01. Jordan. I was sitting in my study room, watching her. She was by the pool playing with water. Her legs dangling over the water. She looked beautiful, with the afternoon sun shining over her face. She looked so happy. My phone rang, for a moment I hesitated before answering, it was my mother. She hadn't reached out since the dinner we both had with Nala. I contemplated letting it go to voice mail, but knowing my mother, she would call until I finally answered it. I picked up,now standing by the window. Nala wasn't there anymore, the two minutes I had taken my concentration 9ff her and to my phone, she had disappeared on me. "Hey mom." i said as soon as I picked up. On the other end, I could hear my father and sister's voices, but they all suddenly went quiet as soon as we started talking. "You can't call your mother Jordan, I thought I raised you better than this." "Come on mom!" I protested almost immediately, "You know it goes both ways, you can call me too." "Wel
Jordan. I turned around and watched as he walked into the dining room majestically like he owned the place, a smug smirk on his face. He sat next to my sister and my mother quickly fixed him a plate. "Well, I can't wait to hear what is so important that you invited my worst enemy to have dinner with us." i said between gritted teeth looking at my mom who was throwing smiles at Salvatore. "Am not your enemy Jordan, you will soon find out an actually your friend and we can help each." "I will never help you in any way Salvatore, my parents might have invited you here, but I want nothing to do with you." "Don't say that too fast Jordan, we all need help sometimes." he said with a smug face and the turned to my sister, "You look lovely Isabella." My sister's cheeks turned pink, and I could see her squirming in her seat. It was he was trying to piss me off on purpose, and my father sensed my anger coming up and quickly spoke up. "Salvatore, thank you for joining us. Our fami
Nala. I woke up, tired than usual. My body was so sore and huge. I was ready to have this baby. I felt like I had been pregnant for eternity. But I knew it wasn't going to be long now. It could be any minute. I sat up, confused looking around, it was dark. What time was it? Had I slept the whole afternoon? I wondered picking up my phone from the side table. That's when I saw the small note addressed to me. 'Gone out for a meeting, be back soon.' the note read. I checked my phone, it was around nine pm. I slowly got out of bed and put on my pink robe and comfy slippers and walked out of the room and headed downstairs. No one was there, or atleast that's what I thought. The whole house was quite and I kind of appreciated the silence. I was about to walk over to the refrigerator when I heard her voice from behind me. "Sit down, i will fix you something" I turned around, and there she was. Alba. "I thought you were sleeping, am sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up." "No, it
Selena. I had thought it would be easy, seeing him. I had imagined different scenarios of our first encounter. But none of them reallyprepared for the actual meeting, neither did they prepare me for finding out he was in love with someone else. I had known he had moved on, but I never thought he was truly in love with her, I always assumed he was just filling a void, the void I left. But now, it was clear as day, he was on love with her, building a life with her. And that hurt me. He immediately got up rushing out, he never looked back, neither did he say anything to me or anyone for that matter. Arkward silence followed, everyone went back to eating their dinner as if nothing had happened. It was just noises from forks and knives in the room. "Am sorry about that," his mother finally said. But his mother had always loved me. She was the reason we even met or got married for that matter. I took pride in our relationship, which is why this was even harder for me. I had to
Jordan. I had the longest day in the history of long days. I paced in the hallway up and down, it had been a few hours. There was so much going on in my mind I was of no help. I sat back down with my head down as I thought about my conversation before with Selena. She was alive, my wife was alive. Shouldn't I be happy, if it was true that I had a son wasn't I supposed to be happy about it. But why was I so sad. "Scooch over." i heard the voice that was still haunting me from before me. For a moment I thought I was dreaming because there was no way he was here, at the hospital. "What the fuck are you doing here? Are you following me?" I asked irritated as 8 stood up. "Following you, ofcourse not. But you didn't think my child will be born without me being there did you?" he asked sitting where I had been sitting before. "She doesn't want you here and neither do I. I don't remember calling you either so you might as well leave." "Check your phone." he said as he pressed somet
Jordan. Jordan.it had been over two weeks since, Nala went into a coma. And it was also two weeks since I had a good night sleep. I sat up, covered in sweat. The night shivers and nightmares were becoming more and more every night. I was responsible for her being in the coma. I wanted her to wake up so I could explain myself, but I also dreaded it all. How was I going to face her and tell her I gave her baby away for my baby in return. I got up and walked downstairs just in my sweat pants with my phone on my hand. I went straight to the refrigerator and fished out a bottle of cold water. "You couldn't sleep either?" Alba said from the door. "Tell me about it, I keep having the same nightmare over and over again and it gets worse everyday." "About Nala." she asked sympathetically, even though I didn't deserve any of her kindness, not after what I had done. I just nodded avoiding her eyes. "Listen to me, you did what you thought was best in an impossible situation. If
Nala. I struggled underneath the layers of fog surrounding my head. I murmured a low protest when I opened my eyes. Awareness was not what i sought. The blanket of dark, of oblivion, was what i wanted. There was nothing for me in wakefulness. My life was like one black hole of nothingness. My name was all that lingered in the confusing layers of my mind. I searched for more. Answers i needed to, questions that swarmed me every time i wakened. My past lay like a great barren landscape before me. The answers dangled beyond me, taunting me and escaping before i could reach out and take hold. I turned my head on the thin pillow, fully intending to slip back into the void of sleep when a firm hand grasped mine. Fear scurried up my spine until I remembered that i was safe and in a hospital. Still, i yanked my hand away as my chest rose and fell with my quick breaths. “You must not go back to sleep, Nala. Not yet.” The man’s voice slid across my skin, leaving warmth in its wake. Caref
Nala. When I woke again, a nurse was standing by my bedside placing a cuff around my arm to take my blood pressure. “Oh, good, you are awake,” i said cheerfully as i removed the cuff. “I have your dinner tray. Do you feel up to eating?” I shook my head. The thought of food made me faintly nauseous. “Leave the tray. I will see to it that she eats.”I could recognize the voice anywhere. I looked up in surprise to see Jordan looming behind the nurse, a determined look on his face. The nurse turned and smiled at him then reached back and patted my arm. “You are very lucky to have such a devoted fiancé,” she said as she turned to go. “Yes, lucky,” i murmured, and i wondered why i suddenly felt the urge to weep. When the door shut behind the nurse, Jordan pulled the chair closer to my bed again. Then he settled the tray in front of me. “You should eat.” I eyed him nervously. “I don’t feel much like eating.” “Do you find my presence unsettling?” he asked as his gaze slid over my
Nala.I woke up slowly taking in my surroundings. All the walls were white with no painting at all. It was just plain walls. And then then there wS the smell of medicine that made me nauseous."What's going on?" I asked no one in particular sitting up. That's when I saw him sleeping peacefully by my bed. He looked so peaceful, but also so uncomfortable sleeping in that chair. "Hey, hello beautiful." he said as soon as he saw me, "How did you sleep? How are you feeling?" he asked coming to my bed as he helped me sit up properly, putting a few pillows for me to lean on. "I am sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up." i said slowly feeling the pain of my incision. "No it's okay baby. Am glad you are up." i said looking around. "The baby?" I said almost absent mindedly. I do not remember at all having the baby, I just felt pain in every part of my body. "She is Fine." Jordan said proudly, "and yes it's a she. They just fed her she is sleeping. You will see he when she is up.""I am sorry
Jordan. One moment, we were dancing, I was holding her, monitoring her breaths, smelling her rose vanilla hair, the next she was lying on the floor in a pool of blood. This was not happening to me. It could not be happening. I felt as if I was losing my mind. I could not believe what I was seeing. It could not be. It just could not be. I dropped to my knees next to her. My hands were shaking. Jesus, God, no. Not her. Not her. Not my miracle.She was looking up at me, with a strange expression on her face, as if she was surprised to see me, as if it was me that was hurt, as blood was oozing out of her wound and spreading into her stomach area of her lavender dress. The assassin had been aiming for me, but he had hit her instead. This was all my fault and I knew it was Salvatore. I had taken his son away from him, he wanted his revenge. One more shot rang out and I heard the shrill announcement.“It’s clear! We have him!”“Hey you,” she said softly. Then she frowned, her hands were
Nala. A shiver crackled through my spine at his words. Because I knew that look in his eyes, the almost ferocious gaze and I knew what usually followed after that.The last time he had had that look in his eyes and told me to get over to where he was, I had been fucked against a doorand left in a puddle at his feet.“Um,” I swallowed. “I need to go to the Ladies first?”“You are going to be sorry if I have to repeat myself.”“Please. Someone could come in.” All I could think about was his mother or sister or even father walking in on us. “No one will come in until I allow them to.”Through the glass, I could see the other people around us, and people passing in between. I was pretty certain that theycouldn’t see into our own encasement, but they would definitely be able to hear us especially since there was no way that I would be able to stay quiet after he touched me.“But people can hear us,” I whispered.His gaze darkened even further, and I had to accept the painful truth, tha
Nala.The round lights in the ceiling as they rolled me into the OR barely registered. The only thing in my mind was the brutality of my contractions. Waves of paincoursed through my body and my fingers dug into my palms to help relieve some of the pressure.I had never in my life been in so much pain.But then I remembered his promise. Everything will be fine. I believed him, and that more than anything gave me thestrength to hope for a time beyond this pain that seemed as though it would never end.The Anesthesiologist put a mask over my face. “Count backwards from ten, ” she said kindly.10, 9, 8, 7… 6… then everything went dark.I woke up slowly. My whole body felt heavy. Even moving my fingers was an effort. I knew I was in a hospital. I felt fear.My lips moved.“My baby,” I called weakly. “Where is my baby?”It was only then I realized I was not alone. There was an arm and a head on my thighs. The arm lifted and he straightened.I stared at him in shock.He looked haggard. Mo
Jordan. we were riding back to Torrington Hall. Our bodies at least two feet apart. I stared out at trees, all cast in darkness, as we left the city.Who was I angry at? Was it at myself? For reacting like a jealous fool. Or was it at her for pointing it out? I couldn’t decide, but either way it didn’t feel good.I knew she was scared for her friend’s safety, but I had no intentions of doing anything to him. At that moment when Isaw him touch her so casually I wanted to throttle him, but now that my blood was no longer boiling, I could clearly see he was only a little gnat. Even the tiny effort required to squash him would not be worth my time.“ I… uh… I wanted to speak to you tonight about the greenhouse, ” she said hesitantly. Her tone was soft and docile.I turned my head to look at her. In the soft light coming fromthe console, her skin looked like alabaster.“Thank you for allowing me to work there,” she continued.“I need to buy some seeds. I will purchase them on my own of
Jordan. I felt as if I was losing my mind. I could not believe what I was seeing. It could not be. It just could not be. I dropped to my knees next to her. My hands were shaking. Jesus, God, no. Not her. Not her. Not mymiracle.She was looking up at me, with a strange expression on her face, as if she was surprised to see me, as if it was me thatwas hurt, as blood was oozing out of her wound and spreading into her stomach area of her lavender dress. The assassin had been aiming for me, but he had hit herinstead. This was all my fault and I knew it was Salvatore. I had taken his son away from him, he wanted his revenge. One more shot rang out and I heard the shrill announcement.“It’s clear! We have him!”“Hey you,” she said softly. Then she frowned, her hands were still cradling her stomach. “What happened?”I shuddered as my hand went to touch her face. I was so terrified I was almost paralyzed. “It’s okay, ” I whispered even though I didn't really know if it was. “Everything i
Jordan.I took her to Boston’s harbor hotel with its Sixty foot stone archway and its panoramic views of the city’s skyline. It was also a personal favorite for other reasons. Security was easily monitored by my men, and my requests for privacy were always immediately fulfilled.As I mostly moved in the shadows and appreciated places that helped me maintain things that way.Across the terrace, private and heated transparent igloo-like boxes had been erected to both tackle the frigid winter air,and to provide privacy. One of the things I liked the most about these encasements were how the glass made it possible for you to see out, but for no one to see within.I sat at my usual enclosure with my customary glass of Dirty Martini and tried to imagine Nala working in the greenhouse… and couldn’t. I’d never even been inside it. I had to admit I’d never given the idea of gardening muchthought, but I had formed the general impression gardeners were gardeners because they couldn’t find bett
Nala. It was still dark the next morning when I got out of bed and went to the kitchen. There was no one else around, but Jordan's mom was already up andsitting at the table drinking something from a cup and. looking into an open notebook. She looked up at me and frowned.“Is something wrong?” she asked worried I shook my head. “Nothing is wrong. I was wondering if I could have some cake or cookies.” I said feeling embarrassed "Ofcourse yes. I can't tell you how much cravings I had with Jordan. I gained over one hundred pounds." she said smiling as she served me a plate of chocolate chip cookies with warm milk. I looked at her confused, wondering what she was talking about or why she was even telling me about that. She saw the confusion and smiled again. " oooh, Jordan told us about your news.""What news?" I asked even more confused as ever. "That you are pregnant." she said looking at me with that judgemental look of hers. "My son always wanted to be a father you know and g
Jordan. 001It had taken a lot of pursuading to say get her to come with me. But I needed her there. I needed her to see how hard I was working to make things right between us. I needed her to know I was doing everything in my power to get her son back. I glanced at the poised woman by his side as i wound my way through the curvy hills toward my home. The top was down, and her gold red hair blew in the wind in a tangled mass, but she didn’t seem concerned. Her pursed lips told me she was thinking hard, probably getting into character to meet my family. It was not the first time, but it was since she recovered her memories. During the last twenty four hours, I had learned a lot about Nala. Unfortunately, the tiny glimpse only made me crave her more.The vivid green of trees and brown earth flashed by and welcomed me in a way that soothed my soul. My family owned land from generations back, which had all been passed to me. But i had always known from my first visit to New York City th