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“Do you know her, Kady?” Ellen asked curiously. “Shall I call Athena and let her know you have her on your screen?”
“Have a look yourself, and tell me if this is the woman from floor three,” Kady suggested instead.
Ellen stepped over to look at the screen over Kady’s shoulder and nodded her head. “Yeah, that’s her all right. Who would have thought a woman like that would be in our midst? Athena must be told right away.”
“Yes, have her come here, but don’t say anything about the outcome yet, will you?” Kady said. “I am wondering if we’d be better off to watch her than to throw her out on her ear. Maybe we could determine what she really wants.”
“Money, of course,” Ellen scoffed. “What else?”
“This woman broke into our home along with Mia a few months ago,” said Kady, glaring at the image accusingly. “If all she wanted was money, she should have gotten that from the settlement when Archer admitted the wrong-doing of his employee and sent her the amount she’d been shorted. There must be more to it than that.”
“It’s blatantly obvious what Mia’s after,” Ellen said, making Kady scowl even more. “But what purpose does this woman have in all of it? Why would she extend herself to become involved when she doesn’t stand to profit further?”
“She and Mia are friends,” Kady said. “And from what I’ve seen, she pretty much will do whatever Mia tells her without question. Why do you suppose she’d do that?”
“I’m not sure,” Ellen said. “Maybe she’s somehow involved with Parker as well.”
“Oh, so now there’s a big ol’ conspiracy going on, and they are all out to get my boyfriend?” Kady sighed. “This situation just keeps getting worse as the months go by, doesn’t it?”
“Are you happy with Archer, Kady?” Ellen asked her, her tone suddenly soft and serious at the same time.
“I am,” she said, wiping at a tear as she smiled. “We just seem to get each other somehow, you know? Which is really the weirdest thing of all.”
“What do you mean?”
“We’re from completely different worlds. I mean, I’m a girl from the slums who managed to pull myself out with just my brain and some really sharp claws,” Kady said. “I still can’t figure out what Archer wanted me for when he could have had anybody he wanted. But I wouldn’t change it, though. I may not come from the same place as him, but I intend to end up wherever that man does when all is said and done.”
“And if he became poor and you had to support him?” Ellen wanted to know.
“Why would that matter to me?” Kady scoffed. “I’m used to being poor in the first place, right? Besides, Archer is too smart and driven to remain poor for very long. I’m sure he would find his way right back up to the top again.”
“That’s great, Kady,” she smiled. “Let me get Athena back down here and we can go from there, okay? Why don’t you keep an eye out for Mia now? She usually shows up around two and it’s already a quarter till.”
Even as she spoke Mia stepped up to the secretary’s window and glanced inside. With a gasp, she gaped at Kady, and Kady glared back at her. Mia looked hurriedly around her, and seeing no easy escape, she went on the attack.
“What is that little tramp doing here?” asked Mia, feigning outrage, her shrill voice piercing the silence in the marble lobby. “She doesn’t belong here, she’s trying to steal Archer from me. You need to throw her out right now!”
“Sorry, Mia, your little game won’t work anymore,” Ellen told her, an edge of hostility sharpening her usually friendly expression. Her voice brooked no nonsense. “Just turn around and leave, and don’t come back here again. Athena and Kady have told me all about you.”
“But—but it’s not true!” she wailed. “Those two are conspiring against me! Archer’s mother hates me and wants her for a daughter-in-law, but it’s never going to happen. Archer’s my boyfriend, not hers! We’re even going to have a baby of our own.”
“How would you be having a baby with Archer?” Kady snapped, finally losing all patience with the woman’s obvious lies. What made it worse was the edge of desperation in Mia’s voice that made it sound like she had almost convinced herself that what she was spewing was actually reality instead of complete make-believe.
Kady shook her head, driving the point home. “You can’t have had sex with him, he’s in prison.”
“Don’t be stupid,” she said. “We had sex before he went in there, of course. He only wanted sex with you so you’d get pregnant anyway, but now that I’m having a baby after all, he’s not even going to keep you around at all. You might as well pack up and leave right now.”
“Why are you doing this?” Kady demanded. Mia’s paltry excuses to get her out of Archer’s life were almost laughable. Well, they would be if she wasn’t causing Kady so much trouble and drama. She just didn’t understand what Mia could possibly gain from all this. She must know that she had no chance in hell with Archer, and her lies would only put them further at odds with each other. Kady took a step forward, her words sharp as she demanded the truth from Mia.
“Why are you lying like
this? You can’t possibly prove what you’re saying it true. All they’d have to do is check your baby’s DNA to prove what a liar you really are.”
“You are so stupid, Kady,” she replied. “You’ll see, they’ll find out this baby belongs to Archer, and then you would have to believe what I’m telling you. Don’t you remember when you found me in your kitchen? We had sex right before that, when you were gone to your appointment.”
“You’re lying!” Kady yelled, temper finally snapping, and she surged forward to slap Mia right across her face.
“Don’t you hit me again!” Mia shrieked, slapping her back. She grabbed the collar of Kady’s shirt and awkwardly hauled her right across the desk into the reception area. Kady landed hard on the marble tiled floor, curling around her stomach instinctively to protect her baby against the mad woman’s attack, when what she really wanted was to strike out with a few more slaps of her own. Or she quickly thought, punches would be more forceful and hurt Mia even more. Before she had a chance to duck away, Mia struck out with her foot, landing a kick in her side before the security guard who had rushed in could stop her.
