"Jacqueline, are you ready to leave? Do you have everything you need? Car keys, wallet, credit cards?"
Jackie rolled her eyes behind her mother's back. "Mom, chill out. You don't worry this much when Kristin goes back to college." Kristin popped out at the sound of her name. "That's because I rarely give Mother any cause to worry and I'm not a forgetful bug like you." "Hey, girls, play nice and Kristin? Don't call your sister a bug." "Yes, Mother. I can't wait for her to leave though. Everyone knows she is a nuisance anyways." "Kristy! She is your sister and she's standing right here!" Regina interjected, throwing her hands in the air. Jacqueline stopped packing and straightened up to full length. She was two heads taller than Kristin and the latter hated being reminded of that fact. "So it's okay if she says stuff like this but just as long as she doesn't say it to my hearing, Mom? And you, butt face, I don't know what your problem is but I'm not gonna make it easy for you to insult me. So you can get off your high horse because even from that height, you won't still reach the kitchen cabinets." Jacqueline flipped her the bird and Regina gasped in shock. Kristin stormed out of the room, her golden locks jumping behind her. "That was mean, even for you, Jacqueline. I demand that you apologize to your sister before leaving this house." "Or what?" Jacqueline shouted back. "You'll take away my car? Well, here," she tossed her car keys in her bed. "I never liked that ugly ass automatic anyways." Jacqueline also left her mother in her own bedroom. She needed space to think, to calm down. Sometimes, if not for her eerie resemblance to her father, she could have sworn that she was not their child. They all pushed her around, treated her like trash and no one had a good word to say about her. She wasn't totally bad, just going through some stuff. "Umph! Watch where you are going!" Jacqueline yelled as she ran into a person. "Try to apply your own advice, Jackie," Richard admonished, tugging at his cufflinks. He hadn't worn that shit in years. They were a basket case, a conundrum. Jackie looked up at him, a frown disrupting her forehead and pouting in disapproval. "You are doing it all wrong. Let me at it," she offered, pushing his hand away. He sighed in defeat and gave up his hands to her. She worked quickly, making him look stupid at how she had conquered his problems in a minute. "All done. How did you graduate from college without knowing how to work cufflinks?" she wondered. Richard shrugged and let off a devilish grin, his jade eyes twinkling with mischief. "I had a lot of girlfriends back then." Jacqueline stuck her tongue at him and he laughed wholeheartedly, flashing a complete set of straight, white teeth. His hair was in its usual disarray but it still looked perfect, strands falling over his forehead in a playboy manner. She wanted to touch it so bad. Suddenly she was taken back to that night. She remembered how full it was, how soft it was to the touch, how he had moaned under her mild ministrations, how..... "Earth to Jackie. Jackie!" "Yeah, what?!" Jackie interjected, jolted from her reverie. "Hmm. What were you thinking about? You were stuck in pout mode. Must be serious." She shook her head in denial. "It's nothing. Why are you in a suit?" If only he could read her mind... "I'm old and I don't have better clothes to wear," he answered and tried to get past her but she grabbed his wrist and held fast. "Mr Rossi? You are not funny. Why are you here, wearing a suit and trying to make me laugh?" Richard pulled out of her hold and looked above her head. He didn't like it when he called him that. It made him feel old inside and reminded him of the age gap between them. He wanted to hear her say his name in that smoky voice he had come to love but she never would because he was her late father's friend. "Now who is thinking out loud?" Jacqueline mocked, poking a finger at his chest. Only that he didn't looked happy afterwards. "Look, I have something I have to do and that's why I'm here. I should get going." He tried to escape again but this time, her voice stopped him. "Have I done anything to offend you, Mr Rossi?" He pinched his forehead. "No, Jackie, not at all." She was not reassured. He seemed different from usual and he was hiding something from her. He refused to look her in the eyes and she could sense the tense atmosphere around them. He couldn't hate her too. She won't let that happen, not if she had anything to say about it. She touched his forearm to get his attention. "I need your help actually." "What did you do, Jackie?" She snatched back her hand and stamped her feet childishly. Why did everyone immediately assume that she was at fault? She wasn't really a nuisance, was she? "Okay," he amended, "What happened?" Jacqueline suddenly noticed a nonexistent fluff on her leather jacket. "Mom made me mad, I lost my temper and now I need a ride back to college." "Why don't you just hitchhike with Kris?" Richard suggested. Jacqueline frowned, her hands forming fists. "Over my dead body. It was her fault I lost my head and threw down my keys. Going back to my room to pick 'em up would be anticlimactic." Richard glanced at his wristwatch. The meeting was not to begin till noon. If he ignored some red lights and drove like crazy back and forth, he just could.... "Why don't you go with Donovan? He is not Kris." Donovan was one of their family drivers but just like everyone in their household, there was no love lost between them and worse of all, he was a tattletale. Anything she said or did would be reported back to Kristin, who was a fairy princess to them, who would in turn, spill her guts to their mother. "You know what? Don't worry about it. I'll get a ride from Ginny instead. She is going with Cameron. I better call her now. Sorry for being a pest. You should get to your meeting." Strangely, Jacqueline felt her eyes watering. She touched her hand to her face and alas, there the tears were. She hid her face immediately but Richard had already seen them. "Jackie...." he began. "It's okay. I just have something in my eyes," she said, with the lame excuse and went away. Richard watched her walk away in all her glory and he suddenly felt like a dick.I'm so grateful to Goodnovel for approving this book! Enjoy!
Richard sat with their company's lawyers, uncomfortable even with the air conditioners blowing like hell from all angles in the conference room. His conscience was eating at him and he had picked up his phone to check up on Jackie multiple times before remembering that he didn't even have her digits. He didn't want to bother Regina for them and Kris was prepping for her flight come the following day. The stuffy lawyers had arrived late after all and the meeting had actually begun an hour later. He had sat for four hours, hating himself for refusing Jackie. He had not believed the excuse she had given; he had hurt her and she had cried. He was worried about her, what she could do when she was upset. She had paused with the drugs for a bit, at least from what he could tell when he was around but now that she was rolling with those junkies again.... "Mr Rossi, are you with you? This is the fourth time you are spacing out. Is anything the problem?" Leroy, their head lawyer wanted to know
"Mother, are you absolutely sure that Father's signature was on that document?" Kristin asked again and again, packing her room endlessly. Her father had bypassed her and named Jacqueline as the heir to his share of the ownership of Petals after all she had done to please him. "It was. It was his signature. Oh, God, how could Peter make such a decision without seeking my opinion? He called Richard but not me, not his wife who has been there for him through thick and thin." Regina broke down in tears, dunking her head on the table before her. Her shoulders shook with emotion and she wept bitterly. Kristin comforted her, massaging her shaking shoulders gently. "You need to take it easy, Mother. You have cried so much these past few days. You need a clear head to figure out what to do next." Regina got up all of a sudden and straightened her clothing. Her perfect face was streaked with tears but she remained the epitome of graceful womanhood. The bun on her hair was still fastidiousl
"Hello, who is this?" Richard basked in the sound of her voice for a while. She sounded sleepy, her smoky voice enhanced in the process. He could almost imagine her, stretched across a bed, her long legs scattered every which way, the same with her long, blonde-white hair, her phone plastered to her ear. No matter how disorderly that picture would look like, he still longed to see it. "Hello? Who the hell is this?" she yelled, her shriek tearing through his imagination. She looked at the phone to know if she had cut the call without realizing. "Um? It's me," he replied stupidly. She is just a girl, he chided himself, slapping his forehead. Jacqueline sat up on her bed, yawning widely. She had fallen asleep, reading Pride and Prejudice and had slobbered all over the novel. "Mr Rossi? Is that you?" Richard did not know what pleased him more: that she did not cut the call on him or that she had instantly recognized his voice though over the phone. "It is. I was calling to know if y
The main lights of the library were dimmed but she could see the outline of a figure sitting at the front desk. Was that the librarian? she wondered. If she was caught by the authorities, it could spell doom for her. Perhaps there was an alternative way in but how would she know? The only other time she had been in that library was to collect a mandatory college library card which she had never had cause to use. "Hey, you! I see you. Over here," the person at the front desk called to her. Jacqueline stopped in her tracks. The voice sounded young and somewhat famuliar, like someone of her age but voices could be deceiving. Nevertheless, she made her way to the person, prepared for anything except the person she found in the chair: Camille Cage. Camille was like a doppelganger of Kristin, just less rich and famous. She was beautiful and yet so vain that she admonished everyone to call her CeCe (C.C) or so she had heard. She always had As and Bs but it had been generally assumed that
Leroy Gamble tapped lightly on his laptop, searching for information. He had been up all night. The lawyer whom Peter had created that document with had been hard to get hold of. It seemed like the man was trying not to be found. He had asked Rossi for the lawyer's phone number but Rossi didn't have it. In fact, Richard had barely participated in the contract; he was just a witness. It had all been Peter's idea, Peter's whole drama put together. "Luke Martinez," Leroy recited repeatedly as he scrolled down with his mouse. The search engine gave over a million individuals going by that moniker, only adding to Leroy's headache. He was an intelligent man though and had studied Law and Criminology as his minor. He tried to recollect everything Rossi had told him about this mysterious lawyer: "Peter met with me a year ago in Omar during vacation...we had a lawyer write up the documents contained in that binder...." Omar.... Quickly, Leroy erased his search log and retyped: Luke Martinez
Donovan slowed down as he got into the gates of Petals Pharmaceuticals and Cosmetics. Throughout the short journey, he had kept stealing glances at his mistress. She seemed too serene that it was scary. For days, she had refused to see anyone and now all of a sudden, she wanted to visit Petals? Very suspicious indeed "We are here," he said, for lack of words. "I can see that," she lightly rebutted, "Wait here till I return. I won't be long." Donovan scrambled out of the car to open her door but she beat him to it, pushing open the side door of the Lamborghini. He felt embarrassed at his incompetence and hung his head in shame. She barely took notice, walking past him to the great doors of Petals. The security at the gate had let her in out of familiarity but she did not know the doorman. "Aren't you going to let me in....Steve?" She inquired, reading from his worker's ID card. "Good day, Mrs Torres. I am deeply sorry to tell you this, ma'am but you can't come in without a worker'
The flight to Alaska was delayed at the airport for a few hours due to an unforeseen stormy weather. Leroy was frustrated and mopped at the sweat running down his chin with a scented handkerchief. He had called his contact, Foss, who had assured him that Luke Martinez was home at his apartment in Alaska. He had decided not to call him previously so as not to scare him away but as the weather worsened, he had no other alternative. He couldn't let him get away but something still troubled him. Luke Martinez was a registered state attorney so why was he trying not to be found? Who was he hiding from? Leroy had thought about it all week but could not come up with anything solid. Obviously, someone was either blackmailing him or perhaps his life was under threat. He took out his phone but there was no reception where he stood. "Stupid signal, stupid storm!" he cursed and tried to move around but he still had a flat bar. He glanced behind him, where equally frustrated passengers stood, r
Richard watched the news from the safety of his office. His office, he mused, almost hilariously. About a year ago, he was in the beachy wonderland of Hawaii, exploring the land, flirting with natives and trying new recipes. Now he was sitting in a mammoth office, stamping and signing file after file. The rain had begun a while ago and since he hated driving in the rain, he could not go home either. Home? Where was home? He had been a nomad for too long, never staying in a place long enough to develop any roots or relationships that would keep him in a place. Jacqueline had been right: he was a hopeless playboy with just enough money to back himself up. He and Peter had emerged from wealthy families and the best schools but choosing to be independent, Petals was born. It was just like yesterday when he and Peter had cracked open bottles in honour of their new venture. Regina was pregnant with Jacqueline then and bitter as ever, courtesy of her erratic hormones. When Jacqueli