When word got out about Dimitri's and Leanna's engagement, it initially sparked a chain of questions and controversy that would make headlines in every paper and news report. Nikolai covered nicely stating that his son had always been very secretive about his relationships and that he and Leanna had been seeing each other for a very long time before the announcement of their engagement. He added that his son wanted to surprise his parents about the news since they too were clueless about the strength of their relations. Of course anyone that knew Dimitri would know that it was utter bullshit and a blatant lie.

Valarie curled up into Jake's lap and hugged herself tightly. She had run straight to him when word of Leanna's pregnancy and engagement was confirmed by Nikolai. He wanted to quarrel, he wanted to flip out, he wanted to plot a plan to destroy Dimitri once and for all for hurting poor Valarie but that wasn't what she needed now. She need support, comfort, a shoulder to cry on. He held her lovingly and stroked her head as tears drained constantly from her eyes.

His blood was boiling and his muscles stiffened to rocks. He felt at fault, like he hadn't done enough to save Valarie from that monster. He had him fooled, he had them all fooled. Just when you thought that maybe there was the possibility that he had changed, he dropped this bombshell. The audacity of him to try to deny it. Jake only dreamt of knocking out his lights, ending him for good. If he only got his hands on the bastard, he would surely be jailed for the crime he would commit.

"What did I do? What did I do?" Valarie asked between sobs.

Jake could do nothing but hug her tightly. The pain in her voice was too much to bear.

"Nothing Valarie, nothing. You did nothing wrong. He had us all fooled and I will make sure that he pays for this. He will regret that he ever did this to you. I will make sure of it."

Her sobs became more frequent as she pondered on the thought of what happened. There was barely any room left for the breaths she needed to prevent her from going into shock. Valarie harboured rapid short breaths. She struggled to get air into her lungs. Her throat was closing up and her chest tightened at a fast pace.

"Ahh Valarie, calm down. Calm down hun." Jake said as he felt her heart pounding against her chest.

She busted into another round of flooding tears.

He held her in his arms and picked her up like a child. She felt fragile in his grasp. Jake stood up and walked towards his room and laid her down on his bed. She was drenched in sweat. Jake made eye contact with her for a brief moment to get her silent approval then he gently removed her top layer of clothes to give her body more room to breathe. He wrapped his arms around the bare skin of her tiny waist and pulled her tightly against him.

Jake just laid next to her in silence, drinking in her painful cries. This was the worse he had ever seen her; it was the worse he had ever seen anyone. He felt helpless for there was nothing he could do to mend her little heart. His arms enwrapped her until she passed out into a deep sleep. The only reason she had stopped crying was because she had become exhausted to the point that her body was outright incapable of continuing.

Dimitri was too distraught to sleep or do anything at all. He sat in the comfort of his empty room, drinking himself into the abyss. What the hell really happened? It all felt like a dream yet he was wide awake to see that it wasn't. His memory of the Chase's residence was still sketchy. What had Leanna done? He clearly remembered refusing her and he had no recollection of bedding her so he was drowning in a pool of confusion.

Valarie, that's all his heart thought about. He couldn't get the image of her face out of his head. the flushness of her cheeks, the tears pooling in her eyes, the way she pushed him away when he tried to stop her from running away. Surely he wanted to explain things to her but what was he to say when he practically remembered nothing.

There was no way that he was going to marry that witch but his father had already taken ten steps ahead of him. With word of the news circling all around, how was he to snake himself out of it and prove his innocence? He had only known Leanna for three days yet the reports stated months. He had to get himself out of this, he had to prove it all to be a lie.

Half the bottle of whiskey had already gone yet it had done nothing to numb him as he had hoped. Dimitri picked up his phone and shuffled it in his hand. He needed to hear Valarie's voice, he needed to try to explain. He dialled in her number and called but the phone went unanswered a few times. On the fourth time it was answered but it was not the person he expected.

"What the f*ck could you possibly want?" Jake answered the phone.

Dimitri became more tensed, angrier.

"'Where is Valarie? Put her on" he commanded.

"She doesn't want you talk to you."

"Just put her on!

"I said no. I hope you burn in hell for what you did. I told you not to hurt her and you go hurt her ten times as much. You do not deserve to talk to her and I will not allow you to. Mark my words, the next time we meet, I'll let your teeth kiss the floor."

With that, he hung up. Jake did not wait for another word to come out of Dimitri's voice. Dimitri grunted and flung his phone down on the bed.

"That bastard" he thought. "Always in the way."

He was pushed out of his thoughts by three knocks on the door. Dimitri grunted on the bed, completely dazed. Who would dare to disturb him right now? The knocks aired once more, this time faster and more frantic than before.

"F*ck!" Dimitri grunted.

He got up angrily from his bed and walked towards the door to unlock and open it. His eyes flung open in shock as he saw who was standing there. Angry eyes, hands set on hips, foot tapping on the floor, his mother stared at him like a beast. He swallowed a lump in his throat for he knew what was to come.

Irena walked into the room without an invitation. She exhaled sharply and unwrapped her scarf from around her neck.

"What is this that I am hearing Dimitri?" she asked.

Dimitri closed the door behind him and sighed. "I really would like to explain this to you but trust me, I am just as confused as you are. I know it's all some evil scheme but I have no memory of what happened at that dreadful house so how can I make my defence?"

"You know; this is exactly what your father predicted. I was the stupid wife defending my son. I told him that you had more sense than this. I told him that when you were younger you played around with women but that you have surely manned up recently and settled down. I told him that you were responsible. I told him that you are capable of taking over the company when he steps down. All you did was prove me wrong and him right and now I feel so stupid. I am so disappointed in you right now it's not even funny. I am so mad that I don't even have to energy to act angry and flip out on you as I would like to. How could you do this? How could you do this to me? How could you do this to the family? How could you do this to Valarie?"

Out of all the things she had just said, only the last line, the last word rather, registered. Dimitri furrowed his brows and cocked his head slightly to the side.

"Valarie?" he questioned, completely surprise that his mother would call her name.

"Yes, Valarie. How stupid do you think I am? You think that I did not know that you two had something going on? I suspected the attraction even before the last fashion show but the last show and there after confirmed it for me. Dimitri, you are my son. I can spot the things you care about and not care about easily. If you had not cared about her, you would not have made such an effort to make it up to her that night. Also, I have been keeping tabs on you lately and word around told me that you two were becoming very close knit. I told your father that you would settle down soon and now you do this. Impregnate that slut that I did not even get a chance to approve of. Was Valarie not enough to keep you on a leech? She is the most beautiful girl I have ever met, both inside and out. Why would you throw it all away for some scum?"

Dimitri ran his hand through his head and walked over to the bed to sit.

"Mom, hurting Valarie was the last thing I wanted to do. She was special to me. She made me whole and I cared about her way too much to do something like this to her."

"If that was the case, then why did you do it?"

"That's the thing, I didn't. Leanna came on to be a few times while I was there and as far as I can recall, I blew her off. I didn't lay a finger on that girl. I didn't touch her or kiss her so to go as far as to say that I had sex with her is outrageous."

"Well the medical report didn't lie. Your father even asked our own physician to confirm it and he did so how can you sit here and lie to my face?"

"I am not lying. Something is definitely wrong here. Mom I can remember everything except the night before I left that place. I can feel it in my bones that something happened that I was not aware of."

"Maybe you can't remember because you were drunk that night."

He looked at her confusingly. "What? I don't drink?"

Irena folded her arms. "Oh really?"

Her eyes scanned his body from head to toe and her eyes shifted to the half empty bottle of whiskey on the bed next to him."

Dimitri looked at the bottle beside him and sighed.

"Well except for tonight. But I did not drink to this extent when I was at their residence. Who told you that I was drunk?"

"Leanna did. She told your father that you were tipsy when you called her into your room and you continued drinking throughout the night which is what would explain your loss of memory."

"That lying b*tch!"

He was becoming more and more frustrated now. His mind could not put the pieces together but his heart told him that something was very wrong here. He was convinced that Valarie had made a mouse out of him and he surely had run away from the cat.

"Look, I want to believe you, but I can't. Based on your past record, I wouldn't put this situation past you at all. This sounds like something you were destined to do. Now you shall face the consequences of your actions and you will do the right thing and marry that girl."

"I will not marry that slut!"

"Well you should have thought about that before you bedded her. Now it's a done deal. Your father will have it no other way. Whether you want to marry this girl or not, you are going to and you will make it look like you want to. I cannot stand for your father to be more pissed than he already is. You know how he is when it comes to up keeping our reputation."

"Mom this is unfair. I-"

"I don't want to hear it. I said it's already done. We are all currently in the process of planning the wedding before that baby bump starts showing and people start talking. I didn't come here for your opposition. Now get your shit together and stop drinking that nonsense, you wreak of it. I am going back to your father to tell him that you are on board with this, otherwise, all hell break loose. Goodnight."

Irena spun around and left the room without giving him anymore chances to defend. She felt a pitting in her stomach and more upset than she had felt before. The thought of missing out on the best daughter-in-law she could ever imagine was saddening.

Dimitri's blood was boiling. The fact that he could not prove that he was innocent when he was had been growing more and more frustrating. In all, Valarie was centre stage to what he cared about. His mother only made him feel worse about what had happened. Poor Valarie must be so distraught right now and all he wished to do was to hold her in his arms until she believed that he was telling the truth. The look in his mother's eyes weakened him. He had never seen her that disappointed in him before.

He paced the floor and thought about paying Valarie a visit now to try to convince her that it was some scheme but going to her in his current state with the stench of alcohol following behind probably was not the best idea. Tomorrow, maybe tomorrow he could try to fix it all.

The sun rose and brought forth a new day but nothing else had changed. All circumstances still remained. Valarie was reluctant to get out of bed. Jake still held her in a gentle cradle and her battered body did not want to leave. Work however, was the monster that would force her out of bed. She groaned and sat up slowly. Jake shifted and his eyes opened. He had been on alert the entire night. Valarie looked back at him and forced a smile.

"'Good morning" he said, sitting up with her.

"Good morning." She answered in a small breath.

"How did you sleep?"

"I would be lying if I said good. I had nightmares. "

Jake rubbed her back and sighed. "Ahh I know. This one was a hard blow, even for me. I still can't believe it. The next time I meet that fool, I will make sure that he pays for this."

"No, don't waste your time. Leave him, he is not worth it."

Jake laid his head on her shoulder. "Skip work today then. You are not in the right mental state to go there now."

"No, I can't. I did not inform Nikolai and I am sure that he will be expecting me today. If I don't feel well, I'll probably just clock in a half day."

"Hmm, then if you do leave early then you can come to stay at my apartment again. I'll leave the key with you. Don't go home to yourself. You are not stable right now. Stay here a few days so that I can watch over you."

"I don't need you to watch over me. I can take care of myself."

"You can say what you want but you are just a fragile soul. I will not have you stay alone for these next few days. If you don't come here, then I will just come stay at your apartment."

Valarie sighed. "Fine, I'll stay here, but just for a few days. I will be fine after that. I am going to shower and get ready for work."

Jake dropped her off at work with a heavy heart. He knew that she was in no position to return to this place but trying to convince her to stay away was a lost cause. Valarie skipped Dimitri's office and went straight to work to start working on more designs. Kyle crept up from behind and wrapped his arms around her.

"Aww Valarie" he sighed into her hair. "I heard."

She was a walking eggshell and it only took just that to make the tears start running again. She turned around and pulled Kyle into a tight hug.

"I feel so stupid now."

"He is the one that is stupid to go behind your back for that skank. I really tried keeping my cool with him before but this is seriously the last straw. It's total b*tch mode for him now. I will never let him hurt you and get away with it."

Kyle cupped her cheeks and wiped her tears with his thumb fingers.

"You just sit here and relax. I will handle the work for today."

"I need to keep myself distracted from the memory. Maybe I'll go see if Nikolai needs help with some paper work or something. I'll try to avoid Dimitri at all costs today. I really do not want to see him."

Valarie left for Nikolai's office and left the fashion work of Kyle. As soon as she entered, his eyes shifted up to her and flashed her a half smile. He had not spoken to her since his outburst in Dimitri's office so he was both happy and nervous to see her.

She cleared her throat and walked in awkwardly. "Good morning sir."

"Ahh Valarie good morning. How are you?"

She paused before answering "I'm...fine... You?"

"I could be much better. I'm sure you heard what I said yesterday in Dimitri's office and sure you have probably seen the news reports by now."

Her legs dipped slowly until she sank into the chair opposite to him.

"Yeah...About that...I'm sorry."

He furrowed his brows "You are sorry? Why are you sorry?"

"Because you just gave me one job to set Dimitri straight and I couldn't do just that."

"Oh Valarie you have done your best. I really appreciate the effort you have made to straighten him. If this is what it takes for him to settle down, then by all means I am willing to jump full fledge into it. Who knows, maybe Leanna might turn out to be the woman for him after all."

Valarie remained eerily silent and kept her head bent. He observed her features.

"Is anything the matter?"

She snapped out of her dazed look.

"Oh um no. Nothing's the matter. And yes perhaps you are right. He would probably he better off with her."

His eyes searched her for some moments more. He could sense something more behind what she said but he just went with her word to complicate things less. His best move was to just change the topic.

"I am actually glad you stopped by. As you know, we have no choice but to make the wedding soon. Mr. Chase requested that we stay at their residence throughout the engagement until the wedding which would be within the next few weeks. I told him that we will join them there a few days prior the wedding. You have been my right hand for the past few years and you are very dear to our family. I would like you to join us on that trip. It is actually a request from my wife. She would like you to be there as her support since she hasn't been acquainted with Leanna yet. This is more a plea than an invitation. Will you accept?"

Valarie choked on her answer. He was asking the one thing she wanted to avoid. How would she survive there under the same roof with Dimitri and his wife to be? It would definitely be a suicide mission or self-torture but she knew the 'Osbourne' bone in her would give in.

She hesitated to answer then faked a smile.

"Um, sure. I'll most likely be there but give me a few days to think about it."

Nikolai smiled. "I know that you won't let me down."

Her mind clicked back to her distraction plan and clearly it was not working out. Maybe she should have just stayed home after all.

"Uh, yeah don't worry, I'm always here. Hey, um, I'm not feeling so well today. Do you mind if I go home early?"

"Aww why did you even come? Valarie you work so much, you could have just taken the day off. Of course you can leave. Be sure to get plenty of rest and I hope that you feel better."

She smiled half-heartedly and stood up from her seat.

"Thanks" she said before leaving.

It honestly made no sense coming to work today. She felt like shit and all she wanted to do was to curl up in bed and sob herself to sleep again. All she did was tell Kyle that she was leaving and she left for Jake's apartment.

Dimitri decided to stop by for breakfast before going to work. He definitely was not in the mood to be an early bird today. He however found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. If an early morning punch was what he had gone for well that is exactly what he got.

Jake was waiting in line behind him when he realised who it was. He skipped the person in front of him and walked up to Dimitri and poked him twice on his shoulder for him to turn around. Dimitri turned around without knowing who it was. As soon as he turned around, Jake fired and swift punch, connecting it hard in the face. Dimitri stumbled back until he crashed into the floor. Jake leaned down until he hovered over him.

"I told you not to hurt her. I told you not to f*cking hurt her and what did you do? You hurt her."

His hand swung again to give him another blow while he was still on the floor. Dimitri was too dazed to respond. Jake looked around to notice a man beside them pulling out his camera phone. He knew that if he continued, it would make headlines in the news.

He chuckled. "You are lucky that I do not like to disappoint my parents or else I would not leave here without your teeth in my pocket. Stay away from her do you hear me?"

He instantly lost his appetite. Jake spun around and left, regretting not taking a knockout punch the first time. Dimitri stumbled back to his feet. As much as he hated the guy, he could almost thank him for that unpleasant surprise. He deserved it...and much worst. He wiped the blood from his lips and continued in the line to buy his food like nothing happened.

Of course overwhelming disappointment consumed him when he realised that Valarie was not at work when he arrived. He had promised to try to make it up to her but he would need to wait a bit longer to give the explanation that he had planned. It seemed like everyone needed a distraction. He buried himself in work all day long in hope that time passed faster.

Valarie had done exactly what she said she would, cry until she fell asleep. She woke up unsteadily from the couch by the sound of periodic knocking on the door. He looked at the time. Maybe Jake had decided to come home early from work.

She opened the door with a smile but her smile wiped off and morphed into confusion as she saw who was there. A woman stood shyly in front the door with her hands tucked neatly behind her back. Her expression too masked the one that Valarie had. They looked at each other in confusion.

"Uh, I'm sorry. I think I have the wrong door" the woman said.

"Who are you in search for? Valarie asked her.

She hesitated and fidgeted on the spot.

"My friend...Jake."

Valarie cocked her head slightly to the side and looked at her.

"I believe that you are at the right place. Who are you may I ask?"

"I used to be a good friend of Jake. My name is Ariel. Jake and I used to-. We had a thing-. Um never mind. I can see that it is over now. He has moved on. I am sorry to disturb you."

Valarie's mind immediately clicked back to the lost love Jake had told her about. Her eyes flung open in surprise.

"Oh my God you are that girl!"

Ariel's eyebrows quizzed.

"What girl?"

"Uh, never mind."

Valarie jumped in excitement.

"Come on in."

"I don't think that is a good idea. He probably won't want to see me now and you of course would despise an ex since you two are, you know-."

Valarie furrowed her brows. It finally registered what she was implying.

"Oh no. No, no, no. Jake and I are not-. We are just friends. I just crashed here for the day. Please come on in. He will be home soon. What a pleasant surprise this would be."

Ariel smiled half-heartedly. She had never been more nervous in her life. She had not seen Jake for way too long now and the thought of meeting him again frightened her. What if he no longer wanted to be acquainted with her? What if he had forgotten about her? She walked in the apartment reluctantly behind Valarie with her heart beating in her throat. The two women sat beside each other in awkward silence, waiting impatiently for Jake to return home.