Chapter 6 Ivf’s Fake
Joseph said, “Mrs. Woodward, the issue Mr. Woodward’s dealing with this time… it’s really complicated. Don’t count on a few days. He might not even make it back for two weeks.”
Dina was speechless. She thought, ‘Face-to-face is out of the question, then.’
An online message might not be the politest approach, but it was all she had.
She grabbed her phone, opened Hank’s WhatsApp profile, and typed: [Busy? Can you spare a couple of minutes? There’s something I want to run by you.]
She tapped send. A bright red exclamation point jumped out immediately. [Message sent, but rejected by the other party]
Dina was baffled. She stared at the red icon for a solid thirty seconds before it sank in, a wry smile creeping onto her face.
She thought, ‘Yeah, figures.’
Hank had only married her to mess with Blair’s head. As for her… he probably still saw her the way he always had, distant, maybe even disgusted.
She wondered, ‘Does it really matter to him if I leave the country? Why bother telling him?’
Dina slipped her phone away quietly and headed to her room.
She tugged off the ring absentmindedly and dropped it on the nightstand, planning to pawn it at a secondhand luxury shop when she got a chance, to offset the 700-thousand-dollar commission Belinda had snatched from her deal.
“Mrs. Woodward, here’s some calming aromatherapy. It’ll help you get a better night’s sleep.” The maid lit it, and soon a gentle, soothing scent wafted through the room.
It wasn’t long before Dina sank into a deep, restful sleep.
Under the cover of night, her door eased open from the outside.
A tall, broad-shouldered figure glided in without a sound and stopped at the bedside. His eyes fixed on the ring sitting on the nightstand.
Slender fingers snatched it up, curling around it in a vise-like grip.
He clenched so fiercely that his knuckles blanched, as if he meant to pulverize the damned thing. A thin line of blood trickled from between his fingers.
The stinging pain chipped away at the roiling fury and fixation in his gaze, just a bit.
He huffed a low, bitter laugh, then with a flick of his wrist, chucked the blood-smeared ring into the trash bin.
His stained fingers reached out with careful restraint, softly tracing her sleeping face. In the shadows, the man’s stare was heavy, almost tangible. “Dina… don’t even dream of leaving me again.”
*****
Sure, her official start abroad wasn’t until next month, but Dina hated wasting time. She figured she’d jump on organizing her data right away.
All her favorite software and tons of files were stashed on the personal laptop she’d left at the office. Time to retrieve it. So, off to Fighters Group she went.
The instant Dina entered the Fighters Group building, the news zipped up to the CEO’s office. “Mr. Woodward, Ms. Gardner’s back in the building.”
Blair set his papers aside, a smug grin tugging at his mouth. “Finally coming around, is she?”
He fished a plush velvet jewelry box from his drawer. “Deliver this to her. The pink diamond necklace I snagged at auction. And reserve a candlelight dinner; we’ll dine together tonight…”
He stopped, reconsidering. “Forget it. I’ll handle it myself.”
At project department, the second Dina stepped inside, she could tell something was off-kilter.
Her old assistant, Katie Cantrell, was shooting her desperate warning glances.
And sure enough, when she pushed open her office door, there sat Belinda, perched like a queen in her territory.
Belinda lounged in the custom-fitted chair, staring at Dina with open defiance. “Oh, Dina, weren’t you canned? What are you doing back here? I figured you’d have too much pride for that…”
Her voice oozed contempt, and she didn’t shift so much as an inch. “But even if you’re crawling back, don’t get any ideas about this office. I’m the director now, your superior. Prime real estate like this? It’s mine by right.”
“You can…” She glanced out the glass window and pointed to the far corner, stacked with junk and random supplies. “You can plop down over there.”
Getting bumped from a private office to a grimy corner desk buried in clutter? That was a slap in the face, plain and simple.
Dina took in her gloating, nasty expression and scoffed to herself. Who cared about some cast-off office or a department circling the drain? Not her.
She kept her tone even. “Where’s my laptop?”
“Right there.” Belinda smirked, jerking her chin at the trash bin with wicked satisfaction. “Just some junky old machine, why even bother? So stingy and small-minded. Want it back? Dig it out yourself.”
Dina looked, and sure enough, her laptop was in there, tossed alongside all her personal items from the office. Smeared with crumbs and coffee spills.
Dina’s face hardened.
“Dina.” Belinda cupped her rounded belly as she rose, strolling right up to her. Hidden from prying eyes outside, her features contorted into something feral and hateful.
She continued, “You already walked out, so what the hell are you doing back here? My husband’s gone, and now Blair’s stepping up as my baby’s dad, my rock. Why do you keep lurking around like some damn specter, snatching him from me?
“Can’t you take a hint and just hand him over?”
Dina was so pissed she nearly burst out laughing. She thought, ‘This woman’s reasoning is so backwards, even a crook would tip their hat in awe.’
Belinda said, “Dina, you realize Blair and I never went the IVF route. We were rolling in the sheets night after night. Sure, he started out guilty, eyes covered while he worked out his frustrations on me, moaning your name… but eventually, he was fine holding me up against the mirror, breathing heavy…
“He’s been all mine for a while now. As long as I’m here, the Woodward family has zero room for you.”
The second she finished, Belinda seized Dina’s hand, and used it to smack herself hard across the face. She reeled back theatrically.
“Ah—” Belinda shrieked as she crumpled to the floor, hand to her cheek, snapping right back into her wide-eyed, helpless bunny routine.
“Dina!” A bellow thundered from the hallway.
Blair barreled in, carefully lifting Belinda to her feet while giving Dina a vicious shove. “She’s pregnant, with my kid! How could you hit her?”
The force sent her reeling, no way to catch herself. Her hip crashed into the desk edge, a white-hot pain ripping through her like her back was breaking. She blanched, sweat breaking out cold and fast.
But Blair’s focus was solely on Belinda as he snapped at Dina, “Get your ass over here and apologize to Belinda!”
Belinda snuggled into his embrace, eyes sparkling with victory, but her words dripped with fake forgiveness. “Blair… don’t be mad at Dina… It barely stings…
“Dina has every right to be upset. It’s my bad. If it weren’t for preserving the Woodward family lineage… I never would’ve ended up carrying your child… Dina, go ahead and slap me however many times you need to feel better.”
Blair stared at Belinda’s watery eyes and her air of noble suffering, then flicked a glance at Dina’s stony stare. Suddenly, she looked downright vile to him. His gaze iced over, laced with revulsion.
Seeing them wrapped up in each other like that turned Dina’s stomach, a wave of disgust and hurt surging up stronger than the throbbing in her side.
“Slap you as many times as I want? No issue?” Dina repeated icily, then lifted her hand.
Two crisp, echoing slaps cracked across Belinda’s untouched cheek. “Well, wonders never cease. Someone’s actually asking for it. These two do the trick, or want me to toss in a couple extras on the house?”
