Precious Secret

9. Daddy Dearest

AN: Thank you guys so much for your thoughts and condolences. I greatly appreciate it.
____________________________________________________________________

Fernando.

She looks up, eyes wide, startled at the question. I understand the reaction. In the few weeks since reconnecting, we had shied away from asking personal questions to avoid any awkwardness or animosity.

"Krys?" I probe gently, still hoping for an answer.

She closes the laptop and leans back in her chair. "He never told you?" She asks me quietly.

"No." I lie. "He hasn't told me or anyone else anything about what happened between you guys."

She takes a deep breath and starts to speak.

"It was a few weeks after graduation, which you already know." She starts. "It's so weird how fast everything changed, things were perfect. Stephen and I were great, I had been offered an amazing job with an amazing company, and my mom and I were getting along a bit better." She tells me with a sad smile.

"We'd had dinner. Mom had gone all out. It was like Thanksgiving in May." She laughs. "After dinner, she asked me to sit with her on the porch. For some reason I thought she was gonna tell me that she was finally okay with mine and Stephen's relationship. She'd been against it from the start, but we'd been getting along so much more, I guess I got my hopes up." She shakes her head.

"She told me that Stephen's dad had come over and, long story short, told her that Stephen had been seeing another woman and that he'd caught them in bed that morning." She says, her eyes meeting mine for the first time since she started speaking, her anger still evident.

I'm at a loss for words.

Not because I believe that my best friend cheated on the very woman he was planning on proposing too.

The odds of that happening were almost as ridiculous as the odds of Krys actually selling her relationship with Steph five years ago.

No way.

All of this leads back to the one person that both their stories have in common: Calvin, Stephen's manipulative ass father.

A take a deep breath, wondering how the hell I'm going to explain this to Krys, when she speaks. "Not what you were expecting, huh?"

"I think you and Stephen need to talk." I tell her seriously.

"Did you not hear anything I just said?" She asks me incredulously. "Why the hell would I willingly talk to him?"

"Because" I say on a sigh, "You're stories don't match up."

She cocks her head to the side and looks at me with squinted eyes. "You lied to me." She says simply.

"I did. But only because I knew something wasn't adding up. Steph talks like you're the one that broke his heart. You talk like Steph broke yours. You're both holding on to misplaced hurt and anger, and I decided to step in. And I was right." I tell her defensively.

"You were, were you? And what conclusion did you come to?" She asks sarcastically.

"That Stephen's father set you guys up."

I watch her expression turns from irritation to confusion. "Why would Calvin set us up? He never had a problem with our relationship."

"Maybe not in front of you, but he definitely didn't approve." I tell her honestly.

There's a knock on the door before she can respond. Priscilla pokes her head through the door "Mr. Sims has arrived."

"Thank You, Send him in."

Stephen walks through the door, face expressionless as usual. "Ms. Green." He greets her with a nod. He turns to me and we do our usual handshake.

"Alright, let's get started." Krystina says pulling out a few manila folders, and reopening her laptop.

"Krys?" I say confused at her abrupt shift in tasks.

"We can talk about that later, Nandy" she gives me a forced smile, trying to use my old nickname as a way to soften me.

Sorry, babe. Not happening.

"No! We're gonna settle this right now!" I say reaching over to close the laptop.

Stephen looks back and forth at us confused. "What's going on?" He demands in his no nonsense tone.

"Why'd you and Krys breakup, Steph?" I ask, watching as he looks at me, slightly flustered at the question.

"We already had this conversation, Nand."

"I know, but this is important. Why'd you guys breakup." I ask again.

Krys turns her attention to Stephen, waiting for him to speak.

He puts his briefcase on her desk and takes a seat in the chair next to me.

He puts on a brave face, but I can see right through his nonchalant facade. "I can't really say it was an official break up. We didn't speak to each other. She took the money my father offered, and left town." He says matter of factly, before glancing up at Krystina.

He face is frozen in shock, mouth hanging wide open. "That's not true!" She shouts jumping up.

"Oh yeah? Then enlighten me on why you decided to pack up and leave town without telling me a goddamn thing!" He yells standing up as well.

Well, that escalated quickly.

"You cheated!" She screams. "Your father came to my house and told my mother that you were sleeping with another woman! I tried calling you, and you didn't answer! What the hell was I supposed to do? I damn near gave up my dream job just to be with you. I was foolish and I refused to waste anymore time on you. I never took any of your family's fucking money." She says miffed.

"You decided to believe what your mother, who never hid her dislike for me, said? Is that why you took the money? Because your prejudice mother told you I cheated and you wanted revenge?" He retorts, just as fired up.

"Are you even listening to me? YOUR father told my mother you were cheating. She didn't just make it up!" Krys says.

"And how do you know? Were you there when he came over? Did you see him with your own eyes? You threw away our relationship based on a shit story from your mother?" He asks.

She's quiet for a moment, taking in his words. "I didn't take your damn money." She insists vehemently.

"You didn't, huh?" He asks mockingly.

She shakes her head no in response.

He chuckles un-amused, as if he's caught her in a lie.

He smirks darkly, "Then who cashed the check, Krystina?"

____________________________________________________________________

Welp. That went well, wouldn't you say?

For some odd reason, I lowkey hate this chapter. Maybe it's because I wrote it at 1am, maybe it's because I haven't eaten breakfast. Who knows.

Anyway, what did you guys think?

What do you think really went down?

Whose to blame?

Don't forget to comment and vote! I really appreciate all of the support I've been receiving on this book/story. I think were at almost 13k reads!!

THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH!

40+ votes.