Chapter 12
Rosalie sat in the small bistro, looking with distaste at the grimy tables and chairs. She would have preferred it if they had met elsewhere, but Kirk had insisted. She had had to give in, because what she wanted him to pull would be risky for him. She was also paying him a king's ransom for the job.
She was checking her watch impatiently for the thousandth time when Kirk walked in. He sat down at the table and opened the briefcase he carried. He pulled out official looking documents. Chris and Cassie's contract. It was a very well done forgery, so that it looked real.
"I go there and basically tell her to get out?" Kirk asked, expressionless grey eyes unnerving Rosalie.
"Yes," Rosalie affirmed.
"And how do you know her husband, or her sister in law wouldn't be there?"
"Chris is in Europe on official work and Ann has a lunch date with dear Sam," Rosalie said, smirking. Knowing Chris's whereabouts had been easy enough and one call to Sam's secretary had told her that he had a lunch date with Miss Ann Quentin.
"And what makes you think she's going to believe me? They would be in a relationship for all you know," Kirk countered, his voice still flat and expressionless.
"I know that, but it's a risk I want to take," Rosalie said stubbornly. What she was pulling was something that had every chance of going wrong, but she wanted to try anyway. She had no other ideas, and she knew that the appearance of legal documents would be disconcerting, to say the least.
"Give me my cash," Kirk said, his grey eyes finally coming alive. Rosalie tried to hide her sudden fear at the expression in his eyes as she handed over his money. The greed that shone in his eyes told her that he'd do anything, absolutely anything, for money.
"Just make it quick," she told him and rose, leaving the bistro and him behind.
"I will," Kirk said quietly, carefully counting the money. "I most certainly will."
---
Cassie had woken up very early that day, unable to sleep. She had lain in bed till around 8, before showering and coming down. Ann had left her a note on the dinner table informing her that she was going out to lunch, and that most of the staff had taken a day off. Cassie folded the note and put it away before getting herself a glass of orange juice. Remembering the baby, she added two slices of toast and sat down to finish it. Everything tasted dry and rubbery in her mouth, but she did not care.
When she finished breakfast, a maid informed her that someone was waiting for her in the drawing room. She nodded and went to the drawing room.
The man sitting there was tall and bald, with cold grey eyes and a heavy build.
"May I help you?" she asked politely, seating herself opposite him.
"Are you Mrs. Cassandra Quentin?" Kirk asked, looking at the beautiful woman seated before him. She was beautiful, if a bit on the plump side. He could understand why Chris had dumped Rosalie for her.
"Yes," Cassie said nervously, because this was the first time she had seen her married name after signing the papers in Chris's office months back.
"Ma'am, I'm Gerald Hayes, Mr Weller's assistant. My Weller is Mr. Quentin's lawyer." Kirk handed her his fake business card.
Cassie nodded, acknowledging the fact. She had met Rowan in the funeral too.
"Ma'am, I have come here to tell you that Mr Quentin wishes to remind you that the contract you both had is now over, and that he wishes you to vacate the premises immediately. He will start annulment proceedings very soon."
Cassie felt the breath catch in her throat. For a minute, she didn't know what to do. Chris wanted her out? And he couldn't even tell her himself?
But this explained the absences, the non-existent phone calls, everything. Chris wanted her gone.
She nodded, her emotions hidden behind a mask.
"I will leave immediately," she said. "You may leave now Mr. Hayes. Maybe you would like to check in a few hours to see if I've gone?"
"Yes, I will need to do that," Kirk answered, picking up his suitcase and leaving. He could not believe how easy this had been. Rosalie had been right. He could not come back, of course. He would stay away from Cassandra Stevens now. If she knew the scam he had pulled, and reported him, he could be behind bars for a long time.
Cassie waited for the man to leave, then rushed upstairs to pack her things and write out a note for Ann. She did not stop even once to question the situation. She had tortured herself for weeks, and did not question the fact that Chris did not want her. She let her insecurity win. She let Rosalie break her heart.
Once she was done, she got the chauffer to drive her to her house. As she stood outside the building, in the light drizzle, she didn't want to go in. Melissa had moved out a month back and moved in with Gavin, and she knew that she would be all alone. She did not want to be alone.
She hailed a taxi and gave him Gavin's address. As she drove through the streets of the city, she let her tears course silently down her cheeks. She was hurting, and for the first time, she didn't know what to do next.
---
Ann saw the note when she came in the evening, and cursed out aloud when she read it.
"Dear Ann," it read. "I'm leaving now, and well, I suppose that I was only to stay this long. Chris asked Mr. Weller to send someone to ask me to vacate the premises. He also said that the annulment was underway. I did not see the need to stay, so I have left. Goodbye."
Ann cursed and immediately called Mr Weller, who told her that he had done no such thing, nor had he received any instructions from Chris.
Ann nodded grimly. She had a faint idea who was behind all this, and would quite happily have wrung her skinny little neck. Rosalie had gone too far this time. What was worse was the fact that Cassie had gone along with it. But Ann couldn't blame her either. If only Chris hadn't run away like he usually did, this mess wouldn't have happened.
Cursing, she called Rosalie.
"Just what the fuck do you think you're pulling?" Ann practically screamed down the phone.
"Ah, darling," Rosalie's dulcet tones mocking Ann. "I did exactly what I told you I'd do. Now deal with it."
With that, Rosalie hung up and Ann was left holding her phone in her hand, fuming. She tried Cassie's number, but it was switched off. Chris wasn't picking up his cell phone either.
Sighing in frustration, she went to bed, deciding that she would tell Chris tomorrow morning, when he would be on his way home.
---
Cassie stood shivering on Gavin's doorstep, her stringy hair sticking to her face. She rang the doorbell and waited for him to open the door. Gavin opened when she rang the door bell a second time, and with one look at the state she was in, pulled her inside.
"Cassie, what's wrong?" he asked, concern evident in his eyes. He had never seen her like this. She was always calm, cool, composed.
Cassie looked up at him, her eyes large in her pale face, her hands curled protectively over her stomach, and burst into tears. She allowed Gavin to pull her close and give her a hug as she cried.
She dimly remembered Gavin pulling her out of her wet clothes and getting her into a warm pair of sweats and then tucking her up in bed. She remembered clutching his T-shirt, refusing to let him go, until he sat down beside her and stroked her hair. After that, all she remembered was blackness, as blissful oblivion engulfed her and gave her a brief respite from her misery.
Gavin looked down at the woman sleeping on his bed, her hands clutching his, tightly, as though afraid to let go. He continued stroking her hair and watched as tears seeped from beneath her eyelids. After a long time, her grip slackened, and she fell asleep, the pain on her face softening to make her look peaceful.
Melissa had come home a while back, and after seeing the state Cassie was in, had left her and Gavin alone. She was unpacking Cassie's bags instead, and putting it away in the spare bedroom. Both she and Gavin would not allow Cassie to go anywhere in the state she was in. As she unpacked, she saw the supplements and the prescriptions and her eyes widened. Folic acid, vitamins, a prescription, test results.....Cassie was pregnant.
She went to the bedroom and quietly beckoned Gavin outside.
He got up, gently detangling himself from Cassie and went to Melissa.
"Cassie's pregnant," Melissa said softly, the anger on Gavin's face upon hearing the words mirroring the anger on her face.
"That bastard," Gavin swore softly, putting an arm around Melissa. "What did he say to her?"
"I don't know," Melissa said sadly. "But all we can do now is take care of her."
"I know," Gavin said. "You sleep in with her tonight, and I'll sleep in the spare bedroom. She might wake up in the night."
Melissa nodded and Gavin went to change and get into bed. He pulled the covers up till his neck when he lay down and smouldered. All he wanted to do now was find Chris and hack him into small, tiny pieces. But he had to know what the problem was before he did that.
Sighing, he went to sleep, knowing that tomorrow was going to be a long day.
---
Cassie was drained out by 6 in the morning the next day. She had been throwing up the whole night, with Melissa helping her out, and now she chalked it down to morning sickness. She had been feeling queasy for the past week, but she had put that down to not having enough food.
Unable to stay in bed, she got up carefully and went to the living room and curled up on the couch. After making sure that Cassie was okay, Melissa went to have a few hours of much needed sleep. Alone in the house, Cassie finally had time to think.
She knew that by running away as she had, she had done something stupid. She should have left a note for Ann, or even tried to call Chris up, but she hadn't. She was sure that Ann would have known about this, and that Chris would have told her the same thing the lawyer had.
