Over the last couple of weeks, Paige’s swelling had gone down considerably and was basically undetectable, thanks to her mad skills with makeup. Even the black circle under her eye was no longer visible, and she felt a whole lot better. Although her great mood likely had more to do with all that she’d been up to—she’d been a very bad girl over the last few days—and less to do with her physical healing process. She’d finally done her job, and at this point, all she had to do was sit back and enjoy the fireworks—fireworks that were starting now. As expected, Pierce had just stormed up the stairs, yelling out Camille’s name, and now he was inside the bedroom screaming at her. Paige opened the door to the guest room so she wouldn’t miss a word.
“So, who is this bastard, William, you’ve been sleeping with?” Pierce shouted.
“William? What are you talking about?” Camille asked.
“You know exactly what I’m talking about. The man you’ve been seeing and emailing almost every single day over the last two weeks.”
“Excuse me?” Camille said, and Paige could only imagine the horrified and confused look on her sister’s face. Namely, because Camille really didn’t have a clue what he was talking about.
“Camille, please don’t play stupid with me. Don’t insult my intelligence. Not when I have copies of everything.”
There was a pause, and Paige guessed Camille was reading through all the email she had anonymously mailed to Pierce yesterday at his work address by overnight service through the U.S. Postal Service. Paige had been very busy over the last week and a half, creating more and more email exchanges between Camille and William, and it was finally paying off. She’d also done something different with a number of them, because it had finally dawned on her that if Camille ever looked closely at these messages, she might figure out that they’d all been sent at times when Paige was alone in their house. So what she’d done was schedule five of the latest messages to go out on days and times when she and Camille were together—that day last week when they’d spent the entire afternoon at a spa, last Wednesday and Friday when they’d gone to lunch, and while Camille didn’t know it yet, two more would be going out from her to William two days from now on Thursday morning, times when Paige would either be out on business all day or would have moved back home, and William would be responding to each of them. Paige had known about this particular Internet feature for a while and knew she was taking a huge chance that Camille might come straight home from each of the places they’d gone last week and sign into her email. But just as Paige had thought and hoped, Camille hadn’t. So once everyone had gone to bed on each of those nights, Paige had tiptoed into Camille’s office, printed copies, and deleted all evidence.
“I’ve never seen these messages a day in my life,” Paige heard Camille trying to explain, and Paige hoped her deep thoughts hadn’t caused her to miss anything.
Pierce laughed out loud. “My God, Camille, what do you take me for? A complete fool?”
“No, but I really don’t know who sent these.”
“Do you see your email address on all of them? Those that you sent out as well as those you received back? Do you?”
“No…I mean, yes. I mean, I see them, but what I’m saying is that I didn’t send them. I don’t even know anyone named William.”
“You are such a liar, Camille. You’re a lying whore.”
“What? Why are you calling me that? And why are you doing this?”
“Because the proof is right here, Camille. It’s staring us straight in our faces. And you even had the audacity to tell him how no man, not even I, had ever made you feel the way he does. Then there was another note where you basically bragged about the fact that I thought you were at a church meeting when you were really laid up with him at a hotel.”
“But none of this is true, baby. I swear. I swear on our children’s lives.”
“You’re a real piece of work, you know that? I mean, I can’t believe you would actually sit here, swearing on PJ’s and Crystal’s life, knowing good and well you’re guilty. Unbelievable.”
“But I didn’t do anything. I would never, ever sleep around on you, Pierce, and you know that. I would never even talk to another man on the phone. Not unless it was family- or business- related.”
“Oh yeah? Then why do a number of the messages say you have been calling him?”
“I don’t know, but it’s not true. You can even check my phone if you want.”
Pierce laughed again, his tone markedly cynical. “Oh, like you don’t know how to delete phone calls, I guess.”
“I’m telling you, this is all a big mistake. These are all lies.”
“Well, if that’s true, then where did these messages come from? And how did someone so miraculously send them back and forth from your email address?”
“I don’t know. It must be some sort of mistake.”
“Okay, let’s just say it is. I know it isn’t, but just for the sake of conversation. If it’s a mistake, why would someone randomly choose you and your email address and then purposely send them to me at the bank?”
“I don’t know.”
“I mean, who hates you so much that they would try to harm you like this?”
“I don’t know. But what I’m telling you is that none of this is true. These are all lies, and I have no idea why this is hap—”
“You know what?” he said, interrupting her. “Just save it, Camille. Save it for someone who’s crazy and naïve enough to believe you. I knew when you started spending all that time away from home there was someone else, but I just didn’t want to accept it.”
“Pierce, please. Baby, you have to believe me,” Camille begged in tears, and Paige stood near her doorway smirking and loving every bit of it.
“You make me sick,” he said. However, Paige was surprised to hear tears in his voice also. “After all the years we’ve been together, Camille. After all the years I’ve gone out of my way to prove how much I love you. And that still wasn’t enough for you?”
“Of course it was. And you know how much I love you, too, baby. I’ve always loved you, and I would never hurt you. I would never sleep with another man. I just wouldn’t do something that horrible.”
There was silence, and then Paige heard footsteps plodding down the hallway. Next, she heard someone walking down the staircase, and she could tell it was Pierce. Camille rushed behind him, crying hysterically and trying to reason with him, but it wasn’t doing any good. Seconds later, a door slammed, and Paige knew Pierce was gone. She wasn’t sure if he was gone for good or only for a little while to gather his thoughts, but he was gone just the same and Paige saw that as a plus. It was a sure sign her hard work was paying off nicely and that it wouldn’t be long before Pierce came running to her for comfort. It was only a matter of time before her brother-in-law would be hers. Permanently.