Page 20 of The Regrettable Mistake

“Why?”

“Just do it, now!” Steve sounded panicked, so I flicked the TV on and was immediately bombarded with video of me and Den being walked to my car by Tommy, the school’s resource officer.

I hung up on Steve and turned the volume up loud enough to hear it but low enough that it wouldn’t wake up Denmark who had fallen asleep twenty minutes ago after crying his poor little eyes out.

“That was the scene earlier today when both Stephanie Burton and her stepson, Denmark Burton, were escorted out of the local elementary school. Stephanie works there as a preschool teacher while Denmark is a student. Tammy Blanchett, of News 12, got the scoop earlier as Principal Damon James explained that the Burtons were sent home for their safety.”

“If they could not mention my minor son’s name while standing in front of his elementary school, that would be great,” I grumbled. I sent a message to Hutch to get in touch with both the news channel and the school board about the violation of privacy concerning a minor child and the fact that his name was used in conjunction with the school he attended, making him a target.

As the broadcast continued with speculation surrounding the statement Jia had her agent put out, a breaking news banner ran across the bottom of the screen. Suddenly, Tammy Blanchett was back on screen, but this time it was from in front of Caleb’s law firm.

“This is Tammy Blanchett of News 12, and we’re outside Gardner and Phelps Legal Offices where we had a tip that Jia was in a meeting with Oliver Burton. Burton and Jia were once in a relationship that resulted in them having a son together. Burton appears to have been raising his son with his wife of three years, Stephanie Burton, until news broke that Burton and Jia were having an affair.”

“That’s a lot to take in, Tammy,” the male anchor back in the studio cut in like an idiot. Tammy didn’t hide her irritation at being cut off in her summation of my life.

“It gets deeper as we keep digging into this, Ben. A couple days ago, Jia’s representatives released a statement on her behalf claiming that Oliver Burton’s wife was the other woman in the scenario and that she split them up more than seven years ago when Jia first made her way to Hollywood. If her story was to be believed, That would have made Mrs. Burton only 19 to 20 years old at the time and in the early years of university life at Blue Ridge University in nearby Parksville, Virginia. This is where Jia’s story appears to flounder because Mr. Burton and his son were living in Richmond, Virginia at the time.”

“Well, that doesn’t seem very feasible unless it was a bit of a long distance relationship.”

“Indeed, our investigative reporters were unable to find any relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Burton prior to four years ago when they started to date. In fact, the timeline of their relationship is chronicled over those four years via Mrs. Burton’s social media accounts.”

An explosion of noise broke out behind the reporter as Ollie exited the building looking absolutely frustrated. He quickly pulled himself together and moved toward the reporters who were lying in wait, rather than shying away from them.

“Mr. Burton, do you have anything to say about Jia’s accusations that your wife broke up your relationship?” Tammy yelled to him. Ollie’s eyes tracked the sound and it appeared as though he was looking directly at me for a few minutes.

“That was a poorly fabricated lie on the part of Julianna Hightower, otherwise known as Jia professionally.” Ollie sneered as he tacked on the “professionally” part. “I met my wife for the first time four years ago and married her a year later. She is, and has always been, a beautiful, kind, caring, and compassionate woman who does not deserve to have Jia’s lies hurled upon her to disrupt her life.”

“Did she deserve to have her husband cheat on her and carry on a three-month long affair with Jia?” One of the male reporters in the crowd asked.

“She did not deserve what I am currently putting her through and if I could take back my one action that led to this tragic mess, I would in a heartbeat.”

“You regret your affair?” Tammy asked.

“Absolutely, but let me be clear here. There was never an affair. I had a one-night stand with Jia three months ago after she sent me a text that she was in town and wanted to discuss our son. As it turned out, Jia targeted me that night with a plan in mind. In my inebriated state, I allowed nostalgia for a former flame to cloud my judgement and I slept with her.

“Julia-Jia recorded that event and used it to blackmail me. When I refused to sleep with her again, she used it so that I would help her find a doctor who could perform facial reconstruction surgery to repair the damage her accident did to her face and neck. If she had asked for the money outright, I would have given it to her with no strings attached. Jia wanted to be the one to pull strings though. She used her blackmail tape to coerce me into traveling with her to find the right doctor.”

“Why didn’t you go to the authorities if you were being blackmailed into an on-going affair?” The male reporter asked again, only the camera caught him rolling his eyes as if he didn’t believe that line at all.

“When you accuse a moderately well-known, D-list actress of blackmail, it helps to have proof. I was gathering that while also trying to get Jia to see reason. Unfortunately, she hatched a plan to get back the family she abandoned for Hollywood to earn sympathy points from her supposed fan base. That is when she decided to lie about my wife having broken us up. I will reiterate once more that I did not meet my wife until four years ago. Jia broke up with me in a letter that she left on my porch, along with my infant son, seven years ago. I have security video footage of her doing this to back up my claims as well.” Ollie took a moment to glare at every single camera aimed at him.

“You people have been vilifying the wrong woman. Stephanie has already endured enough hurt because of my bad decisions, she doesn’t deserve the vitriol you all have slung her way, or to have her life placed under a microscope as a result.”

“It’s your word against Jia’s,” the male reporter snapped.

“It’s my word, along with a whole lot of evidence of Jia’s lies, for anyone who cares to do any real reporting. She will have her own statement available for you soon. Jia is angry because I got the proof of her blackmail and stopped kowtowing to her every whim. She had some grand scheme that marrying me and pretending to be a happy family with our son would earn her credibility along with sympathy over her accident and the scars that were left behind.

“Let me be the first to announce, since no one bothered to do any investigating back then either, that I have Jia on a recording admitting the accident was her fault because she was trying to snort some blow off a producer’s genitalia and he lost control of the vehicle.” Ollie shook his head and stared into the camera from Station 12 News.

“I love my wife. Stephanie is the best kind of person. She put up with my moods, took my son under her wing from the very beginning, and he flourished there. If you asked my boy who his favorite parent is, he would tell you Steph and I would be okay with that because he would be right. She’s been the one to make his world brighter, to cheer him on in every aspect of his life, and to teach him how to be a good man one day. He’ll know how to treat a woman because she’ll have taught him. I’m thankful for that because the lesson I have for him is what it looks like when you’re a weak man who made the wrong decision. What I’ve shown him is what it looks like to throw your whole life into a tailspin when you should have appreciated what you already had.”

“You said: ‘What you already had’, is Stephanie divorcing you?” Tammy asked.

“She’s certainly trying to, and while that isn’t what I want, I certainly don’t blame her for that decision.”

Ollie didn’t wait around to answer any further questions. Instead, he walked off, got in his car, and left. I had a feeling we were his destination.

Thankfully, there was a knock on my door before I could work myself into a tizzy about that. I didn’t even make it to the door before Steve was there and had me wrapped up in his arms.

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