The Stranger's Wife | Rewritten

26 ~ More Lies & Secrets

° Amelia °

"Everything is going as planned," Mr. de Vries said. "Bridgette fell for the act."

"I wondered how long it was going to take for you to get her under control. Her jealousy could have unraveled this entire mess," Tessa whispered.

"It's handled. The last thing we need is for her to start questioning Bradley's paternity."

I kept my body flat against the wall of the house, feeling like I was a super spy in a dark and twisted family parody. Sweat beaded on my forehead as I struggled to breathe. Why on earth was I even holding my breath?

"The Sintus guy you hired is a loose cannon. He needs to go," Tessa stressed. "My son is in a coma because of him."

"We had to plant a seed of doubt in everyone's mind. Including Bradley's. We didn't think the interaction would spook him out. He drove into oncoming traffic without looking."

"He's eleven? What did you expect? He has enough daddy issues as it is. He's calling his uncle father and he rarely speaks about Pieter."

I took a risk and peeked behind the wall. Tessa was dressed to kill, strappy heels wrapped around her ankles and her flower-patterned sundress didn't match her evil demeanor.

Mr. de Vries on the other hand had his back partially turned to me. His full head of graying hair gleamed in the sun. Dressed like a retired millionaire sitting on a private island in Greece, he didn't seem to have a care in the world. He had enough hired pawns to do his dirty work.

"Does Willem know about Sintus's role in that incident?" he asked.

"No, they still don't have any leads on the guy witnesses saw talking to Bradley right before the accident. But Sintus showing up here last night like a mad man made Willem suspicious. He's going to investigate and he's going to want a paternity test done. Bridgette told him about us and it's only a matter of time before he starts putting two and two together to make four."

"I highly doubt he'll get a DNA test done. Bradley is the spitting image of my boys."

"Of course, he is. He's your fucking son, Jan." She started pacing, coming closer and closer to the end of the wall.

I closed my eyes and flattened myself against the wall some more as if that would somehow make me invisible. Sweat trickled down the side of my face and I used the back of my hand to wipe it away.

"All of this mess could have been avoided if you got Willem to sleep with you when we found out about the baby. Marriage would have followed soon after," Mr. de Vries said.

"That plan was bound to fail from the start. Willem and Pieter weren't just brothers, they were best friends. Willem would never betray his sick brother by sleeping with his wife. I tried to seduce him but he shot me down every time."

"You didn't try hard enough. He's a man with needs."

"And great self control apparently, but enough of that. What are we going to do now?"

"You need to get with Sintus. Make it believable. It's not right that you're still single a decade after your husband died."

"I am not getting with that oaf," Tessa said with disdain.

"You don't have a choice. They can't ever find out that Bradley's mine. I provide you and him a lavish lifestyle and that's all it's ever going to be."

"That and random fucks in the closets of this villa or some cheap hotel downtown."

Mr. de Vries or Jan, whatever his name was, drew closer to Tessa, gripping her arm with enough force to pull her against him. "De Vries enterprises owns eighty percent of the hotels on this island so we can't very well show our faces there. Use your brain woman."