Derailed (25 page)

Who is this person, and what is this terror-filled hold she has on this family?

“O...kay,” Ritchie says. “Okay. Sure. That’s good.”

“You changed your number?” the caller says. “I couldn’t reach you for so long.”

Ritchie mumbles something to her and hangs up. He sinks into a couch and stares at the floor. For the first time since I’ve known Ritchie, I see defeat in his demeanor. 

After a while, Ritchie steps outside the house and shuts the door behind him, muttering something about needing air.

Liefie turns to look at me.

What
?

“Don’t you see what this is doing to Ritchie?”

I don’t answer.

She turns her whole body to look at me. “You can stop all of this.”

“How?”

“You know how?”

I know the answer: leave Ritchie. I shake my head at her.

“If you really love Ritchie, you won’t want to see him lose his kids, because that’s what is going to happen.”

“No, that’s not true. I don’t believe –”

“Have you ever seen Ritchie this upset before?”

I don’t answer.

“No? That’s because the only thing in life that Ritchie will fight for, will die for, are his kids. He once nearly killed me when I tried to take them away. Put his hands around my throat and –”

“You’re lying. Ritchie wouldn’t do that.”

“Ask Bear. He had to pull Ritchie off me.”

I don’t know Ritchie to be that way, but somehow, I get the feeling she isn’t lying.

I look at her. “Who is…this Nadia or Olga person?”

She looks away and mumbles, “Ask Ritchie.”

We both look at Ritchie through the glass doors – he’s pacing, a worried look on his face. 

“He will end up killing Bradley and going to prison because of that.”

“C’mon, he’s not gonna kill –”

“You don’t know Ritchie like I do. There are two sides to him.”

I frown at her.

“You can stop it all. You have the power to.”

I know exactly what she means. “I’m not leaving Ritchie,” I say in a forceful voice. 

She blinks rapidly.

“I’m not,” I repeat, before I walk away from her.

She steps out onto the patio and shuts the door behind her. I overhear her hysterical voice. “Bradley gave her my number, Ritchie. It’s unlisted. She would not be able to get it without him giving it to her.”

Bradley, you dog!

Later on that night, when everyone leaves and Ritchie is locking up the house, I turn to him. “Who is this Olga woman?”

He gives a dismissive wave.

“Tell me.”

“Don’t worry, Rival,” he says with a sneer. “As long as you have access to your kids, you have nothing to worry about, right?”

There it is. The resentment Bradley predicted. It’s festering. It’s happening. Next Ritchie will start to hate me.

I think Ritchie feels bad, because he walks over to me and plants a kiss on my head before he continues locking up the house.

The next night at around 9 p.m., the woman from Bali calls again. With Liefie, Vlad, Bear, and Arena huddled around the phone at the dining table, Ritchie talks to her.

“Bradley says that if I get to serve my sentence in Australia, I can have access to his father-in-law’s legal team, Ritchie.”

“Okay,” Ritchie says.

Liefie clamps her hands over her mouth.

“Imagine, my sentence can be reduced and I can be free in no time. Wonderful, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Ritchie says. “Wonderful.”

After he hangs up, they talk among themselves. Feeling like an intruder, I get up and make them some coffee. When I return to the dining table, conversation halts. Feeling once again like an intruder, I leave the coffee on the table and exit the room. 

Olga calls again the following night, and again the entire family listens in on her conversation.

“Nadia is not answering her phone, Ritchie? Why is that?”

“You mean Olga?” Ritchie says.

“No, she is Nadia, I am Olga!” the woman on the other end of the line snaps. “I can prove it. I just need a chance.”

Liefie jumps to her feet and runs to the bathroom. I hear her throwing up. 

My mind races. Tomorrow is Thursday, the day Bradley is supposed to visit this Olga woman in Bali. Everything is probably going to change after that.

Feeling sick to my stomach, I get up, walk onto the patio, and gulp at the evening air. I have to do something.

RIVAL

It’s 6:17 a.m., and Ritchie has already showered. “Morning,” I say as I slide out of bed.

“Morning,” he grunts.

After taking a shower, I join him in our dressing room, where we dress in silence.

“Why you up so early?” he asks in an absent-minded voice as he does up the buttons of his shirt. 

“I’m going to see Bradley at his offices. Going to talk to him.”

His fingers freeze for a moment, before they resume. I wait for the clap of thunder. But to my utter surprise, he says nothing. He continues buttoning his shirt, and with each button, his lips become a little thinner. I want to explain, but I don’t. The less said, the better right now. When he leaves the house, he does not say goodbye to me. My eyes smart with tears. 

It’s a little after eight when I make my way to Bradley’s office. As I drive, I feel a surge of anger toward him. Then and there I decide, no more walking on eggshells around Bradley. My approach has got to change for me to wrest back some of my power from Bradley, and for me to help Ritchie and his family. Once I have made this decision, I actually feel empowered.

Bradley’s eyebrows climb when he sees me at his offices. “Something wrong?”

I jerk my head toward his office and walk into it before he asks me to.

“I don’t have much time,” he says as he follows me in. “I’m on my way to Bali.”

I whirl around, look at him, and with arms akimbo, I say to the man I once called my husband, “Back off from Ritchie and his family. Now.”

Appearing both perturbed and confused by my confident demeanor, he eyes me for a moment before he speaks. “No can do,  sweet – ”

“Yes you can. Cancel your trip to Bali, Bradley. Now!”

He relaxes his frame against his desk and grins at me. “I’ve only just started. It gets worse. Liefie’s real name is Nadia. Did you know that? Not Olga. Did that fucker tell you that?”

That surprises me, but I just shrug.

“No? Well, it’s all going to coming out.”

“I don’t care about all that. I need you to back off right now.”

He cocks his head at me. “What’s in it for me?”

His words are encouraging. 

“Nothing. I just need you to back off.”

He shakes his head from side to side.

“Listen, you dumped me for my friend. You married her. I was alone and abandoned and he helped –”

“He took advantage of you!” he yells. “That’s what he did, Rival.”

“No, you have it wrong. It wasn’t like that.”

“He betrayed me, Rival!”

“Bradley, you’re married. Which part of that don’t you understand?”

“That means nothing to me, Rival!”

Of course it means nothing to him – our marriage didn’t either. Frustrated and angry at the unfairness of the situation, I glare at him. 

“I want you,” he whispers, his eyes suddenly dimming. “Badly. This new you, it’s sexy.”

“Why isn’t Scarlett enough for you?”

He looks away, his eyes losing their dimness.

“I don’t get it. You were head over heels in –”

“I made a mistake!” 

“And now
I’m
paying for your mistake? How is that fair, Bradley?”

He doesn’t answer. 

“What will it take for you to back off, leave Ritchie, Olga…and…leave
everyone
alone?”

He leans in and says, “Leave him.”

Somehow, I knew he was going to say that. I also know what my answer to that is. With a heavy heart, I say, “And…?”

“I will back off.”

He will back off.

“I’ll cancel my trip to Bali. Everything will go away. Just leave him.”

Everything will go away…

Slowly, I nod.

He smiles. Then he walks over to me. “I really want you.”

I decide to play along. “I don’t want to be your mistress, Bradley. I don’t wanna be the other woman.  I will leave Ritchie, yes – but I will only be with you if you
divorce
Scarlett.”

His eyes fall to the floor and he mutters, “It’s not that simple, Rival.”

“It is. You want me, right? You fantasize about me? So when you leave her, you can have me.”

He appears to think about it. “Leave him and we’ll talk.”

I cock my head at him.

He points his finger at me. “Cease all ties with him
and
his family.”

“Not Arena. She’s my friend, and I’m heavily involved in WIN.”

“Forget it.”

“I give you my word I will not see Ritchie again.”

“Forget it.”

“WIN gave me back my sanity, Bradley. Don’t ask me to abandon them.”

He wriggles his lips as he thinks about it. “As long as you promise never to see that fucker again.”

With a leaden heart, I nod. “Now, cancel your flight to Bali.”

For a few moments he just stares at me.

“Cancel it, Bradley. Now.”

With his eyes on me, he buzzes his secretary. “Maryanne, cancel my flight to Bali, will you?”

RITCHIE

I am at work when I get a text message from Bradley.

Bradley:
U owe me 5 bucks send it with Rival.

“What’s wrong?” Bear asks.

I blink rapidly before I show him the message. Bear, who already knows everything about Bradley’s threats, rubs his chin slowly as he reads. “Nah,” he finally says.

Is Rival leaving me at the first sign of trouble? Is that how deep her love for me is? I thought we were tighter than that.

“He’s bluffing, Big. Trying to like, make you feel insecure. Don’t fall for it.”

I blow out my cheeks.

“Has Rival called you?”

I shake my head and place my phone on the table.

“Not once?”

My silence speaks for itself. Bear fold his arms across his chest and feigns nonchalance. “Probably busy.”

For a few moments, we both eye the phone in silence.

“I don’t believe it,” Bear says.

The rest of the day is a haze – I’m distracted and cannot concentrate on work. When I get home, I don’t walk up to Rival and kiss her like I usually do. I wait for her to make the first move.

“Hi, Ritchie,” she says, her voice strained, her eyes flitting around.

“Hi,” I say.

She walks up to me and kisses me lightly. I know her well enough to feel her tenseness. She doesn’t ask me why I haven’t called or texted her all day. She should. It’s unusual for us not to speak several times a day. She doesn’t offer an explanation as to why she was AWOL all day either. Since I offer no explanation as to why I haven’t called her, the air is soon thick with tension. As the minutes, loaded with silence drag by, I just know Rival is leaving me. A bubble the size of a tennis ball forms in my throat.

RIVAL

When Ritchie enters the house, he doesn’t comment on my swollen eyelids, or my puffy cheeks. Fighting to stay calm, I walk up to him and kiss him lightly on the lips.

He doesn’t kiss me back, but peers into my face, his eye full of questions. I wait for him to ask me questions about my visit to Bradley. He doesn’t. Since the kids are having dinner at Liefie’s tonight, it’s just Girly, Ritchie, and me at the dinner table.

I’m too stressed to make small talk, and Ritchie is strangely silent. Since I’ve told Girly everything about Bradley earlier on, she too is silent, adding to the tension at the dinner table. When it’s over, I jump up, eager to escape Ritchie’s prying eyes. But Girly stops me. “You talk,” she mutters, a knowing look in her eyes.

Okay
. With great reluctance, I sit down, take a deep breath, and look at Ritchie.

With his eyes darting between Girly and me, he lifts a can of Coke to his mouth.

“I went to see…” I clear my throat “I went to see Bradley today, Ritchie.” My voice sounds nasal and wavering. 

He pauses with his drinking, his eyes on the table. Why isn’t he looking at me? Does he somehow know? I look at Girly. She stands frozen at the sink, her eyes fixed to it.

I look at Ritchie again. “Ritchie, look at me.” 

He doesn’t. His eyes remain fixed to the table, his jaw set.

“Ritchie, please.”

He refuses to look at me.

“I am…I think…this is so hard.” Taking a deep breath, I sit up straight, look at Ritchie and say, “I’ve decided it’s best for me to leave.”

Silence.

From the corner of my eye, I see Girly turn and look at Ritchie.

“Ritchie?”

Slowly Ritchie lifts his head to look at me with glassy eyes. I’ve let him down. Perhaps I should explain. That would lessen the hurt. “I’m so sorry, but –”

“You’ve decided to leave,” he muses in a gravel voice. 

I nod and swallow hard.

“You’ve decided to leave.” His voice has changed – it is now stony, foreign to me. This is not the reaction I was expecting.

“I’m so sorry but it’s best –”

“Don’t be.” He holds his palm to me, silencing me. “Don’t be.” He jerks to his feet, sending his chair crashing in the process, causing Girly and me to jump at his display of aggression. “Let me help you pack.”

My jaw drops.

RITCHIE

The strain of the last few days takes its toll on me, and when Rival tells me she’s leaving, I lose my shit. 

“Come,” I say as I run up the stairs. “Let me help you pack, Rival.”

She doesn’t move. I turn and look at her, then at Girly, then back at Rival. “Might as well do it now.”

I stride up to the linen closet, pull out suitcases, then throw them on the dressing room floor. In a frenzy, I grab her stuff off the clothing rails and throw them into the cases.

Rival walks up to the entrance of the dressing room and looks at me with huge eyes.

“What?” I ask. “I’m trying to help.”