Chapter 9 - His Safe Place
785 Words
The ride back home was quiet yet inside Bryan West's mind, chaos raged like hell with his very thoughts being the tormentor. He loosened his tie and leaned back in the driver’s seat as he stopped at a red light, his shoulders slumped from the heavy weight of exhaustion.
Fiona was pregnant, with his children, the first grandchildren of his parents. He should be happy, really excited yet all he felt was guilt and confusion.
Despite everything that had happened between him and Fiona, he still found it hard to let go of Kate.
He let out a frustrated sigh. How did everything get so complicated?
Fiona had caught him when he tried to sabotage the Delaney Group International Company which had eventually led to Kate’s father death. He was terrified that she’d air out his dirty linen. One word from her was going to leave him tumbling down the hill. His family name and everything he had built would come to ruin.
To his surprise, she never did. Instead she helped him, helped him erase any leading evidence, helped cover his tracks. She eventually became his salvation. From that moment, she became more than just his girlfriend’s friend. She became his refuge, his safe place.
Whenever business pressure felt unbearable, she was there. Whenever he felt misunderstood, she was there. Whenever guilt consumed him, she was there.
With Kate, he’d always been the one pouring himself out whereas with Fiona, he felt seen. She listened, comforted and reassured him. She always knew what to say to soothe him. At least that’s what he used to justify his actions.
Then one drunken night, they were both emotionally vulnerable, alcohol had clouded their minds and they crossed the line. After the first time, it was easier to justify the next and the one after that and their s****l escapades became routine.
Until the wedding night. He vividly recalled Fiona’s tearful eyes, the way she’d looked at him and insisted she didn’t want to ruin Kate’s happiness anymore. He felt something in his heart ache but the thought of sinking his claws in Delaney’s Group International was too hard to resist. He’d milk the company and toss Kate aside the moment the last share was his.
Fiona agreed to wait and suggested they spend one last night together before he became someone else’s husband. It seemed reasonable.
Now with her pregnant, it just became more complicated. The West family valued bloodlines and that’s why Avan was allowed to live. But that still doesn’t give the guarantee that Fiona would be accepted by his family.
He had to gain the Delaney’s Group International company one way or the other, loosing wasn’t in his vocabulary and the express path he had with Kate was now crooked.
The damn fiancée of his was still missing. Every lead had led to a dead end, the police were making no progress and the private investigators he had hired were equally useless. It was as though she had vanished from existence. The thought made his stomach churn. Genuine fear had started creeping into his thoughts. He felt a chill run down his spine.
What if something bad had happened to her.
A loud horn suddenly blasted behind him. Bryan flinched violently. The traffic lights have already turned green.
“Damn it!”
Cars behind him continued honking impatiently. Muttering a curse under his breath, he pressed the accelerator.
By the time he reached his mansion, a pounding headache had formed behind his eyes. He parked mechanically and stepped out. His mansion stood silhouetted against the setting sun. The sight usually gave him comfort but as a result of the headache he had, it was suffocating.
He loosened his tie further as he got in. Slowly he climbed the staircase towards his room ready to crash on his bed. He halted when he saw his door slightly open. He frowned. Had the housekeeper forget to shut the door after she was done cleaning?
He reached for the door and opened it completely. The room was dark, only a small dim lamp illuminated the bedside.
Someone lay under his blanket. His chest burned as his heart pounded hard against his ribs. He was about to throw the blanket away when he stepped closer and saw the dark brown hair of the woman trailing over his pillow. His heart skipped a beat. Only one woman he knew had that hair color. His throat became dry as he repeatedly swallowed air.
“Ka-Kate…?” He whispered scraping the courage from his guts.
The blanket shifted slowly and slid down her shoulders as she sat up, her eyes squinting as though she had been asleep for a while.
- Writer
