"Thank you all for coming this afternoon and I appreciate you all being here so quickly. I know my team only called this press conference early this morning," the silence is instant as I speak from the small lectern in our press room at Bellafonte. There are numerous reporters and TV presenters all looking back at me anxiously. The lights they all brought with them, are set to shine straight onto my face. My marketing team decides to do this interview without me wearing makeup so my face looks pretty shitty. It has been only two days since I had been attacked and yesterday my plastic surgeon had decided to stitch the cut over my broken cheekbone, so I look decidedly broken. I don't want to play up to my injuries but I want to show the reality of what can and does happen in too many people's lives.
"Bellafonte is a family run corporation and we have always been very lucky, fortuitous even. My staff are my greatest asset and I know that, thankfully they know it too. I think it is really important for us to address the elephant in the room, and that is the unsolicited footage that was taken recently, without my knowledge, in the privacy of my office. There are entirely too many things wrong with the way I acted in my office, close to all my staff, but I suppose that is my mistake and I have already apologised to my staff and my family for getting swept up in the moment," I take a deep breath, shuffling side to side a little on my feet. I don't need to look down at my notes but I do just to reiterate the reason why we are here.
"The shareholders obviously were shocked by the vision and I immediately offered my resignation from the Bellafonte Board. But after many hours and face to face meetings with my board members, both past and present, the offer of my resignation has been withdrawn," I take a deep breath before looking over the small gathered crowd, a series of camera flashes occurred. "Irrespective of how I spend my time in my office, I am most certainly aware of the impact of my actions and I again offer my sincere apology. What I will not apologise for though is the actions of others. The reason for today's interview is to confirm the rumours that have been circulating around, I am sure everyone has heard a version of what has happened so I wanted to clear up a few of those details, because I am the victim of ongoing abuse, both physical and verbal. A brutal crime that has impacted my business and personal life for many years and that is the issue we are here to discuss. I have no issue talking about this, in fact, I encourage anyone who is a victim to stand up, do it your way, but enough is enough. I will not be silenced anymore," The reporters all lean in closer.
I pause my tablet, looking at Hunter, who is still confined to his hospital bed. I hadn't let go of his hand since I sat perched up on his bed, both of us watching the raw unedited version.
"It went better than expected. Although, I have received so many calls and texts from Hartley that I have Leah manning my phone. Seemed she didn't like me calling her fiancé out," I say looking at him. The bruising on his face is vivid.
He offers me a weak smile through his pain meds.
"I'm proud of you Gigi," he says squeezing my hand. "Help me out?" he asked, his eyes squinting a little.
"What do you need Hunter?"
"You," he replies before attempting to close the distance between us.
"Pretty sure you have me Hunter," I whisper as I near his lips. Stopping our talk with the sweetest of touches. He sighs and sits back into his pillows but I follow him till his back is rested and I am smiling at him between each soft kiss.
"Alright you two, we are good to go. You have been discharged, so let's get going," Matthew strides further into the room as I hop off of Hunter's bed.
"Are you sure Gigi?" Hunter asks again.
"This is the one thing I am sure of Hunter," I say before quickly leaning in and laying another kiss on his lips. "Besides I just ordered a sweet little nurses outfit, it's being delivered this afternoon to the apartment," I haven’t even finished speaking before he is trying to kick back his blankets in his eagerness.
"Hospital policy is we have to wheel you out of here. So sit your ass back down for a minute Hunter," Matthew replies. It is good to see him slowly returning back to his usual narky self. We have all spent a fair bit of time drowning in our self pity but then the four of us speak through how we think we let the other one down. In the middle of a few tears, lots of laughs and a few expletives we are on our way back to some semblance of normality.
What will be different for the four of us all living together under one roof. Without a doubt, my relationship with Hunter is happening crazy quick but the spare room that he is going to be in will provide us with a little buffer from each other. We also started advertising for a new IT Head for Bellafonte. It will be awesome to work together but at the same time I think we both recognise that we struggle to stay focussed. I have no shame in being the first to admit that Hunter takes my ability to think away.
Before coming to collect Hunter and take him home I visit with Grandpa. He is looking a lot better, still pretty gray and worn out but at least we had the best team on hand to look after him. Currently, there is a lot of talk about Grandpa either having a stent inserted or perhaps a pacemaker, his heart specialist and surgeon aren't giving away too much but another family meeting is scheduled for two days away.
Seeing them for the first time after the video was released and subsequent attack did not go as expected. They all wrapped me up in cuddles and kisses before wanting to know the juicy details about Hunter. True to her word Grandma was annoyed at having to delay their morning tea. Still harping on about how hard it was to get an appointment with her jeweller. I left her to her little fantasy. I refused to rush when it came to him, I wanted to enjoy every minute getting to know him again.
"Are you really putting me in the spare room Gigi?" Hunter interrupts my thoughts as I am gathering all his stuff.
"Yeah, actually I am. Let's talk more after you wine me, dine me, sixty-nine me,” he sputters at that but I continue. “Date me, buy me flowers, spoil me rotten. I love little get-aways. Just saying," I finish with a huge smile.
"As soon as I am up Gigi. I am doing all of that and more," he promises.
"Good incentive then," I tip my head at him and wink before I refocus on getting his stuff out of the drawer near his bed. His hand shoots out quickly though and wraps around my wrist, pulling me into his open legs that are hanging off of the bed. His huge frame tugging me in until I am enveloped by every inch that is Hunter.
"Best incentive ever," he whispers quietly before leaning in and kissing me. Instead of sweetness, Hunter steals my breath with his intensity, moving my head slightly before his tongue swept in and stole my thoughts. His mouth is hot, demanding and he keeps pulling away to watch my face with each sweep of his tongue, nibble on my lip.
"I can't leave you two for more than a minute!" Matthew says as he walks in pushing a wheelchair.
"Probably true," Hunter responds before laying one more soul searing kiss on my lips. He turns me quickly out of our embrace and carefully manoeuvres me to his side so that we can make room for the wheelchair.
"Let's go," Matthew passes over all the bags to me and we are on our way in moments. Getting to the car takes a little while, it is important that I find each of the doctors, nurses, and volunteers that helped both myself and Hunter. Thanking them feels inadequate, but each of the staff that we locate, is touched that the three of us took the time to do it.
We are in the car driving back to our apartment. Andrew, our designated driver, is new to Maximus Security, coming to us highly recommended. A little older than we usually hired, after all the travelling I had done in the past two days between here, home and work, we had started to get to know each other. He is going to work out just fine.
"I have a plan," Hunter says once Andrew has engaged the privacy screen. Hunter’s eyes are closed, his head laying back. We are nearly home but the rest of the journey he spends explaining his plan to us.
