by Sarah Bailey
“Well, too bad you can’t have me then, isn’t it? I swear we already had this conversation.”
He simply shrugged and put a hand out.
“That’s where you’re wrong. I don’t give a shit if you try to bring me down because you’ll be going down with me.”
My body locked up. What the hell did he just say to me?
“You’ve changed your tune since last time.”
“You see, I realised something. I have all the power here. You can try claim I blackmailed you, but you’ve been seen by the public hanging off my every word. Who’re they going to believe? Me, who has all the evidence or the girl whose family covered up that your brother’s wife was part of a blood debt? I think I know who will win here.”
My phone buzzed on my desk, but one look at Max told me it wouldn’t be wise to touch it right now. Whoever it was could wait. I needed to get this man out of my office before he did something. The evil glint in his eyes made my blood turn cold.
“You think you’re that powerful, do you?”
He leant closer.
“I know I am.”
I gathered all the courage I didn’t feel and stood up, walking away to put distance between us. His closeness suffocated me and not in a good way.
“Threatening me is getting old now, Max.”
“You make it too easy. Your weakness is your family.”
I clenched my fists.
“You think because I’d do anything to protect them that makes me weak?”
“Love makes us humans weak.”
I scoffed. This guy was clearly a fucking idiot. Love was my strength. Having people in my life who cared helped me succeed in life. Their support was everything.
“In your fucked up delusional world of self-grandeur, perhaps. I happen to live in the real world.”
He laughed. Actually laughed at me before pushing himself off my desk and walking towards me. I backed away until I was against the windows. Bad move. Bad fucking move.
“I know what your father did to you.”
My heart thundered in my ears. He couldn’t know. How? There was no possible way he could’ve found out about that.
“Tell me, Jennifer, did you like it when you were held down and taken against your will? Did you scream?”
“Fuck you,” I spat.
“Sore subject, is it?” He reached up and ran a hand down my neck. “Not surprising your family is so fucked up and you, you’re just a little girl acting out because dear old Daddy raped you.”
I shoved his hand away from me which only made him smile. He had no idea. No idea at all. I wasn’t that girl any longer. Whilst I still needed to take that final step and tell my dad where to go, I was better now. Better than this piece of shit would ever know.
“You think you know so much about me, Max, but you don’t know shit. I’m not scared of you. If anything, you should be scared of me. Fucking terrified in fact of what I’ll do to you.”
I was bluffing right now, but there was no way in hell I’d let him see me back down.
His smile got wider, setting me on edge.
“Tut, tut, Jennifer. You really should know better by now.”
He struck then, wrapping his hand around my neck as he pressed me up against the window.
“I’m not afraid to hurt you.”
I shook my head, panic rising in my chest. He could hurt me all he wanted, but he might hurt my unborn child.
“Let me go.”
The gleam in his ice blue eyes told me he wasn’t going to stop.
“I’m never letting you go again, of that you can be certain.”
I struggled against him, gripping his hand around my neck and trying to tug it off. He only gripped me tighter. He was too close and I started to feel claustrophobic. I choked a little, trying to breath oxygen into my lungs so I didn’t panic further. It wasn’t working. My body locked up and all I could think about is what if he hurts my baby? What if he destroys the small tiny peanut I’d made with the love of my life?
“Please,” I choked. “Please, let me go.”
My life flittered before my eyes. All of my regrets and mistakes. The biggest one I had would be never becoming Mrs Coleman. I couldn’t bare it. Even if I lost my baby, we could make another one, but I couldn’t cope with being ripped away from Brent. I needed him so much. He’d become an essential part of me. We belonged together.
I need you, Brent. Fuck, do I need you.
Max tore me away from the window and threw me down on the floor. My hands instinctively went to my stomach, protecting the life inside of me.
“You’re pathetic. Breaking you down is far too easy. This hardly feels like work.”
I wanted to refute his words. I wanted to shout at him, but I couldn’t. My world felt like it was coming apart before my eyes as Max stared down at me coldly.
Would he hurt me further?
Would he destroy everything I’d fought so hard for?
“No wonder your father only wanted you for a quick fuck. You’re a waste of fucking space.”
Bile rose in the back of my throat. That’s when both Max and I heard the sound of footsteps behind us.
“What the fuck did you just say to her?”
Chapter Twenty Six
Brent
I saw red. I saw fucking red. Whilst I couldn’t see what was happening behind Jen’s desk, only that Max seemed to be standing over her, it didn’t matter. That was my girl and he wasn’t not getting anywhere near her again. As soon as I saw Jen’s text after I’d finished what I was doing, I’d smiled, not wanting to keep her waiting. Finding this little shit in her office was not expected, but fuck if it didn’t kill two birds with one stone.
“Who the hell are you?” Max said as he stared at me.
I didn’t answer him as I strode past Jen’s desk, finding her on the floor clutching her stomach. Had he fucking hurt her? Max Graves was dead. A dead fucking man. I turned to him and I swore I could see a hint of confusion and fear in his eyes.
“Did you fucking hurt her?”
“And what if I did? She’s mine.”
I cracked my knuckles and walked towards him. He backed off a few steps, clearly realising his mistake.
“I think you’re very much mistaken there.”
He tried to look like he wasn’t intimidated by me. Tried and failed.
“Who the hell are you?”
“Clearly didn’t do your research too well, Maximillian Henry Graves, now did you? Because I know all about you and your little dirty secrets.”
“What are you talking about?”
He had absolutely no clue. I’d spent all morning and half the afternoon dealing with Marcus and making sure Max never went public with the Benson’s secrets. Now I was going to teach this shit a lesson for ever laying hands on my Jen.
“I’ll let you in a little secret of my own. You see, Jen might not have told her family about your little attempt at ruining her life, but I don’t happen to be family. And I’ve learnt some very interesting things about you today.”
I heard a slight sob from next to me. I desperately wanted to go to Jen and make sure she was okay but dealing with Max came first. Closing the distance between Max and myself as he backed up against the wall, I stared down at him.
“How about I start with you embezzling money from your own parents?”
The blood drained from his face. Idiotic little stuck up prick.
“Or should we talk about how you’ve almost ruined your own company by mismanaging their funds?”
“Shut up, you don’t know anything!”
I almost laughed, but I was too angry with this little shit.
“I know everything.”
“I can still bring them all down. Just watch me.”
Shaking my head, I refrained from putting hands on him even though I really wanted to beat Max to a pulp.
“No, you can’t. You see, I had a nice little ch
at with our mutual friend, Marcus and whilst you were here making a nuisance of yourself, I destroyed anything you have on the Bensons. You can cry wolf, but who’s going to believe the boy who stole money from his parents and his own company? Hmm?”
“You’re lying.”
“Am I? Are you sure about that?”
I wasn’t lying. I knew ways of getting rid of shit like that. It’d taken me longer than it should’ve. Mostly because I had to get someone to help me hack into Max’s accounts so I could get proof of his fraudulent activities. Whilst Aiden officially worked with Ben at his tattoo shop, he also on occasion was more than happy to do things for me. He hadn’t asked questions, merely got on with it, and within an hour, had what I needed.
“You still haven’t told me who you are and why you’re doing this.”
I stepped back and smiled at him.
“Oh, I didn’t forget. Who I am is irrelevant. All you need to know is you’re going to burn. Perhaps not today, but soon enough. You should really find better friends, Max, and not ones who are willing to rat you out the moment they smell trouble.”
His eyes narrowed, but he stayed against the wall.
“Who are you talking about?”
“You were just a pawn in Marcus’ personal vendetta against Zach Benson, but you were too stupid to see it. Nobody messes with this family and gets away lightly. Don’t you know why everyone was so fucking scared of him or did Marcus decide not to share that little piece of information with you?”
I thought his face couldn’t get any whiter, but it did.
“I suggest you run along before I change my mind about breaking that perfect nose of yours for hurting my fiancée.”
His mouth opened and closed several times like he was a fucking fish. Idiot clearly thought he was some kind of god with his looks, but he was nothing but a sad little boy who liked to hurt women for his own sick pleasure.
“What? You’re engaged to Jennifer?”
“She’s mine. Come near her again and I will make it hurt. You’ll wish you never laid eyes on me. Understood?”
He chose the wrong moment to get cocky. Puffing his chest out, he tried to get up in my face.
“She belongs to me.”
I lost my patience. Max went flying back into the wall as my fist connected with his jaw. And then I hit him again just for good measure. He put his hands up, cowering away from me.
“What the fuck?”
“Perhaps now you’ll understand how serious I am.”
“You didn’t have to hit me.”
I almost laughed.
“That was for hurting Jen, now get out. You wouldn’t want your face to meet my fist again.”
Max’s eyes flashed with fear, holding his mouth as blood trickled down his lip. Then he stumbled away from me and out of the office.
I took a breath, shaking out my fist out before I crouched down next to Jen. She stared up at me, tears welling in those beautiful blue eyes.
“Brent,” she sobbed.
“Shh, come here.”
I wrapped her up in my arms and held her to my chest as the dam broke.
“I was so scared he’d hurt our baby. He tried to strangle me again.”
I wish I had hit the fucker a third time, but it didn’t matter. Everything I’d found would bring his life crashing down around him.
“You’re safe now. He’ll never hurt you again. I promise.”
If he tried, I wouldn’t hesitate to beat him to a pulp. I wasn’t a violent man, but if those I cared about were threatened, there’d be no telling what lengths I’d go to. And I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel some satisfaction from decking Max.
Jen clutched me tighter and cried on my chest until her tears dried up. I held her the whole time, murmuring how much I loved her.
“I keep crying all the time,” she mumbled.
“You’re allowed to cry.”
“I don’t cry! Stupid hormones. You’re not allowed to tell anyone about this. It ruins my image.”
I couldn’t help chuckling.
“What? Your non-nonsense, independent woman, I can do anything I want and nothing’s going to get in the way of it attitude? We both know that’s an act, Jen. You’ve got a soft little heart under that hard exterior.”
“Shut up… Ugh, only you’re allowed to see it.”
I kissed the top of her head.
“Your secret is safe with me.”
“It better be.”
She pulled away and stared up at me with watery eyes.
“I guess today I was the stupid damsel in distress and you came riding in on your white horse to rescue me.”
She wrinkled her nose at the prospect and I grinned.
“Vanquishing the enemy with my sword and shield?”
“Something like that. You said you’d protect me and you did, so I guess I owe you an apology for not believing you before.”
“No need. Strong, independent women don’t need knights in shining armour.”
She reached out and ran her fingers along my jaw.
“This one does.”
My heart thumped against my chest. The soft and adoring look in her eyes hit me like a ton of bricks. Who’d have thought Jen would ever look at me like this? That she’d love me in the way she did.
“I’ll never not need you. Especially not now you’ve knocked me up and now I’m an emotional, horny mess.”
We both stared at each other for a long moment before bursting out laughing. That was certainly true. Not that Jen hadn’t been into sex before, but now she was insatiable. I couldn’t complain about our very loud daily romps. I know they’re loud because Dante complained about it yesterday. Not in front of Jen, but he pulled me aside and basically said if I didn’t stop making his sister scream, he’d kick us out of the main house. What could I say? I loved it when she let go, but I could imagine he didn’t exactly appreciate listening to his sister in the throes of orgasm. I told him to suck it up if he expected us to babysit Logan for him and Liora, to which he huffed and walked off. I think I got my point across.
“Come on nympho, I’m breaking you out of work early. We need to go talk about this with D and well, I need you there to make sure he doesn’t kill me when he finds out what we’ve been keeping from him.”
“Are we really safe from Max now?”
“Yes, I expect he’s received a summons from his parents right about now. He won’t be bothering us again. Trust me.”
I’d made sure of it. Revealing his financial misconduct to the right people would bring him down. If they wanted to involve the police, they could. I preferred to remain anonymous and keep Bensons and their company out of the firing line.
“Have I told you how much I love you?”
“No.” I leant towards her. “I really don’t think you have.”
She smiled before I kissed her and the rest of the world melted away.
***
“You kept that shit from me?”
Dante was pacing the living room, blue eyes a little wild after Jen and I had explained what happened with Max.
“I couldn’t tell you. He would’ve ruined us completely.”
I rubbed Jen’s arm as she watched her brother.
“Doesn’t fucking matter, Jen. We deal with things as a family. You don’t go running off to save the fucking day when it comes to matters of the company.”
She sprung up and pointed at him.
“You weren’t there. You left everything in Fi, James and my hands. I did what I had to. He left me with no choice but to agree to his shit. I warned you about it, but no, you insisted we had to work with him.”
He stilled before he visibly deflated.
“I’m sorry.”
Jen dropped her hand to her side.
“W… what?”
“I’m sorry. I should’ve listened to you. We needed that expansion plan to go ahead and there was no way we would’ve been ab
le to do it without extra investment. I wanted to make sure the three of you could cope with it without me, but clearly, I was wrong to rush it. We should’ve waited. So I’m sorry. I never wanted you to go through anything like that.”
She was silent for a long moment. I wasn’t sure what Dante would say, but this wasn’t it. It seemed he kept surprising the two of us at every turn. Perhaps he’d learnt his lesson from the way he’d handled Fi and Jensen’s relationship. Or perhaps he realised his sisters were more than capable of dealing with things on their own. Either way, it seemed he’d let go of his overprotectiveness a little. Besides, he had his son to worry about now. The twins could handle themselves. Especially now they’d both had therapy.
“It’s okay. We all make mistakes. I’m not blaming you. The situation was shit, but it’s over now. It’s not like we could’ve changed it. Besides, if anyone’s to blame, it’s Dad.”
Dante stiffened, his blue eyes growing dark as he turned on me.
“As unhappy as I am about him being aware of Logan, I can’t blame you for it. He’s a manipulative piece of work and quite frankly, if you hadn’t gone to him, then this situation would’ve never been resolved.”
I hoped now their father would be out of our lives for good now.
“I didn’t want to tell him. He doesn’t deserve to know Logan.”
“I know. He can’t get to us now. He’ll just have to live with never knowing his grandson. That is justice enough for me.”
Jen looked at the floor, her hand going to her stomach. She rubbed it a little before biting her lip. The hairs on the back of my neck prickled. Something was wrong.
“I’m going to see Dad next week with Jensen and Fi.”
Dante’s head snapped to her and I felt like the world had dropped out from underneath me. My throat constricted. Jen couldn’t go and see Zach. What good would that do?
“What? Why the hell would you do that?”
“I need to, Dante. I can never get closure without it.”
“Jensen agrees with this?”
“Not exactly, but he understands why. It’s my choice. He’s never told me to go see Dad. I know it’s hard for you to understand, but I can’t move on from it. I just can’t. Therapy has helped, but it doesn’t address the root cause of everything, and that’s what he did to me and Fi. I want to look him in the eye without feeling terror at his very presence. He’s not allowed that power over me any longer. I have to prove to myself he doesn’t have it. Then and only then can I forgive myself for everything.”