Page 56 of Second Chances (Passion and Perseverance #2)

Chapter Twenty-Six

~ Jane, please call me ASAP.

Beth texted her sister furiously. She’d maintained her composure, her game-face, all week. She pretended like there was nothing wrong; she’d gone out of her way to make sure that Caroline didn’t suspect anything.

It had killed her.

Every smile, every nod, every laugh and attempt at camaraderie had felt like a knife twisting inside of her.

Every email and phone call, excitedly reassuring Caroline of the success that her exhibition would be left the acid taste of bile in her mouth; thank God she’d always had a coffee on hand otherwise she might have vomited.

Behind the mask, she was aching to give this woman a piece of her mind, and maybe, a piece of her fist.

But she couldn’t. Not yet.

Every instance, every communication, Beth asked herself if all of this was worth it, if trying to outsmart her was worth it because God, it would be so much easier just to call the police and put an end to this.

It would be so much easier to solve this problem, but at what expense?

The resulting cascade of complications, she knew, would be much more painful than one week of suffering.

She wasn’t kidding herself, though. Of course, her and Darcy’s plan was chosen specifically for those reasons, however, over this past week, Beth realized that they weren’t her sole motivator.

She wanted to win .

Beth guiltily locked up this motivation deep down inside of her, embarrassed at the selfishness of the thought, but, it was the truth.

She wanted to win Darcy. It didn’t matter that he was already hers, that he’d picked her time and again.

Beth felt the competition that always inherently exists with your significant other’s ex - or at least that’s what she told herself.

Yes, Caroline was gorgeous and talented, and probably had more in common with Darcy, but Beth was going to win him, and not by getting a restraining order and taking the easy way out. They were going to outsmart her.

Together.

Then, she would have the satisfaction of knowing that in spite of everything that Caroline thought she has going for herself, Darcy not only chose someone else, but that they both played a role in ending whatever grand plan she thinks she’s too smart to lose.

It was a ridiculous and childish feeling, to want to best someone like that, but she couldn’t help herself, after everything that Caroline had done.

Which was another thing that had her on edge.

There had been nothing this whole week. Yes, standard communication from Caroline, but nothing from the Crazy Bitch.

At first, Beth had been on edge, expecting every email to be more threats, every knock to bring more ominous gifts and letters, but there had been nothing.

After the first day, she broke down to Darcy, afraid that she had done something to give herself away at the party, afraid that Caroline knew she had caught on to her scheme, but then Caro continued to email and call as if nothing had happened.

By Wednesday, Beth determined there could only be two reasons why she’d received no more demands.

Ok, three reasons, but she sincerely doubted it was because Caro had just decided to give up on Darcy.

That left two other options. Either Caroline was so preoccupied with her exhibit that she was taking a short break from tormenting her and Darcy.

O r

She was plotting something else - moving on to the next stage of her plan since it was obvious that Beth wasn’t cooperating with anything that her emails and letters had ordered.

That’s what she was afraid of.

Beth tried to tell herself that it was definitely because of the exhibit; that Caro had been out of the country for so long that the stress and anxiety of making her work a success, especially if she was facing financial difficulty, would completely consume all of her efforts.

It would be a natural assumption for most people, but Caroline was crazy, and Beth couldn’t shake the thought that there was more going on beneath the surface.

As much as she had made an effort to be overly nice and responsive to Caroline, sometimes, she feared that Caroline had done the exact same to her.

Looking back at all their previous encounters before she had known who Caroline truly was, Beth remembered all the little looks, smiles, and gestures that, at the time, had been inconsequential to her, but now she could see the deceitfulness, the calculating confidence behind them all.

Now, every smile and compliment that Caroline had given her this past week glistened with that same subtle deviousness, as though she was just waiting for the next phase in her plan to unfold.

Maybe you were just imagining it.

That was also possibly true. How did that saying go? “To a hammer, the whole world is a nail.” Well, maybe she was so paranoid that Caroline was just about to confront her, or hurt her, or kidnap her, or who knows , that her mind was creating these distinctions where none actually existed.

Beth shook her head. None of that really mattered right now.

Right now, it was Saturday, the day of Caroline’s exhibit, and she hadn’t heard a word from Jane last night.

She hadn’t expected Jane to call her last night, especially if Charles had stayed late, because she knew that Jane was respecting her request to keep this from him for now.

She had hoped to hear though .

Because that would mean she wouldn’t be going crazy right now.

She tried to call Jane this morning - no answer.

Frustrated, she’d left the apartment to head over to the gallery to make sure that everything was being set up according to plan, stopping to pick up some last-minute supplies on the way.

Thankfully, Caro wasn’t there; Beth had told her not to be, told her that it would just make her less focused on what was important, and that was confidently selling her work to a bunch of people who had never seen it before.

It sounded good, but it was mostly BS; she just couldn’t bear to have to be in Caroline’s presence all day.

Why isn’t Jane responding to me?! She knows how important this is.

Which meant that Jane probably had a good reason for why she wasn’t calling. Suddenly, her phone buzzed.

Jane!

- Call soon. Sorry.

Beth breathed a sigh of relief. Well, at least she knew that Jane was alive, because she was really starting to get concerned.

Her anxiety about tonight was really starting to overwhelm her.

She was grateful that Darcy was going to be there.

No more hiding. Going to the exhibit together, Caroline’s exhibit, was more than just for support; it was making a statement, to Caroline, that Beth hadn’t backed down and that she wasn’t going to back down.

God, she couldn’t wait to see the look on Caro’s face when she introduced Darcy to her as her boyfriend.

Hopefully, it didn’t backfire.

Following the checklist she had made for herself, Beth efficiently made her way through the exhibit construction, making sure that everything was in order.

Not that there was much she had to do, as the decor was pretty sparse, allowing the focus to remain on the art.

The pieces were still covered in cloth in the back; Beth and Caroline agreed to arrive half an hour before the doors opened to set them up, this way they wouldn’t be damaged during set-up.

Caroline had already numbered them so she knew where they were going to go.

Thirty minutes .

That was all that would be left for this charade; thirty minutes before the exhibit opened and then Beth would have the refuge of Darcy and the other guests to isolate her.

The sound of something vibrating against metal stirred her. Beth could have kicked herself for leaving her phone and purse on the small, metal table by the entrance. Picking it up she saw a voicemail from Jane.

Thank God.

“Hey, Beth. Sorry, it took me so long; Caroline stopped by this morning. Anyway, if you can come over, we can talk. I know what happened.”

Beth’s heart stopped at her sister’s words. Relief and anticipation coursed through her veins as she quickly grabbed her things, texting Jane that she was on her way over. It was a good thing she’d packed her clothes for the evening, just in case this happened.

Hailing a cab, she needed to let Darcy know what was going on. She crossed her fingers as the line began to ring, knowing that he’d scheduled meetings for today but hoping she was catching him in between them.

“Hello?”

“Hey,” Beth replied, a little breathlessly, in relief that she’d gotten ahold of him.

“Are you ok? What happened?” Darcy asked, his voice immediately heightened with concern.

“What? Oh… no, sorry, I’m fine. I just wasn’t sure if you were going to answer,” Beth quickly explained. “I’m on my way to Jane’s. She just texted me that Caroline was there this morning and that’s why she never called.”

“Oh, ok.” His relief was palpable through the line.

“She said she knows - she knows why Caroline is doing this,” Beth said, unable to stop the glimmer of hope from entering into her tone.

“Hopefully, it’s something we can handle,” he replied, less optimistically.

“It will be,” Beth reassured him definitely, “I’ll call you when we’re done. ”

“Ok. I have another meeting this afternoon. I don’t know when I’ll be done, but I’ll meet you at the exhibit as soon as I can.”

“Ok.”

“And Beth… I don’t care what Jane tells you. Don’t do anything rash before you talk to me,” he ordered, unable to stop the controlling side of him from reappearing at such a time.

“I won’t,” she promised as her eyes looked up at the roof of the cab, hoping she would be able to keep her word.

There was a pregnant moment of silence from the other end of the line, as if Darcy knew that she might have trouble not confronting Caroline on her own.

Beth could practically hear his jaw clenching, trying to stop himself from truly demanding that she refrain from acting without conferring with him first.

“I will talk to you later,” he finally responded, his words tight.

“I’ll call you. I love you.”

“I love you.” His sigh indicating the release of at least some of his tension was unmistakable.

Hanging up the phone, her foot began to tap again anxiously on the floor of the cab, impatient for traffic to move faster as they were almost to Jane’s apartment.

When they pulled up, she fumbled through her purse, trying to pay the cabby, remembering why she loved Uber so much; she would have made it up to the apartment by now.

Less than a minute later, she was knocking erratically on the door to the apartment, waiting for Jane to let her in.

“Jane! It’s me! Let me in!”

Beth’s hand was raised to knock again, when the door opened revealing a flustered and surprised Jane.

“Sorry… I’m just…” Beth trailed off, giving her sister an apologetic look as Jane moved back to let her enter.

“It’s ok, I was just putting laundry away. I didn’t know you were coming.”

“I texted you…”

“Oh, I must have left my phone in the kitchen,” Jane replied, understanding dawning on her face .

“Is it ok that I’m here? Caroline left, right?” Beth asked, immediately concerned that the crazy bitch might still be here.

“Oh, no, she left a little while ago now - right before I called you, she left. I don’t know why she came over in the first place.

She just was talking about her exhibit tonight.

Then again, I’m sure she’s not getting any support at home with her family, so maybe she figured I would be excited for her,” Jane surmised, following Beth into the living room.

“I’m sorry, I’m going a little crazy after this whole week dealing with Caro.

And then, not your fault, but I’ve been so eager to hear from you last night or this morning that I swear, I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown,” Beth said, letting out a nervous laugh.

“Anyway, it’s fine, it doesn’t matter. So, what’s going on?

What did Charles say? Why is she here?” Beth asked bluntly, no longer able to hide her impatience.

Smooth, B, real smooth.

“She’s here for the money,” Jane began softly, forcing her sister to take a seat on the couch.

“Ok, how much? Can we just give it to her so that she can stop with this ridiculousness?” Beth asked, exasperated.

“No, Beth. She’s here for her money and the only way she can get it is through Darcy.”