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
KIMBERLY~•~Jackson looked shocked and I didn’t know what to translate his expression as. Was he shocked that his sister sent me an audio message of the words he said? Was he shocked that he was recorded while saying them?He finally handed me back my phone and I put it in my clutch without saying anything. He sighed, his hand rubbing down his face as he tried to put words together.I didn’t know what to make of that either. Was he trying to find an excuse?“I know this looks bad.” Jackson finally said. I arched an eyebrow. “It sounds bad but I promise, it’s not what it looks like.”I scoffed. Of course, the famous line men used when they were caught doing something they claimed not to be doing. I didn’t understand why he was pursuing me if he still wanted Paige. If he could still talk about Paige like this in a good light after she kidnapped our daughter, then that only meant one thing, no? “Not what it looks like?” I asked. “Did you or did you not say those words?”He thought I was
KIMBERLY~•~Now, how could I ever say no to that?“Kimberly?” He prompted. Without thinking much, I nodded.Jack’s eyes widened as his hand let go of mine to wipe my tears. He cupped my cheek endearingly. “Really? You forgive me, baby?”I nodded again with a sniffle. “Sit down. Stop kneeling.”He complied immediately, leaning forward. “You don’t know how much your forgiveness means to me.”His lips brushed mine but I pulled back before he could kiss me. “I have forgiven you but if you want me, you’re going to have to work hard.”Jackson chuckled. “I know that, but we can start from somewhere.”He kissed me anyway and I didn’t even have the heart to push him away. I was such a fool for this man and he had me wrapped around his fingers.I placed my hand on his chest, intending to break the kiss but I instinctively started running my hands up and down his chest. Jackson groaned into the kiss and swiftly pulled me from the car seat and onto his lap. One of his hands was wrapped around m
GEORGE~•~On a Sunday night, I was working my ass off in the office because after a month and a few weeks, I still wasn’t completely over Kimberly but there she was flaunting her relationship with Jackson in my face.Technically, she wasn’t flaunting it in my face but kissing him in a public setting, knowing damn well she’d be recorded meant the same thing, did it not? No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t take my eyes off the scene where they were looking into each other’s eyes as though they had been in love for years. Maybe they had been in love for years. I was just stupid to think that I ever had a chance with her.What irritated me the most was how many times she had assured me she was never going back to Jackson yet only a month after she left, she was back with him. I felt stupid as fuck. I felt very angry and I didn’t know what to do with the amount of anger running through my veins.My fists automatically clenched tightly as he kissed her and the organizer of their stupid
KIMBERLY~•~Jackson and I arrived at the police station at exactly four o’clock. We greeted the officers and we were soon taken to a visitor’s room. We sat next to each other and waited for Paige to show up.It didn’t take long before the door was opened and Paige was escorted in by a cop. Her hands were handcuffed too.The cop nodded at us and then left the room. Paige looked at both of us with contempt in her eyes and scoffed, sitting down opposite us.She didn’t even seem remorseful and it pissed me off more than I’d like to admit. For a moment, none of us said anything.“Why did you do it?” Jackson finally asked after a moment of silence.“What are you talking about?”“I specifically warned you not to touch Amelia, didn’t I?”“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I let out a chuckle, bringing her attention to me. She was acting oblivious, which meant she planned to deny every charge against her. “What’s so funny?” She narrowed her eyes on me. Till now, she couldn’t stand me a
JACKSON ~•~ I hated that Paige wasn’t currently behind bars but there was nothing I could do at the moment. Kimberly was going through several emotions at once and I knew damn well rage was at the forefront. She felt she couldn’t defend her daughter and I hated that Paige made her feel that way. Paige was smarter than I thought for bringing in George, knowing his history with Kimberly. She knew it was going to shake Kim up and it worked. Her flights were just to get the cop’s attention. This was her main plan. As for George, I didn’t know why he was colluding with a criminal but that wasn’t going to do good for his reputation as a lawyer. He probably held grudges against me and Kimberly and I couldn’t blame him for that, but defending the woman who kidnapped Amelia was going too far. The past few days, Kimberly had been busier than ever. She was trying to get a warrant for Paige’s arrest and she warned me not to interfere. It was taking a long while because her business did
KIMBERLY~•~A week later I still hadn’t gotten the license for my business firm. It was getting me frustrated. That didn’t mean I wasn’t already working on the case though.Paige had used a burner to contact the kidnappers even if she knew them personally. That should have alerted them that she was going to abandon them if shit went sideways but they were either too stupid or they didn’t care about themselves.I had thought that the burner phone would be a dead end, but Jackson was willing to go all out to trace it. I didn’t want his help in getting my license because I didn’t want the validity to be questioned later on, but when it came to finding evidence against Paige, I took all the help from him I could get and thankfully, he could offer a lot.He used his influence and connections to make the case easier for me. Since a burner was hard to trace, it was going to take a while and I was willing to wait. It wouldn’t directly prove that Paige was involved but we could find out her w
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