Alicia sat down at her desk, opened her word processing software, and opened the outline she’d begun working on for her next novel. She’d debated whether she would write a sequel to her first but had ultimately decided she wanted to write about all new characters. She wanted to write about two women who’d been best friends as small children, lost touch with each other, and then became close once again as adults. Of course, she would incorporate lots of Melanie’s personality into one of the characters, since Melanie was her best friend of best friends, but she would also base a lot of the story line on her and Carmen’s relationship. She wanted to tell this story because she really did feel blessed to be so closely connected with Carmen after not seeing or talking to her for so many years.
After mapping out a couple of additional chapters, Alicia stopped and checked to see if her agent had sent her any last-minute messages. The auction for her book was scheduled for Friday, and all six meeting times with the editors and their respective publishing groups had now been confirmed. When Alicia had read Joan’s note from yesterday, outlining all the details, she’d barely been able to contain herself and she couldn’t wait to leave this evening for New York. She’d known how exciting this whole process was probably going to be, but she hadn’t thought she’d feel so nervous and overjoyed.
Alicia scanned her inbox, deleted a few junk messages, and saw a new e-mail from Levi. She opened it right away.
Hey you. I hope all is well but I really need to speak to you this afternoon when my friend is back on duty. Please call around 2 P.M. Love you. Levi
Alicia wondered if Levi just wanted to talk to her or if he needed her to phone him for a reason. Either way, she knew it still wasn’t right for her to be contacting him. On the other hand, however, it wasn’t like things were wonderful between her and JT, not the way they’d been over the last few months. Their honeymoon stage was basically over, and even yesterday, she’d noticed how uneasy and impatient he’d seemed at the funeral and also while they were at Carmen’s, acting as if there was some other place he needed to be. Then, this morning, he’d left earlier than normal, claiming he had all this church business to attend to. Alicia didn’t know if he was up to no good or not, but with everything that was going on, maybe there actually wasn’t anything wrong with communicating with Levi. So she e-mailed him back to say she would call the cell number he’d listed at the time he requested.
Over the next few hours, Alicia jogged on the treadmill, took a shower, got dressed, worked more on her outline, and called her mom and then her stepmother for a chat. She did everything she could to pass the time, but now she was finally dialing Levi. Today, he answered the phone himself.
“Hi, sweetheart,” he said.
“Hey. How are you?”
“Well, not as good as I’d like to be, because yesterday, I received a little bit of bad news from my attorney. He told me that there’s been a slight setback toward getting me released.”
“Oh no. I’m really sorry to hear that because I know you were so looking forward to getting out.”
“Yeah, I was. But it’ll happen in due time. It’ll take longer than I thought, but my attorney thinks we’ll be all set with what we need to present to the judge in about six months. At the latest, I should be free in maybe nine months to a year.”
“Good. I’m glad.”
“But that’s not the only reason I wanted you to call,” he said without hesitation.
“Oh, okay. So, what else is going on?”
“I’ve got a couple of very close Chicago buddies on the outside, and I’m sad to say they told me a ton of information about your husband.”
Alicia held her breath, fearing whatever Levi was about to disclose.
“And, sweetheart, please know that I thought long and hard in terms of whether I should tell you, but once I was able to confirm that everything I’d heard was true, I decided that even though I can’t get out of here right away to be with you myself, I still want you to be happy. I also want you to be fully aware about the man you’re married to.”
Alicia closed her eyes, wondering just how bad this news was going to be.
“Are you there?”
“Yes.”
“I really hate doing this, but, sweetheart, JT used to pimp top-shelf call girls—you know, the kind who only sleep with wealthy businessmen or filthy-rich criminals. From what I hear, that’s how he got the money to start his first church, but then he continued doing it for about three years after that…but that’s not the worst part.”
Alicia wasn’t sure how much more she could take and tried bracing herself for the rest of the story.
“Word on the street is that JT is still sleeping with one of them now. Someone by the name of Carmen Wilson, and I hear her mother just died last week.”
Alicia covered her mouth with her hand, felt lightheaded and almost like she was dreaming. She knew she really was on the phone with Levi, but she felt as though she was living someone else’s life. Certainly not her own, that she was sure of.
She sat, not saying anything, but then it dawned on her. Carmen was pregnant.
“Oh my God,” she said. “Oh my God.”
“Baby, I’m really sorry. I’m sorry I had to do this, but you really needed to know.”
“No. I’m glad you told me.”
“Are you going to be okay?”
“Eventually.”
“Is there anything I can do? I know I can’t come to you in person, but if there’s anything you need, all you have to do is say the word, and I’ll have someone take care of it.”
“No. I’ll be fine.”
“Okay, but if anything changes, you e-mail me.”
“I will. And actually, I’m going to hang up now, okay?”
“I understand. But you take care of yourself, all right? Remember that you deserve so much better than someone like JT and that I’ll always love you.”
“You take care, too, and I’ll talk to you later,” she said, and hung up.
Alicia set the phone down and tried digesting all that Levi had told her.
How could JT do this? And Carmen…how could she smile in my face and pretend like she was such a loyal friend? How could she sit listening to me a few days ago, pouring my heart out about JT and all these allegations I’ve heard, when all along, she knew she was sleeping with him and carrying his baby?
Alicia replayed all of Levi’s words, and tears finally flooded her face. She cried loudly, her body shook, and she felt like she was dying. She sobbed, wiped volumes of tears, and then sobbed again. She did this on and off for nearly thirty minutes but then got angry. She was outraged and wanted JT dead. She wanted the same for Carmen. What a rotten, manipulative, self-serving whore she was.
Alicia tossed a plethora of violent thoughts through her mind but then calmed herself down so she could think a lot more clearly. The pain she felt was atrocious at best, but she took a few deep breaths—and signed on to verizon.com. When the home page displayed, she entered all of JT’s personal information that was requested, registering him as an online user, and then she pulled up his account.
She clicked on a few different pages but then found the one that listed details for the current statement’s incoming and outgoing calls and saw both Carmen’s home and cell numbers. Next, she pulled up the archived information for previous months and saw that there was a time when JT spoke to Carmen multiple times per day, especially during the months when Alicia was dating JT—months when she’d thought JT was so completely in love with her, he would never be with any other woman again.
Alicia scanned more listings, printed out pages of details, and immediately slipped into revenge mode. Her father had preached loads of sermons on forgiveness and had quoted Romans 12:19 more times than she could remember. “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”
She knew that scripture well and had always worked hard to uphold it. She had liv
ed by it pretty religiously and had never seen a need to pay people back when they’d wronged her.
Until now.
Chapter 36
Either you deliver our money by tomorrow afternoon, promptly at three P.M., or it’s whistle-blowing time,” Minister Weaver threatened.
“I said you’d have it, and you will,” JT declared.
“That’s what you claimed last week, too, but we never got it.”
“But you’ll have it tomorrow for sure. You have my word.”
“I hope you’re right, because if I find out you’re trying to stall on us again, the situation won’t be pretty. It’s going to turn into something very ugly and unbearably humiliating. A lot of people are going to be hurt, particularly those five thousand members of yours who so blindly believe in you, and you’ll be kissing that lavish life of yours completely good-bye.” Then he paused and said, “You have a nice day.”
He never even gave JT a chance to respond, but it was fine, because in twenty-four hours, this would all be over with. It would all be a done deal, and JT wouldn’t have to worry about Weaver, Barb, or any other person from the past he no longer wanted anything to do with. Carmen was still a major issue that needed handling, but over the last eight days, she’d remained pretty calm—partly because he’d gone along with whatever she said and mostly because he’d given her sex whenever she’d asked for it. He’d slept with her at least five times, starting with the day after her mother’s funeral, but the good news was that it hadn’t posed much of a problem for his marriage. It hadn’t caused any strain because Alicia was now working day and night on her next novel and was always too tired by the time she got in bed. Nonetheless, this baby dilemma had to be dealt with once and for all. But first, he had to get the rest of that money from Diana.
“Another hundred thousand dollars is a lot more than I anticipated,” Diana said, clearly not happy about JT’s latest request.
“Baby, I know,” he said, sliding closer to her on the sofa and showing her the media proposal—the one he’d had the agency working on for a whole week now and the one he’d had e-mailed over to him first thing this morning when he’d gotten to the church. It had been the reason he’d left the house so early this morning, so he could download it, print it out, and then go over every figure and small detail. He’d needed some extra time to review it, so he could explain things as articulately and convincingly as possible to Diana.
“Does the campaign really require all this? I mean, are all these spots really necessary? Because based on what I’m seeing here,” she said, flipping to the next page, “they’ve got you airing spots during every single commercial break, all day long. So, what it sounds like to me is that this agency you’re working with is blatantly overselling the amount of spots you actually need.”
JT had to think fast. Why? Because this meeting with Diana was turning out to be a little harder than he’d expected. He’d known she would need proof of what she was paying for, but he hadn’t counted on her asking so many legitimate questions. He hadn’t even considered the possibility that she might read and debate every single page he’d brought to her.
“I know it’s a lot of money,” he said. “But, baby, you have to trust me. You have to believe that I know what I’m doing. I mean, sure, we could definitely do a lot less publicity on each station or eliminate some of the stations altogether, but I really want to do the kind of media blitz that everyone will have an opportunity to hear. I want them to hear these spots on the radio, see them on TV, and take notice. I want the words ‘New Life Christian Center’ and ‘JT Valentine’ to become household names. I want people to wonder what they’re missing by not attending our services, so they’ll be dying to come visit.”
“I understand that, but again, a hundred thousand dollars more is a lot. I already gave you one-fifty two weeks ago, so a quarter of a million dollars is a little over the top.”
JT took the proposal from her and slid into victim mode. “Fine. Look, I only came to you because you said you would help out and that you were behind me all the way. But let’s just forget it. Let’s just forget everything,” he said, standing up. “As a matter of fact, let’s cancel this whole campaign and pretend like it never happened…and actually, if you want to know the truth, I’m really not surprised by this at all.”
“What do you mean?”
“Remember how I told you about my mom dying when I was a child and then my aunt dying when I was a teenager? Well, all my life, people have been forcing me to fend for myself, so I really didn’t expect you to be any different.”
Diana got up and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Now, honey, you know that’s not true. You’re the most special man I’ve ever met, and I think I made it pretty clear a while ago that I would do just about anything for you.”
JT kept his hands at either side of his body, refusing to embrace her.
“Baby, please don’t act this way,” she said.
JT unlocked her arms and backed away from her. “I don’t think I can do this anymore.”
“Do what?”
“This. Us.”
“Why not?” she asked, and JT heard the worry in her voice.
“Because I see now that I can’t trust you. I can’t depend on you, so it’s time for me to move on.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“I do,” he said, grabbing his suit jacket and heading toward the door. “You take care, okay?”
“JT, wait,” she hurried to say. “Okay. I’ll do it. It’s a lot more than I’m comfortable with, but if you really think this is going to help bring in hundreds and hundreds of new members, then I’m behind you.”
JT grinned before turning around and facing her. “You really mean that?”
“Yes. You’ve been keeping up your end of the deal by spending more time with me, at least for the last couple of weeks, anyway, so I’m going to do the same.”
JT squeezed her body close to his and said, “I promise you, you won’t regret it. And once things really take off, I’ll even begin paying you back.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Well, actually, you can do that right now.”
“And how’s that?”
Diana’s laugh was beguiling. “Take a wild guess, cowboy.”
JT smiled and couldn’t have been prouder. Of himself, that is.
It was already after six P.M., and as far as JT was concerned, the day simply couldn’t get any better. Tomorrow morning, Diana was going to transfer the remaining money he needed, he would then be able to make good on the funds Weaver and Barb were demanding from him, and he was all set with doing a six-figure marketing campaign. But if that wasn’t enough, he’d already gotten two calls from pastors in Atlanta and Cleveland who wanted to bring him in as soon as possible. JT had been sure he’d get a number of responses, but not ever had he expected to receive two on the same day and so soon after the packages had gone out. It hadn’t even been two full weeks yet, and here he was being invited to speak at churches that had a minimum of fifteen thousand members! Initially, when he’d gotten back from Diana’s about an hour ago and Janet had told him the great news, he’d sort of thought this was all too good to be true. But then he quickly thought otherwise when he realized these engagements were just an inkling of all the blessings he had coming to him. It was all so amazing and proof that God truly did work in mysterious ways.
JT leaned back in his chair, feeling more pleased than he had in a long time, but then Janet rang his desk phone.
“Pastor, you’re not going to believe this,” she said with sheer excitement.
“What’s that?”
“Pastor Braeden is on the line for you.”
JT sat up straight. “Pastor Donald Braeden? From Vineyard Christian Center?”
“Yes, and he’s calling you from home.”
“Unbelievable. Okay, give me a few seconds, and then put him through.”
“I will.”
JT hung up and trie
d gathering his composure. This was crazy. The Pastor Braeden of Dallas. The Pastor Braeden whom he watched on television every Sunday morning before he left to preach at his own church. The Pastor Braeden who had a congregation that was twenty-five-thousand strong.
JT breathed in and out and then in and out again, and waited for Janet to ring him. Finally, she did.
“Pastor Braeden, sir, what an honor and a privilege to be speaking with you,” JT said.
“No, son, the pleasure really is all mine because your father-in-law and I go way back, and I have the utmost respect for him. I’m a little bit older than him,” he said, laughing, “but he’s a friend for life.”
“Yes, my father-in-law is definitely a very special man, and I love him to death.”
“I haven’t spoken to him in a while, but I’ll have to make sure to give him a call.”
“Well, right now, he’s on a fourteen-day cruise with his wife, but I know he’ll be very glad to hear from you when he’s back home,” JT said, telling the best lie he could think of at the moment. He knew there was no way he’d be able to keep Pastor Braeden or any of the other ministers he sent information to from contacting Curtis, but the longer it took for that to happen the better off JT would be.
“Good for him. Two weeks is a long time and the kind of break everyone needs to take every now and again.”
“That’s for sure.”
“But back to you and the reason I’m calling. It just so happens that our scheduled afternoon speaker for our church anniversary has had to cancel. We just heard from his assistant a couple of days ago, letting us know he’s taken ill. So, while I know this is very short notice, I was wondering if maybe you’d like to take his place.”
JT wanted to yell, “Thank you, Jesus,” but instead he said, “I’d love to, and I’m truly grateful just to have the opportunity.”
“Wonderful. I know today is already Wednesday, but if you could fly out on Saturday evening I would certainly appreciate it. The service isn’t until four P.M. on Sunday, but I’m sure you’ll want to rest in a hotel overnight and not have to worry about flying in on the day of.”
Be Careful What You Pray For Page 20
