Runaway

by Eve Vaughn

  He didn’t answer for a bit and Esther wondered if he had hung up.

  “Well, I’ve done my duty by you. No one can say that I didn’t try.”

  “You really didn’t try, though. You called me to chastise me because I don’t have the same feelings you do for a woman who would have spit on my grave had I been the one to die first.”

  “Exodus 20:12 says—”

  “Yes, I know. I’m supposed to honor my mother and father, but did they ever honor me when I was being smacked and beaten, starved and publicly humiliated? Was I being honored when our father would try to come into the bathroom while I was bathing? And you…you, Josiah and Malachi, stood by and watched them do that to me. Not once did any of you stand up for me. But yet, I’m supposed to do all the honoring?”

  David remained silent.

  “Nothing to say for yourself? I didn’t think so.”

  “They were still your parents.”

  “Right. And that’s the sad part in all of this.”

  “The good Lord wouldn’t have wanted you to hold on to this bitterness.”

  “It’s so convenient for you to bring that up when you weren’t the one who suffered, David. It’s clear that you condone what they did to me because you continue to make excuses for them. But you know what? I forgive you. I’m not doing it to salve your guilt, that’s something you’re going to have to deal with for the rest of your life. I’m forgiving you for my own peace of mind because when I hang up, I’m never going to speak to or think about you again. That goes for the other two who didn’t have the guts to even call me. And you know what? I harbor no ill will toward them or you but as far as any of you three are concerned, you have no sister. Do not contact me again.” Without waiting for him to reply she ended the call.

  Severing the ties to her brothers should have made her sad, but instead, she felt nothing. Esther had never been particularly close to her brothers, but a small part of her had held out hope that maybe one of them would stand up for her but they never did. For David to throw out that quote to her to justify what her parents did had been the final straw. She wouldn’t allow him to twist religion for his own game. It’s the same trick her father had used. Esther had eventually made peace with her maker and found her own path to spirituality. There were people like her father and mother who took religion and bastardized it for their own means. It was disappointing to know that her brother David was on that same path. She wished him well, but he, Josiah and Malachi were out of her life.

  Now there was one more problem she needed to banish from her life.

  Matthias.

  She still wasn’t sure how he’d gotten her address and that was a bit unnerving but so was his persistence. Esther thought when she showed him her scars he’d go running but instead, he’d lovingly kissed all of them. He worked her body like a musician playing a well-tuned instrument. It made it all the harder to push him away. She loved that man too much to saddle him with her issues. But Esther decided that if he continued his pursuit of her, she would tell him the truth of why they couldn’t be together.

  All of it.

  ~~~~~~~

  The thrill of anticipation raced through Esther’s vein. Today she’d be signing a contract with an investor; granted, that she liked the samples Esther provided for her. When she pulled into the parking lot of the building, she had to take several deep, calming breaths. Her dreams were finally coming true.

  Her hands shook as she packed up the items she needed for her presentation. As she walked into the building, she bumped into someone, nearly spilled the contents of her box.

  It was the tall brunette that she’d seen with Chris that day in the sandwich shop. Apparently, the other woman recognized her as well.

  “Oh, I remember you.” She gave Esther a warm smile. “You’re Esther, right?”

  “Yes,” she nodded cautiously.

  “I’m glad I ran into you again because I lost your card. I’d placed it on my desk but it disappeared. Maybe it fell on the floor and the custodian swept it away but I was really looking forward to that consultation. I’m looking for an MUA for my wedding.”

  “Oh? You’re getting married?” Esther asked out of politeness. She didn’t know why Tiffany’s presence in this building unnerved her considering her connection to Chris.

  “Yes, Chris proposed last weekend.” She held out her hand and displayed a rock that would have rivaled Gibraltar.

  “Wow, that’s beautiful. Congratulations.”

  “Oh, gosh, look at me babbling again when your arms are full. Who are you here to meet?”

  “Uh, Jennifer Chandler. She’s interested in investing in my makeup line.”

  Tiffany frowned. “Jennifer Chandler? She’s…”

  An alarm was raised in Esther’s mind and she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. “She’s what?”

  “Oh? It’s just…she’s a relatively new associate and...well, I guess it doesn’t matter. I’m sure she has the boss’s okay.”

  “You work with her.”

  “Yes, I’m the personal assistant to one of the partners.”

  “Oh? What a coincidence that you work with the lady I’m about to meet with. Do you like working here?”

  “I love it and my boss isn’t too bad to work for when he’s not in one of his moods. Ma—” Just then Tiffany was cut off by the ring tone of her cell phone. “I’m sorry, I have to take this. Would you mind terribly if you left another card with Jennifer?”

  “No problem.”

  “Sorry again for holding you up. Nice seeing you again.” Tiffany answered her cell phone and headed out the building.

  Was it simply a coincidence that Tiffany, Chris’s now fiancé, worked at this company? Maybe it was just a coincidence. “You’re being paranoid, Esther,” she told herself.

  Taking another series of deep breaths she headed to the receptionist desk. A pretty woman with a large curly. “How may I help you?” she asked.

  “I have a meeting with Jennifer Chandler at three o’clock.”

  “Okay, ma’am. If you’ll have a seat, I’ll call her to come get you.” The reception pointed to the chairs in the lobby.

  “That won’t be necessary, Renata. I’m here.” Esther turned around to see Jennifer.

  Renata nodded and returned her attention back to her computer.

  “Great seeing you again,” Jennifer greeted.

  “Thanks for this meeting. I really appreciate the opportunity. I’d shake your hand but my arms are full.”

  “No worries, do you need any help with those?”

  “I’ve got it.”

  “Then I’ll take you upstairs to the conference room.”

  Esther followed Jennifer to the elevator, down a long hallway until they reached their destination. Though she still hadn’t been able to shake that uneasy feeling in her stomach, Esther relaxed once she unboxed all of her products and began her presentation.

  Jennifer nodded and asked questions at the appropriate moments and examined the samples Esther had brought.

  The blonde sat back in her chair with a thoughtful expression on her face. “I have to be honest and say that the market is saturated with indie makeup lines so you have to have a gimmick or something that really pops. That being said, I think you had a very well-thought-out business plan and I like the idea of you wanting to start out in subscription boxes. Those seem to be really hot right now. And what you also have going for you is that you’re marketing to people with skin tones that aren’t usually catered but you still have a variety to appeal to the masses. And I must admit this Berry Dazzler, lip gloss will be a huge seller because it smells good and it’s also moisturizing. You’ll really get environmentally-conscious crowds because it’s cruelty-free and vegan. I could foresee you putting this in health stores as well if you’re considering another avenue of revenue. With all that being said, I’d like to make you a preliminary offer.”

  Esther wanted to squeal with joy. “Really? Thank you so much!�
�

  Jennifer smiled. “I look forward to working with you.”

  “So what now?”

  “We’ll have another meeting to go over contract negotiations and after that, we sign a contract and then we work together to get your products on the market.”

  “This means the world to me. Thank you again.”

  Jennifer stood up and held her hand out to Esther.

  Esther gave the hand an enthusiastic shake as she stood as well.

  “My apologies, but I have another meeting in five minutes, so if you’ll please excuse me?”

  “Sure. I just need to put my products back in the box.”

  “No problem, take your time.”

  “Oh, wait. Would you mind giving my card to Tiffany? I ran into her on my way in here.” She handed Jennifer one of her business cards.

  “Sure. I’ll just leave it on her desk.” Jennifer took the card before walking out.

  When Esther was alone in the conference room, Esther jumped and fist-pumped to celebrate her victory. She couldn’t wait to get out of here and tell Fiona her good news. The smile wouldn’t leave her face as she finished boxing her items.

  “I see you had a good meeting.”

  Her heart fell to her feet at the sound of that familiar voice. It couldn’t be. Esther turned around to see Mathias standing in the doorway.

  “What are you doing here?”

  He smirked. “Why wouldn’t I be here? This is my company.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  “I should have walked out the door when I saw Tiffany in the building. I just thought it was a coincidence that Chris’s fiancé would be here. So now I see how you got my address. Those forms I filled out for Jennifer before the meeting.” Esther felt like a fool. Here she thought that she’d made a huge accomplishment but instead this was all Matthias’s doing. “I worked hard to create a line that I believe in and you made a mockery of.”

  He raised a brow. “How? By giving you the opportunity to make your dreams come true?”

  She shook her head. “Don’t you dare oversimplify this! You made it seem like I can’t do this on my own without getting a handout from you. It can’t be some whacky coincidence that Tiffany works here and then I meet Jennifer at the tea shop. You set this all up.”

  He grunted. “Look, it’s true that I learned about your business when I found your business card on Tiffany’s desk. She had nothing to do with this by the way. And it’s also true that I sent Jennifer out to scout you but after that because I wanted to help you. But beyond that, if she made an offer for you, that was all you. I’m not in the business of just giving money away no matter how I feel about the person who’s doing the presentation. I gave Jennifer exact instructions, not to make an offer unless she felt that you deserved it. Besides, I don’t know a lot about make up so she would have been the point person anyway. So what if I got your foot in the door. Don’t allow your stubborn pride to get in the way of your dreams.”

  Esther was incensed by his dismissal what she was saying. She walked across the room and got in his face. “Are you kidding me? Do you honestly think she could be objective if the boss was the one to set the meeting up? I was compromised from the second I walked through that door and you know it. Why do you keep pushing your way into my life when I don’t want you in it?”

  “Because I fucking love you!” he roared. Matthias hooked his arm around her waist and crushed her lips beneath his.

  Esther pressed her hands against his chest with the intention of pushing away but as Matthias deepened the kiss, a familiar stirring spiraled through her body. It wasn’t fair that this man had the power to make her panties wet in an instant. Her breasts grew heavy in arousal and her pussy tingled. She clutched his jacket as she rubbed herself against him.

  Matthias wedged his knee between her legs and grinded against her center all while his tongue devoured her mouth. Esther returned the desperate kiss until finally, she broke away, needing to catch a breath.

  He buried his face against her neck. “You’re mine, whether you acknowledge it or not.”

  His words were like a bucket of cold water doused on her head. Esther shoved her way out of his arms, her breathing still ragged. “No! Just because my body wants you doesn’t mean I do.”

  “You’re a liar, Esther and you know it. You want me as much as I want you. When I was at your place, you all but admitted you loved me too. “He closed the space between them and grasped her by the elbows. “I’m trying to fight for us baby, but I can’t keep doing this on my own. I need you to want this too.”

  “I don’t want this! Can’t you understand, I don’t want this and I don’t want you?”

  “Tell me, why are you fighting so hard?”

  “Because our baby is dead!” she screamed unable to hold back the secret that had haunted her for three years.

  Matthias froze. “What?”

  “Our baby is dead and I can’t have anymore. So there, now you know.”

  Confusion etched lines in his face. “I don’t understand.”

  Esther wiped away a tear that slid down her cheek. “I was pregnant when Mike showed up. I didn’t know it at the time, but when he took me back home, he tortured me and threatened my life. He even pulled a gun on me. He shoved it in my mouth and pulled the trigger. I thought my life was over. But the gun was empty. You have no idea what that can do to a person’s mental health. That wasn’t even the worse. He’d throw me in the closet and leave me for hours at a times sometimes days. One day after a particularly brutal attack he threw me in the closet and the stress must have been too much for my body. I started cramping and the pain was so bad, I thought finally I was going to die. I started bleeding and the next thing I know I wake up in a hospital bed with a crying Mike beside me, playing the doting husband. He made up some excuse to the doctor that I had fallen down some stairs. But the thing is the doctor figured my injuries were too extensive for a simple fall down the stairs. The police came and asked Mike to leave the room while they talked to me. Like a frightened child, I stuck to the script. That was until the later the doctor told me I had lost my baby and because I’d waited so long to come to the hospital, I caught a really nasty infection…well, it’s basically rendered me infertile. So there you have it. I lost the one thing our love created and we can never have that again. I remembered you once saying that you wanted a large family. Well, you can’t have that with me.”

  Matthias didn’t say anything right away but all color had drained from his face.

  Esther trembled as she waited for him to speak.

  Finally, when he looked at her directly, she could have sworn that his eyes were glistening but he blinked and they were normal again. “So you, we can’t be together because we you can’t have children? You thought I wouldn’t want to be with you because of that?”

  She shrugged.

  “Get out.” The words were spoken so softly at first Esther didn’t think she’d heard him properly.

  “What did you say?”

  “I said get out! Get the fuck out of my office and get the fuck out of my sight! Get out!” Matthias roared.

  With a startled cry, Esther grabbed her purse and ran out the door without getting the rest of her items.

  She’d expected him to shun her once he knew her secret but she could have never expected his reaction. It was much more extreme than she’d anticipated. But even if he had quietly ghosted out of her life it would have been no less painful. She raced out of the building, nearly blinded by her tears.

  ~~~~~~

  Once Esther had gone, Matthias turned around and pounded his fist against the wall.

  “What the fuck man? Did I just see Esther racing out of here?” Chris entered the conference room.

  “I’m angry, what the fuck do you think it looks like.”

  “I told you it wasn’t a good idea to set that meeting up through Jennifer.”

  Matthias glared at his friend “The last thing I need to hear is an ‘I told you so’ right
now.”

  “I’m sorry, but you can’t cause property damage just because you’re upset.” Chris pointed to the wall which now had a huge dent in it. “What happened? Why did Esther look like she was in distress and why do you look like you’re about to rip someone’s head off.”

  “I’m pissed because I’ve done everything I could to prove to her how much she means to me and she continues to push me away. And then she thinks so little of me to think that…” As angry as he was, Esther’s condition was none of Chris’s business. Esther was the woman who he wanted to build a future with. He loved her with everything within him. He wanted to be her partner, her support and the slayer of her dragons. But apparently, she thought so little of his feeling for her that she would keep something like this from him. A part of him understood why she’d be scared to tell him about something so traumatic but the thing that killed him was that Esther actually believed that he wouldn’t want her because she was unable to give him a child.

  “That what, man?” Chris prompted.

  “She’s been through a lot. Bad things happened to her and one thing, in particular, she kept from me because she believed I’d stop loving her because of it.”

  Chris raised a brow. “And did you?”

  “Of course not man. Why do you think I’m so furious? She thought so little of me and my love for her, she deliberately sabotaged what we could have. I love that woman to distraction. She’s all I think about. The last three years of my life was miserable because she wasn’t in it. And to hear her say that we couldn’t be together because of something that doesn’t matter to me, hurts. It fucking hurts.” Matthias angrily raked his fingers through his hair. The tears that he’d held back in Esther’s presence seeped from the corners of his eyes.