Rising Up: Finding Me book 1 (32 page)

"You did Lake, I know that but you also had to accept my answer was the truth and you didn't, and that speaks volumes to me.  You don't trust me and we both know that that's a deal-breaker."  Turning to walk out she looks at me a gives me a weak smile and with Ginny still holding her hand they walk out together.  I watch them hug each other hard and can hear Ginny talking to her.

"I know Mads and I'm sorry, but promise me two things.  Don't be Melanie again, you are a better person than her and secondly don't let me lose you.  I need to know you are safe and happy.  I love you, my little sister."

Maddie is standing with her head held high. "I promise you Ginny, on both counts I promise you."  She enters the elevator and walks out of our lives and as I move to hold on to Imogen I see Maddie's face before the elevator doors close and she smiles her pretty smile at me.  "Look after her Mason."

I only manage to nod before the doors slide shut on her.  Holding on tight to Ginny as she cries into my shoulder and turn her away and back to my office, I look up and see Lake's desolate face as he realizes that he has just lost his girl and it was all his own doing.  Lucas looks like he wants to punch something to stop him from hitting his brother.

"You're a fucking fool Lake, you wouldn't wait would you.  I told you that I had sorted it and that Maddie wasn't a threat but you thought you knew better.  Well you've just lost your girlfriend and by the look on Mason and Imogen’s faces you won't be seeing much of them soon either.  You are an idiot Lake."  Lucas shakes his head and walks out giving Ginny a squeeze as he passes.

Mason

It took a lot of persuasion to get Imogen over to the house tonight but I knew I had to take her mind off her friend leaving her.  "Come on babe, there's no point in me talking to them on my own, you know I'll make the wrong decisions and we'll have to start all over again.  You know you want your input on this."

"Fine, let me get changed, this bump seems to be getting bigger by the hour.  I'm only going to able to fit in to a tent by the end of the nine months."  Her hand is stroking her belly in soothing circles.  I love watching her do this, the slow circling of her hands and the way her hips sway with the motion.  I want to say it's because it's the sight of her carrying my child but really I just love watching her ass as it moves slowly and sensually, I can feel my dick getting hard in my jeans.

Her clothes hit the floor and I gaze at her as she looks for something comfortable to wear.  "You are one stunning woman Imogen Banks and I love you very, very much.  I know you are hurting but I need you to know how much I love and admire your strength."

Her eyes tear up and she walks towards me in just her underwear and leans in to me with her arms around my neck.  "Thank you Mason, not just for your kind words but for everything you do for me, I consider myself blessed to have met you.  So come on I'm not going to drip about feeling sorry for myself just yet it's too raw and painful, so let's go and get ourselves a cool house built."

Ten minutes later we are on our way.  "Lucas is meeting us there, but don't let him stick his nose in Ginny, this is our house and our choices."

"Don't worry Mason, I'm not going too.  This is a really nice car Mase, I'm not sure we needed to upgrade quite so early but it is a very cool car."  Her hands are running over the sleek black leather interior.

I smile, as soon as we found out about the baby I was at the dealership for a new Porsche SUV.  I've kept my two-seater as well but I did trade in Lauren's Mercedes.  "Yeah I like it too, maybe we'll get to christen it soon, I fancy the idea of me and you on the backseat."  I glance over to her and she's looking in the back and has a blush rising on her cheeks.  "Jeez, Imogen, you're blushing, how come?"

"I've never made out in the back of a car before, and with my size increasing daily I'm not sure how we would manage to."  She smiles and her hand goes back to stroking her stomach.

"I don't believe you, what never? Well we need to fix that and trust me babe, we can most definitely find a way and if you're lucky it could even be tonight."  I laugh at her giggle and rest my hand on top of her stomach.

The architect and construction guys are already at the property with Lucas when we pull up outside at the front.  "Still like it Ginny?"

"Absolutely, it's gorgeous.  I'm so excited, I wonder how long it will take them to get started?  It would be nice to get in before the baby comes wouldn't it?"

"Babe I'm sure if we throw enough money at them it will be done way before Cookie arrives."

"I don't want to pry in to your affairs Mase, but can you afford to do all this so quickly, I mean I have some money that was left to me by my grandparents I would be happy to put it into this house, they would love the idea of helping me get my forever home."

I look at her dumbfounded I have never thought to explain just how much money I have, in fact I am surprised that we have never talked about it before, it was the first thing Lauren wanted to know about.  I love that she has never been interested in it before now and the fact that she would want to put her own inheritance in to the property leaves me speechless.

"Shit Mason, I'm so sorry I didn't mean to pry and if I've offended you I'm sorry."  She's talking really quickly to try to hide her embarrassment.

"Imogen, look at me.  I love that you want to put your grandparents’ money into our home but I promise you I can, I mean we can afford this.  I never realized that we have never talked about my financial status but I have plenty of money babe, and we are most definitely able afford to have everything exactly as we want.  So come on let's go and tell them our plans."  I kiss her and pull her towards the house.  I think she's in shock.

After two long hours we have walked over every inch of this house sometimes more than once.  I can't get over the enthusiasm and amazing ideas Ginny has for this place, I could never have thought of all the things she has. I would have just had a great room on the first floor and allowed areas to be separated with furnishings and shit like that, but Imogen has turned that idea on its head, by tacking on a side extension we can add smaller rooms, a TV room and an office plus a games room where toys and shit can be kept, but the best idea was a private sitting room just for us, no TV or kids, just time for us to spend with each other.

So we finally come up with the new layout of the house and Matt, the architect and Dan our builder have agreed with it I bring up the time scale we want it done in.

"We've got less than three months guys to get this done.  We want to be in here before the baby arrives, so are you able to work with that time frame?"

"Are you prepared to have a lot of guys here, I mean shit."  Dan scratches the back of his head.  "I can be on this job as soon as the plans have been drawn up and agreed on."

"So Matt, how quickly can I have those plans?"

He looks up from his laptop, "I'll have them to you by the end of the week, so if you can check them and let me know I'll forward them to Dan and he can get the materials ordered so that he's ready as soon as the demolition is done."

"I can start on some of the clearing this week, I'll get half a dozen of my guys over to start ripping out the fixtures and some of the walls."  Dan looks happy to get started on it.

"That's great.  So Matt as soon as you've finished one section get it over to me or Imogen to approve you don't need to wait till you've finished all of it to show us.  Anyway, this beautiful lady is about to fall asleep so I had better get her home."  The guys all make a move and Lucas walks out with them to see them away. 

"Hey Ginny, I've been in touch with a guy you used to work with and he's given me some very interesting information.  Can you meet me tomorrow in Lake's office, don't pull that face Ginny, he knows he's been a dick but he's hurting now too.  I'll call you with a time but it will probably be after lunch.” We both nod in agreement.  “See you tomorrow then. Bye."  Lucas leaves and it's just the two of us standing in what will be a beautiful family home in just a few short months.

We stare at each other before smiling and looking around.  "Take a good long look Mase because by the end of the week it isn't going to look like this."  She pulls out her phone and starts taking loads of photographs, lots of them with me in so not being prepared to put up with that I take her cell from her and start making a few memories of my own.

"We are gonna love it here Ginny, can't you just feel it.  I loved all of your ideas, that's why you had to be here, it would have ended up an extension of my apartment without your amazing ideas.  You are a brilliant woman.  Now come on let's go and christen the car!!"  I'm laughing hard as I drag her out of the house but I wasn't kidding and soon proved there were plenty of ways we could accommodate her growing belly and I'm pretty damned sure she enjoyed every one of them.

Imogen

I've spent the whole of last night and most of this morning wondering who Lucas has spoken to, and can't think of anybody who would have any useful information for us.  I did manage to speak to Maddie though and just as I thought she has packed up all her belongings and booked a flight out for today, we both ended up in tears but have promised to keep in touch, she'll let me have her new number and email once she has settled, but doesn't know where she will be living but says it won't be anywhere near her old home.  I just hope she will be okay.

Mason puts his head round my door.  "Lake has just asked us to go through, are you ready?"  He holds out his hand for me.

"As I'll ever be, I just can't think who he has spoken to, I didn't know many people there, a few were friendly but soon kept their distance when Jake shooed them away from me.  Any offers of joining them for lunch soon stopped."

I push the door open and Lake was stood in front of his desk leaning back against it and Lucas was stood next to another man, and they both had their backs to me but I got a massive shock when I saw a man I did recognize from my old job. 

"Shit, Ben.  What are you doing here? 

Lucas, you didn't tell me it was Ben you had spoken to.  Wow, it's really good to see you."  I turn to Mason and pull him forward and up next to me.  "Mason this is Ben Johnson, he was really helpful and friendly when I first started at Jake's office.  Ben, this is my boyfriend Mason he and Lake are the partners here."

I watch Ben happily shake Mason's hand but see Mason looking warily at my old colleague, but greets him and welcomes him to his offices.  I see Ben's eyes move down to my stomach and a huge smile spreads across his handsome face.  "I see congratulations are in order to the pair of you.  You look beautiful Hei..."  His voice fades.  "I'm sorry Lucas told me you had changed your name, but either way pregnancy suits you, you look radiant."

"Okay, let's get this underway, Ben has been fantastic by agreeing to fly all the way over here to show and explain what he has in his possession."  Lake takes his seat and I sit between Mason and Ben.

Ben reaches down and takes a thick manila file out of his case and I see my name, my old name, across the top.  He places it on his lap and starts to speak.  "Before I show you this document I want to apologize to you Imogen, I actually did try to bring this to your attention but was interrupted by your ex-boyfriend, my ex-boss when he saw me talking to you, and after being asked to clear my desk later that day I didn't make any further attempts to speak to you, and after Lucas explained what had happened I was more than happy to come here to see if I could help.”  His dark eyes are filled with regret and remorse.

"That's okay Ben, you weren't to know what was going to happen."  I reach across and give his hand a squeeze.

"Okay, well I have the contract you signed and I witnessed when you first started work with us.  It was part of my job to scan copies in to the personnel department files on the main computer, but my attention was drawn to the extra pages that were included in your contract so as I scanned them, I read through them and they were nothing to do with your job and more to do with a relationship contract between yourself and Mr. Williams."

My eyes shoot up to Mason as he inhales loudly.  "How the hell have you still got them?"

Ben smiles and carries on.  "Mr. Reynolds, I had already seen contracts like this before from my previous employment, but never had I seen them tucked almost unobtrusively between pages of a standard employment contract. 

This page had Ms. Reid's, as she was then, signature on it as well as Mr. Williams but had already been witnessed by a third party, in fact it was the signature of my old employer.  I felt that there was something very strange going on and there had been a lot of gossip about Mr. Williams’s strange proclivities. 

I scanned everything in but copied these papers again and filed them in the archive department, the originals, these ones here, I kept when I left.  I had a very strange feeling after I was asked to leave that I may need to produce them one day.  And well, here we are and here are the original contracts."

Lake looks completely dumbstruck as he reaches for the file, Mason is smiling at me and Lucas looks as happy as a dog with two tails.

"I don't believe this. Oh my God Ben, thank you so much.  Lake tell me what this means to me now and how it changes things?"

"Slow down Ginny, let me look through this and compare it to the version I've been FedEx'd from your parents lawyers.  So just for my own curiosity Mr. Johnson, what’s the name of your previous employer, I have a feeling I already know the answer but please make my day and tell me."  Lake smiles.

"It was Damien Halloran, he had quite a lot of these contracts, but in his defense I do believe his were all consensual agreements."

Lucas speaks up at this point and confirms Ben's comments.  "I have spoken to quite a few women that have had relationships with Mr. Halloran and they happily signed his contracts but they also said they had never been introduced to Mr. Williams, it seems he was well known in these circles as a bit too sadistic for their tastes."

Both I and Mason wince at this and Lucas looks apologetically at me. "Sorry Sweetcakes."

"It's okay Luc, I must say I tend to agree with them."  Mason kisses the back of my hand.  "Look Lake do you need me anymore?  I've got a couple of things I need to talk to Mason about.  Ben, it is fantastic to see you again, I hope you are here for a few days and we can get together, I think we all owe you a huge slap up dinner and a fair few drinks."

"Yes I'm here for a week so I would love to catch up." 

I lean down and give him a kiss on his cheek and walk out, but not before noticing the blush rise up his beautiful mocha colored skin, Mason shakes his hand again and catches up with me.  I walk in his office and he closes the door behind him.

"Jeez Mason, I did not see that one coming did you?  Had Lucas said anything to you?"  I flop down on his sofa and am reminded of what happened last time I was sat here.