The broken promise

Maya’s POV

It had been five days since Brooke got discharged from the hospital. She was taken back to my Dad’s house to recover, much to my relief.

That relief was short-lived. In those five days, my formerly peaceful life turned upside down.

Apart from battling morning sickness in secret, I was also battling Carter’s changed behavior.

He spent most of his time after work with Brooke at my family house.

Each day, he came back home late, claiming that he was ‘getting to know’ his son.

But the gossip channels told another story entirely. Videos and pictures of him, Brooke and Leo going to dinner and shopping kept popping up.

I still hadn’t told him about my pregnancy, but today, I decided it was high time I did so.

After three years of tears and failed fertility treatments, a miracle had happened, and it was difficult keeping the good news to myself.

On a whim, I drove to his office, and walked up to the front desk with a smile.

“Good afternoon, Clara. Is Carter in?" I asked his receptionist.

I was totally unprepared for her reaction. She froze in shock when she saw me. Then her eyes darted nervously towards Carter’s closed office door, and she nervously cleared her throat.

"M … Mrs. Davis," she stammered, flushing and standing up quickly. "I... I wasn't expecting you today. Mr. Davis didn't mention you'd be coming."

"I wanted to surprise him," I said cheerily, but alarm bells were going off in my head at her hesitation. "Is he in a meeting?"

"He's... well, he's occupied," Clara said. She stepped around her desk as if to block my path, her voice trembling. "Let me call first to let him know…"

"It's fine, Clara. I’ll show myself in," I told her, but now I was very anxious.

Ignoring her call behind me, I walked down the hallway and pushed open Carter’s office door.

My smile instantly died on my lips as I saw for myself why Clara had been so disturbed by my presence.

Standing by the window was Carter, and in his arms was Brooke. Her face was buried against his neck, and her hands were wrapped tightly around his lower back.

They pulled apart as soon as the door opened. Brooke gasped, turning toward me. Tears were running down her face, making her appear fragile. My eyes dropped to her clothes.

The first three buttons of her shirt were undone. This made the top fall loosely off her shoulder, revealing the top part of her breasts.

She had had those breasts pressed against Carter’s chest just moments ago. The knowledge of that sickened me so much. He couldn’t pretend like he didn’t know what she was doing.

Carter adjusted his cuffs and met my gaze levelly, his expression neutral and detached. He didn’t even act guilty, which showed just how much disregard he had for me.

"Maya, you shouldn't have come to the office without telling me," he said.

I remained by the door. “I shouldn’t have … are you being serious right now? Do you give the same order to Brooke or is she free to come in here anytime she wants and feel you up? What exactly is going on here?” I asked, hating how shaky my voice sounded.

“We were discussing,” Carter replied, ignoring my other questions. Brooke stood by his side, staring at me with wide, triumphant eyes.

“Discussing? It didn’t look like it to me.”

“Jeez! Don’t start your drama over nothing. Can't you see your sister was crying? I was going to tell you what we were discussing when I came back home, but I can as well tell you now. Brooke and Leo are moving in with us tomorrow,” he said.

The words echoed in my head, and it felt like the world was spinning. It wasn’t enough that he spent almost all his free time with them.

Now, he wanted to move them into our home. How much did he expect me to endure before he decided I had had enough?

“I thought we were past this. That’s our home. I don’t want her there,” I said.

Brooke spoke up, her voice soft and pleading. “Please, Maya. You know how difficult Mom can be. She and I are already having issues. I swear you won't even know I'm at Carter’s house. I just need a place with familiar faces to crash for a short while … until I sort myself out.”

The ever-ready tears sprang to her eyes. I wasn’t moved, but Carter was.

“Brooke is right. The mansion is large enough for all of us. Leo needs his father, and Brooke needs a safe environment to recover from her trauma. It would be unfair to separate them so soon after what they’ve gone through. This is what we’ve decided,” he finished.

We … as in he and Brooke, not he and me, who was his wife. They had made their decision, and I was supposed to just accept it like a puppet.

“I see,” I whispered.

“Anyway, is everything alright? Why did you come to the office?” he asked.

There was no way I was sharing my news right now, not with Brooke present, and not while I was unsure what my position in his life truly was.

"It’s nothing important. I was in the neighborhood and decided to stop by. I'll leave you two to finish your discussion," I said quietly, my emphasis on the word ‘discussion.’

Carter didn’t even flinch. Unable to endure staying there one second longer, I turned and stepped back out into the hallway before the first tear could fall.

I was almost at the car park when the sound of hurried footsteps came after me. It was Brooke. She wore a satisfied smirk.

“I hope you’ve started packing your things because once I move in, I have no intention of moving out ever again. I’m taking my man back, and no one can stop me, especially not you!” she sneered.

I turned to face her, totally fed up. “What makes you think you have the right to tell me what to do and what not to do?”

“Oooh, you’ve changed a lot. You now think you can talk back to me or disobey me. Didn’t you get my text that day at the hospital?”

“I got it. My answer is the same. I’m not your puppet. I love Carter, and I’ll not leave him.”

“Then you're a big fool. He doesn’t give a damn about you. Do you know what would have happened in that office if you hadn’t walked in? You should have seen how hard he was when we hugged. He would have devoured me whole.”

Intense jealousy and anger gripped me. I almost blurted out the news of my pregnancy right there and then.

I wanted to see her face and savor her pain when she found out that I'd be in Carter’s life forever whether she liked it or not, but I restrained myself and walked away.

She didn’t follow me, which was just as well, because if she had sufficiently provoked me, I might have hit her.

Little did I know the worst was yet to come.