JACKSON~•~I wanted to wait for Kimberly so we could all go back to New York today but she suggested I leave first with Amelia. It was the first time I was going to be traveling alone with a child. I couldn’t deny that I was quite scared.However, since Kimberly trusted me to fly alone with Amelia, it meant I had nothing to worry about. Amelia was very excited to go on an airplane anyway.I’d always wondered why my father had a private jet but now that I was to fly with my daughter, I was contemplating buying one as well. Amelia’s suitcase was bigger than expected, which made me wonder how long Kimberly would take to come to New York. According to her, she wanted to wrap up some loose ends. The only thing that gave me hope that she’d eventually relocate was the fact that Amelia was coming with me and she would never abandon her.“Is it okay if I introduce Amelia to Asher? He is staying with me for a while.” I didn’t want to do anything that she wouldn’t be comfortable with. Kimberly
JACKSON~•~I watched as they stared at each other curiously. As expected, Amelia was the first to break the silence. She turned to look at me. “My classmate told me she had a lot of brothers and sisters. Now I finally have a brother. Daddy, can you give me a sister too?”My eyes went wide but she stared at me with such hopeful eyes that I didn’t dare deny her. “I’ll try my best, baby.”Asher, on the other hand, “I don’t want a sister!”Ameli looked at him, her eyes almost popping out. “You don’t want me?” She asked the question with puppy dog eyes, looking so sad that even Asher got the gist that he couldn’t affirm it.“That’s not what I meant. I– You–“I laughed when he stumbled on his words. Even though they were just kids, I was thankful that they didn’t hold any resentment for each other. No child liked to share their parents with someone they had never seen before. I could only hope the world didn’t strip them of their purity.“Asher, why don’t you show Amelia around? When you
KIMBERLY~•~Having Amelia in a different city prompted me to move faster. I only lasted two more days in California before I was packing up my shit to leave. I hadn’t even found an apartment yet. I intended to stay at a hotel while I figured that out.I had thought a break would be nice. I’d been working and taking care of Amelia all year round. I deserved a vacation yet my heart wasn’t at peace, knowing she was a few hours away from me.My house was almost empty as I’d spent the last two days fitting all we had into boxes. I wasn’t moving them with me. I’d ship them to New York after I got settled there.I was just about to leave the house when I got a text from Jackson. He had told his IT guy to track the source of the article before removing it and he told me it was from my office, along with the model of the phone used. All the evidence pointed to Emelda.I contemplated paying her a visit but I didn’t want to run into George again which was why I merely sent a text.I forwarded h
KIMBERLY ~•~ I was surprised that the two men knew each other. I was even more shocked to see them glaring at each other. I cocked my head, looking between the two men. “Do you know each other?” “Yes, we do,” Chris answered me. “We’ve met a lot.” “Have we?” Jack acted oblivious. “You must be a fan. Sorry, I don’t recall you.” However, the glare suggested otherwise. It was obvious Jackson knew how Chris was. He just didn’t like him. Chris laughed, not caring about Jack’s dab. “Well, how would you? You’re too busy running after your ex-wife in California to be aware of your surroundings. What a businessman you are.” Chris paused when all of us remained silent and his eyes went wide as he turned to look at me. “Oh, oh.” He had come to a realization that I was the ex-wife he was speaking out. “This is no shade to you, Kim.” “Kim?” Jackson repeated, unamused. “You’re acquainted?” “We’re quite close if I do say so myself.” Chris bragged even if all I knew about him was his na
KIMBERLY ~•~ Caroline dropped everything she was holding and ran toward me. In all the years we’d known each other, she’d never hugged me nor I, her, but this time we couldn’t help ourselves. She careened toward me and I opened my arms, accepting her hug wholeheartedly. “I’ve been waiting for you for forever, ma’am.” I laughed, hugging her even tighter. “I’m not your boss anymore, Caro. You can call me Kimberly.” “I dare not.” She responded, not bothering to release me from the hug. I allowed her to hug me as long as she wanted. I missed her as well. I would have brought her along with me if I didn’t want to leave every trace of my past behind. I never thought of the possibility that after five years, she would still be working for Jackson. I thought I had inevitably lost all contact with her. After what felt like forever, she finally pulled back. Sparing no restraints, she held my face and turned it from side to side, inspecting me carefully. “Have you been well all th
JACKSON~•~I hated that I knew Paige so well but it was exactly because I knew her that well that I knew she didn’t have any good intentions toward Amelia.She had repeatedly said that Kimberly was lying about her pregnancy in the past and that she knew a pregnant woman when she saw one. She had gotten in my head a lot and I was stupid to believe her.She knew that her only connection to me was Asher. She hated that Kimberly had that same connection to me. She hated Kimberly. Period.“What are you talking about?” She tried to act innocent as though she didn’t have a murderous look in her eyes just a few minutes ago.“I’ve warned you, Paige,” I told her anyway. “If you even go near her, you’ll have me to deal with. Trust me, you don’t want that.”If it wasn’t for Asher, Paige would be in jail by now. She had done a lot of things that would get her in trouble but I overlooked them because none of her shenanigans caused real damage to me or anyone around me. Amelia was a different case
KIMBERLY~•~There was a loud ringing in my ear and my eyes were going blurry, but I forced myself to stay in the present as the taxi zoomed toward Amelia’s new school. I couldn’t believe what Jackson said to me over the phone. I hadn’t processed it yet. I was hoping that when I got to her school, I would see Amelia.I arrived at the school to see that kids were playing as they usually did at the end of any school day. I didn’t even know where to go so I pulled out my phone and called Jackson again. Thankfully, he answered immediately or I might have run mad.“Where are you?”“Principal’s office.”I hung up and went straight there. I didn’t bother to knock. When I went inside, I saw Asher sitting on a bench while Jackson was exchanging words with the principal.Asher ran toward me, wrapping his hands around my waist. “Aunty.” He sniffled. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to lose Amelia. It was my fault.”I took a deep breath and pushed down all the feelings threatening to pour. I couldn’t
KIMBERLY~•~Paige was not taking her calls. She had gone into hiding, which further proved her guilt.Jackson and I visited her house but when we got there, the door had been left open. Her clothes had been thrown around in the room as though she had been in a rush.It frustrated me. Getting to her was the fastest way to find Amelia but she was nowhere to be found. I felt like punching something and her face was number one on the list.“What are we going to do now?” I asked Jackson as we left Paige’s place.“Arthur has informed me that there were only three cars that looked like mine. They are tracking all three of them.”I nodded. I wasn’t going to be relieved until Amelia was back in my arms but that was a start. Jackson didn’t even bother to tell the police. He had his men get the CCTV footage close to the school and we had started from there.“Let’s go back to my place. Asher must have finished drawing by now. From there, we’ll go to the police.”I nodded, letting him take the le
KIMBERLY~•~“Go home, take a bath, eat and rest.” My mother told me when she came to visit me in the hospital. I hadn’t eaten nor showered in twenty-four hours and I couldn’t even feel the effect. I was just too focused on Jackson that I was numb to every other thing happening around me.I shook my head. “I want to be here with him.”“Kimberly.” My mother called out sternly. “You have to be in a good condition to take care of him. He’s in a very fragile state and the smallest germ can hurt him even more.”I paused, considering that angle. She didn’t lie but I doubted I carried that much germs with me. I chewed on my bottom lip and looked at Jackson. He was still unconscious and wasn’t showing any signs of waking up yet. I didn’t want to leave but I guessed I had no choice.Letting out a breath, I stood up and my mother smiled at me. She had called me earlier to go back home and rest but I simply hung up on her which was why she came here personally.I turned to leave but paused. “You
KIMBERLY~•~“What is going on?” Mr. Clarke asked, bringing both our attention to him and his wife.His wife, on the other hand, looked appalled. “How dare you slap my daughter? Her brother is lying in a hospital bed and you dare to slap her??”At that moment, I didn’t give a fuck what they thought about me. Emily wasn’t just a spoiled brat. She was evil and thoughtless. She had gone too far and I would slap her again if I could.I laughed humorlessly. I hated that we were creating a scene right in front of Jackson’s hospital room but there was no helping it. “Go on, Emily. Tell them what you said to me.”Emily stayed quiet, holding her cheek.Since she wasn’t going to speak, I was going to do it for her. Thankfully, there were no passersby to spin a story on the situation. “She said she didn’t know Jackson would drive my car and it was supposed to be me and on that bed.” I spat out bitterly. Even if I didn’t want to explain my actions to her parents, they had to know exactly what the
KIMBERLY~•~Even after surgery, Jackson still didn’t wake up. I was worried as hell and my eyes were red from crying. I knew accidents happened to any and everyone but I never imagined Jackson would be lying down on the hospital bed, unconscious.His surgery was successful. Well, successful in the sense that nothing went wrong during the process and he didn’t die. I stayed with him in the hospital all night, unable to sleep. By the next morning, everyone in New York knew about Jackson’s accident and I was getting so many calls at once.I had already informed his family of the accident and they would be arriving this morning. I had also received a call from Reiya and after answering her call, I put my phone on silent. People called a lot whenever there was bad news and it irritated me a lot.There was a knock on the door and the door opened to reveal the doctor. She smiled warmly at me. “Good morning, Mrs. Clarke. I’m here to check up on the patient. If you could please step out of th
KIMBERLY~•~It had been an hour since Jackson left to go get tampons but he still wasn’t back. By now, the kids were dozing off while I was still up waiting for Jackson.When I called his number several times and he didn’t answer, I started to get worried. I was still on my period though, which was why I went upstairs to search through the closet to see if I had a menstrual cup. I didn’t like using them, but I had no choice.I tucked the kids in and went to the bathroom to do my business. When I was done, I started calling Jackson’s line again and it still wasn’t going.Fuck. We should have exchanged locations after getting back together.I was calling for the seventh time when Jackson finally answered the call. “Jackson! It’s taking a long while just to get tampons. Where are you?”“Is this Mrs. Clarke?” I heard a feminine voice ask and I could feel the hairs on my arms rise. “Yeah, who’s this?”“I’m a nurse at the city hospital.” My heart dropped at those words. “Mr. Clarke was in
JACKSON~•~Despite being six years older than my sister, I grew up with her after all and she hadn’t changed a bit, which was why I could tell that she was raging inside.I had thought that with time she was going to develop a brain and start acting like an adult. I thought she was going to be civil with Kimberly even if she didn’t like her but clearly, I was wishing for too much.I didn’t want a wedge between me and my family but she was too damn insufferable and it was pissing me off.She glared at me hard but I merely arched an eyebrow, waiting for her response. She had already ruined the mood at the beginning and she was making things even worse. I needed to shut her mouth with duct tape or something.My mom laughed awkwardly. “Don’t be rude to your sister, Jackson. She came here to celebrate Thanksgiving with you.”I chuckled humorlessly. This was exactly why she still behaved like a child. My mother was there to pardon her wrongdoings. In fact, she made her feel like she didn’t
KIMBERLY~•~Thanksgiving was my second favorite holiday. There was something about families gathering at a table to eat that made me feel at peace.For the past five years, I wasn’t able to celebrate Thanksgiving as I liked. It was always just me and Amelia. Reiya had to be with her family and George had to be with his, which was why this year excites me to the point that I offered to do the cooking for Thanksgiving. Of course, Caro was going to assist me.It wasn’t just our immediate family. My parents and Jackson’s parents were going to be here. I didn’t like the idea of Emily coming around but after Jackson made his father cut down her allowance, she had been pretty obedient. It was crazy that the only thing that made her behave was the hope of getting her allowance back. It was going to be dinner for nine people and I was more than excited about it.Caro and I spent the whole day cooking. Jackson offered to help but after I yelled at him more than three times for doing something
KIMBERLY~•~ According to Jackson’s sources, George had left New York and Paige was all alone. I wondered if he had truly backed down or if this was another one of their schemes to take me by surprise.Either way, Paige wasn’t going to get out anytime soon and I was going to make sure of that.Now that Paige was helpless and alone behind bars, Jackson was making preparations for my party. I didn’t know anything about planning parties. The only activities I’d ever organized were Amelia’s birthdays and even then, the guests were never more than five.Jackson invited an event planner so I didn’t even have to do anything. I merely answered questions the planner had about my preferences and left the rest up to her.“It’s kinda unfair that we’re starting up a firm together and you’re the only one having a party,” Reiya said as she popped a grape in her mouth.I chuckled. “You’re very much welcome to join.” I shrugged. The party wasn’t my idea in the first place. It was Jackson’s idea and s
GEORGE~•~I fucked up badly.I had told myself I wasn’t petty enough to ruin Kimberly’s career because of my heartbreak yet I was stupid enough to drop all my pending tasks, leave California, and come to New York to make a fool out of myself.I didn’t even know what I was thinking. When I answered Paige’s call at first, I thought her request for me to represent her was audacious. I cared about Amelia and she was asking me to defend her against Amelia, but over time the devil reared its ugly head and I found myself packing up and booking a flight.Kimberly and I might have broken up because she was still in love with her ex-husband, but that wasn’t reason enough for me to betray her like that.As if the betrayal wasn’t enough, I went ahead to set her up, kiss her, and capture it on camera. That was too low, even for me. I didn’t hate Kimberly. Jackson was the one I hated and while I didn’t care about his stupid company, my actions directly impacted Kimberly’s life. I had thought I did
KIMBERLY~•~Surprisingly, the press conference was effective and all the blind supporters of Paige and George started to turn on them. It pleased me more than I cared to admit. I never thought a day would come when I’d be okay with George being blasted by the public but he clearly didn’t give a fuck about me so why should I care about his feelings?While George tried to restore his image, Paige was still silent. It seemed like she didn’t even care about what was going on even if she had more to lose. George could go back to California and try to block New York’s news from getting there. He could go back to being the perfect lawyer.Either way, I saw this as the perfect opportunity to strike.I stood by the door with the cops as we waited for Paige to open the door. Because of Jackson’s influence, the cops allowed me to tag along for Paige’s arrest.When she took too long to open the door, I rang the doorbell again. A few seconds later, I heard slow footsteps and soon, the door was pu