I knew what was going to follow. Jasper locked his mouth over mine in a hard kiss, one that wasn’t slow but displayed possession. This was undoubtedly his way of showing me that he owned me. His gaze was burning with desire as he wasted no time getting undressed and climbing on the bed.
I lay exposed on the bed. In a different circumstance, I would have walked out of the room even before he had time to get me out of my clothes, but the dangerous expression he sported told me I was better off letting him have his way. I didn’t want to think what he would do to me if I denied him. He’d told me I’d already seen the real him but not the worst side of his behavior yet, and it scared me to think how worse he could be when he completely let the mask slip off.
I stared into the dilated icy blue eyes watching me intently. His chest was rising and falling. It was unfair for a man like him to have such a perfect body. He hooked his finger into my panties and I heard the sound of it tearing. He was acting really primitive, and I realized it was because he suspected something was going on between me and Vincent.
My ability to think was momentarily paused when his tongue did delicious things to my nipple. I whimpered until I felt a sharp pain and realized he’d bit a little too aggressively.
“Jasper, you’re hurting me,” I complained.
“I just got started,” he whispered.
“Stop it.”
Jasper caught a fistful of my hair and brought his mouth crashing down to mine; kissing me so hard that I could hardly breathe. I tried to push him back but his body pressed against mine. When he pulled away, my lips felt swollen.
“Turn and lie on your stomach,” he commanded. He didn’t wait for me to move, and he flipped me over himself. “Bend your knees and spread your legs wide.”
I did as I was told, keeping my hands on the side. “Wider,” he said in a hoarse voice.
His fingers traced my folds and I cried in a mixture of frustration and ecstasy. I heard him chuckle. “You demand a divorce from me and yet you’re dripping wet. Why, Kiara, you’re just a glutton for punishment.”
I tried to sit up but he pushed me down. His fingers grasped my skull and pushed it on the mattress. He wasn’t slow, and neither did he care about my needs. He was rough as he thrust inside me and withdrew, and continued to plunge in and out until I heard him say my name amidst heavy breathing, “Kiara…”
When he pulled out, I instantly felt the loss. Shame washed over me because I was glutton for punishment. One look from Jasper, his silky voice whispering dirty things into my ear, and I was a puddle on the floor. I deserved this treatment because I’d let him walk over me time and time again. He climbed out of bed and walked into the bathroom, leaving me feeling used, and that was exactly what he wanted to do. He wanted to break me if I denied him, and he’d been waiting for one word of denial to tumble out of my mouth, but I wasn’t giving him that.
Minutes later, he walked out, pulled a casual t-shirt over his head, and slipped into a pair of jeans. He raked his hand through his messy hair, looking like a runway model.
“Are you going somewhere?” I asked, half expecting him to ignore me.
“Need to reply to some emails,” he answered.
Yeah. Right.
I clenched my hands into fists in the comforter. “Are you having an affair, Jasper?”
He paused at the doorway and turned to me. His expression did not change; it was still blank and unreadable as always.
“Where do you run off to in the middle of the night?” I pressed.
“Duty calls. I have a billion dollar corporation to take care of, and I shoulder the responsibility of keeping thousands of employees and their families fed. In case you’re still not aware, I’m a company CEO, Kiara, and in order for me to give you the life that you’re living right now, I have to make sacrifices even if it means leaving my naked wife in bed at…”—a quick glance at his wrist watch—“…One-thirty a.m.I don’t expect you to understand, but accept it. This is my life, and that’s how it had always been and will continue to be.”
“I never asked for a lavish lifestyle; for these expensive cars or gifts. I would never complain if we had to move into a smaller house and live a normal life like other people.”
“You fancy a house with a leak on the roof? How about an unkempt lawn and the almost falling-down-from-it’s-hinges house gates? Not to mention, the curtains made of old blankets. Do you like that better?”
My face was blazing hot. He was taking a jibe at my previous living conditions; specifically, the house I used to live in before I became Kiara Lockhart.
“You don’t have to be so vulgar. All I’m saying is that I wouldn’t care if we weren’t so wealthy.”
“But I do,” Jasper said. “And that should be enough to close this topic for any further discussions. As for your allegations over my character, I can assure you that I’m not having any affair. If I did, I wouldn’t have been tearing your clothes a while ago. You have what I need, and that closes doors for allegations about me cheating. Although, just a little warning, if I found you going behind my back and fucking other men in my absence, I won’t be happy at the slightest.”
With that, he slammed the door shut behind him.
Chapter Thirty-One
After that day, Vince and I maintained some distance and stopped meeting at night for chats because he’d gotten busy with his work at the hospital, and he also wanted to prove to Jasper that we didn’t have anything between us. We took lunch and dinners at the table as a family occasionally, but that was about it. Jasper’s distaste for his brother was pretty apparent.
One night, I woke up to the sound of soft shuffles. When I opened my eyes, I saw the housekeepers packing a suitcase. Confused, I looked at the wall clock. The time was four a.m. My hand traveled to Jasper’s side of the bed and came up empty. I watched as the maids began pulling my clothes from the closet without my permission and packed it neatly into the suitcase.
”What are you doing?” I asked her. “And don’t you know how to knock? How can you just barge into my bedroom like that?”
The other girl zipped up another suitcase which consisted of Jasper’s clothes and began handing it over to Morgan who took the suitcase and disappeared out of the room.
“I asked you a question. Why are you packing my things without my permission?”
“I’m sorry, Ma’am, but those are Mr. Lockhart’s orders,” Lola said softly, bowed and resumed her packing.
None of them were even interested to find out if I wanted to have my things packed. It’s not like they were programmed by Jasper to only follow his instructions.
I climbed out of bed, fixed my hair, and whipped up a silk robe over my body before making my way out of the room and down the dark stairs only to find Jasper talking to Morgan. It was actually more of Jasper dissing out instructions and Morgan nodding his head to Jasper’s every word. Tyler was asleep in Jasper’s arms. I rushed towards them. I needed to know what was going on in the middle of the night. What was so important that he was having the maids pack my clothes? When Morgan noticed me approaching them, he whispered something to Jasper, bowed, and excused himself.
“What’s going on? Why are they packing my stuff?”
Jasper turned to face me, “Because we are leaving.”
I thought I hadn’t heard him properly. “What do you mean? Where are we going?”
“We are moving to our old mansion in Lockhart’s Island.”
“Why?”
For some reason, Jasper seemed like he didn’t want to explain to me in detail. And I hated that. “If Vince wants this house, he can have it, but I don’t want us to live under the same roof as him.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” I said softly.
Jasper stared at me in his usual cold, challenging way. “What did you just say?”
“I said I won’t go anywhere,” I repeated, pulling Tyler into my arms. “And Tyler isn’t going anywhere either.”
I started walking away from him, tow
ards the stairs, but Jasper grabbed my arm forcefully and that woke Tyler up. The child began wailing. I pulled away from his tight grasp, placed Tyler down on his feet, and instructed him to run back to his bedroom upstairs. He didn’t need to be a part of our daily fights.
“Tyler go to your room,” I instructed him.
But Tyler remained glued on the spot, hugging his stuffed teddy to his chest. His thumb was in his mouth, sucking the life out of it.
“Tyler!”
I could see Jasper’s jaw working, and his gaze turning darker by the second. Calmly, he asked, “Why can’t you go with me?”
“Because I’ve had enough of your lies. This is my home, and I will stay here.” I threw his words back in his face.
Jasper chuckled, his tone sardonic, “Is that Vincent talking? What are you? His newest puppet? Do you think I don’t notice how you communicate with your eyes at the table, or make subtle conversations while my back is turned?”
I thought I was going to melt under his stare. I folded my arms over my chest, feeling the fire blaze in his eyes, the anger fuming inside him. Tyler had crawled his way beneath a table in the corner and watched us silently.
My poor little boy.
“You know what?” Jasper said. “I don’t care anymore. You wanna live here with Vince? That’s fine.”
Next thing, Jasper power- walked towards where Tyler was hiding under the table and picked him up in his arms almost too aggressively, forcefully. “But my boy comes with me.”
Tyler screamed loudly, his shriek pierced through the silence. His tiny hands reaching out towards me, “Mommy...I wanna go to Mommy.”
Jasper was walking out of the door. He was going to put Tyler in the backseat of the car. He was going to take Tyler away; maybe send me the divorce papers and take sole custody of my child. Jasper had enough power to put me in a position where I wouldn’t ever see Tyler’s face my entire life.
The thoughts that clouded my mind made me hysterical, and I grabbed for a knife from the dining area and stalked after him, pointing my knife at Jasper’s back. One jab and it would slice through the fabric and into his skin.
“Hand over Tyler to me Jasper or something really bad is going to happen.” My hands were trembling. I tried to hold the knife steadily. “Do not test me!”
“So now you’re gonna kill me?” Jasper asked, sneering. Calmly, he continued, “Think about it Kiara. Killing me will get you nothing. You’ll only help Vincent with his plan, and once he has what he always wanted, he’ll toss you away faster than you can imagine. And when they start investigating, the truth about your father’s murder is going to spill out, and you know what happens after that.”
My grip on the knife loosened as I realized he was right.
”Let Tyler go.”
“What’s going on?” Vince strode into the room through the main entrance. He was dressed in scrubs looking tired from his shift. His eyes rested on the knife in my hand. “Kiara, what are you doing?”
“He can’t take Tyler away from me,” I said.
Vince’s gaze shifted towards the luggage being loaded in the car trunk. He looked at me and then at Jasper. “Where are you going?”
“Moving,” Jasper corrected him. “We are moving into our old mansion in Lockhart’s Island. You can have this house.” He rummaged a pair of keys and handed it to Vince.
Vince stared at the keys and laughed. “Oh, I get it. So now you’re going to take your family and leave in the middle of the night so that you can make a statement for the tabloids that I fucking threw you out. That’s smart.”
“You’ve got a sick twisted mind,” Jasper said.
“You’re one to talk,” Vince retorted. “I wish I had the patience or the energy to stand here and talk until morning, but I don’t. So I have another solution.”
“You’re more likely to create problems, Vincent. It’s unusual for you to come up with solutions.”
“I hope you had your fill of sardonic comments for the day. I was going to say that Kiara doesn’t have to go anywhere, neither does Tyler or you,” Vince said, and then turned to Morgan. “Morgan, pull the bags out of the trunk.”
“Morgan, don’t,” Jasper ordered.
Morgan looked at Jasper and then at Vince, probably having an inner battle about which master to listen to. I didn’t blame him for feeling intimidated. “Sir, I...”
“Morgan, do as I say. Bring their luggage back into the house.”
When Morgan stood there staring like a mannequin, Vince took my hand and placed the keys of the mansion in my palm as he disappeared up the stairs. Ten minutes later, Vince was making his way downstairs, holding a suitcase.
He placed it down on the floor and commanded Morgan to load it in his Jaguar.
I was confused. What was going on?
Vince was dressed in casual denim over a clean shirt. “I’ll move into the old mansion.”
Jasper smirked.
What? Vince couldn’t do that to us.
I stepped towards him. “Vince, you don’t need to go anywhere. This is your home as much as it’s Jasper’s.”
“Kiara,” Jasper warned me.
I pleaded him with my eyes and whispered, “Please don’t leave us. Tyler and I need you.” I sounded so weak.
He brought his lips close to my ear. “I’m sorry, Kiara, but this is the only way.”
Tyler made a dash towards Vince and hugged his legs. “Please don’t go, Uncle Vince.”
Vince kneeled down to Tyler’s level. “I’ll come see you soon, Ty.”
Tyler was already in tears when he looked at his father. “Daddy, please don’t let Uncle Vince go.”
Jasper sighed and walked away like he didn’t want to argue further. Vince looked at the knife that I was still holding in my hand. “Don’t do anything stupid.”
“I won’t,” I assured him. “It’s late. You can leave tomorrow morning.”
Vince pulled me in a hug. I wrapped my arms around him and managed to soak his shirt front with my tears. He took my face in his hands and said, “I’m not abandoning you guys. You just have to wait for my signal. Until then, I want you to be strong. Can you do that for me?”
I nodded. “I don’t have any other choice.”
“I will keep you and Tyler safe, I promise,” Vince said, and the way he held us both close, the warmth of his hug, made me trust his words.
He slipped a crumbled piece of paper into my fingers. “This is another one of my numbers that Jasper isn’t aware of. Do not hesitate to call me at any hour and try not to make him angry.”
I watched as Vince slid into the driver’s side of his Jaguar and turned on the engine. Tyler and I waited until we saw the car disappear through the gates.
This was the second time I’d watched Vince leave. This time, it was even worse because I realized how alone I was.
All alone with a psychotic husband.
Chapter Thirty-Two
It was already a week since I last saw or heard from Vincent, and I was starting to wonder if I was going to lose that one friend. With time, I’d completely lost touch with my old girlfriends, mostly Kathy. The last time I remembered talking to her was a few months back, and then she stopped replying to my texts. I wondered if it was because she really thought I was a pompous rich bitch. The only occasional friends I hung out with were Cecelia and Penny who pretended to be happy with their abusive and cheating partners. Then again, I didn’t have a right to judge their lives when mine wasn’t perfect either.
“Mrs. Lockhart.”
Ms. Jones called out to me. For a minute, I’d totally forgotten that I was here for a Parent- Teacher meeting. Morgan had gotten a call from the teacher, and he had been kind enough to pass on the message. The teacher had something to tell me about Tyler.
Her well-manicured nails pulled out a paper and placed it on top of the desk. Ms. Jones’ eyes inspected me. “Mrs. Lockhart, I don’t mean to pry into your personal life but when it concerns one of my students, I have to ste
p in.”
“I understand.” I nodded, my fingers knotting and unknotting in my lap. “Did Tyler do something?”
I was feeling nervous about what the teacher might tell me about Tyler. What if she said that Tyler was violent around other children? What if he was becoming like Jasper? I couldn’t fathom the thought of Tyler doing something like that.
“Tyler isn’t sociable in class, doesn’t answer questions, and mostly likes to keep to himself. It’s a little disturbing to see him behave like that, Mrs. Lockhart, and I have a reason to believe that it’s due to some issues at home.”
I hated how Ms. Jones was analyzing me; like she could uncover all the stories in our family by looking into my eyes. “I will talk to Tyler about this.”
“I was expecting Mr. Lockhart to be here too so we could discuss this together.”
She wasn’t going to let this slide so easily.
“My husband has been caught up with some important work so it’s just going to be me.”
“Oh, that’s alright. I can wait.” She smiled in understanding.
I tried to come up with a better excuse, deciding to pretend a fake call to Jasper, asking him where he is and then lying to Ms. Jones that Jasper wasn’t going to make it. Before I could do that, a tall figure walked inside the room.
It was Vincent. I was shocked to see him here. He was dressed to impress, as usual. The Lockharts seemed to have a gift where style and looks were concerned. He wore a gray suit and a white shirt underneath. His hair was neatly combed.
“Sorry I’m late. There was an important meeting,” Vince told me and then turned to the gaping teacher and offered her a handshake which she accepted.
The teacher had apparently lost her ability of speech. I couldn’t blame her. Vince could have that effect on people, especially women.
“It’s good to have you, Mr. Lockhart. I’m Patricia Jones, Tyler’s teacher.” Ms. Jones said. “It’s about your son.”
Psycho Billionaire: A Dark Romance Page 23