“Gavin, why are you here?” Lisa said, her tone laced with displeasure. “Little cousin, why can’t I be here?” Gavin asked Lisa, his voice dripping with a mocking innocence. His eyes darted back to Jane as he said; “I was out of town during my dear cousin Leonard's engagement, so I promised myself not to miss the rehearsal dinner that’s why I’m here.” From Lisa’s words, the Lockwood family of four finally knew the identity of Gavin, who came uninvited. It also seems like his relationship with Lisa was not that good. “But no one invited you here, Gavin. I remembered Grandpa warning you not to ever come to any important gathering we are having after what you did last time. Stop being an asshole.” Lisa rolled her eyes at him, disgust written all over her face. Gavin's smiling face was immediately replaced in anger. He didn’t like the way Lisa was talking to him. He doesn’t want Jane to know about his bad record with his family. Gavin took a deep breath, his smile returning, but a
Everyone's gaze shifted towards the speaker. Jane saw that the woman was sitting beside a man who slightly looked like Reginald, Leonard’s father. She guessed she was the man’s wife, and the man was likely to be Leonard’s uncle, the first son of Grandpa Edward. “Dad, Mom, you guys are here,” Gavin exclaimed as he walked towards his mother, giving her a peck on her right cheek. Gavin’s words answered Jane’s thought. The annoying woman was Gavin’s mom. She didn’t see her and her husband on the day of her engagement “Enough Helen. You don’t have the right to scold Leonard’s fiancée in public. We aren’t the only ones here.” Henry, Gavin’s father's eyes scanned the private room. All attention was on him and his family. He was someone who didn’t like being in the limelight, but his wife would always make him feel embarrassed. Trying to clear the awkward moment, Henry stood up from his chair, his hand stretched forward. “Hi Jane, I’m Leonard’s uncle, Dr. Henry. I’m sorry for missing yo
As Jane walked to the washroom, the soft rustle of her dress echoed off the hallway. She glanced over her shoulder as she had this feeling that someone was trailing her, but couldn’t find anyone. She was the only one in the hallway. “I must be imagining things.” She whispered to herself, shaking her head as she entered the washroom.Meanwhile,in the private dining room where the rehearsal dinner is going on, Ivy’s eyes locked on Jane’s figure through the window. A sly smile spread across her face as she stood up, her chair scraping against the floor. “Grandpa, I would be right back. I want to go and touch up my makeup.” Ivy said coyly, trying to sound as sweet as possible.Grandpa Edward's gaze lingered on her for a moment before he nodded. “You this child,” Grandpa Edward said dotingly. “Why are you telling me this? Just go and do your thing.” He waved his hand, shooing her away.“Thanks Grandpa.” Ivy pecked Grandpa Edward cheek, just like she always does when she was a child, before
On the big projector screen, a compromising photo of her with the mysterious man was displayed for everyone to see.“What an insolent. What’s the meaning of all this? Is this who your daughter is Jason?” Grandfather Edward shouted, his eyes brewing with anger.“Tch, didn’t I tell you to have a rethink for such a woman Dad?” Helen said, gloating at Jane’s misfortune. “Who knew how many men she had out there? This might just be one of them. What a shameless wretch.” Helen spat, her eyes filled with disgust towards Jane, who was standing in the doorway.Lucy, who was also shocked about the pictures that were on display, was the first to speak up for Jane. “Madam Helen, I would advise you to mind your language. This might just be a misunderstanding. Who knew this might be a setup from a malicious person who is jealous of Jane?” Lina said feeling sorry for Jane. She trusted Jane won’t do such a thing. Her eyes couldn’t help snapping towards Ivy, who was sitting in a relaxed manner, her li
“What is impossible Ivy? Why are you panicking when you are not the one in the video?” Grandpa Walton asked in confusion. He trusted Ivy so much that he didn’t imagine she had anything to do with the earlier photos.“Turn it off, just turn it off,” Ivy was about to go crazy as the video continued. If it wasn’t turned off, her secret would be exposed. She doesn’t want to lose face in front of so many people.She swiftly moved toward the area where the projector was, but she was unable to find what she was searching for. All she heard was the gasp of the people in the room, as the video displayed where she took Jane’s pictures and left with a smudged look. Lucy, who was boiling with rage, couldn't take it anymore. She hurried towards Ivy and held her by her shoulder-length hair. “You b*tch, just like I suspected. You are the one behind all this. What a shameless person you are.” Lucy dragged Ivy with her hair all over the room, making her scream her lungs out in pain.Everyone was shoc
A few minutes later, Grandpa Edward's heartbeat returned to normal, and the pain was no longer as excruciating as before, after taking his medication. Ivy, who is still upset, argues with Grandpa Edward immediately his condition gets better, not minding his health. “Grandpa, I didn’t do anything wrong. You can’t just send me out of the house because of an outsider.” Ivy said, her eyes red-rimmed from shedding some tears. “Since you know that, apologize to Jane immediately. And I don’t ever want to hear you call Jane an outsider. She is family.” Grandpa Edward said, his face slightly pale, but his words were firm. “Fine, since you are not supporting me anymore, I will leave.” Ivy’s face contorted in anger as she said this. “Had you not promised me when I was young that Leonard was mine, I wouldn’t be so obsessed with him till now. I hate you, Grandpa!” Ivy exclaimed and stormed out of the room, her face filled with tears. Gavin followed behind her, not caring what others might s
New York 10:00pm “Ouch,” Jane, who stood in front of the vanity in her room, winced in pain. Her eyes welled up in tears as she dabbed cotton swabs on her swollen cheek. She bit her lips to hold back her whimper. Her hand trembled slightly as she hissed through gritted teeth as the swab made contact with her tender cheek skin. The warm glow of the table lamp on her vanity cast a warm glow on her soft and delicate body. As she studied her reflection in the mirror, she noticed the faint bruise that had formed on her tender cheek skin. Her thought couldn’t help drifting back to Helen’s ruthless slap, as her mind replayed the scene continuously. A spark of anger ignited within her as she felt the surge of revenge brewing in her heart. She was done with letting others bully her. From today onwards, she was done with being a victim of bullying. Just then, her phone rang, it’s loud ringtone shattering the peaceful silence in the room, interrupting her thought. Jane couldn’t help feeli
“Is everything alright?” Jane asked worriedly as she saw Leonard's frowning face. Leonard let out a deep sigh as he heard Jane’s worried voice. Taking his gaze back to the beautiful woman on the screen, his frown immediately vanished as he smiled lovingly at Jane, whose despite her bruised cheek, her beauty still shone through. Leonard’s heart couldn’t help swelling with affection. “Everything is okay. I just don’t like getting my attention divided whenever I’m with you.” Leonard whined, surprising assistant Rachel, whose face was filled with her professional smile as she entered. She would never have thought that in her life, she would be able to see her cold and ruthless boss whining like a baby. She couldn’t help giving Jane a thumbs-up for securing the devil’s heart. Though they haven’t met themselves yet, her respect for Jane was getting higher and higher everyday. Jane’s green jade eyes couldn’t help sparkling with amusement, hearing the sweet words Leonard said. She could
Teddy groans in pain as Leonard continues hitting him. He wanted to push him away and retaliate, but Leonard didn’t give him the chance.Jane rushed out of the car immediately after she got back her strength. She circled the car and ran towards Leonard. Although she enjoyed how Leonard was teaching Teddy a lesson, she couldn’t stand and watch Leonard kill someone.“Leonard, that’s enough!” Jane yelled at the top of her voice, but it seems like Leonard didn’t hear her at all. He continued his assault on Teddy, whose face was already swollen, with blood trickling down the corner of his mouth.As Jane saw that Leonard wasn’t ready to listen to her, she stepped forward and held his fist which was raised in the air to punch Teddy. “Leonard, that’s okay. You can’t continue hitting him like that.” Jane shook her head at Leonard when she realised that she had his attention. Leonard shut his eyes, trying to control the anger that was still brewing inside of him.“Are you feeling sorry for him
On the highway.“Hmm,” Jane squinted her eyes as she moaned in pain due to how uncomfortable she was feeling. She didn’t know where she was as her brain was yet to register what’s going on.“Dear ex-wife, you are awake.” Teddy voices out behind the wheels immediately he hears Jane’s painful moan. It was then it dawned on Jane that she had been kidnapped. She didn’t know what happened to her earlier that made her lose consciousness. She also noticed that she was in a moving car. She was resting her back on the car backrest with her hands tied behind her.The first thing she did was to check her surroundings. She noticed the car was going downtown, almost making its way out of Manhattan.“Teddy, where the hell are you taking me?” Jane said calmly, not wanting to give her abductor the impression of being scared. She prayed in her mind that someone should have notice her disappearance by now. She regretted why she didn’t call Leonard earlier and inform him about Teddy, who mysteriously b
Lily was the first to notice Jane’s disappearance. The moment she walk out of the company, her gaze subconsciously went to the parking lot, where she saw Jane’s waterproof laptop bag she had helped her pack earlier, lying on the floor without Jane’s presence.She looked around, but she couldn’t find Jane. Her mind went abuzz, dreading the worst thing that might have happened to her boss. “Mrs. Bank? Jane! Where are you?” Lily's voice echoed all over the parking lot, but there was no sign of Jane. It was like she had disappeared from the surface of the earth. Just when she was about to pull out her phone to inform Leonard what just happened, James pulled over in front of her.“Where is Mrs. Bank? Is she still inside?” James asked as he walked up to Lily, whose body was shaking with dread. “I don’t know where she is. She was waiting for you as always. I just went inside to get something, but I couldn't find her. I only saw this bag laying on the floor. I think she might have been kid
“Jane, are you alright?” Lily asked immediately after she closed Jane’s office door behind them. She had felt how Jane’s mood had fluctuated the moment the new business partner was introduced. Jane had left the conference room immediately after the meeting ended.Jane walked to her desk in a daze. How she had made it back to her office, she can’t say. She was still in shock after seeing that person. According to her brother, he would become a partner with their company, not only that, Jane would also be attending any of their business dealings.“Jane?” Lily had never seen Jane so lost before. She had called her name thrice after she sat down, but it seems like Jane was in her own world. She didn’t seem to hear her.“What’s wrong with you, Jane? Are you sure you are okay?” Lily was worried about her boss. She felt helpless for not being able to know what was wrong with Jane. With all Lily’s questions, Jane didn’t seem to hear her.“I think I would have to call Mr. Bank and tell me wha
A month later.“Jane, it’s almost time for the annual meeting.” Lily, who was carrying some files in her arms, walked into Jane’s office, closing the door behind her.Jane raised her head up from her laptop for a brief second to glance at Lily, before continuing what she was doing. She saw that she still had almost twenty minutes before the meeting started.“I’m almost done with balancing this account. Let me round up, and we are good to go.” Jane’s fingers ran across the keyboard of her laptop with a fast pace, which was almost invisible to the eyes.Lily walked forward and dropped the files in her arms on Jane’s table, watching her boss with admiration. Jane could feel lily’s hot gaze on her body without even raising her head.“Did you have something to say?” Jane didn’t stop what she was doing as she questioned Lily. For the past few weeks she had been working with Lily, she found her to be a sweet girl. It was almost like the shaky and timid girl she met the first day she resumed
As Jane stepped out of the elevator with Lily trailing behind her, someone called onto her.“Jane!” Hurried footsteps sounded behind her. As she turned around, she was greeted with the smiling face of her brother, Desmond.“Hey brother, how are you?” Jane greeted Desmond, who was studying her. Jane signaled for Lily to leave. She was only there to direct her to the conference room since it was her first time being here.“I’m good, Jane. I don’t need to ask how you are doing. It seems like my brother-in-law took very good care of you during your honeymoon. Look at how your skin is glowing.” Desmond teased, making Jane blush.“Desmond, stop teasing me. Are you also going for the meeting.” Desmond nodded. “Let’s go, or else we will be late.” Jane said with concern. She doesn’t want to be late for her first meeting.“Alright. Let’s go.” Desmond led the way, while Jane followed behind him. A minute later, they were standing in front of a room that had the tag ‘CONFERENCE ROOM’ boldly writt
“Have we met before?” That was the question Jane asked the moment she saw her assistant's face clearly.Lily finally had the courage to look into Jane’s eyes. Shaking her head, she denied ever meeting Jane before. “No, Mrs. Bank, we have never met before.”Jane threw her thought to the back of her mind, not dwelling on whether she had met her assistant before or not. “What’s the matter with you? Is someone bullying you in the office? Or did I look scary?” Jane asked, not understanding why her assistant wouldn’t even look at her in the face.“No…, no Mrs Bank, no one is bullying me.” Lily stammered as she waved her hands. Looking at the way Lily immediately denied her claims, Jane figured out that her guest might be right. Jane doesn’t know why she felt the urge to protect her assistant. Maybe it was because she saw her past self in her.“Come here.” Jane commanded. Lily rushed forward and stood in front of Jane’s desk. “You don’t need to hide anything from me. You and I will be workin
Two weeks later.A flashy red car pulled in front of the Lockwood Cooperation. The back seat door was immediately opened after the driver rushed forward.“We are here, Mrs. Bank.” James informed Jane the moment he opened the car.A pair of legs clad in black heels stepped out of the car, before Jane’s full body stood tall outside the car, her green eyes covered with her dark sunglasses. Jane was putting on a white pants trouser, with a powdered blue blouse. Her black bag which was one of the gifts Leonard had showered her with during their honeymoon, complimented her heels and sunglasses.“Wow, who is that woman? Is she one of the representatives of the Smith’s Group? She is so beautiful.”“I think she looks familiar. Is she some known celebrity?”As the employees of the Lockwood corporation were making their way inside the building, they couldn’t help stopping for a few seconds to admire Jane, while some of them felt like she looked familiar. With the uproar Jane and Leonard's weddin
Leonard woke up to the bright sunlight seeping through the floor to ceiling window into the room. He squinted his eyes slightly before his vision finally got used to the brightness.Turning to his side, he was greeted by the sight of Jane, who was snuggled on his chest. Her soft breath tickled his naked chest. Her lips were slightly opened as her chest rose and fell to the rhythm of her breathing.Leonard took in Jane’s beautiful features like he couldn’t get enough of her. “Good morning, sunshine!” Leonard whispered into her ear, before moving closer to her as he placed an adoring kiss on her forehead.“Good morning, Hubby. How was your night?” Jane's eyes flew open the moment Leonard's lips left her forehead. She gave him a small smile as her big green eyes stared at him lovingly.Leonard's lips curled up as he returned her smile, before his hand wrapped freely on her waist, drawing her closer to himself. Jane’s eyes were smiling as she watched Leonard, whose head immediately bent