Summary: One final secret is revealed
Chapter 19: All's Fair In Love and War
Six months later I was back where our story began, standing outside the Maguire family townhouse. However this time I wouldn't be attending a party. Quite the opposite actually.
Removing my sunglasses, I tucked them into the front pocket of my suit as I approached the front door. After ringing the door bell I was greeted by one of their downstairs maids. She informed me that the senior Maguire's were out of town for the weekend but their son Jackson was upstairs in his room. I smiled almost perkily "I'd love to see him."
She let me in and I headed up the stairs to his room. On my way I thought about what Jackson's life had become over the past few months. Like the paramedics had predicted that night he indeed was paralyzed. My mother had informed me that the doctors were almost certain that he would never walk again. The news only got worse for Jack. He was of course arrested for kidnapping Kathryn put without sufficient evidence that he had done anything else against her he only served less than a week in prison.
We had been angry about this but not for long. After all he was indeed stuck in a wheelchair for what would likely be the rest of his life. This coupled with his arrest record completely crippled his career, pun intended. The tabloids completely trashed him over what he did to Kathryn and now he was lucky if he could get a job in a Wendy's commercial. Jackson's life was now relegated to hanging out at his parents house. As you can imagine I found this terribly amusing.
Standing outside his bedroom I knocked on the heavy oak door. "What?" He called out grumpily.
I smirked to myself and then opened the door. Jackson was laying in bed watching his big screen TV. An old movie of his was on. When he saw it was me I noticed how his body stiffened and his jaw tightened in anger. Sitting up at best he could he snarled at me "what do you want Valmont?"
Closing the door behind me I remarked "it's nice to see you too buddy. It's been a long time."
"Not long enough as far as I'm concerned. Last time I saw you it was when that bitch testified against me in court."
"Watch how you refer to my wife."
"Wife?" Jackson chuckled darkly "well it looks like princess Kathryn got everything she wanted after all. So tell me how did she finally do it? Did she with hold off sex until you put that ring on her finger or perhaps she staged another stalker incident."
Taking a seat on the edge of his bed I explained "none of the above. Actually I asked her to marry me the night you took your infamous fall. Do you remember you asked me if I could ever trust her? Well I realized I could thanks to you."
He rolled his eyes. "What, did she finally own up to being behind everything?"
"No, actually I realized I could trust her the moment she held that gun to your head and fired. I knew in that moment that she truly never loved you in the same way she loved me. I realized then that you really were in the past."
"Well that's just beautiful Valmont. However I don't really give a shit so what do you want? Why the fuck did you come here?"
"Closure" I replied. Getting to my feet I strolled over to his desk and began to study the paperwork on top of it disinterestedly. "I want closure about what really happened to Kathryn six months ago. Who really was behind it all?"
Jackson sprang upwards in the bed angrily. "How many times do I have to tell you? I had nothing to do with stalking her! You want answers Sebastian, why don't you try asking your wife!"
"What makes you think she'd have them?"
"Jesus, love really is blind isn't it?" He shook his head and glared at me as if I was some sort of pathetic creature. "Kathryn made the whole thing up! She was never stalked, she just played the victim to get you to come back to her. It was her."
"No you fucking imbecile Kathryn never did anything" I sneered. "SHE was a victim in all of this."
"Oh yeah, then tell me Valmont who was it? Who besides her had anything to gain from all of this?"
I slowly approached the bed. It amazed me that he still hadn't put the pieces together yet. "Jackson buddy, come on figure it out." When he stared back at me blankly I revealed "it was me."
He flinched just as I knew he would. Jackson's eyes darted around the room and I watched with great amusement as he tried to put the pieces together in his head. "You? I don't understand, how could it be YOU?"
Turning away from him I circled the bed. I wanted to take my time revealing my deception you see. After all I had been waiting for this moment for a long time. "Well you see it's very simple. I needed a way to get you out of Kathryn's life for good and a way I could test her trust."
"So naturally you jumped to the next step and arranged to make it look like I was stalking her" he retorted sarcastically.
I smiled smugly at him "actually it was you who gave me the idea. That night on the balcony when you told me she belonged to you. I came up with this idea to have one of the servants throw that statue you bid on threw Kathryn's window. He waited until I left the room and then did it, making me look of course completely innocent. I set it up to look like it could be nobody else but you. Make you look like an unbalanced freak. However Kathryn wasn't quite convinced. So I stepped up the plan a little bit."
Jackson scowled at me. "You were the one who was sending her the notes and you smashed in her car."
"Actually" I laughed "that was Tuttle. He told me before hand that Kathryn would be attending his party. I paid him a hefty sum to go do a little damage to her car and make it look like it was you. Then later I arranged for him to take pictures of us. At this point Kathryn was already completely convinced you were a psycho but I was determined to get you out of our lives for good."
"You son of a bitch, I was out of your lives! You just wanted to see me in jail."
I grinned and nodded "yes that too. I suppose that really was a large part of this. You used Kathryn to try and destroy me and I wanted to return the favor."
"And you were perfectly willing to put Kathryn's life in danger to do it. You really are a sick fuck Valmont."
I looked away from him and stared out the window. Thinking back to that night all those months ago when I came home to find my apartment on fire I remembered how terrified I was to discover Kathryn had been inside. "She was never suppose to be there" I said more to myself than to him. "When the police wouldn't arrest you I wanted to create one last dramatic gesture, something that they would definitely put you in jail for. Before the party that night I arranged for someone, one of my parents servants, to set my apartment on fire. Kathryn wasn't suppose to be there. She was never suppose to get hurt."
"But she was" Jackson replied with a gloating smile. "You nearly killed the women you loved all so you could get revenge on me. Now that's pathetic."
"No" I hissed "what's pathetic is you could have walked away from this in one piece. Kathryn and I were happy together and the police let you go. YOU could have just left us alone and just imagine how different things would be today if you'd had. But no you went and kidnapped Kathryn." Looking at him laying their helpless and weak I shook my head at what his life had become. "In the end I didn't have to do anything to you. You put yourself in jail and that wheelchair. You have nobody to blame for that except yourself Jackson. Ironically enough I am innocent in your downfall."
"You know it's funny I don't think Kathryn will see it that way." Leaning towards me he smiled cruelly and asked "she doesn't know any of this does she?" My gloating grin slowly changed into a scowl causing Jackson to laugh "I didn't think so. Imagine what she would do to you if she discovered how you deceived her and threatened her life. Something tells me she'd be making a bee line to her divorce attorney before you even batted an eye. Perhaps I should give my old girl a call."
Crossing my arms to my chest I replied evenly "if you so much as open your mouth to Kathryn or anyone else about this, I think I'll be forced to have a chat with the district attorney."
Jackson tossed his cell phone down on the bed. "About what?"
"About you breaking that restraining order to stay away from Kathryn. I have a feeling he wouldn't hesitate a moment to throw a once high profile celebrity back in jail." Narrowing in for the kill I added "and you would hate to go back there wouldn't you Jack? Jail really isn't the ideal place for a cripple."
I watched as his eyes glazed over and he seemed to be thinking about something from his past. Likely something not too pleasant about his time in jail. Shaking his head miserably he grumbled "you really are a son of a bitch you know that Sebastian. I always knew you were a prick but I never thought you were this twisted."
Straightening my tie I replied "I warned you long ago Jack that underestimating me was a dangerous business. Too bad you had to learn the hard way."
Turning I headed for the door when he called out to me "you two deserve each other you know that? You're both miserable, sick, excuses for human beings. One day you're going to destroy each other and I hope to god I'm there to see it. Until then you can both go to hell."
I chuckled slightly at his comment. "Oh Jackson, they don't send people like Kathryn and me to hell. We'd end up running the place."
With one final look back at my long standing and now defeated enemy I turned the door handle and left him in his own self inflicted purgatory. I was about to return the way I came when I turned around and found Kathryn standing behind me. She was leaning against the wall near the door. Her face was unreadable but something in her eyes told me she had heard every word.
I looked back at the closed door then back at her. Suddenly all my superiority vanished and I felt like a dear in the head lights. My usual quick mind struggled to find an excuse but I came up empty. Finally I asked her "how much of that did you hear?"
She arched one of her perfect shaped eyebrows and replied evenly, "enough."
"Look Kathryn, I know you are upset but just let me-"
"Shh" reaching out she silenced me by pressing her finger to my lips. As she stood before me and our eyes locked I saw that in fact she didn't appear angry or upset. There was just this unbelievable sense of calm and almost...understanding in her eyes. I was amazed. I was in love. Slowly Kathryn pulled her finger away from my mouth and she reached for my hand. "Let's go home." Without another word we held on to each other and walked out of that house never to return again.
And that as they say is our story. I warned you early on that it wouldn't be pretty. In the end Kathryn and I came out the winners but did we truly deserve to? I'd like to think so. Others might not agree but fuck 'em. I've never been big on public opinion anyway.
Now the question is did we really live happily ever after in the end? Did Kathryn really forgive me or did Jackson's prophecy about us destroying each other come true after all? Well I'll leave that to your imagination. I will tell you one thing though. Through all of this there was one important lesson to be learned. What my journey with Kathryn taught me was this: all's fair in love and war.
Or something to that extent.
*** The End ***