Secrets of the Past

Chapter 51

By the time Giovanna turned up at Kali's front door she had stopped crying. Her face was red, her eyes were puffy and she was exhausted.

"Oh, honey," Kali said when she saw Giovanna. "Get in here. Tell me what happened."

Kali ushered her inside to the couch and they sat down.

"Do you want something to drink?"

"No, I'm fine."

"Clearly you aren't," Kali said.

Giovanna smiled weakly. "No, not really." She could feel her eyes welling up again and rubbed them. She didn't want to cry anymore.

"What happened?" Kali asked, putting a hand on Giovanna's knee.

"I caught Brian and Chloe kissing."

"Again?! Are you kidding me?!"

"I wish I was," Giovanna said.

"I can't believe this. Where did you find them?"

"I was supposed to meet Brian at his office for dinner. We both had to work late. When I got there he wasn't in the lobby so I went up. I found them in the conference room. Chloe had quite a grip on him."

"Wait, she had a grip on him? What about him? What was he doing?"

"He was kissing her back," Giovanna said, a look of disgust on her face. "As soon as they broke apart he saw me and I ran for the elevator."

"Wow. So you didn't say anything to him?"

"No. I left immediately. When I got outside I ran a few blocks away. I didn't want to talk to him. I still don't."

"I'm so sorry," Kali said. "What are you going to do?"

"What can I do? It's over."

"So you aren't going to at least hear him out? Or her for that matter?"

"Why? There's nothing to say. Actions speak louder than words. Volumes in this case."

Tears stung her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. Kali reached over and hugged her.

"Can I stay here tonight?" Giovanna asked as she broke their embrace. "I'm sure he will show up at my apartment."

"Of course. You can stay as long as you want."

"Thank you. Would you mind if I lay down? My head is pounding."

"Not at all," Kali said. "Come on, I'll give you something more comfortable to put on. And I'll give you a Xanax. I think you need it."

Once she had changed her clothes and taken the pill Giovanna climbed into the bed in Kali's guest room. She laid on her side in the fetal position and pulled the covers up tight around her.

Tears fell from her eyes as she tried to imagine her life now without Brian. Even though they didn't talk about it much she had really started to see a future with him. Now that was gone. The image of Brian and Chloe once again swam through her head.

Chloe. She had let her sister in and she now felt stupid and foolish for doing so. Why would her sister do this to her? Giovanna had done nothing but try to help her since they had been reunited. Now she felt the knife in her back and it cut deep.

She soon drifted off to sleep, tears still falling, thinking of what she had lost.

She woke up in the middle of the night and rolled over and looked at the clock. It was 3:14. She set an alarm for herself so she would have time to go home and shower before going to work. She wished she could stay home but work was chaotic at the moment and she had no choice but to go in.

                                        **

The next day Brian woke up with a massive hangover. When he had gotten home the evening before he drank until he passed out. It took him a few minutes to remember what had happened and why he was face down on the couch.

He picked his phone up from the coffee table and saw that it was nearly 9:00. He was supposed to be on set at 10:00. There was no way he was going to be able to work. No only because of the headache but also because of his mood.

He needed to let the guys know what had happened and to make sure Chloe could be fired. He called their lawyer and scheduled a meeting for 11:00. He then called Sal, who answered on the third ring.

"Hey buddy," Sal answered. "Are you still picking me up?"

"We need to talk."

Sal knew at once something wasn't right.

"What's wrong?" he asked seriously.

"We need to cancel filming today and we need to have a meeting. 11:00 at Steve Campbell's office."

"What is going on? We're supposed to be on set in an hour."

"Sal, can you please just make this happen? Call the other guys and let them know. I'll explain everything at the meeting."

"Ok, ok," Sal said. "I'll take care of it."

Brian was the first one to arrive at the lawyer's office. The secretary showed him to the conference room and got him a bottle of water. Within ten minutes the rest of the guys had shown up.

"What's going on?" Murray asked.

"I need to know if Chloe can be fired."

"What?!" Joe exclaimed. "Chloe? For what?"

"For sexual harassment."

Murray laughed but instantly went quiet when he realized Brian was serious.

"What happened?" Steve asked.

"Last night after you all had left I was sitting in the conference room, waiting for Giovanna. I thought everyone was gone, but then Chloe showed up, saying she had been working late. She came onto me. And kissed me."

"Are you fucking kidding me right now?" Sal asked.

"No. She had a vice like grip on me and once I finally managed to push her off I looked up and saw Giovanna."

"Oh, man," Joe said. "What did she say?"

"Nothing. She turned and ran. When I asked Chloe what the fuck was going on she spouted some shit about how we could finally be together."

"I told you," Sal said. "I warned you not to get too friendly."

Brian glared at Sal. "Yes, I'm well aware." He looked at Steve. "Can we have her fired for sexual harassment? It was after hours but it was in the office."

"Yes, you absolutely can. You can press charges against her, too, if you want."

"No," Brian said. "I just want her gone."

"We'll need to meet with Jen," Murray said, "let her know what happened. She'll be the one to fire Chloe. I can call her and arrange that."

"Thanks," Brian said. "Do I need to be there? I don't want to run into that psycho."

"Well, yeah, you probably will need to be," Joe said. "But we can keep her away from you."

"I'll call Jen now and see if we can come over," Murray said. "The sooner this is taken care of the better."