Why is she giving Lilith back to him? Is she dumb? I would have wrung his bank account dry! What is going to happen now? Read on to find out. <3 <3 <3
____________________...~ ~ ~ O L I V I A ~ ~ ~."He did what?" Sarah was on her feet.It was no surprise that she could not believe what had happened that day."Jackson gave me Lilith Corp.," I repeated for the third time, my voice devoid of any emotion. "And I told him no."Sarah sat back down, her eyes wide. "Why, Liv? That's a huge deal. That company is worth millions! Billions!"I shrugged, trying to ignore the heaviness in my heart. "It's too much. It's not just a company, it's his mother's legacy.""So?" Sarah flipped her hair. "He doesn't deserve it. He proved he is more of his father's son than his mother's.""It's not about what he deserves," I said, feeling the weight of my decision. "It's about what's right."Sarah's eyes searched mine, "I am still against it. But whatever you feel right, I will support. I hope it's not because you still have feelings for him?"I shook my head, "No, it's not that. I just can't take something that means so much to him, especially not whe
__________________...~ ~ ~ O L I V I A ~ ~ ~.Dread gripped my heart so tight that I found breathing hard.I quickly called him back.But he didn't pick up.I had no choice but to go ahead and call William. Maybe he was with him."Hello?" It took several rings for him to pick up. "Olivia?""Where are you?" I asked hurriedly. "Are you with Jackson?" I asked him."No," William replied, he sounded exhausted. "What's going on?"I told him about the phone call and my fears."I think he is at the beach house," I informed him."Alone?" William's voice was alert now."And possibly drunk.""I'll go check on him right now," he said. "You stay put.""I am leaving as well. I will meet you there." I told him as I put on my coat and picked up my car key."What? No, Olivia, stay here. It's late and you don't need to-" William tried to protest but I was already out the door. "What about Kelse?" He asked."She is already asleep and Sarah is here to take care of her," I told him even though I had n
_______________...~ ~ ~ J A C K S O N ~ ~ ~."What an Oscar-worthy performance," William said dryly as he drove.I grunted."It wasn't good enough if it didn't make her run back to me like I was the oxygen she breathed," I replied."You're drunk," William said, his voice devoid of any emotion.I rolled my eyes. "I have drunk, Harvey. That does not mean that I am drunk. If I were, I would have probably messed up our plan."He shook his head, turning to give me a glare before turning back to the road. "Don't call it 'our' plan, Reign. This was solely your idea.""But you played along with me, didn't you?" I smirked.William didn't say anything for a moment. "You're playing with fire, Jackson. You keep complicating things. Now that you have come clean about most of the things, then why don't you come clean to her about this also. She might do as she is told if you are just honest with her. It was always that simple for you. But you just keep spinning a web that, my friend, I am worri
_________________...~ ~ ~ O L I V I A ~ ~ ~ . "Liv-""And can you ask Harvey to get the papers ready for me to transfer your mother's legacy back to you?" I asked. "I would ask Sarah but she is being more than generous with me and I do not want to burden her with anything more.""Liv-""Please, Jackson." I sighed, getting up from the couch. "I need a clean break."Jackson sighed, looking down. When he looked up, he had a small sad smile on his face. "I fucked up beyond repair, didn't I? Just tell me something, anything, that I can do to make your pain a little less."I stared at him, feeling that treacherous prickle at the corner of my eyes.I didn't want to cry.But it was getting harder to keep it all inside by the day.It was so difficult.Every day, my heart broke for the little girl who waited for her Daddy."Can you..." My voice broke so I had to clear my throat. "Can you be there for her?" I asked. "Can you stay in Monkey's life?"He stared at me for a long moment and for
_________________...~ ~ ~ O L I V I A ~ ~ ~."For now. It is inevitable. It will happen, I promise. Just not now."Sarah and I just stared at each other for a long moment."You..." She opened her mouth, sighed, and then shut it.I smiled at her."YOU ARE OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND!" I jumped when she yelled out, shaking me violently. "DID YOU HIT YOUR HEAD? SHOULD I TAKE YOU TO THE ER? IS THAT IT?"I sighed. "I know it sounds like a dumb idea right now but-""Oh, it doesn't sound like a dumb idea! IT IS A DUMB IDEA!" She glared at me. "Liv, I know you have this need to fix everyone around you but please, can you make an exception this one time? He is the one who pushed you into a shark-infested ocean five years ago and left you there to be feasted on. He does not get to ask for your help now that karma has hit him and he is in the same condition you were in five years ago.""He didn't ask anything of me," I argued. "He transferred Lilith Corp. to my name and looks like he is ready
_________...~ ~ ~ J A C K S O N ~ ~ ~."Good, because I have changed my mind."My left eye twitched as I fought to control my reaction."Y-yeah?" I cleared my throat. "You finally agree that you deserve to own Lilith Corp. after everything that I have done to you?""Well," she began, folding her hands in her lap. "I thought about it. And I realized that maybe I do need to reconsider everything and give everything a second thought."Why the hell was she being so vague?She wanted out. She wants out.She was not an idiot who would stay with me after all that I had done. So she was going to leave. But now, she was taking Lilith Corp. with her. Maybe William was right. Maybe I should not have let everything to the goodness of her heart."Jackson." Her voice was calm, soothing even. "I don't want the company. That still stands."The tension in my shoulders eased slightly. "But?"She wants full custody of Monkey, surely."But, I am willing to hold off on the divorce."The words hung in
_________...~ ~ ~ J A C K S O N ~ ~ ~."Don't you think this is getting too frequent?" William asked as he plopped down on the barstool next to me. I glanced at him sideways. "What is?" "You acting like you are regretting your entire life?" He snickered. I glared at him. I knew he was going to start with it all over again. I didn't know what his problem was - he did not like Olivia. He was on my side from the beginning. I wanted to know what changed in the past months so I turned to face him. "Why are you team Olivia these days?" I asked him. "We have had this conversation." He rolled his eyes. "I am not team Olivia. I have never been team Olivia. I am team dumbass Reign. I want him to be happy. Should I record the answer this time so that I can play it the next time you accuse me of the same thing?" I swirled the drink in my glass. I might as well just shut up because I don't know what to say or believe anymore."Reign," William began, his voice firm but not unkind. "You
_______ . . .~ ~ ~ O L I V I A ~ ~ ~ . "This is our new home?" Kelsey squealed as she ran up the stairs to the beach house. "Yes it is." I smiled at my daughter and looked over at Jackson, who had a vacant look on his face. He had been like this since we had that talk in his office. Did I push him too much? The thought kept nagging at me as I watched him drag his feet across the sand. "You okay?" I asked as I watched the movers carry the boxes inside. Jackson nodded, but his eyes remained fixed on the horizon, the waves crashing against the shore. "Jackson, what's wrong?" I asked again. He turned to me and he looked irritated. "You. You are what's wrong." "What? What did I do?" Jackson's jaw tensed as he stepped closer. "What did you do? Liv... Olivia, I can't even call you Liv because I killed that part of you, didn't I? So Olivia, you are making me feel like trash by doing this." I took a step back, not knowing what to say. "I didn't-" "No, you don't get to do tha
_______...~ ~ ~ O L I V I A ~ ~ ~.I stepped out of my room in a white and green floral dress with a denim jacket thrown over it. I had my white sneakers on. "Daddy, it's coming apart!" I walked to the living room to find Jackson working on Kelsey's pigtails. "Do you plan to stay up all night, Monkey? Why are you dressing up?" I asked. Both of them looked over at me. Kelsey grinned at me while Jackson had that look of awe that used to make me melt on the spot. Used to. Not anymore. Because I knew it was a farce. "Mommy, you look so pretty!" Kelsey clapped her hands and turned to Jackson. "Right, Daddy? Mommy looks like a Barbie doll, right?" I rolled my eyes as he nodded in agreement before looking back at me. "Even better." "Alright, let's go, shall we?" I asked, holding my hand out for my daughter to take. She held my hand and then turned around to hold her father's hand as well. "Let's go! I miss Pickles!" "Don't tell Grandma that you are going there to meet Pickles.
_______...~ ~ ~ O L I V I A ~ ~ ~ . I could feel him stewing all day long.Jackson did not like the counsellor. That was for sure. Which was fine. Because what he wanted did not matter anymore. He was going to get played so hard that he would not know what had hit him. I would make sure of that. I was going to play his own game against him. The game of manipulation. And this time, I was fully prepared. I had my claws sharpened and ready. "Mommy, is Daddy okay?" Kelsey climbed onto my lap in the living room couch and looked over at her father, who was staring out at the night with a glass of whiskey in his hand. My eyes subconsciously moved to the huge bar that he had built into the apartment after I had moved out. So far it was the only change I could note in the place. "There's just a lot going through his mind right now, Monkey." I told her, ruffling her hair. Okay, call me a bad mother. Or call me an overthinker. I didn't care which but the fact was that I did not fee
_______...~ ~ ~ O L I V I A ~ ~ ~ . "Why aren't we going to the counsellor we planned on seeing in the first place?" Jackson asked as he pulled up to the counsellor's office building."They don't have any open dates for the next three months and it's not like we can wait that long." I said as I stepped out, taking up the cozy minimalistic design. It looked more like a cozy cabin than a counsellor's office. There was a transparent name plate with the name 'Dr. Oliver Warren'. "Olivia. Oliver. Sounds nice, right?" I asked as Jackson walked over to my side. "Does it matter?" He asked. "It's not like we are going to have any personal relationship with him." I nodded, suppressing the twitching of my lips. "Let's go in." I murmured and stepped forward, opening the door and walking into the reception with him on tow. The nice lady behind the desk immediately ushered us into the counsellor's room. The place was empty. "Please take a seat." She said, pointing at the couch opposit
_______...~ ~ ~ O L I V I A ~ ~ ~ . "He got you back in that apartment and you let him?" Sarah screeched at the top of her voice. I flinched away from the phone and looked around as if someone would be eavesdropping on me in my own office. "Yeah, but-" "I literally left you after giving a talk on how not to let him manipulate you and you went and got yourself manipulated?" She continued to screech. I knew that she had her own office, but at the decibel level of her screaming, I was pretty sure that a person in the other building would also be able to hear her. "Listen to me, woman!" I raised my voice. "Listen? Woman, I want to kick you at this point! Why the hell would you move there? You could have come to my apartment. You could have gone to a hotel. Why go there? Why let him take you there?" I closed my eyes and listened to her yell some more. She did not seem like she planned to stop any time soon. But I could not interrupt her because that would aggravate her some mo
_______...~ ~ ~ J A C K S O N ~ ~ ~ . The evening traffic was a bitch and we were crawling like slugs in the highway."You need to get Mommy more presents, Daddy." Kelsey giggled in the back seat. "I am going to get her the best present in the world." I replied, with a crooked smile on my face as I watched my baby play in the booster seat. "What's that?" "Well," I bit my lips to control my smile but I couldn't. "Your Mommy has given me every happiness in the world. So it's time I gave it back to her." William had informed me that Sarah had called to discuss the divorce proceedings. No, not to discuss. She was leaving the entire procedure in his care, thereby eliminating any trouble for us to cover up this mess in front of them. So now, we could just pretend to get divorced. And then every single lie except the one about the will will be over. And then when she signs over the company back to me then, phew, I will have everything I could ever have. "Will she be happy, Daddy?
_______...~ ~ ~ O L I V I A ~ ~ ~ . I choked on the awful smell of awful cooking as soon as I opened the front door. "What is going on?" I coughed as I fanned my face as I walked over to the kitchen, which looked like it had been hit by a hurricane. I watched the scene unfold as Jackson picked up a smoking pan to the sink and turned on the sink. "It's nothing. We were just-" The smoke set off the fire alarm system and the water sprayed all over us. Kelsey's eyes were as big as saucers as she started jumping up and down with her arms in the air."It's raining inside!" She squealed with pure blissful joy. I watched my little one dance around, the smoke subsiding on the pan in the fridge and the man who was looking around like he had fucked it all up. "Where is the control valve?" I asked him with as much calm as I could muster. "I don't know." He slumped. "Does it turn off on its own? Is it automatic?" I asked. "I don't know." He looked... defeated. "What's wrong?" I ask
_________...~ ~ ~ O L I V I A ~ ~ ~."I gotta say, that is a thoughtful gift." Sarah nodded as she stared at the picture of the bouquet. "To think that he still remembers your Goodreads username." "It means he has a sharp memory. Not that he cares about me." I grunted. "Besides, he always played the gentleman when he wanted to. You do remember that he almost convinced you that all men were not the same five years ago, don't you?" Sarah groaned. "You got your Mom flowers?" She asked. I nodded, taking a sip of my coffee. "Where are my flowers?" She asked. I looked up at her and raised a brow, "You are allergic to pollen." She rolled her eyes. "Then you could have gotten me those fake ones." "Faux." "Yeah yeah, whatever they are called. You could have gotten me some of those!" She waved her hand dismissively. "Fine, I will have them delivered." I took another sip. "Hey!" She snapped her fingers in my face. "That's not the attitude I am looking for!" I gave her a look. "W
_________...~ ~ ~ O L I V I A ~ ~ ~ .The dude did not even let me see what he got for Kelsey.He went straight to the parking without any shopping bags. I wonder if he got her some jewelry that fit in his pocket or something. That would be stupid. She was four. She was not interested in jewelry. But he was stupid, wasn't he? And it was not like he was going to put in any real effort because... why would he? He wanted to pretend to be the good father so he was going to get something to make her happy, without putting any thought into whether she liked it or not. I rolled my eyes as I put the bouquet and the shopping bags in the backseat of my car after making sure that the idiot was nowhere in sight. I sighed. Should I get her something else? I knew she would love the toys. And she had been asking for more toys for Pickles. But still... What if she felt disappointed by what her Daddy got her? I slumped my head against the roof of my car. Well, I guess she would just
_________...~ ~ ~ O L I V I A ~ ~ ~ ."Jackson left Monkey with you?" I asked as I stepped out of the elevator and walked to the exit of the company. "Yeah. He said he had some work to finish and that Kelse was missing Pickles." I sighed. I was missing Pickles too. "Maybe I will also come over, spend some time with Pickles." "What's left of the renovation anyway?" My Mom asked. "I thought most of it was already done before you three moved in." "We are pet-proofing the place and getting in a high fence. I don't want Pickles or Monkey to wander into the water unsupervised." I explained to her. "Well, you should have thought it all through before getting a beach house for your permanent residence!" She exclaimed. I rolled my eyes. "I remember you telling Jackson what a wonderful idea it was." "I wasn't thinking about the practical implications then. What do I know? I am a airhead socialite. How can you expect me to figure out what you corporate moguls haven't figured out?"