TOBY.
It seemed like every time I thought that things were going great with Ruby and I, I had to look again because something terrible was just around the corner. I was having a regular day at work when my PR guy called to ask if I had seen any of the major blogs today.
"Who goes about checking blogs?" I asked in reply because it seemed like a stupid question at the time. I wasn't so jobless to be engaged in what was going on in other people's lives.
"This particular blog post concerns you and that's why I'm asking."
"It concerns me," I said, thinking about what I could have done this time to warrant attention from the blogs. In the past, I had been in and out of that sphere of public opinion but in the last year, I hadn't done anything to warrant such attention.
"Yeah and I'm great at my job as usual so I have had the blogs take down the post but you know how the Internet gets with any juicy scandal, there are screenshots circulating and groups forming to discuss the issue. Honestly, I can't bring them all down." His statement had my head reeling, it felt like being called to the principal's office on the one day you had been good. The question of what you could have unknowingly done wrong floating around your head.
"I didn't do anything so what the hell happened?"
"I'm sorry," he sighed, before he continued, "I'll send you the details right away then we can discuss damage control when you're ready."
"Why all this suspense, just tell me what is going on," I said. He replied with another sigh and then kept mute.
"Your silence is scaring me, what the hell happened? Does it have anything to do with my father?"
"I'm sorry to be the one to have to break the news to you, I think it's better If you see the pictures yourself."
I cut the call in frustration to find his message waiting for me. He sent me the blog post he must have taken down and the pictures grab my attention before anything else. Nude pictures of Ruby passed out and cuddled up with an equally nude man whose face was not visible. My heart is breaking that the world gets to see her like this, to see what was meant for my eyes only. The pictures were taken with intent, her face was clear in all the pictures and the man's face was either blurred out or turned to the side.
Poor Ruby. This was an assault on her person but the rest of the world didn't seem to see it like that, I read as the blogger described Ruby as an unrepentant cheat. She cited the trip Ruby took with Aiden during her pregnancy and other petty instances as proof that she was a cheat. The comment section was full of people agreeing with the blogger's foolish assessment of the situation. Couldn't they see that those pictures were staged? What we ought to be doing is finding who did such a malicious thing and not hanging the poor woman. The same thing could be seen on social media, Ruby was being tagged as an adultress and there was a running poll on who was Jeremy's father. It was between Mr unknown, Aiden and I. Why would they drag Jeremy into this?
The whole thing made my blood boil. The only reason people could sit down behind their screens and make such comments about the woman I love and I was because they didn't know her, they knew nothing about us or the relationship we shared. They knew nothing about the woman who cried in my arms when I told her I loved her. I was the one who cheated on her several times but she was too good, too pure to even do the same when that was what I deserved. Ruby would be devastated, I had to get home to her.
I rush out of the office and back home like I'm being chased. I storm into the house and the first place I head to is the master's bedroom which we now share since the day we confessed our feelings for each other. I don't find Ruby in the room so I check both walk-in closets and the large bathroom. When I don't find her I move to the room she used to stay in before we moved in together to find it locked. I bang on the door for a few seconds and when there's no answer I go in search of a maid I can ask if she had left the house.
"Where is my wife?" I asked the woman whose name I couldn't quite remember. As I watched her from the nursery door, tenderly reading Jeremy a story I felt guilty for not remembering her name. She had been his nanny for a while now and her name was either something Spanish or something catholic, that much I can remember. She hadn't heard my question and I intended to call out to her. When I couldn't recall her name my mind deviated from the problem at hand. I moved into the room and both occupants finally noticed my presence.
"Good afternoon Sir," she greeted as Jeremy reached for me, showing off his gum and speaking in his special language understood only by him.
"Hello," I said, taking him out of her arms. The greeting was directed more toward Jeremy who had my attention than it was toward her.
"Where is my wife?" I repeated my question after watching Jeremy laugh at the antiques I pulled off for that purpose.
"She is in her room," she answered in her accented English.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes sir, she was in the nursery all morning but it seems like she saw something on her phone that upset her while Jeremy was napping so she left. When I checked in on her she said she wanted to be alone and locked the door right after." I released a breath I didn't know I was holding on to find out that she was safe. I hadn't even realized that my mind was already conjuring up the worst. I handed Jeremy back to her and set off to talk to ruby with renewed determination.
"Ruby, please open, let's talk. I just want to talk to you please," I begged, knocking on the door at intervals.
"Just go away, you don't have to end things with me because I know it's over. I ruin everything," came her muffled voice from the other end of the door.
"That's crazy talk, why would things be over between us? I know those pictures were staged." She opened the door at my words.
I walked into the room to see her standing there with a tear-stained face and bloodshot eyes.
"You believe in me that much?" She asked.
"Yeah, I trust you," I said.
"Thank you," she said.
"No need to thank me." I wrapped my arms around her and promised myself to get to the bottom of this case and make whoever was responsible pay.