"Where are we headed off to?" Kimberly reprieved a quick glance to Walter who was tackling the steering wheel. His strong arms clutched the leather whilst his ocean blue eyes-with a smoldering gaze-were fixated at the road upfront.
"Marshall's first, and then Toqué." He leered softly but the tug at the end of his lips faded once his eyes settled back on the road.
"Why are we going to Marshall's?" Crossing her legs over each other, she gazed at the driver.
"We have to get you a dress." He said nonchalantly like this is something they did frequently as a couple.
It wasn't.
In fact, they never did anything together as a couple. Wait- correction, they never did anything normal together as a couple. It was always this gala and that gala, office parties, public announcements never just a quiet evening with a tub full of popcorn, a romcom and their hands all over each other.
But the lack of normalcy didn't stop Kimberly from falling head over heels for Walter. He was different from the usual conquests she brought home, who were practically on their knees for her. But not Walter. He was different, always distant. Never let himself too close to her but close enough that it'd spark the tingling sensation in the pit of her stomach.
"For what?" Her eyebrows narrowed into an interrogative curve but she already anticipated the answer to her question.
She had no problem with her boyfriend showing her off, but lately, it seemed like that's all he did. There was never just the two of them. It was always around people- dates in crowded restaurants with minimal talking, their conversations were often about his law firm or her upcoming graduation.
"There's this party we have to go to. I know you hate my office parties but our presence is required by my father." He shrugged and that was it.
There was no space for her opinion, it was like an order. They had to attend his office party and she couldn't even decline it as she feared messing things up with her first-ever real relationship.
Perhaps, Kimberly's definition of a relationship was different in comparison to the rest of the world.
So she nodded in ratification, considering she neither had a say nor a choice. Her gaze fell onto the stationary traffic, her mind wandering about the same stale question she asked herself ever night- why did she let herself feel so vulnerable in that relationship? She propped an elbow onto her lap, her eyes fixated on the traffic like the cold metal vehicles stationed in snow could help clear her mind and find an answer.
The traffic although was a red gridlock. Every car had turned off its engine, drivers strumming their fingers across their steering wheels.
A red letterbox stood as if on sentry duty on the street to her left, guarding the narrow exit to the Edwardian London no-through-road. The street was barely wide enough for two cars to pass in opposite directions and when people parked with wheels upon the ribbon-like strip of pavement, it was an obstacle course for pedestrians and drivers alike.
The light turned green and they hit the main road, more like flew down it but only ten kilometers an hour over the limit, getting stopped by the cops just wouldn't be plausible right now.
Soon, the engine stopped as they slid out of the vehicle. Across them was the enormous store of Marshall's who owned and designed almost a dozen A-list celebrities' outfits.
"I'll wait here, make it quick." He pulled out his phone without sparing her another peek.
His brusqueness made her wonder whether he was as invested in that relationship as she was. He seemed to always be there but there was something missing. A spark, perhaps. He didn't seem to reciprocate the amount of endearment and affection she'd grown to feel for him.
For the first time in her life, Kimberly was serious about a man; Walter. She could envision them together in the future but that didn't seem like an idea he'd entertain. He hadn't even kissed her in the last two weeks. This wasn't such a significant deal aside from the fact that it was a slap in the face how he'd lie about the success of their relationship to his father; in front of her.
"Don't you want to help me choose?" Her voice reeked of desperation and despair, something she wasn't used to displaying.
"I'd rather not. We're already late." He tapped a few buttons and he was off in another direction attending a call. After exchanging a few pleasantries, he scrunched up his nose in exasperation at the words he heard on the other side of the line.
"I guess I'll have to do the pro bonos, won't I?" He sighed, leaning against his car with his hand thrust into his pockets.
"Tell Mackenzie that I'll do whatever it takes to grab that senior partnership." He raked his hand through his hair frustratedly, tapping his feet in anticipation.
"No, no. Eric must not find out about this whatsoever. I'm willing to start next week if that's what they want. I just need to quit, as soon as possible. It's urgent." From the little eavesdropping Kimberly had managed to do over the course of the last few days, it was crystal clear that Walter was planning to quit Wheeler&Wheeler law firm. She wondered how Walter's father- Eric Wheeler would take the news.
But she didn't bother asking Walter about it, as she knew he'd brush her off anyways.
Kimberly acknowledged that he wanted to make it big in the corporate-law world but blowing her off wasn't justified. The situation she found herself in was supposed to be happening after marriage not in the first three months of dating.
Sighing, she pushed open the door and was immediately met with a gleeful Marshall. He enveloped her into a bone-crushing hug before making her take a seat.
"If it isn't my favorite customer." He hugged her once again. "Ready to spew some dollars?"
Kimberly breathed in his vanilla scent before patting his back. "I've missed you."
"Me too, babe." He chuckled. "How can I help?"
"Black tie event." Perching back down on the cream-colored sofa, she scrutinized how much his store had changed in the last few years. She'd been shopping there since Marshall's father-Gerhard, owned it and from the looks of the interior, it had changed so much since Gerhard passed away.
"I have a few options. Be right back." Marshall clapped sheepishly before storming off in the back.
In the meantime, Kimberly decided to get a once over the new interior design Marshall had paid handsomely for. With a few strolls in the purse section, she found herself running a hand along with the belt rack, listening to them jingle at the buckles. She watched them move back and forth, independent of each other but bound to the same shiny rod of chrome.
Her mind kept reeling in assumptions and scenarios as to why Walter seemed disinterested in her. Was it something she said? Perhaps did? Was he gay and was suppressed under his father's toxic masculinity? Was she coming off as needy and desperate?
The answer to the last one was a solid yes, but that didn't stop her from brewing more questions.
Was Kimberly not sexually appealing enough for him? No, it could be anything but not this, she thought to herself.
Her eyes were fixed on a brown skirt with a distressed look that was entirely genuine- quite unlike the skimpy shorts and thigh-high boots. She stroked the ruffles, smooth silky texture like suede. Over the top was an impression of leaves on a vine. The color was more truffle than chocolate and buckle tarnished almost black over brass with an edge.
In a few seconds, a door concealed in the tapestry opened and Marshall came traipsing out with a few of his designs. He laid them before her as he took a seat at the edge of the sofa.
"I think you should go with the velvety red, it'll give you the Beverly Hills' vibes." He pointed his slender finger painted with beige polish to the one in the far left corner.
It was a reddish-black gown made of velvety fabric, long and loose. That would hug at just the right corners around her waist and then flow down from the skirt below. The gown concluded its looks with a semicircular, strapless cut that would sit over her breasts with a shimmering effect.
She complied monotonously. Shopping had been her safe haven a few months ago, but somehow today it failed to uplift her mood. She wanted to be done with this night so that she could go home to Maxon and Sebastian and ask them whether any of Walter's behavior was normal. She could envision their answers which would normally revert either to dumping him or ghosting him.
But the fact that she'd fallen in love with Walter would make it altogether difficult to do either of those.
"What's the matter, doll?" Marshall moved an inch closer to where she perched. His radar for apathetic emotions was quite strong and Kimberly often found herself confiding in Marshall. "I'm assuming it has something to do with that sexy man in a tuxedo outside?"
Her coerced smile faltered over her words. "Something like that."
"Is there someone else?" Marshall helped her into the strapless dress with utmost supervision and caution to avoid ripping it.
"What-No" She denied immediately like even the glimmer of that idea was stupid.
She hadn't been able to think about anyone else but Walter for the past couple of months.
"In his life." He hesitated before settling his hazel orbs on hers, his eyes sharp with a glint of interrogation as he corrected her assumption.
Was there someone else?
"I-I don't know." She shrugged as she mentally slapped herself for hesitating. Her answer should've been a clear cut, no but unfortunately, she couldn't push away that possibility.
She found herself with yet another set of questions. She was supposed to say no, she was supposed to trust him. That's what a relationship is built upon but did she really trust him? Was she sure that there was no one else?
"If there is, from experience, I'd advise you to smack that bitch of his life. Anything to keep your man, am I right?" Marshall smirked before sliding a gold pendant around her neck, it elevated the sexiness of the dress.
"Off his life?"
"Yeah, don't let a bitch snag your boo. Fight for him."
Slipping on the strapped black heels, she whispered almost gratefully. "I'm glad I came in here today."
"Me too, doll."
As she pushed open the door, she found herself gaping at Walter apprehensively. His ear was still glued to a phone call, back faced to her and his fingers strumming the roof of the car as he watched the traffic swoosh by.
Sighing, she tapped on his shoulder which managed to catch his attention. He nodded in acknowledgment of her presence before circling around the vehicle and sliding in the driver's seat.
"Get it done before tonight. I need a letter with Hale Brixton's signature by the end of this fucking day. I don't have any time to spare. Do you fucking understand?" He scoffed, frustratedly before hanging up.
"What happened?" She squirmed in my seat, uncomfortable with initiating a question.
She was uncertain if they were even there yet. She was uncertain if she had that right yet.
"I'm resigning from Wheeler&Wheeler." He huffed in exasperation before pushing in a gear and motioning the car.
"Why?" Astonished, she keened her gaze back on Walter.
"Maybe later, okay? It's going to be a very long conversation." He flashed her an uncertain look before focusing back on the road.
It was one of those looks which said, whatever this is, isn't going to end well.
━━━━━━━━━━━━
"You look good, man." A guy which Kimberly assumed to be Walter's colleague, patted his back.
"And who might this beautiful young lady be?" He seized her wrist as he placed a soft tender kiss on the back of her palm. She smiled forcefully but she still wasn't feeling up to socializing today.
With a million thoughts trafficking her brain, all she wanted to do was spend the night with the boys in their lair with movies, greasy popcorn and flavored ice creams.
"This is Kimberly Hexington. Evelyn Hexinton's daughter." Walter introducing Kimberly as a socialite's daughter rather than his girlfriend was a low blow to her already bruised ego. Usually, she'd never let a man treat her like this but the things he made her feel were unexplainable.
"Hello." She smiled, unwaveringly.
"I'm Ashton, Walter's colleague." They shook hands for what felt like mere seconds before he broke apart. "You should join us."
Walter nodded as he placed his hand on the small of her back before navigating them to the circle of his friends. Kimberly was quite anxious, despite the several public outings, it was the first time she was ever going to meet his friends.
"This must be the beautiful Kimberly." Jacob, the guy Kimberly met briefly, during one of Walter's previous office parties grinned slinging his arm around her shoulders and pulling her down in one of the chairs beside him.
She waved an elegant wave towards the rest of the group as Walter took a seat beside her. She was practically squirming closer to him as if to get lost in his silhouette for the rest of this uncomfortable evening.
"This is Hayley Zakir, Ashton Louis, Leah Choi, and Marco Fernandez." Jacob introduced the group to her. Her lips tugged outwards as she crossed her legs, her fists rolling into an anxious ball of anxiety. It wasn't like Kimberly to get anxious, she was usually bold but these distinctive people sitting across from her were significant to Walter and she didn't want to say or behave in a way that would make them form questionable opinions about her.
"So what do you do?" Hayley fired the first question-her gaze condescending enough to make any supermodel squirm-as her lips parted just enough to slowly sip her drink.
"I'm about to graduate from university." She smiled disclosing her teeth as her gaze danced amid each of the individuals. She could practically feel the burn from Hayley's eyes as they looked her up and down, lip curling in displeasure.
"What're you majoring in?" Leah flashed her a genuinely friendly smile, the first she'd gotten since the start of this event. The rest were stinky looks towards her and Walter and at their entwined hands.
"Interior Designing."
Hayley scoffed but camouflaged it as a cough. If this wasn't a sophisticated party, she would have mauled Hayley by now.
"That's amazing. Which university?" Marco crossed one of his legs over the other, his position replicating that of a mafia boss ready to encounter a traitor.
"Cornell."
"I'm surprised at Walter's change of type." Hayley gulped the last of her drink before batting her eyelashes at Kimberly's boyfriend. Kimberly wanted nothing more than to punch this bitch.
"What do you mean?" She questioned as sweetly as she could manage, eyes flicking up and down Hayley's interesting choice of clothing. Although Kimberly fretted that she was being too obvious with her brusqueness she didn't budge.
"Walter usually dates women with a real career, not wannabe architects." Hayley chuckled. Kimberly clenched her fists into a tight ball ready to pounce over but Walter gripped her wrists. Kimberly couldn't believe this girl. She was just starting to get past being angry at Hayley's very existence, and then here they were again less than sixty seconds later.
"Excuse us." Walter flashed them a committal gaze before swooshing her up with him. Leah offered a sympathetic smile before Kimberly escalated away from the group.
Walter trailed the way out the humongous doors and into the yard charmed with flowers of almost every type available to mankind.
The lingering light was obliterated by the rapidly falling night. The once salmon and purple sky transformed into a vast expanse of jet-black that engulfed the town. A canopy of luminous stars materialized amongst the ocean of blackness. Some were dull, merely flickering into existence every now and then, but there was an adequate amount of shimmering stars to illuminate the dark, moonless night. The lake glistened, mirroring the dazzling assemblage of glittering stars and the luminescence from the restaurants and designer boutiques that lined the marina.
The faint breeze brushed against her skin, ruffling her hair as it swished by. It was a perfect evening for a romantic date for anyone but Kimberly and Walter. They had some unresolved issues and by the look of how he dragged her out, they were about to get into their first real fight.
"How could you let her talk to me like that?" She freed her wrist from his rigid grasp before rubbing the corners.
"She meant no harm, Kim." His voice was devoid of any sympathy like Kimberly was just dead weight to him.
"Then you should've let me say something." She gritted her teeth.
"I can't let you insult my friends." He rolled his eyes. Kimberly couldn't believe this man, he wasn't okay with her insulting them but he was a silent spectator to Hayley's bullying. "There's something we need to talk about."
"Can't it wait? I want nothing more than to go home." She rubbed her shoulders as the evening got glacier. Walter didn't even as much offer to wrap his jacket over her shoulders as any boyfriend would.
"I'm afraid it can't." He inhaled a deep breath which almost looked like he was seeking valor from it. "I'm resigning from my father's law firm."
"But why?"
"I've realized that working under my father means being a target of criticism for 'having it easy' in the accumulation with being suppressed under that bastard of a man." He raked his hand through his hair with his teeth gritting in anger.
"What did he do?" She touched the sleeve of his tuxedo but his body stiffened under her touch. It almost seemed like he didn't want her touching him and that was the biggest slap she'd received.
"That's not important. What's important is, what this means for us."
"What?" Kimberly chuckled, nervously, unaware of his serene demeanor. "Why would anything change between us."
"I can't do this anymore." His ocean blue eyes met her grey ones. "Your mother and my father thought it'd be a good idea to force us into a relationship that could lead to a potential engagement."
"What?"
"I've lied enough, I can't do this anymore."
"What are you talking about?"
"Eric offered me senior partnership at Wheeler&Wheeler but under one condition- I'd have to make you fall in love with me. And then marry you after you graduate. I declined at first but then he found leverage." Walter thrust his hands into his pant pockets, eyes averting to the fresh-cut grass on the ground. "I'm a lawyer, Kimberly and sometimes we have to do things in order to protect our clients and I'm not particularly proud of the things I've done. Eric found out everything I had to do to protect my clients, which could potentially ruin my image in the corporate-law world or even get me disbarred."
"You've got to be fucking kidding me." Kimberly scoffed bitterly, she couldn't believe that her mother would go behind her back. Yes, she was a narcissistic bitch but after her father had been admitted into rehabilitation, Evelyn was the only parent figure in her life. "You're lying, my mother would never make that kind of a deal."
"Since I'm no longer at Wheeler&Wheeler, I suppose I could tell you this. Brace yourself, this is some serious shit." He took half a step closer to where she stood, still an arm's length away. "My father chose to hide this from me, but one of my sources found out the reason they wanted us to get engaged."
"I don't care because it's not the truth. Whatever you think you've found out, isn't true." A burning feeling erupted in her heart. It felt like someone was stabbing her and was squelching her flesh with a hot metallic knife.
"The B.H medical centers established around the world - which are run by your mother were under vital investigation for illegal drug use. The prosecutors were breathing down Evelyn's neck and there was a ninety percent chance that she would've been imprisoned. So, she met with my father who basically has a degree in how to get away with a crime." His head bowed down, shamefully on account of the father he had to live with. "He helped her bury evidence, paid off the officers-in-charge of the investigation, and blackmailed the prosecutor to avoid litigation. So they settled with the victim's family for about 10 million dollars all the while keeping this under wraps and away from the media."
He took another cautious step closer to Kimberly. She didn't dare move her eyes from him, partially in denial. Walter closed his eyes for a brief moment, huffing out a cold puff of air as he spoke again, "But Eric Wheeler is a very greedy man. Apart from the billions of dollars in legal fees he also demanded forty-five percent of the equity shares of B.H medical centers. Evelyn couldn't negotiate as she knew Eric was the only lawyer who could get her out of this mess. But those forty-five percent belonged to you as Benedict made sure to transfer a fair amount in your name before he..um.. he went to prison."
"Rehab." She corrected him, sharply.
"Right. Rehab." He retracted his steps, leaning against a metal railing as his eyes spread over the glistening lake. Yet another glacier chill swooshed by them and Kimberly felt like she could freeze to death. "Eric needed an assurance that those forty-five percent would be transferred in his name and that Evelyn wasn't screwing him over. You were the assurance, Kimberly."
"Assurance? What-"
"They needed you to fall in love with me and marry me so that I could convince you to transfer those shares into my name under the guise of safety purpose. And since Eric had that blackmail over me, I'd have to transfer them to him, making him forty-five percent equity owner of B.H medical centers. And you would lose everything. You and I, we were collateral damage to a crime your mother committed and my father helped cover."
Although he did all of that because Eric blackmailed him, Walter had succeeded in one part, flawlessly. He had succeeded in making Kimberly fall in love with him.
Kimberly felt the knife before it pierced her and the wielder was her own mother who traded her; her only daughter for a lawsuit. She'd never felt so chastened and deflated in her entire life.
"I-I don't believe this." Kimberly took a step back, unable to comprehend the information revealed. "And you were a part of it?"
"I was blackm-"
"Shut the fuck up. You could've told me, Walter. We could've figured a way out of this. Together."
His silence was a loud and clear answer to her allegation. She'd fallen for a jerk with no balls to own up to his mistake or stand up to his father. The thought of even envisioning a future with him sickened her. What pained her, even more, was that she let herself be used as a pawn in someone else's game.
Must be karma.
"I'm sorry, Kimberly. I couldn't let that information get to the media. It could've ruined me." His voice sounded genuinely apologetic but that couldn't excuse him for shattering her heart into bits and pieces. "But Brixton-Gould offered me a senior partnership. I came clean about all the misdeeds that could potentially be used against me and they promised to make it all go away. So Eric can't blackmail me anymore and we don't have to force this relationship."
"Force? Are you stupid? I can't believe I'd actually fallen for you." She scoffed, her hands itching to strangle him. She could feel her suppressed rage surface but she gulped hard, pushing it down.
"I'm sorry, I tried Kim. I really tried to love you but I couldn't. I've always been in love with someone else." The cold breeze in assembly with his piercing words felt like tiny needles on her skin.
"I don't know what hurts more. The fact that my own mother would use me as a pawn to save grace or my boyfriend being in love with someone else." She raked her hand through her loosely tousled hair, clutching a chunk into a tight grasp.
"How can I make this right?" He sighed, taking another step closer to her but he was still far away.
"You could start by going back in time and telling me the truth the moment you asked me out." Her eyes shot him a venomous look filled with rage, humiliation, and anger.
"Kimberly-"
"I-I need to go home." She began brisk walking into the event space, her head clouded with a gazillion thoughts- a mixture of emotions hovering over her mind space.
"I'll take you home." His feet synchronized with hers, a sly attempt to clear his conscience.
"Leave me alone." The sharpness in her voice was a clear cut instruction to back the hell off. She flashed him one last disdainful look before she walked back into the noisy room.
As Kimberly was storming off towards the exit, she was startled by a waiter walking across the room with a plate full of canopies. He apologized quickly before scurrying off to attend the guests. Usually, Kimberly would make a scene and get him fired but tonight she didn't have the energy to deal with those petty problems.
"So I suppose, he broke up with you?" A sly vixen-like voice halted her in her path. She was not up for this, not this evening. She'd endured, seen and heard enough.
"That's none of your business." Kimberly shot a look at the much-pretentious Hayley.
"We're alike, you and me." She smirked as her fingers traced the rim of her glass.
"The comparison is quite unfair. You're comparing your cheap, pathetic self to me. I think that's the most insulted I've ever felt."
"It sounds exactly like something I'd say." She chuckled before taking a few steps closer to Kimberly. "He broke up, didn't he?"
"I-"
"You should fall in line. You're not the only woman who's been trashed by Walter Wheeler. And everything for what? A juvenile crush on a university student?" Hayley scoffed, you could see the hurt in her eyes. She looked crushed, and as much as Kimberly couldn't stand her, she felt a little bad for the girl.
"A university student?" Kimberly cocked an eyebrow, her interest piqued. Nothing smelled better than revengeful scheming against the man who'd made a fool out of her. And she'd start by destroying his relationship.
"That's all I know. He usually visits her a lot. She's around us a lot." Hayley ordered another drink before plastering a quintessential smile on her face.
Kimberly assumed that Hayley thought mutual humiliation somehow made them friends. But boy, how wrong she was. She could never befriend a girl who bought her fake Gucci out of a thrift shop. And to top it off Hayley was a drunken mess. Kimberly was off Hayley's league for friendship.
"A red wine," Kimberly ordered as the bartender nodded in compliance which was followed by him whipping up her drink in mere seconds.
"I appreciate the information." She smiled, crestfallen as she sipped a small gulp of the red wine. Hayley mirrored Kimberly's leer before her hands reached out to grasp yet another flute of champagne.
"This doesn't mean I forgive you for being a bitch to me earlier." Before Hayley could seize the opportunity to react, Kimberly had splashed the glass full of red wine on her milky white dress. The red quickly spread over the white fabric, blotting rapidly.
"You bitch!" Hayley screeched which sought attention from every single person present.
Walter came sprinting back into the ballroom as his oceanic orbs met Kimberly's. She managed to smirk at Walter-whilst holding in her real emotions- one last time before she made her exit from that god-forsaken event.
The wheels started churning in Kimberly's head, planning and plotting her next move, after all, she had Walter's love story to ruin.
━━━━━━━━━━━━
Hiring a cab, Kimberly steered off to her mother's hospital. A swarm of questions racing through her brain. She needed answers, justifications, apologies for the unpalatably coarse tactic she'd used to save herself.
She couldn't forgive her mother easily, it had cost her, her dignity. She couldn't fathom that her own mother was capable of landing herself in a class-action lawsuit for illegal drug use. She couldn't justify her mother's actions for abetting this cruel plan against her own daughter. She couldn't believe that Evelyn could be so selfish that she'd con and trade her daughter off just to save herself. Her heart was shattered to pieces and she couldn't even explain the amount of betrayal she'd felt.
The receptionist flashed her a leering grin before nodding her head slightly in acknowledgment. Kimberly reciprocated her greeting before pressing the elevator button and waiting for it to open wide.
There was an accident and emergency patients reeled in from all corners as the wide entrances with automatic sliding doors opened at the interval of every two minutes. It seemed to her like there'd been a huge accident nearby. Paramedics wheeled in patients as the doctors tended immediately. The entire scene made her sick to her stomach, with the amount of blood and squelched flesh.
To her surprise, the moment the elevator doors opened she spotted Eric Wheeler- Walter's father, standing with his hands thrust deep in his pockets and a mixture of expressions with gratification and satisfaction sitting on his face. Eric Wheeler was the last person she intended to run into but she'd rather engage into a gut-wrenchingly agonizing conversation with him than look at the paramedics with their patients.
Judging by his antics, it was crystal clear that he was still unaware of Walter's resignation as well as their breakup.
He nodded with a tug at the corner of his lips before exiting the elevator and composing himself before her. He had a good few inches on her but Kimberly could take him if necessary. By the simulation of his semblance, it felt like he'd just had sex. Hair ruffled in a mess, his tie loosened sloppily with his coat buttons undone and a satisfactory glow on his face.
A feel of disgust immediately erupted at the pit of her stomach by even comprehending the possibility that he'd just had sex with her mother.
"Mr. Wheeler." Kimberly managed to pull her lips in an almost smile attempting her absolute best at camouflaging her abhorrence.
"Kimberly." He nodded in acknowledgment.
"What are you doing here?" She chuckled, bitterly contracting herself from slapping him. After what she'd found out, slapping was the minimal punishment she could think for him. "I hope your health is alright."
"Perfectly fine, just needed some help from your mother to back up a medical clause in my recent case." His eyes were oceanic blue, just like Walter's but Eric's had the kind of hunger, gluttony, and lust for power that Walter's lacked.
"I hope she could help you." Striding inside the elevator, Kimberly hoped for the doors to shut before she could hear his response that'd make her sick to her stomach. While she passed by him, she got a whiff of jasmine perfume. The same essence her mother used which only confirmed her speculations.
"She helped plenty." He smirked before giving Kimberly a playful salute as the doors chimed close.
She grimaced as she almost had to stop herself from puking into the elevator. She rushed to her mother's office on the top floor.
The hospital corridor was stuffy and the air had an undertone of bleach. The walls were magnolia and were painted fresh in places you could spot. The pictures on the walls were worth thousands of dollars with uplifting scenarios and copies of Da Vinci. Some paintings were hung on isolated walls as large blue plastic signs of the areas of the hospitals that lied ahead were hung on the double doors.
There was a large office at the end of the corridor with the best view offered of the city, enclosed in glass doors. Kimberly spotted a silhouette of a woman with her back faced to the front door, possibly writing something.
Kimberly pushed open her mother's office door in a fit of rage, her eyes ablaze as she clenched her fists into a wrenching ball. She scrutinized the look of her mother's office with her high heels strewn across the floor far away from her feet, her hair in a dazed mess, and takeout boxes with Chinese food all over her desk.
Evelyn turned around, with her million-dollar smile that never seemed to abandon her face. Pushing her long shiny black hair behind her shoulder, she perched on her seat with her legs crossed in a graceful square.
"I'm sorry for missing out on the ceremony but I heard it was quite a scandal." She chuckled, her deep silky voice echoing through Kimberly's aching head. She scoffed only to receive a look of a dilemma from Evelyn.
"Where are you coming from?" There was a hint of cognizance in her voice like she'd hoped for Kimberly to say, Walter.
"Eric Wheeler's party." The man you're screwing, She wanted to say.
"Surprisingly, he didn't attend. Seems kind of impolite to miss out on your own party, doesn't it?" Kimberly sat, her hands now clutching the leather of the couch she perched upon.
"I'm sure he had his reasons." She simply smirked, avoiding Kimberly's sharp gaze.
"Mother-" Kimberly initiated but by the look of exhaustion on her face and Evelyn's colleagues gazing down from the corridor she marked that it was best if they did this at home. Unlike Evelyn, Kimberly cared about how humiliation would hurt a person's ego.
"Let's go home." She flashed her mother a tight smile, glinting at the fact that there was something they desperately needed to talk about.
"It's going to be a while for me. But you go ahead." Evelyn pulled a stack of papers from her desk as she flipped across a few pages before settling down on one of her patient's files.
"Why don't you call Walter? He'll take you home." The glee in Kimberly's mother's voice was irking her last strand of patience.
She finally scoffed. "Of course. But to your displeasure, that's over."
"What?" The amount of astonishment reverberating through Evelyn's voice was almost closer to what Kimberly had envisaged.
Evelyn regained from her consternation in mere seconds before she connected the dots and smirked villainously. "So I'm assuming he told you about the deal?"
"He did. How could you? How dare you?"
"Don't overreact, Kimberly. You're acting like your father." Evelyn scoffed humourlessly before focusing back onto the papers in hand.
"I am overreacting? You're unbelievable. I can't believe you'd use me as a scapegoat for a stupid lawsuit." Kimberly snatched the papers from her mother's hands before strewing them across the floor.
Evelyn's eyebrows knitted into a tight knot, her ire evident. "Stupid lawsuit? Do you understand the gravity of this situation? I could've been sent to prison right alongside your father."
"He's in rehab, not a prison." Kimberly took half a menacing step closer to her mother, the venom evident in her eyes.
"Rehab is just a fancy word for a prison." Evelyn pushed herself onto her desk with her feet dangling. "And besides if you were in my shoes, there's no doubt that you would've done the same thing. Chose yourself over anyone else. And it's a good thing that you broke up with him and that he told you the truth, now at least I don't have to pretend to like that boy."
"Actually, he dumped me." Crossing her hands against her chest, Kimberly looked at Evelyn with despair. Despite her resistance, Kimberly couldn't help but display a spur of chagrin at the resolution of their relationship. More so, she couldn't believe someone could ever dump her.
"Don't tell me that you actually fancied him?" Evelyn snorted, improbably. "That boy is a pushover. He's an associate in Wheeler&Wheeler and Eric treats him like an errand boy. He has zero potential and he's not good for your social status."
"He's a junior partner, not an associate." Kimberly found herself defending Walter's honor. She couldn't really put a finger on what she'd been feeling or why she felt the need to defend the jerk who'd dumped her, but she just did.
Sick of being used, sick of being a joke to everyone in her life, she clenched her fists. Ready to take drastic measures. "I know everything. I can go to the judge in charge of your case and testify against you. Right now."
"Impressive. So there are a few traits that you inherited from me after all. Thank god, I thought you were completely useless." Evelyn smirked. "Just like your father."
"I'm not kidding, mom."
"Me neither. Benedict is good for nothing." Evelyn rolled her eyes. Kimberly found herself clenching her fists, channeling her anger into that little fist-ball. She couldn't hear anyone talking shit about her father- Benedict Hexington and Evelyn had gotten away with it way too many times.
"And about you snitching on me?" Her smirk was brighter than her silvery seafoam eyes. "What proof do you have apart from a pathetic conversation with your ex-boyfriend?"
"I might not have a solid proof.." Kimberly shifted her weight to her left foot, hands crossed against her chest. "..but I'm your daughter and you are the suspect. If a daughter is testifying against her own mother who's under the suspicion of using illegal drugs, that's enough of a proof to restart the investigation which you so effortlessly buried."
"Hmm... now that's quite a problem, isn't it?" Evelyn scoffed, a glint of pride lingering in her eyes. Evelyn had always wanted Kimberly to idolize her but Kimberly was a daddy's girl. She took after him in all aspects. But guess, she wasn't exactly like him after all. "But you won't do that."
"What makes you so sure?"
"You won't testify against me if you wish to see your father again."
"Mother, you're disgusting. You'd really use that against me? How can you be so cruel to your own daughter?" Kimberly snorted. Evelyn knew the one thing Kimberly desired the most and she knew exactly how to use it against her daughter. It seemed like Evelyn had been stacking away this card, for a rainy day.
And today was that rainy day.
Kimberly could practically see herself in Evelyn. The blackmailing, the scheming, the satisfaction from someone else's misery, Kimberly had inherited all of that from Evelyn.
Like mother, like daughter, she thought.
"Better cruel than stupid." She pushed herself off the desk and traipsed closer to her daughter. "I'm assuming you've dropped your plans of testifying against me, yeah?"
Kimberly scoffed, refusing to answer Evelyn's question. Although both of them knew what Kimberly would choose. "I can't believe dad ever loved someone like you." Picking up her purse from the couch, Kimberly was ready to storm out before Evelyn's conniving words stopped her.
"But he did. And so did I." She could almost sense dejection and despondency in her mother's voice but she shook the feeling away as there was no way that this vicious snake had the ability to feel any kind of sentiment.
"If you did, you wouldn't have abandoned him or even forbid me from seeing him."
Evelyn took a few strides closer Kimberly, her smile dropping to a lopsided leer. She tucked a strand of her hair behind her daughter's ear, a pathetic attempt at showing affection. Or lack thereof.
"Kimberly, as opposed to what you believe, I never abandoned Benedict. I just chose to protect you."