Unfaithful: Web Of Betrayal

The anticipation … every time he was coming to meet her, anywhere, anytime, the anticipation still feels like it did years ago when she could tell herself that Declan was hers.

Her lover. The man she fell in love with accidentally but harder than anyone before him. There’s no one after him. She found it impossible to love anyone else after what she had with Declan.

There’s love for her too, somewhere in him, not as great as how he feels for Olivia, but it’s there … lying silently, subtle and steady inside him that she was still able to see him time and time again. At least that’s what she told herself.

How ironic, the proudest thing she could ever claim was Declan Hunt is the father of her child, but it will never be validated by anyone, even if she would deny it if anyone would ask. The risk was too great. She loved Declan more than she needed her acceptance. As long as he was willing to admit it to her, and took care of the both of them, she was fine with it.

She knew what it meant to be the other woman of a very wealthy man since the very beginning. She knew the odds were not in her favor. To be cast away, hidden from his reality was the price she had to be willing to pay and she did.

She daydreamed of how wonderful life would be to be his wife and raise Damien together as she sat on the park bench on a sunny afternoon. Chestnut was a perfect little town to raise a family but hers was not ideal. The love of her life, the father of her child was married to another woman that has no idea how lucky she is to be loved by him.

Damien was running around at the park, playing at the swing and going back and forth to the slide. He was a replica of his dad, thank God for that. His looks, his laugh, smart, and witty, a mini Declan except for his curly hair, that one was hers to claim. How could she ever separate herself from the life she didn’t have when all her love and devotion to Damien was a direct reminder of it?

“Sienna.”

His voice interrupted her thoughts. He was standing by the tree next to the bench. Tall and handsome, he was wearing a dark grey suit, the color he wore best, and took her breath away.

“Declan,” a wide smile bloomed across her face.

She stood up to greet him only to get a peck on the cheeks when what she wanted was to wrap her arms around him and press their lips together. He’d told her about the pictures and worried someone was following him. He sat at the other end of the bench crossed leg with his arm leaned along the back of the bench.

She’d been waiting for this meeting for weeks, but the way he distanced himself was worrying her. He seemed to have a lot on his mind as he gaze far into the park.

“We can’t do this anymore,” he began, “At least for a while … until things are settled … I can’t risk anyone seeing us together and … Damien.”

She was right, there was something wrong with how he was that day. She looked at the side of his face, how she longed to be with him. If the world falls apart, she would be okay if Declan would tell her that he loves her more than anyone else.

“How long?”

He turned to look at her, “I will be leaving for London next month for a couple of months … more or less.”

“With Olivia?”

He swallowed before answering, “We’re going to buy a summer home, I have business there in the near future and it’s good to have a place to stay for long periods.”

She looked away. His staying married to Olivia was like a knife in her heart, but to hear that they were planning a future together was twisting it even deeper. She clenched her teeth, something was pushing from the back of her eyes. “Gil is leaving,” her voice trembled.

There was a pause, “He told me,” Declan said.

“I don’t care … I can take care of myself and Damien … it’s finally over, it feels unreal … but he’s really leaving … tomorrow …” tears started to fall on her face.

“I’m sorry … you’re not alone, Sienna, you don’t have to worry about the finances … I told you I’ll take care of everything … you don’t even have to work if you have to stay home and look after Damien.”

“That’s not what I’m saying, Declan … my life! My life is completely changed … for what? I’m getting a divorce, I have a son who doesn’t know who his real father is, and I’m going to be a single mother when I don’t have to be … stay home and not work? Why? While you buy a summer home with your wife and keep me hidden here dealing with my own misery?”

Declan held her hand to calm her down, she was starting to scream and he didn’t want her to attract unwanted attention. “Sienna … please … I’m trying … I’m taking care of you and Damien, aren’t I? Whatever you need … you know I’ll provide it.”

“Damien needs a father … how about that? How long do you think you can keep this up? I’m not gonna lie to him forever, he has to know who his father is … he deserves to know that … even if you don’t want him to know, it’s not your call Declan … it’s mine because I’m his mother and I’m not gonna deprived him of the truth.”

He rubbed his face with both hands, “I know … I know … but can we at least wait …” he sighed deeply, “We’re going to do an IVF treatment soon … we’re trying again.”

Her jaw dropped open, no words could come out. It wasn’t the first time he made her feel like a leftover, him trying to have children with his wife made her feel like trash, especially when her own son had to wait for that to be acknowledged. She shook her head. Olivia was his queen, she could never compete with that, but her son has to compete with an unborn child … even worse, an unconceived child.

“I can’t do that to her, Sienna, at least not until we have our own child … it will kill her.”

“Stop! Do you expect me to feel sorry for her after what I’ve been through? Really, Declan? Have you no compassion for me at all?”

“I’m not expecting you to understand … no … but this is our reality, okay? I’m not leaving her … we’re staying together and this is what we must do to stay together.”

Sienna averted her gaze to the opposite side, it was way too hurtful for her to hear that. She cried. “I hate you … I hate you for doing this to me … to us …”

“I wish there was another way,” he tried to console her.

“There are other ways …”

“The one where I stay with Olivia and makes you happy too? Or the one where I leave her and make myself miserable?”

She shook her head. The other woman is always the one to sacrifice because she wasn’t even supposed to be in the picture, it was all her fault. “One day … he will grow up and figure all this out by himself,” she wiped her tears, “He will knock on your door and tell your wife who he is … do you want to wait until that day comes before you tell her the truth? How do you think she will take it then? With or without your own children … how will she see you as a person? Abandoning your own son to keep your marriage intact?”

He stood up. He can’t listen to the things he already knows in his heart, he just hadn’t figured out how to deal with it yet. “I have to go.”

He wasn’t even going to meet with Damien, it was too risky, watching him from afar was all the luxury he could get.

Sienna didn’t reply.

“I’ll be in touch,” he added. He didn’t even wait for her response, he glanced at Damien at the swing and waved at him before he turned and disappeared… again.