The Confident Woman

by Nikkea Sharee

  His mind was already calculating how he would humiliate her even further if she decided to pursue this course of action. How conniving of her he thought as he headed out of the door. If she wanted to pick a fight with him, he would crush her with no remorse.

  14

  Three Years Prior

  “You aren’t having second thoughts about this are you?” Vernon stood in the threshold of his sister’s living room. He watched as she rocked his nephew to sleep. Looking at Vera caused him to get a bit sentimental. For as far back as he could remember they had been focused on taking care of each other. Even during years when they were unable to communicate with each other, he had been planning for the day that she would need him. Her shill. The person who would come in when the con needed redirecting without suspicion.

  They always needed each other. However, as he watched her as she cared for the young boy, the most important thing she cherished in the world was her son. And he couldn’t blame her for that. She was a good mother.

  In fact, she was such a good mother that she reminded him of how his mother was with them before she died. She taught them to be loving. Taught them to take care of each other no matter what and to this day they did just that.

  “The con must go on, right?”

  She was having second thoughts. Vera had enjoyed being a mother to her son for the last year. This was a love that she hadn’t known would be so pure before bringing him home. He really was a miracle. It was just a shame that she had to go about bringing him into the world in such a manner that she may have to lie to him about later on.

  There were parts of her that wanted to walk away from it all. The look in her brother’s eyes told her that wasn’t an option just yet. Him asking the question was just a formality. This job was more about principle than finances. And while Vernon hadn’t been on board initially, he was all in now.

  If successful, this con would satisfy their longing for retribution. They had spent the better part of twenty plus years talking themselves into situations where they could make a substantial profit off of their lies. This was something that had to be done out of necessity. The death of their parents changed the trajectory of their lives indefinitely. However, this con would get it back on track. Now, as she rocked her child to sleep, Vera was ready to put an end to lies and just live.

  “You don’t have to lie to me sis. I can understand if you do. Remember, this is your con. You came up with every element of it. And I believe in you. So much so that during the time that you were away, I walked myself into one of the finest law schools in the country and charmed the dean into allowing me to enroll into the school.”

  He was telling her something that she did not know but would be an intricate part of their plan later. “We’ve done a lot over the years. But would you believe that when I got in that school, I actually took that information in and I enjoyed what I was learning. It was like a drug. The more I learned the more I wanted to learn. Soon I got a job as an intern at a small law firm while I studied for the bar exam. It took me years but I knew one day you would need me.”

  Vera listened intently to her brother as he spoke. She watched his mannerisms and could appreciate the things he was telling her he had done to plan for her plan b. When she first laid out the plans, she just assumed that he would play the role of an attorney when the time had come. She had not imagined that in essence he would take on the role of anchor and pull them through. Then again, he was her shill and just as she had taken on the role of grifter seriously so had he. There was a science to making someone believe in the midst of a con and one of the oldest tricks was making the lie as close to the truth as possible.

  “Sis, I started to pay attention to the way the partners in the firm were in court. One thing that became more and more apparent to me was that we were the same. Every single last one of them were con artists. I had found my people, my tribe if you will.”

  “How so?”

  “The law firm specialized in criminal law. Criminal defense to be specific. Man, I never realized just how much bullshitting those people did. It seldom was brought up as to whether the client was innocent or not. It only mattered that we win. That’s when I started to take it seriously. They were just like you and I. They could talk a good game and that was what won cases. Not the evidence, not the facts presented to the court. It’s all about that ending argument.”

  Vera perked up as she listened to the animation in her brother’s voice. Her son was now sound asleep so she was going to take a few moments and enjoy story time. She was transported back to the days when he would entertain her with all types of stories as children. She didn’t need television with Vernon around. He was all the entertainment she ever could ask for.

  “Vera, imagine being tried for murder and you know you did it. The evidence lines up. Only there is one single detail that does not. Let’s say one of the witnesses is shaky. Their story isn’t making sense and you know they were lying. That is all a good defense lawyer needs to prove what they call reasonable doubt. That’s it! One stupid little thing can blow even DNA evidence out of the water. The right person trying the case just needs to find that single thread that ties the fabric of evidence together. Tug on it a little and instantly it falls apart. They just need to press on that single element.”

  “So, let me ask you brother dear. Is being a lawyer your final con?”

  “It’s the con I’ve been looking for all my life. You know why?”

  “Do tell.”

  “I don’t have to make anything up to fit in. Sure, initially I got in on a silver tongue, but once I realized this was work that I could do and it would satisfy me, I was sold. I’ve got degrees in my office that are legit. Legit, Vera! I actually went and studied under the best to get where I am today. I don’t have to do any short schemes anymore because I actually wanted to become the best and I’m excelling. And guess what? I’ve gained knowledge that will pull us through your long con. All of this was for you. Hell, I even studied and became proficient in corporate law, family law and shit the list goes on. I once dated a prosecutor who called herself mentoring me and I soaked that information up as well.”

  Those last words he spoke made her feel obligated for a moment. The initial question had finally come back full circle without being restated. Everything that he had done was for her. He was preparing for a decade for the moment that she needed him. There was no way that she could pull out now.

  “I understand, brother.”

  For just a moment Vera looked down. She had grown emotions over the last year that she didn’t exactly anticipate. Her son was meant to be a part of a plan. She never thought that she would grow to love him the way she did. Knowing the significance of a mother’s love had been buried so deeply in her mind since the day they lost their parents. However, everything was flooding back in now. She was torn.

  “Listen, if you want to cancel the con I understand. This is not for me. It’s for you. To set your future up for you and baby boy nicely. I will always take care of you so if you want to go in another direction, again, now is the time to speak up.”

  She heard his words but somehow there was still conflict. Vera didn’t want to ever feel as though she was being a burden on anyone. “No, we will proceed as planned.”

  “Okay, so we need to prepare for what comes after we put the wheels into motion. Also, we need to deal with all aspects in their totality. Do you want me to handle the pianist or do you want to?”

  Vernon was anxious to lay hands on the man who had taken advantage of his sister. However, this was her con. He would have to follow her rules.

  “No, I’ve been thinking about how I want to handle him. I want to make sure he has forgotten about me before I address him. Then I will bring payback to his front door. He altered my plans, now he has become apart of them. He hasn’t seen the last of me, though he will wish that he had.”

  A smirk crept across Vernon’s face. This was the way he liked to see his sister. With her mind ticking away.
He would always step in and be there for her, but he knew that his sister was stronger than ever. Love had a funny way of doing that to a person. He knew that she would stop at nothing to give her son the best.

  “That’s what I like to hear.”

  15

  Present Day

  Nigel sat behind his desk fuming. Steam could almost be seen visibly rising from his scalp. His lawyer had emailed him the options that he had regarding the impending paternity suit and none of it was satisfactory. Wanting this his way or not at all, the grown man simply sat and pouted trying to figure out what he could or even should do next.

  A child.

  There was a time that he wanted a child with his then wife. They had tried to make it happen and he was very supportive. And when it did not happen in the manner and speed in which he deemed acceptable, Nigel simply lost interest.

  Now he was being faced with the possibility of being the father to a child, her child! It seemed impossible. His gut told him that all this was a scheme to get at his money. Vera had been all too liberal at spending his money when they were together and he knew that she accepted the divorce agreement too swiftly. It seemed too good to be true at the time and now as he was faced with options regarding paternity to their child, he felt trapped.

  There was no way that she would go through all of this if the child wasn’t his, right? He wondered if this was some attempt of hers to get him back. What was she angling at? How is it that she never brought up a child during their divorce proceedings and waited so long to bring this information forward?

  It angered him to no end, but what could he do? His lawyer was clear. Either he could handle it privately in the manner she had instructed or things could get public. Public could have other implications that he wasn’t ready to deal with if the child was his.

  Letting out a frustrated gust of air he realized that his best bet was to do as she had requested. What was the worst that could happen? If the child was his, what did he plan to do? All of this was too much for his mind to wrap around.

  Getting up abruptly from his desk, he decided to walk out of his office and get some fresh air. He wanted to talk to Vera to get all of this sorted out, but had no way to get in contact with her outside of her lawyer.

  Pressing the numbers to contact her legal representation, he held his breath as he placed the call.

  “Vernon Coleman.”

  “This is Nigel Washington. I need to speak to my wife. How can I get in contact with her?”

  “Ex-wife, sir. Vera is your ex-wife. And had you treated her properly you would know how to contact her.”

  Nigel grew red at the thought of this man correcting him. “Listen here you…”

  “You must have me mistaken for someone who cares about your temper tantrums. I don’t. We are both adults and I expect you to address me as the adults we both are. I am not beneath you and will not stand for the level of disrespect perhaps your staff is used to. I don’t work for you. I don’t have to listen you. You’ve got the wrong one. Now if you can excuse me, Mr. Washington, unless you wish to comply with the request for paternity, I need to prepare for our upcoming court date.” Vernon took joy in interrupting the man, but was even more elated as he hung up in the man’s face. He could only imagine how angry that made Nigel.

  Nigel was turning red. Nothing seemed to be going his way as of late. His attorney was refusing to handle things as he requested. The woman he left stranded waiting for a rideshare at his home had been calling him incessantly as if he owed her more than cab fare. And now this.

  The only thing that was going right in his world was his business. He had built it from the ground up after getting a standard loan from his parents. Two million dollars was enough for him to get the social engineering firm up and running. After years of having an iron fist and hiring the right people, the company nearly ran itself. If it hadn’t been for the fact that he was a severe micromanager, he would sit back and simply allow the money to roll in. However, Nigel needed to see over every aspect of operations.

  Ever since the discovery that he may potentially have a four year old child, his mind had been clouded. He wasn’t able to focus on anything let alone the many contracts that were piling up on his desk awaiting approval.

  As he walked the campus around the office building he owned, he decided that it was time to bring an end to all of this confusion and get to the bottom of this mystery.

  He called Vernon back immediately. “Mr. Washington I’m very busy sir. I don’t have time to go back and forth with you.”

  “No need. I’ll be at the facility you all suggested within the hour. It’s time we get this over with. I expect to see Vera there.”

  “Well this is sudden, but I think we can arrange the meeting to be sooner than anticipated.”

  “Good.” It was Nigel’s turn to hang up the phone and he did so before he could take notice if he had disconnected first. In his mind, he had just gained back control.

  16

  Herschel sat in his office shaking. Never in his life had he been so mortified. It took some time for him to get himself together to get back to his normal life.

  After Vera left his apartment, he didn’t wake up until the following morning. The drugs had worn off and his anus was on fire. She had been so kind as to cut him loose from the restraints but it didn’t matter. The damage had already been done.

  Until she came to his home and tortured him, he hadn’t thought that deeply about the night that he was paid to have sex with her. It was just a job. Much like others he had taken; only this time he was paid by the husband. Her husband had given him the impression that she wouldn’t be a problem. He had severely underestimated the entire situation and realized that some risks weren’t worth the reward.

  Herschel decided to look up the man who had hired him on the internet to see if he had died. He was infuriated to find that the man was still alive. All of this was Nigel’s fault. Nigel Washington. A man who had walked into his place of business offering him more money than he had ever thought possible. It was only after he threw out an amount that he assumed would be more than the man was willing to pay and him receiving the first half of the payment in his account did Herschel think that it was a real offer.

  Perhaps he should have followed his first mind in thinking that it was simply too good to be true when he had first been approached. He should have declined no matter how much the man had pressed him. When he arrived to the man’s house to provide a service of being the pianist for the Washington’s anniversary, he should have known something wasn’t right. Instead, Herschel took a chance. What if it was true? Being paid that much in one night was not an offer that would come more than once.

  Temptation got the best of him. Though his mind was telling him this was a bad idea, he had been swept away in the sea of what ifs. Now the situation had come back to bite him in the rear end literally.

  Days had passed since the woman had shown up on his door step but he could barely sit still. He was always anxious. He felt ashamed at what he had done for the first time in his life.

  Sex had always been a means to an end for him. A way for him to get by so to speak. And of course he enjoyed it, but now everything was different.

  He couldn’t help but wonder if the woman had paid back her ex-husband the same way she had assaulted him. He had been searching online for anything that would give him a clue on what may have occurred between the couple; however, the only thing he could find was their divorce proceedings that seemed to occur very quickly after the night of the incident.

  This angered Herschel. He couldn’t see why he had to be the one punished for Nigel’s plan. Sure, he had been paid well by the woman’s ex-husband. However, it didn’t seem as though it was hardly enough for what he had now been through.

  Vengeance began to cloud his judgement. As far as he was concerned, this was far from over. There was no way he would let the woman get the last say.

  There was a part of him that fully understood he
r position. She felt he had raped her. He didn’t see himself as a rapist, but the thought did cross his mind when the proposition was originally brought to him. He did see himself as an opportunist, yes.

  Prior to that night there was never a time in his life where he had to take sex from anyone. It was nearly thrown at him at every time he turned around. Herschel could be walking down the street minding his own business and be propositioned for sex. It had been that easy all his life. He had no reason to take anything from her.

  By showing her his bank statements, he thought he had proved this much. He thought wrong. It was almost as though the facts of that night had angered her even more. Lord knows that was not his intent.

  There were so many questions that had swarmed in his mind. How had she found out where he lived? How had she gained access to his residence? She had done a great job explaining why she was so angry with him, although it took a while for her to properly remind him. The biggest question he had was would she return?

  That single question was what tormented him the most. He had already decided that he could no longer live in his condo. It was not the place of solace that he had once reveled in. It was time for a change in his life and that night made it clear. But before he would make a move, he was going to get his revenge on the man who had started all of this. There was no way that he was going to allow that man to walk around free and clear when he had paid so severely through trauma.

  If there was one thing that Herschel was good at, it was keeping excellent records. Reaching into his desk, he pulled out a leather bound journal marked five years prior. He had always kept account of names, addresses, payment amounts and events. There had been so many over the years that he never knew when the information would be necessary. At that moment he was pleased for being such a strict creature of habit.