Midnight Bride The CEO’s Temptation

The following day, Crystal crept from the sofa, fumbled for her clothes, staggered back to her room, and went directly into the bathroom. Once the door was closed behind her, she looked in the mirror and frowned. Crystal felt like crying. "Nobody cares about your suffering," she told herself. "So, quit whining…."

Without bothering to undress, she climbed into the shower, curled up into a ball, and ran hot water over her trembling body. Eventually, the water began to cool, and she stripped off her clothes so that she could wash away the events of the night before. But, like a particularly bad smell - like that of a cigarette or a skunk's spray - no amount of scrubbing could alleviate her mental trauma. She could not believe that she had allowed herself to be forced for money, and she hated herself for enjoying it.

The whole time that Crystal was under the water, she cried. Her whole body hurt, but her heart hurt worse. The water ran cold, and she let it run over her until her skin was blue. By then, her teeth were chattering, but she finally felt numb, and with a hand that no longer felt like her own, she turned off the water.

Crystal took a long time drying off and getting dressed. By the time she was done, though, she had found a way to put on a false front. When she opened the bathroom door, she heard someone playing the piano in the living room, and she went downstairs.

The music had sounded professional, so Crystal was surprised to see Helen and Nathan playing a duet. They look good together - she thought bitterly. Suddenly, Crystal felt like an outsider in her own home. She didn't care for the music, but she didn't like the idea of skulking away like a beat dog, so she sat on the couch and pulled out her phone.

At the end of the song, Nathan glanced at Crystal. He produced a check from his shirt pocket, set in on the top of the piano, and said, "I am satisfied with last night's performance. So, I will live up to my end of the bargain. Here is your money. When you come again, though, I'll be looking for a little bit more creativity and active participation on your part. It may not be tonight, though. I will call on you when I want you. Do you understand?"

Crystal grunted noncommittally, which irritated Nathan, so he got up and walked over to where she was sitting. Then he leaned over, gripped her jaw, and kissed her on the lips.

Crystal lifted her hand to slap him, but he caught it mid-swing. She glared at him. "Fuck off!" she hissed.

Nathan snickered as he let go of her chin. Then, he took Helen's hand with a wink and a nod and led her out of the living room. Once they were gone, Crystal went over to the piano and picked up her check. She touched the numbers and sighed sadly. The digits seemed to be laughing at her. If only there were one more zero - she thought - Then I would be set!! I could travel around the world, do and see whatever I wanted, and forget those that I want to forget.

After surfing the internet for the entire morning, Crystal began to feel bored. She remembered that when Helen had made bread, she had mentioned that Eric liked cranberry cookies, so she decided to do some baking. First, Crystal downloaded a baking APP. Next, she found a good recipe. Then she gathered the required ingredients and got to it - and time went by very quickly, as it often does when one is having fun.

Crystal's first attempt did not go well. The cookies came out of the oven as hard as rocks, and she started a fire. The second batch turned out better, though, and in the following days, she spent a lot of time baking in the kitchen. The best of the batches went into a special biscuit box, and the duds went into the garbage. In this way, when the day came for Eric to return, there was a large assortment of cookies waiting for him.

Meanwhile, Nathan had been keeping his eye on her. He thought - That Bitch! She cannot wait to leave me!

****

Crystal was packing her luggage in her room when she heard someone coming up the stairs. She thought that it was Eric and she rushed out to meet him. It happened to be Helen, though, and they bashed into each other, and the pregnant woman tumbled down the stairs.

Luckily, the doctor happened to be at the house at the time. She had initially come to take an in utero blood sample for the Paternity Test, and when she heard the sound of Helen falling combined with her screaming, she came running.

Nathan was the first to arrive at the bottom of the stairs, and he was startled by all the blood. Crystal was also stunned, and for a moment, she could not move. But once her mobility returned, though, she rushed down the stairs to see if Helen was alright. But when she knelt next to the pregnant woman, she received a slap across her face for her concern.

"You do everything you can to harm my baby!" Helen shouted. "How dare you push me down the stairs? You just want to make me miscarry! How can you be so vicious!?!?"

Crystal cried out in indignation: "It was an accident!"

Helen covered her abdomen weakly and said, "Crystal Smith, we both know that is bullshit, and you will go to hell if my baby dies!".

Nathan glared at the two women, and then he asked Helen, "Were there any witnesses? Do you have any proof that this was not an accident?"

"Proof?" Helen sneered. She dipped her fingers in the blood pooling between her legs and lifted them for everyone to see. "Isn't this proof enough?" she asked. "But surely someone must have seen something..."

Helen eyed two of her personal servants and gave them a stern look. Almost immediately, one of them stepped forward and said, "While I was cleaning the table, I saw Miss Smith rush towards Mrs. Davis. I didn't expect her to push her down the stairs, but that is what happened. I saw it with my own two eyes."

"I saw it too," the other servant said.

Crystal began to look around the room frantically. "Of course, her servants would say that!" she exclaimed. "But isn't it more likely that she put herself in this position intentionally to avoid having to take the Paternity Test? Doesn't it seem like too much of a coincidence that this happened, just as the doctor was about to take the sample from the fetus?"

"How can you say that!" Helen shouted.. She put her finger in Crystal's face and calmly said," You pushed me, and now you have the gall to say that I did it deliberately in an attempt to kill my baby? That is crazy talk. No mother would harm her baby intentionally!"