by Jamie Knight
I still needed to know if it was truth; had Alexander abandoned me?
Had he disowned what we, what I, had thought we had?
My thoughts were a case of push and pull, and it made me too restless to bear.
“Stella, I need a favor…”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Alexander
The ride home was slow and silent. I had given the controls to Truman to allow me time to dwell in my thoughts.
Is she alright? I hope she is. Maybe she moved on…
Miserable thoughts crippled my vision, and I was frustrated that there was no traffic for me to take my anger out on. Banging the horn always made everyone feel better, and in that particular moment, I wanted to get to my ranch and fly off in my helicopter and never come back.
But the moment we shared in that suite… I can’t go there.
So, home it was where Jonathan was surely awaiting me. Truman drove by the thick forest to my right. The month had been too long without someone to talk to that wasn’t a white balding man in a suit and a thick Southern accent.
Work had been on my nerves, and I had had a visit from one of the board members to discuss my employee relations.
He came in unannounced and strode to my desk, with Nancy following in tow.
“Sir, I tried to stop him, but…”
I waved her off.
“It’s okay, Nancy, you can get back to your station,” I firmly reassured.
She straightened her skirt and nodded, leaving my office with a silent tread.
At the threshold of my doors, I ushered the middle-aged, blue-suited, clean-shaven, square-jawed, thick-set, cologne-tanged, and bear of a man in front of me to his seat.
“What can I do for you today, Mr. Simons?
He took his chair and frowned at me.
“It has come to our attention that you had been in an inappropriate relationship with an employee, a very young employee. Now we accepted all of your traveling and damaging your reputation and all your ridiculous parties when you were younger. But this is too much. Do you realize the damage this has caused to our reputation as a company? An entity you began all those years ago and now you want to damage it?”
He breathed heavily, taking out a handkerchief and wiping his brow. I could only stare at him, and not utter a word. He was clearly not finished. I straightened my tie and sat up in my chair, giving him time to finish.
“Is it a mid-life crisis you’re going through? Why pick someone so young? And now, your behavior at work has changed too. Some of your staff has left several complaints anonymously, citing your rudeness and calling them out during work hours. You have a penchant for swarming the media around you, and I thank God there hasn’t been any videos of the sex scandal with…”
“Let me stop you right there, Bill,” I cut in. “I am in no way liable for what happens in my travels. What happened in Athens was clearly a clerical error, and…”
“Alexander, a lawyer got a tube of absinthe up his nose! By your hands! This cannot go on any further, Alexander. You have a week to get your shit together or we as the board will vote you out and get another CEO.”
Fucking hell!
I stood up, breathing flames and ready to chop his head off with my words.
“The fuck did you just say to me? Was that a threat, Bill?”
I was ready for a throw down.
It was a long time coming, anyway.
He stood up as well and edged away from my desk, straightening his suit and smirking like he was the boss of me. He was a fucking dick, and he was not afraid to show it.
“Take it how you will, Alexander. One week to make a statement to the press and apologize to your staff, or you’re out.”
Strutting like he had a staff up his crack, he took leave and shut the door with a bang.
That afternoon I had a glass of whisky, and asked Nancy to call off all my meetings. It was too overwhelming to consider doing much work, and the air conditioner was not as satisfactory as it used to be.
I could not, for the life of me, find a way to get to Valeria without making her hate me. I had to fix that.
The lonely ride past the forest meant I was close to home, and I was expecting a long talk with Jon regarding him finally letting me find and talk to Valeria. For a long time now he had deliberately restricted my access to Truman, and I could only wait for him to change his thoughts on the matter.
Truman pulled into my driveway and parked between the fountain and the front steps to the manor. He beeped and opened my door automatically. Getting out, I thanked him.
“You’re welcome, sir,” the program droned, before shutting the car door and driving away to the underground parking bay.
I was left at the fountain, enjoying the small sprays of water that jetted out into the air all around, shaking hands with the breeze that soothed the hot afternoon air that mellowed the ensuing month.
Walking towards the front door, I noticed a blue bike that sat perfectly against the wall, emphasizing the discrete manner in which it had been placed. If I had not been keen with my surroundings, I would have let it pass me by.
Has Jon taking up cycling? It must be the new thing for a man his age.
It was an unspoken rule to place the hand at the handle of the door, and it would scan DNA to let you in. There would be no need for keys in my house, and the efficiency of it all confirmed the security of the place. Only two people had access to my house, unless I had a guest.
“Welcome. You have one guest,” buzzed Truman.
One guest… I wasn’t expecting anyone. That could only mean Jon had a friend with him. I was cheering for him in my heart as I swung the door and let it shut behind me.
You still got game, old man.
I walked towards the desk at the middle of the twin stairs that led to the other wings of my house and stopped in my tracks when a cough directed me towards the kitchen.
I did not want to disrupt Jon’s personal activities — it had been such a long time since he got some attention, and this was one thing I would not mess up for him despite the cold war we had going on in the house.
“Master Alex… the kitchen, if you will,” he echoed.
That stopped me by the second stair.
He wants me to watch? This is getting weird, Jon.
“You’ll want to hear this, sir. In the kitchen, please.”
I dropped my suit jacket on the leather upholstered couch and walked through the doorway that led to the spacious kitchen. My eyes fell on Jonathan, who had his face turned towards me, and his guest, who was a fuzzy-haired, freckled and bespectacled young woman sipping juice from my favorite cup. She sat on one of the stools facing the counter.
Her face lit up when I entered and she sipped some more of her juice, side-eyeing Jon. He stood in a military stance, emphasizing his role as man of the house when I was not around.
She seemed to be around her early twenties, and I could assume the bike outside was hers, and that she was definitely not here on any pleasurable business with Jon. On the other hand, I wanted to know how and why a young girl such as her had been able to gain access and trust with Jonathan.
“Quite right, sir. This is Miss Stella Woods and she is the best friend to Miss Valeria Silva. She says she has a message for you.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Alexander
“So… will you do this?” Valeria’s best friend asked.
Stella’s story had been one of intrigue and mystery. She had shrouded most of what had occurred in the past few weeks for the obvious protection of Valeria and had gone an extra mile to tell me what I had been craving to hear all month long.
Valeria wanted to see me, alone.
She would choose the place and time and I would go to her to talk. We both needed it, and all parties involved knew that. I looked to Jon, who had his face set in stone.
He had said nothing the entire time the three of us were in the kitchen. Stella was in a really good mood, and it soothed me to
know that through her, Valeria was alright.
“Tell her I shall see her when it’s alright with her,” I finally agreed. “And thank you for taking such good care of her in my absence.”
The side glance that Jon directed at me before he stifled it was evident, and I knew he would not stop lecturing on about it after Stella left. He still thought me seeing Valeria was a bad idea, and he didn’t even know about the threat that had been made against me at work.
The young woman stood up and took her bag, swinging it over her shoulder. I could see why Valeria had her as her best friend; she reminded me of a younger Jon, with more oomph in her walk and tons more hair.
“I’ll pass that along. And Mr. Foster,” she called, swinging past the stairs heading for the main door under the crystal chandeliers.
Jon was way ahead of her and opened the door. She beamed. I looked her way.
“Don’t hurt her again. She does love you as much as I adore your house design, which is saying something.”
I couldn’t help but curve my lips in a smile and waved goodbye at her.
“I won’t hurt her,” I reassured her.
Jonathan hinted at a smile, but it was brief. I could not tell his mood as he closed the door.
Before he could say anything, I left and went up to my bedroom. The silence was all I was looking for, and I did not see the need to switch Truman to life for a while.
She still wants to talk to me. After everything I have done to her life.
I didn’t deserve Valeria. I had made our time together a journey of deceit and lies and yet, here I was, still losing the thing I sacrificed my heat for. I was sure the depth of my feelings was true, as was the meaning behind them.
I’ll go to her and finally let her know how I feel.
Deep inside my dark terrifying heart, there was love, and nothing Jon or the board members at my company anyone else would say would stand in the way of that.
“Sir, whatever you’re thinking, I thoroughly advise against it.”
The infamous drawl emanated behind me, and I had to tip my hat to his stealth technique. Turning, I saw that Jon was plopped on the leather chair by the table, a safe distance away in case I got upset.
He wanted to be nowhere near me, and the feeling was mutual, particularly after that scene not too long ago, where he used a tranquilizer on me to calm my emotions down. It was for the best.
“I don’t care, Jon.”
“Think about it, sir. You are old enough to be her father, and the board still won’t understand…”
So, someone must have clued him in, after all.
“Understand what, Jon?” I fumed.
I edged farther from him, taking long breaths to keep my anger under control.
He calmly looked at me from where he sat, studying me.
“You know how much this girl means to me,” I told him. “Remember how I staved off women for a long time, because I was trying not to be with her, yet found myself not being able to be with anyone? And so what if the board or the community or the world at large hates me for it? Fuck them! I have my own life to live, and I don’t give a rat’s ass about the implications.”
Silence.
It was the unhappy kind.
“Let me tell you how this will go, sir, for I owe your mother that much,” Jon finally said. “You will lose your company to the wolves that have been waiting for such a shit storm to come up. You will lose your house, and your reputation. Your name will become a laughing tock on the wall of shame.”
Well, when he put it that way, it didn’t sound good, but I still didn’t care. All I could manage to care about was Valeria.
“Everything you have been trying to achieve will have been for nothing, and the steps we took to eradicate world hunger will be taken as a joke,” he continued, making it more personal now. “Everything, Master Alex, everything will be ruined. You want to be in love; then good for you. It has never happened before and I cannot be more proud, that maybe there is a chance to have your family legacy flow on from you into another generation, and that is why I encouraged a blossoming relationship in the first place, but think ahead, Sir. Please. Just wait a few years.”
More silence; prolonged now.
“Jon, I have never felt this way before,” I finally responded. “You have been more than a father to me, and I respect your wisdom. But sometimes you can be an ignorant fool, maybe even as ignorant as I am. I cannot even think about trying to start over with someone new, or a string of other someones, like back in my playboy days. She is the only woman for me. Plus, there is no other woman who will love me for who I am. Everyone else apart from you and her take me for an object to fulfill their wishes. And I hate it. You of all people know how hard I tried to become the man I am today, and all I ask is for you to see what I could be with Valeria by my side. It was your fault we started going to church anyway.”
This time there was a chortle.
“Young Alexander, I suppose you are right,” he said. “I made you go to church, hoping you would rekindle your friendship with your old pal James, and thinking you would find some semblance of salvation, but you found it in a way I never hoped you would. You need to know that this kind of union, with such an age gap, is taboo in most cultures, especially here. No one will be happy at all about this, especially the board of directors and the media.”
I walked towards the man and embraced him as a son embraces his father.
“Then we’ll deal with the shit storm together, like we’ve always done. Who knows, you might just turn out to be a grandfather.”
His embrace tightened at the mention of that, and the Foster household was finally at peace with itself. Except it was missing one member: Valeria. And I was about to go rectify that, no matter the personal or business costs.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Valeria
My fingers were shaking. I was on edge the moment Stella confirmed that she would take Alexander the message for me. I had decided to talk to him, to finally get the words I had wanted to for so long off of my chest and to let him know about the baby.
The day passed along slowly, with no rush whatsoever. Stella had left me behind, doing a crossword puzzle, but we both knew it was a front to hide my anxiety. I sucked at crossword puzzles.
I had no idea how Alexander would take it, and I did not even think Stella would manage to get my message to him. After all, everyone knew his house was the most secure in the entire community.
Minutes dragged by endlessly and glancing away as seconds clicked by on the wall clock did not help at all. I had bit my fingernails in anticipation and could not wait for her to get home faster. I needed to know if he would or would not hear me out.
Sunset edged in. I paced around the house from one room to the next, upstairs and downstairs, searching for something to scratch the incessant itch in the middle of my chest that would not go away, despite two showers and a run from room to room.
The tiny ticks called it for me. I looked at the clock. It was sunset and she was not yet back.
Maybe she got lost?
Maybe she did not get it to him and got into trouble with his security?
I could not arrive at one particular answer, and as I settled for another shower, the front porch creaked, and light footsteps led to the door. A jingle of keys and a swing of the door later, I ran towards the freckled beauty of the best friend I had ever had.
“What did he say? Did you find him? Oh, come on, Stella, what happened?”
I could not settle for anything other than a long, full answer – the entire truth – and so I waited for her to take her shoes off and hang her bag on the rack by the shoe closet. She smiled cheekily, leaving me to stew in my curiosity till she was settled.
Thirty minutes in, and she had left the shower and was still drying her hair while I breathed on her neck, begging for answers. She walked downstairs with an air of suspense, and boy, was I in a twist.
“Stella!” I screamed. I needed to know. “What
happened?”
She sat me down and took my hands into hers and grinned childishly.
“Yes, he said yes. That’s the long and short of it.”
Goosebumps erupted everywhere. My skin tingled, my body snapped, my tongue dried up, and my pussy moistened. I was in a haze of fire thinking through the answer she had just given me, and after a series of calls and coaxing, I finally looked at Stella and shrieked.
“He fucking said yes!”
Holy fuck, I was not imagining any of it.
He really did say yes!
Then, I was filled with sudden dread.
“Stella, I wanted you to tell me everything you and he talked about, the exact way that it all went down, but now I’m only focused on those three words: ‘he said yes,’ and those three letters, ‘y-e-s.’ I don’t know what to wear or say or do… I’ve thought this through countless times in my head but now since it is real, I don’t know what to do.”
I was panicking and almost hyperventilating, and her friendly hushes and shushes brought me calm, a small bit, but something.
“Valeria, you need to chill, and fucking breathe. I’ll tell you all about what we talked about later. But for now, you need to calm down and make a practical plan. You want this dude to think you have the higher ground on him, right? He still thinks he did you wrong, and since he did, we want him to feel apologetic and confess what really lies in his heart. Did you see the dress I brought you from my friend’s store?”
This is why girls need girlfriends.
“Not yet, but I will look at it soon. Walk me through this, please…” I begged.
I had no idea what to think, and this was the first time I was meeting Alexander on my terms. It was exciting and scary, a combination meant for an adrenaline junkie, not me.
Life comes in spades, girl. Love it or leave it.
I was so glad I hadn’t left it.
