Kelsey is one smart kid. And Sarah is the best friend that everyone needs. Are there assumptions true? Does Jackson have something to do with Kelsey wanting a Daddy out of the blue? Read on to find out. And let me know what you thought of this chapter in the comments. And it would be really nice if you could leave a review on the main page. Thank you so much for reading. <3 <3 <3
_____________...~ ~ ~ O L I V I A ~ ~ ~.“Thank you so much for having me for dinner, Li- Olivia.” I stared at the bouquet of yellow roses that Jackson Reign held outstretched in his hand.“Yellow roses mean eternal love.” That’s what he used to say before one fine day, he revealed that there was no love at all and everything lived and cherished had been nothing but lies and betrayal. “I developed an allergy to roses after my pregnancy.” I gave him a saccharine smile and waved the flowers away. Jackson raised a brow, an amused smirk forming on his stupidly handsome face. “Is that so? Because I could swear that I saw a vase of roses on the dining table yesterday.” Oh well, it was worth a try. “Hyper-realistic faux flowers.” I shrugged. “Right.” He was not buying it for a second but I would be damned if I let him have it. “I am sure one or two of them were wilting.” “As I said, hyper-realistic.” I stared him down. He stared right back for a good minute before letting out a
_______________...~ ~ ~ O L I V I A ~ ~ ~."You have turned into a monster, Olivia." Jackson dared to look like he was the one who was being wronged here. "I know what I did. And how wrong it was. But my mother-""Your mother is none of my fucking concern," I cut him off, my voice icy cold. "She knew everything and did nothing. Just like she did nothing while you were busy playing house with Elena. Just like she did nothing when she found out you had a child with me. She is just as much to blame as you are."Jackson's eyes narrowed and for a moment I thought he would argue. But then he took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay. I understand your anger. But I need to do this for my peace. For the peace of her soul."I let out a wry chuckle."It's always, always about what you want, isn't it Jackson?" I asked.He let out an exasperated sigh as if I was being unreasonable."Why are you twisting everything I say, Olivia?" He rubbed his temple. "Why can't you take what I say at face value f
____________ ...~ ~ ~ J A C K S O N ~ ~ ~. "Dammit!" I growled as I flung the stupid bouquet of what used to be Olivia's favorite flowers across the room. It was like she was immune to my apologies and pleas. How could she be so cold, so unforgiving after all this time? "You owe me a thousand bucks." My eye twitched as I heard my best friend and legal advisor, William's smug voice. I turned on my heels and glared at the asshole leaning against the doorframe of his room. "Shut up, Harvey" I snarled. "What?" He shrugged as he stepped into the hall. "A bet's a bet. Someone was pretty confident that he would have his ex-wife on her knees the moment he appeared in front of her. Two days later, all he has is a healing almost-broken nose." I glared at him. "I don't want her swooning over me or submitting to me. That is not what I want from her, Harvey. You know that." "I know exactly what you want from her, Reign." William chuckled as he walked over to the corner bar and picked
___________________...~ ~ ~ O L I V I A ~ ~ ~.The next morning, I woke up to a complete ruckus in the kitchen.Kelsey's laughter filled the room and the smell of burnt toast filled my nostrils."Mommy, look!" She was standing on a kitchen stool, her small hands holding up a piece of toast that was black on one side. "I made this toast! For the first time ever, I made breakfast!""Meant to poison sewer rats, I suppose?" I muttered to myself, the face of a sewer rat in need of immediate extermination coming to my mind as I grinned at my daughter, my eye twitching as I strained to keep the grimace away. "Well done, monkey! I am so so very proud of you, darling!" "Maybe you should feed the first breakfast you ever made to your Mommy, Kelse," Sarah smirked as she encouraged my daughter to poison me instead of the piece of shit that I had in mind. I glared at my best friend when Kelsey nodded with all the joy in the world. "Yes, yes! Mommy, you get to eat the food I made! Let me pret
_________________...~ ~ ~ O L I V I A ~ ~ ~."You can place him right on the center of the bed!" Kelsey clapped excitedly as she directed Jackson to her bed."Alright!" He had his ever-present pleasing smile on his dumb ugly - okay, maybe not so ugly - face as he settled the giant toy on top of her purple fluffy pillows and straightened up, scanning the toy treasure cove that my daughter's bedroom was.His eyes took in the many drawings that my monkey had made and then his eyes lingered on one of the drawings in particular.It was her representation of me as a superwoman with hEro written on the top in her clumsy scrawl.Jackson's eyes softened as he took in the sight. "She is quite the artist, isn't she?"It took me a moment to snap out of my dreadful train of thought and actually realize that he was talking to me. I was in a daze as I nodded. "Yeah... She is really good. At everything she does." "Gets it from her mother, I guess." He replied without missing a beat. I almost s
_____________...~ ~ ~ O L I V I A ~ ~ ~.After breakfast, which consisted of many more of my monkey's burnt poison toasts and all three of us collectively stopping her from actually trying out her disastrous culinary creation, Sarah, Kelsey, Jackson, and I filed into his car, with me in the passenger's seat and my girls in the back.It brought back memories.It had been five years, but he was still using the same car—the black SUV that I had brought him on one of his birthdays, the only one which I had celebrated with him.Why was he still using it though? Shouldn't he have thrown this vehicle out just like he had thrown me out of his life?And he already had a child seat installed. Was he actually expecting to take Kelsey out today or did he have a child? I did not have the courage to ask. Kelsey was busy yapping with Sarah. They were always doing that. Sarah's childish side came out whenever her Kelse was around.Jackson seemed to be uncomfortable. He kept on squirming in his s
_____________...~ ~ ~ O L I V I A ~ ~ ~.Why did I care?No, I didn't care.These two phrases kept on repeating in my head at least a hundred times before Mr. Jackson Reign finally managed to get out of the toilet bowl.I bet he was never going anywhere near Kelsey's toasts ever again."God!" He jumped back, clutching his chest when he took the turn and found me leaning against the wall."I am not a ghost, Mr. Reign." I rolled my eyes as I pushed myself off the wall and turned back to where the ice cream shop was. "Just the ghost of your past." Why the hell do I have to say things like that?Jackson followed me with a sigh. "Olivia, you know that's not true."I stopped in my tracks and turned to face him, crossing my arms across my chest, not missing the way his eyes immediately went down to my breasts the moment I did that. "What is not true, Jackson? Also, my eyes are up here." I pointed at them. Jackson looked away for a moment but he had less embarrassment at being caught sta
_____________...~ ~ ~ O L I V I A ~ ~ ~."She dropped her phone?" It very well could have been just that but all of a sudden dread filled the pit of my stomach.Jackson looked at the phone in his hand, his eyes widening as he seemed to realize something. "Or she didn't want to be found." He said, his voice low.I smacked him on his arm. "Shut up and stop spewing shit about my best friend."He looked at me with those puppy eyes that I used to melt in. "Olivia, I'm just saying-""There is more chance of them getting kidnapped than my best friend taking off intentionally with my daughter," I told him, my words faltering at the end of the sentence when I understood the fear in the pit of my stomach - were they kidnapped?"Who would kidnap them?" Jackson asked. "It's not like anyone knows that Kelsey is my daughter." I wanted to smack him again but had to rein in my temper. "One, she is not your daughter. And two, the colossal ego on you! She is Daniel Smith's only granddaughter. And
_________...~ ~ ~ O L I V I A ~ ~ ~ .New day, new me. Last night, when Jackson said that he had more secrets, for a moment I thought he was going to come clean. For a moment, I thought he was going to show some kind of remorse. But then I didn't know what I would do if he did suddenly confess to all his wrong-doings. What the hell was I supposed to do? How the hell was I supposed to react? But he simply shrugged and walked away, waiting patiently for me at the living room with Kelsey and Pickles for their sandwich and snacks.He gave me time to sleep on the thought. What would I do if he suddenly came clean? And I had come to a conclusion. I was not going to forgive him. Him confessing to his sins was like a serial killer confessing to his murders. Would the confession decrease the severity of the crime committed? Maybe to the court of law, it would. But not to the victims. And I was the victim. And in my court of law, there was no forgiveness of Jackson Reign. “You ok
_______...~ ~ ~ O L I V I A ~ ~ ~.“Daddy!” Kelsey ran into Jackson’s arms as soon as we walked in through the door. Pickles, on the other hand, seemed not very interested in seeing him and went sat down by Kelsey’s feet though she was wagging her tail.“Monkey, I missed you!” He picked her up and twirled her around as she giggled. “So how was girls’ week?” That was the excuse we had come up with to cover up the latest fuck up. “Fun!” She giggled. “Daddy, get me a brother so than you can have boys’ night!” Jackson laughed nervously as he looked over at me. Yeah sure, bruh. I am going to give you another child after all the shit you put me through.“Alright Monkey, get changed. Mommy will fix you up a sandwich.” I told her as I walked over to her bedroom to drop off her bag. “Okay!” She was in a really good mood tonight since she was back with both her parents. And Pickles. My daughter did not want anything more than this. And I felt horrible that I could not even give her th
_________...~ ~ ~ O L I V I A ~ ~ ~ .“Till when are you going to keep this up, Jackson?” I asked as soon as the other two stepped out of the conference hall. Sarah was not at all happy. I knew that she believed in me but there was a part of her who still believed that I will melt for the sob story that Jackson would present to manipulate me. I needed to make my loyal best friend proud. Jackson winced as if me calling him by his whole name had done more damage than all of his bullshit did. “Liv, just listen to me.” He said. I knew he had enough time to make up a good story and that he had come completely prepared to get the deal that he wanted.I crossed my arms across my chest and tipped my chin up. “I am listening. So say what you have to say.” And he did. His made up story of how Elena had approached him to get William’s help with her divorce. “You don’t believe me.” He said after I stayed silent for almost three minutes after he had finished his tale. “Oh I believe you.”
___________...~ ~ ~ O L I V I A ~ ~ ~ .“I know that you have got this.” Sarah turned to me. “I know you are in your boss girl era, but a gentle reminder that your asshole of a husband will do whatever the fuck it takes to get the company in his name. You are not allowed to fall for any of his bullshit. Capiche?” I took a deep breath and let it out. “Yes yes, ma’am. I will do my best to not be influenced by hi-”“No no no.” She stomped a foot to make a point. “That’s not the attitude we are looking for. We are not going to do our best to resist his manipulation. We ARE going to resist his manipulation. Now, rephrase your sentence.” I rolled my eyes. My friend was motivating and coaching me like I was going out to war, which I was. Did I love it and felt grateful for her support? Absolutely. But she was going a tad bit overboard with it at this point. “I am going to not be influenced by his manipulations. I am not going to fall for his same old cheap tricks. And I am going to m
___________...~ ~ ~ J A C K S O N ~ ~ ~ ."She said she still loved me. That means I still have a chance to set things right, right?" I asked as I paced William's office. I looked over at him, who was looking at me as if I was an idiot, and raised a brow, "Well?" "Why the hell would you go to meet Elena? When you know very well that she is trouble?" William asked. I rolled my eyes. He was still stuck there when there was much more important matters to worry about. "Why the hell would you go to meet Sarah? It's not like you knew Liv was going to be there? Why the hell would you go to meet your arch nemesis alone? What would have happened if she had stabbed you and fed you to some wild animal?" Of course, I knew I was being dramatic but I would not put anything past that pain in the ass. William let out a chuckle. "One, she is not my arch nemesis. Two, you have a wild imagination. Careful now Reign, someone might think you actually care for someone other than yourself." I t
________...~ ~ ~ O L I V I A ~ ~ ~ ."I am keeping the company until you prove yourself."The fact that he played right into my hands with this was so damn hilarious that I had to do everything to not laugh at the absolutely horrified look on both his and his asshole best friend’s face. I side-eyed Sarah who seemed like she was going through as much as a hard time as me trying to stay serious. “What do you mean?” He finally found his voice. I thought the man had had a stroke hearing my condition and lost the ability to speak. “You heard me. I am not signing the Lilith Corp. back to you until you prove that there was, is, and will never be anything between you and Elena.” I said as evenly as I could, trying not to sound arrogant or victorious.“Liv, that makes no sense.” He said. “Whatever you mean?” Sarah spoke, coming to stand beside me. “It’s the most sensible thing I have heard her speak ever since you came back into her life.” Jackson turned to look at his stumped friend
__________...~ ~ ~ J A C K S O N ~ ~ ~."Harvey, you motherfucker! Why the hell would you visit them without telling me?" I bellowed into my phone as I hurried to my car. Why the hell did he have to go there? Why the hell would he do that without letting me know in the first place?"And why the hell would you go see Elena, of all people, after telling Olivia you were hanging out with me?" William sounded equally pissed. He had no right to be. Okay, maybe I should have given him a heads-up but why on earth would I ever imagine that he would turn up at their door?"There is a situation." I breathed out as I got into my car and connected my phone to the system."Don't tell me that bitch is blackmailing you with something else now." William sighed.I rolled my eyes."She wanted to talk.""Seriously, man." William sounded exasperated on the other end. "I know you both never had anything going on between the two of you, but I always felt like Elena had something for you. And even if the
________...~ ~ ~ O L I V I A ~ ~ ~ ."What's D-E-F?" Sarah rolled her eyes. "Deception, Extortion and Fraud?"I snorted as I passed her a bowl of popcorn as I plopped down on her couch. I had just told her about Jackson's date idea.It was good to see that her humor had not been affected after what happened. I knew that my best friend was still beating herself up for things that she could not control.And the sleepover was me trying to fix that."I do not like that you left my Kelse alone with that fraud just to come here to make me feel better." She pouted.I rolled my eyes.Of course she knew what I was doing."You think I haven't learned my lesson?" I asked, feigning disappointment at her for undermining my common sense. "I dropped Monkey off at my parents at the pretext that they have been wanting to visit some kiddish stuff with her for the past few days. And Jackson has been wanting to visit William, no doubt to plan more bullshit against me, so it worked out for the best fo
_______...~ ~ ~ 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.