by Briner, Rose
“Is that all, Hayden?” asks the old man as he stands from his seat.
“Yes Carl, that’s it,” he says as he seats himself back down in his chair.
Several people take their turn standing up and giving their reasons as to why they think that Jayden should be forced to step down as CEO, all of which state similar things, that they all think he’s unstable and that our marriage is a sham. So this is why he said we needed to be prepared, I haven’t even spoken a single word and they already don’t believe our marriage is the real deal. Maybe at first it wasn’t, but now it is.
Then comes the worst testimony of all. I always thought that Vanessa was on Jayden’s side, but now that the time comes for her to really step up and be there for him, she’s completely turned against him.
“Mr. Leopold is unstable,” she states without hesitation. I sit back in my chair and withhold the eye roll. This is the same crap we’ve been listening to for almost an hour now, she can’t possibly have anything else to say at this point that we haven’t already heard. “Just the other day, he was telling me how he was bored of his wife and wanted to come over for some real fun. She can’t even satisfy him and they just got married, the fact that he called me and asked me if he could come over proves that he hasn’t changed his ways at all. In fact, he wants to come back to me, he begged me to take him back.”
I try to hide my mortification, she has to be talking about that night on the beach, he was on the phone right as we were leaving to return home. My eyes meet Jayden’s and I let the hurt I feel pour out of me as I beg him to deny it. Obviously, since Vanessa is still talking, he can’t interrupt, but he can give me some sort of sign that she’s lying, right?
Only he’s not looking at me, he’s too busy shooting daggers over in Vanessa’s direction. When I hear a throat clearing, I realize everyone in the room is staring at me.
“I’m sorry Carl, did you say something?” I ask in chagrin.
“I said your time has come if you would like to speak on behalf of your husband, if not, we are ready to vote,” he states. I look around the room and everyone looks like their minds are already made up, they’ve already decided to take the company from Jayden and only my testimony will have any shot at getting them to change their decision. I look over at Jayden one last time, preparing myself to stand and tell them I have nothing further to add. But when I stand and look in his direction he’s smiling at me sweetly and mouths, ‘I love you’, in my direction making my decision for me. Vanessa is trying to turn me against Jayden. Jayden said that was the best night of his life, so she has to be lying.
“Do I think Jayden is stable enough to run this company? Yes, I do. When I cry he comforts me, when I’ve needed a friend, he’s been there for me, and he treats me like I am the most important thing in the world to him,” I stop talking and smile over at him before turning my attention back to the board.
“I believe that Jayden treats every single one of his clients the way he treats those closest to him, with love and respect. I may not have been married to him for very long, but I can tell you that he treats every single person close to him with care and compassion.”
A cough and giggle across the table stop me as I glare over in the direction of Hayden and Vanessa, they think this is all a joke. But as I turn my attention towards his mother, I see tears in her eyes as she offers me a watery smile.
“I love Jayden more than anything else on the planet. I don’t care how many photos of this man you show me, I know the real person, the one in here,” I touch my hand to my heart as I speak. “He’s the best person to run this company and if you can’t see that, then you are all a bunch of fools.”
I get several claps from people seated at the table before I take my seat once more and wait for what is to happen next.
I don’t wait long as Carl stands from his seat and moves to the front of the room so he can address everyone.
“Has everyone made their decision?” he asks clapping his hands twice so everyone will stop talking.
There are several people that respond yes. Here is where I will learn his fate, but I know that no matter what, whether he loses his company today or gets to keep it, we’ll get through this together. If he’s willing to have me, I’ll never leave his side.
“All right, let us begin. As you know Jayden, you are allowed to vote, however your wife is not since she is not officially a member of the board,” he says as he gestures in my direction. Crap, I didn’t even think to ask him if I could join the board, that would’ve given us two votes for him to remain in power. He puts his head down when Carl says this and I know he’s realized the same thing I have.
Everyone votes starting with Jayden and as we move around the table, I start to get hopeful that Jayden might just stay in power. There are a total of eleven people voting here today including Carl and right now things are going great. That is until we get to the three people that want to destroy Jayden more than anything. All three; Vanessa, Hayden, and Francisco vote no, followed by the two people seated next to them. Now the vote is five for him to remain in power and five for him to step down. The last vote is up to Carl and I’m not very hopeful that he’ll vote in Jayden’s favor.
Carl clears his voice when it’s his turn to speak, “I’ve been doubtful of Jayden’s intentions towards this company for a long time, you all know this, that is why I told him that he needed to prove he was stable enough to continue to do this. But, I wanted more than that, I wanted Jayden to learn compassion and understanding towards other people. I wanted for him to change the person he’s been for such a long time. Then he brings Mireya here,” he pauses to look in my direction. “I’ve had my doubts about your marriage since it was announced to us, but now that I’ve met you and seen the positive changes in Jayden over the past two months in addition to the way you speak of him, I have to say that my mind has been changed.”
There are several startled gasps that arise in the room, but Carl holds his hands up for quiet, “This is my decision, I’ve decided for the time being, Jayden will remain in power instead of the company moving to Hayden’s control. He’s shown me how much he loves his company and the people in it, so things will remain the way they are. Not to mention in the process, he’s managed to find what so few of us are able to find, true love. Cherish her Jayden, she’s a real keeper.”
I stand from my chair to go and embrace him, but his mother beats me there and throws her arms around him. I was surprised she voted in his favor, she seemed to not like the choices he was making the last time I saw her.
Everyone is crowding him now and I’m starting to feel out of place as the three people who hate Jayden the most shoot daggers at me from across the table. I decide to go and use the bathroom as I wait for Jayden to be done talking to everyone.
I step out of the glass doors and head towards the bathroom across the hall, but I don’t get more than five feet before Vanessa’s voice stops me dead in my tracks.
“You may have won for now, but Jayden will come back to me, he always does, and someone like you is never going to be able to keep a man like him satisfied. Just because he gets to keep the company for now doesn’t mean that we won’t find some way to bring him down when the opportunity presents itself,” she says stepping right up in my face as she talks.
When the door to the boardroom closes behind her, she steps around me and heads out towards the elevator. I turn to watch her go, enjoying her defeat as she leaves the building.
Clapping behind me has me turning back to the boardroom. Hayden is standing there leering at me. “Bravo, I must say you are good Mireya. Almost as good as your sister,” he declares as he takes several menacing steps in my direction.
“Where is Katrina, Hayden? What have you done to her?” I cry as I fight to control the tremors moving through my body.
“Don’t worry about her for now, I’d be more worried about your position at Jayden’s side if I were you.”
“What do you mean by that?” I ask as I wat
ch him slowly circle me.
“There’s a lot of things you don’t know about our family. Things that will rip your world apart, Mireya. You see, your sister was only the beginning of the plot we’ve been planning to execute for years now. Now I have the leverage to get you to agree to whatever I want,” he states as he steps right up into my face.
I hold stock still as he leans right up in my face and tilts his head to the side as he sniffs me. I want to gag so badly right now, but I’m not sure what will happen if I do that.
“You see, if you don’t follow whatever I say right now, your sister will die,” he declares as he bites my ear. “She will die a slow and evil death.”
“There’s nothing you can say or do that would make me agree to it,” I tell him flinching away from him.
“What’s going on here?” Jayden asks, stepping up to us and dragging Hayden away from me. I breathe out my first sigh of relief as my husband comes to save me.
Well, I think that is what is going to happen, until I hear a voice from the past, a voice I’ve been running from for a long time. A voice that changes everything.
Chapter Twenty-One
“Now boys, can’t you two just learn to get along for once?” questions a voice from behind us.
I squeeze my eyes shut and pray that I’m hearing things, but when Hayden addresses the man I know he’s really standing with us right now.
“Father, so nice of you to join us. Unfortunately, the decision has already been made. Jayden gets to get the firm for now,” states Hayden, his voice full of loathing for his brother.
“Not going to greet me, Jayden?” asks my stepdad.
“I have nothing to say to you. Now if you’ll excuse us, me and my wife have to be going,” he says, taking my hand in his and leading me away from the two men.
“I see you wasted no time getting the man to trust you, Mireya,” there’s this amusement in his voice as he speaks.
Unfortunately for me, Jayden heard him and has now stopped and turned back to face them.
“Don’t you dare address my wife!” shouts Jayden as he drags me behind him as he storms back in their direction.
Frank smiles at me, and now I know what their game is. I just know they are going to do something to tear me and Jayden apart. They just couldn’t let Jayden walk away with everything today and now I know Frank is behind my sister’s disappearance.
“Oh, your wife didn’t tell you who I am?” Jayden just looks from Frank and then back down at me before turning his attention back to Frank. “Clearly she hasn’t told you all about our connection. You see Jayden, this is my stepdaughter. You two are stepsiblings, I planted her here to trick you into giving up the information you have on Prosperity Agency. You fell right into her hands and now I will use her to destroy you completely. She was supposed to make sure you didn’t get to keep control today, but I guess I’ll just settle for having your dreams crushed instead,” he states with a winning smile.
Frank and Hayden are the only ones who are smiling right now. I’m not because even before this conversation is over, I know that I am about to lose everything. Frank has been looking for us for a long time and the fact that he’s standing here right now, says he’s going to take me with him one way or another.
“I don’t believe you, Mireya loves me,” he says as he hugs me into his side. “Mireya?” he asks when I don’t respond.
I’m too busy looking at Hayden right now who is making a gesture of cutting my head off if I don’t give the answer they want and so with a heavy heart, I lie to Jayden for the first time.
“I don’t love you, Jayden, I used you to get information out of you for Frank.”
“That can’t be true,” he hisses, pushing me away from him. Oh, how quick he is to believe his father and brother over me. I know that we haven’t known each other for very long, but I meant what I said to him last night and in the boardroom, I do love him more than anything. More than finding Katrina, that’s how profound of an effect he’s had on me.
“Oh, but isn’t it Mireya? You don’t find it odd that Katrina brought her to Orchid Boiler to meet you? You don’t wonder why she was telling you she was about to lose her apartment and become homeless? More than that, you actually believe that Katrina went missing instead of being safe and sound with us?” he clucks his tongue at Jayden as he reaches for my hand so he can pull me over to stand next to him. I almost trip and fall when he yanks me over to his side. “I planted Mireya there, she never loved you, she was just supposed to make you believe that she did, and based off of that look on your face right now, she’s done one hell of a job of convincing you.”
Jayden glares at me, but when I don’t blink or falter, his blue eyes turn hard with hatred. “I took you into my home when you had nowhere to go, I offered you comfort and money to help you get back on your feet, and this is how to repay me? You betray me with the two people that hate me more than anything else in the world. I want all of your shit out of my house within the next hour or all of it will be out on the curb waiting for you. Expect to hear from my lawyer,” he announces before turning on his heels and leaving me behind. He doesn’t look back at me once as he enters the elevator and the doors shut behind him.
I want to cry out for him to take me with him, I want to declare how much I love him, and more than anything I want to tell him that Frank wants me dead. But I can’t do that, they have the one thing that will silence me forever, Katrina. I may love Jayden, but a sister’s love is a completely different type of love and I have to save her from these two men. I can always convince Jayden later that I love him, for now I have to save my sister.
“Let’s go tramp,” growls Frank as he latches onto my arm and drags me behind him towards the stairwell. Right before the door shuts, I see Jeanette watching a short distance away. Her eyes are full of hurt and confusion as she stares back at me.
When the door shuts behind us, I immediately struggle against him, managing to get myself free of his hold and start to run down the stairs. I don’t get more than about five steps before the both of them are upon me and push me down the stairs. I can’t stop myself from falling as I ram head first into the cement wall and go down hard.
I don’t pass out, but I’m out of it enough that I can’t bring myself to stand as the two men reach me.
“Carry her, Hayden. We need to get her out of here before Jayden decides he wants to be the hero and save her from us,” he states moving around us so he can continue down the stairs. “It won’t be long before he pieces this together and discovers we’ve tricked him.”
They think Jayden is going to come back to save me, but I know better. I hurt him, I saw it in his eyes as he stared down at me and came to the realization that I never loved him. I do love him with all of my heart, but right now, he hates me and with Jayden hatred lasts a really long time. Alfred told me that late one night when I asked him why he and Hayden don’t get along. He never did tell me what happened, but he did say that it was a long time ago and they still hate each other as much as the day of the incident.
I don’t know where they are taking me as they push open the door at the side of the building and lead me over to a waiting van. Does it really matter? Even if I could manage to walk on my own and get away from them, they would just end up catching me all over again. The best thing I can do for right now is just allow them to take me. Maybe I’ll find Katrina wherever we are going. That’s what I need right now, my sister to help me figure out what to do.
They throw me into the back and my head pounds as I make contact with the floor of the van. I wish I could pass out as my eyes grow heavy, but I never do fall asleep during that ride. I’m tossed back and forth, side to side, as we travel in the van. My head hurts and my entire body too heavy to sit up. I want to die more than anything right now. The only thing that keeps me going are my memories of Jayden, they are all I have left of him now. My first everything, my first love, and a man that no matter how much time passes I will still love as much as the f
irst time I realized I loved him.
The van screeches to a halt and I’m thrown against the side of the van so hard that I’m clutching my arm in pain when the doors fly open.
“Out we go, princess,” orders Frank as he reaches his hand inside and grabs hold of my leg so he can drop me to the ground outside. My entire body screams in protest when I hit the cement. I don’t remember Frank being this violent back when he was with my mother, but he sure has changed now. Most kidnappers only do things to victims when they are provoked, all I did was look at Frank and his angry side came out.
He leaves me on the ground long enough to realize that we are once again outside of Prosperity Agency. Just great, that means that they have plans for me here.
This time, Hayden is the one who drags me up from the ground. I don’t fight this time, instead just allow him to roughly grab me by the arm and lead me into the doors I just entered yesterday.
The place looks exactly the same as it did before, only the girl that was sitting behind the desk is now leering at me knowingly, like she knew the entire time that I would end up back here. I should never have come here in the first place, this place has been a nightmare for me ever since I discovered that address in Jayden’s office.
This time they don’t take me where the girl did when Francisco was shooting photos of the girl, instead, they take me to a hidden staircase in the very left corner. I struggle against Hayden when he tries to lead me up the stairs. I don’t want to go up there, who knows what they are going to do to me up there or what other horrors I might find hidden in this place.
“Up the fucking stairs sis, or I’ll make sure Jayden suffers for the rest of his life. I think cutting off one of his limbs will do the trick,” he sneers at me.
When I stop fighting, he laughs and throws me over his shoulder so he can carry me. I don’t think Hayden would do that, but that’s a risk I cannot take. Even if we are never together again, I want him to be happy and live a healthy life.