by Marian Tee
“Again, Yanna, you’re being fucking deceived. I have to go now. I’m going to meet with Chloe.” As he ended the call, Staffan did his best to forget the stricken look on Yanna’s face when she realized what he was about to do.
The call from Chloe had been a shock, but it had not affected him in the way Staffan had thought it would. If he had to put a word to it, he was ambivalent about meeting her but his heart no longer felt it was being shredded at the mere thought of her. It just went to show, Staffan thought with hardening anger, how much Saffi had fucking destroyed him with her lies.
Parking his car in one of the reserved basement slots for his family, Staffan took the private elevator to get to the café. When the doors parted, he was stunned by the first person he saw.
Saffi.
The way she kept rubbing her eyes was familiar, something she typically did to keep herself from crying. His heart squeezed at the sight, but Staffan told himself it was none of his fucking business if she cried or not. He shouldn’t fucking care since he had left their home this afternoon just for the sake of making Saffi think he was out to do shit.
He deserved to hurt her. She deserved to be hurt. So if she was fucking crying now---
Fuck.
Staffan couldn’t believe how stupid he was. She was fucking crying because she probably knew Chloe was here – probably even spoke to her. She was just the type to confront Chloe even if she had no idea how such an encounter would turn out.
Was she thinking he would be two-timing her just as she did him?
He shouldn’t care if she did. She fucking deserved to be labeled a fool the way he had been labeled one ever since the news of her pregnancy broke out.
Staffan was still telling himself that when he finally reached Chloe’s table. As he slid into the seat across her, he realized with unconcealed shock that Chloe looked old, and it was not because she was years older than him.
It was the jaded look in her eyes, the cynical twist to her lips as she smiled at him. All of those things, he acknowledged uneasily, applied to him as well.
“And so,” she said with a soft mocking laugh, “we meet again, my love.” Chloe had hoped to disconcert Staffan but instead, he only responded with a smile so unaffected, it made her blink.
Staffan said just as softly, “Today’s circumstances are better than the last time we met, certainly.” Before she could speak, he told her blandly, “I know why you asked to meet me.”
She stiffened but did her best to brazen it out even as her heart pounded with fear. “Of course you do, my love. I’m single and you could be single, too---”
“You are currently one million dollars in debt.”
Chloe’s mouth closed, her eyes flashing with humiliated fury at the realization that Staffan Aehrenthal did know of her predicament – he probably knew every shitty detail about it. “And so you agreed to this meeting just to turn me down in person?” Chloe was snarling, but inside, the fear of imprisonment was making her feel faint. She could not – would not – survive behind bars. She would probably kill herself before that happened.
The sight of Staffan shaking his head confused her.
“Then what?” she demanded.
Staffan slowly leaned back against his chair. “I want to see you beg, Chloe. I want to hear you beg for your life the way I begged you in the past.”
Chloe whitened at his words. She remembered the cruel way she had left him, remembered how she had gloried in the way he was suffering because he loved her so much. It had fed her ego back then, made her believe that she was worth so much more than being engaged to a rags-to-riches heir.
Looking at Staffan, she knew that he could and would extract a much more punishing revenge from her now. Then, he was just begging Chloe for her love. Now, she would need to beg him for her life.
Shame and pride made her react spontaneously. Chloe grabbed the glass of water on the table and threw the contents at Staffan. “Fuck off!” She knew the moment she did it, there was no turning back.
She was over. Her life was over.
Chloe started to shake. “I’m s-sorry.”
She had expected Staffan to fly into a rage at what she had done. The old Staffan she knew would have. But this one was…different. He was much colder, harder, a smirk playing on his lips as he calmly took out a handkerchief to wipe the water from his face.
“That was the wrong thing to do, Chloe,” he murmured as he set the handkerchief on the table. “I only wanted to hear you grovel but now…” Staffan came to his feet gracefully, and suddenly it struck her – the sheer beauty of him, the rawness of his sexuality – Staffan Aehrenthal was still the most intensely beautiful man she had ever met, and he had loved her.
Staffan had loved her, and she had thrown it back at his face because she had loved herself more.
“Have a good life behind bars.”
As he turned, terror enveloped her body and she cried out, “Wait.”
Staffan stilled, but he didn’t turn, wouldn’t perform even the smallest compromise to make it easy for her. And in the deepest part of her, Chloe knew she couldn’t blame him. “I’ll fucking beg.” Every word was forced out of her. She hated the way her voice shook, hated the way her entire body shook, but Chloe couldn’t stop it.
A million dollars in debt…
And it was all because she had tried to buy happiness by gambling.
“Do you want me on my knees?”
Staffan finally turned to her. His beautiful face was completely expressionless, and his voice was was just as bland as he said politely, “If you wish.”
“I don’t fucking wish.” The words came out a furious scream, and she knew with those words she had already lost every bit of her pride and self-respect. With that scream, it was as if she was begging every patron inside the restaurant, every fucking waiter, to witness her humiliation.
Here lay Chloe Gustav, once a famous actress, now a bankrupt has-been forced to beg the one man who had loved the real her.
The words burst out of nowhere, strangely melodic and very much like an epitaph. It sapped her energy, and she found herself falling on her knees, completely defeated. “I’m begging you. Lend me the money – please.” Her eyes closed as tears trickled down her face, probably the first tears she had shed in years that weren’t contrived at all.
Silence answered her. When she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was a check for two million dollars thrown in front of her.
The sobs came fast and furious, and the memories she had fought so hard to bury broke free. She had been Staffan’s surrogate older sister when they were kids. When they grew up, she had been his first lover, his first everything. He had loved her more than life itself, but his love hadn’t been able to satisfy the gnawing need in her to be one of them.
Girls like Sapphire March, who had been born with everything.
Only now – only when it was too late – did Chloe finally understand that she could never be like Sapphire March. And it wasn’t because Chloe couldn’t be as beautiful, as rich, or as sophisticated. Girls like Sapphire had the kind of innocence that couldn’t ever be tainted. She used to have that – but she had lost it by turning her back on Staffan.
“Staffan, wait!”
He stiffened at the sound of Chloe’s voice behind him. Seeing her had left a vile taste in his mouth. She reminded him of how fucking foolish he had been with her. It was like rubbing salt in an old wound. It became apparent that even though he was over thirty years old now, Staffan could still play the fool because of a woman.
“Staffan---”
He turned to her wearily. “I don’t want to have any fucking thing to do with you anymore. Consider that check as my way of saying thank you when you and your mother helped me when I was a child. But after this, I’d rather forget you even fucking existed.”
Chloe didn’t even flinch. “I know that.”
Her words made Staffan narrow his gaze. “What fucking game are you playing now?”
Her answering laugh was bitter. “The silly thing about this is that I should be playing a game, doing my best to seduce you or make you pity me but…I’m not. There’s no game.”
Impatience made Staffan frown. “Get to the fucking point---”
“I met her.”
He inhaled sharply, her words confirming his earlier suspicions. “Just stay the fuck away from her,” he said tightly before turning away. Fuck, fuck, fuck. This wasn’t part of the plan. He shouldn’t fucking care what Saffi thought he was doing with Chloe. He shouldn’t. But he fucking did.
“So I was right,” Chloe said from behind him. “You love her.” He spun around to snarl at Chloe, but she beat him to it, saying with that same unnerving cynical twist on her lips, “And for some reason, she loves you too.”
“Shut up!” He didn’t like the way she was saying the words. It was as if he didn’t deserve Saffi’s love, as if Saffi’s betrayal could be forgotten just by wishing it away.
“She paid me to leave, you know. She begged me not to hurt you. She even cried, the stupid girl.” When Staffan only looked at her, she said savagely, “I’m doing you a fucking favor! Can’t you fucking see that what happened to us – what I did to you – is making you act like a fucking asshole when she doesn’t deserve it?”
“Figures you’d take her side,” he snapped derisively even as his heart furiously beat at Chloe’s words. “Both of you being a slut---”
Chloe cut him off with a fuck-off flip of her finger. “It’s your call, Staffan. But I’m telling you – you’re close to fucking this up. For some shitty reason, that girl wants to love you to death. She wants to love you forever but even if she wants to – it won’t fucking last, Staffan. The same way that you used to love me and it didn’t last. Someone will come and that person – if he’s smart – he’s going to snatch Saffi away and then you’d be too fucking late.”
She didn’t wait for him to answer, sauntering off with her chin up in the air. For some insane reason, Chloe had gained his respect with that – something Staffan had thought was fucking impossible after everything she had done.
As he finally slid back into the driver seat of his car, Staffan felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. It was a text message from Bob.
Saffi is headed to her brother’s office, boss. And she’s crying.
Staffan’s heart pounded wildly in his chest. When they had broken up, she had done her best to avoid having her family see her in pain. Only the greatest hurt, the most desperate motives could make Saffi reach out to her family like this.
Without another thought, Staffan shifted the gear for maximum speed.
Chloe’s words beat his brain like a mallet as he drove like hell to Steel March’s office. Someone will come and that person – if he’s smart – he’s going to snatch Saffi away and then you’d be too fucking late.
No fucking away, Staffan thought grimly. He would not let Saffi leave him. Whatever happened, he just could not let her leave him.
Chapter Eight
Saffi March changed her name to Saffi March-Aehrenthal
Everyone who was ever employed or was still employed by March Enterprises would always pity Sapphire March.
Saffi knew that, had always known that, and she had long accepted it. Their employees tended to grow old with them, and as a result, all of them were like family to her. All of them had seen how hard it was for her to make friends in high school because she was different. All of them had witnessed how she had been turned into a local sensation – a private butt of the jokes by their country club associates and their children – when Vania Coolidge had revealed that at sixteen, their high school’s smartest graduate still talked to herself and her fish. The video had been even more humiliating because it had been edited to include comic balloon dialogues from Saffi’s aquatic pets.
And the made up remarks hadn’t just been crude. They had been vulgar, causing Saffi to be literally sick to her stomach until her parents had rushed her to the E.R. for treatment.
Every second of that video was still vividly imprinted on her mind, never really forgotten – no matter how hard she tried.
“Hi, Freddie,” she had greeted the rare-breed catfish she had donated to the middle school science laboratory.
And the video’s editor – one of the most popular football players back then and the current vice-mayor of their town – had made “Freddie” answer. “Hi, fish momma. Some day, I’m gonna figure out how to get you alone and fill your tummy with fish eggs so we can make fish babies together.” The scene had segued to Saffi’s face superimposed on the heads of tiny fish.
Even then, Saffi could not make herself ask for her family’s help. They had given it. She had been thankful for it. But she had not asked for it because she wanted to be strong, wanted to find a way to make them proud on her own.
But this time, she had no pride left.
When she got to Steel’s office, it was clear he was already waiting for her. He had a phone to his ear, and she had a feeling it was one of his security men, reporting to him about what had just happened. She wouldn’t put it past Steel. He had always felt a special need to protect her ever since that awful night.
At the sight of her, Steel ended the call. “Out.” He did not take his gaze away as he spoke the word and the group of harried-looking executives seated around the conference table hastened to do his bidding.
When the door closed behind the last executive to leave, Steel said quietly, “Come here, baby girl.”
Saffi rushed to him, and she was already crying by the time his arms closed around her. “I’m sorry,” she sobbed. “I’m so sorry for being weak.”
“You’re the strongest person I know, baby. You just have a different way of showing it.” Steel hugged his sister as tightly as he could, wishing there was a fucking way for him to absorb her pain. Everything that happened to her since that goddamn night during her high school graduation was his fault, and Steel knew he would feel that way his entire life.
“I issued a check---”
“Sssh. It’s okay, I know. It will be good.”
“I can’t lose him to her, Steel. I love him too much.”
The words pained Steel to hear. He couldn’t see how a gentle sweet soul like his sister could want such an asshole. He pulled away, needing to look into Saffi’s eyes as he urged her harshly, “Divorce him, Saffi. I was wrong. I was goddamn wrong to force you to marry him.” He started to say more when he saw a red light flickering from his desk, indicating a security matter.
“Saffi?”
Something in Steel’s voice made her look up in fear. “What is it?”
“Your husband is coming up.” The curtly spoken words had barely left Steel’s mouth before his doors flew open and Staffan came stalking in, past Steel’s hapless-looking secretary. Steel nodded a dismissal before turning to his brother-in-law. Steel had never felt strongly enough about anyone outside his family, but this man was fast proving to be an exception. He despised Staffan Aehrenthal to the point of becoming unreasonable, and his tenuous grip on his temper was quickly eroding with every instance he saw his baby sister being hurt.
Staffan’s fists clenched at the way Steel had his arm protectively around Saffi’s slim shoulders. It didn’t fucking matter that he was Saffi’s brother. He was a fucking man and in the mood he was in, he did not any other man touching Saffi.
“What’s this? A touching family reunion and I wasn’t called to be a part of it?”
Saffi jerked at the jeering note in Staffan’s voice, but she still couldn’t make herself look at him.
Steel’s temper rose when he felt his sister’s body jump at Staffan’s tone. He said between clenched teeth, “You are five seconds away from being dragged out of here by security.”
Staffan laughed. “Pretty boy like you can’t handle me on your fucking own, is that it?”
Steel tensed.
Knowing that at any moment the two could get into a fistfight, Saffi made herself look at Staffan.
A silent cry of alarm went through her. Staffan looked furious and had sounded like it, which had terrified Saffi. If he had found out about Chloe and was going to take her to task for it, she knew she would never survive the pain.
But it wasn’t that.
Beyond the fury, there was a lost, wild look in Staffan’s eyes, as if his back had been forced against a wall and he didn’t know where else to turn.
“What’s wrong?” she whispered.
Staffan’s virulent look made her flinch. “You tell me, Saffi,” he snarled. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
Steel answered for her. “She’s here because she’s leaving you---”
“Over my dead body,” Staffan growled, starting for Steel.
“No!” Saffi managed to move in front of Steel before Staffan could reach her brother.
Steel smiled icily. “That can easily be arranged.”
Staffan said grimly, “I’ll kill you first.”
Saffi tried pushing Staffan away but he wouldn’t budge, didn’t even move an inch. “Staffan!” When he didn’t look at her, she changed tactics and looked up at Steel instead. “Please, Steel, don’t make this worse.”
“The only way this is not going to end with one of us killing the other is if you tell me why you’re here,” Staffan said coldly behind her.
She froze at his words, even as her heartbeat escalated into a panicky rhythm. Oh my God, could he know? Did he know?
At her silence, Staffan asked bitterly, “Are you trying to think of another lie, Saffi?”
She whirled around at those words, aghast at what he was thinking, at how betrayed Staffan sounded. “No!” Her voice broke as she repeated fiercely, “No!”
The look in Staffan’s face made her cry. “I’m not lying, Staffan. Please believe me.”
“Saffi.” Steel was warning her, protecting her.
She loved him for it, knew he had a reason of warning her against telling Staffan the truth but the look in Staffan’s beautiful eyes was unbearable. He hurt and because of that, she hurt too, badly. “I saw Chloe this afternoon,” she whispered.
