Cruz dropped his gaze and kept his lips locked, not ready to share the truth with them. "I think I got my answer. I will take my leave now." Jessica broke the silence as she strode out of the Cafe. "Cruz, are you alr…" "I think I should also call it a day." Rebecca quickly interrupted Klaus who was worried about Cruz's silence. "I will keep digging but let me know if you want to make things faster." She added before also striding out of the Cafe. Klaus sighed as he stretched his hand to reach out to Cruz, gently caressing his knuckles. "K, it's not like I'm happy with what happened to Bella but I promise you, that baby wasn't yours." Cruz confessed, his gaze still fixed on the table. "I know." Klaus replied to Cruz shocking surprise. "How did you know…that?" He stuttered as he finally raised his head to meet Klaus's gaze. "I found the test results you received from the doctor at the scene of your kidnap. I got there before the police and destroyed it after going through it."
With much hesitation, Cade finally left Jessica's place without dinner. Jessica was devastated by Cade's condition. She remembered just how excited he was when he got the news of their relationship but it's barely 24 hours since then and she is already going back on her promiseJessica knew it wasn't her fault too. Neither Cade nor her was at fault for the turn of events. It's just Cruz's fault and she was determined to make him understand just how many people he was hurting with his decision of keeping his past a secret. Long after Cade left, she contemplated for a while before she decided it was time to confront Cruz, then she switched on her phone and dialed his number. "Tsk...Is he ignoring me now?" She scoffed after the phone rang for several seconds for the first time and he didn't answer. She didn't hesitate to dial the number after it came to a stop just to confirm whether or not Cruz was ignoring her but just as the call was about to end the second time, Cruz answered the
"I can, Jessica. You know I'm good at such things. But I will never let you put yourself and your self-worth through such ridiculous circumstances for my sake." Cruz blurted out to Jessica's surprise. "If we date in this situation, you'd be hurting your mental health because you've already made up your mind that we can never be real. It's even crazier because we love each other." Cruz complained. "There's a thin line you should never cross with someone you are not willing to spend the rest of your life with but dating me for a year, you'd be crossing that line and I assure you you'd never be able to recover from it. I'm not will tell you my secret and you're not willing to start a relationship with me if "Cruz, it's not even up to a year. I'm sure I can manage. I care about Cade and I desperately want to see him happy. I know you care about him too so let's do this for him." Jessica pleaded. Cruz stared at Jessica for a while, his eyes filled with so much admiration and awe. This
"NO!" Cruz exclaimed, flustered as he ran forward and started removing the pictures. "When did that idiot come here to mess things up like this?" Cruz mumbled as he hurriedly hid away the pictures. "Hiding it won't change anything. Just be honest with me. Were you…or Are you Gay?" She asked curiously, making Cruz even more flustered. "Why does everyone keep thinking we are gay? We were best friends! We did a lot of crazy stuff together." He explained in disbelief. "Crazy stuff? These pictures look intimate for just best friends!" She complained, not buying Cruz's explanation. "If you brought me here to tell me the truth, just be straightforward. I can understand if you were gay but things would be different if you still have a thing for Klaus. I can't begin to imagine…" Jessica was rudely interrupted by the sound of Cruz's laughter. "What? Do you seriously think I dated or I'm dating that twerp? You should have seen that guy when we were younger. He was very clumsy and stupid. Ju
"No. It turned out we didn't matter much to her. She was also Clyde's mistress. The doctor who was a family friend warned me to stay away from her because she was bad news and it wasn't the first time she was getting pregnant." Cruz explained and Jessica immediately became calm as she settled properly on the couch. "On my way back home, I was snatched and taken to Clyde's den. He told me everything I needed to know about the group and Bella. Bella was their favorite agent. Because of her beauty and great body, she lured innocent teenagers into the group. We were targeted after they saw an ad we made for an underwear company. I also got to hear the news of her death from him. He said she died from an abortion. He told me he took only me because he preferred me to Klaus. He told me much of a fine man I was and I've grown a lot more mature for my age. He even told me how much Bella preferred me to Klaus because I was good in bed. He did everything he could to convince me to join the gr
The new couple spent the early part of the morning sleeping together in Cruz's bedroom in the cottage. It was past noon before they finally woke up and they prepared to leave. Since it was already day, Cruz was discreet about leaving as Jessica didn't want to be spotted by his parents. She believed it was still too early to introduce herself to the family. In another two hours, they arrived at Santa Monica at Jessica's place. Cruz was still feeling sleepy so he immediately went straight to bed. Jessica on the other hand decided to make lunch since they only had snacks on their way. Jessica decided to prepare grilled chicken skewers with sauce but because there weren't enough chicken at home, she had to order them and wait for another 40 minutes before her order arrived. It took her about an hour after she got her order to finally get the food ready and after setting the table she went upstairs to wake Cruz who was still sleeping in her room. Jessica sat on the bed by his side a
Cade bit his lower lip slightly before mouthing a reply. "This isn't about me. It's about Cruz. I think he was sexually abused while growing up." He blurted out. Jessica released a sigh of relief upon hearing what he had to say because it would have been worse if someone was secretly harassing him. She stood up to her feet, turned sideways and covered her eyes with her palm while trying to calm herself from the fear that clouded her mind just moments back. "When my brother left last night, Dave was asked to stay home with me. I had access to his phone for about an hour and while scrolling through his WeCom handle, I happened to go through his conversation with my brother. I traced their conversation back to the night when your nudes were released on the internet and I found these pictures." He explained, showing the pictures to Jessica.Jessica collected his phone and looked through the pictures for a while. It was a picture of Cruz and a few teenagers. Nothing was spectacular abo
Jessica was stunned by their reaction to her statement as they both jumped out of their seats and lay flat on the floor. "Jessica, call 911 NOW!" Cruz ordered while holding firmly to his brother's hand. The two were already burning up, their skin becoming reddish and swollen. The parts they scratched were covered with bruises. Beads of sweat covered their body and breathing was becoming harder for them. Jessica finally grasped the situation. The brothers were allergic to something in her food. As told, she quickly called 911 and while frantically waiting for them, she tried to figure out what first aid to administer to them. She knelt beside them and asked what he could do to help but Cruz's allergy was severe. He could barely catch his breath so talking properly was almost impossible. Jessica quickly searched the internet and the first thing she saw was to make the patient lay flat on their backs which the brothers were already doing. The next was to inject an adrenaline shot