Blackmailed Merger (34 page)

Moving from the bathroom, she had looked in surprise seeing Dante still sat where she had left him, his face pale, hair askew and eyes haunted as he had looked at her.  She looked vulnerable, fragile, yet glowing all at the same time.

“Sam”
.

His voice had cracked as his eyes had watched her
.

“You’re
wrong.......so wrong”
.

Sam had wrung her hands, nervously looking back, a sadness hanging over her
.

“No......you made your choice Dante....you made it a
long time ago”
.

As he had stood and moved towards her, she had shrunk back from him, not willing to have him hold her
again, afraid of her own reaction, needing to distance herself from this man, this man she had never stopped loving.  The realisation
of this
making her moan softly as
she had hated herself even more

“
Yesterday w
hen I saw the picture of our child,
I
realised one thing Sam”
.

His voice had cracked, Sam remembering the strange look that had crossed his eyes the previous day as he had looked intently at the small scan picture
.

“I knew that y
ou and our baby are more important to me
than anything
.......we can make this work.......we can be a real family”
.

His heart had dropped as she had shaken her head, her features becoming harder
.

“I don’t believe you Dante”
.

Sam had moved around him, moving to her
bedside cabinet.  From a small pouch
in the back she had pulled out the picture given to her
in the coffee shop, anger filling her at his lies and attempts to manipulate her once more
.

“What about your mistress
?
”

She had bit out, sensing surprise from him
.

“My what?”
his voice full of
shock
as she had
passed it to him
.

“
I was given this, as proof that you were involved with somebody else
”
.

He had looked at the picture, his face full of
disbelief
as she had continued
.

“You should be more careful
with your mistresses
Dante
......she work for your enemies
”
.

Seeing as he had shaken his head
.

“
Who gave you
this?
”

A hard look coming to his face
.

“Don’t answ
er that...I know who gave it to
you.
 
No...
This
picture is about a year old Sam, she and I ended
soon after
Kate’s
wedding, I have no mistress...I only want you
.  These people just want to create a wedge between us
”
.

She had given a
derisory
half laugh
.

“Don’t treat me like
an idiot Dante... the person who gave me this
knew everything about our agreement
,
about our whole relationship
......EVERYTHING
.  I damn well know I didn’t tell them, so it had to be somebody you would tell
”
.

The anger and hurt once more rising in her
.

“
And
only
your
mistress
could have told them....she
told them everything
, how else would they know
?
”

Dante had moved to grip her by the shoulders
, an almost relief filling him with the realisation that it had not been Samantha who had told of their
arrangement;
it had not been her who
had been the one to betray him.

“I swear to you Sam that I have no mistress and that I have never told anybody about our agreement.  I promise I will find out who has though”
.

His face showing anger and determination, angry that somebody had told her such a lie.

Shaking herself free from him, Samantha had stood upright, her chin rising defiantly as her body had shaken
.

“I’m tired....very tired......and I need you to leave”
.

About to argue, he had seen the fragility deep in her eyes, the pain that she was only just managing to hold inside and with a small nod he had stepped back, looking over once more at her before leaving the room.
 

“I will find a way of proving to you Sam that you are the most important thing in my life.  More important even than any business”
.

As he had left
, he had moved
determinedly
to his office
to seek help from the one person he had never thought he would ever turn to.

The next day the phone call had come, the woman informing her of the vote to take place two weeks from that time.  Sam had listened, not commenting to the short message, her insides so conflicted.  He had used her, hurt her so much in the past and even now
was still tearing her apart
.  He had been the cause of the single worst thing to happen to her in her short life, and he had left her to deal with it
alone
.  The only thing he was interested in was her
father’s
business, and
this was an opportunity to punish him,
her chance
at
revenge, to teach him that what he had done to her was so wrong.
 

Placing the phone back down on its cradle she had stared
unseeingly into space,
her mind in turmoil, before standing tall.  Dante needed to be taught a lesson and she needed to be the one to teach him.

For the two weeks to the vote, she had avoided Dante, seeing as he had stayed back from her too, his eyes watching her with concern whenever they were in the same room.
  What had gone on in her bedroom that day was never mentioned again, and Sam had felt so confused with the emotions swirling inside her.  She hated Dante, and loved him at the same time.  She yearned for the life he offered, while wanting revenge
on him, each day her i
ndecisions playing havoc on her tattered nerves.
  The only thing keeping her sane was his respecting her plea to leave her alone, Sam not sure how she would handle h
is pushing her to accept the li
e he offered
, that it was her and their child he most wanted.

For days she had tortured herself, wishing that she could believe him, believe that he wanted her and their baby, but finally the truth had dawned on her.  He did not care about them, he never had.  His business was more important than anything else, it always had been.  He did not want
her;
he just wanted to control the 25% of the company.  By controlling her he could ensure that he influenced her decisions.  This realisation filling her with even more pain, dashing the small hope that had began to
flourish
within her.

On the day of the vote, Samantha had risen, feeling so sick.  She had declined the offer of a car from the woman, whose name was still not known to her, not wanting to be beholden to her in any way, instead choosing to hail a taxi herself.  When she had arrived she had been relieved not to see Dante anywhere in sight, part of her surprised that he had not found out about the ballot that was taking place.  She had been greeted by the smiling executives of her husband’s competitors, the thought of this making her insides curl up, as she had once more told herself that he deserved this.  He had used her in the most cruel way, destroyed her life and all so that he could further his
own
business empire.  Raising her head she had hardened herself, justified in what she had to do.

The
b
allot papers where handed out to
the throng
of people in the room, Sam finding herself directed to a comfortable chair by the gushing manager who had obviously been assigned to ensure that she was looked after.  As she had stared at the sheet, her hand had quivered, her teeth savaging her lip before with a more decisive movement she had finally marked one of the boxes.  Dropping the pen onto the table, like many others she had risen and folded her ballot
ignoring the man before her,
so keen to deliver it for her, as she had
moved to place it into the box herself.

As she had turned the woman, still unknown to her had moved forward, a smile on her lips which
again
did not reach her cold eyes.

“Thank you Mrs....” she had began as Sam had raised her hand to stop her
.

“I do not want to talk about it” she had bitten out, moving away from the woman who had clamped her mouth closed firmly, knowing not to continue.  Feeling the tears prickling the back of her eye, she had moved to the door, needing so badly to get out of there, get out of that room, feeling suddenly so claustrophobic.

Moving from the large hall, she had stopped gulping in lungfuls of air, trying hard to calm her shattered nerves.  With a small gasp, she had raised her eyes, disbelief filling them as she had seen Dante, groaning softly as he had moved towards her, tears now starting to slide unchecked down her distraught face.

Reaching her he had looked down on
Sam
, his face not filled with the contempt she had expected, Sam knowing that he knew exactly why she was there, but with concern, his hand reaching out to lift her chin, to look into her
face
.

“It’s OK Sam...Please don’t cry”
.

His voice gentle and full of such warmth

With a sob she had closed her eyes, shaking her head
.