Chapter 23 – Jack’s Rock Bottom
After the urgent call I got from my secretary I raced to my company, desperate to find out what had gone wrong.
The board members were having a meeting without me. Gwen, who I had been expecting to see was nowhere there.
“What’s the meaning of this?” I barked at them.
“We’re done with you ruining this company, Jack, it’s time you take a break and let the reasonable ones run the company,” one of the board members said.
“Tell me, who’s the new CEO? I told you all that nobody is allowed to sell their shares without my consent!” I barked.
“You threatened us, Jack!” another snapped.
I was losing my mind, as I banged my fists on the table.
“Tell me! Who is the CEO?” I thundered.
“Ask your ex–wife, Gwen Lyndon! She’s taken over secretly. She doesn’t even need to come here to declare herself. She owns more than half of the company’s shares,” another stated.
“Maybe if you weren’t such an asshole who denied him you wouldn’t be in this position,” someone snapped.
Outraged, I drew my gun and fired, missing him on purpose. The board members scrambled as they ran away.
Shortly after, some policemen arrived and arrested me.
“Seems you need some time to cool off in a cell like your buddy, Matt,” they said as they dragged me away.
When the cell door slammed shut, I didn’t fight back. I didn’t scream. I just sat there, hands bloodied from rage.
Later that day, Cara arrived to bail me out.
“Why are you acting crazy?” Cara snapped at me as she drove.
I glared at her, “You drove me crazy, bitch!”
Then I got out of the car and went to my bedroom. Cara was furious, she threatened to take her son away and I ignored her.
I didn’t care about anything anymore. I’ve lost it all. My company, Gwen, my life. Everything is gone!
I didn’t leave my room for two days.
The curtains stayed closed. The lights stayed off. I didn’t answer calls, not even from the board. The maid left food at the door. I didn’t touch it.
Chanter 22 – Guan Again?
วงว
13:14 Wed, 16 Jul
52%
I laid in bed, staring at the ceiling. The same five seconds kept playing in my head like a
broken video.
Gwen’s voice, her cries. The moment I pressed that pillow down on our son.
And the worst one her voice on the plane. “Jack, please… don’t do this.” Then I shoved
her out.
My chest clenched again. My stomach turned. I rolled over, breathing hard. I didn’t even realize I was sweating.
I got up. I poured myself another drink.
That was the fifth glass today. Or maybe the sixth. I didn’t know anymore.
The mirror in the bathroom didn’t look like me.
My eyes were sunken, red around the edges. My stubble had grown into a patchy beard. My shirt was stained with something I didn’t remember eating.
“Monster,” I whispered to my reflection.
I leaned over the sink, gripping the edge so hard my knuckles turned white.
“I killed my son. I made her barren. I lied to her face and married someone else.”
I threw the glass at the mirror.
It shattered on impact.
Later that night, I fell asleep on the couch. I don’t remember closing my eyes, but the dreams came anyway.
At first, Gwen was smiling at me. In a yellow sundress. The one I got her before the hospital trip.
Then her smile turned to a scream.
Blood.
She was screaming, holding her stomach, yelling my name.
I turned to help her, but I couldn’t move. My feet were stuck. I kept calling her name, but my voice didn’t work. I tried to run, but my body wouldn’t respond.
She disappeared into the fire.
When I woke up, I was on the floor, soaked in sweat.
By the third day, I started seeing her.
Not in dreams anymore. I saw Gwen in the hallway. Standing by the stairs. Sitting at the dining table.
Every time I blinked, she was gone.
I heard her crying in the walls. I kept walking around the house, calling her name, checking behind doors, expecting her to be there. My heart kept racing.
I knew I was losing it.
Chapter 23 Jack’s Rock Bottom
פנר
13-14
wed, To
252%
I sat on the stairs with my head in my hands. The door creaked open.
It was my mother.
She walked in, looked at me, and shook her head.
“You’ve lost it,” she said. “You look like you’ve been hit by a truck.”
“I keep seeing her,” I whispered.
“That’s because you need help,” she snapped. “Get out of this house. Take a walk. Go to work. Do something.”
“I don’t have a company,” I muttered. “I don’t have a wife. I don’t even have my son anymore.”
My mother crossed her arms. “And whose fault is that?”
“I didn’t mean for it to happen like this.”
“You never do. That’s the problem,” she said coldly. “You think guilt is enough. That feeling sorry for yourself is some kind of punishment.”
I didn’t respond.
She walked up to me and threw something onto the table. A newspaper.
“Look at what you’ve lost.”
I looked down.
Front page. Melbourne Herald. Ryder and Gwen.
“New Power Couple Shakes Global Market. Gwen Lyndon, CEO of Saltzman Enterprises,
again.”
strikes
Their photo was at the center. Gwen was in a tailored red suit. Ryder had his hand on her waist.
She was smiling, she looked very happy.
= { 5 F 3 G 2 2 0 G F FO
My hands trembled as I picked up the
paper.
My mother’s voice was sharp. “If you don’t clean yourself up, I’m leaving. I’ll pack my bags- tonight. I can’t watch you rot.”
Still, I didn’t say anything and she walked away.
That night, I didn’t sleep. I stayed up on the floor, reading the article over and over. “Lyndon, ex–wife of Jack Velcro, has been credited with a successful acquisition of Velcro Group’s majority shares and a hostile takeover of Kingston Corp. Industry insiders speculate she may be planning a total corporate consolidation with her fiancé, Saltzman.” Fiancé? I closed the paper, as the room spun.
My Gwen, she was wearing someone else’s ring, running my company.
And now… marrying my enemy.
