wanted.

“Nelson Insurance Agency,” the woman said.

“Hey, Ava. It’s Paige. How are you?”

“I’m well. And you?”

“I’m good. Is he in?”

“Sure. Hold on a minute.”

“Hey stranger,” he said after picking up the call.

“Hey yourself, and how are you?”

“With the exception of the few scratches you left on my chest—which thankfully Andrea can’t see because of all the hair I have—I’m fine. But it’s you I’ve been pretty worried about.”

“I’m doing wonderfully, my friend, and remember we agreed we wouldn’t contact each other for a while. You know, so things would have a chance to settle down.”

“Well, have they?”

“Pretty much. They found your DNA, but they have no idea who it belongs to. Oh, and for the record,” she said, chuckling, “had you not worn a V-neck, there wouldn’t have been any scratches at all. Especially since I was careful not to touch your face and neck.”

“You are one crazy lady. And I still can’t believe you wanted me to beat you with that gun the way I did. It just killed me to have to do that.”

“Well, you did a great job, and it was very necessary. I needed the incident to look convincing, and it did. The police bought it, and so did my sister and brother-in-law.”

“I guess. But it’s like I told you when you first thought up this far-fetched scheme of yours, you must really want Pierce pretty badly.”

“I do. I love him, Derrick, and I deserve him.”

“Well, I hope you know what you’re doing. And by the way,” he said, sounding slightly comical, “you do realize that the man you’re in love with is your sister’s husband, right?”

Paige raised her eyebrows and didn’t find his sarcasm very amusing. “Yeah. And?”

“
And
I think you’re playing in dangerous territory. Not to mention you’re staying at their house.”

“Everything’ll be fine. You’ll see. This was all meant to be, and it was only a matter of time before Pierce and I got together, anyway.”

“But what about your sister and how hurt she’ll be?”

“What about your wife and how hurt
she
would be if she knew about all those affairs you’ve had?”

“Touché,” he said, chuckling.

Paige laughed, too. “Touché indeed.”

“Well, all I know is that I hope you never ask me to do anything like this again.”

“I won’t. Because once Pierce and I are married, I won’t need favors from anyone.”

“Really now? Well, I sure hope you don’t think everything is going to be perfect and that you’ll never have any problems.”

“We won’t. Pierce is a good man, and I plan to do everything I can to keep him happy.”

“Well, I’m a good man, too, and though my wife has tried making me happy, it’s not working.”

“Then why won’t you just leave her?”

“Well, for one thing, I don’t love any of those other women. I love Andrea. Plus, you know what they say.”

“What’s that?”

“Married men who mess around rarely leave their wives.”

Paige knew it wasn’t worth responding to such nonsense, because even if that were true, she knew Pierce would be different.

Just then, she heard a knock on her door and wondered why Camille was back home.

“Hey, I’m going to have to go now, but call me later in the week.”

“Will do. And you take care of yourself.”

“I will.”

Paige hung up and hoped Camille hadn’t heard her conversation. “Come in.”

“Hey, I’m sorry to interrupt.”

“No problem.”

“I just needed to talk to someone.”

“Of course.”

Camille sat down in the chair adjacent Paige. “I see you’re wearing one of your sweaters.”

Paige glanced down at herself. “Yeah, it’s finally cold enough, and you know I love hot pink. It really was kind of you to order those gifts for me.”

“It was nothing.”

“So, what did you wanna talk about?”

“Well, right after I dropped the kids off at school, I drove by Pierce’s bank and decided to call him. But his executive assistant told me he wasn’t available. Then I tried his cell, but, of course, it went to voicemail. I waited an hour and tried again, but he still wouldn’t answer. So, can you call him for me?”

Paige wasn’t sure what to say, but then she said, “I guess I could. But if he’s not answering your call, he probably won’t answer mine either.”

“Maybe not. But can you at least try?”

She sounded desperate and pathetic, so Paige picked up her phone and searched through her contact list, acting as though she didn’t know Pierce’s number by heart. When she scrolled down to it, however, she pressed send. Paige hoped he wouldn’t answer, but after the third ring, he did.

“Pierce Montgomery.”

“Hey Pierce, this is Paige.”

“I know who it is.”

His tone was curt, and Paige hated this. “The reason I’m calling is because Camille really needs to talk to you.”

“Well, I don’t wanna talk to her.”

Paige looked at Camille, not knowing what to tell her, but to Paige’s surprise, Camille took the phone and said, “Baby, please just listen to me. This is all a huge…Hello? Hello? Pierce? Hello?”

Tears fell down Camille’s face, and Paige knew Pierce had hung up.

“Sis, I’m so sorry he won’t talk to you.”

“This is insane!” she said, standing up.

“Honey, I know, but why don’t you give him some time? Let him have a day or two to calm down.”

“No, we need to talk now before this gets too far out of hand. I need Pierce to know that I’ve never, ever been unfaithful to him.”

Paige sat quietly, listening to Camille ranting and raving, and finally Camille left the room.

Paige couldn’t stop smiling. Her mission was being accomplished, and all she had to do now was bide her time. When she heard a door slam, though, she got up and looked out of the window. Camille backed out of the driveway and sped off. Chances were, she was headed to the bank so she could try to force Pierce to see her.

But not before Paige spoke to him first, so she pressed redial and waited.

“Look, Paige,” he said as soon as he answered. “I already told you, I don’t want to talk to your sister.”

“I know. And I’m not calling you for that. Camille isn’t even here. She just left.”

“Then what do you want?”

“Well, first of all, I just want to say how sorry I am that Camille has done this to you. I’m sorry for everything.”

“Not sorrier than I am.”

“You know I love my sister, but I could never support any woman who sleeps around on her husband. You’re one of the best men I know, Pierce, and you don’t deserve this.”

“Tell me about it. But evidently I just wasn’t good enough for Camille anymore.”

“That’s not true. If anything, you’re
too
good for her.”

Pierce didn’t say anything.

Paige hoped she hadn’t gone too far. “Why are you so quiet?”

“I guess I’m just a little surprised to hear you speaking so harshly against your own sister.”

“I don’t want to. But I’m also not going to stand up for anyone who’s done something this awful.”

“Well, you know what they say. It is what it is.”

“So, what are you going to do?”

“I don’t know yet. Right now, I’m too hurt and too numb to do anything.”

“I can only imagine.”

“Well, hey,” he said. “I appreciate your calling me back and for understanding, but I need to get going, okay?”

“No problem. Also, there is one other thing I wanted to tell you.”

“What’s that?”

“I’ve decided to move back to my condo.”

“Why? Did they find the guy who broke in on you?”

“No, but I really feel like you and Camille need your privacy.”

“Regardless, I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to leave until they’ve arrested someone. It’s just not safe.”

“I’ve burdened you and Camille long enough, and my mind is made up.”

“I really wish you’d reconsider.”

“I appreciate everything you and Camille have done for me, but it really is time I get back to my own place and try to find some sense of normalcy again.”

“Well, you know I’m only a phone call or a car ride away.”

“I do.”

“You take care of yourself, Paige.”

“You, too, Pierce. And thanks again.”

Paige pressed the end button and started gathering her things together. If she was going to lure Pierce from her sister the rest of the way, she needed to act quickly. She needed to do it from the comfort of her own home and be out of the Montgomery household by sundown.