After they shut the door behind them, Benne picked up his phone and replayed the conversation between Anita and Rachel again.
“What are you talking about?” Anita asked Rachel in a slightly irritated tone.
“On Thursday morning, I told you about everything that happened between Celsie and Jamie, and then on Friday morning, the news is all over the internet. Do you expect me to believe that it was mere coincidence?” Rachel asked in annoyance.
“You are free to believe whatever you please, Rachel. She has cleared her name now, so there is no need to be talking about the past anymore,” Anita said dismissively.
“How could you? How could you do something as despicable as that with a story I told you in confidence?” Rachel asked angrily.
“Don’t you dare raise your voice at me, Rachel! You never even liked her, so why are you overreacting?” Anita asked, and a tear dropped from Rachel’s eyes.
“How can you say that? That I don’t want her being too close to Lucas doesn’t mean that I hate her! Why would you do something that evil to her? What did she even do to you to deserve that?”
“Oh, please shut your mouth, Rachel! I’m tired of you and your stupid self-righteous attitude. Is what I did any worse than what you did? You are the reason she got into the hand of that psychopath in the first place, or don’t you know that? If you hadn’t done what you did, I wouldn’t have been able to do this either, so you better don’t give me any moral lectures on what is evil or not!” Anita hissed.
“I can’t believe you’re saying this. Do you have any idea what you have done to me? You ruined a relationship I’ve been nurturing for the past ten years! Because of this scandal, Lucas has called off our engagement. He doesn’t even want to speak with me or look at me, and it is all your fault!” Rachel cried as she broke into a sob.
“Yeah. Trust the princess to whine and not take any blames,” Anita said, her tone dripping with sarcasm. “You should thank me that he called off the engagement. What do you think he would do to you if he ever finds out that because of your possessiveness, you handed his twin sister to her stalker on a platter? Or what do you think would have happened had we all met at your wedding, and you introduced me to them as your cousin? Do you think everyone in that family is stupid, and no one would be smart enough to connect the dots? You must be very stupid if you actually did believe that you would marry him and live happily ever after. You better wake up from your slumber and stop blaming me for your screwups…”
“My screwups? Did you just say screwups?” Rachel asked incredulously.
“You heard me right! If you had done a good job of getting rid of her then, I wouldn’t be trying so hard to get rid of her now. So suck it up, and quit whining. I have a job to get back to, so I will hang up now,” Anita said as she disconnected the call.
Once Benne was done listening to it, he dialed Alicia’s line.
“Good morning, Benne. I was just going to call you,” she greeted once she received the call.
“Good morning, Alicia. Can you send me everything you have gathered on Anita and her family?” Benne asked briskly.
“Sure. I will do that immediately we hang up. I received a message from the CEO of a foundation for abused girls. They want me to connect them to Celsie. Can you text me Celsie’s line so that I can inform her about it?” Alicia asked, and Benne raised a brow.
“Why do they want to talk to her?”
“They said something about wanting her to work with them on their next project,” Alicia explained.
“And you checked it out? Is it real?” Benne asked since he really didn’t feel so good about it. Maybe he was just being paranoid after listening to Anita’s conversation with her sister and mother, but he didn’t want Celsie doing anything that would so much as take her out of his sight. Now he wished he hadn’t been so quick to let her return to her office. He would have preferred she remain in his office until he got rid of Anita and her family.
“Yes,” Alicia said as she waited for Benne to respond.
“I’d rather you don’t tell her about it. Whatever their reason is. She has a job, and she can’t leave her job to work with them. Also, she doesn’t need anything to take her down that memory lane again,” Benne said, and Alicia frowned.
“Shouldn’t that be her decision to make?”
“Yes, it should be. But it’s not safe right now, and even though you have checked them out, I still have my reservations and can’t trust them. Keeping her safe is more important to me,” Benne explained.
“I understand what you’re trying to say, but I still think Celsie should know about it and decide whether or not to accept their offer. You will be making a huge mistake by keeping something like this from her,” Alicia insisted.
“So, are you saying that you’re going to tell her about it?” Benne asked, and Alicia sighed.
“I will if you don’t. So I will advise that you do so yourself so that I don’t have to go behind you,” Alicia’s said before adding, “Please text me your email address so that I can send you the file I have on Anita and her family.” With that, Alicia hung up, leaving Benne to decide on whether or not he was going to tell Celsie about it.
He knew that Alicia was right. He wasn’t supposed to keep something like this from Celsie. He had promised not to keep anything from her or lie to her. He made up his mind to tell her about it when they meet for lunch.
Having made up his mind, he texted Alicia his email address, and less than five minutes later, he received an email from her. He quickly clicked on it and downloaded the attached document she sent. Displayed on his computer screen were the basic details of every member of the Miller family.
Rebekah Miller. Fifty-nine years old, and mother of four daughters. Wife of late business mogul Richard Miller, who had taken his life after losing all his wealth after a wrong investment. Jobless, yet a prominent member of a lot of charity organizations. Sister of Richard Wyatt, former owner of Ocean Airlines.
Benne’s brows pulled together as he tried to process the information. If Mr. Wyatt was her only sibling, how was Rachel related to Anita? Perhaps they were paternal cousins? He mused as he moved to the next person on the list.
The eldest of Anita’s sisters, Bernice Miller. Thirty-four years old and wife of Adam Washington Jnr, the only son of the country’s chief justice. Mother of twin six years old boys. The Washington family owned their own law firm, which was made up of corrupt lawyers whose clientele list consisted of mostly wealthy individuals and companies who were oppressing the poor and bypassing the law.
Anita’s second sister, Tiffany Miller. Thirty-two years old. Married without kids to Jackson Bateman, the sole heir to one of the biggest construction companies in the world. He was stinkingly rich and had been sued on different occasions for sexual harassment. The company has also been issued multiple lawsuits for using substandard materials to build. As expected, Bateman Corp was one of the biggest clients of the Washington law firm, and they had won every lawsuit filed against them.
The third sister, Lisa Miller. Thirty years old, and married to Ronnie Steel, a diamond magnate whose father was an influential businessman, and made the top fifty on Forbes list of the most influential people in the world. Lisa was the CEO of a jewelry shop.
Like their mother, Bernice and Tiffany were homemakers and societal women who did nothing other than spend their husbands’ money. Lisa was the only one who seemed to be the most reasonable of the sisters judging by the conversation he had just listened to and the fact that she had her own business. For that, he would exempt her from whatever he wanted to do.
Anita was the youngest of the four sisters, and seeing how her sisters had all married into wealthy families, he could only imagine the pressure on her to bring home a prized husband. He could almost understand why she had rejected him when she thought he was a mere driver. Understanding her, however, was different from forgiving her. If Lisa could turn out differently, then so could she.
Having made up his mind, he picked up his phone and dialed a number, “Good morning, Barry, it’s Benedict Delgado,” he said once the call connected.
“Hey! It’s been a while, man. How’re you doing bro?” Barry asked, excited to hear from Benne after a long time.
“I’m alright. You’re good too, right?”
“Sure, I am. I saw you on TV the other night,” Barry said, but Benne wasn’t in the mood for the small talk.
“Yeah. You’re still into hacking, right?” Benne asked hopefully.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.