''What am I going to do?''
Veronica asked and Bella only palmed her face; ''I'm confused and shattered, Tiana doesn't deserve this.''
''I know right, I'm so sorry. '' Veronica apologized.
''How much did she give you to keep your mouth shut? ''
''$50,000''
Bella sighed as she thought for a moment; ''first, we have to gather evidence, Nicklaus wouldn't believe us if we told him that Gwen is capable of doing all those things, and we may even implicate ourselves. ''
Veronica nodded; ''that's true, but how are we going to get the evidence? ''
Bella was quiet for a moment, and then she turned to Veronica with a flash;
''We make the evidence. '' Veronica looked at her, amused.
''You have to make Gwen give you the evidence. You know what you will do, you will go to her and tell her you want more money to continue keeping her secret, and all the while making sure she says things that would incriminate her, that plus the check she would give you is enough to prove that we aren't just talking. ''
Veronica nodded;
''Maybe we should wait till Tiana wakes up. Nicklaus might not want to do anything to Gwen without Tiana's permission.''
Bella nodded as she reasoned with her; ''that's true but what if she tries to hurt Tiana? ''
''She won't now, not when she is already super famous and still in the limelight. If she wanted to hurt her, she would have done it since'' Veronica said.
''Mm… this is surprising. I can't believe you both were planning all these under my very nose and I didn't know about it, and I asked you severally what was going on between the two of you but you refused to talk.'' Bella glared;
''I didn't tell you cause you talk too much.''
''But you should still have, I would have stopped you from doing something drastic, now you have a load of apology to render to Tiana when she wakes up.''
Veronica breathed out; ''thank God I told you, I feel like a heavy load was just lifted from my c.h.e.s.t. ''
Bella shook her head. ''let's just pray this works. ''
…
''Did you get it? '' Bella asked once the call connected.
''Yes, ''
''Thank God, let's just wait for Tiana to wake up… ''
Bella hadn't finished talking when she heard a beep signaling that the call had disconnected. She brought down the phone and looked at it in shock, instantly she called Veronica again, but there was no response.
Bella's heart raced as she called her again and again, but the call wasn't connecting anymore. Her eyes opened as she stared into space, shocked and scared, there was only one thing that could have happened but she didn't want to bring herself to believe it.
…
A slap landed on Veronica's chin, waking her from her slumber. She blinked severally as she tried to see properly when her eyesight cleared, she saw Gwen standing in front of her, with a phone which she recognized soon enough as her phone pointed towards her;
''Open it. ''
Veronica blinked; her eyes moved from her phone to Gwen who didn't seem like she was joking or about to joke with her, there was a deathly glare in her eyes that told her that if she didn't open the phone that moment, another slap may land on her chin again.
Raising her hand weakly, she typed in the pin code. Gwen took the phone and went through it silently. She saw a recording and played it out loud, and as she had suspected, it was a recording of their conversation.
Scoffing lightly, she deleted the message.
''Have you sent this to anyone? ''
Gwen asked, but Veronica remained quiet, she didn't know how long she was passed out, but her stomach felt very empty.
''You know, if I want to find out if you did, I can, but I just need you to save your time and save my own time by telling the truth. ''
Gwen said in a stern but calm voice. While she was mixing the coffee, she had texted her guard, telling him to catch Veronica and bring her back once she left the house, making sure no one sees. She wasn't so sure Veronica would do something like that, but she didn't want to take chances.
'' I didn't send that to anyone… Isn't it obvious? I didn't even have the time to. '' Veronica replied.
Gwen chuckled lightly, passing the phone to her guard to go through it.
''You shouldn't have done that. ''
Veronica looked at her; ''done what? ''
''You shouldn't have recorded our conversation. I offered you a load of money, you should have just taken it and left, why did you have to get greedier? ''
''I wasn't looking for any more money, I just wanted to make things right. ''
Gwen burst out laughing. She laughed so hard that she almost wept.
''I don't understand you, Veronica. Whatever we had planned, we didn't carry it out, so what are you trying to make right? ''
''Someone like you shouldn't be close to Tiana. Tiana needs to know the kind of sister she has. She needs to know that her sister, whom she thinks is an angel, is only a devil who wants to take everything she has including her husband.''
The smile on Gwen's face disappeared instantly. She stared at Veronica angrily. She should have never told her anything, she should have never, now she had become a thorn to her flesh, one she wasn't sure how to take off.
''Say that again, and… ''
''And what? You'll kill me? '' Veronica teased, she was sure Gwen wasn't going to kill her, she couldn't risk her fame for that.
Before she could complete her thoughts, a very dirty slap landed on her chin, and then another one.
''Shut the f.u.c.k up! '' Gwen growled. Veronica's hands flew to her face as she gritted in pain.
The room was quiet for minutes before Gwen pulled a chair and sat in front of her;
''Now listen to me, I'll give you your phone and you'll go home and say nothing, do you understand? ''
Veronica stared at her, not saying a word;
''Or you can talk if you want to, I mean, no-one would believe you, you have no proof. ''
Gwen chuckled.