Grayson Manor, Hamptons
"I... I'll go to my room." Charlotte couldn't depart from this place quickly enough. She hurried upstairs and stepped behind a pillar, eavesdropping.
"Hello, Conrad!" David walked down the stairs in a relaxed manner and stood in front of his adversary. "Long time no see, but despite that, you still recognized me," he said.
"You... you're...!" Conrad stuttered.
"Dead?" David finished the sentence for him and laughed sarcastically. "As you can see yourself, I'm alive and kicking." He leaned forward to look Conrad straight in the eye. "Apparently, your brilliant plan failed to eliminate me," he said in a dangerously calm tone. "The killer you have paid didn't do his job properly. Fortunately, because otherwise we couldn't stand face to face now."
"I... I have no idea what you're talking about," Conrad said, trying to make eye contact with Victoria, who had her head lowered.
"Denying is futile, Conrad. I've gathered enough evidence over the years that you could be arrested today," he said casually. "And then you were going to lose it all this time." He looked him straight in the eye. "How would you like that?"
"You're just bluffing." Conrad wiped his sweat from the forehead David's threat had caused.
"Oh, do you really believe that?" He looked around. "Victoria, where's the phone? I think I need to have an important talk with the police."
"You're a terrorist, a murderer!" Conrad exclaimed. "Do you think they will take your word for it?"
"I said I have proof. And I'll present it to the police," David said calmly.
"What proof?" Conrad looked at him suspiciously.
"An underground dungeon where you have locked me up for ten years." He saw Conrad shake his head in confusion, and continued quickly. "You have only feigned my death and then kept me captive for years. You wanted to make sure I didn't tell anyone the truth."
"That... that's not true!" Conrad stammered.
"You have tortured me for years," David continued, unruffled. "But one day I managed to escape."
"What a story did you cook up in your sick brain?" Conrad looked at him, bewildered. "No one will believe this abstruse story!"
"Do you really want to take the chance?" He raised his eyebrows, mockingly. "If I bring the police to the place where I have been abused for years, they will believe me."
"Victoria?" Conrad looked at his wife. "You really don't believe what he's talking about!"
She met his gaze with stoic serenity. "I know what you're capable of, Conrad. And we both know that you blamed him for the terrorist attack on Flight 197. David had nothing to do with it. He was innocent in jail."
"Of course you are defending him, now that you're together with him again." He laughed contemptuously. "Just admit it, Victoria, do you sleep with him again?" He saw her lowering her head guiltily. "I knew it!" He turned to his nemesis. "What do you want, David?" He glanced at him with a hostile look.
"Everything." He grinned slightly. "You took everything from me, so I'll take everything from you," he said cold-blooded.
"I didn't do what you accused me of," Conrad countered. "I haven't faked your death, and I haven't held you captive for years."
"Well, who is interested in the truth." David shrugged, indifferent. "They didn't believe me at that time, when I swore I had nothing to do with the attack. Crucial is what people want to believe."
"So you want me to admit a crime I didn't do? And what do I get in return?"
"Nothing." David laughed softly. "That's exactly what I got. And that is why it doesn't matter if you tell a lie or the truth. You will lose everything anyway."
"You're completely insane!" Conrad lost patience. "Get the hell out of my house and never come back!"
David raised his hands defensively and gave Victoria an apologizing look. "I'm going," he said quietly. "But we, Conrad, are not done yet!"
Still hiding behind the pillar, Charlotte had listened to the whole conversation. Unconsciously, she had held her breath, and only the moment she heard the front door snapping shut, she noticed that she was trembling. Protectively she wrapped her arms around her body and crept slowly into her room, where she sank weakly on her bed. She couldn't believe what she'd just heard. She had presumed that her father often pursued his business affairs in a ruthless manner, but that he had even been responsible for the attempted assassination of her biological father, she would never have thought. Still completely distraught by what she had learned, she rose and went to the door and listened. Her parents had apparently left the stairs and had gone to their rooms. As fast as she could and as quietly as possible, she ran down the stairs and pushed the front door open. She looked around to make sure that no one had followed her and then ran off towards the beach house.