Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
Jackson
“ T hrow the book at her,” I instruct my attorney, Conrad, and his two colleagues. “And work to terminate the sponsorship agreement with E-X Tires. I want to pull the plug before Maxim does.” Ember has her daddy wrapped around her little finger, and I’ve no doubt she’s convinced him of her lies. We’ve already had a few shouting matches over the phone in the month since I fired his toxic daughter.
“We’ll get the paperwork started asap,” the distinguished gray-haired attorney says, just as the door to the conference room crashes open, hitting the wall with a loud bang.
My wife storms across the room toward me, looking equal parts angry and upset.
Shit.
“I told Mrs. Lauder you were in a meeting and couldn’t be disturbed, sir,” Malcom—my new assistant—says, following Nessa into the room sporting a panicked expression.
I drill him with a pointed look. “My wife and my kids supersede all conventional rules. Nessa, Ren, and Dani are the only people allowed to interrupt me, at any time, no matter what I’m doing. I explained this on day one.”
His Adam’s apple bobs. “I apologize for my mistake. I’ll ensure it doesn’t happen again, sir.”
“Jackson.” Nessa stops in front of me. The hurt radiating in her eyes threatens to yank my legs out from under me.
“Baby.” I clasp her gorgeous face in my hands, seeing the evidence of the tears she’s tried to hide with makeup.
Fuck. I’ve messed up again.
I’ve been holed up with my legal team for hours trying to make this go away. I knew Nessa would freak, but I thought my message would cover it and she’d be okay until I could call her. Nessa knows me inside and out. She knows I would never, could never , betray her. I love her so fucking much, and it pains me that another vindictive bitch is putting my family through this again. “It’s not true.” I look her straight in the eyes. “I love you, and I would never cheat on you.”
Honestly, the way I’m feeling right now I could murder the bitch. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve killed someone to protect my wife, and I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again.
Mess with my family, and you mess with me.
Her lower lips trembles. “But those pictures,” she whispers as tears gather in her eyes.
“I can explain.” I push her blonde hair behind her ears. “I know it looks bad, but it’s not true. I haven’t touched her. I swear.”
Nessa bursts out crying, burying her head in my shoulder and sobbing her heart out. Every anguished cry rips a strip from my heart, and I wish I could absorb all the pain so she feels none of it.
My assistant has already made himself scarce, but the legal team is standing uncertainly behind the table, looking everywhere but at us. “I need some privacy to talk to my wife, and I believe we’re done here,” I say, running my hand up and down Nessa’s hair.
“There are a couple of minor discussion points to resolve, but I’ll email you.” Conrad glances at Nessa with compassion written all over his face.
I wait for them to leave, closing the door behind them, before I scoop my traumatized wife into my arms and reclaim my seat at the head of the table. I situate Nessa on my lap and hug her close, dotting kisses into her hair and whispering how much I love her and how sorry I am while she cries inconsolably.
I will fucking kill Ember for this. How dare she pull this bullshit. How dare she hurt my wife.
“How did she get those photos of you, Jackson?” Nessa asks a few minutes later, lifting her head and swiping at her eyes.
“It was when we were in Barcelona last month for the race,” I confirm. “She told reception I’d locked myself out of my hotel room, and they gave her a key.” I draw a brave breath, knowing Nessa is going to haul me over the coals for not admitting this the second I came home. “I didn’t know she’d taken pictures, but I woke in the middle of the night to find her naked in my bed with her hand on my cock.”
“What the actual fuck?!” Nessa shouts, scrambling off my lap and backing up a few paces.
Pain spears me straight through the heart. “I know I should have told you the instant I came home, but you’ve been very emotional lately, and I didn’t want to upset you. Not when I thought I’d handled it and made it go away.”
“Did you sleep with her?” she asks as fresh tears stream down her face.
What. The. Fuck?! “No!” I climb to my feet and walk toward my retreating wife. “Of course, I fucking didn’t! How could you even think that, Nessa?” Before she can put any more space between us, I haul her back into my arms, keeping a firm hold of my wife so she can’t run away. “I have been one hundred percent devoted and faithful to you. I love you, babe.” I brush my lips softly against hers. “I love our family. I would never betray you or the kids. Never.” My heart hurts. I can’t believe she thought I could do something like this. “You don’t trust me.”
“I do, Jackson.” She clings to me tighter. “I trust you, and I believe you. I shouldn’t have doubted you, but that’s what happens when you keep secrets, and my hormones are going haywire, and Ren?—”
My shoulders stiffen. “Ren what?”
“He saw the pictures,” she whispers. “And he…”
“He believes it?” The pain in my chest is so severe I wonder if I’m having a coronary. My relationship with my son is a little fractured right now, but him believing this guts me.
“I’m sorry.” She winds her arms around me. “I’m sorry for not believing you, but you know I don’t trust easily. I just?—”
“You don’t need to apologize. This fuckup is on me, but I thought we were over this, Nessa.” I cup her cheeks in my hands. “I know I damaged our relationship when we first met, but that was over twenty years ago, Nessa. Haven’t I loved you good enough? Haven’t I told you enough you’re my world? What more can I do to convince you you’re my soulmate, babe? Because I don’t want anyone else. I’ve never wanted anyone else. Only you, and that will not change. Not now. Not ever.”
“I’m pregnant,” she blurts.
My knees buckle, and I sway on my feet, almost taking both of us to the floor. “What?” I whisper, unsure if I’m hearing things.
“We’re having a baby.” She chews on the corner of her lip, and worry lines furrow her brow. “Can we go to your office and talk?” she asks, and I nod as if in slow motion.
I don’t even recall the walk from the conference room to my large office such is the confusion in my head. Nessa leads me by the hand, pushes me down onto the couch in my office, and retrieves two bottles of water from the mini refrigerator.
“Say something,” she pleads, shoving a bottle into my hand.
“You’re really pregnant?” I ask, still in a bit of a daze.
“Yes.” She uncaps her water.
“How?” We tried for years for a third child, but nothing happened. We weren’t too upset. We have two great kids, and we count our blessings because Nessa had trouble conceiving both times. We figured we were lucky and gave up trying to push our luck. But we’ve never used contraception. Didn’t think there was a need for it. I make regular love to my wife, have done for years, and I’ve never impregnated her again—until now.
“Well, you love putting your cock inside me, and your little swimmers are clearly still very virile because you knocked me up good, Lauder.”
“How far along are you?”
“Fourteen weeks.” She knocks back her water, eyeing me carefully. “I thought I was in perimenopause. I thought that’s why I had put on weight and gained a little stomach.” She palms her tiny belly, and warmth floods my chest. Our baby is growing in there. “I didn’t think for a second I could be pregnant.”
I drop to my knees in front of her and place one hand over hers on her tummy. “It’s a miracle baby.” I lean in and kiss her. “Today has been such a shitty day, but I don’t give a fuck about that bitch. Nothing and no one can take this joy away.”
Nessa’s eyes widen as more water wells in them. “You’re happy?”
“Sweetheart.” I get to my feet, lift my wife in my arms, and plonk back down in the chair with her on my lap. “Happy doesn’t even come close to describing how I feel. I’m over the moon. This is the best news ever. Did you think it wasn’t?”
“I wasn’t sure.” She snakes her arms around my neck. “We’re in our forties, and you’re so busy with work. I didn’t know how you’d feel.”
“I’m ecstatic, Nessa.” I kiss her lips because I need to be close to her. “I don’t care that we’re older, and I’ll hire a manager to help me with my workload. I promise you won’t be doing the heavy lifting alone. I’m with you every step of the way. I want to go to every appointment and be involved as much as I can.”
Tears spill down her cheeks again. “Oh my god.” She laughs, hastily brushing the tears away. “I’m an emotional wreck.”
“At least it explains some things.” I rub at her plump lips. “I’m sorry for all the pain you’ve felt today. I’m sorry that bitch tried to rob the joy from the moment, but that’ll only happen if we let it.”
“Tell me everything, Jackson. I need to know.”
“How about I tell you everything and then we take off for the rest of the day? We’ll grab a late lunch, maybe a couples massage, and then I’m taking you home to make sweet love to you all night.” It’s not often we have a kid-free house, and I want to take advantage.
“Sounds perfect.” Her fingers thread through my hair, and delicious shivers instantly coast up and down my spine.
My wife’s touch is golden. Even after all these years, she still has the power to turn me on with the barest of caresses. No other woman could ever compare to Vanessa Lauder. She’s my everything, and I’ve never as much as looked at another woman in all the time we’ve been together. Even when I was a jackass at the start of our relationship, those other girls at RU were only ever a tool to hurt Vanessa. I didn’t give a shit about them, and there was zero attraction.
It still kills me I hurt her like that, and I’ll never stop trying to make it up to her. I’m not the sole reason Nessa has trust issues, but I hate I contributed to her insecurity. I regularly wish I could return to young me and punch myself in the face.
“I should have listened to you when you warned me about Ember. That’s on me,” I start explaining. Nessa peers deep into my eyes while combing her fingers through my hair. “She was fine the first few months. Completely professional, but then she started flirting with me. It was so subtle at first I couldn’t be sure, but I spoke about you and the kids a lot hoping she’d get the message. I purposely didn’t bring her on business trips, but I had no choice with the Spanish event because I wasn’t just there to watch the race. I had meetings lined up with a few potential sponsors, and I needed her to take notes and organize the meeting itineraries, etcetera.”
“I want to claw her eyes out,” Nessa admits, looking like she’s ready to commit murder.
“When I’m done with her, she’ll be clawing her own eyes out,” I promise.
“Tell me what happened in the hotel room.” My wife visibly braces herself.
“Like I said, I woke up to her in my bed. I went nuts. Told her to get the fuck out of my room and she was fired. She’s clearly not used to hearing the word no because she refused to accept it. She lay back on the bed and started fingering herself, so I locked myself in the bathroom with my cell and woke Trevor up. He got a hold of hotel management, and they arrived with hotel security and removed her from my room. I lodged a formal complaint with the front desk for giving her a key without my approval and contacted HR and Conrad immediately.” I smooth a hand along her spine as I talk.
“When we got back to New York, HR conducted a formal disciplinary meeting. We have corroborative video evidence from the office and footage from the hotel, so it was adequate grounds to fire her. We told her she would receive a reference if she left quietly, and she was reminded of the NDA she signed. I knew she was fuming and that she’d told her father. I’d already had Maxim blowing up my cell, but I thought he’d talk sense into her even if he is pissed at me.”
“I never liked him either. The way he looks at me always gives me the creeps.” Nessa leans her head against my shoulder. “Like father, like daughter.”
“Yeah, I think you’re right. Ember has convinced him we had an affair, and he thinks I gave her the brush-off because a hotel worker found us together and was going to out the relationship in the media. He’s bought every single lie she’s told him, and I’m guessing she felt safe selling her story because she thinks Daddy’s money will save her. But she’s a fucking fool because I could buy and sell him a million times over. He’s no match for me, and he’ll regret crossing me. I’ve already instructed my broker to start buying his stock. I’ll take his company from him and then sell it to his biggest competitor for significant profit. And I’m going to bury that bitch in court.” My fingers toy in Nessa’s soft, wavy blonde hair.
“What if the same thing happens as last time?” She places her hand on my chest.
“I won’t be settling this time, and Ember isn’t a celebrity. Her father may run a successful company, but they are not well-known. She can’t countersue on reputational damage like that slut did seven years ago, and we have Trevor and the hotel staff as witnesses and enough video evidence to prove she’s lying.” My bodyguard goes everywhere with me, and he’s witnessed the flirting and innuendos as has my regular driver.
I still can’t think of that supermodel or even say her name without wanting to punch something. Back then, I wasn’t the CEO. I was Lauder Racing’s star champion, and that meant giving interviews and bending to sponsor’s demands. One of our sponsors at the time was a leading clothing company, and they hired that bitch to do a few photo shoots with me for their new racing line. She hit on me repeatedly, and I constantly rejected her. I told her point-blank, over and over, that I love my wife and I’m faithful to her.
When Nessa and I bumped into her a few weeks later at a charity event, my wife had a few choice words for her. She took offense, and her revenge was to blast fake news of our affair everywhere. I instantly refuted it and sued her for defamation and reputational damage, and she countersued claiming damage to her brand because I called her a liar.
I was fully prepared to go to court, but the stress on my family was considerable, and she was planning to drag up my prior history with women to paint me a certain way. Though there was no proof of any affair—because it didn’t exist—the legal team wasn’t entirely sure I would win when it came down to a “he said, she said” situation, and my past playboy reputation could sway things her way.
So, to save my family any further pain and embarrassment, we settled a day before the court hearing, both agreeing to terminate our cases and sign NDAs never to talk about the other again, and I told my father in no uncertain terms I would not be doing any promotion for the brand or any sponsors with any women ever again.
“We have a rock-solid case, and I’m taking it all the way.” I set my hand on her stomach again. “Unless you think the stress will be too much and you want me to handle it differently.”
“I want you to end that bitch, Jackson. I want it splashed everywhere that she lied. How dare she try to ruin you like this. All because you didn’t want her.” Fire hisses from her lips and shoots from her eyes. “Do it all. Take her to court and destroy her. Take her father’s company out from under him and let it teach all those bitches out there a lesson. No one will come for us again when this gets out.”
“Fuck, I love you.” I kiss her deeply and passionately.
“I love you too, and I’m sorry I had a wobble. I do trust you, Jackson, but I’m not happy you kept all of this from me.”
“I wanted to tell you, and I didn’t keep it from you lightly. I’ve almost cracked and told you so many times, but I’ve never forgotten how stressed and hurt you were when this bullshit happened the last time. I remember the devastation it caused and I thought I was protecting you by handling it myself. I made the wrong call and I’m so sorry.” Lifting her hand to my mouth, I press a soft kiss to her palm before peering directly into her eyes. “I shouldn’t have kept it from you. I regret it, and I swear I won’t ever do it again. You’re my life, Nessa. I don’t exist if I don’t have you by my side.”
“I need you to truly mean that, Jackson, because you keeping it from me hurts every bit as much as hearing about it does. I don’t ever want a gold-digging bitch to come between us, and you keeping secrets from me is letting them interfere. I need you to promise you won’t shut me out again.”
“I won’t. I swear it.”
“Okay.”
“Okay?” I can’t believe she’s letting me off the hook this easy.
“Yes.” A mischievous glint twinkles in her eye. “That doesn’t mean you won’t grovel. I want you at my fucking knees, worshipping the ground I walk on, Jackson.”
I don’t point out how I was already on my knees for her because she’s right, and I’ll do anything to make this up to my wife. “Always, babe. I’ll grovel from now till the ends of time if that’s what it takes for you to forgive me.”
“Oh, honey.” She presses a kiss to the underside of my jaw. “That’s music to my ears.”
I’m chuckling as I stand, placing her gently on the floor. “Let’s get out of here.” I lean down and kiss her again. “I want to spoil my baby mama.”
“Let the groveling begin.” She giggles and my heart swells with love and adoration and relief.
“I want to call Ren first.”
She nods, and we talk to our son together, explaining exactly what happened and reassuring him it’s all a pack of lies. We hang up, and I make a silent promise to myself to talk to him face-to-face when he’s back in the city next week.
Then I hold my wife’s hand as we walk out of the building, take her out to eat, then to her favorite spa for a couples massage, and after I spend the rest of the evening, and most all of the night, cherishing her with my words and my body, hopefully driving any lingering doubts from her mind.