Chasing His Rejected Wife
Chapter 68 -

Aiden

Jessica stared at me in disbelief. "How?"

"I've been doing some work behind the scenes from the moment I found out about the will. I've met with some of our stakeholders and members of the board who have pledged their support when the time comes." "Okay," Jess drew out the words, frown still in place. "But how will that help you retain your position? To remain as the chairman, you need a controlling interest of at least forty percent, and right now, you have none." Her eyes lit up as a thought occurred to her and she sat up. "What about my twenty percent? I could give..."

I shook my head and cut her off, mid-suggestion. "Julian made those shares non-transferable, so that won't work. And even if you could give them, I couldn't in good conscience accept your offer."

My heart dropped at her crestfallen expression. "Oh. I see. What then? Maybe your family members could help. I'm sure your grandmother would be more than willing to give you hers and maybe Jodie and your brothers could chip in as well." I couldn't help the deprecating laugh that slipped out at the mention of my brothers. "Grandmother could, but as for Paul and Jodie, I'm sure they will be more willing to throw their support behind Craig than me when it comes down to it." We might be a family on the surface, but when it came down to a choice, I wasn't willing to bet that Jodie would choose me over her own flesh and blood son. After all, it would certainly be of more benefit to her if Craig ended up taking the reins of Skylark. Paul was a wildcard, having shown little interest in the company from the start, but I couldn't trust him either.

No, I had made other plans, aside from quietly garnering stakeholders' support. Although those plans still needed more time than I anticipated.

Jessica looked even more confused, shaking her head as if to clear it. "Why would they support Craig? What has he got...?" I was watching her intently, so I knew the moment it dawned on her, an incredulous look replaced the puzzled expression. "Craig? He wants to take over as president?"

"Exactly," I felt a flash of irritation at the mention of Craig's betrayal. "Listen, Jess. I've reason to believe he may be behind the anonymous sender of the video and the media leak. He must have found out about the will somehow and knew that our marriage was already rocky so he did what he could to push us over the edge and split up so he could push forward his agenda."

Her eyes widened as she absorbed this information. "But we already got divorced before the video was sent to me."

"I have a theory that he did not know about the divorce yet and he must have known you had no idea about the will yet, so he took the chance when it presented itself."

Just then Margaret returned, wearing her usual sour expression as she breezed into the living room haughtily. "Five minutes are up," She announced, glaring at me, arms crossed over her bosom.

Jessica rose to her feet defensively. "Mom, for heaven's sake, can you not do this?"

"I've been gracious enough to allow him to stay this long, especially after forcing his way in here and drinking my good brandy." Her glare intensified.

"Mom, you..."

"It's alright, Jess." I cut in, giving her a reassuring look before I turned to Margaret, schooling my expression to one of careful nonchalance, even though I was seething inside. The audacity of the woman had been a constant grate on my nerves from the moment I had started to deal with her after Julian's death. I could barely wait for the day I would have the pleasure of taking away everything she had gained from my family. "I'll leave now since that's what she wants." I turned back to Jess, to replace her watching me intently. "Are you going to stay here?"

"I...no." Jess replied, stealing a glance at her mom, "I believe I'll stay at a hotel and book a flight back to New York tomorrow."

"My plane is on standby at the airport." I offered softly, "You can come back with me tonight if you wish."

She seemed to hesitate for a moment, then nodded, looking apprehensive. "Okay,"

"You're leaving with him?" Margaret demanded, "After what he did to you?"

To my surprise, Jessica's face contorted with anger as she whirled on her mother, eyes flashing. "Everything he did, he did because of you and his father, to protect your secrets and schemes." She gritted out. "You should be ashamed of ruining not only my life, but his too, all because of your greed."

Her words set off an avalanche of warmth within me and it felt like a heavy load had been lifted off my chest. Having witnessed the utter devastation she'd grappled with, I had honestly thought she would write me off as a lost cause and walk away from me without a second glance, but at this moment, listening to her defend me, even though I didn't deserve it, made me feel a small spark of hope that maybe...

I didn't let myself give voice to my thoughts, lest I raise my hopes needlessly.

"You little fool," Margaret yelled at her daughter, "Do you really still want to delude yourself that he will ever care..."

"No, Mom, you're the one who's deluded herself into believing that you did me some sort of favor by blackmailing people," Jessica said, laden with exhaustion and grief. I was concerned that she was overexerting herself, and wanted to whisk her away from this place to somewhere she could get some rest.

"Jess," I murmured, risking a step closer, relieved when she didn't shirk away this time. "We should go."

"Could you give me a minute, please?" she asked, looking at me with pleading, tired eyes.

I nodded and stepped away. "I'll be in the car." With a fleeting glance at Margaret, I walked back outside to where I'd parked the car.

I didn't get in right away, instead, I leaned against the passenger door and waited for Jessica to join me, occasionally consulting my watch, filled with a sort of nervous energy. To pass the time, I called the pilot and left instructions to prepare for departure, then made a few more calls.

Six minutes passed before Jessica emerged from the house, dragging her suitcase behind her, pale and with a tear-streaked face. She paused at the top step, unsteady on her feet and I hurried up the short flight of steps to her side. She looked up at me, eyes swollen and red-rimmed. "I'm sorry to keep you waiting."

"It's okay, here, give me that," I gently took the suitcase from her hand, and after a moment of hesitation, placed my other hand on her shoulder to steer her towards the car. She was either too tired or too distracted to notice and let me guide her inside.

She sighed deeply as she settled into the soft leather seat, rested her head against the door, and shut her eyes. I watched her, alarm building at how fragile she looked as I slid behind the wheel.

"Have you had anything to eat today?"

She didn't open her eyes but replied with a low voice. "I had a sandwich on the plane."

I pursed my lips, displeased with that answer, but it provided me with something to do to help her since I couldn't do much to ease her distress.

"You need more than that, what are you in the mood for, we can have the flight attendant prepare it or order in."

"Urgh....," Jessica made a face and shook her head, resigned. "I don't know if I can stomach food right now."

"I understand, but please try. You need to keep up your energy." I cajoled, as I started the car. Noticing she wasn't strapped in, I leaned over, intending to help when her eyes shot open and her breath caught. "What are you doing?" Her voice rose, even as she tried unsuccessfully, to shrink back into the seat.

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"Your seatbelt," I gestured towards it, dismayed that she was back to avoiding my touch. "I wanted to help with it."

"It's okay, I've got it." she mumbled, groping blindly for the strap and after fumbling for a few tries, managed to snap it into place she sighed in relief and then looked at me. I met her gaze, keeping my expression carefully neutral. "Done." I nodded. "About lunch..." I glanced at the time on the dashboard and corrected myself when I saw it was well into the evening. "Dinner, I mean. What would you like?"

"Anything's fine. Well, anything but seafood. I feel queasy just thinking about it."

"Got it." I pulled out my phone again, sent the instructions, and then started down the driveway.

We drove in silence, Jess had closed her eyes once again and by the time we were halfway to the airport, she'd fallen asleep, her head lolling against the headrest. I used the time to think about everything that had transpired in the last few hours and figure out the next step to take. There was still a lot I had to tell Jess, especially about Elisa and I and what I had done to force her to this point.

It wasn't something I was looking forward to - it would be one more betrayal that she would have to deal with, another thing that would break her already fragile heart. Would she still be so willing to defend me after that? I didn't hold out much hope for that.

****

Things moved pretty fast once we arrived at the airport. I led a sleepy Jess onto the plane and the flight attendant informed me that the meal would be served once we were in the air. I nodded distractedly, my attention on my wife who looked on the verge of collapse, barely able to stay upright for the time it took to guide her to a seat.

This time, she let me strap her in, which I did briskly then noticed she'd begun to shiver slightly, her skin flushed and felt clammy. My heart dropped when it sunk in that she might be ill.

Fuck.

"Are you cold?" I asked, getting more worried as the shivers increased in intensity. When she nodded assent, I motioned for the temperature to be turned up. A flight attendant approached with a blanket which I took and draped over her. I felt her forehead and sure enough, it was warm. Too warm.

Shit.