JaxonMy voice was raw from having spent the last few hours yelling at lawyers and doctors about my overwhelming situation. I wanted to choke out the next person who told me there was ‘nothing they could do.’ I sat at my desk feeling defeated with my head in my hands. I felt like I had no comfort–no safe space and no solution. Sloan was always at home, always seeming to flirt, no matter how cold I was. Sara always looked overwhelmed and upset and no words I had could comfort her. Here in the office, I spent more time trying to find solutions than actually doing any work. I was angry and burnt out. I hardly noticed the phone ringing next to me. It had been a while since someone called me on my office phone. "Jaxon Deverioux," I answered blandly. Whatever this was would have to wait. I was in no mood to deal with picky advertisers and platform hosts. "Yes, Mr. Deverioux, it’s Doctor Renfield. I’m so sorry it took me so long to get back to you with the results. Our equipment
Sara"Are you going to eat?" Jaxon asked with a laugh.I tore my eyes away from the paternity results with a sheepish smile and carefully placed the paper beside me. I'd been reading the results over and over since we'd sat down to eat. I just couldn't believe it–the relief I felt was indescribable. "I'm just… I'm feeling a lot of different things right now," I explained as I dug into my dinner with a happy moan."I'm glad that the truth is out now and there isn't anything between us," Jaxon said with a sincere smile. "I'm so sorry for the turmoil you've been going through."I nodded at him, with my mouth full, feeling the most content I'd felt in a while. It felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders but it was a lot to process all at once. It was exactly what I'd wanted but I hadn't actually thought it would happen. I'd been resigned to my fate.My heart felt full knowing that Jaxon hadn't betrayed me at all–he hadn't slept with Cynthia before our wed
SaraI jumped in surprise as I felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist. I relaxed when I heard Jaxon's familiar chuckle in my ear, turning in his embrace to smile up at him."Welcome home," I whispered against his lips as I wound my arms around his neck."You're making dinner today too?" he asked as we pulled apart.I nodded and shrugged with a cheeky smile, "I'm still in the mood to apologize to you.""I already told you that you have nothing to apologize for," Jaxon insisted as he let me go and went in search of a drink."I know what you said, but I want you to know how much I love and appreciate you," I answered smartly as I turned my attention back to my bubbling pot.Jaxon came out of the pantry with two beers in hand, popping them both open before handing me one and sitting at the kitchen island."I can't argue with that, but let's just eat in here," Jaxon suggested in a firm tone. "No more work for you other than cooking."I laughed and raised my hands in s
Jaxon I sipped my coffee with a smile. Last night had been fucking incredible. Sara was the best thing that ever happened to me. And as anybody who knew me would know, I was not exactly given to sentimentality. But this girl, this woman, she was something else. I never thought I could feel this way. Most people in my line of work had wives, sure. And girlfriends on the side. I didn't judge. You never really knew what was going on in someone else’s marriage. Fuck, for a while there I wasn’t even sure what was going on in my own. But anyway, Sara, she was different. Special. I didn’t deserve her, a man like me. If she knew half of the shit I did, would she still want to be with me? I didn’t know. I never wanted to know. But I would have killed to protect her. To protect what we had. It was precious. It was fucking everything to me. Which of course, begged the question, what the fuck was I supposed to do about my bitch ex-wife? The person who tried to fuck it all up. Christ, if s
SaraWhen I woke up this morning, Jaxon had already gone to work. He left me a note, telling me that he’d left me a surprise downstairs. I smiled when I saw it. I’d already been given a great surprise. The baby wasn’t Jaxon’s. He didn’t betray me. His crazy bitch of an ex-wife was lying after all. As I wrapped myself in a robe and made my way downstairs in pursuit of coffee, my initial feeling was relief. I wanted Cynthia in our lives forever about as much as I wanted another concussion. And now that I knew for sure that Jaxon hadn’t betrayed our relationship and that he didn’t somehow want to be with her, maybe we could actually begin to move forward. My surprise was in the kitchen. A new state-of-the-art espresso machine gleamed on the countertop. A bag of espresso beans and a new coffee grinder sat next to a pastry box full of chocolate croissants from Castellano’s, my favorite bakery. A handwritten note was written in Jaxon’s signature script on the top of the box: *To a
Jaxon That fucking bitch wasn’t going to get away with this. I had had it up to here with her fucking bullshit. It wasn’t enough that my asshole ex-wife tried to destroy my marriage with her bullshit baby lie. Now she was telling my people that I was losing money on my investments. I was the king of the fucking underworld. "People in my world, they don’t take it so well when they think they’re about to lose money. They don’t exactly lodge a complaint to human resources, if you know what I mean. That crazy bitch is trying to get me clipped. And that ain’t happening." "Calm down Jaxon, you’re going to give yourself a heart attack," Eli said to me over lunch at Rastelli’s. "Nobody but nobody would believe a word that bitch says. She’s got no credibility on the street, not where it matters." I hoped to Christ that was true. I had enough to worry about with the Board members of my legit business breathing down my neck. Cynthia had been running her mouth again about how I was not
Sara This situation with Cynthia had been messing with my head. Now that I knew Jaxon hadn’t betrayed me, and he certainly wasn’t interested in her anymore, it wasn’t so much about how she fit in with our relationship. Apparently, she didn’t, which was a huge weight off of my mind. But why was she still trying to mess up our lives? Jaxon had been telling me from the beginning that she was just manipulating the situation to suit her own ends. Lately, it sure seemed as if her ends included destroying my husband. But why? I knew it wasn’t about the money. Jaxon said that he kept her well provided for, and having seen her wardrobe, I believed him… not to mention the new cherry red Maserati that she drove to the office this week. Clearly, she was doing alright. So why try to create drama at work? Wouldn’t she want him to continue doing well, so by extension, she would have the cash to do what she wanted to do? It seemed like I was missing something, and it had been bothering me.
Jaxon "I’m not sure where else to dig, but she has to be getting more support from somewhere," I shouted, banging my hands on the table. "Maybe you're looking in the wrong places," James offered. I glanced at him sideways. "Pray tell, what are the right places?" "Well, you’ve looked at the company. Clearly, you’ve hired a lot of gossiping slimeballs, but none that would go so far as to help Cynthia. The only ones who are hanging around are a singular girlfriend and your mother. That leaves one other factor. Who were the crime lords she had connections with?" "You think she’d resort to organized crime? I mean she was comfortable in that world but to do it without me, against me?""There’s a lot of people who want to see you out of power, Jaxon. Don’t be too surprised. But if we can prove ties to organized crime, you have a winning ticket."I stood hunched over my desk staring at him, waiting for him to reach the punchline. All I wanted was Cynthia out of our lives. I