Chapter 94: Chapter 94

There was silence for a minute or two while Charlotte wracked her brain furiously for an appropriate and believable explanation, but could not come up with any. She had gotten carried away and had said more than she should have. It was Jessica who had told her that Victoria told her that Sebastian married Carol because his uncle had promised to help him find Jessica if he did so. Of course, there was no way that she was going to tell Carol that. When she could not come up with a reasonable explanation, she groaned inwardly at what she knew she would have to do immediately.

She would have to murder, or at least render this woman unconscious and kidnap her right here and right now in this car. This had not been in her plans at all and it was a major inconvenience, to say the least. She glanced at Carol to find her watching her with a questioning gaze, suspicion, and more than a little fear clearly apparent in those very expressive eyes. Charlotte slowed down the car, made sure the road was free, and that there was no oncoming traffic. She then took a deep breath and was about to let go of the steering wheel and ram her elbow hard into Carol's head, after which she would choke her to death, or bludgeon her head with the hammer that was in the boot of the car when Carol spoke.

"Damn! Of course. That stupid woman who was recording Belinda as she yelled at me after the funeral." She said, slapping her palm against her forehead in frustration and stopping the other woman's train of thought.

"Yeah...yeah. Of course. Where else would I get such information?" Charlotte said, not at all sure what Carol was talking about.

"Belinda said a lot of things that day, but frankly, I was not paying attention to whatever she said. I just sort of tuned her out because they were really hurtful things, and as much as I tried not to let them get to me, they kinda did. I'm going to sue that wicked person who posted that video. I'm going to sue them. It's not right at all." Carol fumed.

"I don't know if you can sue them, though. They already took down the video. I mean, it was only on the internet for all of twenty minutes or thereabouts, and then I guessed that people reported it or something. I was one of those who did and then it was taken down." Charlotte said, regaining her composure and heaving a sigh of relief. She did not want to get rid of this imbecile just yet, not because she liked her or anything, but because she would prove very useful in the following days. Charlotte was sure of that fact. She did not know what video Carol was talking about, nor did she give two hoots about it, but it had come in handy, and for that, she was grateful.

"Thanks a lot. You're a really nice person. I'm sorry I'm always being so rude to you. I assure you that I'm not that kind of person at all." Carol said, meaning it.

"It's okay. Anyway, we're here. You and I seriously need to sit down and talk. You look like you have a lot on your mind and to vent about. Turns out I lied about having friends here and you're about the only one that I've got, so it's your lucky day. We're going to eat and fill our stomachs to the brim, and then you're going to vent all you want, while I listen and give you some advice on what to do. Sounds good?"

"Yes, thanks. It does sound good. It would be nice to have someone to talk to for a change." Carol said as they walked into the classy restaurant and placed their orders. She was gratified to see some of the people who were around, men and women, look over at her appreciatively as they entered the place. Once they had finished eating and were now relaxing in the ambient environment and sipping some wine, Melissa spoke.

"Alright. I'm all ears. Start talking."

So Carol talked, starting with everything about how Victoria had called her to let her know that she was getting married, and how she got home to find out that the reason why her parents wanted her to get married to Sebastian was because of her father's debt and even worse, they had kidnapped and were torturing her uncle.

"Oh, my God. That's so horrible. How can you even stand to be friends with that horrible Mr. James?" Charlotte exclaimed, but she already knew all about this and just wished that Carol would go on to the good stuff. However, she could not show her impatience, otherwise, Carol might suspect something, or clam up.

"I know, right. It was not his fault, though. It was his friends, or rather, will I say acquaintances who were the culprits. It was only because my dad asked for help from him that he got involved. They would have killed my entire family if I had not agreed to this, you know. It's so weird that things like this go on in this civilized world and there is nothing anyone can do about it."

"I get it, but Mr. James is still evil in my opinion. After all, he had the money and could just pay off your dad's debt if he wanted to, without asking you to marry his nephew." Charlotte said stubbornly, hating the man the more. He was cool with forking out millions of dollars just to get this sallow-faced bitch to marry Sebastian, yet he could not be bothered to send money to her and her brother, or even acknowledge their existence?

"Well, the money ran into millions, and frankly, after I got over the shock of everything, I realized that it was a good bargain. Mr. James is a really nice man, once you get to know him."

"If you say so."

"It's a shame that he's such a shadow of himself now," Carol said.

"Excuse me? What do you mean by that?"

"Well, he has been very sick, but of recent, his condition has worsened greatly. He had a heart attack just before I traveled for the burial."

"Wow! That's sad. What is wrong with him?"

"Cancer. He had a month to live from the time the doctors gave us, but with the heart attack, we don't know if he will have that long eventually. Although I must say, the man is a fighter and I hope he can fight for some more time."

"Hmm. So what hospital is he in?"

"He's at home. He doesn't want to die in a hospital. In fact, he has a phobia of them, so they've taken him home and made him as comfortable as possible. Do you know that he and his wife bought the property next to our house? We're neighbors now. They did that so that he could be closer to us before he dies. It's so sad."

"You're right. Poor man. It must be very difficult knowing that you're going to die and having to prepare for it and say goodbye to your loved ones. I hope you visit him very often and let him know that you care."

"Well, I've only been to his house once since we got back from the vacation," Carol said guiltily.

"That's bad, Carol. The man moved here so that he could be close to you guys. The least you can do is spend as much time as possible around him so that he would not feel too lonely. He's dying. It's always good to be nice to dying people."

"You're very right, Melissa. I would have to do better from now on. Especially as Sebastian wants nothing to do with the man."

"Why is that?" Charlotte asked, her interest greatly piqued, although she tried not to let it show too much by wearing a look of polite inquiry. They were finally getting to the good stuff.

"Well, I'm not too sure. I haven't really sat down and discussed it in detail with Sebastian, but all I know is that Sebastian is really angry at the man and has been avoiding his calls. In fact, I learned that on the day Mr. James had the heart attack, Sebastian had been yelling at him about something, although I don't know what it is."

"You're such a wealth of information, aren't you, Carol."  Charlotte thought to herself sarcastically. She would bet her bottom dollar that it was because of what Jessica had told Sebastian that he was angry at his uncle though. For some reason, probably because of some dumb sense of loyalty, he did not want to divulge the details of what Jessica ad told him to anyone, but that was his business. The good thing was that she could end Jessica before she woke up and divulged any more unwanted details, and this dumbass sitting opposite her would help her do just that.