Reckless Karma (Sinners & Saints #2) (8 page)

           
“Fuck
me.” Is all Jaz says after the recap of my time here. “This Scarlett sounds
like one of my exes.”

           
“I’ve
met all your ex-girlfriends,” I say. “Trust me, they don’t compare. Scarlett
actually makes them seem like upgrades.”

           
“Yeah,
well Karlie seems to have a legit plan,” Cody says.

           
“Mate,
that sucks that your first girlfriend had to be a lying twat.”

           
“Excuse
me, but the lying twat is still sitting here.” Anika is sitting next to Jaz in
fact.

           
“Yeah,
why are you still here?” Jordana asks.

           
“To
annoy Cody until he forgives me.”

           
“Ignore
her,” Cody mutters.

“And
you’re clearly jealous of Hugo’s dead brother’s girlfriend,” Jaz suddenly says
to me

           
“What?”
My head cocks back. “The bloody hell I am.”

           
“I
agree,” Jordana says and Cody, Poppy, and even Anika nod in agreement.

           
“I
just met the girl. Why would I be jealous?”

           
“Because
the connection she and Hugo already have,” Anika says.

           
“What
connection?”

           
“Listen,
not to throw my sister under the bus, but she has an unhealthy love and
obsession for Gabriel. She loves him like no tomorrow, and Hugo is clearly a
copy of him. At least close to it. I wouldn’t be shocked if my sister was
attracted to him, but regardless it’s really about their main goal. They are
the two people Scarlett has ruined most… and you can’t connect with Hugo on
that like Karlie can.”

           
“Yeah,
Anika, you got that annoying thing down,” I say. I mean who the hell does she
think she is? Coming in here telling people about themselves. Well I guess
karma for me because I did that too when I first came here. Damn me and my wit.
It does nothing but lead to hypocrisy.

           
“Unfortunately
she’s right.” Cody shoots her an ill look before continuing. “Specially since
Hugo is going back dark.”

           
“Okay,
you act like we are in some mafia film and someone is going to die.”

           
“Someone
might.” Cody shrugs.

           
“Yeah,
this is Manhattan and the rich are rabid dogs. Besides, every year someone
dies. We might have a lower death ratio rate than most boroughs but trust
someone always dies in a foul matter,” Jordana says

           
“Michael
Strut drowned himself in his tub full of money last year,” Cody says.

           
“Diane
Moss had that terrible car accident two years ago,” Poppy adds.

           
“And
the year before that Kyle Offman got shot in Jersey trying to buy weed.”

           
“Why
buy weed in Jersey?” Jaz says.

           
“Who
the fuck knows? Everything in Jersey sucks ass,” Jordana says.

           
“They
have good burgers,” Anika says.

           
Jaz
laughs. “I like your new friends, JuJu.”

           
“Okay,
maybe I am a bit jealous of it,” I sadly admit. “But… I don’t trust her.
There’s something off and August said not to trust her.”

           
“You
can trust my sister,” Anika says with confidence.

           
“Is
she telling us everything?” Cody asks her and the uncertainty is written all
over her face.

           
“Now
I have to go.” I stand in her way.

           
“What
is she keeping?”

           
“Nothing
that concerns you,” Anika glares. “Listen, Karlie doesn’t need to come out with
all of her past to please you. She just wants to ruin the people who ruined
her, and personally I hope she does because maybe then she will be able to move
on and be able to be the person she needs to be.”

           
Anika
leaves and we are left wondering about the Dale family and if this plan of
Karlie’s is really going to work. I especially would like to know what is
happening at the meeting with the Townsend’s lawyers.

HUGO

“This
better work,” I tell the lawyer Karlie hired for me, Angie Wallace. I know
she’s good. She got me immediately released on bail when they first arrested me
for the rape of Rebecca Townsend, but now she’s telling me that she’s getting
all the charges dropped and I can’t even see that happening. The Townsend
family is on a witch hunt for my ass, and while they are on this ill-advised
hunt, they are cohabiting with the wicked witch of the Upper East Side herself.

           
“It
will work. Just let me do the talking.” She’s smiling and at ease and it’s
pissing me off.

           
“You
both could have at least told me what the plan is.”

           
“Mrs.
Fairchild likes to keep everything under wraps.”

           
“I’ve
noticed.”

           
Jane
Townsend and her lawyer walk in. Just them. No Patrick, no Rebecca, and no
Scarlett. Her lawyer is a short guy with a very long chin and a bald spot.

           
“Where’s
your son and evil future daughter-in-law?” I ask.

           
“Your
lawyer asked for them not to come and said that it would be wise. Said some
information could be threatening for my children’s ears,” Jane quickly says and
Angie gives me a look telling me to shut up.

           
“Please
sit, Ms. Townsend,” Angie says and she does along with her lawyer across from
us in the conference room.

           
“We
are here to offer you a deal,” My lawyer continues.

           
“Offer
us a deal?” Townsend’s lawyer mocks in question.

           
“Yes.”

           
“Look,
I don’t know what you are playing here
—
”

           
“No
game,” she cuts him off. “You and I both know that you have no case.”

           
“We
have the drugs.”
           
“Drugs
that could’ve easily been planted by anyone. No evidence on the girl.”

           
“That
girl is my daughter,” Jane grits out and looks at me. “You are a disgusting
beast. You hurt my little girl and for that I will make you pay.”

           
I
ignore her threats and Angie Wallace keeps talking.

           
“Mrs.
Townsend, who is the biological father of all your children?”

           
Jane’s
brown eyes shift to her and an obscene amount of fear washes over them. “My
late husband.”

           
“On
the contrary, your late husband is only the father of one of your children. I
have evidence that states and shows that your son Patrick and daughter Rebecca
are not the biological children of Mr. Townsend. In fact, they are the children
of two different men. Products of your many affairs.”

           
“Let
me guess,” I smirk. “Husband cheated, so for every mistress you slept with
another one of his colleagues.”

           
“Mrs.
Townsend, you are a huge supporter of the campaign against Planned Parenthood
and abortion, aren’t you?” my lawyer adds. “Also you are known for your
distaste for extramarital affairs.”

           
“Headlines.
Patrick Townsend, one of the richest men in the world, is a bastard.”

           
“You
are the bastard,” Jane hisses.

           
I
lean on the table. “But not a rapist. I never touched your daughter. It was all
Scarlett’s doing.”

           
“That
girl isn’t that vile.”

           
“No,
she is. And you know it. You just think she isn’t stupid. But I suggest you get
Rebecca to recant her statement or this will be leaked all over. Your son and
daughter will hate you, especially Patrick, who wears the Townsend name loud
and proud. People will spit in your face. The white trash girl who sneaked her
way in… only to ruin the legitimacy of an empire.”

           
Jane
Townsend’s teary eyes have no affect on me. And to think I was beginning to
lose my edge.

           
“You
expect me to let what happened to my daughter go unpunished?”

           
“Come
on, Jane. You know the routine. Why weigh both scandals against each other when
you can just kill two birds with one stone? Besides, if everything works out…
maybe you won’t have to buy a dress for that wedding you so desperately do not
want to happen.”

           
She
takes the deal. For now. She informs me that she knows people. Basically I
guess death could be in my future if I don’t prove to her that Scarlett was
behind it all. Public persona is the most important thing to these people. That
is one thing I am thankful to have gotten rid of thanks to Scarlett. It makes
people reach their worst. It is the one thing that has made me give up on
people and not see life as a purpose fulfilled world. That belief is still in
me, but it is balancing with the hope I have found to have want through Juliet.
I just don’t know which one will outweigh which.

           
“You
are impressive,” I tell Karlie after Jane and her lawyer leave and she enters
the conference room.

           
“No,
you are. Taking the lead like that. I recorded the conversation. Just in case
we need it.”

           
“Good
call… for now. I may even become impressed by you.”

           
She
smiles. It’s a broad and beautiful smile. A genuine one that leads me to
imagine the way my brother had felt when looking at her smile.

           
“You
haven’t seen anything yet,” she says, and I’m very much looking forward to
witnessing her game.

5

GABRIEL

“Shit,”
I exhale out falling back on Scarlett’s bed. She falls next to me.

           
“Pursuing
Karlie Dale has either built frustration or excitement in you because,” she
bites her lip, staring down at my naked body, “that was new. You should go
after girls like her more.”

           
I
chuckle. “I don’t think there are girls like her.”

           
“Please,
every state has a Karlie.”

           
“None
of them have a Scarlett though.”

           
She
smiles and kisses me deeply. Propping her head in her hand, she begins tracing
her black painted fingers on my chest.

           
“So
how is the hunt going?”

           
“She
is more of a challenge than I thought. I actually have to try with her.”

           
“Well,
it shouldn’t have taken you so long. It’s been three months. She watches you
when you’re not looking. Smiles to herself when she catches you being nice to
the geeks.”

           
“Not
knowing that it is all an act for her benefit and mine.”

           
“She
will be begging you to fuck her.”

           
“She
texted me yesterday. To say hi. I asked her for a study session.”

           
“Where?”

           
“I
said here, but of course the smart girl insisted on the library.”

           
“Too
bad.”

           
“But…
I decided to even the playing field and said Central Park. I’m gonna surprise
her with a picnic.”

           
“Wow,”
her grey eyes widen, “you really are going to great lengths.”

           
“Ugh,
I know. What I do for the woman I truly adore.”

           
She
kisses me again before I get out of her bed and throw on my black robe.

           
“Don’t
want to sleep here for the night?” she asks.

           
“No.
If I do, when Chad sneaks in he will try to spoon with me or worse.” I let Chad
go down on me a year ago when I was high and drunk. He enjoyed it and ever
since then I find him watching me the same way he watches everyone else he
finds attractive—men and women, even though he won’t admit it.

           
“He’s
obsessed with you,” she laughs.

           
“He’s
obsessed with you more.”

           
“All
my boys are.”

           
I
laugh and head out, opening her door.

           
“Gabriel.”

           
I
look back at her.

           
“You’re
my favorite boy though.” She says it the sincerest possible way Scarlett could
ever say it.

           
“I
know, baby.”

           
I
leave out and head upstairs to where my room is, but not before slipping into
the room across the hall. I walk in and of course August is drawing a maze in
his sketchbook on the floor. Fourteen years old and can probably draw the best
and most intricate mazes anyone has ever seen. I walk over to his bed and lay
on it and watch.

           
“I
just lied to Scarlett. For the first time.”

           
He
doesn’t answer. He usually doesn’t. I don’t blame him. I ignored him first.
Hugo was always better with him than me. They’re twins. Identical in every way
but their souls. August was born limited but never broken, while Hugo was made
to be that way and will continue to be probably. It’s not like I can help him.
I’m as fucked up as he is.

           
“I
asked Karlie Dale to have a picnic. I didn’t coerce her into it. I did it
because I wanted to. I don’t know when it happened, but I like her. I hate her
too. It scares me. As easily as I want to ruin her… I want to take care of her.
She’s so pure of light. It shines like fucking diamonds. Two months and all it
takes is text messages and glances and smiles to bring me to my knees in
confusion and peril. She makes me sick… literally. My heart beats fast around her
and I have to stop myself from tearing it out. I imagine bad things happening
to her… and I imagine me weeping for her if bad things did happen to her. I
can’t let Scarlett know. If she found out… she would…”

           
“Destroy
her,” August sounds out. “Destroy her.”

           
“Yes.
She will and you know the worst thing about the fear for me… is that I will be
the one to help her do it.”

           
August
finally puts down his pencil and turns his head towards my way, scratching the
back of his head and smirking. “I- I like it when you tell me stuff, Gabriel.”

           
I
smile. “I do too, little brother.”

           
“I
won’t tell them.” He shakes his head. “I won’t tell the monsters.”

           
“I
know you won’t. I know you won’t let this monster down.”

HUGO

“August,”
I say his name again. Whatever is going on in that mind of his has him in deep.
“August!” I yell and he finally looks at me.

           
I
walk up to him and see the chalk practically breaking in his hand. I look at
the lines of his maze. They are more erratic than usual. More hard looking and
just everywhere on the chalk board. It makes me worried because when the maze
is discouraged, so is my brother’s mind.

           
“What’s
wrong?” He sets the chalk down and wipes his hands, rubbing them hard and
staring at his feet. He pulls his bottom lip between his lips. “Hey, stop
that.” I snap my fingers. “You know you bite your lip too hard.” We had to
learn to stop him because he bites his lip until he bleeds. “What’s worrying
you? Is it me? I’m okay now.”

           
“You’re
not going anywhere?” His question comes out shaky.

           
“No.”
I grip his shoulders and force him to face me. “I’m all clear for now. Karlie
took care of it yesterday at the meeting with the lawyers.” He pinches the
bridge of his nose. “Speaking of Karlie, August, how come you never mentioned
her? You met her, right?”

           
He
nods twice.

           
“So
how come you never told me about her?”

           
He
scratches the back of his head and gets nervous. “Gabriel told me to forget
about her.”

           
“Why?
If he loved her so much, why would he say that?”

           
“It’s
because he loved her. Karlie got hurt and Gabriel blamed himself… got mad
whenever I said her name. STOP SAYING HER NAME!” August’s voice roars through
me. There is so much anger that it even scares me. “Th-that’s what he said. He
said to never say her name. The monsters ruined her… and she was no longer
Karlie.”

           
“Scarlett,
Chad, and Noel,” I say to myself.

           
“She
can’t be trusted.”

           
“She’s
not bad, August.”

           
“But
she’s not Karlie anymore.”

SCARLETT

“You
did what
?!
” The shouts coming from the living room of
Patrick and I’s condo are surprisingly unfamiliar. Patrick sounds inhuman
almost. I don’t know what his mother just told him, but I am ecstatic that it
is her on the other end of his rage and not me.

           
“What’s
going on?” I ask once I get in the dining room. Patrick is holding on to the
chair, leaning down on it to stop himself from throwing it across the room.

           
“This
is none of your concern,” Jane snaps at me, and I just look at her innocently.

           
“My
mother had a meeting with Hugo Mandrake’s lawyer yesterday,” Patrick informs
me. “She is forcing Rebecca to drop the charges.”

           
“She’s
not forcing me, Patrick,” Rebecca says between sniffs and cries.

           
“There
is no case and Rebecca herself has said she does not remember,” Jane quickly
says.

           
“Because
he drugged her!” Patrick lifts and slams the chair down.

           
“Maybe
it wasn’t Hugo! Maybe the drugs were planted on him,” Rebecca assumes.

           
“Jesus
Christ! I can’t believe this bullshit!”

           
“Patrick.
Just calm down,” Jane says.

           
“I’ll
calm down when Mandrake is either in jail or dead.”

           
I
find angry Patrick a turn on.

           
“It’s
over now. All we can do is move on. I am Rebecca’s mother and I have her best
interest at heart. If she says she does not want to push this and that she is
not sure, then I will do what is best for her.”

           
“You
mean best for you. Best for your god damn image.”

           
“Don’t
you dare speak to me that way.”

           
“You
disgust me,” Patrick basically spits in the face of his mother, and Jane does
everything she can to hold back more tears.

           
Jane
Townsend doesn’t normally back down, which means Hugo has something on her. I
didn’t tell him her dark secret. The truth of Patrick and Rebecca’s paternity.
Neil Townsend was not their father. They are products of affairs. Lies. Jane
would never let people know that. It would destroy not only her but also them.
So the real question is how the hell did Hugo find out?

JULIET

I
head downstairs for breakfast, but before I can continue, I hear Karlie
speaking in the kitchen. I walk over and stop once I hear she’s on the phone.
It’s loud enough for only me to hear, so of course I listen.

           
“You
can’t come yet.”

           
Pause.

           
“I
know.” Short pause. “I know, okay? I know this, but I need you to stay put. No
one needs to know yet. Imagine what will happen. Especially if they find out.
It will ruin the plan I have. It will throw everything off track.”

           
What will?

           
“Just
tell them to stay calm and that I—”

           
“What
are you doing?” I jump at the sound of Hugo’s voice behind me.

           
He
gives me a look as soon as Karlie comes around the corner wondering what is
going on, still on the phone.

           
“Nothing.
I was just coming to get something to drink and I overheard you on the phone.
Didn’t want to disturb you,” I tell her.

           
“Mom,
I’ll call you back.” She looks suspiciously at me and hangs up the phone.

           
“That
was your mum? Where is she living?” I ask.

           
“Monaco.
She’s staying out there for a moment.”

           
“Oh,
she was staying out there with you too?”

           
“No,
she moved out there a year ago. I moved her to Chicago when William and I
married. I’ll be moving there after my business here is over. Are you done with
the interrogation?”

           
I
scoff. “It’s not an interrogation.”

           
“I
know you’re a little iffy on me, Juliet. I get it.”

           
“Juliet
is fine. Aren’t you?” Hugo says.

           
“No,”
I admit. “I just feel there is something else you aren’t telling us.”

           
“Why
do you need to know everything about me? I’m practically an open book.”

           
“I
don’t know. I guess it’s a gut feeling. If you hadn’t heard, I’m psychic,” I
glance at Hugo, “and Telepathic.”

           
“Cute.”
Karlie faces him. “If we’re through with your girlfriend’s Nancy Drew thing, I
have invitations to pass out.”