On The Border - Marry Him Or Die

32

Alex’s POV

Jenny was still pretty much occupying most of my thoughts throughout the day.

A huge part of me couldn’t wait to go back home and check on her.

Unfortunately, I had some business in the warehouse to finish before I head home.

We were loading up the trucks to transport them and ship them to their delivery addresses throughout the states.

Once the loading was almost over, I pulled out my phone and called uncle Stefan.

“Alex, I was just about to call you” he said in a tense voice.

“Is everything okay?”

“I just came home and found your brother gone”

I spring up from my chair in panic.

“What do you mean gone?”

He must have sensed my train of thoughts and rushed to reassure me.

“He left on his own Alex. He left me a note saying that he went to find himself and start a new life away from the family business. That it was never something he wanted but chose because of your dad. I think he did the right thing. Not all of you need to go down that dangerous deadly road”

I close my eyes and heave a sigh.

Yeah, Jacob made it pretty clear that he wasn’t that attached to the business on many occasions.

“Did he mention where he went?“ I asked tightly.

“No, he just said that he will call you once he settles down somewhere”

I run my hands through my thick beard as I try to take in that unexpected news. My mom will be so heartbroken when she hears this. She just lost the love of her life, and now her son left and we have no idea when he’s coming back to us.

I pull my focus on the main reason why I called him.

“Any news on finding Lord Z?“

My uncle has taken it upon himself to get my father’s revenge by locating him and killing him, since both of them reside in Canada.

“I’m still working on it. His circle of trustees is very tight I haven’t found the right man to flip him on our side yet. But I will let you know as soon as I have an update” he said confidently.

It didn’t sit well with me, handing this burden to my uncle when it should have been me seeking him out and making him pay.

But there was nothing I can do from here. And I can’t leave the town at this moment. We were still expecting some kind of trap to ruin our work and I needed to be on highest alert.

I don’t return home until dinner time.

I was dreading giving my mom the news on Jacob, but I had to at some point.

I walked into the dining room and saw everyone already sitting, waiting for me.

My eyes immediately landed on Jenny.

She was looking good….. healthy I mean.

I sat down as I said good evening to everyone.

I found myself turning my head towards her and asking her softly “How are you feeling?”

She looked up at me in surprise. I tried to hide my chuckle at her response. She still wasn’t convinced of my true honest intentions.

She mumbled in a low voice “I’m good” then she turned her head towards her plate.

It wasn’t until the end of dinner that I gathered my courage and cleared my throat.

“Mom, there is something I want to tell you, but I don’t want you to be sad. It’s really in his best interest” I said calmly.

She looks at me anxiously and waits for me to carry on.

Everyone’s eyes are on us now.

“Jacob left my uncle’s house and left him a note saying that he is moving on. He wants to establish a new life for himself away from our business”

Her eyes tear up and her face drowns in broken sadness.

My heart tore apart for her. I leaned closer and took her hands in mine.

“Mom, don’t be sad please. You should be happy for him, I know deep down you’re proud of his decision to seek a better safer life for himself” I said softly.

She nods her head and says emotionally “I am. It’s the life I wish for all of you Alex. But not away from us, from his family”

I get up and kiss her on her forehead as I wrap my arms around her.

I whisper to her “He will come back eventually, he cannot stay away from you”

We move on to the living room and sit together for a while, talking about different things.

Jenny went straight to her room after dinner ended. I didn’t insist on her to sit with us though. I was afraid she was still feeling tired and probably wanted to sleep early, or maybe she is still convinced that I will change my attitude and tell her to mind her own business again.

I excuse myself and say goodnight to them, tempted to go talk to her alone and see what she still has in store for me tonight.

I knock on the door swiftly and wait, but she doesn’t respond. I walk inside the room and see her in her usual spot by the window.

She looks up at me and I see why she didn’t grant me entrance. She was wearing her headphones, watching something on her phone.

I come closer and stand opposite her, leaning against the wall and crossing my arms against my chest.

I motion for her to remove her headphones and she complies, looking up at me in curiosity.

I noticed that she was already in her pajamas. Purple pants, and long sleeves violet top. Her glasses were sliding down the bridge of her nose like always. And like always, I find myself drawn to adjust them for her.

“What’s up with you and this spot?” I asked curiously.

She shrugs and says “It’s comforting, the view I mean and the smell of the garden, not so comforting to sit on since it doesn’t have a cushion like mine did in my old room, but nonetheless, it’s still comforting to me”

I nod my head in understanding.

“What didn’t you join us after dinner? I thought you went to sleep or something” I asked

She furrowed her eyebrows “I think I prefer to be alone”

“I told you this morning Jenny, we’re you’re family, you don’t have to sit here alone. We want you to join us from now on”

I couldn’t help the smile that spread on my lips when she bore daggers into me at the use of her nickname.

“Is that an order?” she asks firmly.

I tilt my head at her tone. Yeah, totally trying to annoy me because I called her Jenny.

“No, merely a suggestion, that’s all. What did you do today? Oh I forgot to tell you, your friend Megan came by last night after a zillion phone call to your cell. I had to answer it”

She inspects me for the longest time before she speaks dismissively “We don’t have to do that you know? Pretend to be interested in hearing how our day went”

“Who said I’m pretending?” I wondered.

She doesn’t respond to me as she begins to shift her attention back to her phone.

I try again, I don’t know why at this point, but I just know I want to keep the conversation going for some unknown reason.

“How’s your cut? Does it still hurt?”

She purses her lips, a sign that she’s starting to get annoyed by my persistence. Somehow it intrigues me to push her buttons more.

“Not as much as it used to” she answers simply.

I find myself unable to resist from opening that sore subject anymore.

“Tell me, did I rip your stitches Jenny? Out there in the front yard that first day when I grabbed your neck?” I asked her firmly.

I knew I did, but I had a small hope that she will tell me it wasn’t me.

She gives me a startled look, surprised that I caught her small reaction that she tried to hide from me so badly that first day.

“Why didn’t you tell me then? Why did you let yourself be in that much pain? You were suffering, I saw it with my own eyes but I never imagined it was this serious. Why did you stay quiet?” I said angrily.

She answers with open hostility “Tell you? How was I supposed to do that when you never gave me any chance to speak up? When you were threatening to punish me for breaking the simplest rules? Or when your brother held a knife to my chest? How about when you were threatening to teach me a lesson on respect? Nothing about your behavior made me feel safe to tell you about my suffering Alex. How was I to know you were actually going to react different than I expected you to? Punishment was always your threat to me, you didn’t seem any different from them”

Her words cut me deep, but I found myself stuck on a particular word.

“Them?” I asked tightly.

She seemed to realize that she overshared and clamped up as she said indifferently “None of that matters anymore, let’s just drop it”

“No, I’m not going to drop anything until I understand the whole truth here” I said determinedly.

“Well, good luck with that, but you won’t be getting it from me” she said challengingly.

This girl…. She is going to be the end of my self control someday.

But not today, her answer only intrigued me.

She overshares when she gets emotional.

“I thought only your uncle did this to you, who are you talking about?” I asked her intently.

She glares at me, not falling into my bait.

Then it hit me. The only other person who could have done something to her was Simon, her cousin.

Is that why she hates him so much ever since they were little?

I assumed his overprotectiveness of her, his reckless behavior to kill me, his attempt to work with my enemy to end my life was all out of his love for her as her brother.

But what if it was something much more disgusting than that?

I found myself dreading the next question, and dreading even more her answer to it.

“Did Simon used to hurt you too?” I asked tightly.

She looked at me sharply wondering where I was going with this.

My blood started boiling inside my veins the more she kept quiet.

“Answer me please” I said coldly.

“Stop assuming things and imagining scenarios in your head Alex” was all she said.

I came closer to her, standing right next to her, as she tried to back away in what little space she had.

“Then answer my god damn question Jenny. Your lack of answers here are only fueling that imagination” I growled.

“You’re doing it again. Bullying and scaring me into opening up to you. If you truly want any chance at forgiveness like you claim, then I suggest you never open that subject with me again” she said tightly.

Her continuous, persistent stubbornness caused me to finally snap as I leaned closer to her.

“Right now, all I care about is getting the answers to my questions. To understand what it is you are so keen on keeping to yourself” I said quietly.

Yeah, I admit, not the best choice of words given the fact that I told her this morning that I will try to earn her trust even if she doesn’t want it. But damn it, I wanted to know if that asshole ever laid a hand on her so I can go teach him a lesson.

“How far are you willing to go to get those answers out of me?” she asked coldly, not a hint of fear in her tone nor her eyes.

I pursed my lips and held myself from saying ‘However far I need to’.

Instead, I took a deep breath, raised my hand very slowly so I don’t scare her, and did what I was itching to do since I walked into the room and saw her.

I raised her glasses up her nose before they completely fall down.

“Not as far as you think, Jenny” I whispered to her.

She stared at me, completely dumbfounded by my gesture.

She gathered her thoughts, cleared her throat, and whispered “Then stop harassing me”

“That’s not harassment dear Jenny. That’s called caring about you” I said in defense.

She scoffed and said sarcastically, totally dismissing my honesty “Since when?”

“I’d go ahead and say since the beginning, but you wouldn’t believe me” I said in amusement.

“You’re right I wouldn’t” she said dryly.

I smiled as I reminded her “You were starving when we were on our way here that first day. Your stomach was practically screaming at you to feed it, even I heard it begging for help in the car. And although you pissed me off by mouthing off at me and bringing up my ex fiancée just to spite me, I still told Sara to make you a sandwich so you wouldn’t starve yourself because of me”

Her cheeks turned red at that memory as she registered what I said to her

“How very…. Caring of you” she said slowly.

“So you see, underneath all that cold harsh exterior, I still cared about you deep inside even before I knew anything about you” I confirmed.

She smiled a little, sarcastically, revealing two cute dimples on both sides of her cheeks I haven’t seen before.

She looked at me questioningly, wondering why I was still leaning so close to her when she conveyed her refusal to answer me quite clearly.

I stand my ground and speak gently to her “Tell me, please”

She huffs and turns her head away from me for a while before turning back with a pained look.

“He didn’t hurt me”

I felt relieved but still confused at the same time.

“Why do you hate him so much then?”

“Because he always gives me the creeps whenever he looks at me, it’s disturbing. Satisfied now?”

“Not really. Who did you mean then?” I countered.

She gives me an exasperated look, pushes me on my chest lightly to give her space to come down from the ledge, and snaps at me “Don’t push me Alex. You will not like it when I explode on you with the whole god damn truth and express just how much I hate you from the bottom of my heart. It’s not going to change anything between us. So, drop it”

Her words cut into my heart as I register just how much she really meant them.

She brushes past me trying to end the discussion, but I don’t let her get that far.

I grab her hand and turn her around to face me again.

“Tell me everything, I’ll decide then if it’s going to change anything between us or not. Come on, get it all off your chest Jenny, I know you’re dying to express it all” I provoke her coldly.

That’s all she needed to hear before literally exploding and slamming me with the whole truth.

A truth that completely shattered me and wrecked me into a million pieces of guilt and blame.