JACKSON~•~Paige hired the wrong men for the job. When we arrived at the house, all three of them were just sitting on the couch, watching TV. It seemed as if they hadn’t even seen the news or they would have fled by now.I was the first to enter and they were on alert immediately. “Who are you?” One of the fools asked.I didn’t answer. I just signaled the cops and soon, five cops were inside with me, guns drawn, and pointed at the three men on the couch.“Hands behind your heads.” One of the cops commanded while I started looking through the apartment.It was a small one and the first door I opened, which was the bedroom, revealed my daughter. It had been locked from the outside.She was sitting on the ground, leaning against the wall and hugging herself. “Kimberly!” At the sound of my voice, Amelia’s head snapped to me. “Daddy!” She stood up at once but before she could run, she fell to the ground. I rushed toward her immediately and picked her up.Kimberly rushed inside the roo
KIMBERLY~•~Twenty-four hours later my parents hadn’t stopped calling me yet. After Reiya came over the previous day, I called George back and after I assured him that Amelia was fine, he hung up.I tried to call him after that but his number wasn’t going through. He had blocked me again.That was what I should have done to my parents but I just couldn’t bring myself to block them or change my number, no matter how much I tried. I hated it.I knew that if they ever tried to apologize to me, I would run back to them. No matter how grown I was, I still craved the approval of my parents. It was almost pathetic.Not to anyone’s surprise, my phone rang again.Reiya pursed her lips. She had a lot to say but she was keeping it to herself. I was still sensitive from the whole Amelia situation and she didn’t want to annoy me or get me mad.“Mommy, your phone keeps ringing,” Amelia stated the obvious. The least I could do was keep it silent but I couldn’t. The ringing reminded me how much my p
JACKSON~•~I would think that being thirty-four already would save me from scoldings, but it seemed like my father didn’t give a damn if I was five or fifty. He was going to scold me anyway.“What is this I’m hearing about a child, Jackson?” My father asked, his eyes narrowed on me.I had finally taken his calls and was sitting across from him in his home office.“And why am I just hearing about it now?” He fired another question before I could answer the first one. “Do you know what the media is saying about both of you right now? Our stocks are reducing! What do you have to say about that?”I pinched the bridge of my nose. I had promised my father that I would take care of the company properly but somehow my personal affairs were affecting the company. I couldn’t help it.“Why did you even have to announce to the public you had a child with your ex-wife? Couldn’t you have taken care of this quietly?”“My daughter’s life was at stake, father,” I emphasized, finally answering him. “W
KIMBERLY~•~I was absolutely taken by surprise when I stepped out of the lobby of the hotel and was suddenly surrounded by cameras and reporters.I couldn’t even turn back because I was caught in between all of them. I hissed in annoyance. This could have been avoided if I moved to my apartment as scheduled. “Is it true that you’re a single mother?”“Did Jackson abandon you for another woman?”“Is Jackson Clarke the father of the baby?”“Did you cheat on him?”“Did he leave you because of your infidelity?”“Who is the father of your child?”I gritted my teeth as I pushed through the crowd, not caring if they hit each other or not. If I had known they were outside, I never would have come out. How the hell did they find my hotel anyway? These people were crazy.I’d done my best to ignore all the weird and disrespectful articles they published about me. As long as it wasn’t affecting me, I didn’t see any reason to react to it. Stalking me, however, was a different story. If I had know
JACKSON~•~“I have a suggestion, but I feel like you’re going to punch me for it.”Kimberly eyed me warily. She knew she wouldn’t like what I’d say but her curiosity got the better of her. “What is that?” I shifted away from her, sitting at the far end of the couch so there would be enough space between us. She chuckled. “Just spit it out already.”“I know you’ve seen all the articles and every other thing the news outlet is saying concerning us.”“I have…” she said hesitantly like she was scared to hear what I had to say after she knew the topic of conversation.“Amelia will be enrolled in a new school soon.” I didn’t know if attending three different schools in the space of two months was going to traumatize our daughter but I sincerely hoped not. Kimberly was considering homeschooling but then, she thought of how much Amelia loved school so we had to start searching for a new school with very tight security.We finally found one. It was a lot more expensive than the last one but i
KIMBERLY~•~Jackson thought a good way to show the public that we were together was to follow him to a charity gala.Those were my worst types of events. It was just a farce. It was a bunch of rich people pretending they had humanity. It was filled with fake ass people who would love to see you crumble but would worship the ground you walked on as long as you were on a higher level than them.How could I ever say no to that?Well, I did say no but Jackson ended up convincing me and now, we were in front of the hall where the event was being hosted.We were still in the limousine and the reporters were eagerly staring at it, wondering who was coming out.“Can I go out now?” Jackson questioned, staring at me.I’d told him to give me a minute before he went out and I was hoping that minute would stretch into two or three. Jackson was unnecessarily punctual. “Fine.”“Don’t worry, it’ll be alright. You don’t have to talk to anyone you don’t want to.”“I don’t intend to.” I scoffed.Jackso
KIMBERLY~•~It was weird to think that Chris lied to me. I only met him once he acted like he only recognized me when he saw me with Jackson.What exactly was he up to? What was his deal? What would he gain from pretending he didn’t know who I was?A lot of people in New York knew me as long as they knew Jackson. Whether I liked it or not, I was automatically an extension of him. If Chris was Jackson’s rival as claimed, then he definitely knew me. Business rivals tried their best to find out everything about each other and news about me and Jackson were plastered everywhere on the internet. He didn’t even have to dig deep.“So what? I’m not supposed to talk to him because he’s your rival? Even you have to talk to him.” I pointed out.I didn’t like being caught in between petty beef. Maybe this one wasn’t so petty but I didn’t want to be in the middle anyway. The more Jackson reacted whenever Chris came close to me, the more Chris would do it just to mess with Jack.“I don’t want you
JACKSON~•~I was on cloud nine and it had nothing to do with being listed as the fifth richest man in their thirties.No, I was happy because of Kimberly.She had more or less opened up to me.The fact that she allowed me to kiss her meant I had broken down her walls, whether she’d admit it or not. I was one step closer to being with her again.She might dismiss it with the excuse that it was part of our act but I knew better than that. Kimberly wouldn’t let me kiss her in public just to prove a point. She’d allow me to hold her hand or her waist. The most I could do was a peck on the cheek. Any other than that, she might just crash out, so for her to let me kiss her when everyone was watching meant more to me than she imagined.After I was done with my speech, I went back to my table and the organizer called out a band to perform while the silent auction began.There was a silly smile on my face as I strode back to my table. I pulled out my chair and sat next to Kimberly, still smil
JACKSON~•~I’d never been a patient man but there was a different degree of impatience running through my veins as Jeffrey drove us to the hospital the sick man was currently at. I’d managed to push it to the back of my mind during breakfast but as soon as the meal was over and Jeffrey knocked on my door, I dipped. I didn’t even have enough time to say bye to my family. Amelia was probably going to rant about how much I didn’t care about her but I could handle that later.Thankfully, the hospital wasn’t very far from my house.When we arrived, I didn’t wait for Jeffrey to properly park before I got out of the car and headed straight for the entrance. I just wanted to get my answers. I wanted to meet the bedridden, cancer-driven man that was trending online.The nurses at the reception noticed me immediately but I didn’t bother to stop even when I saw them secretly bringing out their phones to record me. Jeffrey had found out the ward he was staying in so I went there straight up.I d
JACKSON~•~I had work rivals. There were a lot of companies secretly competing with mine but I didn’t know anyone who would want to go the extra mile to sabotage me like this.Our products have been in use for years. It had been tested and verified and there had been no complaints about our skincare section so the fact that someone out there was claiming that it caused them cancer was saucy.Even worse, a news outlet quickly followed up with the information not bothering to verify its validity. They were playing with fire; the news outlet, the supposed dying man, and the other behind it.If they wanted to bring me down, they should at least use facts, they shouldn’t make up stuff that could be easily disproved.It was the first day of the new year and I was getting calls from everywhere. Almost every shareholder was trying to reach me at the same time. My father had told me to take care of it as soon as possible but how could I work effectively when everyone was blowing up my phone?
KIMBERLY~•~My mom didn’t want me to tell anyone, but Jackson wasn’t just anyone, was he? He was my husband and naturally, I was supposed to tell him about everything going on in my life.He pushed off the wall and approached me. “Cancer?” He asked again when I didn’t say anything, which made me wonder how long he had been listening in on me.“You were eavesdropping?” I accused.He shrugged, not feeling bad in the slightest. “If I didn’t, how would I know that your mom was sick and she’s taking it out on you?” Jackson questioned. “I thought we had agreed to trust each other?”“We did. I do trust you, Jackson.”He sat at the edge of the bed, close to me. “Then why can’t you still tell me anything? I’m your husband, baby. I’m supposed to share your worries.”I sighed. “It’s not like that at all. It’s just jot my secret to tell.”“But it’s your burden.”He was right. It was bothering me and I’d feel bad if he couldn’t open up to me about his burdens as well. “You’re right. I’m sorry. Ye
KIMBERLY~•~Things were beginning to look up for me.Asher had accepted me in his life. The scandal about my supposed nudes was dying down already. Well, a scandal about Chris dating two models at once was making its rounds on the internet so it took the limelight off of me.Chris had looked like a gentleman when we first met on the plane. I couldn’t believe that he was two-timing. Then again, it was the internet and everything could be taken out of context just for a story.Jackson had done his best to erase everything but some people had taken screenshots and even if I knew it was never going to be completely erased off the internet Jackson had vowed to legally deal with anyone who shared it. I was the lawyer in the couple but he was acting like one all the time.The only stress I had at the moment was my mother. I didn’t know if it made me a bad daughter but I was beginning to think she wasn’t sick and was just faking it because she kept using her sickness to manipulate me. If she
KIMBERLY~•~“Wake up wake up wake up, mommy! Santa came last night!”I shut my eyes even tighter and subconsciously moved away from the noise. “Mommyyyyyy!” Amelia started shaking me incessantly.I gritted my teeth as my eyes snapped open. Amelia wasn’t the only one present. Asher was also there and Jackson was grinning down at me.“Merry Christmas!” They chorused, agitating me even further.Jackson was a bastard. He didn’t let me sleep last night and we only got to sleep around two in the morning yet here he was, an accomplice to the little devil waking me up at seven in the morning. I held back a sigh and closed my eyes back.“Daddy says we need to have a good attitude during Christmas.” Amelia continued. “Or Santa will take back his presents.”Fuck Santa. Jackson and I spent days cracking our heads for the perfect presents for the kids yet all the credit was going to Santa.“Wake up, mommy! I want to open my stockings!”With a groan, I opened my eyes again and sat up. “I’m awake,
KIMBERLY~•~I was shocked to see that a new article had been uploaded and a lot of news outlets had run with the information. It was crazy. As soon as Jackson found out Emily was behind it, he reported her to the police. When did she have time to post a second article? Did she have an accomplice?When I traced the original article that contained my supposed nudes, I saw that it had been posted early this morning. Was it a timed post? She was even craftier than I thought. She didn’t care that she was getting arrested. She didn’t care that she would spend a longer time in jail after releasing those pictures. She didn’t care about anything but her revenge. It was crazy.As if I didn’t have a lot to worry about already, my parents were blowing up my phone with calls and texts. I knew opening their texts would annoy me but I did it anyway.[Mom: Kimberly, call me back right now!][Mom (2): what kind of pictures are those? Why did you take them? Don’t you have respect for yourself?][Mom (
KIMBERLY~•~Everything was happening too fast. The messages were traced back to Emily, which made me understand why the blackmailer was so desperate for money. She had been cut off from her family and since she wasn’t working, she had gone broke and needed money as soon as possible.Jackson was quite shocked to find out it was her but he was relieved it was her and not some other person who had evil intentions towards me. He said it was a good enough reason to lock her up since there was no proof of her orchestrating his accident.On our way back to the city, Jackson contacted the police and forwarded the evidence he had to them. I had asked him if he wasn’t going to inform his parents first before taking action but he dismissed it and said he had to act fast before she released another article.It was late at night, but Jackson insisted we return to New York immediately after the wedding was over. It was only an hour's journey but the kids were already asleep.“You’ve endured a lot
JACKSON~•~Someone was testing my fucking patience. I hadn’t been okay with Kimberly’s decision to forget about such a serious issue until after the wedding but I didn’t want to make a big deal about it since it was about her and it was her best friend’s wedding. It seemed like the blackmailer had other thoughts though.Without saying anything, I took the phone back from Kimberly and forwarded the message to my secretary as well as the number accompanied by a message of my own.[Me: take care of this as soon as possible]Thankfully, his reply came immediately.[Okay sir]“What did you do?” Kimberly questioned when she saw that I had pocketed my phone. “Don’t worry about it.” The topic easily got me worked up. The only reason the blackmailer was doing this for me but they were stupid enough to try and create a scandal with fake news. It could be proven wrong but once it was out there, some people were going to believe it no matter what. I didn’t want her reputation to be tainted with
KIMBERLY~•~Jackson and I agreed to take care of the blackmailer after Reiya’s wedding.However, I knew the person behind the screen wouldn’t take too well with getting ignored so I just told them to give me some time to get the money. After telling them I’d get back to them in a week, I put it at the back of my mind and focused on my best friend’s wedding.The days passed by in a blur and in no time, it was her big day. Amelia and Asher had arrived early in the morning. Caro said they were eager to come because they missed us. They were with their father though as I still had to be by Reiya’s side.“You look stunning babe,” I told Reiya when she started looking into the mirror too much. I could tell she was anxious but I couldn’t blame her. I was just as anxious on my wedding day and I wasn’t even getting married out of love.Then again, I think that made my anxiety even worse. I didn’t want to do something stupid and make him regret his choice to marry me.“You think?”“Come on Rei