Derailed (12 page)

Arena walks up and places a hand on her brother’s shoulder. “We’ll handle it, Liefie. Whatever it is.”

Ritchie pats his sister’s hand. 

“Think about it this way,” Arena says. “If Bradley knows and he’s okay with it, you guys can be free to live your lives the way you want to. No more ducking and diving. You can plan your wedding too. It’ll all be out in the open.”

Ritchie looks at me.

“True,” I say. “Good luck, honey.”

After dropping a kiss that lands between my nose and my upper lips, Ritchie hurries off. 

RIVAL

We sit huddled around my phone as we listen to small talk between Ritchie and Bradley.

“Hey, Brad. How you going, man?”

“Good. Besides Milton and Scarlett busting my balls, ordering me to do this, do that, do this, do that…thank God for whisky, huh?”

“Yeah. Elixir of the gods.”

“What you drinking?” Bradley asks.

“Um…I’ll have a Crown Lager, please.”

We hear Bradley talk to the barman before Ritchie brings me up.

“Did you give the ring to Rival?”

“Nah.”

Arena looks at me. “What ring?” she mouths. 

I shrug.

“She’s been kinda distant recently, so I guess I didn’t have the nerve to approach her. You know what she said?”

“What did she say?” Ritchie asks.

“I was trying to kiss her and she said…she said, ‘I don’t wanna be the other woman, Bradley, I wanna be the
only
woman.’ That’s what she said.”

Damn! Ritchie’s going to be angry at him kissing me. Damn!

“Yeah?” I can hear the disappointment in Ritchie’s voice.

“As you know, as much as I
want
her to be the only woman, it’s not possible now. You know my situation, right?”

“Yeah.” They fall silent for a while.

“When did you have this convo with Rival?” Ritchie asks.

“’Bout a week ago.”

“And you kissed her?”

“Yeah.”

“Big kiss or like, small kiss?”

“Big kiss.”

“Big kiss,” Ritchie repeats in a clipped voice.

My face flames in front of the roomful of Ritchie’s family. I’m in trouble with Ritchie now. How the hell do I get out of it?

For a few moments, all we hear is the clinking of glasses and voices in the background.

Bradley says in a thoughtful voice, “I’m wondering if she’s seeing someone else.”

Silence.

“I think she might be, Big.”

Silence.

“Why do you say that?”

“’Cause, Big, it’s the way she is these days. Like…that night, she didn’t want me to kiss her. I had to force her to.”

Saved.
Whew
!

“O…kay.” I can hear the relief in Ritchie’s voice. 

“Prior to that, I think she wanted me to kiss her. Know what I mean?”

“Huh, huh.”

“She’s…I feel her moving away from me, and I’m wondering, could there be someone else?”

“Okay.”

Another short silence follows.

“What…I mean, Brad, what if she
is
seeing someone else?” Ritchie says.

Bradley’s answer is immediate. “I’ll kill the fucker, Big.”

“What!”

“Man, I’ll slice him up!”

I gasp, while Arena’s hands clamp over her mouth.

“She’d better not be seeing someone else. She can’t if she knows what’s good for her.”

Did Bradley really say that?

“But…but, Brad, you are married,” Ritchie says. “You have to respect her –”

“Fuck that, I don’t have to do shit. I have full custody of the kids. She has to play nice, or else.”

“Brad, man, you –”

“She’ll never see her kids again. I’ll make sure of that. I’ll send her back to Dunhill if she’s fucking around with some gronk. She shouldn’t cross me if she knows what’s good for her.” We hear a glass hit the counter.

I suddenly feel lightheaded. 

“As for that prick, he won’t know what hit him when I’m done with him.”

After a short silence, Ritchie says, “A bit unfair, don’t you –”

“It’s not that clear-cut, Big,” Bradley snaps. “She knows the deal, and if she wants to fuck some other dickhead, then she must choose: that dickhead or the kids. She can’t have both.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I’m Bradley Murdoch, future prime minister of Australia, Big. Nobody fucks with me. Nobody should dare. You fuck with me, you better be prepared for war, because I have my troops assembled and waiting.”

A lengthy silence ensues.

“I think I’m gonna put her under surveillance. Her car, her room, her phone…”

“You serious? You gonna
surveil
her?”

“The fuck I am.”

Another silence follows.

“I can do it for you,” Ritchie says.

“Nah, I know you’re busy –”

“Not too busy to help a friend. I’ll do it. Best you keep it quiet, know what I’m saying?”

Bradley seems to be thinking about it. “Thanks, mate. Appreciate it.”

Suddenly, the phone goes dead. Ritchie has cut the call. Probably deliberately.

For a few moments, nobody speaks.

Bear breaks the silence first. “What a dick.”

“Yeah,” Vlad says. “He’s dangerous.” He looks at me. “Are we recording this conversation?”

I shake my head, reeling from the reality of the situation, the naked and sinister threats from my ex-husband. “Never thought of doing that.”

“Pity,” Vlad says.

“He
will
go after Ritchie,” Liefie says. For the first time, she looks directly at me. 

I quickly look away.

“I’ll make more coffee,” Arena mumbles and walks away from the table.

I follow her and find her in the middle of the kitchen, arms folded across her chest, staring at the floor. Not knowing what to say and feeling guilty, I back away.

When Ritchie walks through the door, all eyes are on him.

“Hey,” he says, looking at me, his hands deep inside his pockets. His shoulders lift and drop. “Thought it best to end the call.”

“Sure.” 

He doesn’t hug me, doesn’t try to console me, or hit me with his usual everything’s-gonna-be-okay bullshit. Right now, I could really do with some comforting bullshit.

“Wanna go home?” he says in a voice tinged with defeat.

I stand up to leave.

“No!” Arena says. “Don’t go now. Let’s eat first.”

“Yeah,” Bear says. “We can talk about it, Big. C’mon!”

Ritchie says nothing. Neither do I. Slowly, I sink into my seat. Ritchie walks over and sits next to me. With rounded shoulders, he sits on the edge of his chair and stares at the carpet.

“Ritchie?” I whisper.

He looks at me and attempts a smile. “Sorry.”

“For what?”

“For…not being able to…
fix
it.”

I shake my head. “Not your fault. And it’s so unfair. So, so unfair.”

Neither Ritchie nor I are able to eat. We just silently move our food around our plates.

“He’s being a real dick here,” Bear says as he attacks his steak. “She’s not his wife anymore.”

“Yeah, he left her,” Arena says.

Vlad leans in and looks at me. “When are you due to appear in family court?”

“A month,” I say.

He nods, a thoughtful look on his face.

“I have free reign of the kids right now. I see them every day for however long I need to. I make dinner almost every day for them, tuck them in bed…”

“But
legally
–”

“But
legally
, he could stop me from seeing the kids any day, hence the court date.”

“Well, then you have to keep your nose clean for one month. You can do that?”

I give a staccato nod.

Vlad looks at Ritchie. “How ’bout you? Can you do that?”

Ritchie nods.

“What’s with the ring?” Bear asks.

Ritchie hesitates before he speaks. “He bought it for Rival ’bout a month ago.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I ask.

“I…” he shrugs. “Rival, Bradley’s my friend; I wasn’t going to betray his confidence. I wanted to. So many times. But it didn’t feel right. There’s so much he’s told me that I can’t share with you.
Won’t
share. Because he’s trusted me with that info.”

“I had no idea Bradley could be like this,” I mutter.

“If I told you all of this, you probably wouldn’t have believed me.”

“Yeah. Probably. Glad I heard it myself.”

For a few moments, the dinner table is silent.

Ritchie looks at me. “You have to keep your room at Bun’s.”

I nod. 

“How the tables have turned,” Arena says. “He wants you so bad, he’s resorting to
blackmail
to keep you.”

Yeah. Turning tables. The irony of it – I’ve been relentless in my pursuit for Bradley, determined to get him back, fighting dirty to win him back. In the process, I’ve won, but at the same time, I’ve dug myself a grave.

Careful what you wish for…

Chapter Nine

RIVAL

Bradley’s sword dangles precariously over our heads, placing Ritchie and I under tremendous strain. To add to that, Ritchie puts me under recorded surveillance for two weeks. It’s hard pretending not to notice the camera, and I hate that to make the tapes authentic, I have to be filmed semi-naked at times. Ritchie assures me he will edit the footage and blur some bits before he hands it to Bradley. 

After the two-week surveillance, I can breathe again, and once again, Ritchie and I try to get on with our lives.

Mindful that my kids could tell on me and Ritchie, I take them to Arena’s place, never to Ritchie’s.

“Mum?” Holly says as we drive away from Arena’s place.

“Yes, sweetheart?”

“Do you like uncle Ritchie?”

“What?”

“I saw you kiss him behind the shed. Like they do on TV.”

Phoebe laughs.

Fear surges through me. “Wha…?”

“Do you?”

How do I answer this? They may tell Bradley. I kissed Ritchie goodnight once in the dark, never expecting them to see it. In a state of complete panic, I swing my car over to a nearby park, get out my kids, and sit them down on the grass. Time to come clean with them.

“How would you like to spend nights with me?”

“Oh, Mum, that would be freakin’ awesome!” Holly says.

“Yeeeeeah,” Phoebe says. “Freakin’…”

“Well, then that’s what I’m working on. The court will allow us to spend nights together if Mum has her own home, a decent job, and if she’s married.”

“Like Dad and Scarlett?”

“Yes. So, I like Ritchie, yes, and I would love to take you both to his house, but if Dad finds out, he’ll be so mad with me, he won’t allow me to see you two again.”

“Then we have to…” Holly presses her finger against her little mouth.

I nod.

“You hear that, Phoebe? It’ll have to be our little secret. Like how we kept Scarlett’s secret.”

I frown at Holly. “Scarlett’s secret?”

“Yes. Scarlett asked us not to tell anyone she was sleeping in dad’s room when you went away to the hospital. If anyone asked, we had to say, ‘No, Scarlett does not sleep in our house.’ Right Phoebe?”

Phoebe nods.

“And if Phoebe slips up and tells the truth, I must say, ‘That’s not true. Phoebe’s making a mistake
.
’”

I’m surprised to hear this.

“We can do the same now, Mum. But can we go to Ritchie’s house sometime? I like uncle Ritchie. Sides, I wanna play with Ally and Becky.”

I nod, my heart still racing from fear. I have a mere week before my court date. Will they manage to keep my secret? I am in desperate need of an antacid.

RITCHIE

“So you’re saying she’s not seeing anyone, then?” Bradley says as he views the surveillance footage.

Unable to lie outright, I shrug and choose my words carefully. “You be the judge.”

Bradley squints at the footage. “Sure she doesn’t know she’s being surveilled? She looks nervous.”

“She’s a mental patient,” I remind him. “Of course she’s nervous.”

He smiles when he sees Rival in her bra and panties. “Look at that arse! Can’t wait to grab some.”

I cringe inwardly. To avoid suspicion, I had to deliver footage of her in different scenarios, including footage of her semi-nude.

“I’m just grateful this footage isn’t in the wrong hands,” Bradley says. “One day she’s gonna be first lady, and people will pay big money to see this.”

“Mm.”

I’m deeply disturbed by his lewd thoughts and can’t wait to get away from him.

“Yeah, to keep her safe and prevent this from coming back to bite both of you, let me delete it,” I say.

“Lemme hang on to it for a while,” he says.

“Okay.” The thought of him viewing this footage over and over again for his pleasure makes me want to snatch the footage out of his hands and delete it myself. 

“Scarlett might find it,” I say, desperate to delete that footage. “Imagine what she’ll do with it.”

After some thought, he says, “Yeah…”

“Delete it?”

He nods. Immediately I delete all footage and leave.

Rival has done nothing to warrant such threats, such blackmail, and I feel really angry that Bradley can threaten her like this. Sure, she’s a little spitfire, capable of arson if you ask me, but she never starts crap; she just reacts.

I would be lying if I said my feelings toward Bradley haven’t changed. They have. I just can’t help it, and it’s so damn confusing to me. Sure, he’s still my friend, I still owe him heaps and I will always have time for Bradley, but the man has changed. He is no longer my friend Bradley; he’s a bully who is puffed up with pride and has an ego the size of Australia. And that ego, well let’s just say that an ego that enormous is bound to explode soon.

As for Rival, I hate the way Bradley’s threats have affected her lately. She’s become reserved and tense. Her smile is no longer that bright, and she’s jumpy. That upcoming court date means the world to her. To us. Luckily, we have one more week before she appears in court. 

That night, Rival thumps her pillow in the dark.

“Babe?”