Forever Yours

The Ultimatum [25]

25. Ultimatum

Maureen

I knocked on the door of my father's office, the sound barely audible. Almost immediately it was pulled open.

We stared at each other for a long moment. My father's eyes searched mine. His mouth was in a long, thin line.

Without a word, he stepped to the side, silently indicating for me to come in.

At his desk, I was stunned to find Gary, his public relations manager, standing next to an armchair. He looked up as I came closer.

"Sit down, Maureen," my father said, walking around his desk and seating himself in his leather chair. I drew closer and my heart dropped to my stomach when I saw the glossy photos and tabloids strewn out across the top of the cherry wood desk. He looked up at me. "Care to explain what all this is?"

And oh, no... there were pictures everywhere. The front cover of People magazine had a picture of Ryan and me, holding hands as we walked into Madam de Dupont's studio. In bold white letters, the words "THE HEIRESS AND HER MYSTERY MAN: John Carvelli's daughter has been caught sneaking around town with a nameless boy. A source tells all! Pg. 45"

OK! magazine claimed that I was engaged to the help. Us Weekly boldly stated that I was pregnant and planning to elope to Bermuda to raise the twins that were growing inside of my womb: "She doesn't know who the father is yet but a birdie told me that it might be her valet. Naughty girl!" A source claimed. There seemed to be hundreds of pictures, although in reality, there couldn't have been more than thirty. There Ryan and I were walking close, sharing a coffee; in one, Ryan was pushing a curl out of my face while I talked to him, my cheeks slashed in pink. In another, I was hugging Ryan and he had his face buried in my neck. Whoever had gotten that one was standing some ways behind me because the viewer could clearly see Ryan's lips pressing to my skin, how closely his arms were wrapped around me. There were a couple of glossy ten by eight photos of the day out with my little brothers. All of them showed how close Ryan and I walked- one even had a close up of our hands entangling. We had thought no one was looking.

One tabloid stated that they had identified the mystery man as Ryan Adams, the limo driver. There were print ups from the internet and I wanted to cry at the lewd things some people had suggested. The horrid things people were saying about me...

I sagged back into my seat, my heart racing. "How...how did-"

"I've been busy with the moving of the employees to the new building and I haven't been paying much attention to these sorts of things," my father stated, gesturing to the pictures with a flick of his wrist. I could see the suppressed anger behind his controlled expression. "Gary here has been trying to get my attention for the past week or so, claiming we had some sort of public crisis taking place. I ignored it, put it off, had no time... today, I finally sit down with him to find out what's been going on and he pulls out these photos and magazines, all having come out a week or two ago, stating that you're apparently having some kind of a secret relationship with this boy, Ryan Adams." He looked up at me, giving me a long, hard look. I couldn't move. I couldn't believe what was happening. "I hardly believed it at first. I trusted you enough, Maureen, to give you the benefit of the doubt. But this is clear enough-" He swiped one of the photographs up and brandished it. A picture of me and Ryan locked in a passionate embrace, his lips on mine. I shuddered, my hands clenched in fists in my lap. "Now... I'm going to ask you again, Maureen. What the hell is going on?"

I swallowed convulsively, barely noticing in my peripherals as Gary looked away, his face purposely blank.

"I-I..."