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Chapter 23
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2021-12-14 15:44:14It had been years since Julianne had last stepped on the ice. Today, she felt good about putting her hockey shoes back on. She grew up playing hockey with her brother and her cousins. But since the fateful day her father stripped her of her right to be a part of his family, she had no room for fun and games.
River was patient with Jared when he taught him how to balance on the ice. Jared was a very fast learner. Only one hour had passed and he was already able to balance himself. He still fell down once in a while, but he was a very brave kid.
After one and a half hours on the ice, they took a break for ice cream on the stand beside the rink.
“So, what else is new with you?”
“I found a…” she looked at Jared and chose her words very carefully. Jared was happily devouring his ice cream and he didn’t look like he was interested in their conversation. “Brownstone on Hyde.”
“What are you going to ne
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Jin Starck was in the foulest of moods when he sat in one of the chairs in the gazebo in the Adams Mansion. He wasn’t expecting the turn of events that day.First, he wasn’t expecting to see Julianne that afternoon, looking more beautiful than the last time he saw her. She looked fresh, without a hint of makeup on her face. He didn’t expect to see her with the adorable kid who looked nothing like her, like she didn’t give birth to him at all.But more importantly, he wasn’t expecting to see that handsome gentleman picking up both of them for an afternoon date.River Jefferson, he said his name was.Fifteen minutes after Julianne left, his phone beeped. A stream of emails flooded his mailbox, all with information about River Jefferson.He’s the CEO of RJ Holdings. Son of shipping tycoon Robert Jefferson. He was a product of his father’s affair with stage actress Tiffany Ronson. He wasn’t recognized by
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“Finally! The devil has returned,” Jin heard Alexandre Martin say. Alexandre is t second cousin of his father and he had been serving as his father’s right hand for many years.Jin gave him a hard look. Alexandre looked up towards the second floor for a moment and then he said to him, “Come to the library with me first. I must brief you before you face your father.”“That’s hardly necessary,” Jin said.“Oh no. This time it is. Trust me.” Alexandre turned around and walked towards the library, leaving him without a choice.Jin followed Alexandre to the library. Once inside, the latter poured a glass of whisky for both of them.“First, your father is going to ask you why you had to stay in the States for longer than you should have. He’s going to ask you how White Rock was and how the event for the Morgan-Murphies went,” Alexandre began briefing him.Jin opened his m
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Pierre Starck was talking to somebody on the phone when Jin entered his study. The older man held his hand up, telling Jin to stay where he was. Jin went to the bar and poured himself another glass of whiskey, while he waited for his father to finish his phone call.“Jin Adrien Starck!” he heard his father’s booming voice behind him.Slowly, he turned around to face his old man.Pierre Starck was looking at him sternly, raising a questioning brow at him.“Okay, so where do you want to start?” Jin asked in a low, controlled voice. “I’m sure you have plenty of questions.”“Okay, so how about we start with, ‘What the fuck have you done to my son?’”Jin didn’t answer back. He drank his whiskey slowly. He knew better than to cross his father when he was this mad.“First, you need to explain what happened at that party. You knew the program! You agr
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Julianne stood at the footsteps of the ballroom of Mayfair Court. At the last minute, Justin asked her to step in for him and Adrienne to represent Adams Industries in the prestigious Round Ten event. This was a yearly event organized by the top ten hotel groups around the world. It was as exclusive as the companies organizing it.Julianne didn’t want to go. She had been dreading this since yesterday when Justin begged her to step in for them. But Jeffrey broke his arm in his martial arts class. He had to stay in the hospital to determine whether he needed surgery, and both Justin and Adrienne wanted to stay with him. Julianne pretty much didn’t have a choice.She had better things to do. She was getting ready to move out of the Adams Mansion. And tomorrow, she would spend the weekend at her new apartment. She planned to paint and do whatever repairs and decorations needed to be done in the house. She wanted it to be perfect when Jared finally came home. Sh
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She felt her knees start to buckle as electricity started shooting up to her veins. She bit her lip as she struggled for control.I cannot fall for this anymore!“Jin… stop,” she whispered as she pulled away from him.She turned around to look up at him, trying her best to appear stoic, or cold at best.“I wasn’t here with Vanessa,” he started to explain.“It doesn’t look like that to me.”“She asked me to dance in front of her father and some of our colleagues. I couldn’t say no,” he said.“It’s okay. You don’t have to explain,” she said, turning away from him and glancing at the garden in front of them. “Do I look like I care?” she lied.He fell silent for a second. Then he said, “Okay, maybe you don’t care. But I still want you to know that I didn’t come here with her. And I’m most cer
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“Good morning,” he greeted her.“It’s six in the morning,” she said. “What are you doing here?”“Waiting for you. You told me you have an early start, so I made sure I would catch you before you go,” he replied.“Why?”“I told you last night, we needed to talk, remember?”“I’m busy,” she muttered. “I need to do something for the whole weekend.”Without warning, he took the bag she was carrying away from her.“Hey!” she protested. “What are you doing?”“I’m going with you,” he replied.“No!”“Why not? Is it an ‘invitation only’ event?”“No. But I planned to do this by myself. And I don’t need you to talk me out of it or convince me to stay here!”“Who said I was going to do that?”&
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Jin and Julianne finished their shopping and reached the counter to pay for her purchases.“We have some items for delivery. We’d like them to be delivered within the day,” Jin instructed the guy on the counter.“Sure, you can arrange that on the way out once I give you the bill. There might be a premium for rush delivery.”Julianne was about to say it’s okay to have them delivered the next day, but Jin was quick to say, “No problem. We want them today.”Yeah, I forgot. He’s rich. I’m not!The cashier finished punching all the items and told them the total. Jin took his wallet from his pocket, but Julianne gave him a warning look, “Don’t even think about it!” she hissed. “This is my stuff.”He held his hands up in surrender. “Okay, fine.”She handed the cashier her debit card and she tried it on their machine. Julianne turned
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She realized what she just said and immediately she regretted the last words that came out of her mouth. She shook her head. “No. That’s not what I meant. I’m sorry.”“I can’t say I blame you or the others who say I don’t have a heart,” he murmured. “Looking back at the last six years of my life… I probably would say the same.”She sighed sadly. She didn’t know if she was the reason for that. If Jin really did love her in the past, then she left him broken and vulnerable. And his way of fighting back, of protecting himself from the pain was to become guarded and untrusting… careful of feeling emotions, but careless of others’ feelings.“Where do you want to start?” she asked, changing the subject.“The wall. Let’s paint it before the delivery arrives,” he replied. “Let me get the plastics and the tools to cover the edges.”
Last Updated : 2021-12-14
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All The Wrong Places Epilogue
Julianne entered the lavish ballroom of Jardin Estates, one of the hotels owned by Starck Corp. in Paris. Jin’s mother had another bestselling book and as part of tradition, she threw a party to celebrate it. It was also a chance for the Starck Family to get together with family, friends and business partners.It had been one week since she and Jared had arrived in Paris. Although she had met Jin’s parents before, it was a different meeting this time around. Julianne could still remember how Arianna Starck rushed to greet them and how hard she cried when she hugged Jared.“My baby. Do you know who I am?” she tearfully asked Jared.“Yes. You’re Jeffie’s grandmother,” Jared replied.“Yes. But do you know that I am your grandmother too,” Arianna said.“Really?”“Yes. Because I’m your father’s mommy. You can call me grand-mère.”Jared sm
All The Wrong Places Chapter 44
That afternoon, Jin walked with Julianne towards the gazebo in the Adams Mansion.“Are you ready?” he asked Julianne.She looked up at him. “Are you?”He caressed his jaw with his fingers. “Yeah, I think I can take a few more punches. As long as you take care of me tonight.” He winked at her naughtily.She laughed. “I don’t think Justin will beat you up in front of Adrienne.”“Even if he does, I don’t care. Right now, I’m the King of the World! I have everything I ever wanted.”They reached the gazebo where Justin and Adrienne were, drinking wine. Justin had his arms around his wife, and he was whispering something in her ear that made Adrienne laugh and blush to the roots of her hair.Jin cleared his throat so they would notice them standing in front of them.“Oh my God! Jin! Ian!” Adrienne exclaimed in surprise.Jin saw tears in A
All The Wrong Places Chapter 43
The next day, Jin drove Julianne to work. Then he went to one of their hotel properties to do some work and to call his parents.He remembered the last day he was in Paris. He just came back from speaking to Arthur Bernard and Vanessa. He finally told them that the deal was off. He could not marry Vanessa. Both father and daughter were beyond upset. Vanessa wailed like little child whose favorite toy was taken away from her. Arthur shouted all sorts of profanity against him, vowing to kick him out of Round Ten.“Is she worth it?” Vanessa asked him, her smudged mascara and foundation left black lines from her eyes to her chin. At that point, it was hard to take her seriously.Suddenly, Jin realized he had never seen Vanessa without thick makeup. He wondered if he would recognize her at all without the powder foundation, fake lashes and ruby red lips.“Excuse me?” he asked.“Julianne Sanders,” Vanessa said. “
All The Wrong Places Chapter 42
Jin lay on the rug in front of the fireplace, dressed only in his boxers. He was waiting for Julianne to come out from the shower.He stared at the ceiling with a big smile on his place.It’s over, Jin. Your dark days are finally over.He didn’t know what happened to him these past years. It was like he was living in a limbo. He owned his body but somebody else was driving it, controlling his thoughts and his actions.He’d been rude, ruthless, relentless. True, he’d been very good in business. Starck Corp. had made a lot of money since he took the reign from his father. But now, he realized what’s been missing in the way he ran business. It had all been logic, math and probabilities. It lacked heart. And in the hospitality business, you have to have plenty of heart.He realized that he didn’t have to be the rude, brutal man he was. His heart was no longer broken and he had nothing to be mad about anymore
All The Wrong Places Chapter 41
“I couldn’t destroy it,” Jin said behind Julianne. “After what happened between us there, I just couldn’t bear the thought of breaking it down.”She turned around to face him. His eyes looked teary as well.“Like you, The Arabella belongs here,” he whispered.Julianne stared at the familiar glasshouse that used to sit in the gardens of White Rock Hotel.She couldn’t find the words. She turned around and threw herself in Jin’s arms. He wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace.“Why?” she asked looking up at him. “Why are you doing this?”“Is it not obvious?” he asked back. “I’m making it easier for you to have a life with me. This is going to be our home here in Chicago. I want you and Jared to be here. And if you will allow it, I would like to live here with you.”“Why? Why me?”He took her hand in
All The Wrong Places Chapter 40
Jared was sleeping when Jin and Julianne left the Adams Mansion. Julianne sent a text message to Adrienne, apologizing for everything and then asked her to take care of Jared for another day.They drove the first ten minutes in complete silence. She had a lot of questions she wanted to ask him. But she didn’t know how or where to begin.She felt him reach out for her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.“Are you sure you’re alright, love?” he asked.“No. I’m not sure,” she replied. Then she sighed and asked, “You knew?”He glanced at her and gave her a gentle smile.“About Jared? Of course, I knew,” he replied. “I had been waiting a long time for you to tell me yourself. But today, I couldn’t hold it back anymore.”“How long have you known?”“That same night I met you again in Paris, at my mother’s party,” he replied.
All The Wrong Places Chapter 39
Thud!She was sure she just heard her heart drop to the floor.The room fell silent as everybody took time to absorb what Jin just said. Everybody was looking at him, studying his face, deciphering his revelation.“Starck?” Edward echoed. He looked at Jin in wild confusion.“Yes! That boy that you were calling a bastard… is my son!”Julianne closed her eyes as tears fell from her eyes. She heard gasps from the others in the room. Everyone seemed to have stopped breathing.It was Gian who recovered first. “You fucking asshole! It was you, huh!” Gian went at Jin, pushing him against the wall. “I did think Jared was a spitting image of you, and I found that really creepy! I just didn’t think you’d have met my sister before!”Jin held his hands up in the air in surrender. He looked at Gian and said, “Go. Knock yourself out. I know you’ve been
All The Wrong Places Chapter 38
Monday morning, the Adams private jet took Julianne and two of Adams Industries legal counsels to Detroit. They checked in at The Majestic, a five-star hotel owned by Starck Corp.They spent the whole afternoon meeting with the Japanese clients from Miyako Tech and working on the terms and conditions of their future partnerships. Julianne and the legal team had spent the whole weekend checking their contract offerings, all possible loopholes and all other alternatives.She had been relentlessly working since that evening that Vanessa Bernard paid her a visit. It was her best way to cope with the twisted pain she felt in her heart.Jin had been texting her but she didn’t even read most of his messages. He called plenty of times, but she simply ignored all his calls. She didn’t want to talk to him. Not yet. Her mind was confused and her heart was too broken. She couldn’t decide what to do with him when she was this emotional. She needed to decide
All The Wrong Places Chapter 37
Vanessa looked around her house, scrutinizing it. Julianne had a few ideas about what’s going on in her mind and she’s guessing none of them were good.“Why are you here?” Julianne asked.Vanessa raised a brow at her. She looked at her from head to feet, unashamedly scrutinizing her look.“Miss Bernard, please. Can you get down to business? I have places to go.”“Of course, you have,” she said in a heavy French accent. “You’re working extra hard to support your son, aren’t you?”“Excuse me. I don’t see why that’s any of your business.”“You made it my business when you started seducing my fiancé!”Julianne blinked back at her. “Excuse me? What are you talking about?”“You know well what I’m talking about, Miss Sanders,” she said. “You’re my fiancé’s other woman
