5. Middle ground

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 ass 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?