A Second Chance at Love

Blindsided

Chapter 2

Parker’s POV

I stopped at the top of the stairs to catch my breath. I accepted that Nolan was probably sleeping with his secretary, as cliché as that was. I hated it, but as long as he got rid of her, I would consider therapy and stay with him. We’ve been together for almost six years, ever since I turned nineteen. He had been my first everything. My first kiss, first s****l partner, and we had been happily married for the last two years. We got married as soon as I graduated from college. My parents insisted that I graduate first, to focus on my grades.

Nolan was a year ahead of me, and he started his business right out of college. He had a great deal of drive. I was impressed with his vision of what he wanted to achieve in life. We would lie in bed and talk about our future a lot. I knew he wanted to make a name for himself, and I wanted him to succeed. I begged my parents to help him after we got married. Dad asked me to wait a little while longer, as he must have realized something. I was so foolish, but Nolan had bared his heart and soul to me. He had never met me before we ran into each other one day at the University of Memphis.

I wanted to get further away from Chattanooga. Too many people knew me there, and my parents ran one of the most successful businesses in the city. People had always sucked up to me in school to be my friend. Only for me to find out that they wanted something from me other than friendship. I wanted to be close enough to visitmy parents easily, but far enough that no one knew I was a Reynolds. I wanted to make real friends, find a boyfriend who wanted me for me. I found that with Nolan. I enjoyed our life together. It hit me that my life was about to change, and not necessarily for the better.

I could hear the sounds coming from down the hall before I even got near the door. I knew Nolan was close, and although my legs felt like they had a fifty-pound weight on each of them, I still moved forward. They didn’t even have the decency to shut the door. He had her lying across his desk, his hands holding her waist as he held her to him in an effort to try to keep her from sliding away from him. This was far more aggressive than what we did together. He slammed into her, watching his c**k slide in and out as if hypnotized.

“Nolan, I’m close, baby,” she cried out.

“You don’t go over until I tell you that you can. You know the rules,” Nolan grunted out.

Rules. This clearly wasn’t their first time together. They moved seamlessly, her dress thrown over the back of his desk chair. A vivid splash of color against the chair. I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to confront them, but I know I would cry if I did. My mind was racing. How long has this been going on? Why her? How could he cheat on me like this? Suddenly, my reasoning returned. I needed proof of their affair. Nolan signed a pre-nup, but I wanted to make sure he didn’t get one penny from me. I pulled my phone out and managed to catch them in the act before they finished. Disgusted, I turned to leave when they started to speak.

“Why didn’t you correct her when she talked back to me, Nolan?” she asked.

They were still joined together, and my stomach rolled. I knew that I was going to be sick after this. He leaned down and kissed her. Not the quick pecks he usually gives me, but a passionate kiss where he cradled her face carefully, and plundered her mouth. Their interactions were completely different than how he was with me. My heart sank when I saw it, because it was obvious that if I made him choose between us, I would be on the losing end. He pulled out, and I had to cover my mouth to keep from gagging out loud. How could he do this to me? I gave him everything, yet he was up here having s*x with her with a party in full swing downstairs. People had noticed they were gone; the humiliation slammed into me again. How dare they?

“You started it, Brandie. She was already mad about the dress you bought for her. Could you have made it any more obvious that you wanted her to look bad? She looked so awful in it that I almost let her change. She’s nothing compared to you. You know you didn’t have to go this far to try to make her look bad. I told you she lost weight. Were you trying to embarrass her, me, or the company by dressing her like that in front of clients? You already know you outshine her. The moment I saw you in this dress, all I could think about was getting you out of it and having my way with you. Bring it to work again tomorrow, so I can take it off of you all over again,” Nolan growled out.

She giggled and said, “Maybe I will. But you need to speed things up, Nolan. You promised me that you would be done with her two years after you married her. What’s the holdup? I won’t wait forever to be Mrs. Chambers.”

I held my arm out against the wall before I fell. What in the hell was going on here? This was more than an affair. He planned this? No, they clearly planned this together. How sweet.

“I already told you that we have to wait until after she turns twenty-five. She won’t get her inheritance until then. I didn’t do all this to leave empty-handed. Getting that money is what I deserve. You need to be happy with what I’ve given you over the years. You are the entire reason my company was failing. You want too much, Brandie. Now, be a good girl and clean up so we can go back downstairs. We’ve been up here too long. Someone is bound to get suspicious. We need the plans to show Mr. Hamilton and Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs. She's probably angry by now. Patience is not her strong suit,” Nolan replied as he pulled off the condom and cleaned himself up.

“They’ll wait, I made sure they knew this party was for them. But you better not be lying to me, Nolan. I’m the one who suffered the most. We were together for years before my cousin recognized Parker at MSU. I was the one who told you who she was. You would never have gotten this far without my help. We’re in this together. Don’t try to shake me off. I won’t let you go. If I can’t have you, neither can poor, pathetic Parker,” she replied, giving him a hard look.

“I love you, babe. Don’t you have any faith in me at all? I did this all for you. I’m the one who’s been taking all the risks. I will give you the best of everything. The biggest wedding, and build your dream home. Her parents suspected us, and had to be dealt with. They were smart, and on their last visit here, you slipped up. Her mother suspected something. She asked me about you, but I played it off. They made sure Parker couldn’t touch her inheritance until after she turned twenty-five because of your slip-up. That’s why we have to be extra careful not to tip our hand. Her birthday is only a few months away, so be patient. Once her inheritance hits our joint account, half of it will be mine. Six million dollars is enough to ensure we make sure the business can thrive. The prenup might be airtight, but I will walk away with the six million from Parker, and the two million I got from her parents' life insurance policies,” Nolan replied, straightening his tie, like he was discussing the weather.

“Why settle for the paltry six million when you can have all of it? Parker inherited her parents' company. Seems like a shame to give up on all that, when we can wait another year and end up taking everything,” she suggested.

My heart leapt. How could she be so evil? I don’t even know her. How could she want my whole family dead? Well, Nolan hasn’t met my entire family, so he's unaware that I’m not completely alone. My legs started to shake at the thought that my own husband might have killed my parents. I think that I’m in shock. I can’t move, and my breathing is off. I can feel it. I thought I was coming up here to verify my husband was having an affair. Now my whole world had been turned upside down.

“I’ve thought about that, but weren’t you the one who was just standing here complaining about how long this was taking. Now you're suddenly content to wait another year. We can’t make it obvious, Brandie. It has to be done another way. They might look into it if we move too soon. I can live with her just fine, but are you willing to wait for this to work out in our favor?” I heard my husband ask. He was wrapping her up in a hug and pressing her into him as if he couldn’t bear to part with her. Yeah, I’m definitely going to be sick after this. My stomach was turning as they spoke.

“If I can have all the wealth from the Reynolds family, I can wait two years for you to get it done. Even if you don't kill her, you can still get her to sign it all over to you. She is too trusting. This was just too easy. I don’t want you to get in trouble. You’ve done all this for me; how could I not wait patiently for you to finish? I love you, Nolan. That is never going to change,” she told him. She tipped up her head, and watching them kiss again almost broke me.

I had already been hit hard enough with the evidence I had. How could I not be heartbroken? My parents were killed because they figured him out. I stopped recording and looked around. I can’t let them find me up here. They would kill me today if they knew that I had overheard them. I carefully took a step back and climbed under the desk. I moved slowly and carefully as I knew what was at stake. I pulled my legs up to my chest and allowed the first tears to fall.

They didn’t care. They walked towards the stairwell, acting normally. Secure in the fact that Ricky was guarding the staircase. How could I have not realized who Nolan was? How did I get tricked into falling for him? I already knew the answer to that one. I wanted to be loved for myself for so long that the moment someone showed any interest in me, I was happy to accept them. Especially when they were as attractive as Nolan. I was a fool before, but I won’t be fooled by either of them ever again. Now I needed to figure out how to slip back downstairs without anyone catching me. I already knew that was going to be the hardest part.