Page 34 of Ben

“Glad you are home, mom and dad.” Her parents searched her face, both showing concern, but her father looked pissed as hell, but his touch and demeanor were relaxed. And she knew he was waiting for answers before he reacted.

“Yes, we have a lot of catching up to do apparently.” Her mother looked at her pointedly and then turned to look at Ambra, including her as well.

Ben approached her parents. “Welcome back, Mr. and Mrs. Jackson.” He began to reach out his hand but then thought better of it as her father glared and shook his head no. She knewthat had to have hurt him even though his face didn’t show it. Ben’s mother approached him, pulling him into a hug and giving him a kiss on his cheek.

Diamond heard her whisper to him. “It is going to be okay.” Before she stepped back and gave Diamond an impromptu hug as well.

“Diamond, Ben, why don’t you both take a seat.” Ben’s mother sounded tired to Diamond’s ears and wondered what had transpired before they arrived in the room.

She took in the faces and saw both Michael, Carter, and Carter Sr., looking grim and angry while her sister’s body was strung tight, and her face was settled in a cold mask of anger and disdain.

Zahara was resting next to Carter, rubbing her pregnant belly and giving her a look of concern.

She and Ben moved to the twin seats available in his room.

“Oh brother, you guys are looking very dramatic today.” She said out loud into the silence, and then that is when all hell broke loose.

It looked like they had decided to defer the questioning to just her sister asking because she stood up, moving to stand by Ben’s desk, and fired questions at him about the money that went missing. Ben, of course, answered true to form, short and not very explanatory.

Her parents jumped in, asking her questions about that day, and she explained to them what happened and that she’d come to Ben for help.

They then moved on to why she and Ben had gotten married. She’d explained that she wanted to, and while everyonereacted with disbelief on their face, Diamond noticed how her mother had gotten quiet and was sitting back, observing her.

“Stop covering for him. I know you think Ben was your knight in shining armor who came in to save the day, but he is not Diamond. Tell them the truth, Diamond: Ben blackmailed you into marrying him.” Ambra stared at Diamond, and she sat still, frozen, because she saw the righteous look across her sister’s face and that she was about to drop a bomb on her.

“It was Ben that set up the whole thing and trapped you into marrying him.”

She shook her head. “No, I asked him if he did it, and he said no.”

“He lied.” Ambra said.

Diamond now turned her gaze to him and saw that his jaw was clenched, and he turned his face to hers, his eyes and visage showing nothing except for that telltale sign.

“I found evidence that he orchestrated all this. I was able to trace him moving the money and−”

The blood began to roar in her ears, her sister’s voice going in and out. Diamond missing what she was saying.

She took a deep breath, and the roaring lessened; she looked away from him when her sister continued.

“Diamond, Ben has been obsessed with you for a very long time and set this whole thing up.”

She frowned. Ambra walked over to his desk and took up another laptop, opening and clicking on something before turning the screen toward her, waving her over. Diamond stood up on shaking legs now and approached the screen of the laptop, her eyes looking at the images there, and she reached out herfingers to the finger pad on there, swiping it as she looked at the images that Ambra had found there.

“He also has them on his phone. Michael has seen them.” Ambra turned a cold look on Michael, and she turned to him to see Michael nod his head grimly.

She stepped back and turned to look at Ben, who stood suddenly without saying anything and left the room, leaving her standing there alone.

Chapter 18

Teddy Sims song ‘I Lose Control’

From the outside, Ben seemed calm and collected, but if anyone took a closer look at him, they would see his hand had a slight tremor to it as he put the key into the keyhole of the locked door in his home.

He’d left in the middle of the accusations and interrogation that happened in his own damned office. He could have ridden out the anger from his family and hers, but when he’d seen the anger in Diamond’s eyes, his world began to crumble, and he’d left with emotions of fear and sorrow so intense it was blinding him, and he got up and left before she could leave him or the family take her away from him, seeing that would have been the nail in the coffin for him.

Ben knew he wasn’t thinking straight and had come home and gone to his private room to collect his thoughts and calm his emotions. He should have called his favorite piercer but felt compelled to come home instead, a home that now felt like theirs. Diamond had begun to put her mark on their place and had added some touches that she said he’d missed.

He strode through the room that held another desk and chair inside and a couch. Along the wall was a bookshelf full of reference books on photography, biographies, and computer information. He stepped to the side of it and then used fingers on each hand to hit pressure points in the wall, and part of it detached and shifted forward and away, displaying another wall behind it; every inch of it was covered in pictures. Pictures of Diamond at different stages in her life.

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