The Platinum Triangle

by T V Hartwell

  As Jake removed his hands from her face, Amanda held on to his wrists, not wanting to let go. “Jake, please,” she pleaded as her lips trembled with emotion and the water from her eyes and nose flowed. “Don’t do this.”

  Jake kissed her hand softly before letting it go. “Goodbye, Amanda,” he whispered sadly, and then he turned away and walked out the door just before his own tear well broke, no longer able to keep himself from going over the edge.

  Chapter 40 The Show Must Go On

  The next day, Amanda showed up to her parents’ for her bridal shower as scheduled. She could not accept that her relationship with Jake was truly over, especially not so suddenly, so inexplicably. After Jake left her standing there alone and disconsolate the morning before, she had somehow mustered enough strength to go about her day, hair and nail appointments and all, just as a bride should.

  She called Jake several times throughout the day on Friday and when he didn’t answer or call back, she sent him text messages still offering to fix whatever it was he thought needed to be fixed and to give him the space she assumed he needed.

  I’m here for u. I luv u. Don’t feel bad or sorry. I get it. Marriage is a big deal!!! We can postpone. I won’t be angry. Promise. xoxoxo

  When he didn’t respond, she grew more desperate.

  Please tell me what I’ve done and I’ll make it right. I luv you. I need you. Please just tell me.

  On Saturday morning, after she had time to think and sleep on it, she convinced herself that Jake was not telling her the whole story and sent him another text early that morning.

  I don’t believe you don’t love me anymore. There’s something you’re not telling me. Just talk to me. I’m here. I’ll wait for you.

  After not receiving a response to any of her messages or calls, Amanda grew anxious and more depressed, and she nearly called her mother to tell her that she was not coming to the shower. After all, she was still not 100 percent after falling ill following her trip to New York. But not showing up seemed like accepting the marriage was off and she had forty people eager and waiting to see her at what was sure to be a lavish bridal shower luncheon. So Amanda dried her tears and carefully applied her makeup, then slipped on the pretty floral print Oscar de la Renta summer dress she bought just for the occasion and forced herself to charge on anyway.

  One by one, all of the ladies arrived pretty much right on time and the mood was celebratory and festive as they were served a glass of Prosecco immediately upon arrival by a waiting butler. The ladies cheerily hugged and greeted one another with double cheek to cheek kisses, admiring each other’s outfits, exchanging stories about recent excursions abroad to Europe and elsewhere, and drooling over the beautiful surroundings of the Climents’ luxurious home. Amanda kept her chin up and her head held high as she warmly received her friends, including Lucy and the rest of her bridesmaids, some other girlfriends from high school, college, and even a few professional connections, plus her Nana Vangie, her sister, Alexandra, and a slew of other women who were a combination of relatives and family friends such as Lucy’s mother, Alana Dupree, who was among the New York contingent to show up.

  “Now, Amanda, although Oscar is a dear friend of mine and he would be so pleased that you chose to wear his dress today, I must admit that I’m a little jealous not to see you in one of my designs,” Alana said to her, teasingly.

  “Oh, Alana, I have you in my wardrobe line up too. I’ll be wearing you to the rehearsal dinner next week.”

  “Yaaay,” Alana said, smiling and clapping her hands in approval. “Well since Lucy is bringing me along as her date to the rehearsal dinner, I will get to see which dress you choose to wear. Can’t wait!”

  Eventually everyone stepped outside for lunch on the loggia, which opened out from the living room of the modern Palladian style mansion, and from the start, Amanda was peppered with questions from various people about everything under the sun concerning her and Jake.

  “Where are you going for your honeymoon?”

  “What kind of law does Jake practice?”

  “Have you and Jake talked about having a family, Amanda?”

  “Where do you and Jake plan to live after you marry? Are you buying a new home?”

  “How many children do you think you’ll have?”

  “You two are going to have the most beautiful babies together.”

  “You are so lucky to have Jake. Does he have a brother? My daughter is still looking.”

  Amanda did her best to handle the questions with grace and aplomb, but it felt more and more like lying. The well-meant queries were beginning to wear her down as the reality of what happened the morning before gradually sank in. As the denial receded reality took hold, and after each question and each toast and every expression of goodwill, Amanda began to slowly crumble inside. Following her sister, Alexandra, Amanda’s mother, Camilla, stood to offer the final toast.

  “My dearest Amanda, I am so very proud of you and honored to have carried and nurtured you since the womb. From my sweet little girl you have blossomed into an incredibly modern woman. A woman not only of charm, grace, and style, just like your mum, you are also bright and intelligent. A woman of ambition and talent who is on her way to building her own brand and making a name for herself in the world of business and fashion. But perhaps most importantly, you are a woman who knows how to choose a good mate, one who will love and cherish you unceasingly and who will put you and your future children first, above all else. Just like your father. Congratulations, darling. Well done!”

  After that speech, Amanda thought she was going to pass out. She was so wound up and stricken with anxiety, her stomach felt like it had been twisted into knots. As lunch was coming to an end and the ladies began to stand and slowly make their way back into the living room for games and gift presentations, one last question sent Amanda over the edge.

  A friend of her mother’s that she didn’t know very well sidled up beside her and asked conspiratorially, “How have you and Jake managed to stay together for so long? Young people are so into hooking up these days that it seems rare that a relationship like yours should last as long as it has. Please tell me, what’s your secret?”

  “Oh, there’s no secret, Mrs. Vas. We were just the perfect match for one another. That’s what I thought, anyway,” Amanda said on the verge of crying before quickly excusing herself and fleeing the scene.

  “Oh dear,” Mrs. Vas said with concern. “Was it something I said?” She was speaking to no one in particular as most of the other guests were busy chatting amongst themselves and hadn’t noticed Amanda’s reaction. But Camilla and Alexandra saw her flee without hearing the verbal exchange.

  “What happened?” Alexandra said to her mother after she observed Amanda leaving the group, looking distressed.

  “I don’t know,” Camilla said. “Maybe she’s just a little overwhelmed by everything. She’s been under a lot of stress lately as you can imagine. Why don’t you go look after her,” Camilla suggested, not wanting to leave her guests unattended.

  Amanda hid herself in one of the powder rooms where she checked her phone to see if she had received any return calls or messages from Jake. Upon seeing that there were none, she knew that it was indeed over and began to sob. Feeling nauseous, she vomited and cried at the same time, feeling both sick and humiliated. “What did I do to deserve this? What did I do? God, please help me to understand,” she said through her tears.

  Alexandra went looking around the house for her big sister, not an easy task in a house with 20,000 square feet and twelve bathrooms. After looking in a couple of bathrooms on the first floor and not finding her, she took the service elevator off the kitchen to the second level to see if Amanda went to her old bedroom. Meanwhile, the guests were all filing back into the house and taking their seats on the plush velvety sofas in the living room, seemingly unaware that the guest of honor was missing, locked in a bathroom, and having a breakdown only a few feet away.

  Camilla grew i
ncreasingly concerned when Amanda had not yet reappeared as nearly everyone was in the living room sipping tea and waiting for the next phase of the bridal shower to begin. After seeing that her guests were all together and comfortably situated, Camilla went down the long hall that each of the rooms on the main floor opened out onto and just as she approached the library, Amanda stumbled out of the powder room that sat off the library’s entrance.

  Amanda’s perfectly coiffed hair was now disheveled and her face was pale and withdrawn as if she had just received a diagnosis of a terminal illness and only had months to live. Camilla quickened her step to rush up to Amanda and grabbed hold of her.

  “Dear God, what’s the matter, Amanda?” Camilla said, horrified at her daughter’s afflicted appearance as she attempted to pull her into the library and out of the line of sight of their guests. But Amanda was too weak to move any farther.

  “Jake dumped me,” she mumbled in a whimper that was barely discernable.

  “What?” Camilla said curtly, feeling both alarmed and agitated while trying to hold her daughter up. “Speak up, Amanda. I can’t hear you.”

  “Jake…dumped…me,” she said, weeping. “He doesn’t want to marry me anymore,” she said as she leaned into her mother to rest her head on her shoulder before collapsing to the ground, Camilla mustering just enough strength to break her daughter’s fall.

  Chapter 41 The Aftermath: One Week Later

  “Hellooo.”

  “Jamie, Rick.”

  “Oh, hi, Rick. I didn’t look at my caller ID, otherwise I would’ve known it was you.”

  “Where are you, Jamie?”

  “I’m in the kitchen making lunch for my parents and Tom. Since there’s no wedding today I decided to have them over for a little consoling. They are a bit bewildered as you can imagine and very concerned about Jake. They need to talk things through. You know how grandparents can be.”

  “And where is Jake?”

  “He took off. He left town yesterday and said he’d be gone for about a week. I think he really needed to get away to clear his head. You know, obviously he was quite distraught when he told Tom and me the news,” she said, looking over her shoulder to make sure nobody came up behind her to hear what she was saying. “He will get over this with the passage of time. He’s very resilient. But, I can’t thank you enough, Rick. The way you managed to handle this and persuade Jake to back out at the last minute. I don’t know how you did it or what you offered him. But, wow, I am beyond impressed. I thought it would be impossible at this stage. I was so worried. You have no idea.”

  “Well, you might be speaking prematurely so save your gushing and thanks,” he retorted sarcastically.

  “Oh, I don’t think so,” Jamie said as she tossed salad in a large glass bowl.

  “Are you sitting down?” Rick asked in a portentous tone.

  Jamie stopped tossing and stood still at the marble-topped island in her kitchen. “Why?” she asked slowly.

  “Amanda has been sick for the last two weeks with flu-like symptoms and after being to the doctor twice now, once last week and again yesterday—are you ready for this?—they have confirmed that she is in fact pregnant.”

  All Rick heard on the other end of the line was the glass salad bowl crashing onto the tiled floor.

  The End

  Turn the page to read Chapter 1 in The Platinum Rebound, Book 2 in the The Platinum Series.

  Chapter One

  He had walked away with nothing; nothing other than his name, a tarnished image, and a broken heart. As Jake sat alone staring out over the endless, turquoise blue waters of the Pacific, he pondered the decision he’d made when Rick Climent offered him five million dollars two weeks before. He replayed the fateful scene in his head over and over again.

  “Five million? So you think that’s all this is worth?” Jake had said, incredulous.

  Rick and Mike quickly glanced at each other with perplexed expressions on their faces. Rick was more than capable of offering Jake more, but he hadn’t expected Jake to play hardball.

  “Do you have another number in mind?” Rick asked Jake cautiously.

  “Honestly, Rick, I don’t want your money, and I don’t need to be paid off. I love Amanda more than anything in this world and no amount of money would ever take away the pain of losing her like this. But if walking away is what I have to do to save her life, then that’s what I’ll do, I guess.” Jake spoke softly, sounding defeated as he stared blankly down at the ground. He was still in shock, how was it possible their love was endangering Amanda’s life? He’d never even suspected she had split personality disorder, never seen the slightest sign.

  Mike looked on stunned, but also proud—as if Jake were his own son. He was proud of Jake’s character and of the way he was handling himself with such unselfish disregard for his own needs and well-being. He knew that Jake was being sincere, but probably too overwhelmed with grief, shock, and disbelief to fully comprehend the choice he was making by refusing Rick’s offer.

  “Jake,” Mike said, lawyer to lawyer, “I know that this is a lot for you to digest right now. And indeed money does not take away the pain of losing someone you love, but it’s important for you to understand that you’re being asked to take the fall for a situation that was not of your own making. It wouldn’t be unreasonable for you to receive some form of compensation for it. It certainly wouldn’t in any way diminish the honorableness and purity of your intentions.”

  “It just doesn’t feel right to me, Mike. I’m doing this for Amanda, not for myself. I don’t know . . . taking money kind of cheapens the whole situation. Like this is some sort of backroom, quid pro quo business transaction. I just can’t place a dollar value on Amanda like that or on our relationship. She’s priceless. A rare jewel I randomly stumbled upon in class at Stanford six years ago. I’ll never be able to replace her, Mike,” Jake said before choking back tears, trying to remain composed and strong.

  They all sat in silence for a few seconds, as if to absorb the intensity of the moment. Rick took a deep breath before finally saying, “Well, Jake, my offer remains on the table for your consideration, if you change your mind later and decide to take the money. The most important thing right now is Amanda, and I’m so glad we’re on the same page about that. I’m really moved that you care about my daughter so much. What a stand-up guy you are, Jake. I think it’s safe to say that Amanda will never be able to replace you either.”

  Jake shook his head now, clearing the painful memories. He had flown to Hawaii on Saturday, the day of his cancelled wedding, seeking refuge at his family’s vacation home. The Doyle clan owned a plush Mediterranean style villa in the exclusive Pineapple Hill neighborhood of Kapalua, Maui. No one in the family was using the home because they all had planned to be in LA for Jake and Amanda’s wedding. It seemed the perfect retreat for Jake and, given the stress he was under, the family agreed to allow him to have the place to himself for the week for some much needed respite.

  Other than swimming, surfing, and going for a jog each morning, Jake spent his first few days in Maui mostly lying on the beach—intermittently napping, sunning, people watching, and reading the latest John Grisham novel. Jake momentarily thought to himself that he could’ve followed in Grisham’s footsteps, gone from lawyer to writer had he accepted Rick’s financial offer. Jake figured a writer’s life would be pretty enviable, especially when it could be done in a locale like Maui with a fat bank account to keep himself afloat. But his legal career was just getting off the ground; he liked what he did and the people he worked with. Jake was too young for the eremitic, solitary life of a writer and it probably would get old fast, he concluded. Beyond that, the idea of being paid off still didn’t sit well with him. The very contemplation of it, the imagining of a life lived and subsidized as a result of hurting someone he still deeply loved, made him feel dirty. So he did his best to push Rick’s offer out of his mind. He had plenty of money, a job he loved, and his family and friends; he didn’t need R
ick Climent’s blood money.

  But if Jake had known about the maelstrom of speculation and gossip building in LA, he might’ve felt differently about a hermit’s life. Everyone who was anyone wanted to know his reasons for calling off not only the wedding but his entire relationship with Amanda. Even his closest friends, including Will and the others guys who were to be his groomsmen, had been completely caught off guard and were dumbfounded by his decision—and they’d told him so. Like others who knew Jake and Amanda well, they all felt, in fact knew, that Jake was completely smitten and in love with Amanda and had been for a long time. Since meeting six years before, at the beginning of their junior year at Stanford, Jake had not seriously dated anyone but Amanda. Even during the year-long breakup that had preceded their engagement, Jake had told his closest buddies that he eventually planned to get back with Amanda and had no intentions of getting tied up with anyone else in the meantime. However, among Jake’s friends, there was one who suspected that Jake’s relationship with Amanda was on shaky ground and that things were more precarious than they appeared to be on the surface. That person was the friend who knew Jake the longest, knew him best, and knew him most intimately in every way imaginable—Charles Kirby Smith, Jr.

  When Jake told Kirby that he’d called off the wedding, Kirby didn’t seem terribly surprised. In fact, Kirby had struggled to contain his joy at the news. Jake sensed Kirby’s restrained happiness and glee beneath a veneer of sympathetic concern, which caused Jake to underscore to him the point that the breakup wasn’t for the reason Kirby likely suspected. He didn’t want Kirby to think that his emotional pleas about choosing him over Amanda had paid off. When Kirby didn’t press him for more of an explanation, Jake felt relieved. He also appreciated that Kirby had given him some space and didn’t hover over him, acting needy.