by Simply BWWM
Ethan opened the door to find the head of the investigation already seated at the conference room table, and forced what he hoped would appear to be an easy-going, casual smile onto his face. “Mark—I came right away,” Ethan said as he entered the room and closed the door behind himself.
“Thank you for that, Ethan,” Mark said. Ethan sat down, reminding himself that there was no reason for him to truly be worried—everything that anyone might know about the situation between himself and Brianna showed it to be fully consensual.
“What’s the news?” Mark looked down at a folder he had open in front of him and shifted in his seat.
“I have a couple of things that need addressing,” Mark said. “One is that there is someone on the Board of Directors who’s been accused of impropriety with an employee—one working in the department he is supposed to be monitoring.”
“Good to know,” Ethan said. “Of course I would encourage you to investigate that fully.”
“The other is a semi-anonymous tip we’ve received this morning regarding you,” Mark added. Ethan felt his heart begin to beat faster.
“That’s interesting,” Ethan said, keeping his voice carefully level. He hadn’t gotten to where he was in the business world without learning how to push aside his personal reactions.
“Yes,” Mark said. “Someone came forward this morning via email and said that they spotted you with someone who was promoted a few months ago—after barely starting work here—leaving a play on Broadway, and that it looked like a date.” Ethan nodded slowly.
“I can understand why that would be cause for concern,” he said.
“This person feels that the circumstances regarding the person’s sudden promotion—to become one of your personal assistants—point to the possibility that the relationship isn’t a mere coincidence.”
“Did they submit any kind of evidence that there’s an actual relationship going on, beyond seeing me with the person in a social setting?” Ethan folded his hands in front of him on the table.
“They did not; they wanted us to investigate,” Mark said. “I thought it would be a good idea to approach you first, before I presented my findings to the board in general.”
“I will admit to occasionally seeing one of my assistants socially,” Ethan said; it would be foolish not to, and he knew it. It was too easy for the investigative team to have figured that out. Fortunately, the extent to which he and Brianna saw each other was mostly cloaked by the fact that the expenses were on his personal account—he hadn’t used his privileges through the agency for anything.
“We will have to speak to your other assistants, and of course, to the person who our source says you’re involved with,” Mark said. He met Ethan’s gaze. “I can’t treat you any differently from anyone else being investigated.”
“I know that, and I would never ask you to,” Ethan told the man. “I want to make sure that this investigation is thoroughly transparent, and if you do find something wrong in what I am doing with Brianna, I’ll be happy to make any changes that HR suggests.” Mark’s shoulders moved and Ethan could tell the man was relieved.
“I know these kinds of things can get political,” Mark said. “I considered putting this aside for a while, waiting to see if anyone else came forward...but of course, you know…”
“Absolutely,” Ethan said, when the man didn’t finish his sentence. “I fully support you in this—you can’t make it look like you’re covering something up, especially now that another board member is accused.” Mark nodded.
“You see the conundrum,” he said.
“I do—and definitely I think you should do whatever you think is best to move forward,” Ethan said. “I will cooperate all the way.”
His phone buzzed in his pocket and Ethan had the instinct that it was Brianna, letting him know about the doctor’s visit—but he knew he couldn’t check it until he’d finished the meeting with Mark.
“I will be checking in with you, and I’ll let you know moving forward how the investigation will be going,” Mark explained.
“Please don’t give me any benefit you wouldn’t give anyone else,” Ethan told the man.
“Of course—I mean, you’re in a different situation to everyone else who is under investigation. But I won’t be, like, dropping you any hints or anything. Just keeping you updated as befits the CEO.”
Ethan agreed to that and finished the meeting as quickly as possible, anxious to find out what the buzzing of his phone had been about. He needed to know what was going on with Brianna; if nothing else, then a clean bill of health—he hoped that was what the news would be—would take one worry off of his plate. He reassured Mark again that he would cooperate fully, that he had no intention of using his position to get himself free of consequences, and then the meeting was—thankfully—over.
Instead of going to his office, Ethan stopped before he reached the elevator; whatever it was that Brianna had found out at the doctor’s, if it was her who’d buzzed his phone, he didn’t want to have the added pressure of Cassidy’s presence when he found it out. He stepped into the HR floor men’s room and found it empty, and got into one of the stalls, sitting down and taking his phone out.
The notification still on his screen showed that it had, in fact, been Brianna. Hey so I heard from the doctor and I need to meet up with you in person. Urgently. Ethan stared at the text message for a long moment, digesting the information. Whatever it was that was making Brianna sick, it obviously wasn’t something that could just be treated in a matter of days with a round of medication. He thought quickly.
There wasn’t much on his plate for the rest of the morning, and Brianna hadn’t indicated that she was coming in—at least, not yet. Ethan typed up a quick response. I need to talk to you, too. Let’s meet up somewhere? Brianna’s response was almost immediate.
Come out to Brooklyn. Black Brick Coffee. I’ll meet you there. Ethan raised an eyebrow at that, but he wasn’t in any state of mind to argue or try to press her to come back into Manhattan. If she was as upset as she seemed, it was probably for the best to meet her closer to her neighborhood, to let her have some comfort of familiar surroundings. He texted Nate to meet him at the entrance of the building and then sent him the address they would be going to, and left the bathroom. He would need to make an appearance in his own office, at least briefly, to make sure that Cassidy and Jennifer could cover for his time after the meeting with Mark.
He wouldn’t tell them anything about the meeting; he had no intention even of telling them where he was going. After Cassidy’s performance that morning, Ethan thought that he was going to have a difficult time explaining to her what the situation was with the investigation and trying to win her over into keeping her mouth as shut as possible. Ethan took a deep breath.
“I need to step out,” he told both women as he walked through the area where their desks were, in front of the door to his office proper. “Apparently my accountant has had some kind of issue—I need to help him sort it out. I’ll be back after lunch.”
He went into his office after they confirmed they understood and took care of a few things as quickly as possible: a one-sentence email to the board about his need to be away from the office until after lunch, and confirming a meeting for the next day to discuss the first quarter initiatives of the next year. Then he sent another brief missive to HR to confirm that Brianna Evers would be out for the rest of the day and that she was entitled to use paid sick leave for it, as she’d provided him with medical documentation.
He felt as if the world was spinning in an orbit around his ears and over his head, and the blood rushing through his veins murmured in his ears from the force with which his heart sped it along, pumping hard and fast. Everything—his whole life—seemed to all be coming apart at the seams at once. He had to regain control. To do that he had to know fully what was going on.
Ethan hurried down to the ground level where his driver was waiting for him, and tried to clear his mind of all the v
arious things troubling him. Everything would fall in line once he knew what was going on. He would be able to make decisions, and he would set the ship that seemed to be sinking with him in it, back on a decent course once more. Everything would be okay, once he had all the information he needed. He just had to be patient enough to wait for all of the information to come to him.
Chapter13
Brianna fidgeted in her seat, still absorbing the shock of what she’d learned less than an hour before. How hadn’t it occurred to her before the doctor had suggested it? You were being careful. Of course it didn’t occur to you right away. But that didn’t seem good enough; even if she’d been taking the pill for years, it should have occurred to her that she hadn’t had her period—even her pill period. It should have occurred to her that the run-down feeling, the nausea, especially in the mornings, were early symptoms of pregnancy.
She’d managed to break out of her shock in the doctor’s office long enough to ask if she’d done her future child irreparable harm by continuing to take the pill, by the fact that she’d been drinking for the past few weeks when she’d apparently been pregnant.
“Fortunately, this early on in pregnancy, it’s a pretty straightforward cause and effect,” the doctor had told her. “If you’d harmed the embryo, you would have miscarried. Of course, that doesn’t mean you should be cavalier now; you know better. You should stop taking the pill immediately and you should avoid alcohol, all the normal pregnancy things.”
The big question ringing through her mind as she waited for Ethan’s arrival was what they were going to do. How was he going to react? Brianna tried not to let her hand drift to her abdomen, feeling self-conscious. She wasn’t sure that she could bring herself to carry the child to term, and she wasn’t sure she could bring herself to abort it, either. She was, the doctor had said, probably a little shy of a month pregnant. “It’s actually pretty unusual to catch it this early.”
Brianna closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She had ordered decaf; the doctor had said that with her low blood pressure, she could have up to a cup or two of coffee per day without much risk, but Brianna was fairly certain that if she’d had real coffee it would just send her nerves into a spiral. Any minute, Ethan would arrive and she needed to know what to do in case he reacted poorly.
You need to know what you want. If she wanted to keep the child, she needed to be prepared to go against Ethan in case he wanted to try and pressure her to get rid of it. If she wanted to get rid of the child, she needed to be prepared for Ethan to try and argue in favor of her keeping it.
Everything has gotten way, way too complicated, Brianna thought, opening her eyes and looking out through the big windows that dominated the cafe. She’d hoped that by making Ethan come out to Brooklyn, she would have some kind of advantage. Not exactly home-field advantage, but at least she wouldn’t be too far from home if Ethan decided—upon learning about her condition—to abandon her, and take back the driver he had hired for her.
She spotted him coming into the cafe and sat up straight at the table she had taken. It wasn’t quite time for the lunch rush, so they would have some privacy. Brianna reminded herself that no matter what Ethan said, no matter how he reacted, she was in charge of her own body. Almost defiantly, she took a bite of the stroopwafel donut she’d gotten with her coffee.
Ethan ordered something and came to the table, and looked at Brianna for a long moment. “So what did the doctor say? I need to talk to you about something else, but you have the priority right now,” he told her. Brianna took one final quick, deep breath and set the donut down, taking a sip of coffee to chase it.
“I’m pregnant,” she said. She had tried to formulate a dozen ways to say it that were less bald, less sudden. But what could possibly be the point? There were some blows that there was no way to soften.
“What?” Ethan stared at her.
“I’m pregnant,” Brianna repeated. “I know—I’m still in shock, myself.” She gave him a wry smile.
“Aren’t you on the pill?” Brianna shrugged.
“It isn’t a hundred percent,” she pointed out. “I guess I’m one of the 2% that it failed. Or something.” She took another bite of her donut, another sip of her coffee. “I have to stop taking it now. And this is decaf.” She waggled the mug slightly before setting it down.
“You seem pretty calm about it,” Ethan pointed out. Brianna snorted.
“I’m sure I’ll be in actual-panic mode sometime tonight. Or tomorrow,” she said. “Right now I just kind of feel...numb, I guess.” She shrugged.
“You’re really, truly pregnant?”
Brianna nodded.
“They did the test three times just to make sure,” she said. “It’s the special kind too, the doctors’ office kind. Three out of three pee-sticks agree.” The doctor had taken a small vial of blood as well; not only to confirm—absolutely—the pregnancy, but also to check her vitamin and other levels.
“How do you feel about it?” That was a much more complicated question than any that Brianna had been preparing for. She had counted on denial, on rejection, on Ethan attempting to control her right away, somehow; she hadn’t counted on concern.
“I don’t know,” Brianna admitted. “I’m still trying to get used to the fact that I’m pregnant.” The words still sounded so strange, coming out of her own mouth.
“That does complicate things,” Ethan said. The barista called his order and he rose to retrieve it, and Brianna looked around. She hoped that he wouldn’t ask her to abort the baby—even if she wasn’t sure that she wanted to keep the pregnancy, him asking her to terminate would just ruin everything between them, and make everything a thousand times worse. But would it be that much better if he tried to ask you to keep the baby? That—that she couldn’t say.
Ethan came back, with a coffee and two pastries—one of which he pushed towards her with a little smile. “I don’t know if you’ve had enough time to think of this, but what do you want to do?” Brianna felt the tension at her throat ease up a little bit at the question.
“I’m not actually sure,” she said. “I guess I still haven’t fully processed the fact that I’m actually pregnant to begin with.” Ethan nodded.
“I can see that,” he said. He pressed his lips together and looked down into his coffee cup. “I don’t want to stress you out more, but there’s another complication to add to this.” Brianna closed her eyes for a moment and took a slow breath.
“Tell me,” she said, steeling herself mentally—and physically, almost unconsciously, at the same time.
“I got called into HR today,” Ethan said. “They’re going to be investigating me. I guess you were right about the guy from the Creative Department the other night.” Brianna opened her eyes and met Ethan’s gaze.
“What does this mean for us?” She clenched her teeth, waiting for the worst.
“It means that there may be a question of whether I’ll be asked to step down as CEO, at the worst,” Ethan said. “It makes it slightly more complicated to deal with the fact that you’re pregnant.”
“Do you think we should keep it secret?” Ethan pressed his lips together again, and then took a sip of his coffee.
“I don’t think we need to tell anyone about it in general, at least until we know what we want to do,” he said. “And by we—I hope you know—I mean whatever you want to do. I will back you in anything.” Brianna blinked. He was making the decision hers?
“You’ll back me?” There was something so strange about that way of saying it, though she knew he was trying to give her the firm impression of being on her side.
“I mean, if you want to keep it, I will support you in whatever way you need and want. If you want to…” Ethan cleared his throat, glancing away to avoid saying the word. “I will pay for medicine or whatever medical procedure. If you want to carry to term but put the baby up for adoption, I’ll make that happen for you.” He paused for a moment, looking into her eyes. “I care about you, Brianna. I don
’t want you to feel pressured into any one choice. I want you to do what you think is right, what you want to do, and I want to give you whatever you need to do it.”
Brianna felt her eyes stinging with tears as she continued to stare at Ethan for a few moments longer. She blinked a few times, trying to clear her vision, and sniffed hard. She hadn’t even realized that that was exactly what she had wanted to hear Ethan say; that that was the only right answer he could have given her.
“Thank you,” she said quietly, and she wasn’t even sure if he could hear her over the general chatter in the cafe.
“How about this: we’ll grab lunch from somewhere—wherever you want—and I’ll take you back to your place. Don’t even worry about going into the office the rest of the day.” Brianna felt her breath hitch in her lungs, and she knew that if she sat there much longer, feeling the relief and genuine affection that Ethan’s words inspired, she’d start crying outright—sobbing, even. Much better to do that in the privacy of her own apartment.
“I have to warn you,” she said, “if—if we go to my place—it’s kind of a mess right now.” Ethan laughed and shook his head.
“I do not care,” he said. “Let’s get you home to your place, and get you out of those clothes and into something comfortable, and let’s get you fed.” It sounded so very dear, so loving—and the dam that Brianna had tried to set up, to keep herself from crying in public, crumbled down. Tears flowed out of her eyes and she looked down at the table, embarrassed.
“I’m sorry,” Brianna managed to choke out. Ethan chuckled and she looked up quickly, on the point of being angry at him.
“No—I’m sorry I laughed. It’s just silly to think that you actually feel like you need to apologize to me for crying when you’ve just gotten the biggest, most stressful news of your life,” Ethan said, his eyes warm. “Let’s get you home.”