"How could you be so clever and set up a scheme like this against your own husband?" Candy asked Gloria.
"Because he'll know better than to cross me like this again."
Candy let out a laugh of disbelief. "Usually the wife goes after the other woman."
"I'm a different breed. You didn't do anything wrong because you had no clue. This all falls on him and he's gonna pay." Gloria leaned back in her chair.
Candy was nervous about meeting up with Gloria, but she wanted revenge on Sean. She wanted him to pay for hurting her in the way that he did.
"How do we know it's gonna work? He's been caught, so do you think he'll cheat on you again?" Candy asked.
"That's what we need to find out." Gloria sat back in her chair. If he goes through and cheat, then I'm definitely done with him."
"This is all crazy. He had all this going on for so long. Who does that?"
"I'm sorry about this. I really am."
Candy's eyes swelled with tears. She wasn't going to let the tears fall. There was no way she was breaking down in front of Gloria.
There was silence between them as Candy got herself together.
"Can I ask you something?" Gloria spoke.
Candy looked at her, giving Gloria her undivided attention, but bit saying a word.
"Why'd you abort your baby?" She asked.
Candy inhaled and deeply released the breath. "I didn't want to be stuck raising a baby alone. If he walked away from me at that moment, then he wasn't going to put in the effort of being a father."
Gloria sat with open ears and listened.
"My mother raised three children on her own because my dad left after I was born. I don't have that courage nor that strength to do that. I refuse to do it."
"It's amazing how much damage a man can do to a woman and him not even know." Gloria commented. "I never imagine my husband would do this." She shook her head, staring into space.
Candy didn't say a word. She wasn't sure what to say to Sean's wife.
"Well, I have a client coming in on about thirty minutes." Gloria stood from her chair. "I have everything set about for tonight, so stay close to your phone." She instructed with a smile.
"Okay," Candy stood, clutching her purse.
When she left she was nervous. Her body was shaking inside, but she couldn't understand why. Something in her gut told her that Gloria wasn't going to have any mercy when it came to getting revenge on Sean.
Candy wasn't sure exactly what Gloria had planned, she only gave a brief explanation of what she was going to do.
Making it home, Candy was ready to leave New Orleans once and for all and move back to Atlanta. She loves her family, but Atlanta is where she wants to be. Had she stayed there and never came back home, maybe she wouldn't be in this situation she's in now.
A phone call came through her cell phone. Picking it up and taking a seat on the sofa, she saw Angel's name displayed on the screen.
"Hey," she answered.
"Hi," Angel responded. "I just wanted to call and check on you. Everything's alright?" She asked.
"Yes, everything's fine." Candy simply answered. "What's up?"
"Are you busy tonight? If not, you want to come over for dinner?"
"No thank you. I'm not hungry."
She got an alert on her cell phone and saw it was from an unknown number.
"Hold on." She told Angel, not giving her time to respond. She removed the phone from her ear again and read the text message.
Unknown: "I'm sorry for everything I've done to you. You didn't deserve any of this. No matter what you think of me now, just know that I do love you and never intended to hurt you.
-Sean
Candy froze after reading the message. She didn't realize she was holding her breath. I think he midst of all of this drama, she hadn't spoken to Sean, nor had he spoken to her.
There was a knock at her door and she suddenly remembered that Angel was on hold. She went to the door to see who it is, but there was no one there. She then opened the door and found a box with her name on it. It was clearly delivered to her.
Confused, she looked around before picking up the packages and taking it inside her apartment.
The weight on it caused her to put her phone on top of the box so that she could carry it better.
The package had her address as the shipping address, but there was no return address.
The box was the size of four shoeboxes put together to form a cube. She wondered what was inside that the shipper sealed it securely. It took a moment to open it but she when did she froze at what was inside.
"Oh my god..." her voice trailed off.
"What?!?!?" Angel spoke.
"Umm," forgetting Angel was on the phone once again, she hesitated to say something.
"Candy, is everything okay?"
"Can you come over here, like right now?" Candy asked.
"Umm, okay, let me tell Derrick to put some shoes on." Angel responded.
"No, just you." Candy clarified.
"Okay, I'm on my way."
After about twenty minutes, Angel was at Candy's apartment.
"What's going on that suddenly I needed to come over here?"
Candy lead Angel to the box and say down in front of it. Angle gave her a confused expression.
"Look in there." She pointed to the box.
Angel's frown deepens as she opened one flap of the box. "Oh my god!" Her jaw dropped. "Where on earth did you get. All this from?"
"I don't know." Candy shrugged. "Someone sent it to me."
Angel's eyes shifted between the box and Candy until she sat down and gave her attention to Candy.
"Did you like kill someone or sell some drugs or anything like that?"
"Hell no! What do I look like?" Candy frowned deeply.
"This is a lot of damn money. I'm just asking." Angel stated. "You can be honest with me."
"Angel, what am I gonna lie for? What am I supposed to do with all this money?"
"Who is it from?" Angel asked.
"I don't know." Candy shrugged.
"What are you going to do with this?"
Suddenly, Candy's cell phone made an alerted sound just like before. The same number texted her.
Unknown: I know that no amount of money can show how sorry I am, but this is for you. I'm sorry for everything and I hope that one day, you can bring yourself to forgiving me."
"Oh my god." Candy stared at the box full of cash.
"What?" Angel took a band and flipped through it.
"Sean sent this." Candy sat back on the couch.
"Whaaaa? Sean banking like this?" Angel picked up another band.
"I can't keep this money."
With wide eyes, Angel grabbed the edge of the box and pulled it a little closer to her. "What you mean? Girl you is rich now!"
"I can't just accept this kind of money."
"I can." Angel picked up another band.
Candy snatched the band from her. "You're not taking it either."
"Ugggh, why not?"
"My brother will wonder where you got this from and it's not right. This is probably illegal money anyway."
"You didn't steal it, so it's not illegal money. Consider it a gift."
"Do you think that lawyer husband of yours will say the same?" Candy asked with sarcasm.
Angel sighed. "So what are you gonna do with this money?"
"I don't know." Candy shrugged. "I can't keep it. Even though he seems really sorry, I can't just take this money."
"Let me ask you this," Angel sat next to her, "do you believe that one day you can forgive him?"
"I'm working on it." Candy responded. "But it's hard."
"Well, at this point I don't know what to say. I can't tell you what to do with it, but whatever you decide, I'm here to help."
"I need to call him." Candy went to the text she received and called the number.
"Candy..." she heard his voice. "I don't want to cause anymore pain. Just accept that money and I'll keep it moving."
"I can't keep that money."
"It's all I can give as an apology. I'm sorry for. It telling you and for leading you on all this time. I'm sorry about the baby and everything. I'm sorry for everything."
Tears filled her eyes.
"I know none of that heals the pain I've caused, but I want you to hear that from me. I still love you, I just made a bad decision and got carried away."
"I'm gonna break things off with Gloria." He continued. "I'm going to meet up with her tonight, so I feel that's the best time to do it."
Remembering what Gloria had planned for Sean, Candy didn't him to go through it. "Sean wait..."
"Everything okay?"
"I need your help with something, can you come by here in about an hour? I won't keep you too long so you won't miss seeing Gloria. I just need your help."
He heard the sincerity in her voice. This was the woman he love and she needed him and he was more than willing to be there for her. "Okay, I'll be there shortly."
When they ended their call, Candy let out a breath.
"What are you doing?" Angel asked her.
"I know it's silly of me, but I'm saving his life. Gloria planned to have him attacked tonight, but I can't let that happened. I'm not going back to him, because he hurt me, but he doesn't deserve to be hurt or nearly killed."