Havoc (Hostiles Sequel) 3/3

Burdens

"The claim as it stands now is that this was a joint project by Verne Coleman, known to everyone as Myrtle Robson and Dionysius Plutarch himself. Verne claims they were lovers and he was seeking a way to disappear because he feared for his life and for the company that his wife had just taken over. Verne claims there was an epic corruption scandal that Plutarch wanted to whistle blow with her help and disappearing was the only way to do so. Back to you Alain." The correspondent announces

"Sius is now under audit following this testimony by Verne Coleman, who maintains that she did not kidnap Dionysius Plutarch, she was just a woman who happened to fall in love with a married man and was helping him try to save his company. Is there any word on whether she will be charged for attempted murder Steffon?" the anchor asks

"No word on her attempt to stab Makenna Lewasi-Plutarch to death yet, Alain. Her lawyer maintains that it was self-defense though so we will see how that..." 

Makenna grunts when the tv switches off, turning to Lachlan, who was leaned against the door of the hotel suite's lounge with the remote in his hand. 

"What good will it do you getting pulled into all of her lies?" He asks with a soft smile on his face 

"What am I supposed to do on bed rest and scared stiff that anything I do might open my cervix and push the baby out prematurely?" She shrugs brokenly, she was still the villain in this story, allegedly. 

There was no escaping it. She was the corrupt crook who'd forced her husband into great measures, including possibly faking his own kidnapping to avenge himself, his company. 

"Your soup is getting cold." Lachlan points out gently 

"I can't eat." She sighs, that wasn't the only thing she couldn't do. 

She could barely sleep too, with the nightmares, without someone to watch over her in case Myrtle found her somehow, with thinking up all the ways this was her fault. What if she hadn't taken over Sius or jumped off the yacht in Mykonos or agreed to marry him or walked down the aisle or been at the shop that day when he'd walked in or signed the pre-nup, what if she'd just given him the majority shareholder treatment and told him Payton wasn't his and told him she had to leave because her parents had made her choose between seeing a depressed Nadia through a unplanned pregnancy and losing her control of her Sius shares? What if she'd told him she was his angel investor in Sius to begin with? What if they'd never met, would that have stopped all of this from happening? 

"You have to eat, if not for you, for the baby, if not for the baby for the grandparents to be."Lachlan says, reaching for the bowl of soup and placing it gently in her hands

He watches her take a few spoonfuls in her mouth, encouraging her with a smile. She smiles back, placing the bowl back on the table. 

"What is it?" She pries, bracing herself for it 

"You finish that bowl of soup and I'll tell you." He bargains, and so she pushes herself until all the soup is gone

She sits back, watching his face for clues on what this was about, even though she knew. She knew what he was here to say, she didn't have the strength to avoid him anymore. 

"I've been thinking about us a lot and I realized something." He says in opening

She smiles shyly to fight the nerves

"You told me that you're in love with me, and then we found your husband that you thought was dead and then hours later someone tried to kill you." He points out

"And then I almost gave birth preterm." She adds sadly

He reaches for her hand, rubbing the back with his