I'm trying to post as often as I can, but life has been humbling me lately😂, but I am trying to finish the book before the end of the year so please bare with me and thank you again for the support. ❤️
But anyways, here's another chapter for you ❤️
~Joseph's POV
I cover my face even more with the hood I'm wearing. I walk through the street that leads to my house and speed walk when I see it come into my view. As I draw closer, I look around to see if there are any of his men lurking around.
I cannot tell Jackson that I messed up with Jessica otherwise he'll definitely kill me. When I see no one in sight or any suspicious behavior, I walk into my house and lock every door and window as well as closing all the curtains.
I remove the hood and start packing my stuff. I need to get out of here. I think back to how that whole family betrayed me. Anger and bloodlust takes control over my body and I end up kicking over my small coffee table.
I panic as I realize that I can't escape Jackson. He has connection everywhere, how will I leave? I ask myself. I feel my anxiety rising, holding me, choking me. I struggle to breathe as the panic and anxiety is all I can think about.
My chest feels like it's going into over drive and it starts burning up. My eyes starts stinging from the tears building up and I go into the corner of the room and put my head in between my knees. I close my eyes and focus on the silence in the room. I then hear birds chirping in the distance and start focusing on that.
I then shift my focus to my breath and take a deep breath, I count to three and release my breath. I continue this process until I know my anxieties has subsided.
I clear my mind and forget about the bigger picture. I start thinking of the smaller steps that will help me in the long run. I open my eyes and smile at the plan that came to mind.
I head to my room which is down the hall from my living room, I enter and begin packing my bags.
I make a mental note to get a burner phone to call my contacts. I know what must be done.
~Victoria's POV
The morning sun and the chirping birds does not put my mind at ease as I look at the clock, 7 a.m. The anxiety in my body does not fade as the time grows closer to 8, what can this surprise be? I get up and dread getting ready to see Jackson.
I go into the bathroom and open the cabinet underneath the sink. I move the towels away and take out the tissue box. I rummage through it and pull out the pendant. However, the it is still blinking red.
Shit.
I put the pendant back in the box and pray that Jackson doesn't notice that I'm not wearing it. I hop in the shower and get ready for the day.
The closet has a variety of clothes to choose from and I look outside to guess what the weather will be like. Since the sun is shinning brightly, I decide to dress lightly.
I pick out a simple white thigh length dress and pair it with a beautiful pair of loafers.
I decide to clip my hair up so that I do not sweat at the back of my neck. I look at the time and see that there are fifteen minutes before eight o clock. I spray on some body mist as well as a quick touch up on my face.
I exit the room and walk to the living room. On my way I greet some maids and avoid eye contact with the guards.
In the distance I hear two people laughing, a woman and a man.
I walk in and both pair of eyes land on me. I look to the beautiful woman with magnificent curly brown hair and tan skin with eyes as dark chocolate.
She is wearing a simple t-shirt, but I cannot see what she has on at the bottom as the table is covering her lower half.
She gently smiles at me and I greet her. I sit by the table with Jackson watching me with curious eyes, but I pay him no attention.
I reach my hand out towards the table and the mysterious woman does the same. We shake hands and I introduce myself.
"Hi there, I'm Victoria Henderson. Pleased to meet you." I end with a warm smile.
She smiles brightly and says her name is Claire. I freeze immediately and I feel my smile fading. She notices and looks confused.
I look to Jackson to see him watching the interaction between Claire and I. I cannot seem to formulate any sentences. She's supposed to be dead... What is she doing here? Does Kyle know this?
I stare back at Claire and she awkwardly removes her hand from mine and looks in a different direction. The silence is broken by a child in the distance.
I turn around to see a beautiful girl running towards Claire. Claire picks the child up and places her on her lap.
The resemblance is uncanning so it's easily to recognize that that little girl is the daughter of Claire, Kyle's daughter...
I look to Jackson, he is already looking at me waiting for me to say something. "How?" I ask him in utter shock and disbelief.
Jackson simply just shrugs his shoulders, leans back into his chair and sips on his coffee without breaking eye contact. Claire looks down at her child, but her facial expression tells me that she is extremely uncomfortable.
Before I can say anything, a maid walks in with a 5 star breakfast and places it in front of me. The room fills with more maids and they bring out different types of food.
They all do their job in complete silence and leave simultaneously. I can't find the appetite to eat this mouth watering breakfast and Jackson seems to notice.
"Something wrong with the food?" Jackson asks without looking at me. The child stares at me with wonder and I try to smile, but I'm so confused I feel I look constipated.
I look up to Claire who can't seem to keep eye contact with me, as if she's hiding something.
I ask Jackson how is this possible and he sets he's knife and fork down and looks at me with his arms folded over his chest. He sighs and asks where he should begin.
I tell him to start from the moment Claire was supposed to die. Claire shifts in her seat, looking anywhere but here, which catches my eye.
I turn to Jackson for an explanation and he looks towards Claire almost asking her if she's comfortable with him telling me the story. She gives him a slight reassuring smile and he faces me with no emotion.
"Like I have told you many times Victoria, I am not a monster. I have never harmed Claire as you can see." He points towards her direction and she shares a tight smile with me before averting her attention back to her daughter who looks roughly around six.
Jackson speaks again which makes me turn my head towards him."I never meant to hurt Kyle to the point where it drove him to stand side by side with the enemy." I interrupt him and ask, "Why did you do it then? It caused Kyle so much unnecessary pain."
His response keeps me silent. "Well if you could keep your mouth and listen, you'd know my reasons. Can I continue?" He asks me.
I just nod my head yes and all he says is "Good" before continuing. "As I was saying, my intentions was never to kill Claire or to have any harm come her way, instead I protected her for nearly a decade. However, in this line of work, you cannot have any weaknesses or anything that can be used against you and Claire was exactly that for Kyle."
I continue listening intently to the story while mentally connecting the dots. "After confirming Claire's pregnancy, I immediately let her know what was going to happen, but I made sure that she was on board with every single thing. She did nothing that she was not comfortable with. Claire knew the dangers she'd put her life and her unborn child into so we devised a plan to make sure she's safe until I carry out my plan, which is to take over everything and create peace between all."
"I had to tell Kyle that she died because if he knew the truth, he'd be so focused on trying to find her, that he could end up killed because of the distraction." He leans forward and and speaks more softly. "That's all you need to know for now. Eat up, your food is getting cold."
Jackson goes back to eating his meal and I look to Claire who briefly makes eye contact with me before looking down at her daughter again. I look to the daughter, her shoulder length curls gracefully falls around her face which makes it hard for me to see her. She looks up at me with her big doe eyes and waves.
I smile and wave back at her. Jackson looks at the interaction between her daughter and I before looking at my chest.
He looks confused and my heart starts to beat faster. "Where's your necklace?" He asks. I involuntarily bring my hand to my chest where the necklace would have been.
I feel my hands start to shake and I place them under the table so he does not see how nervous I am.
"Are you going to answer me or not?" Jackson says suspiciously. "Show me your hands." Oh no. I slowly bring my hands above the table and they are shaking tremendously. "Why are you nervous?" Jackson asks and I can hear the slight aggression in his tone.
I quickly come up with a lie and I pray I don't give my game away. "I'm not nervous." I look down to the table and I place my hands down back on my lap. "After our talk about Xavior and seeing those pictures of him really changed my view on him. I thought he was this good guy who couldn't even hurt a fly. That pendent was to symbolize our love, but that's not the type of love I need. And I'm shaking because I'm still shaken up from last night's encounter."
Jackson's tension visibly reduces and I subtlety relax as well. I hope I got away with that one. Jackson looks at his watch and gets up. "Thank you ladies for joining me for breakfast, but I have business to attend to."
He gets up and leaves me and Claire alone. The tension is super awkward and I don't know what to say. Claire gets up with her daughter and greets me goodbye. I'm stunned yet confused about what is happening. Urggg when is Xavior going to get here!! I think about Amber and decide to pay her a visit.
I walk the familiar route to her room. When I get there, I knock, but no one answers. I slowly open the door and peak my head inside. Nothing can be heard except my own breathing. I enter her room and close the door behind me.
All the alarms are going off in my head, but I continue to snoop around. I find a book on the dresser next to her bed and pick it up. I open the book and I see it's actually her journal. Guilt immediately flows through me and I decide to stop snooping and just look for her another time.
However, I find something that makes my heart sink to my stomach.
You have got to be kidding me...
Hii, everyone. Hope you all are well and taking care of yourselves. Here's another chapter done. I'm trying to post as much chapters of the book as I can because my exams are coming up so I'm trying to squeeze everything in now before I have to sacrifice this again for my studies.
Have a great one and I really hope you guys enjoy the book so far ❤️