Ms Wilson's Replacement

35: Not paying you to judge

"Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do."
~Voltaire

"Excuse me," I tell Joey and Elizabeth and I am about to head towards where Keffi stands with her hand rubbing Eli's arm in a flirty manner when my phone begins to ring in my purse and I quickly take it out and glancing at the caller ID I realise it is Anna. I sigh and make my way out to the guest bathroom where there is privacy to answer the call.

When I get there I answer the call and place it to my ear once in the bathroom.

"Hello, Anna."

The call ends almost immediately and after waiting for a callback and not getting one, I dial back and place the phone to my ear while it rings. After its third ring, the call is picked up but instead of Anna's voice, a masculine voice comes through.

"Hello, who's this?"

"I need to speak to Anna, she just called me," I explained to him.

"Wait a second." He says and raised his voice to call, "Anna!"

Calling Anna's name makes the voice sound so familiar and I wonder where exactly I have heard it from. It clicked instantly, I heard his voice last week when I called Anna, he had called out to her just before the call ended.

Anna was with this man last week and also today and I wonder exactly what she is doing with him and why he has access to operate her phone in her absence. Last week, I tried my best to shut the doubts in my head out after I first heard his voice but now I can't help it. I remember blurting out to Anna a few weeks ago that she was running away to go be with her lover and that was why it was so hard to tell her fiancé the truth and instead needed a replacement so she wouldn't appear absent even when she was. But she got angry and defensive and I almost regretted saying it to her face. She later defended herself by saying Eli wouldn't let her go if she told him the truth about where she was going.

But what if what I accused her of was the truth? That would explain why she couldn't tell me why she was leaving and kept insisting it was none of my business and that it would leave me vulnerable to him. It's also why she went through great length to get me, why she is still going through the great length to make sure I stay in line with the plan. She has a lover, a secret lover and she is with him right now.

Flashback

"Now that that's by the way, I will be telling you about my relationship with Eli and everything you need to know, get a jotter and pen from the desk and come over." She ordered and though I didn't consider myself her slave I decided against saying it.

"Eli and I met over a year ago, that was about a year after his terrible accident according to him, those were the darkest moments of his life. And I came in just in time to light it up, I made him happy and I made him smile and that's what you're going to do the next three weeks." She stated and a smile flashed on her face

"Eli is a good and nice guy. His favourite colour is blue and his favourite food is pasta. He's allergic to onion and he loves swimming and art, lots of them."

Her phone began to ring and she picked it, excusing herself to the other side of the room.

"What do you want?" She demanded sounding pissed off at whoever was on the other line she kept quiet while the caller on the other line spoke.

"You can't fucking put a timer on it like you're a god!" She snapped and her hand left ball into a tight fist.

She growled out in annoyance as she removed the phone from her ear and turned to look at me trying as much as possible to stay composed. "Stay here," she ordered like she was speaking to a two-year-old.

Not liking the manner in which she spoke to me, I got up and I made my way closer to the door so I could hear what she was telling the man over the phone whom she seemed to be so upset with.

"I'm doing it, and my plan is almost ready, and once it's done, I will leave."

She goes silent and listens again.

"You can't have both my hands tied up and expect me to do something. If you do that we both lose and I know how much I hate losing, just give me time as I asked."

"Four days and stop fucking calling me, George, I will call you," she said before she ended the call and made her way back to the room and I returned to my seat and pretended as though I did nothing.

Flashback ends

It didn't make sense what she was doing on the phone then and even though I heard her words, it made no sense, but now it does. She was probably talking to her lover and asking for more time so she could finish training me. They were in it together, making a fool out of Eli and making me the puppet. She could have gone away to do anything in the world and I wouldn't be bothered but cheating is one thing I cannot stand and a cheat is also on the list of the many things that she is.

"Quynn, why are you calling me?" Comes Anna rather exhausted and angry voice over the phone.

"You're cheating on Eli," is the reply I give instead. It is so obvious at this point and there is no more need to deny it.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she answers, the anger she had in her voice when she first spoke reducing.

"You're cheating on your fiancé and making a fool out of him that's why you left, that's why I'm here as your replacement so that I stay here while you go screw your lover," I growled through the phone wishing she was here so I could kill her myself.

She takes a deep breath, "Quynn I advise you to thread wisely, think about your words and actions. I am not paying you to judge me or to be sentimental, I am paying you to do your job which is to be my replacement and not get caught and so far you have done a good job."

"Fuck you!"

"Why did you call?" She changes the topic, her tone rigid and blunt.

I was still boiling from the anger of finally finding out the truth which I have been suspecting for weeks now, but I try to clear my head. Anna is a monster and I am just as guilty as she is and whether I claim to have been forced into it or not, I am already deep in this and it is best to finish what I have already started and move on with my life and hope that God someday forgives me.

"You do not deserve all the love that Eli feels for you, you don't deserve it."

"You are not here to questions me or what I deserve, you're being paid to do as you're told, play your role and shut the fuck up." That's true, she isn't paying me to have an opinion or to have feeling, but how can I not be when Eli is like the other men out there? "you're no saint either, you are just as guilty of lying to him as I am so you have no right point a finger to me."

She's right, maybe if I had chosen to face Sharon and apologize to her for what I did to Ade instead of signing this contract this all would have been prevented.

I close my eyes and mentally tame myself and my emotions which is all over the place now. "I just can't wait for this nightmare to be over," I mutter in a calmer voice.

"And it will be before you know it. Remember the plan and stick to it, get everything back in order tomorrow and be at the old railway station. I'll be there no later than thirty minutes past the set time. And as for the rest of your payment, it will be sent before the end of today." she said before ending the call.