Page 55 of Second Chances
Not now, Beth.
God, what do I do?
Hesitantly, she opened back up her computer to the offending email. Taking a deep breath, she looked over everything once again, more slowly this time. Her heart still jumped at the casual way the sender wrote - ‘Nice sweater, by the way,’ as if she was some sort of close friend of Beth’s, complimenting her attire, and not a psycho-ex-girlfriend-stalker who was about to threaten her.
It was NYC, and Beth had walked maybe fifteen steps from the car that Darcy had insisted take her to work, into her building. She had to have been so close to her, to have been able to see what she was wearing, to notice the two men who had gotten out of the car with her and were currently instructed to wait in the lobby of her building until she was ready to leave. The thought sent shivers up Beth’s spine.
What a crazy bitch;that’s it, that’s how she is going to refer to this woman from now on because that’s what she is - a Crazy Bitch, or CB, for short.
Beth kept reading. ‘…nothing compared to the love that he has for me.’ Darcy must have really loved her, she assumed that, in order to stay with such a person for so long. Beth bit her lip,what if she was right? What if Beth could never make him that happy?Yeah, this past week had been great, but would that keep up in the long-term? In the past, all they seemed to do was argue or run into problems and even though Darcy’s relationship withCrazy Bitchhad been traumatic, he never said that they fought all the time.
Yeah, because she just controlled his every move, because she trained him to respond exactly how she wanted. That’s not a relationship, Beth; it’s glorified servitude.
She finished rereading the rest of the email; the not-so-subtle threats she had expected; however, the reference to Mrs. DeBourgh and allusion to what had happened between them unnerved her even more.How did she know about all of this?Anne doesn’t know who she is, so that can’t be the connection.Maybe she knows Mrs. DeBourgh from somewhere else.That wouldn’t make sense either because Mrs. DeBourgh wants Darcy to marry Anne; if she came after Beth, she definitely would have come after CB.
Ugh.Somehow, this woman was close to someone, someone who knew what had happened not only with Mrs. DeBourgh but also someone who knew that she and Darcy were a couple. Either that or CB was very talented at hacking and/or stalking -which was a definite possibility after this morning.
Beth shook her head - all of the possibilities, the unknowns, the doubts had created a steady pounding in her temples. And after everything, she still couldn’t decide if she should tell Darcy about the email or not.
Picking up her phone, she opened a new message to Jane, asking her if she had a minute to talk. Just as she hit send, she heard a small knock, and her eyes jolted to the door to her office, her heartbeat picking up the pace. It was like every moment she was expecting thisCrazy-Stalker-Bitchto walk into her office and confront her.Don’t be ridiculous, Beth. She just emailed you; she's not going to attempt to come into your office to see you.
“Come in,” Beth said, the shakiness in her voice hopefully muffled by the barrier of the door.
The door opened, and one of her assistants, Alaina, peered in. Beth slowly released the deep breath that she hadn’t realized she’d been holding in.
“Morning, Beth! Sorry to bother you. I just wondered if you would have time to meet this morning to go over my event this past weekend with me. I just want to make sure I have everything in order before I start sending out these press releases.”
“Of course, I can come now if you want,” Beth offered, welcoming the concrete distraction from her dilemma for a few minutes.
“Um, well, that would be fine, but I also wanted to let you know that Caroline Bingley is here to see you. She said if you are busy she can come back another time…” Alaina trailed off.
Chapter Eighteen
Ugh,she really didn’t feel like dealing with a client right now; she felt so distracted.
“Sure. Of course, I can see her now. Send her in and then when I’m done I’ll check in with you about last weekend,” Beth replied with a forced smile; the weight of their future familial connection making her feel guilty for the thought of putting Caro off.
God, hopefully, Caro doesn’t start giving her relationship advice again,Beth couldn’t help but thinking as Jane’s future sister-in-law, sort-of, walked into the room.
“Good morning,” Beth greeted her with a smile, standing to come around her desk and give her a hug.
“Good morning, Beth. Oh, I just love your sweater,” Caro said as she returned Beth’s hug.
Yeah, you're not the only one,Beth thought, unable to see the cold, knowing smile that crossed Caro’s face before she pulled back from their embrace.
“Thank you. You look lovely today, too,” Beth returned the compliment.
Caro always looked amazing. Today, wearing wide-leg, high waist pants, and a loose, silk blouse, with a deep V since she had left most of the buttons undone. Her hair was pulled back harshly into a ponytail again. Everything she had on was black as if she were headed to someone’s funeral.
“I wish I had your wardrobe, although I don’t think I can pull off black as well as you do!” Beth laughed at her absentminded comment, as she returned to her desk. “So, what’s up? I emailed you this morning about guests and such.”
“Yes, I saw, but I was in the area so I figured instead of emailing you back I would just stop in and see how you were doing this morning and go over some of the details in person.”
“Of course,” Beth replied pleasantly. “Have a seat while I pull up the email I sent over to you earlier.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Beth watched as Caro took the seat across from her desk. Most people would normally sit and start to look around her office while they waited but Caro, her eyes were trained on Beth, on her face. It was like she was waiting for her to do or say something, to show something.
“Ok, here we go. So, I just sent over a note to let you know that invites are going out tomorrow.”
