by Piper Knox
After the meeting ended and we were on our way back to the office, Alicia asked, “so what are you going to do?” she was the only one I had told. I had gone to her place soon after I left Caiden. She was the only person I knew who could take me in and was close by. I had cried into her shoulder as soon as she opened the door. She had taken good care of me, and I was grateful.
“Not attend, I guess.”
“I don’t think that would work. People would be suspicious.”
“He said the sight of my face makes him want to vomit,” those weren’t the actual words but it was close, “I would rather not make everyone endure that.”
“Please. He probably said it in anger.” I made a face when someone with a lunch box full of seafood on their way to the kitchen passed us. I felt like retching again, but kept it in. Alicia noticed my contorted face.
“You know,” she said as we got into the office. She closed the door. A sign that she was about to say either something serious or private, “you should get yourself checked.”
I frowned as I took my seat. “What do you mean?”
“You’ve been displaying signs.”
“Signs?” What was she trying to say?
She leaned over her desk and whispered, “pregnancy signs.”
I laughed.
She was serious. “When was the last time you had your period.”
I couldn’t remember. Things had been hectic recently and if I hadn’t had my period, it was probably stress. It’s happened before. “I’m not pregnant,” I said it more to myself than to her.
“Were you on birth control?”
Not really. Not at all. But since Caiden was religious about protection, I never thought about it that much. But that one time when he…
“Hailey.”
“You don’t think I could be pregnant, do you?”
“Get a test and make sure. You don’t want that hanging on your head the next time you see him.”
Over the next few days, the office was hectic. There were a lot of things that had to be done ahead of the fundraiser by people who weren’t fundraisers. We had to create reports to provide information for the planners and other stuff. It was made even more hectic because this was clearly Rachel’s first big event and she was panicking. No one told her so to her face, though. Come the end of the week though, Alicia showed me a bunch of pregnancy tests she had bought, “just to be sure,” she said. I took one.
After lunch we went to the restroom together. My heart was racing the entire time.
“Fuck,” I said a few moments later. It wasn’t the result I wanted, but I had been expecting it. All the signs had been there and obvious looking back. ‘Positive’ the words on the pregnancy test tube read. I flushed the toilet and got out of the stall. Alicia was waiting for me with her arms crossed around her chest.
“Are you keeping it?”
“How did you know?”
“You swore.”
I suddenly felt a rush of emotions. Fear. Nervousness. Joy. I nodded.
She came over to me and gave me a big hug. “Are you going to tell him?”
38
I don’t know why I said yes. I should have declined. I should have ignored them. But I didn’t have the willpower to say no. I wanted to see her again. There was a part of me that was still harboring some feelings for her. I had to stop myself from thinking about her by going to Liam’s grave every day to remind myself what he meant to me. Who she was. What she did. If I did, the pain returned and so did the hatred. That was good. I hated her, and reminding myself of this helped me focus. My plan was finally coming to fruition.
The flowers on the grave didn’t help matters. I knew it was her who kept leaving the lone rose. I threw it away each time. Typical of her to feel sorry after she had already caused the damage.
I checked my phone on my way to the gala. Ax had sent a couple of messages. Our little acquisition was doing well, and Ax had sent a fresh batch of adverse news to the press that would definitely hurt the Lyndell corporation. I was surprised the old man hadn’t called it quits yet. There were talks of a buyout, but I was making sure that wouldn’t happen. I was constantly putting out information to ward off investors who might want to save it. I had been waiting for years for this moment. A buyout would only benefit him. He needed to be destroyed. Not that difficult. Bryce was a terrible COO, his incompetence was actually hurting than helping the company.
A text from Ax came in.
Ax: This is like taking candy from a baby. According to sources, there’s a massive exodus within the company. Now is the time.
He wanted to use the high turnover to approach them? I didn’t think so.
Me: Not yet. They should squirm a little more.
Ax: They could find an investor. Some Saudi money.
Julian’s racist ass wouldn’t take a Saudi investor even if the money came wrapped in gold.
Me: He hates the Saudis. Plus, I want him to come to me. The humiliation should be deep.
Ax: Damn. Promise me to never get on your bad side.
I chuckled. The thought of ever hating Ax was impossible. We always liked each other ever since high school. Back then, the other rich boys had liked me because I played football well. The girls liked me because I was good looking. He was the only person in that snobby school who ever saw me for me and like me the way I was. He sent another text.
Ax: I heard you’re going to Hailey’s charity event. That can’t be true, can it?
Should I tell him a lie? I didn’t want to get another lecture about it.
Me: She works there. I’m only going there because I’m their guest of honor, nothing more.
Ax: Riiiight.
Me: it’s harmless. Don’t think too much about it. Any news on the leaker?
Ax: Yes.
I sat up straight as I watched the three dots scroll for what seemed like an endless minute.
Ax: I’m taking care of it.
Me: Who is it?
Ax: My fucking assistant.
That took me by surprise. Both of his assistants were highly professional. I couldn’t see them involved in corporate espionage. But then again, people have sold out for less.
Me: Wow
Ax: I know. I’m taking care of it.
I closed the chat, a little shocked. Ax took things too personally when something like this happened. He hated being caught with his pants down. I was already feeling sorry for the girl. No one experienced Axel Reid’s wrath and survived.
I checked up on Fred and his investigation. So far he had no news except where Hailey was now living. I told him I didn’t want to know. I kept having weird possessive dreams about her with other men. They were irrational and senseless. Yet they kept bothering me.
When I arrived at the gala, there were already several people there. For a small foundation, they had pulled quite a few people and most of them had deep pockets. The place was glamorously decorated and everyone looked like they were dripping in money. As my eyes scanned the crowd, I saw no sign of her. Rachel rushed over to me and greeted me personally.
“You must be looking for your wife,” she said, smiling after she thanked me for coming.
“Not necessarily. I understand she’s busy.”
“Oh yes. She volunteered to help us organize the event since she's the one who’s been to these things before,” she said, laughing. I noticed she was nervous.
“Looks like you’ve done a good job. It looks good.”
“Thank you. Hailey has been helping too. She’s quite a hard-worker. Not at all like the papers painted her. But of course you knew that.”
Seems like Hailey had been working her spell on her colleagues.
“She’s full of surprises, my wife.”
Rachel frowned at my cryptic statement, but seemed to dismiss the hidden meaning. A few moments later, someone came over to her and whispered something in her ear.
“You’re going to have to excuse me,” she said before she made her way out in a hurry.<
br />
I mingled with the guests and wandered around the ballroom. The wine was excellent. And so were the canapes. I was in the middle of tasting one, when in the corner of my eye I spotted someone in a red gown walking in the opposite direction of where I was standing. Hailey. She looked beautiful. All my warning signals and danger signs failed at that moment. I don’t know how or when I decided. I was already on my way to her. She had on a strapless gown that was flow-length, wispy and made her seem like she was floating in the air. She had her back to me and was walking fast a little too fast for someone who was at a function. I reached her as she was to go toward the back entrance where the food trays were coming from and grabbed her hand. There was a column nearby, and I pulled her behind it.
“Hi.”
39
His entrance would be my cue to make myself scarce. I didn’t want to know what the wrath of Caiden would feel like in public. It would be best for both of us if we didn’t meet. One problem; the third person growing inside me. Ever since I had gotten the news, I had thought of nothing else. Dreams of a baby with Caiden’s eyes invaded my nights. I never thought of having children before this. They were such a far away concept to me that the idea of me as mother didn’t exist to me until now.
“You should tell him if you’re keeping the baby,” Alicia had said to me. Easier said than done, I thought. I will. It was the right thing to do. It just won’t be tonight. That meant executing Plan B: The avoidance strategy. As long as I was out of his way, we would not bump into each other. That should work. There was a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff that needed to be done, anyway.
“It won’t help to hide from him forever.” Goddamn Alicia. She had become a mind reader at this point.
“Not forever,” I said to her, “just for the moment. I don’t have the stomach to tell him now.”
“You don’t have to tell him tonight. But you have to face him at some point. He’s the one at fault here, not you.” My face flushed with guilt. I hadn’t told her the full story. I wasn’t sure if I understood the full story. All I had told her was we had separated. She had assumed that it was something he did. She kept alluding to possible affairs, all of which I denied.
“It’s good that he didn’t come with someone else.”
“How do you know?”
“He just entered.”
I turned toward the entrance, and my heart skipped a bit. All the fortifying I had done against my heart came crashing down the moment I laid my eyes on him. The room buzzed when he came in. The air changed. He always had the ability to attract the attention of everyone without doing much. That was the enigmatic power of Caiden Scott.
He looked handsome in a sleek black tuxedo that put all male models to shame. He was talking to Rachel. She pointed in my general direction and I almost froze, but it didn’t seem like he had noticed me. When she left him, he was met with other people who wanted to talk to him.
“I have to check the catering.”
“You can’t hide from forever,” Alicia said as I made a beeline to the kitchen. I was going to try. I was about to get out of the room when I heard, “Hailey?” A voice behind me called out. I thought of ignoring him, but what if it was a potential donor? I cursed to myself, plastered a smile and turned. “What a pleasant surprise!”
The voice belonged to a middle-aged woman, the mother of one of my former high school classmates.
“How are you, Mrs. Pendergahst?”
“How have you been? It’s been years since I’ve last seen you. Penny mentions you from time to time, of course.”
“Of course.” I hadn’t spoken to Penny Pendergahst ever since school, why she would find the need to mention me to her mother was beyond me, but I chose not to press it.
“And I heard about your wedding!” she tried to smile through the Botox-filled face.
“Thank you. Now—”
“It must have been wonderful. Dear Penny told me all about it.”
I was about to tell her I hadn’t invited ‘Dear Penny’ when I spotted him in the corner of my eye. He was making conversation with one of our other donors and he was only a few feet away. My pulse accelerated as my gaze darted around the room, looking for an exit.
I made a hasty apology to Mrs. Pendergahst and made my way out of there as fast as I could. Only I heard footsteps behind me that were tracing mine. It was him. I walked as fast as I could in a floor-length gown in a ballroom full of people.
I was about to reach the kitchen when I felt a hand grab be and pull be behind a column. I was thrust into a wall of muscle. He righted me with his hand.
“Hi Hailey.”
He was close. So close I could see the pores of his skin even in the low light. I pressed my hand to his chest. He stepped back; he didn’t let me go, his hand held me firmly.
“What’re you doing here?”
“I’m an invited guest. The guest of honor in fact,” he leaned forward, “I thought you were aware.”
“Stop being facetious. What’s your real reason for being here?”
“It’s been a while since I’ve seen you. You went away without any notice.”
“You told me to get out of your house!” the gall of his questioning. He chased me out.
“Without telling me where you had gone. We’re still husband and wife after all.”
“Do you care? I thought it best to not see each other.”
He shook his head. He was still close. The small space between us, which should have been suffocating, was making me feel breathless.
“You’re a murderer, Hailey. We can’t have you running away without facing justice now can we.”
My stomach fell. “Wh-what do you mean by that? Are you going to—”
“Send the tape to the police? No. That’s too cumbersome and I might not even get the outcome I want.” He stepped closer until our mouths were barely touching, “you deserve a much worse punishment than what the courts would give you, if any at all.”
My voice was barely audible. That was how much I was afraid of what was going to happen, “I’m sorry Caiden.”
“No. There is no remorse in those enormous eyes.”
“I am. Truly I am.”
“Shut up. Shut up.” I could sense the anger building within him. I could feel it in the tightening grip on my hand.
“Caiden—”
Anger and spite contorted his face. I had never seen him display such hate for anyone. He truly hated me. There was no way someone like him would accept a child between him and I.
“What do you want from me, I’ll do whatever you want to ease your pain.”
“There’s one thing I want. The truth.”
“Can you give me that?”
40
She faltered. She bit her lip in a way that made me want to kiss her. I shouldn’t want to. I should be over her. Truth is, I wanted to see her again. I had been lying to myself the entire week, giving myself stupid excuses about why I was here in the first place. But one look at her was enough to rid me of that silly notion.
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean, you don’t know? Are you still on your bullshit story?”
“That’s because I truly cannot remember! I wish I could and I could tell you everything you wanted.”
“You’re truly something else, you know.” I broke away from her even when I kept yearning to touch her.
“I wish I could tell you a story to satisfy you, but I can’t.”
More lies. Why had I convinced myself that she had changed? I had spun a tale in my mind that was influenced by my last time with her. This was the real Hailey.
“So this is how you’re going to play it? That was the last chance I was giving you to not be like your family.”
Her eyes widened. “What are you going to do?”
I leaned over to her and whispered in her ear, “Be careful. A storm is coming.” I stepped back and gave her a look over. She truly was beautiful. She was even more beautiful tonight. It must have been he
r dress or makeup. Whatever it is, she glowed with something that felt like it came from deep inside. I thrust my hands and my pockets and strolled back to the party.
“I’m no longer with my family, if that’s what you’re referring to,” she shouted just as I was about to leave her, “I don’t care what you do to them.” She could say whatever she wanted to make herself feel better than them. I didn’t care.