Secret Affairs

TWENTY-ONE

Davis had finally tracked down Janet, and I was giddy with excitement. He on the other hand didn’t share that same sentiment. Was it so hard to give me one thing that would make me happy? That was what I asked him when he refused to give me her location and simply suggested turning her over to the authorities. But where was the pizzaz in that?

I had other plans.

Not only was she stealing from the company, but she had an affair with my father. She just so happened to have three kids during that time span, and I was just supposed to believe that neither one of them were his. I needed to find out if they were my family, if they were the only family I had left.

I kept telling myself not to get my hopes up. For one, there was a chance that we weren’t related, and two, if they happen to be my siblings, they may want nothing to do with me. So, I was focusing on what I could control, Janet.

Davis and I were walking into the coffee shop where Janet was waiting for her husband. I saw that snake as soon as I stepped inside. She was waiting at a table seemingly unfazed by all the damage she had caused. Janet was living her perfect life with her perfect family, while I had nothing.

“Do you really need to speak to her?” Davis asked me again in his last-ditch effort to get me to renege.

“I don’t need to, but I would like to receive some enjoyment before she’s off to prison,” I responded with a cheeky grin. I would make the most out of everything that has happened so far, and I would stop feeling guilty about it. She had brought this on herself. The only people I was worried about was her family. According to Davis, the husband had no clue and the kids were kept in the dark.

While Davis went off to sit at a table not too far from where Janet was sitting, I went and took the seat across from her. “Did you think I wouldn’t find you?” I spoke before she even had the opportunity to react.

Her eyes widened in shock as she looked towards the café entrance. “What are you doing here?”

“I think you know.”

“You need to leave. My husband will be meeting me here soon,” she lashed out.

It was comical that she thought she could speak down on me after everything she’d done. I sat back in my chair and crossed my arms as I studied her. She may be putting on a mask to give off the appearance that she had no worries, but she was trembling in her seat. Janet’s eyes kept darting towards the door probably expecting her husband to walk in any minute.

“You didn’t care about your husband while you were f*****g my father. And you sure as hell didn’t care about my mother. Why should I give you that consideration?” My mother may have abandoned me, but the story wasn’t as black and white as Benjamin made it out to be. He chased her away with his philandering and constant disrespect.

Janet leaned forward and kept her voice down as she began speaking again. “Look Miss Sommers. I’m not sure what you want from me, but I no longer work for your company. There’s nothing I can do for you.”

“Oh, so you’re going to pretend like you weren’t having an affair?” I said really loudly. A few heads turned in our direction causing Janet to turn a shade of red I hadn’t seen before. With an apologetic wave, she turned back to me with fury emblazoned across her face.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she seethed.

There was no doubt that this woman would deny everything to her dying breath, no matter what I said to her. I could see that now. There was no remorse, or regret. She probably didn’t think she did anything wrong.

“I’m sure you do. Which is why you keep looking over my shoulder to see if your husband is coming,” I smiled at her.

“What do you want from me?”

There were so many things that I wanted. Now that I was here, my mind was having a field day. 

“You see. I wouldn’t have had a problem if it was just the affair. But then you had to go and steal from me, and help others embezzle millions. Now I’m here for retribution.”

“I don’t have the money okay,” she pleaded. Janet looked like she was on the verge of tears. She was begging for her life. She knew there was no getting out of this, because she would either have to answer to me or the police. I could see that she was trying to figure out which was the lesser of two evils.

It wasn’t me. If Davis weren’t here to talk me down I would have laid her out just like she left Benjamin bleeding out on the dirty concrete sidewalk. He was far more reasonable than I was. He could easily see the situation from an outside perspective, and I did need some talking down. My mind kept wandering off to murder places.

“I’m sure you do, but I don’t care about the money right now, federal agents will be visiting you soon. This is more of personal payback,” I explained.

Money could easily be recovered or made more of, but I was feeling a bit jaded that she was one of the factors that had driven my mother away. I wanted her to hurt the same way I was hurting.

“You b***h!”

“Tsk tsk,” I clicked, shaking my head.

She only seemed to get angrier by my nonchalant response.

“I have a video. Of you. And Daniel James. In your office. I hoped this day wouldn’t come, but you leave me no choice,” she threatened me.

She caught me off guard with her threat, but I refused to show any fear, she would only use it against me.

All I could think of right now was how the f**k she got into my office, and how she had any video of Daniel and I. I wanted to throw up, or throw a chair. She was far more deprived than I thought.

Now I had another task to hand over to Davis. The pure embarrassment of having to ask him to find that video and get rid of it was eating me up inside.

I wanted to throttle Janet. Not only had she helped ruin the company, but she was willing to ruin Daniel in the process, someone who had never done her any wrong.

If that video ever got out, I would never be able to face anyone. I would have to become a hermit and hide away somewhere in the mountains. Nate would never look at me the same way.

Why was I so worried about his opinion of me at a time like this?

Maybe she was bluffing. “Are you threatening me with releasing a non consensual video of me?” I tried to clarify.

“You’re forcing me to do this,” she spat with venom lacing every word.

I was bloody f*****g infuriated. How dare she use that as an excuse to justify what she was doing. Janet was so f*****g delusional she couldn’t even admit to her faults. But she would damn well see exactly where she went wrong, consequences be damned.

“I’m not forcing you to do anything. Just like I didn’t force you to start up an affair with my father. Or continue cheating on your husband. Or break into my office to plant an illegal recording device. Or help embezzle millions. You did all those things; you risked the livelihood of hundreds of employees and their families for your selfishness!” I yelled, slamming my hands on the table.

At this point, I didn’t care who knew, because this crazy b***h was going to get everything she deserved. Out of the corner of I could see Davis standing up from his chair, but I stopped him before he could make himself known.

“You should have paid closer attention to where you sat down. Your husband has been waiting for you at that table,” I calmly said as I pointed to the man sharing a table with Davis. His back was turned to us, but he no doubt heard everything.

Janet’s hand cut through the air with a loud smack across my face. “I’m going to kill you!”

Grabbing a napkin from the dispenser, I wiped the small amount of blood that accumulated on my lip then turned back to the raging b***h sitting in front of me. With a light chuckle I showed her how she could never hurt me more than she already had. “Are your children my siblings?”

“I didn’t have an affair,” she looked towards her husband and said.

He remained frozen in his seat, not uttering a word. By this time, every person in the café was staring at the scene unraveling before them. I truly felt bad for her family, they didn’t deserve any of this, but he had a right to know. Or at least, that was how I was justifying my actions. In the back of my mind, I knew that I had ruined another family.

“So that’s the hill you choose to die on? So be it. I’ve already requested DNA tests for all three of them. If they’re Benjamin’s biological children I’ll make sure they’re taken care of. I’ve already spoken to your husband; your mistakes aren’t theirs and he loves them. I always wondered what that was like, unconditional love. Guess I’ll never get the chance to know. Now if you’ll excuse me,” I said as I stood up from my seat. “Mr. Buchanan,” I called for Davis.

He promptly stood up and we left the café. Now all I had to wait for was to see how she would react to everything. I had to clue Davis in on her threat, and prepare for the fallout in case she did in fact have that video and released it.

“You should have waited,” Davis scolded me. “Now you’ve lost the element of surprise, shell contact whoever she was working for to help her.”

“That’s exactly what I want. Do you have a suit? I have a feeling we’re in for quite the show this weekend.”