—JENNIFER—“ No way you rambled about your back up!” Cally laughed after I completed the scene that happened last night. “ They say, you speak what you have in your head while drunk.” Celeste said, sitiffeling her laugh. “ What can I do? The bitch literally had started to get on my nerves. The way she kept coming back and Christian wouldn't do anything about it made me a little insecure.” I confessed my fear. “ Then you better do something to kick her out of your life permanently.” Cally said, suddenly turning serious. “ He told me last night that I won't have to see from now on.” I shrugged. “ What will he do?” Celeste frowned. “ I don't kno-...But I can get to know.” I grinning um suddenly getting an idea. Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I dialled James' number but he didn't answer the call. “ Definitely will be busy tolerating the tantrums of his boss.” Cally scoffed. “ He's not that bad.” I murmured. “ Shut up.” The glare she threw me had me biting my inner cheek to
—CHRISTIAN—My phone buzzed and I muted the call without even checking because I was in an important meeting that I had told Jennifer about, in the morning. It buzzed again and Mr. Stevens gave me a look. I muted the call again and then decided to silent the phone before it would interrupt again. I saw that it was Alex and he doesn't call me back if I ever disconnect the call. I felt a sinking feeling that something is going wrong somewhere. “ It's Okay, Mr. Brown. If it's urgent you can take the call.” Mr. Stevens said, guessing my sudden uneasiness. “ No, it's fine.”The phone beeps with a message while it was already in my hand and I couldn't help but go through it. My heart thumped loudly in my chest as I read Alex's message and stood up abruptly, making all the heads turn towards me in confusion. “ I am afraid that I'll have to pause this meeting because of a personal affair. I'm really sorry Mr. Stevens.” Saying quick to those shocked faces of Mr. Stevens and his assistant,
—JENNIFER—I frowned as I stood up from my chair, seeing Christian standing near the entrance of the cafe. It was only a moment after when Alex ran inside and stopped beside Christians. Both of their breathing was heavy and quick, telling that they reached here in a hurry. My frown deepened as I scanned Christian's appearance. His hair was badly dishevelled. He wasn't wearing his coat jacket and two upper buttons of his shirt were open.“ What are you guys doing here?” The question that stopped on my tongue seeing his condition, was asked by Cally as she quickly reached Alex. Alex, instead of answering her, met my gaze and held it concerned, for a long moment. “ Jennifer. I was telling you something. Please listen to me.” From beside me, Catherine spoke up and I remembered that she was also present there. I quickly turned to face her. “ Yeah, Can you give me a moment?” I said, excusing myself and turned back to Christian, who seemed to be a little nervous or maybe anxious. “ No J
—JENNIFER—I turned back to look at him but was surprised by his sudden move of bending close. I sucked a breath as he stared right into my eyes. “ I didn't go to meet her but to send her away from our lives forever.” He said and I felt a sudden relief rushing into my body. “ You did?” I asked, confirming. “ I had promised you.” He shrugged, moving back but I grabbed his collars and captured his lips into mine, taking him by surprise. “ I love you.” I murmured into his lips, smiling. He groaned before slipping his hand into my waist and lifting up to settle me on his lap. I gasped as he did in a span of two goddamn seconds that I couldn't even realise. My gasp died down as his mouth claimed down on mine with his hands slipping under my shirt, causing goosebumps to erupt. In these six months of marriage, we have kissed uncountable times but every time with him feels like the first time. His touch wakes up every single cell in my body as if giving them a new life. I moaned when
—JENNIFER—“ He left for office early today.” I answered in a meek voice and my face saddened immediately. “ What???” Celeste and Cally both screeched together, staring at me as If I was some alien. “ I don't speak Spanish.” I rolled my eyes. “ Not surprising but,... What the fuck is he doing in office today?” Cally replying to my ‘Spanish’ sarcasm first and then asked about Christian. “ Yeah, He should have been spending a day with you, taking you out or something? Celeste backed up her question and I could help but made a helpless pout. “ I don't know. He was gone before I was up.” I straightened my back again and shrugged nonchalantly as if it wasn't any big deal. “ What??” They both screeched once again at the same time and after giving each other a look, they turned to me in disbelief. “ Are you implying that he didn't even wish you?” Cally asked with utter incredulity. “ H-He forgot, I guess.” I answer, biting my lip. “ For fuck's sake!” She grumbled lowly and Celeste
—JENNIFER—When I called out for mom and dad again, a blast followed by loud shouts had me screaming. “ Surprisssseeeeeee!!!” All the lights were suddenly turned on, blinding me for a moment and I closed my eyes to restrain it from hurting my eyes. Everything happened so all of a sudden that I couldn't even get a chance to understand what was exactly going on. It took me another minute to adjust to the sudden lights and open my eyes to look around. Before I could notice anything else, my eyes landed on Mom and Dad. Without thinking about anything else, I raced towards them and stopped before Dad grabbing his shoulder. “ Are you fine? Mom, What happened? Are you both alright?” I asked in one breath, checking both of them for anything unusual, any Injury or even a scratch on them. “ Hey, Hey!! We are fine. See! Nothing is wrong. It was just a joke.” Dad replied, grabbing my hands and my brows furrowed together to stare at them dumbfounded. “ Joke? What doesn't that mea-” I was l
—JENNIFER—Everyone gave me gifts one by one before we settled down at the dining table for dinner. We had fun chatting which was mostly taken ahead by Alex and Micheal because of their bad sense of humour. After the dinner, Mathhew left for Brown mansion since it was past 11:00 PM. Anya stayed back with us since everyone decided to do something fun which they still couldn't decide after a whole hour of arguing and ranting. “ Alright kids. Have fun. We better be retiring to our beds.” Dad said as he and mom stood up. “ Good night.” We said before they walked to their room.After some more arguing and rejecting God knows how many ideas, everyone decided to do settle for Karaoke.“ But Uncle and Aunty would be disturbed.” Celeste said at the idea. “ Wait, Let me go and check the study if it's clean. It's soundproof so it will be fine.” I said immediately grinning at the idea and standing up. “ Thank god. I almost forgot about it.” Cally sighed remembering the way we would often use
—JENNIFER—I looked up with my widened eyes, only to meet with another pair of widened eyes that were staring at us. “ OH MY GOD!!” He gasped. “ WHAT THE FUCK ALEX??” Christian growled at him, moving in front of him. “ What the fuck is wrong with you? We were supposed to do Karaoke. And you are here fucking each other?” He rambled in disbelief as if we had betrayed him. “ Alex! What's going on??” I gasped, as I heard Cally's voice with approaching footsteps. Alex whipped his head to face Christian with a wicked smirk who was staring at him in disbelief. “ You won't believe what's going on, Baby. Come I'll show you.” Alex replied in the most dramatic voice as he eyed me and Christian wickedly. “ Oh My God. Stop him. He has gone mad.” I whisper shouted at Christian and he was fast to react. He grabbed Alex from the back of his Jacket and pulled back. “ If you dare speak a word to anyone, I'll tell Cally about every single one of your previous girlfriends.” Christian warned him
JENNIFER The next few days were spent with everyone celebrating my memory regaining and for our soon to be born child. Mom and Dad disclosed the whole truth about Catherine and I was just happy that they at least told me whatever it was. I was upset for being lied to but never angry. It eases their tension and we are back to normal. I looked at the clock and then towards the main door. With a sigh filled with disappointment, I had just turned back when the click of the door opening had me turning back again only to see my husband dearest entering with a bag in his hand. “You’re home.” I exclaimed, with a relieved smile while mentally thanking God. At first glance, he looked the same as when he’d left— black shirt, black pants, hauntingly beautiful face—but a closer look revealed the quiet storm brewing in his eyes. “You asked me to come home.” He watched, body still but gaze burning like an open flame, as I closed the distance between us. “So here I am.” His rough velvet
JENNIFER When I opened my eyes, my head felt heavy. It was hurting like someone had crushed it under a car wheel. With a wince of pain, I opened my eyes and the first thing I landed my eyes on was a pair of black eyes. Two moments of unblinking stare into those worry filled eyes before I took a sigh of relief. “ Christian!” I called out his name in my weak and hazy voice and saw him practically relaxing. As if a burden was taken away from her chest. “ Princess! You are awake.” His voice was filled with relief. “ What do you think?” I joked at his obvious question. A small sigh left his lips before a soft smile appeared as he bent down to kiss my forehead. “ You scared the shit out of me.” He murmured, straightening back. “ What? I don't remember anything?” I asked and he froze in his place. “ You don't remember anything?” He asked, repeating my words and emphasised on the last word. Now it was my turn to freeze in my place. I paused and all the events of the past
CHRISTIAN “Hello, Raphael.” I examined Jennifer’s stalker, who was strung up with heavy cuffs locking his arms and legs into a vertical spread- eagle position. Nails pinned his palms to the wall behind them, while black and blue bruises mottled his body like an obscene piece of abstract art. We were in the warehouse I’d bought for this specific purpose. Remote, soundproofed, and guarded enough that an ant couldn’t crawl across the floor without me knowing. Not all of my guys were okay with dirty work, which was fine. I only needed a few who were, and they’d done their job prepping the bastard for me. I couldn’t have him waiting too comfortably while I tended to Jennifer. My gaze flicked to the floor. A small pool of blood stained the smooth grey concrete. That was also fine. It will grow soon enough. Raphael’s face was so beaten up it was unrecognisable, but the heat of his glare made me smile. He had a bit of fight left in him. Good. That would make our session so much m
JENNIFER I slept in until almost noon the next day. It was the latest I’d ever woken up, but the previous day’s events had taken their toll. Even after a solid sixteen hours of rest, fogginess clouded my brain as I walked to the kitchen. Being drugged and kidnapped. Finding out my husband dearest has a brother about which I still have to ask him, Nearly dying, then getting rescued by Christian, and sort of/kind of making up with him. I’d had time to process, so it was easier to wrap my head around what happened, but yesterday was so surreal I still felt like I was walking on the edge of a dream. It was Monday, so I’d expected Christian to be at work. But when I entered the sun-splashed kitchen, I found him standing by the espresso machine, dressed in a black shirt and pants instead of his usual suit. I blinked with surprise. “You’re here.” I asked and he turned back swiftly as if pulled back harshly from another world. I guess I disturbed his thoughts. “It is my house,” he s
CHRISTIAN She’s here. She’s safe. I repeated the words in my head as I held Jennifer tight. Tiny shivers rippled through her body, and even though she was almost as tall as me, she felt fragile. Breakable. Fierce protectiveness burned in my chest. “It’s all right, princess,” I murmured. “You’re okay. You’re safe.” She buried her face deeper in my neck, her soft sobs twisting my heart like a wrung-out rag. Her hold on me felt like I was the only trustable and safe place for her. It felt like the old times, before her accident. It felt like I was holding her again for the first time in years, but this wasn’t how I’d wanted it to be. Not with her bruised, hurt, and terrified. Something struck my mind and my one hand automatically moved towards her belly. I felt my heart clenching in my chest at the thought of any possible harm to our child. The relief I’d felt at seeing her alive gave way to renewed rage. My cold gaze found Rapheal over Jennifer’s shoulder. He should pray t
Jennifer Lights washed across my vision at the force of the impact, but I didn’t have time to waste. I slammed my wrists down as hard as I could behind me until the frayed rope snapped against the protrusion. Luckily, Raphael hadn’t tied my legs, and I stumbled to the door. I almost made it before strong hands yanked me back. I hit the floor with a thud. Raphael pinned me to the ground and manacled my wrists above my head. “Let go of me!” I struggled against his hold. “You’re mine,” he said calmly, like we were at a picnic in the park and he wasn’t holding me hostage. “It’ll be so much easier if you give in, Jennifer. I don’t want to hurt you.” I couldn’t keep struggling forever. My energy was already fading, my muscles sore and my thoughts jumbled with panic. I turned my head a fraction to the right, and my breath hitched when I saw my purse lying a few feet away. My taser. I always kept it on me because since Christian forced me to do it. If I could only reach it… Raphae
JENNIFER A prickle of sensation dragged me from the dark, murky wells of unconsciousness. It started as a tingle in my fingers and toes. Then it was the hard press of wood beneath my thighs. Finally, it was the rough abrasion of ropes around my wrists and a pounding pain behind my eyes. I didn’t know what was going on. All I knew was, it hurt, and my throat was dry, and my head throbbed like someone had shoved a jackhammer or ten in there. Concrete anchors dragged down my lids. The darkness wasn’t soft and gentle like the gradual drift to sleep. It was endless and menacing, like the weight of the earth after being buried alive. I forced my lungs to expand past my rising panic. Breathe. Think. What happened? I struggled to sort through the day’s events. I remembered meeting my friends at the cafe. Morris running to the restroom. Nausea, dizziness, stumbling out for air…and the cold press of a gun against my ribcage. A voice, then blackness. Oh God. I’d been kidnapped. Th
JENNIFER A sharp stab of concern pulled my brows together. “Do you need to sit down? You don’t look so good.” Actually, I didn’t feel great either. My usual lethargy intensified and tugged at my limbs and eyelids. Morris’ face swam before me until I blinked the blurriness away. “Yes, I”—he gripped the edge of the table. “I”— his face turned ghostly white before flushing the crimson. “Stay here. I’ll be right back.” He bolted toward the bathroom. The door slammed shut. A second later, I heard the faint but unmistakable sound of vomiting. My own stomach twisted at the noise. I hoped we hadn’t gotten food poisoning, but something was clearly wrong. My vision blurred again. This time, blinking didn’t help. I stood, hoping the change in altitude would clear my head, but an instant wave of dizziness forced me back into my seat. What is going on? I’d only had tea and a pastry. Could you even get food poisoning from tea and pastries? Black dots danced in front of my eyes, and panic
—JENNIFER— As soon as our mouths collided, I felt colours bursting behind my eyelids, making them shut up automatically. Christian went frozen at my unexpected stunt and couldn't even move for a long moment. For myself, I was in shock about how the mouth of this cold man could be so warm and soft. I didn't give it any thought so I was as stunned as him at my own action and couldn't even move out of shock until I felt his hands coming up to grab my waist and he pulled me into himself. My body felt burns and chills at the same time where his fingers were digging into my skin in a firm but not painful hold. Suddenly I was too conscious about the things that his touch was making me feel. The pause we both took out of shock had me thinking for a moment that he would pull back but instead, he tilted his mouth and deepened the kiss with a sudden force that I almost lost my step. A gasp of shock couldn't find a place to escape me because of the way his mouth was perfectly occupying m