Ruthless (21 page)

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Authors: Shelia M. Goss

BOOK: Ruthless
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Chapter 50
David's attempt to get the article retracted was met with opposition. “What do you mean, you can't retract it?” he asked Phillip Jingles over the phone. Jingles was the CEO of the newspaper company that had printed the scandalous article about David and Sheba.
Jingles responded, “Our reporter writes opinionated pieces based on information from what are deemed reliable sources.”
“Phillip, you owe me, and I'm cashing in the debt.”
“David, I wish I could, but what's done is done. There's nothing I can do. You should know once it hits cyberspace, it takes off like the wind.”
David, not satisfied with Jingles's response, hung up without saying another word. He could care less what folks were saying about him. He didn't want this to affect Sheba. Dealing with the death of their son was enough for her. She shouldn't have to deal with people voicing their unwanted opinions about a situation they had no details about.
“Mr. King, reporters are camped outside the office, and the phones are ringing off the hook with people wanting to speak with you,” Nancy, one of his receptionists, said, while standing in the doorway.
“Continue to screen the calls. Tell everyone I have no comment. There are more important matters they should be concerned with than my personal life. My personal life is just that—personal. And you can quote me.”
“Yes, sir,” Nancy said before walking away.
Before David could blink, Trisha walked in. “David, you're one of the greatest bosses a girl could ever ask for, but if I get one more reporter calling my desk, I'm quitting.”
“Trisha, I need you. Don't quit on me. I don't know why this has been blown out of proportion, but for now tell them, like I told Nancy, no comment.”
“David, regardless of what's being said, I just want you to know that I got your back,” Trisha assured him.
“That's good to know, because everyone else seems to want to crucify me in the media.”
“You know how people are. You deliver the news, and now you're part of the news. Tomorrow it'll be someone else.”
“I'm hoping tomorrow comes sooner than later.” David chuckled for the first time that day.
“Mr. King, your wife's on line two,” Nancy announced over the phone.
“Tell her I'll be calling her,” Trisha said before leaving David alone.
“Hi, baby.”
“I found out who one of the sources is,” Sheba informed him.
David listened to her as she told him about Uriah's cousin Joyce. David already had it in his mind to find out whatever he could about Joyce and make her pay for the humiliation she was causing Sheba. “I'm on it. She's going to hate the day she ever crossed us.”
“What do you plan to do?” Sheba asked nervously.
“When I finish with her, she won't be talking is all I'm going to say.”
“I'm going to pretend like this conversation never happened,” Sheba said.
For the second time that day, David chuckled. “Baby girl, I'm not going to kill her, but she's going to wish I had when I let her see how it feels to have her business put out on Front Street.”
“I would say be gentle, but I wouldn't mean it.”
“Bathsheba, you're supposed to talk me out of doing these things.”
“She better be glad you're handling it, because the way I feel right now, I want to call her sister and tell her to be prepared to dig a grave right next to Uriah's.”
The mention of Uriah's name put David back in a solemn mood. “Don't worry about a thing. I'm going to handle this, okay?”
“It's out now. Got to deal with the consequences.”
Sheba was handling the situation better than David had expected. He loved her and would do anything to protect her. As soon as their conversation ended, he called his head of security and gave him all the information he had about Joyce. He gave him twenty-four hours to come up with everything he could about her. Everyone had skeletons in their closet, and David would find out hers. If that didn't work, then he would have to come up with a plan B. One way or another, she would be personally apologizing to Sheba.
David's eyes flared as he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror on his desk. He hated to resort to under-the-table antics, but Joyce had left him no choice.
 
 
Garrett Morgan, head of DM King Media's security department, took a seat across from David. He handed him a manila folder. “Everything you need to know about Joyce Johnson is there. Up until recently, she was on the verge of losing her house. The information shows that she made a huge deposit a few weeks ago.”
David scanned the information. He looked Garrett in the eyes and didn't blink. “I need you or one of your men to make a personal visit to Ms. Johnson. Let her know that under no circumstances should she talk to anyone else about me or my wife. Make it clear that if she does, she will lose absolutely everything, including her two children to her ex-husband. I see that's the only thing that seems to matter to her.”
“Consider it done,” Garrett responded.
David watched Garrett as he left the room. Garrett provided security at the office, as well as David's personal security. He trusted Garrett to handle the situation without any legal repercussions. Satisfied that the situation with Joyce would be taken care of, David finally left the office. He was never one to have a regular workday. His days started before six and might not end until after ten at night, seven days a week.
His schedule had slowed down a bit since he married Sheba. His first two wives had complained that he was a workaholic. He didn't want to make the same mistake with Sheba. Although tonight he was getting home after ten, he tried to be home at least by eight or nine when possible. With Sheba not working, he would make it a point to include her in some of his business trips that were more than two days long so they could spend more time together.
He couldn't wait to get home to the comfort of her arms. Knowing she was waiting for him made all his hard work seem worth it. He longed to see her truly smile again. David was determined to figure out a way to make that happen. Maybe sharing the news about Joyce would do it.
Chapter 51
Sheba paced back and forth. It was after ten, and David still hadn't made it home. She had left a few messages on his cell phone, but she knew that if he was in a meeting, he wouldn't be able to return her call unless she specifically stated it was an emergency. Her nerves were jittery from all the unwanted attention from the press. She willed herself to finally stop looking online.
Every news feed talked about her and David, and hardly anyone had anything nice to say. She turned off the television set after one of her favorite news shows chimed in on the subject.
“Uriah, I'm sorry, baby, that your name is being pulled through the mud,” Sheba said out loud as she looked out her bedroom window. The moon cast a glaze on the well-manicured lawn below.
“What in the world?” Sheba said as she saw a shadowy figure approach the house. She pressed the panic button located next to the bed.
A male voice was heard over the intercom. “Mrs. King, is everything okay?”
Sheba responded, “There's someone lurking outside, in the front, near the bushes.”
“Mrs. King, lock your door. I'll go check it out,” was the security guard's response.
Security turned the high-beam lights on outside. Sheba watched from the window as a slim white male was apprehended in no time. She could see David's car approaching from the distance. The security guard approached David's car when it pulled up. Sheba could tell David was angry from the way he jetted toward the man, who now stood with handcuffs on. She wasn't sure what was being said, but she couldn't wait to find out. Less than ten minutes later, David was entering the bedroom with his key.
He walked directly to her and embraced her. She held on to him tight. The day had been eventful, and just the feel of his arms around her eased the tension.
“Baby, I'm so sorry. It was an overzealous reporter. He's going to be arrested for trespassing.” David ran his hand over her hair to soothe her.
“I'm okay. Just scared me. Good thing I was waiting up for you, or else there's no telling what would have happened.”
“He wouldn't have made it inside, because security has a silent sensor that goes off anytime any of the doors or windows are opened,” David assured her.
“Well, that's good to know.”
David led Sheba to the bed, and they both took a seat. “Sorry, I didn't call. I had to put out some more fires.”
“Who would have thought our relationship would make headline news?”
“It's the price you pay for fame,” David said.
“Keep the fame. I want things the way they used to be.” Sheba looked away.
“Joyce will no longer be a threat. I've taken care of it,” David assured her.
“Thanks. But everything's spiraled out of control now. The damage is done.”
“I wish I could erase these last twenty-four hours,” David said as he reached out and grabbed her hand and squeezed it.
“It's not your fault. If I was truthful to myself, I really can't blame anyone but myself.” Sheba stood up and walked to the window. David got up and stood behind her.
“Sheba, you have to stop beating yourself up about what happened. We're human. We make mistakes.”
“Our mistake was costly. I lost my husband, and we lost our baby. That's a high cost for one mistake.”
David didn't have a comeback for her last comment. He wrapped his arm around her waist as she leaned her head on his shoulder. They stood in that position for what seemed like minutes before retiring to bed.
The next morning David was gone before Sheba woke up. She retrieved a note from where he had lain.
I forgot to tell you I had an early flight to New York. I didn't want to wake you. I will call you.
It was signed, “Love, David.”
“I love you, too,” Sheba said out loud.
Sheba got up and got dressed. She looked in the mirror at her long, flowing hair. With everything that had happened, she felt like she was in need of a change. She called the driver David had hired for her and told him to meet her out front. An hour later the driver dropped her off at a local salon.
“I don't have an appointment,” Sheba told the receptionist.
The receptionist responded, “We can get you in as a walk-in. Just sign in and have a seat.”
Sheba signed in and then found an available seat in the busy waiting area. She thumbed through several hair magazines as she waited.
“Mrs. King, you can come back now,” Dawn, one of the beauticians, said, as she approached her.
Sheba handed Dawn the magazine and showed her the hairstyle that she wanted. “Do you think you can do this?”
“I can, but are you sure?” Dawn asked as she looked at the picture and then at Sheba's radiant, long, flowing hair.
Sheba thought about it for a few seconds. “I'm sure. It's time for a change. Do it.”
Dawn relaxed Sheba's hair and gave her the style that she wanted. Sheba looked in the mirror once Dawn was finished. Satisfied with her new short hairdo, she left Dawn a generous tip.
“Thank you.”
“No, thank you,” Sheba said. “I love it.”
Sheba took mental notes as Dawn explained to her what she could do for daily maintenance. “When do you want to set up another appointment?” Dawn asked.
“I'll be in here every week, same time and day, unless something comes up,” Sheba responded.
Dawn wrote her in her digital appointment book.
Sheba found herself looking in the mirror in the car on the way home. The driver looked up and smiled. Having a short hairdo would take some getting used to. When she arrived back home, several of the house staff complimented her.
David arrived home the following day. He stared at Sheba, but his facial expression was blank. Sheba didn't know what to make of his silence. He then flashed his pretty smile. “It's going to take some getting used to, but I love it. You're a beautiful woman. I'm lucky to have you in my life.”
Sheba agreed. He was lucky. Truth be told, she loved David, too. Their relationship didn't start out like an ideal relationship, but they had been through some tragedies together and that had brought them closer, establishing a strong bond.
Six weeks later Sheba found herself standing over the toilet, releasing that morning's breakfast.
Could I be ... ? No, I can't be,
she thought
.
She and David had just started being intimate again. But there had been one time. The night of the funeral. Sheba didn't want to get her hopes up too high.
Sheba picked up the phone to call David but changed her mind. Instead, she called the driver and told him to take her to the nearest drugstore.
She walked briskly inside and bought several pregnancy tests, just in case one was wrong, or she messed up or something. When she got back home, she rushed up the stairs and into the master bedroom. She removed the tests from their packaging and took them all.
She waited a minute before checking all the sticks. Each one of them came back with a plus sign. She wondered how David would feel about her getting pregnant this soon after losing little David. But she knew how she felt—alive again.
“Thank you, God, for this baby. I promise to take good care of it,” she said out loud.
Sheba took a long hot bath and later dressed in a slinky red dress. She had instructed the cook to make one of David's favorite meals. The aroma of dinner filled the air. She greeted David with a kiss as soon as he came through the front door.
He looked at her. “You smell good.”
Sheba had sprayed on the expensive perfume he had given her as a gift from one of his trips. It was her first time wearing it, so she was glad that he loved it. “Wash up, because dinner's ready.”
Sheba flirted with David all throughout dinner.
“I love this playful side of you,” David said as they looped their arms together and retreated to the living room.
David sat down on the couch. Sheba stood behind him as he sat on the couch, and massaged his shoulders. She kept looking for the perfect opportunity to tell David the news, but each time she opened her mouth to tell him, she would lose her nerve.
Before long, they were upstairs, in the master bedroom. She changed into sexy lingerie while David went to the bathroom.
He came back out, holding a box. “Is there something you want to tell me?” he asked.
She smiled and turned around, revealing her lingerie, and said, “We're having a baby.”
David's face was expressionless, so Sheba didn't know if he was happy or mad about it.
She said, “David, did you hear me? We're having a baby.”
“Thank you, Lord, for giving us a second chance,” David said, right before dropping the box and running up to her. David grabbed Sheba around her waist and swung her around. “Oops. I shouldn't have done that.”
“That's okay. I'm fine.”
“We need to call the doctor. Set up an appointment.”
“Done that. We have one set up for next week.”
“Next week? No, he needs to see you tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow's Saturday, David.”
“I don't care. My wife is having a baby.” David stopped and looked at her. “You're okay with this, aren't you? It's only been a few weeks since ...”
Sheba placed her finger over his lips. “Shh. I'm fine. I'll never forget little David, but God has blessed us with another child, and I'm going to enjoy the blessing. This time we did things the right way.”
David embraced her. She closed her eyes and thought that although she went through heartache and pain, she was right where she belonged—in the arms of David King.

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