Michael's POV

I furrow my eyebrows and steps back as my head starts spinning. I feel tears brimming in my eyes as they threaten to fall down my face.

I can't stop loving her. She betrayed my affections and left my heart in shattered disarray of pieces. Every single time she stole a part of me, she makes is impossible for me to put myself together. And yet, I always come back around to her. Why is that? Perhaps I hope that she will return what she has stolen. She never does. She just takes more. And for her, more is never enough.

I have and treasure the hearts of millions---but hers was what I wanted. Why is it we want what we can never have? She knows she could never return the love I share with her.

A sharp pain starts in my chest. As if pieces of my heart were breaking slowly and painfully and traveling to the very pit of my stomach. I stare at the check in my hands as I feel my world collapsing like waves around me.

How could she?

Maybe it was too much. To want someone who would never give up on me. To hope for someone who would never leave me, even on the days when all I can be is empty.

I wanted it to be her more than anything in the world. I wanted it all with no one else in this world but her. My eyes travel across the check in my hand over and over again as I stare at her name, hoping that I was reading it wrong or that the name before me would change into someone else's. My jaw clenches as I run my tongue across my bottom lip.

I couldn't help but feel angry with not just her--but even more with myself. The fact that she broke my heart, and I let her. She ripped it out of my chest and smashed it into a million pieces. And I'm here trying to figure it how I could pick up them up.

God, I should hate her with everything in me, but if asked...

I'd take her back in a second.

Which made me angry at myself for being this pathetic. Was I really that in love or was it the sheer fear of going back to feeling completely lonely? The only place I wanted to be is pressed against her with my arms wrapped around hers and our legs intertwined, talking about everything and nothing all at once.

For once, I finally felt I was feeling the love I craved for and tried to give everyone else. But it was all torn apart by a piece of paper that was more valuable than the love we shared.

Maybe it was my own fault;

I was paying the price for fame.

I was paying the price for being me.

I close my eyes,wanting to cry. But there isn't a single tear that runs out of my eyes. I don't even know what to call this feeling. It seems that my heart is hurting, and I just hold it and stare at it, until it breaks. I can't even show how much pain I feel. It seems like I'm drowning even if I know how to swim.

Why? It is one of the saddest emotions that I've ever felt. And I want to cry this feeling so loud. I just wanted to let it all out.

I hear a knock on the door; "Mike?" Frank says as I sniff before clearing my throat slowly. "It's time for rehearsal. Bill is waiting...you're already an hour in half late."

"Cancel it." I say from the other side of the door. "There is no rehearsal."

"Mike? Are you feeling alright?" Frank asks his voice growing worried.

"I-I'm fine. I just need some rest." I say slowly trying to make my voice sound calmer, trying to disguise the fact that moments earlier I realized that the love of my life was a pure fantasy.

I take a deep breath before I hear Frank sigh. "Okay, kid. I'll head to the stadium to let them know." he says. "Are you sure you are alright?"

"I'm fine, Frank. Please..." I say as he sighs out before I hear him walk away down the hall.

It was a few months after Tatiana left when I asked myself the question; "How do you know that you love her?"

In that moment every single thing about her rushed into my brain. It was like I was feeling all the pain for the first time again. But I knew the answer.

It was the way the sound of her name made my stomach fill with butterflies. When she looked at me the whole world stood still. God, those hazel eyes made it feel like we were the only people on earth. Her touch electrified me. Lightning coursed throughout my veins filling every part of me with warmth. She made my heart feel like it was going to burst out of my chest. But it's the pain she caused that makes me certain.

"Why?" the voice in my head had asked as I swallow hard realizing the truth.

"Because it wouldn't hurt this much if I didn't."

Tatiana's POV

"It's been two hours...what the hell?" Ricky mutters as he checks his watch for what seems to be the hundredth time.

"You should know by now that boy is always late." Greg mutters. "Just like this damn update."

"Well he's never been this late..." I yawn out. "Maybe he got caught in traffic."

"Or it could be because rehearsal is now cancelled..." Frank interrupts as he steps onstage. "I just left the hotel—Michael would like to apologize to everyone. But there will not be any rehearsals this morning."

"No rehearsal?" Sheryl raises her eyebrows. "Since when?"

"Or better yet...why?" I ask. "Michael would cancel on the President before canceling rehearsals."

Frank shrugs as he pops his cigar in his mouth. "I dunno....he didn't come out of his room. Just go back and relax everyone." he says before walking off with one of the producers of the tour.

Sheryl looks over at me furrowing her brows. "What's that about?"

"I don't know...." my mind fills with thoughts of early this morning with his worries over LaToya.

"Maybe he got worn out last night. Tatiana must have really beat it..." Greg snickers as Ricky cackles.

"You're so fucking childish...." I scoff rolling my eyes as I grab my bag. "It's probably nothing." I say trying to convince myself even though I kept getting a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"He's probably just tired, you know?" Sheryl says shrugging lightly. "I mean he's been working nonstop."

"I guess.." Greg says playing a few keys on the board before grabbing his jacket as he jumps off the stage with us following behind him. "He's been working that ass though.." he snickers at me as Sheryl hits him in the back of his head as he cackles.

"Well, I'm going to grab a bite to eat." Ricky mutters. "Ya'll coming with?"

"You guys can go ahead...I think I'm gonna head back to the hotel." I say as we walk outside.

"Alright...tell Mike not to tap out so fast next time." Ricky laughs out as I wave them off.

Paul's POV

I wake up tied to a chair with wire cutting into my wrists painfully. They're bleeding into my hands so much that they're sticky and my vision's blurry. The room I'm in is bare, with only an alarming amount of my blood pooling into the tread of my shoes and spreading across the scuffed hardwood beneath me.

I can't remember much of the events on how I got here. I'm pretty sure it consisted of me spitting in Jack's face and Joel's large fists.

I let my eyes focus as I blink slowly.

I'm not sure if it is night or day, or how late it is since the room is pitch black with darkness with no windows to reveal light. There's a bare bulb overhead but the light is off. I bite down on my lip painfully as I weakly try to pull on my wrists to see about freeing them. The pain is too excruciating and so I stop doing it.

I begin to hear what sounds like arguing in another room. "I thought you just wanted to hurt her." says a male voice.

"We've tried that remember?!" another voice spats that I recognize to be Jack's. "But it seems none of you fuckheads can do anything right."

"I mean I was totally willing to stand by you if you just wanted to get your revenge and be done with it, but this is...well this is a whole other thing..."

"Leave if you want. But I'm finishing things with her. However it goes down. She ruined my life and I won't allow her to just walk away and go on with hers like it never happened." Jack hisses. "And it's more than a perfect time to take down another Jackson. Especially Michael..."

I close my eyes listening as I try to focus, as I try to ignore the pain that continues to shoot throughout my whole body.

"And how are you going to do that?"

"Simple." Jack chuckles as I hear a quiet familiar click. "Might as well kill two birds with one stone."

I feel my blood grow ice cold as I swallow hard.

"Now are you coming or not?" Joe hisses. "We have to leave now."

There's a moment of silence before I hear a few mumbles in agreement.

"But what about him?" a voice asks. "We just gonna leave him here?"

"He doesn't got anything else better to do." Jack snickers. "Anyway I'll have Tony in charge to keep watch on the grounds to make sure no one pulls nothin."

"What about LaToya?"

"The last thing I need is her around when I got business with her brother. Trust me--after I got done with her she won't even think about leaving." he snickers.

I slowly open my eyes as I stare intensely at the floor feeling pure and utter rage begin to build up within me. My hands ball into tight fists as my jaw clenches and I slowly lift my head.

"Let's go." Jack says roughly. "Check on him again, before we go." He mutters before I hear him taking footsteps up the stairs. I quickly duck my head down as if I was still in an unconscious slumber.

I hear footsteps stride towards me at a slow pace in tune with a slow drawn out whistle. The footsteps stop in front of me.

He kicks the side of my leg lightly as I continue to keep it limp as if I was still unconscious, and too weak to move.

"Hmph.." he scoffs with a slight chuckle in his voice as he walks away. I remain at a complete standstill as I hear him walk up the creaky wooden stairs, before the door closes. I breath out slowly as I slowly open my eyes, painfully lifting my head as I purse my lips together. I move my wrists around again as I feel them only dig deeper in my skin as I hiss painfully.

I look around the room, squinting my eyes through the darkness, before my eyes land on a sharp hook on the wall across the room. I move my fingers up slightly as I run my fingers across the wire as I stare at the hook.

With a deep breath I bite down on my bottom lip as I slowly plant my feet firmer on the ground, as I slide across the floor.

Inch by inch, I painfully move closer with sweat dripping down my face. It felt like hours passed before I finally eased my way to the wall as I turn my chair around slowly. I grit my teeth as I slowly stand up as pain shoots throughout my entire body, and my eyes close tightly. I bend down slightly at an angle, raising my arms behind me slightly up as I align it with the hook.

I painfully press the wire against the hook hoping it will break through the wire with some pressure. I feel the wire press deeper in my skin as I finally here it pop, and my wrists come free. I struggle to stand up, as I stagger with the room spinning around me. The pain in my body becomes almost unbearable as I lean painfully back against the wall, closing my eyes trying to catch my breath as I hear soft static coming from behind the door across the room. I slowly make my way towards the door before pushing it open.

There was only a few chairs, and a television with static, and tape resting on top of the television.

I pop in the tape as it reveals an empty hallway. A man that looked like Michael's band mate, Greg, was walking down the hall. Suddenly a figure comes up from behind him and attacks him as he falls to the ground.

As Greg slumps to the ground, the figure's hood falls from their head revealing blonde hair.

The woman--the way she was built looked way too familiar. Suddenly she looks up into the camera and I feel my blood pressure drop. It felt as if the room was out of air.

"H-holy shit."

Michael's POV

"Michael?" I hear the door open as I feel my stomach twist as each footstep comes closer. "Michael?"

I keep staring in space as she comes closer sitting in my lap. "Hey, daydreamer..." she giggles as she leans in to kiss me. I quickly turn my head away as I move her off of me getting up.

"What's wrong?" she asks her voice filled with confusion which made me want to laugh in disbelief.

I pace the room slowly, my hands deep in my pockets before I toss the letter and check on the coffee table in front of her. She crinkles her nose in complete confusion before picking up the letter glancing down at it. "What..." she pauses as she reads the first line of the letter. Her facial expression drops before she breathes out slowly.

"Michael..."

"How did you get that?" I ask calmly as she furrows her eyebrows.

"It was in my journal. I-I thought you accidentally put it in there. So I kept it." she says and her voice trails off as she leans forward picking up the check.

"What is this?"

"You tell me." I chuckle as she reads the check slowly, before looking up at me with complete confusion.

"I'm getting a raise?" she asks slowly.

"Not from me." I answer back as she looks back down at the check.

"The National..." her voice trails off. "I don't understand."

"Don't play games." I say shakily. "You sold that letter, didn't you?"

"What?!" she looks up at me, her face even more confused. "Y-you think I would do that?!"

"Your name is on the check!"

"But I wouldn't do this, Michael! I didn't do this!" she says. "I have no reason to do this.'

I chuckle as I shake my head in disbelief. "Like I haven't heard that lie before."

"I've never lied to you! And that's really fucking rich for you to talk about "lying" when you hid the fact you tried to kill yourself!" she shouts.

"Don't you dare try and switch this up on me, I did—"

"No, I am putting this on you. As soon as this story came out I asked you if it was true and you lied to my face!" she says angrily. "I never lied to you about anything! And I wouldn't expose something like this—" she says waving the letter angrily in her hand. "For a fucking paycheck!"

"You screwed Paul for a paycheck, apparently!" I shout. "You just had to have more and more attention! You'll even sell the "love of your life" to get it!"

"Are you serious?!" she says angrily as her voice cracks. "You're really going to drag Paul in this!?"

"I could have dragged Jack into this..." I hiss as her body freezes. "I'm guessing you slept with him too, right?"

"That is not true...Michael—"

"Well now that we are on the subject and the truth is coming out..." I say huskily. "Paul has been missing for two months."

Her face falls as she looks up at me.

"Yeah that's right...everyone has been looking for your precious Paul." I spat.

Tatiana's POV

I feel my heart race as I quickly try to process the fact that Paul was missing, and a check with my name on it is in my hands, and somehow Michael knows something about Jack.

"And you couldn't tell me?! Why?!" I yell.

"Do you really think I'd tell you knowing you'd leave me?" he shouts. "For him?!"

"Paul was there when you weren't Michael! It isn't about you! He's missing and something could have happened to him!"

"So you would have left me?"

"To help find him?! Yes!" I shout. "Because wherever I am my heart still would have belonged to you! And the fact is I owe him because he was there when you were not! When I lost our child--"

Michael's body immediately grows stiff. "Don't..." he says painfully cutting me off. "Don't you dare bring that into this."

"Don't what, Michael?!" I yell tearfully. "You left me when I needed you the most! He was there when I couldn't even remember my name! And yet all I wanted was you!"

I look up at him, in his eyes...but it was almost as if he was not there...like he was someone else....a complete stranger.

"Well let me ask you this—" he pauses. "Was the baby even mine?"

My heart drops and before I even know it, my palm collides in Michael's face sounding like a clap of thunder.

He looks back at me in shock as he holds the side of his face. "T-tat...I-I..." he tries to grab me and I back away as tears begin to cloud my eyes.

"I-I didn't mean that...I-I..."

"Why don't you believe in me? What have I done to not have your trust?" I whisper painfully.

"It's not you..."

"It's everyone else." I finish. "I guess I'm in that group, right?" I whisper.

He looks away his face filled with shame, not saying anything.

"So we're done?" I ask quietly, too afraid of the answer.

"I don't know."

It was in that moment I realized I was worth more than an insecurity. My eyes began to water and I look down at the carpet for a minute, composing myself.

"Well, I'm not going to sit here and wait for you. Let me cut right to the point: I'm done with getting my heart broken. I'm done being fooled by you." I whisper tearfully. "I'm so tired of going back and forth, Michael. I-I thought this time is would be different."

"Tat.."

"You think—" I chuckle tearfully. "That I would sell out what is the most valuable to me. That I'd really share details to the press on losing my child, and almost losing you..." I say my voice breaking more. "And as for Jack!? You don't deserve to know that piece of me..." I say angrily as tears pour down my face.

"Tat..."

"You promised you'd take my word before everyone and everything else. You promised to trust me." I whisper. "Well guess what? I don't believe in promises anymore. Because promises get broken and at the end of the day, they're empty words meant to induce some sort of emotion. I believe in action. Because actions speak louder than words." I say tearfully throwing clothes in my suitcase as he watches me silently.

"But I loved you...." Michael says hoarsely as if he's ready to choke on tears. I laugh lightly as I shake my head in disbelief.

The room fills with silence as he walks to the door gripping the doorknob.

"Do you believe in happily ever after?" I ask. My vision blurs with more unshed tears. "Because I thought I did, but I don't know anymore."

"I'm always going to believe in happily ever after," he confesses softly. "We might not have had ours, but both of us will find it someday."

"What if there is no happy ending? What if there's just life? Reality?"

Michael pauses as he swallows hard. "Then at least we lived out our fantasy."

I keep my back turned to him as I bite down on my lip to keep from crying. "The concert is next week...right before the leg. That will give you time to get a replacement." I whisper tearfully.

Michael stays silent before I hear the door close, leaving me alone.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm so sorry I've been gone forever guys. These past few months my career has been my focus and other things.

So I log back into Wattpad and to my shock you all have wondered if I was alive and okay.  😂 So lets get down to the important stuff...

1 million reads?!?! 1 million!?!

I want to thank you all for being with me over the years on this journey reading this book. Seeing how much you all have loved this book really just makes me happy. I never thought when I first wrote this story that it would get this much love and support. I wrote this story at first out of the need to wanting to escape reality into a world of my own. Seeing how you all would get excited over an update, reading this book with your friends, and just getting pulled into the magic of pure imagination made me feel full.

We all shared so many laughs, and tears.

We all bonded over the power of love and Michael.

We all became a family.

Without any of your votes, comments, and encouragement none of this would have been possible. Absolutely none of it.

I will be writing about a few more chapters to this book before it comes to an end. Yes, I am crying right now. Endings are hard right?

But that just makes room for new adventures and new beginnings.

#MJISINNOCENT

xoxo

Vote/Comment,

moonwalkergal