Addicted To Greed (9 page)

Wilhelm paced up and down the open plan dining area in
disbelief; he needed to get out of this apartment away from
Felicity all this was too much to take in.
“I must go to my offices, I need to meet an important client at
nine, and we will discuss all this later, providing you’re not
going to do anything stupid in the meantime?”

He could feel his stomach doing summersaults and resisted the
urge to vomit again.

“I won’t Wil
helm, you have my word, but rest assured the
photographs will go into distribution all over the world if I don’t
get what I want! I’ll be awaiting your arrival when you’re
finished at the office.”

He couldn’t believe what he was hearing
staring over to Felicity
with a shocked and wounded expression with tears in his eyes,
his whole world had just come crashing down on him.

Chapter 4

Felicity’s
cunning plan began working, Wilhelm petitioned for
divorce from Jeannie reluctantly, much to Felicities relief and
pleasure, it meant before the baby would be born they would be
married, providing Jeannie didn’t cause any complications in the
divorce process. Felicity longed to be the wife of Wilhelm’s, so
their child wouldn’t be born a bastard as she had, she didn’t
want a big wedding ceremony as she had no family and very few
friends, insisting the Madame come over and attend the
wedding, Monika, Richard and Monika’s parents would be
attending and a few work colleagues of hers and Wilhelm’s.
She booked a chapel as she wished to wear white and wanted to
her union to be blessed by the church.

Wilhelm had been given the contract by Smith & Brothers to
design the coliseums, with vast amounts of money adding to his
already wealthy status.

Felicity became more convinced that she had made the right
choice in Wilhelm, he could offer her a great life full of dreams
and more money than she originally anticipated, she persuaded
Wilhelm to design a house very much like the Hamilton’s
Tuscan inspired villa, only bigger and better so she could
eventually host the greatest dinner parties to her few friends and
Wilhelm’s business associates in sheer luxury.

Wilhelm threw himself into his work delighted he had got the
Smith & Brother contract, his office becoming his sanctuary
away from Felicity. He couldn’t forgive her for her deceit and
blackmail, he felt horrible about having to divorce Jeannie but
he didn’t want his wife and children to pick up a newspaper one
day with his naked body engaging in sexual intercourse, he
couldn’t bring shame on his family in this way and himself, his
reputation could have been destroyed in an instance. He
reluctantly agreed to Felicity’s demands providing the
photographs would be destroyed after their marriage, this was
his only request otherwise there would be no wedding. Felicity
agreed by promising him that he could witness them been
destroyed and all the negatives from the photographer would be
posted to Wilhelm’s offices.

Wilhelm confided in his closest friend Antony Wallace to
prepare legal documents that Felicity must sign with regard to
the photographs and negatives along with the Madame’s contact
at the New York Times, that must also sign stating that the
photographs would never to go into publication and all copies
would be destroyed, so that in the worst case scenario the
photographer would be sued and in breach of his contractual
agreement.

“Wil
helm, let me suggest something else if I may?”
“Of course, I am listening.”

“Whilst I am preparing these documents for Felicity to sign, I
thought it would be in your best interests my friend if I prepare
one final document, it’s called a pre nuptial agreement, which in
the event of your death Felicity is only entitled to a minimal
amount of your wealth shall we say the most seven percent?”

“Okay
, but perhaps we could not make her aware of what she is
signing, informing her it is something else, she would become
suspicious if you were to mention it was a legal money
document, so how about we make up something else, so she
signs automatically and doesn’t suspect anything.”

“L
eave it to me my friend, the last thing I want this woman
doing is spoiling your children’s inheritance, in the event of
your unforeseen death.”

“Thank you Anthony, you don’t know how much I appreciate
this and how important it is she is left with only a tiny
proportion of my wealth. She doesn’t deserve anything;
however I shall see that our baby that is due anytime will be left
equal to Ella, Destiny, and Chase.”

“You’re
a very fair man my friend and you know I’ll always
help you in any way I can. I am due to arrive at New York by
ten in the morning; I shall be in my offices by eleven if you care
to drop in with Madame Felicity.”

“I wouldn’t miss this part for anything in the world.”

Wilhelm pressed the button to end his call satisfied that he could
still salvage most of his wealth to go to his dear children whom
he loved and missed very much. He had previously offered
Jeannie the sum of five million in the divorce settlement; she
refused just wanting what she had been receiving the whole time
they were married to be put in an account each month for the
children. As Wilhelm had paid off the mortgage on the house in
England over two years ago; it was agreed that Jeannie would
keep the house for her and the children as they didn’t want to
move from their childhood home. He was surprised how
amicable Jeannie had become about their divorce, however any
contact he had with her was done over the telephone he wasn’t
there to witness her heartbroken expression and was pleased he
wasn’t, he couldn’t face her any longer knowing what he had
done to his once beloved family, torn apart for his stupid
betrayal, not sure if he could ever forgive himself for his actions.

Wallace managed to keep Felicity momentarily distracted,
whilst Wilhelm got her to sign all the documents, with his
charm, showering her with compliments regarding her radiant
glow and trim figure. Wilhelm winked over to his close friend
indicating that she had signed the pre nuptial agreement, he then
went on to sign all the documents himself, handing them over to
Wallace to stamp and verify. Wallace invited them both to
lunch delighted with the outcome.

Madame Clemenceau was the first guest to arrive at the chapel,
she had brought Bessie and Monsieur Fredrik, arriving late last
night, and she booked them into the Ritz Carlton where she
insisted upon the premier park view suite for herself and two
deluxe rooms for her hired helpers. She spared no cost in her
extravagant luxury only the best quality was expected from the
Madame, often travelling to new York on vacations, or just to
shop in the wonderful boutiques for a couple of days. The
Madame was very well known to the hotel and had a great
reputation for generously tipping staff, she was always given the
royal treatment much to her satisfaction. She sat patiently
waiting in her chauffeur driven limousine, giving Monsieur
Fredrik a day off from his duties. She had taken much pride in
her appearance today as she wanted to look her best for her
adopted daughter, she choose a Donna Karan cream draped silk
dress that just managed to cover her delicately thin ankles,
teaming the dress up with her favorite Donna Karan pointed
cream leather and gold buckle toe caps with matching gold
buckle ankle straps. She covered up from winter chills with a
full length cream and brown coyote fur coat, wearing her white
shoulder length hair up in a Brigitte Bardot style high french
twist, her black thick eye makeup was flawlessly applied along
with a crimson red lipstick that framed her perfectly straight
white veneers. Waiting impatiently to meet the man who had
stole Felicities heart.

The guests arrived in small groups and were directed into their
seats by a young man dressed in a black and white candle
bearing uniform.
♣

Wilhelm arrived with his dearest friend Antony Wallace both
wearing luxury wool black Biltmore suits. Wilhelm’s suit was in
pinstripe with a three quarter length jacket, if the Madame
hadn’t seen the ill tasted glossaries of Wilhelm beforehand she
would have guessed the groom was indeed Antony Wallace as
these two gentlemen were dressed in similar attire. She couldn’t
take her eyes off Wilhelm, he was indeed more hansom in the
flesh and somewhat taller than she expected.

Wilhelm glanced over to the Madame taking a few moments to
register who she was, he gave her a light practiced smile
acknowledging her for the very first time, and she returned his
smile nodding in approval.

Felicity arrived a few moments later in a traditional chauffer
driven black Rolls-Royce wedding car. She had already
instructed the driver to wait a few minutes before escorting her
out so she could take in the beautiful sight of the chapel
knowing she would exit the building Mrs Felicity Pearson, no
longer bearing her mother’s maiden name of Jameson. She felt
a little sad as though she was letting go of her beloved mother
and childhood name and hoped her mother was watching down
from heaven and she could witness her daughter’s happiness.
This was indeed the most important day of Felicity’s life, the
planning, the blackmail, the conspiring with the Madame had all
been worth it, and she was going to be Wilhelm’s long awaited
wife.
Dressed in a long alabaster silver vintage Justin Alexander
wedding dress, Felicity entered through the chapel doors alone
waiting for Monsieur Fredrik to accompany her down the alter
as he was to play the father role of giving her away. The guests
all stood turning their heads to witness the bride’s entrance and
the traditional piano began to play. Wilhelm waited with the
minister at the top of the alter.

The Madame took one look of her adopted daughter and tears
began forming in her eyes, she looked exceptionally beautiful
just as her mother had all those years ago, Adrianna, would be
so proud if she could have been here to witness her daughters
marriage.

Felicity held on tightly on to her huge array of cherry blossoms
bouquet, carefully putting it in front of her swollen stomach to
hide the pregnancy as she didn’t want the photographer and his
assistants to catch glimpse whilst Monsieur Fredrik escorted her
arm in arm down the aisle.

After exchanging their vows and signing the marriage
certificate, the guests went back to the Hamilton’s who’d
arranged an extravagant five course meal, with a live orchestra
for the newlyweds, much to Felicity’s surprise, she really didn’t
want a fuss made as she was over eight months pregnant and the
baby could come at any given time. They had postponed their
honeymoon to Tunisia until a few months after the baby was
born; they were taking no risks with the babies or Felicity’s
health.
The Madame presented Wilhelm and Felicity with a set of new
sparkling silver keys and an envelope containing pictures of
their very own newly built Parisian Villa holiday home.

“Oh Madame
, this is absolutely delightful, what a complete
surprise we didn’t expect anything as extravagant as this did we
Wilhelm?”

Wilhelm coughed acknowledging Felicity and the Madame in
disbelief.

“Well my dearly
newly wedded couple it gives me great
pleasure to reward you both with a beautiful holiday home, as
least then you will come and visit me more often! Welcome to
the family Wilhelm.”

The Madame held her hand out firmly for Wilhelm to shake and
she gripped his hand with such force and ferocity Wilhelm
almost lost balance and fell to her feet, luckily he didn’t make
such a spectacle of himself as he was aware there were a number
of photographers from various up market magazines, keeping a
close eye on his every move. He just wanted this charade over
with it, it was all fake.

Benjamin Thomas Pearson came into the world in the early
hours of Christmas Eve after a long and excruciating twelve
hour labor; Felicity was exhausted and had to be given sedatives
for her to sleep, complications with his breach position led to a
caesarian birth. Wilhelm was delighted and cradled Benjamin
for hours talking and singing to him waiting for Felicity to wake
up.

Felicity eventually woke from her drug induced sleep and
Wilhelm introduced her to their new bundle of joy.
“May I present you with our beautiful new son; he hasn’t cried
the whole time you’ve been sleeping.”

Felicity sat up and held her arms out to embrace this
wonderfully small bundle hardly believing that he had been
residing in her stomach for nine months and now at long last he
was finally here. She began to stroke and kiss his tiny face
examining every inch of him, touching his perfectly miniature
hands unwrapping the blanket that he was covered in to him to
examine his feet which to her surprise she noticed an unusual
large gap between the big toe and the second toe, looking into
his small eyes she noticed that they both slanted upwards and
outwards and there seemed to be an extra layer of skin on his
eye lids, she expressed her concern to Wilhelm.

“He looks different, look at his toes and tell me if you see
anything unusual?”

Wilhelm began to look and noticed the gap dismissing it as
though it was nothing
“Oh c’mon Felicity there’s nothing unusual about that, yes
admittedly the gap is bigger than I have seen before but I think
that is just normal, let’s ask the doctors what they think.”

“But Wil
helm look at his eyes, they look so different.”
Before Wilhelm could look Benjamin started crying.
“He must be hungry, he needs milk!”

Felicity made several unsuccessful attempts to put Benjamin
onto her breast whilst the nurse entered helping her to guide
Benjamin correctly, eventually Benjamin began to feed and the
crying stopped much to Felicity’s relief.

“I must speak with Dr Reed nurse can you call him for me, I
need to see him right away.”

The nurse sensed
Felicity’s impatience asked if there was
anything she could help with, Felicity assured her there wasn’t
so the nurse quietly excused herself to go back to the nurses’
station where she would contact the doctor.

Benjamin had fallen to sleep and Felicity placed him in the crib
next to her bed not taking her eyes off him for a moment but she
was feeling a mixture of strange emotions not sure where they
were leading.

Wilhelm stayed at her bedside just looking in sheer delight at his
new born baby boy; he remembered the birth of all his children,
none of which were as complicated as this one, he began to
silently weep, tears of joy and happiness he couldn’t believe he
was a father for the fourth consecutive time, he held Felicity’s
hand whilst they waited for the doctor to arrive.

After Doctor Reed examined Benjamin he became aware that
these were some of the symptoms of Down syndrome, treading
carefully not to alarm Felicity he asked if she had an
amniocentesis test during her pregnancy.

“I don’t think so doctor, what type of test is that?”
“It’s a particular unpleasant test to see if your unborn baby is
likely to have Down syndrome.”

“No
, doctor, why would need a test like that? I can assure you
nobody in my family has such a condition, which is absurd as
far as I was made aware it was recommended for ladies that are
much older than me. May I remind you that I am only nineteen
years of age?”

“Yes
, it’s often recommended to ladies reaching their forties or
over as they have an increased risk of the syndrome affecting
their unborn child. I’d like to run a blood test on Benjamin if
you wouldn’t mind it’s a chromosome analysis test that will
show if Benjamin has the extra chromosome 21 material which
in affect causes Down syndrome.”

“What the hell are you trying to say doctor that you suspect that
my baby has this syndrome, or are you only speculating on
trying to find out what’s wrong with my baby?”
Felicity became hysterical. Wilhelm tried to calm her down but
it was no use, the doctor tried to explain that Benjamin was
showing signs of the syndrome, however he couldn’t be sure
until the test was completed and the results got back to him.

Felicity and Wilhelm reluctantly agreed assuring the doctor if
they were not satisfied with his findings that they would pursue
a second opinion.

Felicity felt like her perfectly modified world had come crashing
down on her and her dreams of the dream baby she had
imagined for nine months or more was not there anymore. She
slipped into a major depression and found it hard to bond with
Benjamin who now needed her more than ever. Luckily
Wilhelm stepped in to feed the baby with formula milk as
Felicity refused to give Benjamin her breast complaining that it
was just too painful.

Felicity and Wilhelm waited patiently for the results of the blood
test; they were informed that it could take up to a week or so
before the results came back from the laboratory. Felicity stayed
in the private wing of the maternity ward after she caught an
infection on her wound from the cesarean. Wilhelm did all he
could to reassure her that if Benjamin did have the syndrome
that they would receive all the help and support they needed to
take care of him. Felicity couldn’t bear the thought that her new
born baby had the syndrome and went into a state of denial.
A friendly nurse came to talk with them with regards to the
syndrome answering every question they had with care and
precision, informing them of the help they could get if Benjamin
was diagnosed with Down syndrome. Wilhelm was becoming
more and more concerned with Felicity’s mental health, as she
would sit with her arms cradling her body rocking back and
forth talking to herself in some form of chanting language her
had never heard before and couldn’t understand. He noticed that
she wouldn’t have any contact with Benjamin in the process and
this worried him even more, he expressed his concerns on a
number of occasions to the nurses and doctors and they became
aware that Felicity’s mental health was deteriorating for the
worst, they offered anti depressants, counseling and a number of
opportunities for Felicity to meet with the some of the new
mothers on the ward, but she refused everything they offered
saying she would be fine when the results got back from the lab,
dismissing her behavior as nervous tension.

They encouraged her to embrace Benjamin and focus on his
needs as he was just like any other baby and he needed her the
most, but she refused to pick him up and kept him at arm’s
length often calling for the nurses to come and tend to him in
Wilhelm’s absence. The blood test confirmed her worst fear
that Benjamin did indeed have the extra chromosome that led to
Down syndrome; she became once again hysterical and had to
be sedated by the doctor. When Wilhelm arrived ten minutes
later and heard the news he broke down and cried, his beautiful
little boy had Down syndrome and he couldn’t do anything
about it, he felt guilty and automatically started to blame
himself. Felicity and Wilhelm both cried together hand in hand
staring at their new bundle whilst he was sleeping trying to
imagine his future but scared of not knowing what lay in store
for him, would there be numerous health complications? What
quality of life would he have? Would he be ridiculed as he
would grow up with different needs to children who didn’t have
the syndrome? So many questions were going through their
heads and not enough answers, both experiencing different
emotional responses, all Wilhelm wanted for his son was to be
healthy and lead a happy life and he would support him anyway
he could. Felicity felt the opposite, she didn’t want to have
anything to do with him and was considering adoption, she felt
ashamed that she had created a less than perfect baby and
couldn’t bear the thought of looking at him a moment longer,
she became constantly hysterical and the doctors knew that they
had to do more than just sedate her, she needed long term
psychiatric evaluation, so they referred her to a psychiatric
hospital for further evaluation. Felicity went willingly, she
knew she wasn’t feeling well and she needed help. Meanwhile,
Wilhelm received all the support and help he could and took
Benjamin home taking six months leave from his work to
dedicate to his beautiful son in the hope that Felicity would
finally come round and get better sooner rather than later.
He was no stranger to nursing babies; he had nursed Chad his
beloved dead twin son for just over one and a half years before
he died, if anything he felt empowered by his son, here he was
just a few weeks old and he had struck a remarkable bond that
would never break.

Ella
Chapter 5

Ella looked out of her tiny bedroom window rubbing the
condensation whilst trying to adjust her sleepy eyes to the view
she woke up with each morning! Thinking how she would miss
this place soon, it had been home for over a decade. Gathering
her dressing gown, quietly tiptoeing down the stairs so the
children wouldn’t be disturbed from their sleep. She entered her
small but modest kitchen in which there was still last night’s
dishes neatly stacked and left by her eldest to be washed,
assuring her before he went to bed last night that he would do
them, once the movie he and his friends were watching ended.
Reaching for the coffee pot on auto pilot, she needed a hit of
caffeine in order to get her thoughts together at this time in the
morning, it was her favorite time of the whole day, her
sanctuary, the only time she got to myself these days with the
demands of all her three children, who craved so much of her
time, it was simply exhausting. All she ever craved for her
children was a good man, a strong father figure, a guy she would
often fantasize about at this time of the morning. Each father of
her three children had been a sad disappointment, leaving at the
time of each child’s birth or early stages of them been toddlers.
She wanted a man who could withstand anything, a valiant
solider, strong, disciplined, with the body of a gladiator. It
didn’t really matter to her if he was not particularly hansom, she
could deal with this as long as he would dedicate his life to her
and her children and be forever faithful, and this was her biggest
dream. However with her track record of men she was
beginning to lose all faith, another passion of hers was money,
money was her biggest love, and life was just a constant battle to
get by on as little as possible, there wasn’t enough of it in their
life’s to go round until her father recently died. She never
dreamed she would be left the amount her father left her.

Chase the youngest of her clan received twelve million pounds
and after much deliberation decided to buy the house of his
dreams and start up his own international electronics company.
Destiny the middle child, received six million, due to falling out
with their eccentric father several years before he died, put hers
into a private account, a little unsure of what she was to do with
it. Ella the eldest received a staggering sixteen million, as unfair
as it was to her brother and sister, she never forgot the sheer
look on shock on her sisters face when Mr Wallace her late
father’s solicitor, read out the will and revealed the amount they
were all awarded. She squeezed Destiny’s hand, consoling her,
and then to everyone’s surprise Destiny shouted out.

“I never thought he would be that unfair!”

Ella could feel her
sister’s hand shake with anger, but instructed
Mr Wallace to go on with the other amounts their rich father
left.

Chase sat at the other side of Ella, he revealed a tight smile
when he discovered what their father had left him, but expressed
a look of concern and guilt over to Destiny.
He also left Chase
his private collection of antique grandfather clocks, he had
collected for over fifty years. When Mr Wallace revealed the
amount of money their father had left her she remembered
becoming stiff in her chair, all her blood rushing to her head at
once, the sudden rush of adrenaline flowing throughout her
body, followed by a surge of excitement she had never
experienced before. She couldn’t help letting go of Destiny’s
hand and putting them both out in front of herself instructing Mr
Wallace to repeat it to her again, forgetting her two younger
siblings were also present, oblivious to the sheer look of
discomfort of Wallace’s expression whilst glancing over to
Destiny and Chase. Anthony Wallace reluctantly replied,
“Sixteen million pounds, to be awarded to you Miss Ella!”
coughing with embarrassment for her brother and sister, he
continued with his list of their fathers personal collections, that
went completely over her head. Each grandchild was granted
five million, to be put into a trust until the age of twenty one.
Ella was surprised to discover that her father had left her mother
his entire collection of Brahms 3
^rd
symphony and all his other
classical music, the value reaching well over a million pounds,
as many were originals, signed and sealed with the composers
signature. Ella was in a complete whirl, dismissing the look of
disbelief on Destiny’s face, until she approached her shortly
afterwards as they were all departing Wallace’s Offices.
“I am not cross with you Ella, I think you deserve it, you were

always the favorite daughter. I hope you enjoy it, I never
imagined I would receive this amount of money in my lifetime,
and I had no idea our father had all this money. To be honest
I’m in complete shock as what to do with it!”