The person walked towards the mother and son. Every step was decisive but the air of nobility never wavered even when the haggard face became clearer as the distance between them became smaller.Ashley remained standing on her spot. She was frozen on the spot. A part of her wanted to turn back while another part of her wanted to rush to him and slap him hard. In the end, Ashley could only hug the child in her arms who was yet to know the presence of the person before them.He stopped a meter in front of Ashley. At the same time, Scottie noticed that they suddenly stopped so he twisted his body around and asked his mother.“Mommy, why did we—Daddy?!” Scottie’s eyes widened. His small body stiffened upon seeing the familiar man who was blocking their way. Doubts flashed in his mind, but he was still a child after all. In an instant, his mind was filled with grievances because his father was later and with happiness because his father did not break the appointment, although late. What ma
The sound of the door closing made Ashley looked back. She met his eyes that once mesmerized her so. She walked to the couch and made herself comfortable as she crossed her legs and said: “Where’s the divorce papers? You brought it, right?”After what happened today, Ashley was more resolute in divorcing him as soon as possible. She saw the deep schemes in Talia’s eyes and the snake-like gleam that flashed across her eyes when she glanced at Scottie. For Ashley, Talia was a ticking time bomb.Bombs should be eliminated as soon as possible.Sitting upright like always, his sharp eyes scrutinized Ashley openly as if he really wanted to see if this divorce farce was only to get his attention or she was really serious. Immediately, Jaxon got his answer.He coughed slightly, his fist covering his mouth as he averted his gaze to hide the emotions that quickly flashed across his eyes for a split second. He did not like this new side of him—the indecisive side that seemed to hesitate divorcin
“Mommy, where’s Dad?” Scottie, who just woke up, rubbed his left eye as he walked towards his mother. He expertly sat beside his mother and curled like a cat against her arm before he used his mother’s lap as pillow.Ashley, who was drinking her coffee, caressed her son’s ruffled fluffy hair with a gently smile on her lips. “He went back to the Capital City last night, little dumpling. Your father still has a big company to manage, you know.”‘He is being a coward again,’ Ashley thought with a scoff.But she could not possibly tell her son these words, seeing how attached he was to his father. Though this realization made her comfortable, she knew that it was bad if her son harbored bad feelings to his father. The arguments of the adults should belong to the world of the adults. As parents, Scottie was their common ground that they could not taint no matter how painful it was. As a mother, she wanted to protect this save place for her son.Scottie was already satisfied when his father
There was a moment in her life in that distant past when Ashley followed Jaxon Elijah secretly to Country M. She did not mind that the place was chaotic. All she had in her stupid brain was the fact that Jaxon came with Talia. She followed them secretly to a casino where she met a disaster that almost killed her. Ashley was lucky enough to escape but she met a wounded unconscious man near a garbage can. She saved him.One night of sheltering him in her hotel room paired with the medicine she bought along the way became a ticket for her to have the connection for the so-called Triad or Black Society. It turned out that he was the leader and he was betrayed by a traitor that time when she saved him.Ashley was given a card that contained his personal contact information, something that many people would scramble for. She used it once for Jaxon’s sake when he was kidnapped by his business enemies. She called the number the second time when Scottie, at the age of thirteen, left him secret
The sales of Rosemary Jewelry Store boomed the next day after the yuletide ball. Online orders also flooded, making Allen hire more personnel for customer service. Just like what Ashley said, even customers from other cities came to their store or flocked their store website for orders.As per Ashley’s instructions, Allen quickly flew to the Capital City and rented a 500 sq meter two-storey store located at the center of the east economic zone where luxurious brands were mostly situated. It had a good customer flow with the target customers concentrated in this area of the Capital City. In just two days, Allen was able to rent a storefront for the first branch of Rosemary Jewelry Store. With the newly injected funds, the construction for the subsequent renovation also began.“I looked for factories for sale in the suburbs but they are not so many which is within our budget. All of them are for lease only and it is renewable per year! Boss, you need to buy a land in the Capital City.”
The moment Ashley saw Jaxon in the Old Man’s manor, she knew that the Old Man knew about the divorce. Her steps did not falter. Dressed in a simple long dress that reached her ankles but showed her slender arms, she walked leisurely to the living room, her eyes fixed on her son who was running towards her with open arms.Immediately, Ashley shoved Jaxon at the back of her mind as soon as she embraced her son’s warm body. Sniffing his soft hair before she carried him for a moment, she exclaimed: “Little dumpling, you will become a little bun sooner or later!”Laughing while poking Scottie’s protruding belly, she walked to the Old Man who was seated on the single grand chair in the living room. She sat at the opposite of Jaxon without pretense and let Scottie sit next to her.“Grandfather…” Ashley placed her home visit gift on the center table before she greeted the Old Man with a smile. Unlike before, she was no longer trembling in front of him. After decades, she had witnessed Old Man
Where was she? This was Ashley’s thoughts as soon as she stepped inside the dining area. Though Talia was not here, Jaxon was absent either. She did not mind but it did not mean Scottie thought so too.“Where’s Dad, Grandpa?” He was smart for his age. He already guessed where his father was but he wanted to hear it from his Grandfather. He could not ask his mother—his little heart feared that she would be sad again. He had seen this situation too many times ever since he could remember.Vulcan, who was seated at the center of the awfully long table, sighed. He glanced at the indifferent Ashley then to the hopeful great-grandson of his. “He was seeing off a guest. Have a seat and we will start when your father comes back.”Scottie sat next to the Old Man which was to his left. The right side was reserved to Jaxon. Ashley was supposed to be seated next to Jaxon, but she turned around and sat next to her son instead. She helped her son settled down his seat even though she could see that
Makeup done, dress checked… Ashley was good to go.She was used to the lights that centered on her as well as the lens of cameras pinned on her every move and reaction.Ashley wore an elegant white tube silk dress that created a noble vibe. It complimented the Imperial Green jade jewelries she wore around her wrists, her hair, and her neck. White and neck gave off such a classic elegant vibe.“Bravo! My friend, who recommended you for this cover is spot on. She was an amazing jadeite stone gambler and you will absolutely love her.” Frederick Lavioski walked to Ashley. There was a hint of expectation and delight in his eyes as he tried hard to tune in his excitement.“Thank you,” said Ashley, “The purple jade jewelry will be next.”“Off you go, Miss Ashley…” Frederick made himself comfortable as he sat next to Allen, th
“Scottie?” Ashley murmured incredulously under her breath. She looked away from the lens for a minute, took a deep breath, and looked into it again—only to see her son clinging for whatever reason to that huge man in black mask.Nexus, who was back and who was holding his binoculars, could not help but frown as well. “Hold on.” He called Wolf in which the latter immediately answered. “What’s going on?”Wolf, who successfully went out of the Cadillac without being noticed by the men in the SUV, was now hiding in a blind angle. He was crouching and looking over what was happening near the kid. Of course, he had seen Scottie’s reaction. But compared to Ashley and Nexus, he had a better view. He saw the look of reluctance in the child’s face.This was something that Wolf first noticed after seeing Scottie clinging to the big masked man’s neck as if he did not
Ashley did not know she missed the feeling of holding this baby until she held it once more. In her last life, it was due to sheer brokenhearted-ness that pushed her to look for something thrilling from Nexus. Then he took her to his basement and introduced her to the other side of him.He generously let her choose any guns. To think he let her take anything inside his basement filled with murder weapons—she even doubted if he had something that could destroy buildings or potentially destroy cities. She did ask him jokingly and he also answered ‘yes’ jokingly. To this day, Ashley did not really know if it was indeed a joke. Probably not.Now, Ashley still circled back. The quick ‘addiction’ she had with this baby, she thought it would remain a beautiful memory for her—something she would keep in her heart but would never be looked back.Oh, how wrong she was!In th
Jaxon never felt this way ever since he was young.Standing twenty meters away from the SUV, he did not wear any bulletproof vests or helmets in which his bodyguards were against to begin with yet they could not do anything about it. Jaxon did not want to set off these criminals since he did not know what they were after for.Was it for money? Was it a revenge scheme from his business rivals?Jaxon did not know.So, he waited. As soon as he received his Grandfather’s call that gave him the go, the city was immediately under martial law.With the help of the young lad provided by Nexus, his team was able to lock down the SUV where his son was taken and kept hostage by these unknown people. From land to the air, the police and the military locked it down.Computing its possible route, his team locked the roads, stopped the flow of traffic, and forced the
The moment the north bridge shut down; half of the city was immediately paralyzed. Traffic jams could be seen every corner of the city. From green to red then from orange to red, everyone was put to a halt as if the city became still as water.Curses from all the people stuck in the traffic intertwined with the symphony of car honks. The sirens from the local police started to spread like wild fire across the city. These traffic police officers mobilized their one hundred percent in order to keep peace and order despite the sudden ruckus.The lower-ranked policemen wondered if something big happened to push the city mayor to leave a very important investment meeting. Was it a terrorist attack? Was it something that involved the dark side of the society? No one in the lower command level knew. They could only follow the chain of command silently.With the way the entire city was mobilized, they still had the common sense
Ashley never thought she would be able to drive like this again—as if she discarded her life.She once learned how to drive as if being chased by the devil. In the last life, Nexus once brought her to his racetrack. The cold wind against her face woke her up from her drunkenness that time and she fell in love with cars almost instantly.Who would have thought that she would be using this skill—the skill that she thought she would never touch in this life—once more?As Ashley maneuvered the car’s steering wheel, she just took from the monitoring room guard, her mind wandered. She remembered how she dashed to the nearest parking lot and saw the tail of the car. One of these two cars was clearly chasing the SUV in the front—it should belong to Wolf.While speeding up, she looked for a cellphone on the dashboard or in the small compartments that she could reach while letting
Nexus was at the rooftop of Orion Hotel when all shit went downhill on Ashley’s side.He was just done with the meeting with all the gang leaders of V City. Nexus changed into simple homely clothes, bought all the things from the nearest shopping mall, and readied everything from the finest detail to the other.He was planning to have a picnic under the starry night with the mother and son. It was not leaning on the romantic way but Nexus wanted to introduce himself formally to Scottie.According to his men working in the weather center of the city, tonight, a phenomenon in which the fog that veiled the city for many years would be swept away by the monsoon near the northern area of the city. With this monsoon, the wind would chase away the fog—even the clouds—giving way for the stars to show off its luster in its once in a blue moon opportunity! After all, a monsoon would not happen every other day.
Ashley closed the door behind her in a very gentle way, too scared to wake up the exhausted child inside the hospital’s VVIP room. Her eyes quickly met Jaxon who was the only one who remained after an exhausting night. Although they were the only ones in the hallway, she could still see the patrolling soldiers, policemen, and their k-nine dogs outside the glass wall of the hallway.Jaxon handed Ashley a warm knitted blanket and a cup of steaming coffee which she took before she sat on the chair right outside her son’s private ward. “Did they answer?”Jaxon was in a dilemma. His team found out from the leader’s phone that his son was photographed secretly during the premiere night. They used this as a lead and found out about an actress named Atasha who had a beef with Ashley. His team focused on this motive and found out about another connection—Talia. The team had Atasha’s manager surrender Atasha’s phone as soon as possible. There, they found more traces of Talia. The same picture w
Flashes of blue and red entered the right-wing entrance of the Peninsula Hotel. Located at the most secluded area of the Peninsula Hotel, this entrance was only used by the VVIP. Mostly, it was used when Jaxon Elijah came to visit V City and he would stay in the hotel for a night rest or a quick nap.No one ever envisioned that the 9-1-1 firetruck along with its paramedics would use this very special entrance this day.Notified by the general manager in advance to open the right-wing entrance, the firetruck and the paramedic car arrived which was immediately welcomed by the two monitoring room security guards.At the same time, at the highest floor of the Peninsula Hotel, Jaxon Elijah just received the news from Harold who also just got the urgent report from the general hotel.Jaxon dropped his pen. Blood drained from his face as he opened the interface that connected him to all of the monitoring of
The premiere night was in full swing.The movie started with all the lights off except the screen in front of them. The bustling cinema quickly became silent as they focused on the movie that was about to start.The entire time, Scottie was seated between Wolf and Ashley. She held her son’s hand the entire time, observing his every reaction the entire time. Ashley watched him got excited especially when she first appeared on screen. She also saw how his expressions kept on changing as the movie progressed.Scottie’s little mouth pouted when he saw his mother crying silently on screen. He showed fear when the police was about to take his mother away. And he showed unprecedented need to destroy everything around him when he watched them hurt his mother in the prison cell.Scottie knew that it was all a drama. But his young mind was influenced by his mother’s amazing acting skills and