Chapter 16

UNEDITED 🤷‍♀️


Nikolai was sitting around a large oval table surrounded by his staff. They were all quiet and scared to speak because lately he's been on edge. Thinking of Baylee crawling into Conner's bed the way she did him, felt like it was going to be a lasting scar. It was impossible to rip it from his mind. He couldn't believe she could stoop as low as to try and sleep with his sister's husband, and her best friend. Was this the real Baylee all along? Has he been too stupid to see it? He crumpled a sheet of paper resting under his hand.

"Sir." His assistant calls.

He shifts his angry gaze to her.

"We need that." She cautiously takes the paper.

"Meeting dismissed." He suddenly announces and abruptly leaves the table

He enters his office and braces his hands on the front of his desk. He needed strength to stop himself from destroying the entire room. Tossing the furniture and breaking everything into pieces wouldn't help he knew, yet still, he wanted to do it.

He could never forgive her. He could never look at her the same and feel the same way about her. It was probably the best thing she could ever do to him was to leave him. Maybe he was blind to who she truly was. Maybe like mother, like daughter.

*Knock knock* In walks Melissa. "Hey, are you ready?"

He turns. She looked cute in a frilly pink romper. He sizes her up, noticing her subtle makeup and flat hair. She was pretty but just wasn't his type. Baylee was his type but she was wrong for him. He always knew she was spoiled, but he just didn't care. Now he realizes maybe he was choosing the wrong kind of woman.
Melissa was dangling herself in front of him all along and he has been focused on Baylee.
He decided that he was going to do something he normally wouldn't and give Melissa a chance. He asked her on a date but the whole time while on it, he thought of Baylee.

The plan today was to go to lunch, but he wasn't hungry. "Let's order in." He manoeuvres himself around his desk and takes his seat.

She goes behind him and rests her palms on his shoulder. "Stressed again?" She begins rubbing.

He releases a breath. "Yeah...I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I get it. You and your whole family are hurting right now."

He loved that she was so understanding. Baylee would have gotten annoyed already. "You're great you know that."

"So I've heard." She jokes.

"I'm serious." He adds. "And thank you for being there for my sister during this hard time." He wished he could be the man she deserved. He wished he could treat her the way she deserved but all he could think about was Baylee's treachery.

~~~~



Meanwhile...

Clarissa was on the phone with her sister and Baylee was distressed. She had decided to keep the baby, but that wasn't the distressing part, it was the fact that she also decided to leave the country. "You're making a mistake... your family is here and you need us right now.

"I feel like I need to do this."

"You don't need to run. I know you're hurt, and I promise it will get better."

Baylee lets out a breath. She felt antsy like she couldn't sit still and hopping on a plane would help right now. "I have to go."

"Don't do this." Clarissa pleads but it was in vain the call was ended.

As she tries to call back, she hears the garage door opening. It was mid-day and the kids weren't supposed to be home for a few more hours so she picked up the first thing she could find, an umbrella, and went to check it out.

It was Jacob, he was looking in through boxes that had been sitting there forever.

"What are you doing?"

He turns when he hears her and slides his hands into his pockets. "I'm moving back in."

Her eyes widen. "No, you are not."

"Yes, I am..." He nudges his head in the direction of the open garage door and when she looks out, her eyes nearly pop out of her head. There was a huge moving truck and movers unloading his things.

"You can't do this."

He clears his throat. "I stopped the proceedings on the divorce as well."

She was livid at this moment. She rolls her eyes. "You're just delaying it."

"Then good." He retorts. "that means I have that much more time."

"Look...you can't move in."

"I love you Clair... and I'm not going anywhere."

She crosses her arms. "How could you do a 180 all of a sudden? You said you fell out of love. Now you love me again? What is this Jacob? A joke?

"I never stopped loving you."

"Do you have any idea how empty those words are coming from you?"

"It's the truth."

"So what changed?"

"What changed was you."

She smirks. "So you like my new clothes and short hair? Wow."

"No, I like that you were trying to get my attention. I like that you came to my office wanting me back, and I love the fact that you have my name tattooed on your body."

She gasps. "That's a violation. You peeked while I was sleeping."

He smiles. "Guilty, and you know what Clair." He steps closer. "When I realized that it was my name, that's when it hit me, just how stupid I am. I realized, how much you love me."

"I don't love you anymore." She denies.

"Lying doesn't suit you." He walks away and begins directing the movers.

She was defeated. He was moving in and she probably couldn't stop it but she definitely wasn't going to let this all be easy for him.


Later...
It was odd explaining to the kids what was going on. Jacob after a moment of Clarissa trying to come with something confessed to them that he had moved back in, and promised he would never leave again.
They were overjoyed, ecstatic over the moon with excitement. Alyssa balled like a baby.

Clarissa had to admit it was so nice to live in that moment for a few. She hadn't seen her kids this happy in so long. They spent the next few hours spending time together as a family and then it was time for sleep."

After putting the kids to bed, she hurries to her room and locks the door. If he thinks moving in was going to make her spend time with him he was mistaken.

The next morning she woke to an appetizing smell. Downstairs and in the kitchen she found Jacob making breakfast and all her children waiting around the table patiently. The most well-behaved she has seen them.

"Take a seat." He orders.

Mesmerized by the sight, she quietly sits around the table and waits to be served. Jacob used to cook breakfast every weekend. He even looked adorable in an apron. That stopped even before he left though. Thinking about the change in him over the years made her angry. She couldn't stop her negative thoughts and memories.
"I'm not hungry." She suddenly leaves the table. This was all an act and she knew it.

The following morning her alarm rang. It was time to get her kids ready for school.

When she went to Alyssa's room, she always woke up first because she took so long in the bathroom, but Alyssa was already in the bathroom. She walks by Dylan's room hears ruffling and knows he is awake also. Jacob must have gotten them up and it made her angry.

She finds him in the kitchen getting up from the table after finishing his breakfast. He was dressed for work looking sleek in a black suit and tie. The tie meant that he had a meeting.

"I want you to stop this." She commands.

He looks up at her with joined brows. "What exactly am I doing?"

"Trying to help me. You think I'm suddenly going to be like oh wow he helps let's get back together. You think I'm that easy?"

"Come on Clair, I'm their father. This isn't me helping you. They are my responsibility just as much as they are yours."

"Oh." She looks down at her fiddling fingers. He was just being a father. She shouldn't be surprised, he was always a hands-on dad.
"So you didn't move back in to win me back?"

He laughs. "Now when did I say that?" He steps closer.

"When..." She pauses and clears her throat. "So you didn't?"

"Of course I did Clair..." He shoves his hands into his pockets. "It's no secret that I want you back. I want my family back."

She closes her eyes and releases a deep breath. She could hear his footsteps approaching, and as simple as that, she got chills. She opened her eyes and he was standing the same way with hands in his pockets, only closer. Just a few feet away.

"It was just like this." He begins to whisper. The first time I ever laid eyes on you, this was exactly how you looked. This cute expression for a thinking face."

"The first time we met was at a party and Megan introduced us." She corrects.

"Hmm mm... but that wasn't the first time I saw you."

She was so close to blushing. So close. It wasn't what he said, it was how he said it. "Look." she snaps herself out of even the slightest feeling. "Remembering those days won't change the facts and what you've done." Damn this resentment but she couldn't help it. It was the strongest feeling she had towards him. "You're not the man I married."

"Clair." He gets her focus with all seriousness. "I'm only human. Through all of my mistakes, I've learned. I've learned that life isn't always perfect, not at all actually. And I know now that if I would have communicated to you what my needs were, you would have tried to give it to me. But I wanted you to notice, and I wanted you to want me without me having to initiate."
He clears his throat as he struggles to keep talking. "I just wanted you to want me and when you didn't, I felt hurt and rejected. That turned into anger and bitterness. A chip grew on my shoulder. I took for granted everything and every moment I had with my family, with you." He pauses. "And you know...how could I expect you to even want to be close to me when I acted like a beast."

"You don't deserve to have us back." These words were coming from deep inside her mind in her darkest thoughts. "Sex." She laughs. "That's what life was to you huh? You didn't like our sex life so that gave you all right to embarrass me in front of my family?" This side of her she never let come out. She was never confrontational and almost always put things aside but when she did let it come out it was bad. "That gave you the right to break up our home because you weren't satisfied?" A tear streams down her cheek and quickly she wipes it away.

He looks to the ground. It was hard to face this and admit wrongs but it was even harder seeing her cry. "I don't deserve to have what I walked away from, You're absolutely right. But the hell if you and my children don't deserve for me to fight. And I will fight until my dying breath."

"Are you sure you even want this?

"Yes." He affirms. "I thought the problems in our marriage were irreparable because I thought you didn't want to repair it but now I know that the problem in our marriage was me. I can fix me."

"Mom!" Emmie comes running in.

Clarissa takes a sharp intake of breath when Jacob grabs onto both of her arms suddenly. Before she could react, he slid his hands up around her neck and jaw, then kissed her forehead.
"I really have to go." He releases. "I'll see you later. He stalks out of the house.

Tingles lingered on the spot his lips touched.

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