All Chapters of SHATTERED VOWS : Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

JAKE’S POVAs I speed past the estate gates, my hands grip the steering wheel so tightly that my knuckles turn white. My blood is boiling, and no amount of deep breaths can calm me down. Rachael had betrayed me. The one person I thought I could trust. The one person I let in.I thought we were partners. I thought she had my back. “Damn it!” I slam my palm against the wheel in frustration. How could she keep something like that from me? There is only one explanation: she still loves Jack.My chest burns with a mixture of anger and pain, my head pounding not just from the betrayal but from the lingering hangover of last night. Why today, of all days, did she decide to drop this bomb on me? She couldn't have picked a worse moment.I had to leave the house before I did or said something I couldn’t take back. The anger was too raw, too consuming. The walls of that place felt suffocating. At least I still had my penthouse in the city—a sanctuary I could retreat to at a time like this.As I

JAKE'S POVSleep eluded me. No matter how much I tossed and turned, my thoughts kept circling back to Rachael, all alone in that big house. No matter how angry I was at her, I couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling gnawing at my chest.I had also grown accustomed to not being entirely alone. Even though we slept in separate rooms, I always knew she was there. Her presence had become an unspoken comfort.I glanced at the clock on the nightstand. 2:00 a.m. There was no way I could go back to the house at this time without startling her. I sigh, staring at the ceiling, waiting for morning, waiting for a reasonable hour to check on her.Two restless hours later, I was up again, standing under the cold spray of the shower, hoping to wash away my tangled emotions. It didn’t help. The image of her face when I walked out on her lingered, tugging at something deep inside me.Sipping my coffee, I stared at the whiteboard from yesterday and I review my notes, fine tuning my plan to keep my mind occup

RACHAEL'S POVI couldn’t believe Jake had just come and gone without saying a word to me. He rushed out like he was late for something important, leaving me alone with my thoughts. I sat there on the couch, staring at the ceiling, trying to process the whirlwind of the past few days. The sun was already up, and boredom crept in like an unwelcome guest.I grab my phone and begin mindlessly scrolling through Instagram. As I flip through the posts, a photo of Amy and Ethan catches my eye. They look radiant, clearly on vacation somewhere beautiful. My chest tightens. The last time I’d spoken to Amy was at the Crawford luncheon. Since then, I have avoided her. She’d tried to reach out, but I hadn’t responded. I’d been a terrible friend.Taking a deep breath, I shot her a text: "Hey, how are you?"I bury my phone under a couch cushion, resisting the urge to stare at the screen, waiting for her reply. I needed a distraction, so I grab my laptop. To my surprise, an inquiry about my marketing

JAKE'S POVI barely slept since I officially took over COI. Becoming the CEO wasn’t the hard part—it was figuring out what the hell to do next that weighed on me. My plan had been simple: get control of the company and figure out the details later. Now, “later” has arrived, and I feel like I am standing on shifting ground.Introducing myself to the employees had been surreal. Some greeted me with enthusiasm, others with thinly veiled suspicion. I could see the confusion in their eyes. A sudden takeover, especially one involving the Crawfords, had left them unsure of their place in the company. I urged them to continue business as usual until I decided on the next steps. It sounded good enough at the moment, but the truth was, I had no idea what those steps would be.Karen’s words during the confrontation kept replaying in my head, looping like a broken record. Her confession about my mother was a revelation I hadn’t been prepared for. William’s reaction had been telling, though—he did

RACHAEL’S POVIt had been a month since Jake took over COI, and although we hadn’t heard from the Crawfords since, their silence made us nervous. They were definitely plotting something. Jake had been running the company smoothly, making a few changes here and there, but he still didn’t have a long-term plan. He wanted to take his time before making any big decisions.As for me, I was immersed in preparing for the launch of Amber Wave, the perfume that had already created a buzz with pre-orders flooding in. Tonight is the launch party, and I am running up and down the venue to ensure every detail matches the rose gold theme. Everything had to be perfect.By the time I finish overseeing the setup, it was already late, so I rush home to get ready. Jake is already there, dressed sharply in a rose gold suit with a white shirt, sitting in the living room, going through a stack of papers.“Hey, give me a few minutes. I’ll be ready,” I inform him as I dash upstairs.He nods without looking u