Fall from Grace

by Danielle Steel

  They spent Sunday together and went to church. She had a lot to be thankful for. And they went to a movie and ate popcorn and kissed like teenagers, and then they raced home and made love again.

  “I think I’m addicted to you,” he said afterward.

  “Good. I want you to miss me,” she said, and traced her tongue along his neck until he shuddered with delight, and they made love again. He was leaving for Hong Kong in the morning, and she wanted him to remember their last night since they didn’t know when he’d be back again. He had moved his things from the hotel to her apartment that morning, so he could go directly to the airport the next day.

  She got up with him at six o’clock and made him breakfast while he showered, and before he left the apartment, he held her naked in his arms and looked into her eyes and told her he loved her.

  “I’ll be back soon,” he promised, and she knew he would.

  She was waving from the window when he got in the car and drove away. She looked at her ring after that, and he called her five minutes later.

  “I already miss you.”

  “So do I,” she said, feeling tender toward him.

  He called her again before the plane took off, and after that she went downtown to meet Steve at the courthouse again to get her anklet and have them put it on. She was relieved when he told her that Sabrina’s apartment was no longer in jeopardy, since the case was resolved. Sydney still owed her $5,000 for bail and $25,000 for what she had paid Steve in the beginning. She also owed him the cost of the detectives he’d paid for, which he hadn’t billed Sydney for yet. And she owed him another $25,000 for his time and accomplishing the plea bargain. In all, she owed him about $35,000, including the detective fees, and she owed Sabrina $30,000, and she was anxious to pay it back, but she couldn’t yet. She still needed to sell the apartment in Paris. No one had bought it so far, but the rent she was getting for it was helpful every month. And she was getting a generous salary from Ed to pay her day-to-day expenses. Her finances were less dire than they had been, although she still had to pay for the court case, which had cost her a lot.

  They put the electronic bracelet around her ankle and locked it into place in court. It was a waterproof band with a small box attached, which worked on the same principle as a GPS, and would track her whereabouts at all times. She was to call the monitoring service when she got home and they would activate it. And from then on, they would know exactly where she was, and an alarm would go off if she left the apartment. She would be monitored twenty-four hours a day. It was ugly and cumbersome, but they told her she’d get used to it. And since it was her Don’t Go to Jail card, she didn’t complain.

  The IT people Ed sent over arrived as soon as she got home, and they had her fully set up by five o’clock, and she laughed when she saw Ed on the giant screen, and he said he could see her perfectly.

  She reorganized everything in the living room that night, and turned it into a workspace and design studio. Ed had sent over a big tabletop for her to work on, and she turned her dining table into a desk. It would take some rearranging if she had people in for dinner, but she had everything she needed now to work, and she could eat at the counter, or even on the coffee table when she was alone. She was lonely without Bob in the apartment. It had been wonderful having him there with her for a week.

  And that night, Sophie told her about a ballet teacher she could work with by Skype. Sydney called her and set that up too. She was going to take class three times a week, right from her apartment. She had decided to turn the next six months into work and health time. She was going to eat healthy meals since she couldn’t get out and walk, do ballet on Skype, and use the months ahead as a positive project, not incarceration. And she’d have more time to work since she wasn’t going out.

  —

  The most exciting news was that Ed told her the orders from their collection were fantastic, and they had many more appointments with buyers set up for the next two weeks. Their new business was very much up and running, and his family was pleased too. He said he missed her in the office, and he teased her about being a virtual partner now since he could only see her on the screen. But he was planning to come over in a day or two and start working on new designs with her.

  She had missed Sabrina’s and Sophie’s shows, but she saw them on Vogue.com. There was almost nothing she couldn’t do from the apartment except go out and get fresh air. She even had a list of grocery services that would deliver food, and restaurants that sent meals.

  Steve called her after a few days to see how it was going, and she said she was busy working, which didn’t surprise him. She had a good attitude about life. It was only late at night, after she’d been cooped up all day, that she would look out the window at times and wish she could go out. She knew that if she broke the rules, she’d spend the remaining time in jail.

  Steve told her that a federal agent would be coming to see her, to take her statement about Paul Zeller. He brought a court stenographer with him when he showed up, and Sydney dictated the facts as it had all happened and told him all she knew, and she heard nothing after that. A week later, Steve said he didn’t think Paul had been arrested yet, which seemed odd to her, with the evidence they had gathered. But Steve explained to her that the findings of the grand jury were kept secret, and they wouldn’t know anything about the process until an arrest was made. Sydney hoped it would be soon. He deserved it, and whatever they did to him, he had coming. Of that she was sure.

  Chapter 15

  Paul was sitting at his desk going over buying reports and manufacturing bills, with spreadsheets all over his desk to refer to, when his assistant told him on the intercom that there was someone there to see him. She didn’t say who, and didn’t dare, since the four FBI agents who had shown up had told her not to. She was silent as they walked into his office and told him he was under arrest for money laundering and the importation of stolen items. They read him his rights and snapped handcuffs on him before he could object, and he stared at them in disbelief.

  “This is ridiculous!” he said in an angry tone. “That little witch put you up to this, didn’t she? She’s the guilty one, I’m not. This is a grave mistake.” He was shouting at them, and they weren’t impressed, as they told him to walk out of his office. He tried to take a swing at the agent closest to him, using the handcuffs as a weapon, and with a single blow they dropped him to the ground, and he lay there, winded.

  “Come on, get up,” the senior agent said to him. “Let’s get going.” Paul struggled to his feet, his dignity badly ruffled.

  “I want to call my lawyer,” he said, sounding frightened.

  “You can do that from downtown.”

  “Where am I going?” He wasn’t moving till they told him, and the four agents eyed each other, wondering if they’d have to carry him out. They would prefer not to, and had assumed he’d be polite and subdued.

  “You’re going to federal jail for now, until your arraignment.” The grand jury had already indicted him and approved the warrant for his arrest, which had been signed by a federal judge that morning. It was two weeks after Sydney had begun her house arrest.

  “I have nothing to do with this, nothing, do you hear me?” he shouted at them. “This is all that woman’s doing. She’s the smuggler here. I had no idea what she was buying.”

  “That’s not up to us, sir. You’ll have to discuss that with the judge.”

  “Call my lawyer,” he shouted to his assistant, who could see him through the open doorway. “Tell him they’re arresting me, and taking me to federal jail.”

  “Are we going to take you out of here in shackles and leg irons, or are you going to walk?” the second officer asked him. “It’s up to you. I don’t care either way. It might look a little more dignified to your employees if you walk out under your own steam.” They were giving him one last chance before they trussed him up like a turkey and carried him out, and Paul was beginning to get that message. Reluctantly, he followed the lead m
an out of the room, with an agent on either side of him, and one behind him. Several people had heard the ruckus by then, and two of them picked up their iPhones and took videos of him. Others took stills and posted them on Instagram and Twitter.

  “Stop that!” he shouted at them. “Take their cellphones away,” he told the agents, who ignored him and kept walking alongside him. They escorted him out of the building and pushed him into a waiting FBI car, and by then Paul was shouting at them again, screaming obscenities and calling them names. The employees continued watching him, and a few minutes later the two FBI cars drove away. It was all dispersed over the Internet within seconds. By the next day it was on the front page of the Post and The New York Times, and the article had been reprinted in WWD. Sydney saw the coverage on the news that day, and watched him on YouTube, and she called the girls. She felt vindicated now that he was in jail. And she was comfortably at home in her apartment, however small, drinking coffee and working as usual. She had settled into a routine.

  The newspaper articles about Paul explained the charges against him and mentioned her too. But the item about her was simple and clean. It said only that she had been charged with a misdemeanor and was under short-term house arrest, and that was it. She realized again then that Steve had gotten her a great deal with the plea bargain. It sounded like she’d been given a ticket for jaywalking and had gotten a small slap on the wrist. But the stories about Paul were more shocking. More evidence had surfaced that he’d been importing and selling stolen goods for years, the charges were more severe, and the penalties were liable to be too. They said that he could get from ten to twenty years in prison. It was serious business.

  Steve called her about it that day. “He’s in jail now,” he reported to her. “And the bail is going to be pretty high.” They had the goods on Paul and were prosecuting him to the limit, and rightfully so. It was karma again, as Sydney said to Ed.

  A follow-up article a week later said that his business was up for sale, and his wife was filing for divorce. It was a clean sweep. Sydney knew it wouldn’t go to trial for quite a while, but sooner or later Paul would have to pay for what he did. And Bob was pleased about it too. The good guys were winning.

  Sydney was reading the papers more closely now than she used to. She wanted to stay abreast of what was happening in the world. And occasional gossip was a good distraction too. She loved reading Page Six in the Post and saw a week later that Kellie’s husband, Geoff Madison, had upped the ante and wanted the whole house, not just her half of it. Apparently he intended to sell it. Three days later, she saw a sad little item that Kyra had been drunk and disorderly at a nightclub, and subsequently charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell, which meant she had a lot of it. So she was in trouble too. With their newly enlarged fortunes, they were being exploited and indulging themselves, not living well.

  Kellie’s and Kyra’s lives were falling apart, perhaps because of what they’d done to her, and in spite of all that they’d inherited. She said as much to Bob, who didn’t disagree.

  Almost three weeks to the day from when he’d last been there, Bob Townsend flew back to New York to see her. He said he’d been in Switzerland on business, and it wasn’t a long flight to New York. He had rung her doorbell and there he was. He swept her into his arms the moment he saw her, and spun her around, almost knocking something over. The place was crammed to the rafters with furniture and equipment now. But she had everything she needed, and she loved the two-way screen to the office. She felt like she was right there with them and could talk to Ed face-to-face anytime, or show him a new design.

  “You know,” Bob said as Sydney fixed him lunch after he arrived. He put his feet on the coffee table, and relaxed after the flight. “You’re the only jailbird I visit,” he teased her. “In fact, you’re the only jailbird I’ve ever been in love with.”

  “Very funny,” she said as she handed him a sandwich and some potato chips. He was happy to see that she was in good spirits.

  They wound up in bed as soon as he finished his sandwich, and he reminded her to turn the video screen off so no one would hear them. Sydney could hardly wait, and he was as anxious as she was. He told her he had missed her desperately while he was away.

  They lay in bed, relaxing, in the afterglow of lovemaking. He told her all about what he’d been doing. Although they talked every day, they always had more to say. It was October by then, and cold outside, and she was cozy in her apartment, which had become the haven where he rested from the rigors of the world when he was with her.

  A week after Bob left New York, Sydney read that Paul Zeller was out on five hundred thousand dollars’ bail, his trial was still months away. His business had been bought by Chinese investors. It had happened very quickly. He had apparently wanted to sell before he went to prison, possibly to pay for his divorce and criminal defense. She had lost her freedom as a result of what he’d done. And so would he, but he had lost his wife and his business too. Ed’s not trusting Paul entirely and warnings about him had proven to be well founded. It still terrified her to think about what might have happened to her without the attorney Ed had found her, the evidence their detective had been able to unearth about Paul, and if Steve hadn’t been able to make the deal he did. Without Steve’s help, Sydney felt she would have gone to prison for sure.

  After a month of being confined to her apartment, she was feeling crowded and had cabin fever. She missed her freedom, but Ed was keeping her busy. They were both hard at work designing, and showed each other their progress several times a day. And the orders for their first collection were continuing to pour in. It had been a huge success. In addition to the two-way screen, which was proving invaluable, he came to see her several times a week. Couriers were bringing her fabric samples so she could see the textures and colors, and they made constant joint decisions. He had asked her about adding a bathing suit line, and she thought it was too soon. And they were both delighted that they worked well together and respected each other’s decisions.

  “How’s your romance going, by the way?” she asked him one Friday afternoon, when they were talking on the big screen. Bob was in town but out at a meeting with a client, and Ed was alone in his office. On weekends, she missed the buzz of activity at the office. It was nice seeing people on the monitor and the enormous screen which covered one wall.

  “Kevin is a good guy,” Ed said with a sigh, confiding in her about the young man he was dating. Most of the time, he was extremely private and kept his love life to himself. “He’s young, though. He’s still in design school.”

  “How old is he?” He looked mature and close to Ed’s age, although she knew he was in his last year at Parsons.

  “Twenty-two. But still. I feel it at times. But he’s very serious, his father died when he was a kid, and he helped his mother raise his three younger siblings. He’s been working since he was fifteen.”

  “Are we going to hire him when he graduates?” She was curious about Ed’s intentions, and suspected he didn’t know himself yet. They’d only been seeing each other for a few months.

  “Maybe. I would discuss it with you first, obviously. He’s got a nice hand at designing, but he’s more interested in the business end. He’s in the economics and business section, and he wants to go to grad school eventually and get an MBA, after he works for a few years.”

  “At least he won’t be trying to compete with you, and he understands the industry,” Sydney commented, and Ed nodded pensively. He had considered all of that himself and hadn’t come to any major conclusions. He was just enjoying their time together. He had recently turned thirty, and he wasn’t sure about the eight-year gap between them, and whether it bothered him enough to worry about. Most of the time it didn’t, particularly when they were alone.

  “What about you?” he asked her, venturing into waters they didn’t usually discuss, as she just had. They were both very private people, and usually didn’t talk about their personal lives. They
confined their conversations and dealings with each other primarily to work-related subjects. Fabrics, designs, colors, what textile factories to use, how various employees were fitting in, deadlines, press, embroiderers, sewers, patternmakers, and all the complicated minute components of their business, and occasionally a good laugh to ease the tension after a long day at work. In many ways, they were very similar, despite the differences in their ages, life experience, and culture. They lived and breathed fashion, worked incredibly hard, and were perfectionists in all they did. Neither of them ever stopped until their work was done. But he could also see, whenever they were together, how happy she was with Bob. She was less worldly than most of the women Bob usually went out with, and she was far more serious about her work. “How’s it going with Bob?” Ed asked cautiously. It seemed to have gotten very serious very quickly, in part due to the pressures on her before the trial.

  “Amazingly well,” she said with a smile. “I never expected something like this to happen. I didn’t even want to date after Andrew died. I don’t know where it will go, living eight thousand miles apart. Long-distance relationships are hard to sustain.”

  “He travels a lot, though,” Ed said thoughtfully, “and he’s coming to New York more than he used to. Nowadays, you can work from almost anywhere in the world.” She laughed when he said it.

  “True, the two-way screen is working well for us,” and had been a genius idea on his part. They had cameras all over the office now, so she could switch to almost any room, could watch their fittings on models, and talk to the on-site patternmakers and sewers while they worked. They did a lot of their finish work there where they could oversee it. The main production was being done at Ed’s family’s factories in China, which was essential to cost. They had a tremendous advantage being able to use his family’s facilities at an extraordinarily low rate. “But I’m not sure how well two-way screens work for romance,” she added, and he laughed.