An Early update because I am feeling so good. And yes, there will still be update on the normal schedule time.

Enjoy!

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Jovon watched the sunset from his multimillion-dollar home. He glanced around at the luxury furnishings and the life that was full of the best things money could buy. But it felt empty. It felt the way it had before he'd met Ansela Mckade and his life had changed.

Obsessions had a way of doing that.

But the thing was he no longer believed she was only and obsession. Her words that last night on his boat haunted him. A million times he replayed them. Heard her say she love him and then quietly asked to go home.

He'd broken her heart. For a while he hadn't even contemplated on how to fix this mess they were in. He'd wanted to find another woman and prove to Annie exactly how desirable he was to other women, how it felt to be cheated on. But he'd been disinterested in any other woman.

Then this last three days he'd realized how much she'd brought to his life. Not just her presence in his bed, but the way she had helped him come out of his shell; help him conquer his demons. The effortless way she had of making connections between people and ensuring no one felt inferior.

The way she had three and a half weeks ago. And he'd offered her a contract to stay in his life. In retrospect he understood perfectly where he'd gone wrong.

His gut said to call her back and make her another offer. Telling her that he forgave her infidelity with his cousin. Offer her contract where she'd set the terms and he'd do whatever she wanted. Be her love slave or whatever else she'd have from him.

But another part, a bigger part, was still seething about her betrayal and was truly afraid of what she made him feel. He'd hurt this past three days in a way that he'd never felt before. His life had been a glided one of privilege where no one denied him anything.

Until Annie. His Annie. He wanted her back. He wanted her happy.

There was a knock on his study door before it opened. He glanced over his shoulder to see Kassinda  standing in the doorway. "Are you receiving sir?"

"Who is it, Kass?" He asked, hoping against hope that it would be Annie. If she came to him, he'd take her back and infidelity be damned.

"Your father,sir."

The last thing he wanted to do was to talk to his father, who kept trying to take the blame for the breakup by pointing out that some women found prenups offensive. If only he'd offered her a prenups, he had the feeling she would have signed it with no qualms. And he wouldn't have found out about her cheating on him with Lukas.

God, he was such a mess.

But he had also been a total ass to Annie.

And Annie wasn't going to come back. If the voice note she sent him through Lukas' phone was anything to go by. It had hurt like hell; her words he meant. They were like tiny needles piercing his skin deeply and he couldn't get them out. The thought of her responding to Lukas the way she did when they made love made his body boil with jealousy. But again, she deserved a man who loved her the way she loved him.

She loved him. That's what she said. What she had been mistaken? Had Lukas put her up to it just to push the baby to him? Just to make him accept her bastard?

"Sir?"

He rubbed the back of his neck and glanced around the study. His desk was littered with files and he'd closed more deals these three days than he had in a month. He'd been working nonstop, jacked up on coffee and adrenaline. Afraid to close his eyed because he dreamed of her in his bed and woke up aching and hungry for her. Sending her calls to voicemail hadn't been easy. It was like driving a stake through his heart repeatedly, so he had no choice but to block her. It still didn't stop his heart from hurting every time.

"Yes, send him back."

Jovon logged on to his e-mail while he was waiting for Marcello and saw that he had a message from Annie. But before he could open it, Marcello came into the room and headed straight to the bar, grabbing a bottle of Perrier. "Have you seen the news on social media lately?"

"No. Why?" He asked, distracted from the message for moment by his father. Damn, he should have refused to see his father. He somehow knew whatever news he brought had to do with Annie.

"A video of Annie is currently trending on every social network. She. . ."

"She what?" He was surprised that his father was even updated about the trending stories on social media. Marcello had spent two days telling him that just because he saw Annie in bed with Lukas didn't mean they were together; Jovon shouldn't screw up by not trusting the right woman.

"She looked like hell. It's like she hasn't slept for the last three days. She broke her arm and was bleeding badly."

Dammit, he thought. He'd wanted to be her hero and protect her. Instead he'd left her and she was worse off for having known him. "Leave it alone, dad. I don't want to hear about anything that has to do with her."

Marcello didn't respond to that, just scooped some ice from the bucket and poured his Perrier into a glass. "You're miserable too."

"And your point is?" He asked, trying not to look at his Outlook inbox, but failing. Why had she e-mailed him?

"You've never been stupid about anything. Not business. Not money. Not women. Don't let her be the first. At least give her a chance to explain what you saw. "

"Why is it so important to you?"

"I have watched you suffer after the death of Americus. You refused to go out of your house. Refused to come to the family house, and all it took was a girl with a wedding plan proposal to get break down your walls." Marcello took a sip from his cup. "If you're happy, the family would be happy."

"I'll take that under consideration." He said glancing at his computer screen again.

"What's so important on your computer?"

"Annie sent me a message."

"Did you open it?"

"No, I'm waiting for you to leave."

"Are you sure you don't need me?"

He nodded. Marcello walked toward the door. "I'll call you tomorrow. Your mother and I are staying at The Phim Hotel in Seattle."

Jovon watched him go before finally clicking on the icon to open the e-mail message. It was brief and to the point, along with a video attachment. No smiley face after her name. Just the lists of the guests and the date of the anniversary, which had been shifted to the tenth of August.

There were several pictures of them, the ones Chessie took and the ones they took at the the wedding they crashed. He opened them up one by one and felt like he'd been punched in the gut. In front of him in full colour was the life he'd been afraid to imagine for himself and Annie. A life that was full of love, friendship and family. One that they shared together.

And he knew that there was a small chance that she still loved him. A woman who'd go through all this effort for her lover wasn't someone who could walk away easily. And he remembered the other things she'd said that last night. Remembered that she, too, wanted a life together. Just not as his mistress.

He opened the video attached, and with his heart in his throat, watched as Annie fell and broke her arm. There were cuts and bruises and blood on her arms, legs, knees and face. His heart clenched painfully. His head spun with dizziness. He pushed away from his desk and started to reach for his car keys when a thought suddenly occurred to him.

How was she able to send the video if she was badly hurt like the video showed? Was this some kind of ploy to get him running back into her arms and grovelling for her to take him back?

Then he also remembered the way she had curled up to Lukas' side. He remembered the kiss that Lukas dropped on her hair while they lay on the bed together. What Lukas said to her. Him calling Annie his 'Love'.

~    *   *   *   ~

"It's okay, my love." Lukas turned them around until her back was facing the door. "Everything would be alright."

He heard Annie cry at his words. Saw as she clutched Lukas shirt in her fists and let him walk the both of them over to the bed. Jovon watched as Lukas sat on the bed, pulling her down until they were laying side by side, her back facing the doorway.

"Shhh!" Lukas said as he pressed his lips to her sweaty forehead. "Don't cry now honey."

Annie's tears died gradually until it was reduced to hiccups. "I-i'm pregnant."

Lukas' face lit up with joy. "You are?"

"Yes." She sniffed. "But he doesn't want to marry me. And he says he doesn't love me."

Lukas kissed her forehead again. "Don't worry, Annie. I would take care of you,baby. How far along are you?"

"Three weeks. I had the doctor lie to Jovon about it. I didn't want him to know until tonight."

~   *   *   *  ~

Jovon clenched his hands in his laps and shut his eyes tightly to fight away the tears that were threatening to spill out of them. His heart ached badly. He was tired physically and emotionally. It was like Americus' death all over again.

His felt sick to his stomach.

Clenching his jaw, he forced his eyes open and grabbed the mouse. He hit the delete button and closed his e-mail. Then he reached for the half-filled glass his father left earlier. He knocked back the drink in one single gulp before wiping his mouth with he back of his hand.

He didn't even know he was crying until he felt a tear drop on the back of his palm.

*    *    *

"I brought coffee for everyone." William announced as he approached the waiting area where his whole family was loitering about. Steve was sitting beside Arabella with one of his arm around her shoulder. He was trying to pacify her which wasn't working because she was still crying; albeit quietly.

Ella was leaning against a silent Cassie. They both sat on the neighboring chair beside his parents; they were staring off into space while clasping each others hands comfortingly.

Kaden was leaning against the wall beside the water dispenser, one of his feet was pressed against the wall and his hands were folded behind him. His eyes was also closed, no other indication that he was alive except for the steady rise and fall of his chest.

The waiting room was as silent as the grave yard. It seemed as if they were the only ones experiencing this tragedy today because the room was void of any other family.

The door leading to the ICU was still shut and the light above the door flashed a bright red like it had been for the last two hours. Nurses dressed in white gowns and doctors in blue scrubs had been hurrying in and out of the ICU without a word or acknowledgement to them.

It was as if the whole family and hospital was only hanging on by a thread. Waiting for the other shoe to drop about Annie's condition. Although she was dead by the time the paramedics arrived, they had somehow made her heart restart, but they claimed she wasn't out of danger yet.

The silence coupled with the smell of antibiotics and hospital disinfectant drove William to getting out of the ICU for some minutes. He had gotten Coffee on his way back just to have something else to focus on rather than the fact that Annie was on the brink of death.

Kaden was the only one who opened his eyes long enough to acknowledge him before shutting them again.

"Come on,guys." William sighed. "We have to stay strong for Annie. We can't do so if we don't pull ourselves together."

Steve snickered. "What are you saying about staying strong?" It was a rhetoric question so no one answered him. "When I told her not to go to wherever she went to, you all felt like I was a bad father. I always told her that her stupid over the top attitude would come back to bite her in the ass one day. I tried to shape her into a responsible lady, but that girl had to go and ruin everything. It's her fault she's fighting for her life, which would teach her a lesson to always listen to me. And that is if she survives."

Arabella jerked to her feet, eyes blazing with barely concealed fury. "How dare you?!" She yelled at him. "Your daughter is in there fighting for her life and this is what you have to say?"

"Well, I am still in doubt of her being my legitimate daughter."

William winced at the sound of his mother's palm connecting to his father's cheek. Then he watched in horror as Arabella launched herself at Steve. Blood appeared on the side of Steve's cheeks where she dragged her fingernails.

Kaden jerked into action by going to pull his shrieking mother of his father. Cassie and Ella were standing on their feet sobbing fully now.  William forced his limbs to move when his father started to advance in on Arabella. He grabbed his father's arm and pulled him several feet from where Kaden stood hugging their crying mother.

"What is wrong with you?!" William dropped his father's arm. "I knew you didn't approve of Annie's lifestyle, but why would you say that horrible thing to mother?"

Steve withdrew a white handkerchief from the pocket of his slacks and pressed it to his bleeding cheek. "If it isn't true then she wouldn't have been so upset."

William gritted his teeth. "If not for the fact that we are in a hospital and awaiting a report about Ansela, I would have beaten you to a bloody pulp, you self-centered bastard."

"Don't talk to me like that!"

Kaden walked up to them after leaving Arabella in the arms of Cassie and Ella. "I have never raised my voice at you before, Mckade. And I have never hit you before but I might change that this very minute if you so much do as utter another bad word about Annie."

Steve wisely kept his mouth shut, but he didn't stop glowering at them.

"Good." William pinched the bridge of his nose. "Now please, let's -"

"How is she, doctor?" He was cutoff by Arabella's sudden question.

They turned to see a Doctor in blue scrubs standing before their mother, looking as if he had just climb Mount Everest and survived.

"She's out of danger for now." The Doctor was saying when they got to them. "Her body fought the medications we administered and her heart almost stopped for the second time. Luckily, the the joint in her arm only shifted, it's not broken. There was also a sort of purplish bruise on her chest, she must have bumped into something when she fell. She would have to visit a Physiotherapist after she gets the okay from me. Also, we were able to save the baby."

"The baby?" They said simultaneously, wearing the same look of surprise.

The doctor nodded. "Yes. Ms. Mckade's expecting a baby. And I must say it's a miracle she didn't loose the baby with that much blood gushing from her body. The baby is barely out of danger like the mother, so we have to keep her under observation for now just to see if there's anything we missed."

Arabella took a deep shaky breath. "Can we see her now?"

"No. But we'll let you know when you can." He said. "Please fill the necessary form at the front desk. Excuse me."

No one spoke a word even after the Doctor's footsteps faded in the hallway. William asked himself the question that he knew must be on everyone's mind.

Who was the father of the baby?

A/N: I hope you guys now understand why Jovon reacted the way he did. Remember that he saw what Lukas wanted him to believe was happening.

So please, don't hate him too much, si? *chuckles*

What do you think of Jovon's reaction to the news and also his internal conflict?

What do you think of Steve and why do you think he's treating Annie that way?

Drop your comments and also, don't forget to vote and comment!