If Maddy had any doubts about it before, they were all gone now. The truth of the matter was that Liam didn’t know how teenage girls operated. Sorry, but a teenager was going to be overjoyed by suddenly finding out they were getting a sibling—well, in this case, sibling-figure—that was a toddler. That was one thing Maddy was sure of. Carefully, she studied Liam Tirro’s expression. He seemed really sincere about it, but Lea was her daughter and she had the final right to agree or refuse. His plan to introduce her daughter to her niece to make her come out of her shell wasn’t as brilliant as he probably thought. “Have you told Maria about you having a daughter?” Cautiously, she asked. Immediately shaking his head, Liam Tirro said softly, “I didn’t want to until I got confirmation that you were going to let me meet Lea. I’ll tell her when I get home at night.” Then, after a slight hesitation, he asked, “Speaking of which, did you take the day off?”Maddy ignored his question and fixed
“You live in the same building as my mother?”Lacey and Jonathan’s date, who introduced herself as Jamie, sat in the reception area of the hospital. A cup of hot coffee rested in both their hands. After they realized they knew each other, they left the still resting Lana Thalmes, and came out. “Hmm. We’re friends too.” Jamie gingerly took a sip of her coffee, then lowered her hands. “I heard from another neighbour that an ambulance came and took her away. That’s why I’m here.” A short laugh came from her side before she then said, “Good thing we didn’t get into an argument that day, or our meeting here would have been less cordial.”A flush went up Lacey’s face. It pained her to remember the glares she’d sent the woman’s way because she had been jealous and assumed her and Jonathan were in a relationship, which obviously turned out to not be the case. Maybe back then was the good old day because even now, Lacey had chosen not to go out with Jonathan because he was her boss. Almost l
It was a good thing Jonathan composed himself enough to ask Jamie if Lacey had been hurt. So when she told him it wasn’t Lacey who was rushed to the hospital, he didn’t hold back his breath of relief. Not that he was relieved about Lacey’s mother being hospitalized or anything. “Thank you, Jamie. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” As Jonathan hung up and put his phone away, his eyes fell on Riley who was still staring at him with that irritated expression, except now, her sneer was more pronounced. Jamie said she was leaving the hospital meaning Lacey would be by herself. For that reason, Jonathan wanted to get there as soon as he could. There was no time to find out what brought about Riley’s irritation with him. “Something came up, Riley. I have to leave now. I’ll talk to you later.”Jonathan was worried. “Will she want to see me? Am I overstepping by going there when she didn’t ask for me?” Those were the type of questions that filled his mind as he drove to the hospital. When La
“Calm down, Adi. I can’t hear you,” Lacey said into the phone. She’d been having a chill time with Jonathan after he drove her and her mother home. They had been talking about random things, and somehow, it wasn’t weird that Jonathan was in her mother’s house. But then her phone rang, and it was Adi saying a lot of words she didn’t understand. “Lace, I asked where you were? Are you at JT Entertainment?”This time, she clearly heard him. With furrowed brows, Lacey responded, “No. Why? Do you need me to do something for you?”“No. No.” Adi’s voice sounded frantic. “It’s not that. It’s just…” As he hesitated, Lacey raised her gaze to see what Jonathan was up to on the other side of the room. Surprisingly, she found a grave expression on his face as he stared right at her. When he saw her looking his way, his features seemed to crumple in apology. Before Lacey could get confused about what was going on, she heard Adi’s voice through the phone. “What did Thomas do to you at the company?
“Lacey, are you okay in there?” A knock on the door made Lacey look up from her phone. “What’s going on? Why is the door locked?”It was tempting to ignore her mother, but after the fainting scare earlier, she didn’t want to find her mother in another dangerous situation, so Lacey placed her phone on the bed and got to her feet. Unlocking the bolt, she opened the door. “Lacey, what’s wrong?”“Nothing, Mum. Just something came up at work. Don’t worry about it.”Lana Thalmes’ expression grew even more worried. “It’s something serious, isn’t it? Earlier, before Jonathan left, I heard you shout. Did he do something to you?”Lacey’s head swayed side to side. She wasn’t in the mood to answer her mother’s questions, what with her world and entire life being overturned for the second time in two years, and by the same person. Two years wasn’t a lot of time to most people, but in that span, Lacey had gone through a divorce, turned her life around and gotten a job, only to find herself back in
“Are you willing to fight?”It wasn’t the first time since meeting the woman that Lacey was left stunned, but this topped all those other moments. Jamie’s words made her heart beat faster. As part of it was from trepidation, but another part of it was the excitement that things could actually turn around. Jamie was right. If she let it go again this time, what was the assurance of a next time not happening? Would she have to spend the rest of her life looking back to make sure Thomas wasn’t catching up with her, ready to ruin her life one more time? In these past two years, he’d never been far from her though even after he was out of her life. Oh, is Thomas going to decide today to lie about me again? She had never fully stopped worrying about that. So, after a few moments of contemplation, Lacey came to a decision. Wearing a determined expression, she said, “I am going to fight. Thomas broke me once and almost ruined my life. I don’t want to let him do that again. But…” That was w
Jonathan’s car was idling at a distance not so far away from Lacey’s mother’s house. Lacey told him to leave, but he didn’t want this to be how things ended between them. He really was going to do everything he could to fix it. But how? After he sat in his car thinking for a while, his ringtone filled the car. It was Riley calling. Unexpectedly, when he answered, Riley immediately started speaking. Her words were jumbled into each other and Jonathan couldn’t make them out. “Slow down, Riley. What happened?”“Are you with Lacey Thalmes right now? What silly ideas did you put in her head, Jonathan? Huh?” Riley’s words came out hard and fast. She was ticked off. This made Jonathan pay closer attention. “Tell Lacey that she can come back to JT if she takes down the post right now!”At first, Jonathan had been confused, but he heard clearly now Riley’s last statement. “Wait a minute. Did you fire Lacey already? What the hell, Riley? Why are you doing things without my permission?” There
The moment Lacey pressed the upload button and sent out her post into the world, she turned off her phone as a flurry of emotions hit her hard, the predominant ones being, of course, excitement and fear. She’d already given her friend group a heads-up of what she was about to do so they wouldn’t be too surprised if they came across her post. They were her friends so they would be on her side, but if what Jamie said was true, then the post was going to reach a lot more people. People who only knew her because of Thomas, people who didn’t know the real her, people who would be quick to write off her words as lies, and maybe also people who would believe her and be on her side. The enormity of the situation made Lacey want to shovel herself under the blankets, and stay in the room until it all blew over. Not on Jamie’s watch though. When Lacey was about to retreat back into the room, the other woman stopped her. She was the mastermind behind Lacey taking the decision to fight against
Two whole months had passed since the day Eliza left, and so far, Lacey had heard nothing from her. Not from lack of trying though. She’d called the other woman numerous times, but there had only been silence from her end. With that, Lacey left things as they were. How was she supposed to help someone who didn’t want to be helped? The news about Thomas had also seemed to die down, although Lacey had stopped paying attention to that. At the current moment, she was out of a job, and unsure about how to move forward with her life. That was where Jamie came in. More than ever, Lacey appreciated the presence of the older woman in her life. And to think that their first meeting came about because of jealousy. With Lacey’s mind made up to leave the entertainment industry, she needed other options. Thanks to Jamie, who introduced her to online business courses, Lacey had started taking lessons. For someone who majored in acting, it was interesting to start learning about something so new a
“Jonathan?”The line was silent for a couple seconds before Jonathan’s familiar, deep voice came through. “You sound tired…Did I wake you?”Lacey pulled herself to an upright position so that her back was resting against her pillow. For some reason, hearing Jonathan’s concerned voice immediately bettered her mood. A full smile bloomed on her face. “Hearing your voice is better than sleeping.” It had been quite a day for Lacey. She thought about how she’d originally planned to call Jonathan to tell him she was free to meet and to apologize for how she acted yesterday. Then Eliza’s issue came up, and she’d pushed it out of her mind. An awkward cough was Jonathan’s response. “You sound like you’re doing okay.”“Hmm.” “I’m close to the apartment. I want to see you. Can I come over?”“Ye–” Lacey’s first reaction was to agree, then she caught herself as she remembered her visitor. For Eliza’s privacy, she couldn’t let Jonathan here. It went the other way around too. Eliza would surely r
After telling Eliza that she could stay for as long as she needed, Lacey showed her to the guest room, then gave her a change of clothes, which she now had on. Later, she started on lunch. Sandwiches, Eliza had agreed too. She was almost through with it when a noise from the living room came. “What is she doing?” After plating the meal, Lacey wiped her hand on a napkin, then carried them out. As she appeared in the doorway, the sound coming from Eliza’s phone suddenly stopped as the woman put her phone away quickly. When Lacey placed one plate in front of her and raised her head, Eliza’s attention was on something as she deliberately avoided Lacey’s eyes. “Did something happen? I heard you shout earlier.” Lacey initiated. “Thomas, did he contact you? I hope you didn’t tell him where you are.”“Lacey.” Embarrassment and shame were visible on Eliza’s face when she finally met Lacey’s gaze. “Thomas released an apology video. That’s what it’s titled, but he doesn’t so much as apologiz
Jade Reign was one of the most interesting people Jonathan had ever met. Every action of hers wasn’t without meaning, no matter how confusing it might seem to others. They had finished breakfast long ago and were now in the middle of a discussion. Except they weren’t at Liam Tirro’s restaurant, Maria, anymore. With Jada’s direction, the two of them had walked over thirty minutes to the other side of the city, a place Jonathan rarely had cause to visit, to a place Jada called ‘Her Little Paradise.’ It was the first time in a while Jonathan had walked for that distance. But he wasn’t complaining. The weather was nice out and was just the right amount of cool, so by the time they reached their destination, he wasn’t a sweaty mess. Jada’s Little Paradise turned out to be the top of a bed and breakfast, a quaint home that gave off a wealthy air. The owner appeared to be familiar with her because she didn’t bat an eyelid when Jada and Jonathan walked past her with a simple greeting. T
This was way out of Lacey’s league. Stunned, she stared at the bruises on the woman in front of her. The choking marks around Eliza’s neck was just like what Thomas did to her also. Subconsciously, her hand rose to her neck. “Thomas did this?” Lacey's tone rose with incredulity. She shouldn't have been so surprised having experienced firsthand what Thomas could do when he was pissed off. But seeing the abuse signs on Eliza was an eye-opener. It wasn’t just something he did to only her like Lacey wanted to believe. Just who exactly had Thomas become? But more importantly, what was she supposed to do in a situation like this? Call the police? Call someone? Do nothing? While in thoughts, Eliza put on her mask again, hiding under the sunglasses and scarf. “You should go to the police,” Lacey heard herself saying. After running through several options in her head, that was her conclusion. “Report him for domestic abuse.”Before she even finished giving the advice, Eliza was already shak
It must have been due to a lapse of judgment, Lacey concluded. Or else why would she agree to meet up with Eliza? In any case, she was meeting her replacement in less than two hours. Over the phone, Eliza’s voice held something that sounded a lot like distraught, which was the only reason Lacey was moved. When it came to Thomas and feeling distraught, she knew the feeling all too well. Although, if Eliza’s fears turned out to be true, she was in a much better position than Lacey had been in. For one, she wasn’t married to Thomas yet. And two, she held as much, maybe even more fame than Thomas, so if he somehow decided to pull what he did in the past and call for a press conference, Eliza would be better positioned to defend herself. “What to wear?” Lacey pondered out loud as she changed out of her indoor clothes. Something simple. The weather today was much warmer than the day before, so she settled on a light dress. At Eliza’s request, their meeting place was an art gallery. This
{This is Eliza. Thomas’ girlfriend. Let’s meet.}It was after breakfast, around noon time, when the message came in on Lacey’s phone. In the comfort of her room, Lacey stared at the device with blank eyes. Last she heard from Adi, Eliza and Thomas were still in a relationship. Not too long ago, Lacey learned from Adi that Eliza and Thomas had possibly gotten engaged. Did that have to do with why she wanted to meet? Since they were still together, did Eliza feel she had some sort of bone to pick with Lacey? And it wasn’t a request either. It read more like a command. Speaking of Adi, he and Maddy had left earlier. The two lovebirds, Sangah and Holly, were still around, but before Lacey entered her room, they seemed like they were about to be on their way out too. For a brief second, Lacey let herself read Eliza’s message again. Eliza. A total stranger other than that time when Thomas brought her over along with the divorce papers. Ever since then, there’d been no contact. Grante
Leaving her two guests in the living room, Lacey disappeared into her room to dry her hair and change out of her wet clothes. That only took about ten minutes, but the next time she came out, there were now four people in her living room. Maddy and Adi had arrived. Adi was mid-conversation with Holly when he spotted Lacey. Immediately excusing himself, he walked over to her, stretching out his arms even before he reached where she stood. With a welcoming smile, Lacey let Adi hug her. Even before she was out of Adi’s hold, Maddy was already waiting to the side, and the moment Adi moved away, she took over the hug. “Are you okay?” Maddy asked as she gently swiped the palm of her hand up and down Lacey’s freshly-washed hair. “Silly question, but me and Ads saw the post you made. A lot of people are on your side.”It was that comment that reminded Lacey that she was yet to put on her phone after turning it off earlier. Somewhere between her getting back to her apartment, washing her hai
Even though Jonathan didn’t get the chance to talk to Lacey, he wasn’t too bummed out by it after seeing that she wasn’t mad at him. She was back home safe, plus she had a friend to stay with her; those were enough for him. Upon getting back to his Penthouse, the first thing he did was go through his mails. Tomorrow, he was meeting with Director Jada Reign, and he wanted to make sure that she hadn’t sent an email canceling after the news his company was embroiled. Thankfully, there was no mail of cancellation, which meant they were still on for tomorrow. Jada had picked their meeting location; a newly opened fine dining restaurant Jonathan had never been to before called Maria. According to her, while she was in Italy, she had food made by the chef, and wanted to check out his new place. Jonathan didn’t protest. Jonathan found it a little weird that she wanted to go to a fine dining restaurant in the morning, but he kept that to himself.There were also a couple messages from his pa