14. Ollie

CHAPTER 14

Ollie

“Ollie, man!” I heard Caleb’s panicked shout just before he barged into his guest room – my new home for the foreseeable future.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“Come on man, we have to get to the hospital.”

“What? Why?” I didn’t need to wait for the answer, though. Instead, I grabbed my shoes and threw them on as he explained.

“Media just had breaking news about Steph being carried into the emergency room by a man who was not you. It was Steve, but they’re trying to make out that it is a lover of hers or something, especially since she’s obviously pregnant and bleeding.”

“What the fuck did you just say? Bleeding?”

Caleb’s hand came down on my shoulder. “Prepare yourself man, it looked like she might be miscarrying the baby.”

“Fuck!” I yelled as we both ran from the house to Caleb’s car that was parked in the driveway behind my Land Rover. “You drive because if I do, I’ll run those motherfuckers over.”

Caleb didn’t hesitate to hop in the driver’s side while I pulled up video from the hospital. “Christ this was almost thirty minutes ago. Why hasn’t anyone called me?”

Caleb gave me a look that said I should know, but other than that he focused on driving as he told his hand’s free device to call Hutchinson Wallace.

“Hutch Wallace,” the man answered and he sounded exhausted.

“Hutch, it’s Caleb. We just saw the news and are on the way to the hospital.”

“Don’t bother.” Suddenly, my wife’s lawyer no longer sounded tired. Instead, he was pissed.

“Why the hell not?” Caleb snapped back at him.

“You think she wants to see that asshole right now when he’s the one who caused her so much distress that she started to miscarry the baby?”

“What are you talking about? As far as I know, Ollie hasn’t even spoken to her today.” I shook my head no to indicate that I hadn’t.

Hutch’s dark laugh rolled through loud and clear from the other end of the line. “Sure as fuck didn’t stop his mistress from sending a few messages to Steph today, including one very special video that caused his wife to have a complete fucking breakdown.” He sighed as both Caleb and I glanced at one another worriedly.

“She wouldn’t,” I stated.

“Oh, she did. By the way, make sure no one brings Denmark to the house until I can get someone in there to clean it up. He does not need to see it that way.”

“What the fuck?” I asked.

“Look, I’m telling you right now, she won’t see you. More importantly, Steve isn’t going to allow you in there. He’s in guard dog mode after the state we found her in. Thank fuck she sent me that first text she got because we were able to hop in the car and head her way. She was so distraught, she didn’t even call for help.”

“Can you forward the texts to Caleb?” I asked loudly enough that I knew he heard me. That was actually stupid because we were on speaker through the car, so speaking at a normal level would have been fine. I blamed shock, adrenaline, whatever.

“I’ll send them. She only sent the first one to me, but I’ll go back to the house and grab her phone after I check on her. It might have to wait until she’s conscious again before I can unlock it unless Steve knows her security password.”

I knew her security password but I couldn’t get past the fact that he just said she was unconscious. “What the hell happened that she is unconscious?”

“Can’t really say other than to tell you she was sedated immediately for her own, as well as the baby’s, health.” Hutch hung up after that.

“We’re going to have a hard time getting you through the doors at the hospital.”

“Go to the house first.”

“Are you sure? I think your priority should be getting to Steph.”

“Hutch said she was medicated and not conscious. I need to see what he was talking about.”

Caleb pulled a U-turn and headed in the opposite direction, toward the house I once shared with my family. The minute he pulled into my driveway I bolted from his car and ran for the door.

It shocked me that Steph hadn’t changed the locks or the security code on the front door. I figured the first thing she would have done, considering how angry she was with me, would have been to change those things to keep me out. I wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth though. Without hesitation, I tore off through the house until I came to the disaster of our living room. Only after glancing at the mess on the floor did I notice the walls were almost bare. Every single wall, shelf, and the mantle had been stripped of pictures of us, as well as family photos. The only ones that remained intact were ones with just my son and me.

There had been none with just Steph and Denmark, I realized. I’d never taken any for them. The ones that had Steph and me in them, she had ripped herself out of each and every photo. Some of her images were shredded beyond distinction, others laid there on the floor as far away from the pictures of my son and me as she could probably get them from where she had been sitting.

The space she had occupied was obvious, if not for the clear spot amongst the chaos of shredded pictures, then for the blood that stained the throw rug that I had put down just last winter after Steph complained about her cold toes on the wooden floors.

“Holy shit!” I turned to see a blurry image of my best friend who stood there and gaped at the scene we walked in on.

Caleb walked around the mess and found Steph’s cell phone on the floor in front of the couch. He picked it up and handed it to me and then took a seat beside me on the floor as I unlocked it. She hadn’t changed that code either.

As soon as the screen unlocked, my own face and upper body were front and center. My head was thrown back as my climax hit me and my hands, which were out of the frame, gripped Julia’s hips.

“Looks like she watched a lot of video. Might want to back it up to the beginning, so you can get the full scope of the damage done.”

I did just that and watched with my best friend as Julia called out my relationship for what it had been in the beginning. Then, to my complete horror, I realized that I’d fed into it instead of denying her claims. I’d basically mocked Steph for being so stupid as to believe I loved her. Not in so many words, but the point of what I did say wouldn’t have been missed by her.

Then, Julia and I both talked about how I hadn’t had a decent blowjob in so long and that just dug the hole I was in even deeper. Steph wasn’t bad at blowjobs, she had just been very inexperienced. I’d taught her a few things, but never got rough with her the way I could allow myself to with Julia. What Steph wouldn’t understand is that I was able to be that rough with my ex because it was a hate fuck. I didn’t respect Julia. As I had come to realize, I hadn’t even liked her much, let alone loved her. So, I treated her like she was any whore on the street who I had picked up to satisfy an urge. Not that I had ever done that, but that’s about all the feelings I had for Julia that night.

“Fucking hell, Ollie. If you ever stood a chance of getting Steph back, it’s safe to say that will never happen now.” Caleb stared at me with disappointment shining in his eyes. Then, anger took over. “That bitch sent this to her,” He reminded me.

“How do you know?”

“Hutch said she sent the text to him that she got before, but he didn’t mention a video.” He tipped his head toward the cell phone in my hand. “Check it.”

I closed the video out and sure enough, there were texts that came in before it. They were from an unknown number, but considering the context, and the fact that the video was included, it didn’t take a genius to figure out that they had been sent by Julia.

“What can we do about this?”

“Steph already had plans to get a restraining order against your ex. My guess is that Hutch will use this, and how it affected her pregnancy and overall health, as reason enough to push for that in court now.”

“Will he be successful?”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

“Considering the things you said in that video, they might also be successful in having one issued against you as well.”

“We could delete it.” It was a knee-jerk response that I wasn’t exactly proud of.

“The courts will compel the phone records and Julia, if need be, to produce the video.” Caleb shook his head at me as he stood. “Besides, now that she did this damage and knows that Steph was sent to the hospital, where she might garner sympathy of her own for losing a baby, I wouldn’t put it past Jia to release the video. If you’re lucky, she’ll leave out the parts where you’re talking.”

“What the hell am I going to do now? If she lost the baby, not only will she never forgive me, but I’ll never forgive myself.” I stood and once again took in the destruction of all our family photos. This was what it looked like to lose everything that mattered. Steph had painted a very vivid picture for me, even if she never intended me to see the mess.

“I’m going to kill Jia.”

“Funny, that’s the first time I’ve heard you use her stage name. Maybe, you should have thought of her as Jia all along and you could have salvaged the mess you created in your marriage from the beginning. I hate to tell you, Ollie, but Jia was just the messenger. You are the problem in your and Steph’s marriage. The only problem, as far as anyone else with half a brain can see.”

“Get me to the hospital. I need to check and see if she’s awake.” I couldn’t bring myself to wonder if the baby had survived. If it didn’t, that was on me. There would be no shifting the blame to my ex-girlfriend, even though her texts were what sent Steph into an emotional tailspin. I knew better. It was what I’d said and done on that video that truly destroyed my wife.

Caleb was right. I set all this in motion with my fucking idiotic beliefs that my son would somehow be better off with the mother he shared DNA with than the one who actually loved him.

“What in the hell do you think you’re doing here?”

“That’s my wife and baby in there.” I pointed to the door of the hospital room that Steph was in. “I need to make sure they’re okay.”

Steve laughed in my face as he shoved me back another step away from the door. “Your bullshit is what put them in the hospital. You really think she wants to see your face right now? She saw enough of it in that little porno your girlfriend sent her.”

“She’s not my girlfriend. She’s no one and she’s being charged for that incident as we speak.”

Steve stopped for a moment and seemed to assess whether I told him the truth or not. Then, he shrugged his shoulders. “It doesn’t change the fact that you were an active participant in that video. You did and said those things without being coerced to. My sister now has rock solid proof that you married her under false pretenses. I don’t even think she needs to wait on a divorce. Considering you fraudulently married her, Hutch might very well be able to have your marriage dissolved in an annulment instead.”

“I think Hutch might see the error of his ways if he attempts that.”

“Yeah? Why’s that?” Steve asked Caleb.

“An annulment means they were never technically married. That means my client doesn’t have to adhere to the terms of the prenup since an annulment means there wasn’t technically a legal marriage.”

“You son of a-”

“That won’t happen!” I shouted at Caleb. “You will not screw my wife over. I don’t care what she has to do to leave me in the dust, but you will not do anything that keeps her from what is rightfully hers.”

Steve and Caleb both stopped and stared at me. My best friend did so with a smirk on his face while Steve’s mouth dropped open in shock.

“Steph will get whatever she asks for in the divorce, as long as it is in my control to give it to her. The only thing I can’t agree to is her getting full, sole custody of the kids. I won’t be written out of my children’s lives.”

“Wait, so you’re saying you won’t contest the divorce now?”

“I can’t do that anyway, according to our prenup, I have no choice but to give her the divorce she wants without a fight.”

“You really are a piece of shit,” Steve said to me.

“I didn’t say I would give up on her. I said legally, I can’t contest anything.”

“Steve?” Steph called from the hospital room. He left Caleb and me there in the hallway as he ran back to his sister.

“The baby?” Steph asked. I didn’t hear Steve’s answer, but her sobs made me wonder.

“It’s okay. The baby is fine. Calm down. You have to stay here and get hydrated and get some rest. All the stress you’ve been under isn’t good for either of you.”

“I want to sell the house, Stevie. I can’t go back there.”

“You can come stay with me until you do, then we’ll find you a place.”

“I can’t ever go back there. It’s full of lies.”

My knees gave out from beneath me at hearing her description of our home.

“We’ll do whatever you need. Ollie is here to check on you.”

“No! No, no, no, no. I can’t see him. Please, don’t let him in here.”

The way she moaned those words out as my mere presence caused her so much pain was scarred on my heart forever.

“Make him go away, Steve. I never want to see him again.”

“You have kids together, Steph. Eventually, it’s going to happen.” Her brother used a gentle tone with her as he explained that it was impossible to avoid me forever. “I’ll tell him you aren’t ready yet.”

“I’ll never be ready again, Steve. I want to go far, far away and never see him again.”

“What about Den and the baby?”

I didn’t hear her answer because Steph started to sob again. At that point, a nurse found us in the hallway and told us that we needed to leave because visiting privileges had not been extended to us.

“Sorry Ollie. Let’s give her some time to calm down. Last thing she needs is to get upset again and lose the baby this time.”

I nodded my head and followed my best friend out of the hospital where we were immediately greeted with assholes taking our picture.

“Did Stephanie kick you out?” One yelled.

“Oliver, over here!”

“Did you know that Jia sent that message to your wife?”

That last question caught me off guard and I spun around. “Who said anything about my wife being sent a video?”

“So, it’s true?” The reporter who had asked the question followed up.

I spun in a slow circle and took all of them in. They were clogging up the entrance to the emergency room and taking video and photos of anyone and everyone who entered. That wasn’t acceptable.

“Tell you what, I’ll give you all a statement right now, but we’re going to move this circus over there.” I pointed to an area that was probably used by smokers on their breaks. They could go somewhere else to suck back their habit for a little while.

I didn’t wait to see if they would follow.

They did.

Once I had them all surrounding Caleb and myself, my lawyer managed to lean in and tell me he didn’t think this was a smart idea. His advice had fucked me over more than it had helped in the past couple weeks, so I didn’t give a fuck any longer. I almost lost my baby today, and with it, I firmly believe Steph would have followed. She was already clearly not doing well.

“Can I get everyone’s attention!” Flashes temporarily blinded me as photographers snapped pictures. “As you have all already reported, my wife is in the hospital. As of right now, both she and the baby are okay. I’m not telling you this to give you the scoop. I’m telling you this to appease your curiosity and get all of you off her back.” I glared into every camera present even as more showed up.

“Stephanie Burton is not the villain of this story. She is, and has always been, the victim. I cheated on my wife. It kills me to admit that. I’ve never cheated on anyone I have been with before and that includes my ex-girlfriend, Julianna Hightower, otherwise known as Jia. I met my wife four years ago, moved her in with me and my son after six months of dating, and then married her three years ago. Our entire relationship has been fully documented by my wife. Not to mention, she was 19 years old and didn’t live near me when Jia abandoned me and my son to go to Hollywood.

“So, you’re going on record that Jia lied about your wife being the original homewrecker?”

“I already went on record about exactly that before. You need to pay attention. You all call yourselves reporters, meanwhile you’ve been attacking the wrong woman. You’ve cost my wife the job she loved. You took away her livelihood during a time when she became a single mother who happens to be pregnant and she’s unemployable right now because of your bullshit.”

“Steph wouldn’t want all this put out there.” Caleb’s whispered admonishment didn’t stop me. I shook him off.

“I’m putting it all out there because my wife had her job wrongfully terminated, which means she also lost her health insurance. All of that, on top of finding out that her husband was unfaithful and then having to deal with my ex causing more problems that sent Steph to the hospital today. This needs to end. If you want to harass someone, go after Jia, because she craves the attention and deserves for you to take a really close look at her life and the lies she’s been spilling – have at it.

“If you want to take a look into me personally, go for it. I deserve the ridicule that will come from everyone for stepping out on my wife ONCE. Then for being so fearful of my wife knowing what was said and done that I allowed that D-list actress wanna-be to blackmail me into traipsing all over the damn country searching for her perfect surgeon.

“Turns out, that’s not what she wanted. She wanted to be seen with me, so she could spin this web of lies in the hopes that I’d have to get back with her at that point to save my own butt and her reputation. If you want to be good little reporters, you should look into that accident that scarred her face. Funny how you missed the fact that it was her fault and that she hit and killed an innocent man earlier in the evening while giving her latest married producer a blowjob.”

Caleb had to turn to hide the way he snickered at that. We hadn’t planned to release that information just yet, since the DA asked us not to, but fuck him. He was taking too long to get the situation in hand. The longer all this bullshit played out, the longer my wife and son suffered.

“Now that I’ve done your damn jobs for you, what you will no longer do is follow my wife or son around. They have both had their lives disrupted enough and neither of them deserved it.” I got ready to walk away and then thought it better to go ahead and get my threats out of the way.

“One more thing. If I find out any of you have caused my wife one iota of stress by following her, trying to contact her or my son, or publishing more slanderous lies about her, then I will not stop until she not only owns every single publication you work for, but your personal homes, vehicles, and every last penny in your bank accounts.”