Chapter 3 – and it all comes crashing down
Serena felt her whole body surrender as the tears ran down her face. Her legs began to surrender as she reached for the arm of the seat next to her in order to steady herself.
Darien reached out to help her steady herself but Serena pushed him away nearly falling backwards in the process.
"Stay away from me. I can't…I can't…" Serena couldn't find the strength to talk anymore. Darien knew that there was nothing left he could do in this moment. He needed to let her think through this, let her process the situation. All that was left for him to do was surrender; he held his eyes closed trying to hold himself together.
Serena sat on the love seat for almost an hour, she looked over to her husband, seeing how terrible he looked. He looked forward avoiding her gaze. His eyes were red and puffy, he was rubbing his hands together as if he was cold. She realized that in this moment, he looked old.
This was the man she fell in love with all those years ago, the man who taught her to love, who made her smile, he made her laugh more than she ever had before, and this is the man who has torn her into little pieces.
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It was the sound of birds chirping that woke her in the morning. The sun was shining in through the window, she had been so distracted last night that she had forgotten to close the binds before bed.
The morning seemed perfect, the most tranquil way to wake. As her eyes began to flutter open, she felt as if something was wrong. And then all of the memories from the night before came crashing back.
She sat up bringing her hands to her eyes, they were sore from all the tears she had shed. There was a water stain on her pillow from the tears that had fallen during her sleep.
Never before had she felt so weak. She had been an independent woman before, no man could control her life, and yet now, she's allowed one to crush her.
Numbly Serena stepped out of bed and gathered her work clothes and began getting ready for work. Almost felt as if she was only going through the motions by this point.
She washed all of last night's make-up off and reapplied it for today, hoping to hide the bags under her eyes. Today she looked old.
Stepping down the stairs she found the blanket Darien had been using last night when he slept on the couch. She only had to tell him that she was going to bed, for a moment she wasn't sure if he would follow her, until she heard him opening the cabinet they kept the extra blankets and pillows in for when guests stay. Part of her felt a sense of relief, another part became disappointed.
She leaned down to grab the blanket and folded it as she walked towards the cabinet it came from. She heard footsteps behind her, knowing who it was she took a deep breath before turning around facing the man she's been dreading to see since she opened her eyes this morning.
"Serena" his voice cracked a bit. He was holding out her favorite coffee mug towards her, she could smell the caramel coming from it. She loved having caramel in her coffee in the morning.
She looked up and walked passed Darien ignoring the coffee he was offering. She could only ignore the look of hurt on his face and she continued to the door grabbing her purse.
Seeing her grab her bag and keys Darien quickly put the coffee mug down on the table near the sofa.
"You're going into work? I thought today was your day off?"
Serena took another deep breath before turning to face him.
"It was, but since the law suit came up yesterday I have to go in and lead the investigation."
Darien nodded his head remember the call she had gotten from her father the day before.
"Right, I'm sorry, I forgot…..what time will you be home?" He looked at her putting his hands in his back pocket looking like a teenager asking a girl out for the first time.
"I'm not sure, hopefully before 9." Though part of her was scared to come back at all, knowing that they would have to face their situation as soon as she stepped back in through that door.
"Good, ok, um….I was hoping we could talk when you get home, about…you know." And there it was
"Yah, that's probably a good idea." Serena opened the door taking a quick step out trying to stop herself from looking back to him before shutting it closed. She just couldn't help herself, force of habit. He looked to her knowing she didn't want to come back, almost as if he didn't believe that she would be back again.
"I'll see you at 9" It was all she could give him.
Darien could only nod as she walked out the door.
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Serena had to take a moment to compose herself before stepping into her building. Today of all days she needed to appear professional.
Walking towards her office her secretary began to flag her down.
"Mrs. Shields, your father got an earlier flight and arrived half an hour ago. He's waiting in your office."
"Thank you Molly."
As she opened her office door, the seat behind her desk began to spin in order to face her. That face never ceased to put a smile on hers.
"Daddy, it's good to see you!" Going into a short run she hugged her father with all her might. She hadn't seen him since last Christmas.
"Whoa there pumpkin, I'm not as young as I used to be" His laugh was still as contagious as ever.
"Sorry" in that moment she became a little kid again, ribbons in her pigtails and a chubby cheeked smile.
"So how are things?" Her father took his seat again, she took a moment to look him over, his hair had turned completely gray, his eyes were blue but held less life than they once had, it seemed that today she could only see how old everyone she loves is becoming, how close life is to becoming nothing but despair.
"I've contacted our lawyers, they say that if we can prove we've had no contact with the other designer we'll have a good chance of getting off of this clean, though they want us to do a deep background check on the employee who submitted the designs in the first place, which is a great idea, Seiya is doing all of that as we speak."
Her father pursed his lips for a moment and released a long sigh.
"Sounds like there is nothing else we can do about this at the moment then, however I wasn't talking about work when I asked how things were." He gave her the look she used to get all those years ago as a child, when she'd been out to a place her father disapproved, lied about eating the candy that was kept in the highest shelf, or the time she's let her cousin believe there was a ghost in the toilet for a week.
Putting on her best smile. "Everything's fine, daddy. Why do ask?"
Reaching into his brief case and pulled out a wadded up magazine.
FAIRYTALE'S OVER: DARIEN SHIELDS CHEATS ON WIFE SERENA SHIELDS, AND WHATS THIS ABOUT A BABY, SPOILER ALERT, IT'S NOT HIS WIFES.
The cover had a picture of them from their wedding on one side and one of Darien drunk at a party at another. In the bottom right corner there was a little bubble with the same sonogram picture that had been in the envelope from last night.
"Where did you get this" the tears were starting to form once again.
"They were starting to put them out when I landed at the airport this morning. I know the press can exaggerate quite a bit, so I'm asking you. Is there something you need to tell me?"
He looked at her and she knew, no matter who ever comes into her life, her daddy will always be her knight in shining armor.
Being the good little wife that she was however, she felt the strongest need to protect Darien from her father's anger.
"These are all just rumors daddy, nothing to worry about; Darien warned me last night stuff like this may come out. I trust him." Oddly enough, Serena began to feel like she even meant the words she said.
Her father accepted her response, nodding.
"Well even so, this must be stressful for you especially on top of work. Let me handle the office today, you go home and rest."
Normally Serena would say no, it's her duty to look after her company, however she didn't feel like she could do the company much good today, especially after seeing the cover of the magazine.
"Thanks Daddy!"
They shared a big hug and kiss on the cheek, promised to have a breakfast tomorrow, and said their goodbyes.
Walking out, Serena informed Molly that her father would be taking over for her today and to send any business calls his way for the rest of the day.
The elevator ride down seemed to last forever, until the doors finally opened , she almost didn't see who was waiting to enter the elevator as she exited.
"Serena!" Seiya had to wave his hands in front of her in order to get her attention.
"Hey Seiya, you heading up to work?" She tried to sound as calm and casual as possible.
"Yah, to see you actually, I have some information about our employee who submitted the design."
"Oh, well I'm actually leaving for the day, my father is taking over today, He's in my office, please tell him anything you've found out."
"Of course, you ok?" The way he looked at her in that moment reminded her of how Darien used to look at her.
"Yes I'm fine, thanks, just a bit tired."
He nodded and entered the elevator pushing the button for the 10th floor. Before the doors could close all the way she heard him say. "You could do better"
She didn't even have time to take in his words before a hand grabbed her shoulders turning her around to face her attacker.
"WHAT THE F IS THIS?" the tabloid cover was shoved in her face to the point where she could smell the ink.
"Hey, Lita." The brunette, looked like she was ready to kill.
"I'll kill him Serena, but first I'll cut his limbs off one by one, just say the word!"
Lita always had the tendency to be a tough girl. Her reaction to the news however had Serena in a small fit of giggles.
"Thanks Lita, it was nice to laugh."
Little looked at her with caring eyes. "I wasn't joking, anyway I came here because I thought you might like to let off a little steam."
Serena's eyes went huge. The last time Lita had suggested she let off some steam they had pretty much gone through a military training.
"Uhhhh…."
"She doesn't need a work out Lita." The two girls turned to find Mina, Rae, and Amy all standing together smiling at the two.
"She needs a drink." Mina gave Serena a little wink.
Boy was Mina right.
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Darien didn't know what to do with himself. He felt terrible. He loved Serena with all of his heart, how could he screw this up.
Looking at the clock, he knew he at least had 3 hours before Serena would be back, and that would only be if she was early.
So he did what he did best, he went in to work.
He was between projects right now, but he thought it best to talk to Diamond about what's going on now before it blows up into something bigger.
Pulling into Diamonds office building Darien was ready for the fireworks, this could ruin his career, but somehow all he cared about was the fact that it could ruin his marriage.
Darien greeted the lady at the front desk of the building only to be given a glare in return.
He was a little taken aback since she always greeted him with such energy. Then he looked to her desk and saw a tabloid, with his picture and Serena's and a picture of the sonogram. Shit.
He grabbed the magazine from her desk and began to storm towards Diamonds office.
Diamond's secretary was away for lunch, so Darien took it on himself to let himself in, he saw that the door was cracked open and put his hand to it ready to push it open when her heard a voice, one he recognized all too well.
"I have him doubting himself, His wife doesn't trust him anymore, and now neither does his fans. We've won Diamond." Anne's voice was high pitched and painful on the ears.
"That's my girl. He'll be running to me in no time, once the world turns their backs on him, I'll be the only one he has left, and I will be the one to control him." Through the crack Darien could see Diamond smile before grabbing Anne's face and giving her a passionate kiss.
Darien knew at that moment, he had to find Serena, and a new agent.
Authors note: Sorry it's been so long since I've written, no good excuses. Shame on me, hope you like this chapter, hopefully I haven't lost my ability to write a good story!