Past Sins Revisited

by Mary Goldberger

  Calida leaned against her bedroom door after she closed it behind her and she sighed closing her eyes wrapping her arms around her waist.

  “Remember why you are here, Calida,” she told herself although it wasn’t helping as she remembered Edric’s green eyes flashing down at her as he held her to him and she shook her head tightening her arms as two tears slipped from underneath her closed lids.

  Edric’s eyes narrowed as Sophia muttered, “Ric stay with me tonight” as he helped her into her house. He was surprised when no one came to help him as they headed upstairs to her room. As he helped her over to the bed, she clung to his neck and pulled him down on her.

  “Sophia,” he told her patiently pulling her arms from around his neck as he sat up. “Let’s get you ready for bed,” he continued not commenting on her actions as he got up and walked over to her dresser knowing where her night things were located. He missed the smile that made its way across Sophia’s face as she watched him.

  “Stay with me, please, Ric,” she pleaded tearfully as he turned back around to her. “I don’t feel good,” she added suddenly lunging from the bed and running to the bathroom closing the door behind her.

  Edric stared at the door narrowly but walked over and knocked on it gently asking, “Are you okay, Sophia?”

  He heard gagging sounds then the toilet being flushed followed a few seconds later by the sink, and he wondered if she was okay although for some reason, a warning flashed in the back of his mind which he pushed away.

  Sophia opened the door a few minutes later her eyes red and she said walking slowly, “Sorry, Ric.”

  He nodded his head as he put an arm around her and handed her the night clothes he picked out telling her with concern, “Change into your night clothes while I go and get you a glass of water.”

  Once the door closed behind him, Sophia straightened up and smiled as she changed quickly making sure to spray a light scent of perfume before she settled herself on the bed.

  Edric knocked a few minutes later before he opened the door and walked over to the bed with a glass of water. As he sat on the edge of the bed, he noticed the perfume and although his expression didn’t change, he wondered why Sophia would put perfume on when she wasn’t feeling well. He ignored what his gut was telling him since Sophia was a friend, and at one time he had an intimate relationship with her that ended with mutual consent so he saw her as a friend and nothing more.

  “Take a few sips,” he suggested holding the glass for her as she took a few sips, and Sophia watched from underneath her lids as he helped her.

  “Thank you,” she murmured as he put the glass on her bedside stand after she waved it away.

  Edric got up and said, “You should lie down and get some sleep. I will stay until you fall asleep.”

  She pouted up at him as he helped her to lie down in the bed settling the comforter around her and making sure she was comfortable. She grabbed his hand as he went to walk out of the room and he patted it before he eased his hand from her hold telling her, “I will be back in a few minutes.”

  She nodded her head but as the door closed, a frown crossed her face wondering what he was going to do as she planned her next move.

  Out in the hallway, Edric was talking to Maria who told him, “Mr. Jim took her home, Ric so don’t worry.” She laughed suddenly before saying, “I think it’s refreshing that she is the only one besides Ms. Welsh who calls you Edric. Have you asked her why that is?”

  Edric frowned slightly as he thought about what Maria said and realized she was right, and normally he didn’t allow anyone to call him by his real first name, but he didn’t object to hearing it from Calida’s mouth. “I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it,” Edric told her honestly unaware of the look she shared with her husband as he told her ‘goodnight’.

  “Not even Sophia is allowed to call him Edric,” Maria said when she got off the phone.

  “He probably never noticed it before,” Justin told her as they settled down in bed and Maria gave him a knowing look.

  “Honey, he and Sophia had an intimate relationship for three years, and the one time she slipped up saying it, he gave her such a cold look that even I shivered,” she told him making herself comfortable next to his side as he wrapped an arm around her.

  “I remember that day,” Justin admitted recalling that day as he snuggled her closer to him. “I wonder what it means.”

  Maria giggled but didn’t tell him what she thought it meant as she leaned up and against him making him forget all about what they were talking about as he rolled her over to her back eliciting a giggle from her that echoed around the dark bedroom.

  Edric made one more phone call and he listened to it ring as he stared at the wall.

  “Hello,” he heard her say huskily, and a smile crossed his face as he answered.

  “I just wanted to make sure that you got home okay and to wish you a goodnight,” he told her with a slight roughness in his own voice.

  She was silent for a few minutes before she asked, “Is Sophia all right?”

  “She will be fine, she just drunk too much,” he told her leaning against the wall. “She’s asked me to stay over tonight as she isn’t feeling well.”

  He wondered briefly why he was telling her all that before he told himself it was intentional when she said, “She is a friend so it is only right that you watch over her when she isn’t feeling well.”

  He frowned as hearing her acceptance made him feel bad about being with his ex-lover although the frown turned to a scowl at the feeling. “Calida,” he began only to stop when Sophia called his name. “I will talk to you tomorrow, okay, Calida?”

  “Okay,” she answered softly before he hung up the phone and she listened to the dial tone for a few seconds before she flipped her phone close putting it next to her bed.

  “I’m such a fool,” she mumbled to herself as she leaned against her headboard a sad look in her hazel eyes before she forced herself to lie down although she stared at the ceiling for the rest of the night.

  The next morning, even though she didn’t get much sleep, Calida was up and ready for work as Wilma and the others walked in the kitchen.

  “Good morning,” Calida said putting down plates of eggs and bacon. “I probably won’t be home tonight as there is something I need to do.”

  They looked at her and Jake said, “Be careful, Calida. He knows you are in town which means he will probably have people watching out for you.”

  Calida only smiled as she said, “I have a plan so don’t worry.” She cleaned the few dishes before she told them, “I’m not bringing my cell with me so you won’t get an answer if you call.”

  Wilma gave her a narrowed look as the other two nodded their heads and started to eat, but Wilma followed Calida as she headed out to the car a bag on her arm.

  “Calida are you avoiding someone?” Wilma asked as Calida opened the car door before turning to her with a slight grimace.

  Calida hesitated for a second before she said, “I didn’t come here to get involved, Wilma, you know that.”

  “Calida,” Wilma started but Calida shook her head and got in the car putting the bag on the passenger side before she started the vehicle.

  She waved her hand as she backed out and Wilma sighed sadly as she walked back in the house before she headed over to Calida’s bedroom. She heard Calida’s cell go off inside the room and she opened the door seeing the phone on the nightstand making a quick decision as she walked over and answered it.

  “Hello,” she said.

  “Where’s Calida, Ms. Wilma?” Edric asked sitting back in his chair with a frown.

  “She’s gone to work,” Wilma told him.

  Edric’s green eyes flared with laughter as he said, “She is trying to avoid me, huh, Ms. Wilma?”

  Wilma didn’t answer for a moment before she said sincerely, “Edric, I don’t know what to tell you.”

  Edric laughed as Mariah walked in the room, and he said, “You don
’t have to because I already know, but just so you know I can’t be avoided or ignored. Let Calida know that.”

  Wilma smiled as she hung up a few minutes later and she put the phone back down on the night stand, and headed out of the room. Before she closed the door, she heard the phone beep and she glanced over recognizing the icon for a message. She chuckled as she closed the door and muttered, “You won’t have much of a choice with him, Calida.”

  She nodded her head once as she joined the others in the kitchen not caring that her food was cold as she started to eat.

  Calida kept to herself most of the day at work that even Simon didn’t say much to her only glanced at her occasionally as she went about her duties.

  After work, she headed out checking into a small, modest hotel that she used when she first came back. She pulled out her laptop from the bag she carried and after booting it up she checked where her brother would be at the moment. She knew that he had been out of town when she arrived, which was one of the reasons she returned when she did. Now, checking his schedule she knew he returned two days ago around the same time the men came for her at the bakery.

  After doing some work on the laptop, she closed it down and got up grabbing the bag as she headed for the bathroom. Twenty minutes later, she walked out all dressed in black and hair pulled back in a bun with a hat covering it. As for her hazel eyes she covered using brown contact lenses and clear frame glasses, she was ready to go to work.

  Leaving the hotel without much fuss, only the bag that she came with over her shoulder she walked the distance to a car she rented earlier in the week. As she slid inside, she observed the black SUV that sat at the corner of the hotel parking lot eyes intent on her car and she grinned as she turned on the car getting a loud noise catching the attention of the men in the SUV, but only for a moment while she absently reminded herself to call Jake to pick up their car later.

  As she passed them, she looked over at them and smiled only getting nods back in return as their cells rung and she drove away with a satisfied grin of her own although she kept glancing in her review mirror just in case.

  She pulled the car up outside the business that her father worked his ass off to build and her mouth went in a straight line as what she learned her brother had been doing with it going through her mind. The business use to be a well-respected and honorable place to work, but since her father’s death the business had become more about making money the easy and fast way then providing stable and reliable products for the customers. Calida knew her father always tested everything that the company produced before putting it out on the market, but recently her brother had endorsed products that were unsafe and unstable that resulted in many accidents.

  Calida got out of the car as her brother with his bodyguards as he called them walked out of the building and using her camera, she took pictures of each person around him including the woman who attached herself to his side.

  As she clicked each picture, she named off each person and she knew all of them except for one man and she made sure that she got a good picture of him so she could learn who he was later. Calida made it her mission to know everything concerning her brother’s activities from the smallest detail to the major ones that had to do with decisions he made for the company. Unfortunately, Calida didn’t have any say in business matters as she only had a quarter of the shares unlike her brother who had more than fifty percent of the shares.

  She continued taking pictures until they disappeared and then she lowered the camera her eyes narrowed as she waited for them to leave the parking garage.

  As the cars pulled out, she leaned against her car and with ease she raised the camera quickly catching the license plate number of both vehicles.

  Her eyes widened briefly when the new man glanced at her but he didn’t react as she thought he would and that made her more suspicious. She watched the cars drive away and she continued leaning against the hood of the car waiting patiently as employees began to exit the building.

  Thirty minutes later, she moved across the road and going to the back of the building as one of the older guards was waiting to let her in.

  “Miss Reseda,” he said with a nod of his head.

  “Hi Samson,” she said quietly. “Thank you and I hope this doesn’t get you in any trouble.”

  “Don’t worry, ma’am,” he said with a smile. “I’m retiring this month and I owe your father for all his support over the years.”

  Calida smiled as he closed the door and she followed him as they walked through the halls keeping her head down one hand resting on the bag. They went through the hallway with an easy stride and as they reached the elevator, Samson nodded his head and the doors closed behind her after she walked in.

  Keeping her head lowered to hide her face from the cameras, she counted as the elevator went up each floor and as the elevator ended on the floor she needed, she exited.

  She moved easily through the hallways not meeting anyone until she reached the office of the human resource manager.

  “Ma’am, this office is closed,” the young man said walking over to her with a briefcase in his hand.

  “I know, but I just put an application in,” Calida said lifting up her head with a smile. “I thought I would check and see if it was being reviewed yet, and they directed me up here.”

  The man frowned and as he was about to say something, his cell rung. Calida held her breath as he answered it and giving her an absent nod, he walked away.

  Calida let out a breath as he walked away before she hurried along the hallway to the HR manager’s office. At the door, she looked around before she tried the knob and she smiled when the door opened easily underneath her hand. “You still don’t lock the door, huh,” she mouthed quietly as she opened the door slowly and looked inside before she went in closing the door behind her.

  Within minutes, she was at the computer and getting into the system hoping that the password hadn’t been changed recently and she was in luck.

  She went through the system checking out new arrivals and then learning of new shipping details which she copied to her flash drive. While that was finishing up, she went through the computer at whatever she could access without having a password. She shook her head at some of things she was reading although she already knew the information, but it still pissed her off when she read it. Once the download was completed, she disengaged the flash drive and closed down the computer.

  She left the office and was heading back down in the elevator when suddenly the elevator stopped and the doors opened. Calida stepped back as the new man walked on the elevator and hit the button his eyes trained on her as the doors closed behind him.

  “So tell me, what are you doing here?” He asked in a dangerously soft voice, and Calida felt a shiver go down her back as she looked up at him.

  “I got lost,” she said in a nervous tone letting her eyes shift away from him.

  “Really,” he said looking over her clothes. “Who are you exactly, miss?”

  Calida swallowed again as the elevator reached the bottom and the doors opened as she lifted her head and opened her mouth ready to speak when someone else interrupted her, and her eyes widened in astonishment.

  “Sir, the new man has gone back to the company saying he left something behind,” the driver said looking over his shoulder.

  “Uh, huh,” Jeffrey said leaning back on the backseat as the woman next to him fondled him roughly as he liked it. “Do you have men watching Calida?” He asked not interested in the activities of his new employee as long as he did what he was hired to do.

  “Yes, sir, and they have reported that she hasn’t moved since she checked in,” his driver told him keeping his eyes on the road and blocking out the sounds from the backseat.

  “Do we know where she is living?” Jeffrey asked his voice harsh and the driver winced before he answered.

  “No, sir, we haven’t learned yet where that is,” he told him tightening his hands on the wheel.

&
nbsp; “As soon as you do, I want to know,” Jeffrey said closing his eyes as the woman continued playing with him. “You know where to go.”

  “Yes sir,” the man said looking in the rearview mirror once more before he shook his head and did as he was told not trying to think about how young the girl looked, or the fact that she resembled someone that he thought he knew. As he continued driving, he hoped like hell that Miss Calida was watching her back because he didn’t know what would happen when her brother finally caught up with her.

  Jeffrey’s phone rung and he answered it indifferently as he rubbed a hand down the woman’s back while he said, “Hello.”

  The driver glanced in the mirror catching the scowl that crossed his employer’s face as Jeffrey said sharply, “The shipment should be on time so don’t worry.” Then his voice turned cold as he said, “If you ever call me and threaten me again, it will be the last time you see your son and wife do you understand me?”

  “Good,” he said a few seconds before he hung up the phone. “Don’t stop what you are doing,” he told the woman lying against him and he felt her shiver as she continued her work.

  The driver’s knuckles were white from his hands tightening on the steering wheel and he clenched his teeth a determined look on his face as he continued driving to the Reseda home.

  Chapter 9

  “Clarice Ann, where the hell have you been?” Samson said when the door opened, and Calida glanced at him in astonishment before she hung her head in shame.

  “I’m sorry, grandpa,” she said making her voice low. “I only wanted to look around.”

  Samson frowned at her fiercely as the man asked, “Do you know this young woman?”

  He gave him a suspicious look and Samson met his eyes squarely as he said, “She is my granddaughter and I told her to stay in my office while I did my rounds.”

  Samson turned stern eyes to Calida and said, “But someone didn’t listen and is going to get me in trouble right before my retirement.”