GIANNA

~•~

His day off finally made sense. When he came back yesterday, all did was wash up and go straight to work without even having breakfast. He couldn't even look me in the eye.

He felt guilty and was trying to make it up to me by spending the day with me, as if that would solve anything.

I should have expected this. Brandon and Bailey had always been close and he was pressured into marrying me. Why did I think he would be loyal to me? I tried to be the best wife anyone could have, but... fuck.

I didn't want to cry. I knew he was going to come in soon and I didn't want him to see me crying. He was an asshole. He always told me not to worry about Bailey but he didn't just fuck her once.

As expected, the door to our room opened and he walked towards me. "They're gone."

I laughed bitterly. "Is their absence supposed to change the fact that you left my party, making me cover up for you, only to go and spend the night at your supposed best friend's house? And your sister, who absolutely hates my guts, knows about it, but I don't?"

"I didn't tell my sister. I didn't even think she knew."

"How does that make anything better, Brandon?" Tears gathered in my eyes. "Even if you don't love me, I expect you to have the littlest bit of respect for me as your wife! Do you know how fucking embarrassing it is for you to sleep with her and have her rub it in my face?"

In my matrimonial home at that. Bailey knew exactly what she was doing when she blurted it out. She did it to hurt me and it worked. Brandon allowed that. He couldn't even have his affair in private.

"I was going to tell you about it, but she beat me to it. I'm sorry. I had no intention of embarrassing you." I despised how calm he was about the whole thing. It made me feel like he didn't think it was a big deal for him to cheat on me. He was apologizing for everything but that. It made my chest hurt.

"Oh, but you are not sorry for sleeping with her?"

His eyes went wide at my words. "Of course, I am. I didn't do it on purpose, G."

"How do you have sex with someone unintentionally?" Men came up with a different excuse every day.

"Gianna..." he reached forward to hold my hands but I slapped it away. "I promised you honesty and loyalty during our vows. I wouldn't go against that on purpose. Just hear me out, please."

I stared at him warily. I was weak for him and he knew that. I didn't want him to use that to manipulate me into thinking he didn't do anything wrong. However, it would be wrong to conclude without hearing what he had to say. I looked away from him. His eyes were shining with sincerity and I didn't want that to draw me in. "Go on."

"When I got a call from Bailey that night, she sounded sad and broken. She made a comment about how tired she was of living and that alarmed me." I held back a scoff. We all knew how dramatic Bailey was. I didn't know why he still took her words seriously. "When I got there, she was drinking. I took a few glasses and blacked out. When I woke up, we were both naked on the bed. I didn't plan to sleep with her, G. It just happened and I hate myself for it."

I folded my arms across my chest. It was quite embarrassing but if what he was saying was true, I was glad he didn't have sex with her while he was sober, but then again, "Bernice said it's not the first time."

He inhaled deeply and pinched the bridge of his nose. "That was before we got married when we were still in college. It's the same situation. We blacked out and found ourselves naked."

My mouth fell open. That was even worse. I shook my head and stood up from the bed, walking away from him and pacing around the room. I was so stupid. The attraction was clearly there if they had slept with each other twice. "Why didn't you just marry her? Why did you marry me when you're so clearly attracted to each other? Was it to make a fool of me?"

"What? No, of course not. I don't like her."

"But you like fucking her? Make it make sense." I wiped away angry tears that were threatening to fall. This was so messed up. Was this explanation supposed to salvage our marriage? Despite how much I liked him, I still had a pride to protect. I couldn't be in a marriage where my husband was secretly in love with his best friend.

He shook his head. "I don't like fucking her. It just happened. I have no memories of them either. I promise, Gianna. I'm not trying to toy with you. Agreeing to our wedding meant agreeing to make you my wife and I'll always treat my wife with respect." As though it was a manipulation tactic, he tried to hold me again.

"Don't fucking touch me, Brandon." I spat out. "I promise this. I promise that. You keep making promises you can't keep. You promised she wasn't a threat to our marriage yet here we are."

"Gianna–"

I didn't let him explain. "What I'm hearing right now is that you two can't be trusted around alcohol. Whenever you're both drunk, your clothes come off? Is that what is going to happen every time you drink together?"

"I don't know how I can get you to forgive me, but I'm sorry. I'm never going to touch alcohol around her anymore if that's what it takes. It's never going to happen again, I swear on my life."

I glared at him.

"You're my wife, Gianna." He added. "You're the only one I want. Not Bailey. Not anyone else."

Hesitantly, he reached out to hold my hand again. When I allowed him, he pulled me forward and wrapped his hands around me.

"I'm sorry, babe. I'll prove myself to you and spend the rest of my life making it up to you." He pulled back slightly and leaned in to kiss me, reassuring me that he would never cheat on me again.

Maybe I was stupid. Maybe I was weak, but I thought it was better to end it there than to escalate it and separate. At least, I thought that was where it was going to end.

GIANNA

~•~

The last three weeks have been awkward. Brandon was much more affectionate than he had ever been since we got married. I knew it was out of guilt, but it made me think I made the right choice by choosing to ignore the affair.

It was like the setback made our relationship much stronger. I hated that I had to live with the fact that my husband knew how it felt to be inside his best friend, but I couldn't say that I hated the outcome of their affair.

He complimented me regularly, ate breakfast with me every day, came back from work early, and ate dinner with me as well. Sometimes, he even bought presents on his way back from work.

A pair of hands settled on my shoulders and before I could turn around, Brandon placed a kiss on my neck. "Are you coming to bed anytime soon?"

Heat rose to my cheeks, knowing exactly why he wanted me in bed. It was just nine o'clock in the evening and Brandon usually slept late because he was always busy with work.

"There'll be articles about the news later." He kissed my cheek, then turned my face so he could kiss my lips. "You can read them tomorrow."

"I have a conference tomorrow. I won't have time."

Brandon sighed and leaned back, but instead of giving up, he rounded the couch and stood in front of me. I didn't have the time to react before he placed his hands under my legs and back and lifted me from the couch.

I let out a squeal, wrapping my arms around his neck for balance. "Brandon!"

Brandon ignored me, but before he could take a step forward, the doorbell rang. My eyebrows furrowed. Even if it wasn't very late, it was still night and we weren't expecting any visitors.

I made a move to escape his hold and check who was at the door but Allison, who had been in the kitchen, beat me to it. Brandon kept me in his arms as we waited.

"It's Ms. Johnson," Allison announced and Bailey appeared from behind her.

I glanced at Brandon and he shrugged, letting me know that he also had no idea why she was here. Brandon had promised me that he would take a step back from their friendship. He also said she wasn't allowed in the house anymore and that they would only come in contact if they met at events. I appreciated that, but it made me wonder why she was here and at night as well.

I tapped on Brandon's arm and he gently let go of me.

"What are you doing here?" Brandon asked, sounding curious. "I thought I told you we should limit our visits?"

I hadn't seen Bailey since the day she announced that she slept with Brandon and the three weeks apart hadn't changed my feelings for her.

"I'm sorry for showing up unannounced." Her voice was smaller than usual and it made me suspicious. However, I didn't say anything. I just watched the exchange with keen interest.

"Well, why are you here?"

"I have something to tell you." She told him, sparing a glance at me.

Brandon followed her gaze. "She's my wife. I'm sure she's allowed to hear whatever you have to tell me."

"Fair enough." She sucked in a deep breath. "I only just found out this morning, but I'm pregnant."

My heart stopped.

Brandon, the oblivious fool, was confused. "Congratulations?"

"The child is yours, Brand. We'll be having a baby together."

My tongue poked the inside of my cheek. This was it. My marriage was officially ruined and there was nothing that could save it.

Brandon's eyebrows were still scrunched together. "What? What do you mean?"

"It means on the day we fucked, you got me pregnant. I just thought to tell you because it won't be right to keep it from you. You don't have to take responsibility for the child, but I knew it wouldn't be fair if you didn't know about it."

I was ready to throw hands, but it would be considered an assault. Besides, she was now a pregnant woman. I'd be harming both the mother and the child. I couldn't listen any longer. If I did, my intrusive thoughts would win.

"I'll leave you two to your conversation," I told both of them before I trudged up the stairs.

Brandon knew better than to stop me. I wasn't feeling sleepy earlier, but as soon as I lay on the bed, I wanted to sleep and wake up to find out that this part of my life was a nightmare.

I made a phone call before I eventually drifted off to sleep.

When I woke up the next morning, I realized that my husband impregnating another woman was truly my reality.

Brandon was still sleeping when I went downstairs to get the document I'd told my lawyer to prepare the night prior. He was fast and efficient. When I went back into the room, Brandon had woken up.

He looked at me warily as though he was afraid I'd snap. "You slept pretty early last night."

The elephant in the room was huge as fuck, but I didn't want to talk about it. There was nothing to talk about. Brandon was a responsible man and he wasn't going to abandon his child no matter what.

It was best I removed myself from the equation. I was protecting my peace. I was in love with Brandon, but he was going to be a father and not to my kid.

Staying silent, I handed him the document.

"What is this?" He stared at me but my expression was blank. Curiosity got the better of him and he opened the file. His eyebrows shot up. "Divorce papers?"

BRANDON

~•~

"You don't mean this, do you?" I stood up from the bed and approached her slowly. "You're just venting, right?"

"Brandon..." she sighed.

"I am not signing these papers, Gianna. Absolutely not."

"What is that supposed to mean?" She asked, folding her arms across her chest, unintentionally drawing my attention there.

"Let's sit down and talk about this first, then we can come to a conclusion. We can't just part ways like this." I knew I fucked up. I admitted that, but I didn't know how to show her my sincerity. I never wanted to sleep with Bailey. We were just friends, nothing more.

Bailey and I had been friends since we were born because our parents were friends. While growing up, there were talks that we were going to get married, but I didn't see her in that light. She also didn't like me and later on, my father had a bright idea to use my marriage as a collaboration between two companies which was how I ended up with Gianna.

I didn't know Gianna before we got engaged, but I quickly warmed up to the idea. She was a nice woman and she had a kind heart. Her only fault was her insecurity and my stupid *ss self just played into it, proving her suspicions right.

"What else do you expect me to do, Brandon!" She cried out. "Sit at home with you while you raise another woman's child?"

It was crazy. I knew that, but that didn't mean I could let her go just like that. "You should have at least spoken to me before you prepared these."

"Yeah, the way you did before you fucked another woman and got her pregnant."

I gritted my teeth. I knew it wouldn't be easy but I thought we were past that already. She had agreed to forget about it. Why was she still bringing it up? I didn't do it on purpose. Why was that so hard to understand?

"Gianna–"

"Don't." She shook her head, stopping me from saying anything. It wasn't like I had an excuse anyway.

The facts were there, laid bare in front of us. I disrespected our marriage and got another woman pregnant. It was normal for her to want to leave, but the problem was I didn't want her to leave. I couldn't let her leave.

"What about our reputation?" Everything we did was scrutinized by the public and it would only take one event without her presence for them to know that something was wrong. The bad publicity was going to affect our stock prices and our parents were going to scold us for it. My company was just a branch of my father's but it was going to get affected anyway.

"It's going to be ruined anyway when they find out there's another woman." She sounded resigned, like she was tired of dealing with me. I didn't know how to feel about that. I had been good to her for the past two years. I didn't expect one mistake to ruin all that we had built together. "It's better to get it over with and leave with a clean cut."

"I'm not signing them," I concluded, shaking my head. I didn't know where we would go from here, but I wasn't signing the damn papers.

"I've already signed them." She informed me. "I just need your signature for this to be over."

I opened the next page of the file and truly, her signature was already there. I felt my chest tighten and I took a step back. Gianna was the sweetest woman on earth, but this action told me that she was truly done with me.

"It's not going to be over anytime soon." I closed the file and placed it on the bed. "I'll figure something out but we're not separating."

I didn't know exactly why I was adamant about not leaving her, but I knew I didn't want to so I wouldn't. It was that easy.

"Brandon, don't make this harder than it needs to be."

"No." That was final. "I'm not signing them. I'm going to shower and go to work. When I come back, we'll sit down like adults and talk about this issue. Then, we'll figure something out. Something that doesn't include you leaving this house."

She opened her mouth to oppose me but I didn't wait to hear what she had to say before I went into the bathroom.

My shower was longer than it usually was because I was thinking a lot even if none of my thoughts were making sense. Bailey, the woman I grew up with, was pregnant for me. Gianna, my wife, wanted to leave me even if I didn't cheat on her on purpose.

I knew I wanted Gianna to stay, but I didn't know what to do about Bailey. Telling her to abort the child would be outrageous, but that was the only way Gianna was going to stay. Then again, I didn't have the heart to suggest that. A life was growing inside of her and she wouldn't want to kill it neither would I.

I didn't want a child just yet, which was why Gianna hadn't conceived yet. We had planned to wait a few more years before bringing a child into this world. I never expected to have a child sooner than I wanted and that left me confused.

When I came out of the bathroom, the divorce papers had been placed on the nightstand, along with a note.

'I'm going to visit my parents. Sign them before I get back. Thank you'

I sucked on my teeth. She was pushing for a divorce. I wanted us to stay together. How the hell were we going to find a middle ground?