Alexander was working at his desk when Oliver walked into his office and came to sit near him at his desk. Alexander gave him a welcoming smile. “Hello! Back again so soon? I feel lucky. Is it my birthday?”
Oliver gave him an even look. “If it was your birthday, we would be in the Caribbean, sipping MaiTai’s and staring out at crystal blue water. We would not be sitting in your office discussing drama.”
“Which drama?” Alexander sighed as he leaned forward and planted his arms on the desk between them.
“Well your drama of course. I wouldn’t discuss my drama here. I’d wait until we were somewhere like a dive bar at two in the morning and I was completely drunk, and then I’d lay my head on your shoulder and cry my eyes out. That’s how we do my kind of drama. Yours is much more blasé, though not boring.”
Alexander raised a brow. “Well thank you, I do my best. So spill it, which drama has you sitting here insulting my drama today?”
“Well all of it, but specifically I wanted to know how things are going with you and Callie and to begin with.” He watched Alexander with interest.
Alexander couldn’t help but smile then. “things are going really well. Like… I am falling in love with her. That well.”
It was Oliver’s turn then to look at Alexander with some surprise. “You’re falling in love with her? My, that is serious. Does madame feel the same about you?”
Alexander nodded. “She does. I’m a heck of a lucky guy.”
“How serious does this falling in love look to you at this point?” Oliver asked, his curiosity piqued.
“Permanent, serious, I think. I mean, it’s still pretty new, and we’ve only just confessed our love, but if I was going to make a guess from right here right now, I would say totally, definitely, permanent. Probably rings. That’s how serious. Don’t tell her I said that, though.” Alexander smiled slightly.
Oliver shook his head. “Oh I wouldn’t dream of telling her that. I’m waiting to tell her the really good things, like the story of you trying to redecorate my bathroom after a particularly rowdy night out drinking.”
“Please god, don’t ever tell her that one.” He groaned miserably.
“And why not? If she’s going to be my best friend in law, she gets to know all of the juicy bits.” Oliver pointed out.
“Not all.” Alexander shook his head.
“Most of the juicy bits. Definitely that bit. Listen, I wanted to tell you that I know that things are not exactly going easily for you right now, or for the two of you. I want you to ignore all the bad publicity you’re getting, the scary news, the negative press, the dirty looks… the whole thing. Just ignore all of it. I want you to follow your heart. You’ve been given a real gift with that girl, and I know you know it, but I’m here to reinforce that and remind you of it. Don’t screw it up. Don’t lose this very precious gift.” Oliver looked at him seriously then.
Alexander shook his head. “I won’t. I’ll do my best to keep her, and I won’t screw it up.”
“Good. Now that we have that out of the way, I thought I might also mention to you that I’ve decided to have some investigations done about this reporter who seems to be hell bent to bring you down. I want to know why he’s bloodhounding you both. I just know that there’s so much more to it than him getting stories for his trash liner newspaper.” Oliver looked annoyed and interested all at the same time.
“So you’re going to become Sherlock Holmes?” Alexander asked with a smile.
“I suppose I’ll need to get a new hat, but yes, that is the idea. I don’t trust him, and I know that he’s up to something. I want to find out what it is and stop him.”
“Well then, thank you very much. I do appreciate that. It means a lot to have you on the case, and I don’t know what I’d do without you.” Alexander told him with no small amount of sincerity.
“You would never make it without me, Alexander. Luckily, you’ll never have to try.” Oliver gave him a rare genuine smile.
***
Jack, Noel, and Callie sat with Jenny in the living room of the house and Callie spoke with the little girl, hating everything that she had to say to her.
“We have something that we need to talk with you about.” Callie began as Jack looked away and Noel looked depressed. Jenny had a confused expression on her face.
“What is it?” she asked, folding her small hands together on her lap.
“I know that we never talk with you about your real father, but we need to now, because he is back here in Seattle and he wants to see you.” Callie explained as easily as she could. She didn’t want to tell Jenny all the horrible things about him, at least not at her young age. When she was older, they would hold nothing back and tell her everything, but not while she was so small. Instead, Callie had determined to keep it as neutral as possible to make the changes as easy on Jenny as they possibly could be.
She stared at Callie in surprise. “He… he’s here?” She asked in a thin voice.
Callie nodded. “Yes, he is.”
Jenny shook her head. “I don’t want to see him.” Her eyes were wide and her she clenched her fingers tightly together. Callie saw her demeanor change and she frowned a little with concern.
“What is it that you’re thinking honey? Why don’t you want to see him?” Callie asked with a light tone, at least as light as she could manage. Jack turned his head to look at Jenny in silence.
Jenny’s face grew dark and she scowled as if she was in pain inside. “I remember him, just a little bit. He was so mean! He yelled at Mommy all the time, and he pushed her. He.. he hurt her and hit her. He yelled at me too, and he hit me a lot. I don’t want to see him. He’s so scary and mean!”
Jack stood up from his seat on the sofa and walked into the kitchen. Callie heard a loud thump as he hit the counter, and then there was no more noise. Jenny was startled by the noise, but she turned her eyes back to Callie.
“I don’t want to go. Please don’t make me go.” Jenny pleaded.
Noel reached her arm around the girl and comforted her. “Oh honey, you’re not going to be there alone with him. No. We’re all three going to go with you, and we’re going to sit in one room while you go into the room right next door to see your father. There’s going to be someone… a man or a lady, who goes with you. You won’t be alone with him. Not at all. Not even for a second. He can’t hurt you, and no one is going to let him. He just wants to see you and he asked a judge if he could and the judge said yes.”
“Why did the judge do that? Can I tell the judge that I don’t want to see him?” Jenny asked hopefully.
Callie sighed and shook her head. “Oh honey, I wish. I wish so much that it was that easy, but you see, he is your father, so he has a right to get to see you, unless the judge tells him that he can’t. So we’ll go see him this time and see how it goes, and I’ll find a way to ask the judge if you can talk to him and tell him that you don’t want to see Vick again. Also, this is only for half an hour, so it’s going to be really fast and it will be over before you know it.”
Jenny got up off of the couch and hurried to Callie. “I wish I never had to see him again in my whole life.”
“Well, maybe that’s something that you can tell the judge. I’ll do my best to make that happen for you, okay?” Callie offered helpfully.
Jenny nodded.
“Okay, well it’s time to go, so we’re all going to get into the car and go. We’ll take you out for ice cream after, if you want.” Callie promised.
Jenny trudged out to the car with her family and a short time later, she was taken into a room where her father was waiting to see her. Vick looked every bit the tough guy that he had been on all of his visits to the house since he had been freed from prison.
Callie caught a glimpse of him and scowled, thinking that he could have at least dressed himself up a little bit for his first visit with his daughter in four years. She sat with Jack and their mother, and all of them were silent and thoughtful as they waited.
In the room there was a man who was sitting with Vick and Jenny, keeping an eye on the visit and making sure that everything went smoothly. Vick stared at Jenny in amazement.
“You got real big.” He finally said at last, gazing at her.
She sat in a chair and didn’t look at him. She didn’t want to see him or even be there, and Noel had told her in the car on the way to the meeting that she didn’t have to talk to him if she didn’t want to. She didn’t want to, so she kept her mouth closed and looked away from him with her hands folded in her lap.
It was another few minutes before Vick spoke again. “You look like your mom.”
There was nothing but silence again from her. Vick leaned forward and rested his arms on his knees, as if being a little closer toward her might make her respond.
“I was thinking that you should come and live with me.” Vick stated flatly. “You know, because you’re my kid and all.”
For the first time since she had entered the room, Jenny turned her head toward him and looked at him. She spoke with a vehemence in her that was borne of old poison. “I don’t want to live with you. I have my family, and I love my life, and I want to live with Auntie Callie and Nana Noel.”
Vick nodded. “Well, at least you’re talking to me now. That’s a step in the right direction. You know, them people in the other room, Callie and that b- uh… Callie and her mom, they’re not your family. I am. I am your dad, and I’m your only family.”
“I don’t like that! You might be my dad, but you’re not my only family! They are my family, and I’m going to keep them! I don’t even want you to be my dad!” Tears formed in her eyes and spilled down her cheeks.
Vick sighed and rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. “Well I’m going to get custody of you, so when that happens, you’re going to come and live with me, and then we will be a family, and maybe you’ll get used to me again.”
She turned her back to him and would not say another word the rest of the time that they were in the room. When the social worker who was sitting nearby told him that his time was up, he rose from the chair that he was sitting in and gave her a wave.
“Good visit, kid. I guess we’ll see you at the next one.” And with that, Vick walked out of the room and Jenny bolted for Callie, Jack, and Noel.
“He’s horrible! I don’t ever want to come back here again! I don’t ever want to see him or talk to him again! Never!” She shook her head and wept.
Callie dried her eyes and hugged her tight. “Don’t you think on him at all, my darling girl. We’re right here for you and we love you. You did what you had to do, and now that’s done. So let’s go get some ice cream and brighten up our afternoon, shall we? You have rehearsal in a little while, and I want your mind clear and ready to dance when you get there. You can’t be thinking about this, so just put it behind you, okay?”
Jenny nodded and took their hands, walking out with her family. They got ice cream as promised, and then the three of them took her to her ballet rehearsal for the big performance.
Jack sat beside Callie and stewed all throughout the rehearsal. Callie saw him grinding his teeth and reached her hand out to his arm.
“What is it? What’s bothering you so much?” She asked worriedly.
Jack shook his head. “I don’t like it that Vick is after Jenny. He doesn’t care about her, and he never has. He shouldn’t even be here! I don’t like it that he’s coming after her. He shouldn’t be. He should never see that baby girl again, for the rest of her life!”
Callie nodded and patted his arm. “I agree completely with you.” she sighed.
***
Callie walked into her office the next morning to find a newspaper waiting for her on her desk. She didn’t want to pick it up and read it, but she knew that it was going to have to happen anyway. There was no way of getting around it.
The most recent article that Kyle had written about her was a story on how she was sleeping with both Vick and Alexander, and stringing them both along while she had a secret love child with Vick, and was working her hot new job as the lead designer at Summitech, using both of the men and taking advantage of them.
Callie groaned and threw it in the trash can, bitter that she had bothered to read it at all, and wondering how his readers could still be interested in her in the slightest.
Alex saw the article and he threw it on his desk and picked up his phone, reaching Norman Wainwright at the other end of the line. “Come in to my office.” He requested, doing his best to keep the anger from his voice.
Ten minutes later, Norman walked into Alexander’s office and took a seat at his desk. “What can I do for you?” he asked as though he was slightly put out at having to be there.
“I want to sue the Seattle Times.” Alexander told him with a building temper.
Norman blinked in surprise. “For what?”
Alexander frowned sharply at him. “For printing false stories about me and about Callie! For defamation! You said it yourself, he’s destroying this company!”
Norman shook his head and leaned back in his chair. “You can’t sue them. There’s no way that you’ll win.”
“I’d like to try! I’d rather fight and lose than not fight at all, and there is a chance that we could win! There’s always a chance. At the very least, perhaps they’ll stop printing these awful stories about us!” He sat down in his chair and sighed heavily.
Norman leaned toward him and placed his hands on the desk firmly. “Listen to me, Alexander. I tried to tell you this before. If you want these problems to go away with the Seattle Times, you’re going to have to break up with Callie. That is the only way that this company is going to survive!”
Alex gave him a sharp look. “I already told you, Norman, I am not letting her go! She stays!”
Norman raised his voice and rose to his feet. “Then you’ve doomed this company to destruction, and everyone who works here!”
“You don’t know that!” Alexander rose to his feet as well.
Norman glared hotly at him. “I do know that! I am you company attorney, and I’m telling you that if you don’t get rid of that piece of trash woman in the other room, this entire company is going to pay the price, and so are you!”
Alexander narrowed his eyes at Norman. “You can leave.”
Norman scowled at him and turned, fuming as he stormed out of the room. He didn’t get too far before he stopped. He gazed with interest at Callie’s door, and then he went to it and let himself inside. Callie looked up from her computer and Norman walked purposefully over to her desk.
“What can I do for you, Norman?” Callie asked politely, not at all sure that she wanted to talk with him about anything.
“I’m here to appeal to you on behalf of the entire company.” Norman spoke to her in what was easily the most civil tone he had ever used with her.
“You’re what?” She asked in astonishment.
“Appeal to you. To your broader sense of success and team, to your values and your moral compass, if you have one.” He blinked a moment, realizing that he might have slipped, and he kept going, hoping that she didn’t notice.
“What are you talking about, Norman?” she asked with an impending sense of forboding.
“I want you to think about what you’re doing and what you’ve done. This company is crashing down around all of us, because of you. The whole thing is imploding and it’s getting worse every single day because of you. There are new articles all the time, and the all of your private trashy life is smeared all over the front pages of the business and technology sections.
Your life is making this whole place implode. There are people who have worked here for years. People who have dedicated themselves and their careers to making this company a success, and you are dragging it into the ground and burying it! Surely you must have some sense of right and wrong! Surely you must know that this is all avoidable!” He gave her an almost desperate look.
“What are you saying, Norman?”
“I’m asking you to think of the multitudes of people who work here, instead of just yourself. I’m asking you to think of this company as a whole. I am asking you to put everyone else ahead of you for once, and to take one for the team here! Leave this job! Go off and do whatever you want to go do in the world, but just don’t do it here! Leave! Please! Stop being so selfish and just go!
No one wants you here anymore except Rosa and Alexander, and that’s only because she is loyal to him, and he’s sleeping with you! Take a look around you and get a clue! You aren’t wanted here! So please, just leave before the rest of us have to go because there’s no company left!”
He stared at her through his horn rimmed glasses, and she felt as if she had swallowed a stone. He turned and walked out of the room and closed the door behind him, and she began to sob. She had to admit to herself that he was right. He had to be. No one else in the office barely spoke to her anymore, and she knew that it was because of all the bad press that they were getting.
Alexander might not be too worried about it, telling her over and over again that it would blow over, that they would figure it out, that the newspapers would retract the stories, but they weren’t, and the problem wasn’t getting any better. Nothing was improving. She felt awful about it, and she left the office and went to a park down the road to think about and consider everything that Norman had told her. He was right and she knew that he was right. There was only one choice to make, and that was a choice that would benefit everyone, including herself, though not in the way that she had wished for it to go.
If she left the company, the tech world would no longer be interested in what she was doing or what was happening in her life. She wouldn’t have her dream job any longer, but she would have some peace, and she did have plenty of money to see her through for a long while.
An overwhelming sense of failure crashed through her like a breaking wave; like a storm rushing in over the seas from the horizon, and she wept bitterly as she accepted the change that had to be made. For the betterment of the company and of her lover Alexander, for the betterment of herself and her family, she had to go. There was no alternative, no matter what she or Alexander might wish.
She went back to the office just before close at the end of the day, while other people were packing up their things to go home. She noticed that none of them really looked at her, and instead they turned away or picked up their phones, they began speaking to someone else, or they gazed at her with a look of sadness or low judgment. None of them greeted her or smiled at her, and the reality of the situation hit home for her.
Callie walked into Alexander’s office and her heart ached when he looked up and smiled so widely at her. She felt as if she was betraying him, though she knew that it wasn’t really a betrayal, it was the best thing for all of them.
“There she is, the most beautiful woman in the world.” He gave her a glowing grin and stood up to come to her. She stopped before she got too near his desk and she held her hand up to him to stop him from getting too close to her.
He frowned slightly and gave her a puzzled look. “What is it? What’s going on? Are you okay?”
Callie tried to swallow back the emotion that was choking her. She shook her head in silence and then took a deep breath and struggled to find her voice.
“I… need to say something, and I have to say it fast or I’m never going to get through it.” She managed as she raised her eyes to meet his. The hazel eyes that made her melt and set her on fire. She was going to hurt him, and she hated herself for it.
“What is it?” He asked, looking panicked, as if he already knew what she was about to say.
“I have to break up with you.” She told him miserably, as the tears came and couldn’t be stopped.
He stared at her, dumbfounded. “What? What did you just say?”
She shook her head and closed her eyes, willing herself to find the strength that she needed. “I said I have to break up with you. We can’t keep doing this. The newspapers are saying the most horrible things, they won’t stop, and there is so much devastation here at the company. Everyone here is taking the hit for it. Everyone here is paying the price of my mistakes… of my life, and I just can’t handle the responsibility of that any longer. I can’t. I’m costing you business, I’m costing the company its reputation. I’m causing so many problems here and I just can’t accept that any longer. I can’t. It’s too much!”
He started toward her, his hands out as if he could reach for her and somehow stop her, but she held her hands up again and backed away from him.
“Don’t! Don’t do that. Please don’t try to stop me. I don’t think I can get through this if you come any closer.” She wept more and wiped at her eyes for a second before continuing. “Listen to me, I love you so much. You couldn’t even begin to understand how much, but part of that is loving you enough to know that I’m hurting you, and loving you enough to leave because it’s what’s best for you. It’s what’s best for your company. I can’t stay here and say that I love you, and let you and all your hard work, and your company and all of your employees be ruined because of me. I just can’t!” She wiped at her eyes and her cheeks again as he stared at her.
“I’m not going to cause your downfall. I love you too much to see you fail, especially because of me.” She backed up until she reached his office door, and he was still frozen in place where he stood, barely able to comprehend what was happening.
“I do love you, and I am so grateful for all that you’ve done for me and for my family. I am never going to forget you. Thank you so much. Goodbye.” She said quietly. Then she turned and walked out of the door and closed it silently behind her.
Callie walked to her office and packed it up quickly, only taking with her the things that she truly needed to take home. Then she left the building, got in her car, and drove away from the man that she loved most in the world, and her dream job.
She would still have the new app that she was programming, and she could try to figure out a way to release it, hoping that if she came up with a couple of layers of new names and companies above her own name, that the public wouldn’t associate the brilliant new app with her; the stripper who supposedly stole the Summitech app fix from Tony Barretti’s company. She hoped that that might make some money for her and put her on a new road in the tech world.
When she got home, there was a message from Kyle Reeves at the door. Jack said he’d seen the note but he didn’t open it and he didn’t know who it was from. She glared at the message at first, hating Kyle so much, but then as she read the request; him asking yet again for another exclusive from her, she began to wonder if talking with him wasn’t going to be the best thing that she could possibly do for herself, and maybe even for Alexander and his company.
Callie calmed herself down and picked up her phone, calling the number that Kyle had left for her. He answered simply, as if he was in a hurry and she was going to have to make it short and sweet if she wanted his attention; until she told him who it was that was calling.
“This is Kyle Reeves.” He stated flatly. “You have thirty seconds.”
She took a deep breath. “This is Callie Forrester. I got your message and I’m calling you back.”
There was a moment of hesitation on the other end of the line. “Callie! Well great! Thank you for calling me. I want to ask you again about doing an exclusive with me.”
Callie narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. “I’ll seriously consider it if you tell me why you’ve been spotlighting me so much.”
Kyle was quiet a moment. “I’ll just say this. There’s good money in it.”
Something about his voice, his tone, and his words made her realize that it wasn’t readership money. He was being honest in a round about way. “Money from whom, exactly?”
Realizing his mistake, he tried to correct it. “Everyone, of course. So, is it a deal? Can we do the exclusive?”
Callie’s face took on a shrewd expression. “Yes, but only on one condition. I have to approve the story before you print it.”
“You’ve got yourself a deal lady.” Kyle sounded as if he had just won the lottery. “So tell me what’s going on. How are things over at Summitech?”
Callie felt as if she had been gut punched, but she didn’t let it on. Instead, she ran with it. “Summitech is old news where I’m concerned. Alexander Kingston and I broke up, and we are no longer a couple.”
“Ohhhh sorry to hear it.” Kyle said, typing as fast as lightning. “Do go on. Does that make it tough around the workplace?”
She drew in a breath and sighed. “No, it’s not tough because I no longer work there.” She told him evenly, though she felt far from all right with it.
“You left? You’re not working there anymore?” He asked in amazement.
“Yes, I left. I would rather leave and let the company try to recover from my being there, than stay and drag the whole place under with me. I’m not on a mission to do them in, unlike some other people.” She couldn’t help throwing in just a little snark.
“Oh, you have no idea.” He commented quietly. “So what’s next for Callie Forrester, since Summitech is gone?”
“I’m working on my own app. It’s a pretty hot ticket, actually. An A-Z app for organizing travel. It’s going to be the biggest travel app on the entire market.” She felt confident in saying it, while realizing that it was a bold statement as well.
“New app. Travel. A-Z. Got it.” He repeated as he typed furiously.
They talked for a long while, and she insisted that he send the article to her before he printed it. He promised that he would, and he did. She read through it and was surprised that she approved of it. She even sent it back with a headshot of hers for the article, and he replied that it was done and going to print.
The next day it ran in the paper, and there was an all new buzz around her name. A positive buzz, and there was some good news in the newspaper for Summitech as well; with her departure. Norman might have been right after all, she considered.
Callie was just leaving one of her classes at school when her phone rang. It was a phone number that she didn’t know and she wasn’t sure who was calling her.
“This is Callie.” She said pleasantly.
“Callie, baby.” Came a man’s voice, dripping with pride and machismo.
“Who is this?” She asked curiously, stopping and sitting on a nearby bench so that she could give the call her full attention.
“Why honey, don’t you know? You don’t recognize me? I’m a little hurt.” He drawled, and her stomach turned. She realized who it was as he spoke his name.
“Baby doll, this is Tony Barretti.” He spoke smoothly.
She narrowed her eyes and her mouth. “How did you get this number?”
“Oh, a little bird by the name of Kyle gave it to me.” He teased her. “Listen, baby, I bet you’re wondering why I’m calling you.”
She crossed one arm over her chest. “Actually, I’m not.” She stated coldly.
He frowned. “Well then, I better tell you. I’m calling you to offer you a job, since you no longer have one. And, if you want, I can offer you some room in my bed as well, since you’re short a lover.” He laughed at his own joke and she wanted to tell him where to put his phone and his offer.
“Tony, I’m going to pass on your job offer. There is no way in hell that I would ever work for you, no matter how much money was involved, no matter what the benefits might be, no matter what. There’s no way. And, I’m going to turn you down on your offer as a lover as well. I’d rather be alone than be with someone as disgusting as you.”
“Hey!” He snapped irritably.
She smiled to herself. “Goodbye, Tony. Don’t ever call me again.”
With that she ended the phone call and slid the phone back in her pocket. If she couldn’t be with Alexander, she didn’t want to be with anyone.
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