Devon’s Outburst

"What is it?" His voice had gone cold, dangerous.

"Nothing. Just... spam."

Devon held out his hand. "Give me the phone, Clara."

"Devon, it's fine—"

"Give. Me. The phone."

There was no arguing with that tone. Clara handed it over, watching as Devon's expression darkened with each word he read.

"Who sent this?"

"I don't know."

Devon was already on his feet, pacing like a caged animal. "This is the first one?"

Clara's silence was answer enough.

"Jesus Christ, Clara! How many have you gotten?"

"Just... a few."

"A few?" Devon's voice was sharp enough to shatter glass. "And you didn't think to tell me?"

"I didn't want to worry you—"

"Worry me?" He spun around to face her. "Someone is threatening you and my unborn child, and you didn't want to worry me?"

Clara flinched at his tone. She'd forgotten how scary Devon could be when he was angry. His whole presence seemed to fill the room, dark and intimidating. This was the man who'd built an empire  making grown men sweat in boardrooms.

"I can handle it," she said quietly.

"No." Devon's voice was flat, final. "You can't. And you shouldn't have to."

He pulled out his own phone and started dialing.

"Who are you calling?"

"Security. And then the police."

"Devon…"

"This isn't up for discussion, Clara." He held up a hand to silence her as someone answered. "Jake? It's Devon. I need you at the house. Now. And bring the team."

Clara watched as Devon transformed into the cold, calculating businessman she'd heard so much about. He was handling the situation with the same ruthless efficiency he probably used to destroy his competitors.

After he hung up, the silence stretched between them like a chasm.

"I was trying to protect you, this person clearly has a vendetta with me, and I didn’t want you to get involved and get hurt," Clara said finally.

Devon's expression softened slightly. "That's not your job."

"Then what is my job, Devon? What am I to you, exactly?"

There was a pause, a silence that felt deafening, those words she said which she held back, as he looked at her shocked at where this is coming from, “You are the mother of my child, and nothing else. You are carrying my child and you don’t get to make careless decisions like the one you made”’

“You are nobody to me, nobody so never you make a decision that will put my child in jeopardy ever again or I promise you, you will never see this baby even after he is born”.

Devon paced as he calmed down a bit. He knew he had just raised his voice at her and said mean things to her. He paused as he turned to look at her for a long moment, something unreadable in his gray eyes. "You..."

The doorbell rang, cutting him off.

"That should be the security," he said. He turned to her as he sighed and then he asked that she comes down with him to make an introduction.

Elliot was in the living room as Jake and his team came, Devon showed them the note and the number that sent the test to Clara, right there they traced it to a dead end but Jake assured Devon, “You don’t have to worry, with this courier we will trace whomever sent this to your home”. Devon nodded as the security left to stay outside the house to keep watch while Jake and some left to trace the Courier.

Devon turned to Clara, he knew he raised his earlier and wanted to apologize, but she turned away without letting him speak and then she went upstairs. He watch her go with a sigh as he turned to Elliot and then he told him, “Please follow up on Jake, I need to know who dared to harm my child”, Elliot nodded as he left the house.

While she was in her room angry with what felt like tears rolling down her cheek, Her phone rang, making her jump. Unknown number again.

She almost didn't answer, but something made her slide her finger across the screen.

"Hello?"

"Clara? Clara, is that you?"

The voice made her blood turn to ice. She hadn't heard it in over a year, but she'd never forget it.

"James?"

"Thank God. I've been trying to find you for months. When I heard about the accident"

"How did you get this number?"

"That doesn't matter. What matters is that I'm here. I'm back, and I want to make things right between us."

Clara's hand went automatically to her belly. James Morrison, a man she once gave her heart to, but he shattered it when she found him cheating with a girl he claimed was his sister. He was one of her greatest loves, the one ex she kept saying if she were to choose an ex, then he would be the one, and here he was, back into her life.

"James, you can't just"

"I know I screwed up before. I know I hurt you. But I've changed, Clara. I want you back. I want us to have the family we always talked about."

There was a knock on her door and before she could respond to it, Devon opened the door to her room and waltzed in. He took one look at Clara's face and could see nerves on them. "Who is it?" he asked.

Clara shook her head, unable to speak.

Devon took the phone from her numb fingers. "Who is this?"

"Who the hell are you?" James's voice was loud enough for Clara to hear.

"I'm the father of her baby," Devon said, his voice deadly calm. "And you're going to stop calling her."

"Father of her—" James laughed, but it sounded forced. "Clara, what is he talking about?"

Devon's grip on the phone tightened. "You have thirty seconds to explain why you're harassing a pregnant woman."

"Harassing? I'm her fiancé!"

"Ex-fiancé," Clara managed to whisper.

Devon's eyes flashed to her, then back to the phone. "Listen carefully. You're going to lose this number, forget Clara exists, and disappear. If you contact her again, I'll make your life very unpleasant. Are we clear?"

"You can't threaten me—"

The line went dead. Devon had hung up.

Clara stared at him, her heart pounding. "He'll just call back."

"No, he won't." Devon handed the phone to one of the security guards. "Get this number changed. Tonight. And I want to know everything about James..." He looked at Clara expectantly.

"Morrison. James Morrison."

"James Morrison. Where he lives, where he works, what he had for breakfast. Everything."

The security guard nodded and left the room.

Devon sat down next to Clara on the couch, his anger seeming to drain away as he looked at her pale face.

"You okay?"

Clara shook her head. "No. Not really."

"Want to tell me about him?"

"Not particularly."

Devon was quiet for a moment. "Clara, I can't protect you from things I don't know about."

She looked at him, this man who'd turned her world upside down. "Why do you want to protect me?"

"Because..." Devon stopped, seeming to struggle with the words. "Because you're important…" she looked deep into his eyes.

"To the baby?"

She paused waiting to hear his next words but it was quite what she expected. The simple words hit Clara like a physical blow. She searched his face, looking for signs, hoping he would say what she wanted to hear but he didn’t. Devon Cage wasn't the kind of man who said things he didn't mean.

"Devon—"

She said as she looked at him and the words just couldn’t come out, she sighed as she said “Nothing” with a nod. He knew she wanted to say something but he didn’t push it. When he got to the door of her room, he turned back to her as he said, “For what it’s worth, I am sorry about earlier. I know I shouldn’t have spoken to you in that manner”.

She nodded as she faked a smile, “Its fine” and then he left closing the door behind him. She fell to her bed as she took in a deep sigh.