Voices crawled through the air towards us, creepy, wispy sounds, and the lights overhead illuminated the storage area with a pale, faded glow. Beatrice and Solomon were talking to one another, sounding far off and away.
"After this weekend the insurance policy for every resort will lapse," Solomon said. "If they don't receive payment by early Monday morning, that part is settled. Then we send the exterminator to that bookstore owner's daughter's house. We'll have him fix the girl's bed bug infestation, but he'll collect some of the bugs and keep them stored. We don't need a lot for this plan, since it's mostly smoke and mirrors, anyways. A couple infested rooms at Landseer resorts will do the trick. Asher will, no doubt, find out, but with the unfortunate loss of insurance, it'll be a financial burden to eradicate every hotel and vacation resort. Not to mention the exterminators aren't going to actually do anything and will just put down generic foggers without insecticides as opposed to treating the problem properly."
"I've arranged for someone to follow them today," Beatrice said, confirming Asher's earlier suspicions. "I doubt it'll lead to much, but we should have some juicy photos heading to the tabloid news sources after that. They can mess around with the pictures if necessary and make it look worse than it is."
Solomon laughed. "Good, good. Careful with that, though. We don't want Asher to file a lawsuit that he might win."
"Oh, of course not. I'll reluctantly confirm everything if asked, which someone's bound to do, and start the divorce proceedings that way."
I gritted my teeth, becoming so extremely frustrated at what I was hearing. Did they really expect this to work? Granted, it seemed like it should, especially if Asher and I never found out, but... Argh! It annoyed me so much. How could either of them do this? Why would they? They were just so relentlessly vindictive over nothing and I didn't understand it.
And exploiting Robert's daughter's bed bug problem for their own gain? I knew Robert and his daughter probably couldn't afford to hire an exterminator on their own, so they must have put an ad up somewhere asking about a discounted rate or something like that. Solomon and Beatrice swoop in, pretending to be nice people and...
"Great. Don't forget to sell off the rest of your stock soon. The price will drop drastically once word hits the streets about the endless bed bug problem at the Landseer resorts. I have a few people lined up to file lawsuits, too. I'll send out supposedly good-intentioned press releases in regards to the issue and confirm Asher's knowledge of the problem months before it grew out of control. He doesn't even take a second glance at the reports I show him now, anyways, so he won't be able to deny it. I'll make up some excuse, and..."
Asher left my side. He strode through the backroom, weaving between bookcases, heading for the source of Solomon's and Beatrice's voices. I hurried after him, trying to keep up, but he was apparently a man on a mission and refused to let anything stop his progress. By the time he found them, I was still sneaking between a close together, tight pair of bookcase obstructing the only access to the corner spot that Solomon and Beatrice had claimed.
"Hello," Asher said. His voice nearly boomed compared to the sly tones of Beatrice and Solomon. "Thank you for inviting me to this meeting. I definitely appreciate your concern. I think we have a lot to discuss, don't you?"
I shoved through to the edge of the empty spot where we all now stood just in time to see the end of Beatrice's wide-eyed glare.
"What are you doing here?" Solomon asked.
"Are we going to play this game, Solomon?" Asher said. "Shall I ask you the same thing, or can we cut through this nonsense?"
"You shouldn't know about this," Beatrice said, more annoyed than distressed.
"Yes, well, you can thank Jessika for that."
I'd rejoined Asher by his side, keeping a step back like he'd asked me. Turning towards me, he acted as if he were introducing me to the group. Beatrice and Solomon recognized me, but for wildly different reasons.
"So that's why you were in my office the other day," Solomon said. "If I had known Asher would come for you, I'd have dragged you somewhere else and had my way with you. Locking the door against the man with keys to every office isn't much use, I suppose."
"You know her?" Beatrice asked him. "This is outrageous. I let you into my home and was accepting of you. I went to that filthy doctor's office just to offer my support for Asher's ridiculous plan, and you do this to me?"
"Shut up, Beatrice," Asher said. "Stop being dramatic. I know you're not infertile, too. You weren't accepting of Jessika, you were going to use her to further your plans. Obviously it didn't work."
"Well," Solomon said. "We're at an impasse, I suppose. What do you propose now? What's done is done, and I have a hard time mustering up the inclination to undo my part of it."
"You can stop this," Asher said. "Both of you. Let's be adults here. I'll need to let you go, Solomon, but I'll sign a non-disclosure agreement about your release. For all anyone needs to know, you left the company for personal reasons. I'll give you a good benefits package and a brilliant reference to anyone who wants to hire you, though I doubt you'll need it."
To Beatrice, he added, "And you obviously never respected our marriage, Beatrice. Why did you have to do it this way, though? Couldn't you talk to me like an equal and explain that it wasn't working out? I tried, I did everything I could to make you happy, and you betray me like this? If you wanted a divorce... I would have done it. I wouldn't have left you empty-handed, either. We could have worked it out."
"It's not all about you, Asher!" Beatrice nearly spat his name out. "I do want a divorce, but not on your terms. I don't want to settle anything, I want to rip it out of your hands. I'm tired of you and your presumed kindness. You're altogether far too nice. You take in people off the streets, like Jeremy and Jessika. You associate with the servants in the house as if they were wonderful people. It's ridiculous. They aren't wonderful, they are hired help. We don't need to be friends with them, we need them to do their damn jobs!"
"I'm sorry you feel that way. I really, truly am."
"Yes, well, if you like them so much, then why don't I help you become like them? That was my thought process, you know? It's wonderful, isn't it? I'm a very loving wife."
"How can you be so mean?" I asked in a sudden outburst. I was scared and worried and anxious, but I needed to speak. "Asher's so loving. I don't understand how you could hate him so much."
"Yes, well, you wouldn't, would you? My father treated Asher better than me most of the time. He acted like Asher was the son he wished he had. I was just a bargaining chip, really, to join our family's together. I don't expect you to understand that because you don't have the class to. It's a simple reality and I knew from the moment I met Asher that we'd need to marry. A necessity and nothing more, and now I can be rid of him and shame him in front of both our families."
"And if I tell your father?" Asher asked.
Beatrice cackled, pretending to almost fall off her feet. "Are we in kindergarten, Asher? Let's be real here. Despite what my father thinks of you, he won't care one bit for you or your words once you're living in ruins. I'll be the smart one who saw through your ruse, recognized your mistress for what she was, and silently sold off my stocks in hopes of beginning a new life once I had hard evidence of your indiscretions. I'll be the woman every woman wishes she was. Strong, confident, independent."
"And you, Solomon?"
"Sorry, Asher, but I never much liked you. You're too naive. I can't even begin to fathom half of your business plans. Letting the regular office workers leave early the other day? That's just the most recent example, too. Do you know how much work we could have finished if they stayed? You're far too nice for this line of work, and I know you've made it thus far, but obviously that's about to change. You don't have the mettle to stop it."
"I'll go get Jeremy," I whispered to Asher. "If they won't listen to reason, we can call the police."
Asher nodded.
When I began to leave, Beatrice screamed at me. "Where do you think you're going? Do you think you can just leave here?"
"I gave you a choice, Beatrice! Solomon, too." Asher sighed, looking to the ground. "I gave you both a choice and you rejected it. You've forced my hand and I have no other option but to retaliate in the only way left to me. There's plenty of evidence for me to hand over to the authorities and have you taken into custody."
"You think so, do you?" Solomon asked. He paused and laughed. "Wait a moment, Jessika. You won't want to leave yet."
I hesitated by the close-together bookcases and looked over my shoulder.
The lights above lit the area around us, but with their dull glow they left elongated shadows from the bookcases. The shadows seemed to consume parts of Asher, and Solomon's lower body, Beatrice's left side. Solomon reached into his suit coat, slipping it aside as easily as if it were a shadow, and pulled out a gun.
I stared, aghast, and then I screamed.
"Obviously I didn't want it to come to this," Solomon said. "If you're not going to go down quietly, I'm going to have to force you down, though."
"Solomon," Asher said, even and steady. He acted far more calm than I thought he should. "Do you really want to do this?"
"Dammit, Asher! Of course I don't want to. If you're going to try and flaunt your control and issue ultimatums then I'm going to show you who has the upper hand here, though." With a smirk, Solomon added, "Take a hint: it's not you."
"This wasn't in our plans, Solomon," Beatrice said slowly. "We never talked about this."
"I don't care if it was in the plans or not. If you want to ruin Asher Landseer, then you have to be willing to take risks. That's what this has been about the entire time. The rest of what we've done is illegal, too, if you haven't realized it, Beatrice. This is no different. It's just going to be more difficult to cover up after the fact, but I'm prepared to accept that."
"Fine, but..." Beatrice stammered. It was the first time I'd seen her caught off guard entirely. "Fine. If you think this is best, then so be it."
"Are you serious?" I yelled. "Are both of you serious right now? You want to not only destroy Landseer Enterprises, but you're willing to kill Asher, too?"
"You wouldn't understand," Solomon said. "You're from an entirely different world. In our world, in business, you have to take risks. You can't do things half-assed. If you don't prepare to go all in, then you might as well just leave before you start. It's a simple premise, and one which people like you would never understand."
"I can't do this," I said. "Asher, I'm sorry, but I don't understand this. I'm going to... I'm going to get help. Please... please come."
I started to wriggle my way between the bookcases. Asher glanced over his shoulder at me, favoring me with a sad look. "Don't worry," he said.
I was halfway through the impeding bookcases, I was going to get help, and then Solomon fired the gun. I couldn't see what he hit, who or where, but the sound of it blared into my ears, momentarily deafening me. I screamed and shoved myself through the bookcases, trying to get help. From Robert, or a customer, the police, anyone. For Asher. They wouldn't kill him, they couldn't, and... if they did, they would kill me, too.