Guaranteed Justice (20 page)

Her sister’s heavy breathing surged down the line. “Gibson.”

That hated name grabbed Fiona’s full attention. “Don’t panic. Is anyone there with you?”

“Yes, my boss. Oh, Fiona, he keeps looking over and smirking at me.”

“Okay, you know what we discussed. We knew there was a possibility he’d show up there, hon. I’m sure he won’t do anything while someone else is around. What does he want?”

“Christ, my skin is crawling. He’s after a new house. Of all the estate agents in this road, let alone this city, he chooses to come in here and badger me.”

Fiona’s brain clicked into gear. This might be the opportunity they’d been waiting for. It was time to put their plan into action. “Don’t let it show how scared you are of him. Smile as though you’re fine with what happened and that you’ve forgiven him.”

“What? Are you insane?” Linda whispered harshly.

“Just do it. We’ll talk later.”

Reluctantly Linda agreed before hanging up. For the next ten minutes, Fiona jotted down notes that had nothing to do with the clients she had to meet that morning. She scribbled away frantically until a knock on the door startled her.

“Ready?” her boss poked his head in the office. His smile dropped when she looked up at him. “Anything wrong?”

Fiona hastily gathered her plans and tucked them into the drawer of her desk. “Nothing. Just making some final adjustments. Be with you in two minutes; need to powder my nose first.”

Her boss shook his head, unconvinced by her words.

She nipped to the loo to replenish her lipstick and pulled a comb through her hair. As she studied her reflection in the mirror, she wondered if she could ever go through with the plan she’d hatched. Narrowing her eyes, she conjured up Gibson’s smug face and knew instantly that the decision was a no-brainer. She forced his image from her mind again to concentrate on the large contract she had to try to obtain in the upcoming meeting.

After several hours of strained negotiations with her boss by her side, Fiona breathed a sigh of relief when she left the boardroom with the signed contract in her sweaty palm and the promise of a hefty bonus winging its way to her bank account. On the journey home, her business day complete, she pondered how she was going to broach the subject of revenge with the girls and wondered if they would have enough courage to carry out the plan.

Letting herself in to the communal hallway outside their flat, her gaze rose to the ceiling when she heard her sister’s shrill voice retelling the day’s events. She opened the flat door to find a distraught Ami listening and trying to comfort Linda.

Fiona plonked herself down on the sofa and wrapped an arm around her sister’s shuddering shoulders. “Listen, Linda, I’ve put up with this for months now. I cannot and will not put up with it any longer.”

Linda spun round to look at her. She frowned. “I’m sorry I’m such a burden to you, Fi—”

“My God, is that what you seriously think?” Fiona shot back in disbelief. “Oh, I see. You think I was having a go at you. Nothing could be further from the truth! I meant I think it’s time to put an end to this guy torturing you—both of you—and this is how we’re going to do it.”

For the next half hour, Fiona explained the proposal that had preoccupied her mind at work for most of the day. At times, Linda and Ami stared at her open-mouthed, but as Fiona reached the end of her speech the pair nodded and rubbed their hands together in glee.

All they had to do was wait patiently for the appropriate time to present itself.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

T
he girls didn’t have
to wait long for the opportune moment to arrive.

Two days later, Gibson entered the estate agent’s office where Linda worked. Again he dealt with her boss. Linda had reassured her boss that she was over what had happened and that she would be the ultimate professional when dealing with Gibson. With the extortionate amount of disposable income he was willing to invest in the ‘right property,’ Gibson was being treated as a very special client. Linda knew that if she showed any distaste or hatred towards him, he would probably take his business elsewhere, and the blame would lie at her door, jeopardising her future career.

Linda was busy updating the pictures to a few of the properties they’d had on their books for a while.

Tim, her boss, called over, “Linda. Any chance you can show Mr. Gibson around this property in Mayfair this afternoon?”

Before looking up, Linda gulped and tried to compose herself. The last thing she wanted to do was let him know how much he still scared and intimidated her.

With her sister’s well thought out plan at the forefront of her mind, she beamed at the two men. “I’d be delighted. What time did you have in mind, Mr. Gibson?” Just saying his name caused an unwanted shudder to ripple up her spine.

Gibson placed a contemplating finger on his cheek. “How about five? Is that all right with you and the vendors?”

Tim intervened. “No problem there. The house is empty, as the vendors had to move back to Texas last month. All right with you, Linda?”

She cleared her throat to dislodge the lump that had developed. “I’ll meet you there at five on the dot.” She gave Gibson the sweetest, most charming smile she could muster.

When Gibson left the office, Tim approached her desk. “Are you sure that you’re all right with this, Linda? I feel awful, putting you in such a position. The thing is, Gibson wouldn’t deal with anyone else. Maybe he wants to make amends in some way.”

“To be honest, Tim, I’m a little apprehensive about meeting the guy alone, but I appreciate how valuable his business is.” She winked at her thirty-year-old boss and added, “Maybe there could be an extra bonus in the sale for me, too. What do you reckon?”

He turned and laughed all the way back to his desk. “Forever the trier, aren’t you? We’ll see.”

Linda picked up her handbag and checked that her mobile was inside before she made her way out to the tiny kitchenette area at the rear of the agency, where the staff prepared their drinks and ate lunch. She placed a call to Fiona.

“Everything all right, Linda?”

“Umm…‌Couldn’t be better, Sis. Any chance you can sort out some time off this afternoon?”

“Let me check the diary. I have a brief meeting at three thirty. What time was you thinking of and why?”

“I need you to be at a certain address by five o’clock,” Linda told her as an unexpected bout of excitement shot through her.

Her sister sighed. “Depends where it is, love. You’re being awfully secretive.”

Linda gave Fiona the address. She heard her sister tear a sheet of paper from her notebook and waited for her to scribble down the information. Then Linda announced breathlessly, “It’s time to put our plan into action.”

“You’re kidding? Seriously? Today? Are you okay with this?”

Linda chuckled. “At least give me a chance to answer a question before you ask the next one. I’m soooo ready for this. The idiot’s arrogance was on show again today when he made the appointment. I can’t wait to knock that smug look off his supercilious tanned face.”

“Me, neither. Are you going to ring Ami?”

“Just about to do it now. Wait outside the property; there’s a park across the road from the house. I’ll give you the heads-up from the front bedroom on the first floor. God, I hope we can pull this off, Fi.”

“Positive mental attitude, sweetie. Between us, we’ll make this happen. We’ll wait for your signal. Tell Ami I’ll be waiting in the park for her. Good luck, and Linda…”

“Yes, Fi?”

“Be brave and confident that we have your back.”

Linda smiled, and her eyes misted up. “Love you. See you later.”

She hung up and left a voicemail message on Ami’s phone. Linda noted the time on her watch and realised that Ami was probably held up in a lecture. She knew Ami would get back to her the minute her schedule allowed her to.

Linda boiled the kettle and poured two instant coffees for her and Tim and returned to the office.

“Wondered where you had disappeared to. I’m gasping for a drink, good call. Have you finished updating those files yet? I’d like to get them up on the website this afternoon if at all possible.”

She handed him his mug and nodded. “Almost finished; another five minutes should do it. I’ll pass them over as soon as I’m done.”

She sat at her desk and put all thoughts of Gibson out of her mind and got on with the task her boss had set her.

Within minutes, she had handed him the completed files and was just about to start on the next thing on her to-do list when her mobile jangled that she had a text. She opened the message to see the words ‘I’ll be there. Revenge will be sweet.’

Linda smiled as she deleted Ami’s message. A sense of pride filled her, and she puffed out her chest. What better friends and family could one hope to have?

The rest of the day was full of deepening trepidation. Gibson’s handsome but arrogant features constantly flooded her overworked mind. Silly reasons why she should pull out of the meeting with Gibson knocked against her skull on several occasions, but she quickly dismissed them.

When the clock on the wall above her boss’s head reached four o’clock, that meant she had exactly half an hour left before she had to leave for her rendezvous. Those final thirty minutes were some of the longest of her life, coming a close second to the time when Gibson had raped her. All the pain and fear she had suffered that night ripped through her.

Her determination grew tenfold. If she had any doubts before that they were doing the right thing, those doubts were now being pushed to the huge abyss in the back of her mind.

Five minutes to go before her departure time, Linda gathered the details of the property she was going to see and to several other houses in the same area. She had decided to tell her boss that she would go straight home after showing Gibson round the property he was interested in and the similar ones she had picked out a few streets away from it. It would give her the excuse she needed for her extended leave from the office. There was no telling how long Fiona’s plan would take to fulfill, once they got started.

Linda looked up again as the minute hand agonisingly moved to half past four. After drawing in a sharp breath and releasing it, she rose from her desk, gathered the keys and the details to all the properties she intended to visit—at least, as far as her boss was concerned—and said farewell to her boss for the evening.

Her legs trembled, and it felt as if her shoes were suddenly made of lead as she made her way out the back of her office to the car park at the rear.

Normally Linda was an error-free driver, but during the journey, she repeatedly missed gears and even ran a red light. Pull yourself together, girl.

When she pulled into Drake’s Avenue, she parked in a free space at the top of the road. There, she had a moment’s hesitation as to whether she and the girls were doing the right thing. But images of that degrading night drifted into her mind once again.

She restarted the engine and slowly made her way down the road. She parked her car outside the Georgian mansion house at two minutes to the hour.

Glancing around, she couldn’t see Gibson’s Ferrari anywhere. Linda let herself in the front door of the house and immediately ran upstairs to the front bedroom. A flash of red in the park across the street caught her eye. Is that the girls?

The front door bell chimed.

Panic shot through her faster than a lightning bolt. She ran back down the stairs, almost tripping on the final step. Remember: Stay calm at all times.

She planted a huge smile on her lightly made-up face and opened the door wide. “Hello, Mr. Gibson. It’s lovely to see you again. Do come in.”

Her words appeared to catch him off-guard. At first he looked bewildered, but then he smiled graciously and entered the house. Linda discreetly lifted the catch on the front door and swiftly shut it behind him. Her heart rate began to escalate, and there was little she could do to control it except take several steadying breaths.

Linda led the way around the lower floor highlighting the properties good points. Gibson was unusually quiet, almost reflective, and she couldn’t help wondering if he regretted what he’d done to her.

The rooms were empty apart from the odd pieces of furniture that had seen better days and had been deliberately left behind by the previous owner.

She did, however, get a wow out of him the second he walked into the enormous kitchen. The flecks in the granite worktops twinkled in the late afternoon sunlight as it danced across the surface.

“If you’d like to follow me upstairs.” She cringed inwardly as she said the words she’d been dreading saying because of what it could imply. She could feel his eyes burning into the flesh of her backside as she climbed the stairs in front of him. She did her best to wiggle less, but fighting the natural movement of her body was pointless. His breathing increased as if the view was turning him on. Crap! Be calm and brave.

Once they had reached the top of the large sweeping staircase, Linda headed into the master en-suite. She crossed the oak floorboards and stood in the centre of the big bay window, looking back at Gibson, who had remained in the doorway.

He nodded his approval at the dimensions of the room.

She moved across the room to open the large fitted wardrobes, which showed off the room’s adequate storage, then she pointed at the door to the en-suite, inviting him to venture in and take a look at the Victorian claw-footed bath and marbled surroundings.

His impressed expression when he rejoined her ordinarily would have sparked the pound signs to register before her eyes, knowing that a sale was imminent. But with Gibson, she took his enthusiasm with a pinch of salt. She had a feeling his enthusiasm was riddled with pretence and probably wouldn’t lead anywhere.

She led the way into the double bedroom at the rear of the property. Gibson raised a questioning eyebrow at the red flock wallpaper adorning all four walls.

Linda had to admit the room did have a feel similar to a tart’s boudoir. She shrugged. “The lady of the house liked to experiment with colours.”