My CEO, My Temptation
Chapter 29

Jessica

“Kay, I thought we’re going to your mom’s?”

“Yeah, we’re meeting her at her friend’s it’s a cute little cottage up in the mountains.”

“Oh, no…I didn’t know we’re going to go that far. Tyler will be worried, let me give him a call, I can’t believe I left my phone.”

My feelings were a bit strange, I know I’m safe with Kayleigh. But I also know I put my phone in my purse, she said I probably dropped it and her phone battery was dead so for the next couple of hours I won’t be able to contact Tyler.

“…he’s going to be so pissed at me.”

“Yeah, well we’ll call him once we get there. He loves you, you’ll get away with anything.”

I know she was joking but for a second she sounded a bit sarcastic. I shook my head when she giggled mischievously saying that we’re going on a road trip while swiftly pumping up the volume to her car Soundsystem.

Again, if she was worried about her mother I was expecting that she would vent as we were getting there. But maybe I was exaggerating, maybe this was her way to put her mind off her mom. I know I was a bit busy with my own issues at the moment.

Since the merge, it’s has been a while since we have our girls’ time. She’s been busy with work and caring for her mom, I felt so bad that I haven’t been there for her, asked her about her mom.

So I stayed quiet and let her blast the music, thinking it was what she needed. I must’ve fallen asleep when she woke me up and we were in front of a beautiful little cottage. The air was too cold and a bit damp for my taste and I shuddered as I hurried myself to follow Kayleigh when she shout-out my name.

That was strange…

But I decided to let it slide, maybe she was worried about her mom, maybe things were getting too much for her. The inside of the cottage was dark and damp, just like the outside.

Did she really leave her mother in this condition?

“My mom is in the bedroom, Why don’t you check on her while I get the lights and heather.”

“Okay,”

That was all I could say before the shock hits me after I opened the door she pointed to her mom’s bedroom.

The smell reached me first before I saw her decaying body. What the f**k?!

I recognized her mom’s glasses, it was her and she looked and smell like she had been dead for weeks. Oh my god…

Goosebumps were crawling on the back of my neck, I swear I could feel my heart drop when I feel the sharp end of the knife just under my jaw. My mind could not comprehend why Kayleigh was doing this, not until she speaks her words.

“Aren’t you going to ask?” her voice was unrecognizable, she sounded different. I’ve known her for years, and I couldn’t believe that she’s the same Kayleigh that helped me through my darkest days.

“Did you kill her?” my voice croaked when I finally asked, ignoring the rotting corpse lying stiff in the bed in front of me.

“Do you think I could kill my own mother? my mom, who keeps to herself when my dad rape me? my mom, who didn’t do anything and made me kill him myself?”

Kayleigh ushered me to the living room and closed her mom’s bedroom door, telling me she stinks.

“Yep, boss…I lied, we lied, mom didn’t kill him, I did and I punched several times her just to make it look like she killed him because of self-defense.”

“What do you want with me? Tyler will replace you. Please, just let me go…” I was thinking of ways she could kill me in the secluded cabin, how my body will be put next to her mom’s. I was wild with my thoughts while my eyes were seeking my getaway door.

I didn’t see it coming but her hand was to my cheek, slapping me hard until I tasted b***d.

“You’re not going anywhere, you killed my baby.”

“Your baby?”

This is crazy!

“Yeah, you make Troy hurt our baby!”

Another slap made my eyes water, it stings so bad that my mind couldn’t understand what she was talking about.

What does she have to do with Troy?

“You were pregnant? you know him? intimately?”

“He loved me, you bitch! and I know you were jealous!”

So messed up!

She pulled my hair, dragged me by gripping my loose ponytail. I was holding on to her hand, feeling like she could rip out my scalp.

“I didn’t know, I swear!”

“Yeah? well, Troy told me to be nice to you. He told me to keep us a secret, telling me that you get jealous.”

“What? I didn’t…”

“Shut up!” she pulled me and pushed me into a cupboard and locked the door behind me.

It was dark, she knows I don’t like dark tight spaces. I was having difficulties in breathing, my hands were pounding on the door, begging her to let me out.

Her laugh was heard clearly and I was having a panic attack, my fingers were trying to feel for something to open the door but there was nothing. I was crying my eyes out, panicking so badly that I kept on pounding the door until my fists hurt so bad.

“I know Troy would sometimes lock you up afterward, he told me…” she mocked from the other side of the door.

“Tyler…” I sit back, wrap my knees, try to calm myself down, while silently wishing that he found my note. Hoping that he knows I went with Kayleigh and at the same time praying that she didn’t replace my note and destroy it.

My cheeks hurt, my head was pounding and I was still shaking, crying in the darkness fearing that she was going to kill me just like she killed her mom.

It felt like hours I was shivering from the cold, my fingers hurt, my hands were throbbing, my tears had dried from the cold surroundings, and my teeth chattered from the damp almost freezing air.

“Get up,” Kayleigh ordered as she forced me out of the small cupboard.

The sudden brightness of the living room made me close my eyes and slowly adjust to the light. But it didn’t take long before she hold my body to her front as if I was to shield her from something.

And I realized it when the door suddenly burst open, I recognized Dale then Tyler, he looked at me scanning me from head to toe.

I didn’t hear what Kayleigh was shouting, I was numbed from hours of being kept in a damp dark cupboard, my whole body hurts but I managed to start crying the moment I saw him.

Tyler! I couldn’t voice out my words, it wouldn’t come out. My hands were hurting so much and that’s when I felt the knife on my neck.

“I will kill her! get the f**k away from us!”

I can finally hear her shouting, she sounded crazy, not like the Kayleigh I’ve known.

What happened to her?

The knife scraped my neck, I could feel the sharp edge of the knife slicing my skin, the liquid trails, and I hissed from the pain. Tyler was being held by Dale, he whispered something in his ear and Tyler clenched his jaw but stayed in his place.

“I love you.” I mouthed the words as my eyes were getting blurry from my tears.

This is it, I’m going to die. I’m so sorry, baby…

I’ve never felt so scared to die, that was the first. I usually welcomed death whenever I was abused by Troy. But looking at Tyler, our recent life flashes before me. His warm smile, his sweet hold on me, his deep voice when he whispered that he loves me, all were making me shed my tears as I look at him trying to memorize his handsome face and his tall perfect figure.

It took seconds before I realized that she had let go of her hold on me. Her voice was strangled and I looked back and finally noticed the man who pulled her away from me, who took her knife and held her down to the floor.

Tyler was to my side, his warmth, his familiar scent invades my space and he hold me so tight that I melt in his arms. I cried and he wrapped me tighter telling me that he’s sorry.

He carried me back to his car, didn’t let me go when Dale drives us back to the city. I could feel his hand on my neck, checking on my wound but my eyes were too heavy, all the adrenaline was gone and I was just glad that I was in his arms.

“I love you, Jessica…” his words drifted me off to sleep.