by Bec Botefuhr
“It’s going to be ok, Sierra. I promise.”
“If I’m pregnant, what does that mean for me and Marcus? It will ruin everything…”
“You don’t know that.”
“He will be so angry. I will have ruined his career. Chayne will take everything from him.”
“It’s going to be fine,” Quinn soothes. “Let’s just find out what we’re dealing with first. I’m going to go back, but I have the weekend off, so I’ll come and stay, ok?”
“I don’t want you to leave, Quinn.” I cry.
“I know, but I have to.”
I nod and he hugs me again. “Hang in there and call me when you need.”
He kisses my cheek and then leaves. I curl up on my bed, panicking and trying to control my breathing. This can’t be happening, surely it’s a mistake. How could I be so careless? How could I have not known that I forgot my pill after getting sick and it would end like this? God, I can only imagine the headlines now. ‘Mistress gets pregnant to take all Marcus’ money’. God, what have I done? This couldn’t possibly get any worse. I lay in my bed until Jayelle shows up at my door with a hand full of brown paper bags. She rushes in and closes the door, locking it.
“Come on, up, we need to see if this is something to panic about or not.”
“I can’t face this,” I say, covering my face.
“You have to, now get up.”
She shoves me from the bed and pushes me towards the bathroom. I take the brown paper bag she thrusts at me and feel my lip trembling.
“Sierra, you need to stay strong. Go and pee on a few different sticks and we’ll see what we’re dealing with here.”
“I just…”
“Now!” she demands, throwing her hands on her hips.
I turn and walk into the bathroom, shutting my brain off for a moment. Like a robot, I sit down, pee on three sticks and then walk back out. I am forcing myself not to think about it. Thinking about it means I don’t feel anything. It will be fine. I’m probably just over reacting. I’m probably just being stupid and stressed and that’s why my period is late. It happens. All the time. Jayelle grabs the tests from my hand as soon as I walk out and then orders me to sit on the bed. I do and peer up at her through my lashes as she checks her watch.
“Five minutes.”
“What am I going to do if they’re positive, Jay?”
She sighs. “You’re going to deal with it honey, you’re old enough, you’re smart enough and Marcus won’t leave you alone.”
“It will ruin his career.”
“Only if you let it. You don’t have to be with someone to raise a baby together, he can still help you out.”
“That’s not how I want my first child to live.”
“Then you work it out with him, either way, we will deal with this.”
“Can we look yet?” I croak.
She looks down at her watch and nods. With a deep breath, she turns the tests over. She stares for a long moment, her face expressionless. When she looks up at me, I can’t read a damned thing she’s thinking.
“Well?” I whisper.
“I’m sorry honey, but you’re pregnant.”
I make a loud, strangled sound and stand. “Are you sure, maybe they’re wrong, maybe we should do another one.”
She thrusts the tests at me. “Three tests, three different brands and they’re all positive and strong positives at that. I doubt it’s wrong, Sierra.”
“No,” I cry, dropping to my knees and gripping my head in my hands. “This can’t be happening.”
Jayelle crouches down. “Well, honey, it is happening. You have to be strong, you can deal with this, you can get through it.”
“Oh god,” I cry.
“Shhhh, it’s ok. We’re going to get you through this.”
“What will Marcus think?” I sob. “Do I even tell him?”
“That choice is yours, for now, you need to process what you’re going to do, don’t worry about how it will affect him at the moment.”
“Jayelle, I’m scared.”
She wraps her arms around me and holds me close. “I know honey, but we’re going to be ok. I promise.”
God, I hope she is right.
~*~*~*~*
MARCUS
I flip the paper over and stare down at the page. There is a massive photo of Ben on the cover, with a huge report about him being the one to abuse Sierra. I know the backlash this will have on his career, but it was a risk I was willing to take. He brought her down, together he and Chayne banded together. I should have known he never really wanted Sierra to work for him. All along he was working with Chayne to get something on her. They wanted to hurt her, because hurting her, would hurt me and they did that in hopes that I would break and Chayne would have something to fight me on. What she doesn’t know, is that I have had cameras in her condo for the last five days and I caught her outright fucking Ben. I guess that was his payment.
I am waiting for the call now. The call from Ben. He will know it was me, I want him to know it was me. I lean against my desk. I worked all night and stayed here at the White House. I didn’t want to go home and face that apartment alone. I just couldn’t deal with the pain. So I worked, doing the only thing I know will distract me. I’ve been up all night with conferences and catching up, but for the first time, my work hasn’t thrilled me. All I can think about is Sierra and how much I need her. I can’t have lost her. Not this easily.
My phone rings during a big email session I’m having, I glance down and see it’s Ben. Grinning, I answer it.
“Benjamin.”
“I’ll fucking ruin you, Marcus Harrison. You piece of shit. I’ll fucking ruin you!”
“I see you saw the article. Maybe you should have thought about that before bringing Sierra down.”
“I did nothing to her!”
“See, I have proof that it was you and Chayne who set up that reporter. In fact, I have proof that you two…well…shall I say…were having a good time together while you were plotting against me.”
“You’re talking shit!” he snaps.
“Oh really? I put cameras in Chayne’s condo, Ben. I saw it all. You should have thought about that, maybe you should have gone to your place. I honestly thought you were smarter than that. Did you really think I would just lie down and let her destroy me?”
“What do you want, Harrison? What do you need to get those clips destroyed?”
“You make a statement, you tell the reporters what you did to Sierra and you apologize publicly. Then, you get Chayne to back off. You give her whatever it is she needs to move on. If you don’t, I will show these tapes to the world. I will bring you down and I will destroy her while I’m at it.”
“I can’t make a statement, it will ruin my career!”
“The statement is already out there, the choice is yours, Ben. Apologize and have the article removed, or I show these tapes to the world and ruin more than just your career. You will bounce back from a statement, you won’t bounce back from being the reason my fiancé left me.”
“You’re a fucking bastard, Marcus Harrison.”
“I am, you should have known that before you started this war. The choice is yours, Ben. You’ve got twenty four hours to decide before I release the video.”
I hang the phone up and lean against the back of my chair, sighing. I don’t get a chance to breathe and focus, when Chayne comes storming in. I stare up at her, letting a slow grin spread across my face.
“How could you?” she shrieks.
“Chayne, don’t bother trying to come in here and make me feel bad about what you did. You made the mistake, you cheated, not me. None of this would have ever happened if you kept your legs closed. I am a patient man, but when you abuse the woman I love in the way you did, I lose my patience. I am no longer playing with you. Ben will do as I ask, or I will show the world the clip.”
“I don’t believe you have it,” she snaps, crossing her arms.
I open my computer
, click around a few times and then spin the screen to face her. She pales right away at the sight of Ben having sex with her, clear as day. I spin the screen around.
“Don’t bother trying to beat me down to get this either, I have given copies to many trusted sources to give out for me, if you decided to step in and make my life hell.”
“What do you want?” she whispers. “You won, so go ahead and tell me what you want.”
“I want you gone. I want you to leave and not touch my things. I’ll give you two million, I will let you keep the condo and the car but that’s it. I want you to walk out of here and never come back. If you don’t, Chayne, I will take you down. You will get nothing and you know it.”
Her eyes well up. “I thought you loved me…”
“Well, it’s funny how love changes when the one you love opens her legs for the world…”
“I put up with you for years,” she shrieks. “Stood by your side, put up with your moods. I supported you.”
I stand now, slamming my hand onto the desk. “And then you started sleeping around. Did you honestly think I would never find out? You put yourself in this situation Chayne, not me.”
“And now you’re leaving me with nothing!” she cries.
“Are you fucking serious? Nothing? I am giving you two million dollars, a house and a car!”
“I deserve so much more.”
I walk around the desk, stepping closer to her. “Do you want to try me, because if you want what you deserve, I am happy to give it to you.”
“I hate you, Marcus!”
“Well, the feeling is mutual. Pack your things and leave, now.”
She spins on her heel and storms out, slamming the door so loudly it rattles. Shit, if I have to deal with anymore today, I’ll knock myself out. I’m about to sit down when the phone rings, I look down and see Sierra’s number. Snatching it up, I answer it.
“Sierra…”
“How could you?” she seethes.
“What?”
“How could you, Marcus? How could you announce to the world that Ben was the one who abused me?”
“How do you know it was me?”
“You’re the only one who knew!” she screams. “How could you do that to me? I told you that because I trusted you. How dare you go and share it with the world. All you have done is make the situation worse.”
“How did I make it worse? I was protecting you, they made you out to be a…”
“Go on,” she screams. “Say it! A whore!”
“He deserved to pay for what he did.”
“Did you think about me at all, Marcus? Even for a second. Did you think about how this would look for me? You made it worse, it wasn’t your place to share that. It wasn’t!”
“Sierra…”
“No, leave me be. Do you hear me? Don’t you fuck anything else up. God dammit, Marcus Harrison, when will you realize that sometimes you can’t fix things. When will you stop trying to be in control? You only made it worse. Now people are saying I must have brought it upon myself because of the article yesterday, they think I am playing around with men and I deserved what happened. God, Marcus, thanks a lot.”
“Sierra, that wasn’t…”
“I have to go, I can’t do this.”
“Sierra...”
“We’re done Marcus, ok? We’re over. Don’t call me again. All you continue to show me…is that you cannot give up your control, not even for me. You’re never going to back down, you’re never going to be…well…what we need you to be. I’m sorry.”
Then she hangs up. I throw the phone so hard against the wall it smashes into tiny pieces. As I’m storming out of the room, I stop in my tracks. Did she just say…we?
CHAPTER 14
SIERRA
“Oh no, he didn’t.”
I stare down at the paper the next morning, and shake my head a few times. It can’t be for real. Marcus…he…did he…oh god he made Ben give me a public apology. Is that what this was about all along? Getting Ben to apologize? I can’t believe…I can’t believe he did this. How did he get him to do that? How did he get him to admit to it? Did he have some sort of evidence I didn’t know about? I let my eyes scan over the page and I read the article yet again.
‘Benjamin Ford stepped forward yesterday with a public announcement in regards to the pictures posted in regards to him and Miss Sierra Walters. His exact words were “I would like to come forward and publicly apologize to Sierra. It was me who inflicted such pain on her all those years ago. It was also me who set her up to be caught with Marcus Harrison. I would like to confirm that the previous article was correct and that Sierra nor Marcus played any part in what went down. I can’t express how terrible I feel about the events and how they played out. My sincere apologies go out to Sierra and Marcus.”’
I stare at the page for a long moment. I really can’t believe what I’m seeing. It doesn’t really make anything better, people will believe what they want, but somehow, deep inside…it makes me feel better. Hearing Ben admit to the world it was his fault, that he hurt me…it heals something inside me. It takes the shame away, it helps me grasp the situation with both hands, instead of letting it hang by one. I drop the newspaper and go over the conversation with Marcus yesterday. He was devastated. I really gave it to him and I should have let him speak first. He’s been trying to call since…but I haven’t answered. What do I say to him?
“Honey, you might want to see this,” my mother calls from the kitchen.
“Yeah, I seen it.”
“No…on television.”
I look up and then stand, rushing into the kitchen. The small television she is staring at, is blaring with breaking news. When I hear Marcus’ name…my heart clenches.
“What’s happening?” I whisper.
My mother takes my hand. “He’s resigned.”
“What?” I cry, turning my eyes towards the television where Marcus is standing beside the president as they make the announcement. People are shouting questions to Marcus, which he is answering as best he can.
“Is this because of the articles in the paper?”
“It has a little something to do with it, yes. It’s not the overall reason though. I just feel my time in the White House is done. It’s time for me to branch out and create something for myself.”
“Are you going to find Sierra? Rumors have it that you two are together?”
“No comment.”
“What about Chayne?”
“Chayne has found her own career and we will part our separate ways. There will be no further comment on the matter.”
Chayne has gone? What?
“What will you do now?”
Marcus smiles softly. “I really don’t know, but I have a few business ideas in mind.”
“Whatever happens, we wish you the very best.” The President says.