Episode 19 – Fatal
Revelations
– Victor asked Gabe to move into the Samson Mansion, and he said yes.
Leslie wasn’t happy about this.
– Kayla and Nate finally made up, but later she gave him an ultimatum,
either he tell Victor and Leslie or she would.
– Judi talked to Carla about the Alex/Russell situation, but still she
couldn’t make up her mind.
– Mercedes agreed to move to New York with Russell.
Thursday,6th February 2003,
Victor’s Penthouse, 2.55 pm
She pushed open the door of the
bedroom slowly. The other woman, her rival, might be in there and she wanted
the element of surprise on her side. The door creaked a little as it was pushed
open, causing Leslie
to tense up.
Damn.
She held her breath and waited
for a couple of seconds. Nothing. Still cautious she walked into the room.
Maybe she hadn’t noticed, maybe she wasn’t even in there.
Leslie took a look around the
room, it was empty. She let out a sigh of relief, sure that she had heard
something, but angry because of her overactive imagination.
As she carefully looked around
the room, Leslie started to remember times she had been in the room in the
past. She flashed back to the time after she and Victor
had bought the penthouse. She wanted a modern, fresh décor while he had wanted
an old-fashioned, warm atmosphere, where his clients could feel cosy and at
home, and would agree with him.
In the end they had finally
agreed on the modern style with pale blues, whites and silvers used. As Leslie
ran her finger over the headboard she remembered a night she and Victor had
spent in the room, making love and enjoying themselves.
It had been their wedding
anniversary and Victor had secretly organised a romantic dinner for his wife
and himself in the expensive Metro restaurant. Leslie had been tricked into
going there and had found Victor with a bottle of champagne. Soon they found
themselves back at the penthouse.
Leslie caught a glimpse of herself
in the mirror and walked toward it. She brushed back a strand of her blonde
hair and smiled as she continued to remember Victor’s surprise.
Most of that night was spent
talking, with Leslie in Victor’s arms. Leslie knew that she and Victor hadn’t been
that close in years, but she was hopeful that the Samson’s could be like that
again. A sound from the other room removed Leslie from her thoughts and she
listened as the door opened.
Divine Cassidy walked through the front door of the penthouse, her former
home. She remembered the last time she’d been here. Mercedes
was with her and they had talked about the past. Mercedes. Divine knew
that she would miss her when she left for New York. But at least her only true
friend was happy, even if it was with Sebastian.
Although he seemed nice enough
Divine wasn’t sure about him. She quickly stopped thinking of Mercedes,
Sebastian and their relationship and instead turned her attention towards
finding her belongings. She didn’t want to return here ever again. There were
too many memories.
As she looked at the sofa’s
more memories flooded back. She remembered a passionate moment with Gabe
and an argument with Victor over her choice of work – stripping. That was only
about two months ago, but in those two months Divine had been through a lot,
from being pushed down the stairs to losing her home and making new friends at
the strip club. And there would be more soon, as the strip club would now
probably be closing down.
Leslie was still in the
bedroom. She didn’t know why, but something was holding her back. She jumped as
the sound of a phone ringing interrupted the silence in the apartment.
Not now.
Leslie realised that it wasn’t
her phone, it was Divine’s. She settled in and prepared to listen in on
Divine’s conversation.
Divine looked at the screen.
She realised that it was her sister in New York who was calling, probably
wanting to know how the plot to hurt Victor was going. Apart from Divine, Fiona
was the only one who wanted revenge. She had been through a lot in the last
decade. Bringing your four brothers and sisters up when you are only eighteen
and have little money could cause a lot of people to turn nasty, especially
someone who gave up so many dreams because of her father’s death.
Divine pressed the answer
button, unaware of who was listening in on her chat.
”Fiona, how are you?… I told
you before I’m fine. They don’t scare me… It’s all going to plan… Well I’m
planning it for the daughter’s wedding day”
Leslie wondered who Divine was
talking about, who she was plotting against. Surely not Chardonnay?
“…I plan to spill all the juicy
little secrets, take the money and then meet you… About his wife and the
daughter’s husband to be… yes, they were sleeping together”
Oh no.
Leslie was shocked. Divine knew
– how?
“… And me and Victor as well… I
told you why the robbery didn’t work, the security was too high. I’m fine… I
have to go now… I love you too… Goodbye”
So it was the Samson’s she was
planning to bring down.
Leslie took it all in. She
couldn’t let Divine ruin their lives – she just couldn’t. Chardonnay would be
devastated if she learned of Gabe and Leslie’s night together. And so would
Victor. Then there was Nate,
he wouldn’t be able to forgive his parents for their affairs – ever.
There was only one way that
Divine could be silenced. Murder.
***
Westside High School, a little later
Nate pounded the locker door in anger. He was so angry with her. He ‘d
known her for fifteen years, and in all that time he hadn’t known her to do
anything like this. To betray his trust, to hurt him like this. No, he could
never ever forgive her if she went ahead with her threat and, even if she
didn’t go ahead, he didn’t know if they would ever be like they were again. She
had shown him what she was really like, and it wasn’t an experience Nate Samson
wanted to go through again in a great rush.
“Damn her” he shouted. A couple of the teachers
looked in his direction, giving him a warning look. Paris
took hold of Nate’s arm.
“Nate this isn’t getting you anywhere” she said.
“Except in trouble”
Nate turned to face Paris. He felt so angry with
Kayla
and he knew that this time tomorrow she’d probably be telling his parents. It
wasn’t the actual trouble that he could get in, for not going to them, which
was bothering him. It was the consequences of Kayla’s actions. If she told them
then there would likely to be a major argument over how to deal with the
situation.
Of course members of such a wealthy family had
been threatened before, but that had been sorted out very quickly without the
police. And usually it hadn’t been through text messages, just phone calls or
notes. But Nate knew that this time it probably wasn’t someone who his father
or uncles had angered, it was someone he’d angered. It was someone he knew well
and that was the thing that made him so angry. There was no need for the family
to get involved.
“I’m just so angry at her” he said, shaking his
head.
***
The hospital, same time
Judi Anders had made up her mind. She had finally chosen between Alex Blake
and Russell Elliot. After a long talk with Carla
she had decided to stay with one and end the other, rather than stay with both
or put an end to both relationships.
Judi took a deep breath of fresh air as she
stood in the hospital car park on her break. She took out her cellphone and
dialled the number. It started to ring. He answered. The man she was going to end
it with.
“Hi, we need to meet… How about I drop by
tomorrow afternoon sometime? You won’t be working will you?… Okay, see you
then… bye”
Judi smiled as she put the phone away. She was
almost there.
***
The strip club, A couple of hours later
Sebastian del Caro made
his way into the dressing room. He was followed by Mercedes,
who looked around and then closed the door. She looked around at all the people
she’d grown close to over the years. Elektra,
Charisma, Dynasty, they were all there. She spotted Divine,
almost hidden as she stood behind all the other strippers. Mercedes flashed
Divine a smile, which was returned by the younger woman. They moved their
heads, knowing what was coming, as Sebastian started to speak.
“The last few days and weeks have been difficult
for all of us” he started. There was a murmur of agreement from the girls.
“And it has been especially difficult for
Mercedes after everything she went through. But now we have an announcement to
make, Mercedes and I”
Sebastian held out his hand for her. She
hesitated for a split second before walking towards him and taking hold of his
hand. Silence fell across the room as everyone waited to hear the announcement.
Sebastian took a deep breath, unsure as to how the girls would react. He was
sure that some would be annoyed, but that others would be delighted by the
news.
“We are moving back to New York next week”
Sebastian said at last.
”What about this place?” someone asked.
“Are we losing our jobs?”
“No, no I have sold this place to someone else.
And there is a clause in the agreement which says that all of you must stay on”
Sebastian answered.
”Hey, congratulations. You two are made for each other” said Elektra, breaking
the silence.
“You think that we’re together?” Sebastian
asked.
“Yeah, that’s what you just said isn’t it?”
Elektra said.
“Well…” Sebastian began, but was interrupted by
Mercedes.
“Yes it is. Now who is for some champagne?” she asked.
There was a loud cry of yes and Mercedes let go of Sebastian’s hand and walked
over to one of the dressing tables. She removed a cover which was over the
glasses and the girls rushed towards her.
Everyone started to congratulate both of them
and it was a couple of minutes until Mercedes and Sebastian were standing near
one another again.
“That went well” she said.
“Yeah, it did didn’t it”
She looked up at him and he smiled at her. She
smiled back and was about to say something when Divine walked over.
“Congratulations” Divine said, with a broad
smile across her face.
“Thanks” Mercedes said.
”I’ll just be over here” Sebastian said, as he spotted one of the girls
signalling for him.
“Okay” Mercedes replied, with ease. She watched
him go before turning her attention back to Divine.
“What happened to just friends?” the younger
girl asked, spotting Mercedes eyes follow Sebastian as he walked away.
Mercedes arched a brow, as a grin curved her
lips.
“We are just friends”
“Of course you are”
Thirty minutes passed, until Mercedes and
Elektra were the only people left in the room. Mercedes started to tidy up the
glasses and bottles of champagne as Elektra applied her make up, in preparation
for the night’s performance.
Mercedes had noticed that everyone had
congratulated her and Sebastian, except one person – Elektra. This puzzled
Mercedes as she had known Elektra longer than any of the other strippers who
worked at the club, bar Divine and thought that Elektra would be happy to hear
the news.
Unknown to Mercedes, Elektra felt uncomfortable
around her because of Honey.
She had known what Honey was planning, but wasn’t strong enough to tell anyone
because of Honey’s blackmail.
“Are you okay?” Mercedes asked, noticing that
Elektra hadn’t moved in the past few minutes and was still staring at her
reflection in one of the mirrors.
“Me, I’m fine” Elektra said, rather
uncomfortably.
Both women were silent again, until this time
Elektra spoke.
“There’s something I’ve been keeping from you,
something terrible”
“What is it?” asked a puzzled Mercedes. What could it
be?
“It’s Honey, I knew that she had a thing for
Sebastian and that she had a gun which she was going to shoot you with” she
started. Mercedes left down the glass and took it all in. She’d known, but
didn’t say anything. Why?
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Honey knew something about me, she knew
something bad” Elektra said, as she placed her face in her hands.
“What?” Mercedes reassured.
“Please don’t tell anyone this”
“I won’t”
Elektra took a deep breath and, slowly, started
to explain.
“About a year ago I was walking home. I didn’t
see him until it was too late, but one of the men from the club had also been following
me home. He grabbed me from behind and started to rape me”
Mercedes gasped, shocked that Elektra had hid this from her.
“I managed to get away, but he ran after me. I
got into my apartment building and got to the top of the stairs. He was still
behind me though and I pushed him. I checked to see if he was alive, but he
dead” Elektra started to break down. Mercedes walked over to her and put her
arms around her.
“I had no idea” she said.
“Now you know why I didn’t tell you” Elektra
said.
***
Friday, 7th February 2003,
Westside High School, lunchtime
Paris Robertson sat
looking at Nate Samson. He was still in the bad, angry mood he’d been
in all week. Kayla’s
ultimatum was all he seemed to be thinking about, despite the fact that there
had been more texts and notes during the week.
Paris herself was finding it difficult. Apart
from Kayla she was the only person he knew about the threats. Although in some
ways she agreed with Kayla, she wouldn’t dare admit to it. It would only hurt
Nate even more.
She grabbed her rucksack and stood up.
“I have to go now, don’t let her get to you” she
advised.
“I can’t believe what she is going to do” he
answered.
“See you later”
Paris left the picnic table and walked through
the doors and up the stairs.
“Hi” she said to a couple of people as she
passed them on the corridor. She finally reached her locker and took out her
key. After opening the door Paris took out her cellphone. She always kept it in
her locker, despite it being against the school rules. Anyway the teachers
never checked and it didn’t say exactly that a phone couldn’t be kept in a
locker.
Paris was surprised as she spotted that she’d
received a message. She usually didn’t get any while in school. She pressed the
view button and was surprised by the message.
Nate, hope you are happy with Paris, because soon you won’t be
Paris realised that the person who was sending
the messages must have made a mistake. She scrolled down the text and saw who had
sent it, who had sent all the threats to Nate. Paris stared at the name, in
shock. It can’t be.
***
Elliot Apartment, afternoon
Judi gently knocked on the apartment door. She didn’t want to make people
curious as to her presence. Judi took a step back from the door and lay against
the wall opposite the door. She knew that what she was about to do would be
very difficult and took a moment to think it over again. It’s the right
thing to do. I have to do this.
Inside the apartment Russell Elliot was approaching the door.
After looking through the spy hole he knew who it was. Russell sighed as he
guessed what Judi had come to do. Is she going to end it? he wondered.
“Hi” he greeted, with a small smile.
“Hey” Judi said.
“Come in” he motioned with his hands. Judi
walked past Russell and into his home, his and Camille’s
home. “Take a seat”
“Thanks” Judi said, rather quietly. She was
nervous, very nervous.
Russell sat down beside her and turned to look
at her. “So what’s this about?”
“Russell, we need to talk about us, about what
happened”
“I don’t understand” he replied blankly.
“I love you, but I don’t think that you will
ever leave Camille for me” she began.
Russell interrupted. “I will, its just things
are so difficult here with Cleo
and Renee.
I love you, I really do”
“Is it me you love or the sex?”
Russell was shocked by what Judi had just said.
He thought that they had something special.
“What? You know its you I love”
“Am I something for you to brag to your friends
about?” Judi asked, turning angry. Russell was shocked by the change in her
attitude but decided to show her how much he loved her. He leaned forward and
kissed her. At first Judi tried to fight it, but she couldn’t and they
continued to kiss.
Outside the door stood Camille, putting the key
in the lock.