"So the first girlfriend I had was Helena Peabody, you know her," Bette said with a smile.

Tina’s jaw dropped, "you dated Helena!?"

Bette nodded, "I didn’t realize she was just a rebound from Katsushi until later on, but either way she was only dating me to get Dylan jealous."

"Well that wasn’t really a relationship was it," Tina laughed shaking her head.

"That’s why she and I are good friends," Bette said, "it was through her that I met the woman with whom I had my first REAL relationship. She was a carpenter working on Helena’s mansion. Her name was Candace Jewel."

"I think I met her once," Tina said, "I had barely met Helena around that time through Alice who was doing interviews with her for her magazine. I saw the construction people there. Was she the one in charge? I saw this dark-skinned yelling out orders to the other workers."

"Yeah that sounds like her," Bette said laughing, "was she wearing jean overalls over a wife-beater?"

"I don’t remember much how she looked but I do remember the overalls because Alice kept cracking jokes about it," Tina said.

"Well Candace and I had a fiery relationship," Bette said, "I fell head over heels for her and she was into my lifestyle."

"Hmm, she seemed like domme to me," Tina said.

"And that was the problem," Bette said sadly, "I would gladly submit to her but she was never willing to submit to me, I would have to fight for dominance and it felt like I was forcing her. I don’t like that, that’s not the essence of my lifestyle, I dominate those who willingly give themselves to me."

"So Candace deprived you of who you really were," Tina said sadly. Julian did the exact same thing to her just in a more abusive way.

"She didn’t do it on purpose it was just who she was," Bette said, "I loved her a lot but I couldn’t be with her. It hurt like hell to leave her, it destroyed the both of us. So I went to Italy with Marina, yes the bartender at ‘Hit’ and she showed me the true beauty of the place. I had seen the big tourist stuff the first time I went to Italy but Marina showed the smaller hidden beauties and there people treated me with such care."

"So Marina saved you," Tina said smiling, it was similar to her story with Tasha.

"When I came back I was a new woman," Bette said, "I was over Candace and ready to move on. But Candace wasn’t. She went insane. She started stalking me and sabotaging my relationships. It got to a point that she was threatening me, so I got a restraining order."

"I know from experience that restraining orders never mull over well," Tina said shuddering.

"You’d be right," Bette said, "she attacked me when I was in my gallery. I was there with my manager James, and my assistant Max. Naturally James and Max rushed to my defense, turns out she had a gun."

Tina gasped.

"She just started shooting," Bette said, "she got me in the thigh and Max right in the chest. James managed to hide unharmed. She was ruthless. James was sitting there holding pieces of his shirt that he had ripped up on mine and Max’s wounds to stop the bleeding while she held us hostage in my own gallery."

"She was freaking crazy," Tina cried, "what happened at the end?"

"The cops gathered outside like in the movies, they had a specialist calling her trying to get her to let us go," Bette said, "but Candace only got more and more agitated. But as you know my gallery had glass walls, so the S.W.A.T team had snipers ready and when she put the gun to my head they fired."

Tina gulped, "she was killed?"

"Instantly," Bette said with a sigh.

"Jesus," Tina said, "and what about Max?"

"They couldn’t save him," Bette said as a stray tear slid down her eyes.

Tina wiped the tear away and kissed her cheek.

"That was a year ago," Bette said sighing deeply, "you’re the first woman I’ve dated since."

Tina smiled and pecked her lips gently, "thanks for trusting me with that."

"Every relationship has to be built on trust," Bette said, "I trust you, do you trust me?"

"Yes," Tina said without hesitation, "and that’s why I’m gonna tell you about Mikah’s father, Julian Michael Williams."