Jackie’s POVWe were sitting at a table in a cafe. I had not said anything. she had not said anything, only Ruth had said something and that was to speak to Paul who babbled away to her. I kept my eyes on my iced tea while I felt the gaze of the woman on my head, from across me.“Jackie?”I tensed up at the sound of my name from her mouth and raised my head to look at her. She was smiling gently yet cautiously at me.“I… How are you?”The angry part of me wanting to respond that I am not okay, thanks to her son but out of respect, I took a sip out of tea and shrugged.“I don’t know how I am,” I said,and she nodded.“You have every right to not speak to me because of Lucas, you do. I am so sorry for how things ended. I always heard things about you. Ruth told me a lot about you and what happened months ago.”“What do you want then?&rd
Jackie’s POVAfter mom and Andrea had told me about the gift, they had given me, they took me somewhere else and when we arrived at a shopping square where there were luxurious stores, and even a mall in the slight distance. As the car stopped in a parking space, I continued to look around the place. The first thing I noticed was an empty, under construction store. When Andrea and mom got out, I followed suit.“Where are we?” I asked them as they came to stand beside me.I looked at each of them and saw the smiles on their faces. Mom wrapped her arm around my shoulder and Andrea pointed at the empty store.“Do you see that store?” Andrea asked and I nodded with confusion. “That is yours.”I froze. Everything around me froze also. My eyes were wide, and my mouth hung open at the words she had just uttered and the store before me. I closed my mouth and blinked after what felt like forever then took in the store.The front had a wide glass door and two huge glass windows. I could see ins
Jackie's POVAnother week had gone by, and a day did not go by that I did not think of what Lucas had said. It was like a second layer of skin on my body, hard to peel no matter how much I tried. I wanted to believe him and wait but I felt stupid to do so. Because he is my first love, I felt like stupidity was driving me into listening to what he had said. He promised me so many times, he failed them. He promised never to hurt me, he failed them. So, I can never believe him again.“Earth to Jackie!”I jerked at the loud tone of voice and frowned before shifting my gaze to the person. I rolled my eyes at Andrea and looked back at the documents on the desk in front of me.“What were you thinking about?” She asked as she sat down beside me.“Nothing. Oh… I already finished the plan and everything about the budgeting. I went around to find more information from other small businesses and did my homework. I think it’s looking pretty good,” I said and handed the document to her.I watched h
Jackie’s POV“What do you think?”I turned my head to look at what Darrell was talking about. He was holding up two baby jumpsuits, one orange, the other a polka dotted design. I smiled and pointed at the orange one, which he immediately tossed into the shopping cart full of other baby items. Darrell was a shopaholic, he was always trying to get me to buy things for the baby even though I told him no. It was heartwarming how he acted so nice to me.My phone buzzed in the pocket of my dress. I took it out and stared at what the notification was. My heart skipped a beat when I saw it was a bank notification. Lucas sent ninety thousand dollars and the message attached to it made my heart flutter like he always made it do.Take care of yourself and our baby.“What is it?”I flinched and quickly locked the screen of my phone then faced Darrell with a smile on my face. He was looking at me strangely. Darrell didn’t really know who Lucas was and it was better that way.“I’m good. I was just
Jackie’s POVAround the room were clothes, scattered around, on the bed, the floor and the couches. I was going to regret messing up the room like the way it is by the end of the day but I could not blame myself… sort of. My trip to New York was tomorrow and I have been too lazy to pack my bags or done anything to show that I had an important trip hours away. I had a night plane so maybe that was what made me feel lazy and think I had extra hours.“Ugh!” I was frustrated. “Where the hell is my green shirt?”My head felt heavy and my mind was racing from the stress I was feeling. My eyes darted around the room in search of it. I ran my fingers through my hair and roughened my hair. I groaned and went to my bed and sat on it. I glared at my luggage and crossed my arms.“I wish the idiot I consider my so called partner was here. I would not be stresses about this. Tsk, I would not even be making this trip. Instead, I would have been getting the baby mama or baby girl treatment.” I frowne
Jackie’s POVThe universe either hated me or I committed a crime in my past life, and this was the day I paid for it. How was it that out of all the investment companies to be interested in my project, it had to be where Lucas worked at. I wanted whatever prank this was to end.Lucas fucking Hamilton was sitting at the head of the table, eyes wide and mouth open in surprise. It felt like I was having a bad dream seeing him there. I was either still at my hotel sleeping or was still in Atherton because there was no way I was seeing Lucas again after he left me.“Miss. Garner?”I flinched and faced the person that had called my name. It was an older man, giving me a strange look. I smiled and nodded. I was here for something important and I was not about to ruin that because of the man on the other side of where I stood.“My apologies,” I said and placed my things on the table then opened my bag with shaky hands.I pulled out the file full of my proposal and started to distribute it to
Jackie’s POVI chose not to make a move. Maybe if I don’t move, he won't speak again.“Jackie.”I shut my eyes, praying he stopped and let me walk away. I did not have the strength or mind to face him, I was still getting over the shock of seeing him again. I was between a rock and a hard place right now; I wanted to lash out at him or walk away. This was not how I expected us to meet again.My back straightened when I heard him walking toward me. I held the straps of my bag tightly when his body entered my line of sight then he stood in front of me. I looked down at our feet and swallowed.“Look at me, please,” he said, and I bit my lip. “How are you here and—-”“What kind of question is that?” I asked, cutting him off. “Look, I have places to be and being here with you isn’t one of them.”“Please,” he said, taking a step closer and somehow blocking my lane to the door. “Please, can we talk? I have so much to explain to you and—”“What do you have to explain? No, tell me. Would sayin
Jackie’s POVAfter he explained everything, I was left feeling as if my tongue was heavy. Lucas just told me everything that I wanted to hear and I was still feeling conflicted. I was happy though. Happy that he was not with her, that he was still in love with me. It made me feel a relief in me but our relationship was too much for me to handle because—“Jackie?”I blinked and turned my head to stare at him. He was giving me a small smile while he looked at me. I took my time to admire his face. He was still the same good looking guy I fell for. His beautiful blue eyes was still the same pretty eyes I love to look at, his perfect full yet arched brows, and those slightly thick lips that shielded a perfect row of white teeth. Looking at him, he looked more mature, with whispers of beards around his jawline. The more I stared, the more I could see the stress in his eyes.“Lucas?” I barely knew I was saying his name until he hummed and I blinked in realization.“What is it?” He asked and
Jackie’s POV“Evangeline, please.”I laughed at the way Matt had spoken. He was so down bad for Evangeline who gave him an incredulous look. I watched him wrap his arms around her waist and put his face in her neck. I could see that Evangeline was blushing from his touch, and it made me happy for her. At least, Matt has become a new man and no longer the person he was, plus, he made her happy even though she still played hard to get. I shipped them so hard. The day they announced that they were dating, I would rejoice.“Are you done?”I looked away from the duo to Andrea who was pointing at the sliced apples on the chopping board. In her arms was Paul, who was sucking on his pacifier. He grinned when he noticed my attention was on me, making my heart melt.“Lucas’ mom wants to see you,” Andrea said, and confusion filled.“Me?” I pointed at my chest. “Do you know why?”“Girl, I don’t know. She just wants to talk to you about something.”I dropped the knife I was holding and wiped my han
Chapter’s Soundtrack Love Me Hard by Elly DuheLucas’ POVI felt the dawn of a new day and opened my eyes. There was slight darkness in the room as my eyes took in the expanse of the room. I yawned and tried to stretch, only to feel a weight on my arm. I blinked and looked down, then smiled at the sight of Jackie sleeping in my arms. My heart fluttered at the feel of her body resting against mine, fitting perfectly.I held my breath when she moved and moaned before cuddling me more. I pressed my lips against her head and inhaled the sweet scent of her hair. I looked at the hand that was fisted on my bare chest then took it, lacing it with mine. I brought her hand close to my face and kissed the knuckles of her hand. I opened her hand and pressed her soft palm on my cheek before nuzzling it with my nose.She moaned and moved in my arms again, making me stop what I was doing. She moved her head against my chest, rubbing her nose on it before raising her head off it. I smiled when she co
Lucas' POVI knew trying to trigger Henry was the wrong move but seeing Matt and Jackie with me gave me the courage to know that we would all walk out alive, but it seemed as if I was wrong as I watched him pull the trigger. The first thing that came to my mind was to protect Jackie, and how a repeat of what happened was about to repeat itself.But what I did not expect was for Matt to stand between us and Henry, taking the bullet. When he dropped to the ground, it felt as if everywhere around me went dark. My heart squeezed from fear and worry as I stared down at his body that lay unmoving on the floor.When Jackie screamed, I snapped out of my state and looked up with rage coursing through my veins. Henry was stiff from shock, and I took that as an opportunity to dash my way to him. I hit the and that held the gun, sending it flying away. Before he could react, I hit him in the face. I barely had any strength but adrenaline to finish off Henry was in me. I had the urge to kill him,
Jackie’s POVFear was back.I could feel the fear just as I could feel the weight of the gun against my cheek as he began to count from number one. I looked away from Lucas to the side to try to stare at the monster. He had a nasty smile on his face, a maniacal one that reminded me of Maddy’s. It was crazy how there were psychopaths moving with us. Why couldn’t my love life have jealous exes who did not murder and crazy family members who didn’t just like their child’s partner?“Three… You’re not saying anything, son.”He needed to stop calling him that.My heart skipped a beat when he dug the mouth of the gun into my cheek, making me feel pain there. I gritted my teeth and tried to look over my shoulder at Matt. What was that fucker doing? He needed to cut the man off per our agreement.“Tw—”“Wait,” Matt said, getting our attention.I let out a sigh of relief and thanked the heavens when he left my head and let me fall back to the floor. I crawled over to Lucas’ feet and held his an
Jackie’s POVI felt like I was going crazy from all the influx of emotions inside of me.Anger, sadness, guilt, worry and shame.They were at war within me as I tried to clear my mind, to remain sane, to be hopeful. I was forcing myself to believe that it was not my fault. I was not at fault for losing Drake and was about to lose Lucas too. I felt so stupid all because I wanted to get a few school items. If I had just waited a little more, or forgot about it, a stranger would not have snuck into our home and taken my child.Tears formed in my eyes, and I let them fall, heating up my cold cheeks. I sniffled and began to cry softly. I had no idea what condition Drake and Lucas were in while I sat in comfort. I hated feeling useless. I wished I could do something to save Lucas and Drake, but I was useless. I was barely healed from childbirth and that made me even more angry.I curled my body on the bed and cried harder, trying to force the pain in my heart to seize. I grabbed a handful o
Lucas’ POVPain, dullness and a slight feverish feeling was heavy on me as I struggled to open my eyes. I started to feel confused, wondering where I was and what had happened, especially why it felt as if I could not move. My chest felt heavy and at the same time, it felt as if I could not feel one side of my body.I opened my eyes and hissed as an ache hit my head. I blinked multiple times before my eyes opened properly. I raised my head and groaned when my arm hurt so badly. I looked at the arm and saw that the sleeve of my jacket was stained with blood.“Finally awake?” A deep voice asked.I tried to sit up and grunted when I realized that I was tied to the spot I was sitting in. I looked down at my body and saw a thick rope tied around my torso, arms and legs. I raised my gaze to the person and frowned when I saw Henry. He was sitting on a couch across the room, holding a gun and a glass of wine.“Untie me, you bastard,” I demanded, and he laughed with a shake of his head.“I kno
Lucas’ POVI didn’t know how I boarded a flight back to Atherton, but I did and throughout, it felt like my soul was not in my body. I felt empty with only fear and anxiety as I was trying to understand how my son was kidnapped. Everything around me felt as if I was in some type of bad dream that I desperately wanted to wake up from.Jared was beside me on the plane, trying to calm me down but his words were either distant or jumbled up. All I could think of was Drake. What was anyone doing when such happened? Was Jackie okay? Was anyone harmed? I needed answers.Almost two hours later, I arrived at Atherton and booked a ride home. The moment we arrived at our destination, I rushed out of the car, leaving Jared to pay for the ride. There were cops parked in front of the house and my heart only picked up from fear.Jackie.I ran into the house and was met with more cops in the living room and a crying Ruth sitting on the couch. I went over to her and fell on my knees in front of her.“
Lucas’ POVI returned to Rochester the following day the moment Ruth came to Atherton, saying she wanted to see her nephew. She was still pensive about Cindy’s son, Paul. She hated Cindy right from the beginning, even before Paul was conceived and her hatred now made more sense to her than before. So, when she texted me that she was in Atherton to see her nephew and not nephews, I knew what she meant. I already made her understand that hating a child that had nothing to do with how nasty his real mother was made no sense and she just told me she didn’t hate the boy.I just didn’t want any more bad blood between our families as our generation needed to move on and make amends from the damages created by our older family members. Which was why I was still stunned and somewhat relieved when the person who bought the night racing group was Matt Jefferson. I never knew the fucker had it in him to be good for fucking once.A knock on my office door made me blink out of my thoughts. I cleare
Jackie’s POVEver since I saw the email stating that the scholarship I had applied for was a success, I have not been in the right state of mind. All I could think about was what Lucas would say or how he would react to the news.Looking at him now, it was hard to tell what he was thinking because of how blank his expression was as he read through the paper again and again. I knew this was going to be difficult. I had applied for the scholarship after Andrea sent me a link to the school since her family knew the dean. When I applied for it, I never thought he and I would get back with each other. I was scared now that we were back together. The scholarship would keep me out of the continent for years and it made me worried with fear.“Lucas?” I said his name softly.I watched the edges of his mouth twitch before it expanded into a smile. I was confused for a second before he looked up at me with an even bigger smile on his face. He opened his arms like before and I got even more confu