(Winona)
“Why are you here? How did you get in? The door was locked.”
Every aspect of Judy Brennan was perfect. Her thousand-dollar outfit. Her smile. Her trim, athletic shape. But the shiniest apples are sometimes rotten inside. This shiny apple was the most rotten I’d ever known.
“This is Jayden’s house. Of course, I have a key. I have every right to stop by and see if you need help getting your sorry backside as far away from here as possible.”
I’m about to say something back and the urge to vomit hits me. I rush to the bathroom and try to throw up in the washbasin. I’ve had nothing to eat and I just heave and cough until my stomach hurts.
But every day this week I’ve been nauseous, and I can’t eat much. I figured it’s the stress. Now it’s just this horrid woman.
She’s in the bathroom doorway. “Hmph… sick again are you? Ashlyn told me you’d vomited last week when they came by with the divorce papers. She told me you’d been with Jayden not so long ago too.”
Even though she scares the crap out of me, I splash cold water on my face, dry it with a towel and straighten up. “That’s none of Ashlyn’s or your business. He’s a grown man. His sex life is his business. Besides, if he had a commitment with Ashlyn, he wouldn’t have done anything with me. He’s not like that.”
“Well, They’re engaged now. Of course you would use your body to tempt him. That’s how you got him in the first place. I bet you did anything and everything he wanted to keep him,” she sneers.
“He approached me. I would never have met him if he hadn’t pursued it.” I know it’s pointless trying to convince her. “If it wasn’t for him, we’d never have fallen in love.”
Maybe it’s me who needs convincing the way he is now is because of the amnesia. That what we had was real. I might not be able to be with him now but he did love me. He really did. He just can’t remember and neither of us can help that.
“He never really loved you; it was lust. Now he can see what you’re really like. A gold digger. Ashlyn is ladylike enough to wait until they are married. He does have respect like that, you’re right.”
Actually, Jayden and I never had sex for a whole two years because he respected me wanting to wait until I was ready. The night I was ready, prom night, he was ready. It was slow and beautiful and perfect. That night bound our souls together.
I didn’t think anything would ever stop him loving me. “Why can’t you just admit you are wrong. I made him happy. Blind Freddy could see that.”
“That’s your story but I know if you have his first-born, you have his fortune in the palm of your hand. Don’t tell me that wouldn’t be a factor for any woman? He never wanted kids. I don’t know why you’re crying over baby things. This is a fantasy you’ve conned him into.”
“Unlike you, some people aren’t motivated by money or power. We wanted a baby.”
“Your family is trash. Of course you’re motivated by money. You want everything you didn’t get with your family and you tried to use Jayden and Ashlyn to get it. Playing big sister and devoted wife. Ashlyn was always meant to be with Jayden. It was arranged from the day she was born.”
I can’t hide my surprise and disgust at this statement. “Arranged? My God, you’re all stark raving mad. Love is love.” I feel a little sorry for Ashlyn now. Clearly, she’s been groomed to love Jayden. “You cannot dictate what the heart wants.”
“I’m doing okay so far.”
I’m beginning to see I’ve really dodged a bullet here. I can never trust her and I would never leave any child of mine with her. “You are evil. One day, Jayden will see that.” I know I shouldn’t bait her like that but I’m so angry right now.
I swear she will not bring me down. I will succeed despite her.
“I can tell you; your tricks won’t work. Even if you are pregnant now.” Her voice is low and dangerous. “I’ll make sure you are out of his life forever.”
My mind is racing. Pregnant? She thinks I might be pregnant?
The possibility rams into my mind. I am on the pill to try and regulate my period but it’s the low-dosage because my hormones are shot with the other medications. Endometriosis means getting pregnant will be almost impossible without intervention. Almost.
I cannot let her think I think she’s right. “I’m not pregnant. Doctor says it’s a virus, that’s all. I’d hate being pregnant right now. When I have kids it will never be to a grandmother as delusional and controlling as you.”
She steps into the bathroom and into my personal space. “You better not be pregnant. If I find out you are, I will take that baby from you and you’ll never see it again. Your child will learn to hate you as much as my son does now.” Her threat is very real. “Or perhaps I’ll have to tell my grandchild, the mother died in an accident.”
I feel the color drain from my face. I’m not taking any chances.
My heart pounds and I know to take this woman at her word. “I’m not pregnant. Now get out. The storage people will be here soon.” I’m not letting her think she intimidates me for long. “I can’t wait to get away from you all.”
“Don’t think you can fight me. I have police, judges, politicians in my pocket.”
I stand up straighter and pull my shoulders back to pretend I don’t care and that she doesn’t scare me. “Just leave. I need to go, and you’re holding me up.”
She scoffs at me again, but she does leave. I lock the door behind her and put the chain in. I race to the bedroom cupboard. I know I had a test there leftover from before.
I see it in the back corner and grab it. Still in date. My head is spinning and my hands shake as I rip it from the packaging and lock the bathroom door behind me.
Five minutes later I see two blue lines. Oh no. I am pregnant with his baby. But, oh my goodness! I am pregnant against all the odds. Now I know I have to leave here and make a life for myself and my child. I don’t want this baby being raised in such a toxic environment.
I don’t want to risk miscarriage in such a toxic environment.
Stuffing the packaging and the test into my handbag so she can’t find it accidentally after I’m gone. It honestly would not surprise me if she had someone go through the trash.
I put my handbag over my shoulder and picked up my overnight bag. I walk out the door and pull it shut behind me. Any sadness from leaving here has been replaced with survival instinct. I will leave and not ever come back near this place again.
I now have a new priority growing inside me. I have to protect my baby from that monster.
(Winona)This is my second night in the hotel and I’m expecting Lisa to come visit. But I need a shower because I’ve slept half the day, too sad to get out of bed. I had the hotel restaurant make her a cake and stock the mini bar.Although I won’t be drinking alcohol, I’ll mix the drinks and pretend. I fly out tomorrow. I’m not even telling her I’m pregnant. I can’t tell anyone. Not if I want to keep my baby.I need her to believe I’m okay because I can never have her come and visit me. We probably won’t see each other again for a while, unless I am sure Jayden’s mother won’t do anything to the child.It’s my only hope right now. It’s fifteen minutes until she arrives. I text to say the hotel door is unlocked and to come right in, I’m having a shower. I get back a thumbs up.The hot water cascades over me and I rub my hands over my belly. Soon enough I’ll start to show. I need to go where no one knows me or my past and reinvent myself and my story. I could stay here forever but I know
(Winona)Moving to the city I grew up in was a real struggle at first. It’s been three years and slowly each day got better. The tiny life growing inside me made me stronger. This wasn’t just about me.After giving birth to my beautiful girl, I started a little firm as a marketing and financial advisor, putting my education to use. It seemed being able to put forward proposals for successful marketing campaigns is something I’m very excellent at.All of my smaller company campaigns have been going like wildfire. Enough to get the attention of several larger firms. Bigger contracts really turn things around in the corporate world.I guess time does heal all wounds. It’s been the best time of my life since the divorce. Mostly because I’m a mother now and she is the most important thing in the world to me.Would I love being a complete family? Sure. But families come in all shapes and sizes and mine is my daughter and my foster mother who stepped in without hesitation and welcomed me and
(Jayden)It really is her. I saw her picture when my head of digital marketing brought this small firm to my attention. I see him kiss her and anger swells inside me and I get a flash of something. A pain in my head and Winona in a similar suit and me kissing her and wishing her luck for an interview.Then the pain is gone and the only thing I feel now is annoyance. How unprofessional of them. Aren’t they supposed to be business partners? I mean she has every right to move on but for some reason I can’t shake the anger right now.Her eyes are locked onto mine and her face reddens. I push open the door and stride in as if I couldn’t care less. I have a very lucrative contract in my hand and it will get signed today.I place it on the desk. “It’s all in there, you have twenty-four hours to sign. If you don’t sign, there will never be another offer from our company.”I remember the last time I told her to sign papers, three years ago. Divorce papers.She certainly isn’t crying this time
(Jayden)Something about Winona’s picture with her bright, warm smile and her shining, proud eyes triggered something inside of me. I had to see her again. Even if she’d been on the bottom of the list. Also I wasn’t surprised to see her at the top. For some reason I knew she would be the best at what she did.Something deep inside me told me she always was. As soon as I laid eyes on her I was not going to take no for an answer. He kissed and I saw her gently push him away. There’s a feeling inside me even now I don’t understand. Why him touching her should bother me, I don’t know. It doesn’t, it was just the shock of running into her again.I flick up her picture on my screen.Another vision flashes into my head: Winona, her smile was even brighter than the picture on my screen. She’s laughing and I’m spinning her around.A sharp pain hits inside my head. Damn, that hurts so bad. Maybe I should go see the doc. They did say I may have issues, especially if I started remembering. Am I
(Winona)He didn’t do anything but agree with me when I called him to say I wasn’t signing anything until we spoke in private. I’ve almost convinced myself to tell him about Abby. I’m certainly second-guessing why I need to convince him she isn’t his. Maybe it will all be okay.I haven’t heard anything from Ashlyn or his mother since the divorce, so I’m sure they don’t care one way or another now that the wedding is imminent. If they really wanted to find me and cause trouble, they could’ve done it.Jayden seemed a little strange when he came to my office last week. Like he was angry but then also confused. I guess he still sees me as the evil woman that wanted to get between him and his girlfriend. But the Brennans only do business with the best, so I know he can’t just walk away from me because the other business heads will want to know why.Jayden never lets his personal life interfere with his business.The probability that my business could get shut down due to some ancient hist
(Winona)When I got back to the hotel, my daughter greeted me with the most adorable smile and ran up for a hug. “Mommy!”“Hi sweety. Are you having fun?”“Puppy,” she says, holding up her favorite teddy.“Puppy is so cute.”She wriggles and I put her down. Someone rings the doorbell. Must be housekeeping. Abby clings to my leg.When I open the door, I find Ashlyn staring at me angrily. Abby is quite shy, so she runs off to probably go find Anne. Thank goodness, Ashlyn wouldn’t have gotten a good look at her face. I step outside and shut the door behind me.“Why are you here? Did you follow me?” I say and watch her eyebrows raise as she has seen a child and she must guess I’m now a mother.She pushes up closer. She is shaking, with anger or nervousness, I don’t know. But she is definitely upset. “You told me you weren’t pregnant.”“And I wasn’t. But I met a man and we went into business together and then started dating. Abby is the result of that. Not that it’s any of your business.
(Winona)It’s the day of the party. Boy, the week just flew past. I don’t think I’ve ever worked that hard, but I achieved what I wanted. I also didn’t have to lock horns with Jayden much and I never saw Ashlyn or his mother Judy in that time. All in all, it’s been a good week and the past hasn’t come back to haunt me as much as I thought it would. Maybe this will all be fine, after all. But then there’s Abby that no one knows about except Ashlyn, and she can’t have told Judy or Jayden yet as they would be all over me about it. I wonder why? I can’t keep her a secret for much longer and I still haven’t been able to talk to Phillip about the solution.To be honest there is no permanent solution once they all see her because she looks like her father so much and short of dying her hair and using colored contact lenses, the truth will come out eventually. If I can just determine when that will be it will help keep Abby out of any drama.Ideally, I’d like for Jayden to remember somethi
(Winona)I turn around. My heart is pounding and I’m trying to concentrate on keeping my breathing even. It’s unbelievable that I’m even here, about to be civil to these two. I’d never have thought it possible two weeks ago.I steel myself, paste a smile on my face and turn.Jayden is standing there smiling and he looks amazing in his tuxedo with Ashlyn by his side. They look perfect together, just like Jayden and I had looked perfect together at our senior prom. The night we’d finally made love for the first time.He was older now but no less sexy. Definitely more sexy than ever. Not that I had any right or need to notice. But deep inside, the sight of him still affected me like he always had. We should be a happy family right now instead of this absolute mess. But I can’t dwell on that fact. I smile at Ashlyn, clinging to Jayden’s arm.She’s wearing an off-the-shoulder red dress that hugs her super-slim body tightly. I wore that exact same style and shade to senior prom. She’d helpe
Readers, I’ve been back through all your comments and it really touches me that so many of you cared about these characters. I want to send a very special shout out to mitzi.goodson and Theresa for your active love of the story all the way and for commenting regularly. I love you guys and I love all the readers #hearteyes# Also I have discovered a mistake in the upload of Chapter 553. Only half the chapter seems to have been uploaded and I have now fixed that. I know you’re asking about if you’ll see these characters again…right now, I’m letting them rest but I hope to update you on them in the future. Right now I’m focusing on my new stories which I know you’ll also love.In the next one, After waking from a 5 month coma, Ava Lancaster watches her beloved daughter die. Ex-husband Zach Lorne, allowed the mother of his first child, cunning Sienna Sinclair to use little Lila as a medical pawn. Consumed by grief, Ava sets their mansion ablaze—clutching Lila’s body while Zach pleads outs
(Winona)Lisa sits on the couch between me and Jayden, her fingers curled around the USB stick.“You don’t have to,” I remind her gently.“I know,” she replies. “But I want to. I can’t move forward if I don’t hear him out.” She hands the drive to Jayden.Jayden leans forward and plugs the drive in. The screen flickers.And then there he is.Lance. Black eye blooming from Jayden’s attack over hall pass week, bruised knuckles, the same crooked grin he always wore.“Lisa,” he says, “I’m so sorry. I wish this could have been different.”I glance at her. She flinches but doesn’t look away.He shakes his head. “No big poetic intro. No music. No tragic montage. Just me.”His smile cracks slightly.“First, I want to say this isn’t your fault. You didn’t fail me. You didn’t love me wrong. In fact, you’re probably the only person who ever loved me right.”Lisa’s breath hitches beside me.“I wasn’t built for longevity, Lisa. You knew that. Hell, I practically had an exit sign blinking over my he
(Winona)Viktor stands with his hands by his side while Jayden finishes up his announcement.I watch on, proud of them both. Not only staunch in business but as friends.“I’ll still be involved on a higher level, but day-to-day, Viktor’s your guy,” Jayden says, firm and confident. “Effective immediately, he’s the new CEO of Nexus Global.”There’s a brief pause before the quiet, respectful claps ripple through the room.Viktor just nods. “Thank you,” he says. No long speech. No dramatic reaction. Just two words. Classic Viktor.Jayden glances my way and walks over.“Proud of him,” I say quietly. “And of you.”“He’s ready,” Jayden replies. “Hell, he’s been ready for a while now. He taught me almost everything I know about Nexus Global.”Viktor lingers by the window, posture steady. Astrid steps up beside him, saying something low. He replies with a brief nod and the smallest of smirks.Jayden leans into me and murmurs, “did you see that?”I arch an eyebrow. “The nod or the smirk?”“Both
(Winona)I see the moment his eyes catch mine in the window behind Astrid. He blinks like he’s seeing a ghost. Too late. I’m already across the restaurant floor, my heels pounding each step out in deliberate warning, the sound sharp against the quiet hum of late-night conversations. Heads turn. I don’t care.His face shifts from confusion to panic as I advance—his mouth parting slightly, eyes darting to Astrid like he’s trying to figure out if he’s imagining this. He’s not. I’m here. I saw everything.I saw the kiss. I saw the closeness after. The lingering smiles, the laughter, and the way Astrid’s hand stayed on his like they were sharing secrets. Like she belongs to him. You don’t need sound to understand body language.That kiss wasn’t an accident. It wasn’t a friendly peck on the cheek. It was enough for me to wonder if they’ve been playing me for a fool for weeks. Maybe months.Jayden stands just as I reach the table, knocking his chair back in a clumsy scrape. Astrid rema
(Jayden)Astrid raises her glass, the candlelight catching the rim. “To surviving another quarter without firing anyone major.”“To the rest of us surviving the grueling schedule of the Ice Queen herself.”“You did okay.”“Just okay?”“Better than okay. You have quite the work drive, Jayden. Gus was right to leave Nexus in your hands.”“Not one of you thought that at first. You all hated me. Especially Hugo. I think he still might, actually.”“Oh, you are not so bad, after all.”We clink glasses. The wine’s sharp, dry—like her. The restaurant is dim, ambient, tucked just off the canal. Astrid insisted it was the best late-night spot in Brussels. So far, I can’t argue.The food was incredible, the service seamless, and the company? Easy. A little too easy.This dinner has gone longer than I expected. I expected an answer from Winona to my text. But it hasn’t come. The conversation just flowed so effortlessly tonight.No drama. No awkward silences. No carefully chosen words. Astrid, wh
(Winona)It’s nearly 1 a.m. when I step off the jet into the crisp Brussels air. I haven’t slept. I haven’t eaten properly. My thoughts have been chewing on each other for nine hours straight.I hear my phone notification, but I see Cass and I’m so damn happy. She’s about to launch the rest of her life and I’m excited for her.“It’s so good to see you.” I say as I run towards her and give her a hug.“You look like hell,” she says as she grins and hugs me back.“Oh, thanks for the compliment. You look like death yourself.”“Just finished a12 hour shift, what’s your excuse?”We walk out to the private parking area. Having a private jet is so convenient.“I can only blame stress and paranoia,” I tell her as we put my case in the back seat and get into her car.“Paranoia?”“Yes, about where Jayden and I stand in out marriage lately. I’m not sure I’m what makes him happy. All we do is fight, it seems.”“Okay… ah, so me telling him you’d have been better off never meeting him probably didn’
(Jayden)It’s nearly ten. The office is quiet, except for the soft hum of fluorescent lights above the boardroom. Astrid and I have been going through projections for Q3. Numbers, strategies, deadlines. All things that used to matter more than they do right now. My family call is bothering me. It’s not that Winona had a sudden business trip, that’s expected, it’s just the way we interact lately. Going through the motions. Not speaking up on how we feel in case it triggers an argument. I’m as much to blame.“You missed an adjustment here,” she says, tapping the edge of my laptop.“I didn’t miss it,” I say, not looking up. “I just didn’t apply it yet.”She raises an eyebrow. She knows I’m distracted. I’ve worked with her long enough to recognize the look that says I’m full of shit.“You want my input or just someone to nod along while you pretend to work?” she asks.I lean back in my chair. “You always cut right through it, don’t you?”“Of course.”She’s right. She doesn’t have patie
(Winona)The family call starts like any other.Except this time, I’ve told the kids I’ll be away and lied about where I’m going.Now I have to convince Jayden it’s an unexpected business trip.Bobby’s got a stack of papers next to him, pretending he’s not glancing at them while he listens to Jayden. He’s been working on some design options for the school vegetable garden.He’s become quietly obsessed with getting it right.Sarah is asking about when she can next visit the Nexus office again. Abby’s wearing one of Henry’s bibs and announcing herself as the ‘baby boss’ while trying to feed Henry a cracker he doesn’t want.Henry is slamming his hands on the table, shrieking with defiance, and Kit is doing her best to keep the screen steady while holding him.Chaos. Beautiful, familiar chaos. Welcome to the Brennan zoo.Jayden is calm, smiling, fully engaged. He’s asking Bobby about his team at school, praising his leadership skills. He tells Sarah he misses her drawings and promises to
(Winona)Phillip is at his desk when I walk in, finishing up a call. He looks up and gives me a half smile, casual but watchful.I cross the room but remain standing. “I won’t keep you long. I just… I wanted to let you know I’m stepping down in an active capacity from Vault. Effective immediately.”Phillip’s face shifts from polite curiosity to astonishment. “Wait—stepping down how?”I nod. “I’ll remain the owner. But I’m not going to be overseeing day-to-day management or strategic decisions anymore. I’m handing all of that to you. If you want it. CEO, President, call it what you will—I’m out.”He studies me carefully. “That’s… a big move, Winona. You’ve always been a control fre… ahh, hands-on.”I give him a quick grin. “Nice save.”“I’m talented, what can I say? But you being hands-off, I’m not sure that’s even possible.”“I’ve realized I can’t keep devoting so much energy to business. My family needs me. My kids need me.”“Is this what Jayden asked you to do?” “No. He’s been exc