Sweet Revenge: Jace & Emerald

“Hi, M.” Kyle greeted as Emerald exited the elevator.

“You don’t need to call me that way; Emerald is fine.” The girl replied. She didn’t want to be acquainted with any of Jace’s employees.

“But Creep said they call you that way,” Kyle said as he motioned her to follow him.

“They are my friends, and we are close,” she replied. Along the way, Emerald noticed a few employees looking at them.

“I see; then I’ll call you Emerald.”

“Thank you.”

“Here’s your office,” Kyle said when they stopped in a room with a see-through glass wall and door. It was clean and not too big, and Emerald could see everyone outside, so she liked it.

“Where is my team?” She asked.

“Everyone outside is at your disposal,” Kyle replied. Emerald nodded as she sighed in relief since Jace was not around. But because she was expecting to see him, she felt disappointed but tried not to show it. “You can set up your things before I introduce you to your team. If there’s anything you need, you can tell me.” Kyle added.

Emerald nodded and started to look into the computer that the company had provided for her while Kyle left her. She has her laptop but opted to use the company’s resources. “Yes, M?” Creep asked as he answered her call.

“I just set up my computer. Can you help me secure it? I didn’t want anyone to have a look at it at any time.”

“No problem,” Creep replied, and Emerald started providing him with information to speed up the software installation.

Just as Emerald ended their call after finishing installing, Jace came in. “Even if I let my office door open, I still expect people to knock before coming in,” she said without looking at him.

“I’ll try to remember that,” Jace replied. “How do you find your office?”

“The Office doesn’t matter to me. I won’t be here for long, so I don’t think I need to have a say on something that is temporary,” she replied, looking Jace in the eyes. ‘He never changes. He’s still as handsome as ever.’ she thought and remembered the night they shared together, making her swallow hard.

“What’s wrong?” Jace asked curiously.

“Nothing.” she replied, “What do you need?” she asked.

“I just want to make sure that you’re fine and you settled”

“I’m fine. I want to meet the team so we can start and finish the project already.” Emerald said, cutting off his words. Jace sighed and replied,

“It’s not as though you can finish it as soon as you start it.”

“If I can finish it a day earlier than it should be, I would be happy. At least I managed to cut my stay here.”All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

“Is that how much you didn’t want to do this project?” Jace asked angrily. He didn’t like the idea Emerald was trying to imply. “It’s not as though I force you here.”

“Didn’t you?” Emerald asked, “And no. I like to do projects. What I didn’t like is to feel your presence, how much more, see and talk to you like this?” she added, not batting an eye.

Jace said instead, ignoring Emerald’s hurtful words, “I am going to introduce you to your team; be ready.”

After everything is settled, Jace and Kyle gather everyone around and introduce Emerald. Young Morgan thinks that her team looks reliable, and she can feel their respect for her. She hopes that they will be able to work harmoniously and finish the game without any problems.

Emerald requested an oval table where her team could discuss the development of their project, which Jace immediately agreed to. After the small meeting, young Higginson left them since he didn’t want to anger Emerald as well.

In his office, Jace was thinking about his wife and how he would make her fall in love with him again when an unexpected visitor came.

“Sir, Mr. Morgan wants to talk to you,” Nolan said as he entered his office.

“Let him in,” he replied before he sat properly. Mr. Morgan had never contacted him for a long time, so he wondered why he paid him a visit.

“Mr. Higginson,” Emerson greeted him as he entered the office. Jace nodded and motioned for him to sit down. “I came here to seek help, Jace.” Old Morgan said, making Jace raise his brow. He had invested his money in their grocery business, but he did not check them anymore after Emerald left.

“What kind of help?” Jace asked, even though he had no plan of helping them anymore after he remembered what kind of treatment they gave to Emerald.

“Our business is not doing well, and we need some financial support,” Emerson replied, hopeful that Jace would help him.

“As far as I can remember, the investment I gave you years ago was enough to make your business sustainable,” Jace replied. “What happened?” he asked, and Emerson told him how his family overspend.

“That’s why I need your help right now. I asked for you two weeks ago, but your assistant said you’ve been on vacation for a month. Good thing I decided to drop by so I don’t need to wait another two weeks.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Morgan, but I don’t think I still want to do business with you,” Jace replied.

“You can marry Emerose if you want to, just like when you married that jinx. If you had only asked me, I would have suggested that you marry my eldest daughter since she had been our lucky charm”, Emerson said proudly, which annoyed Jace.

“Don’t you think it was your wife and Emerose are the jinx in your family? Emerald was no longer living with you when I invested, so there’s no way that she’s unlucky.” Jace replied, “And what made you think I would want to marry Emerose? I never chose her before, I will never choose her now, and I will never choose her in the future. You’re lucky to have Emerald back then; she’s the main reason I decided to put my money into your business.”

“My family is never a jinx, Mr. Higginson,” Emerson said angrily. He didn’t like what Jace was trying to imply. “If you don’t want to help us, it’s fine. I’m sure other businessmen would want to invest in my company.”

“Good luck with that,” Jace replied, smirking. He knew that no matter how much Emerson searched for an investor, no one would dare to help them once they found out that he refused to help him.

Meanwhile, Emerald was talking to Creep over the phone in her office. “So they were looking for an investor?” young Morgan asked.

“Yes. What do you think?” Creep asked.

“Make sure that we will hold the majority share. Do everything you can to make that happen.” Emerald replied.

“Copy that. But are you sure you will be able to save your grocery store?” Creep asked, worried about his friend’s decision.

“The only reason the company was like that was because of that mother-daughter duo my idiot father tolerated. That’s why I want you to make sure that we have the controlling share so we have all the say in running the store,” she replied.

“Okay, Daryl and I will work on that. Another thing is that Mr. Jack Higginson wants to talk to us. When are you available?”

“Set the date and time, but I must go to school to enroll, Ace.”

“How about Friday?”

“I think it’s good.” Emerald agreed, and they ended the call.

Two days later, Emerald and Ace went to the primary school he would attend. The boy was ready and was feeling excited. He couldn’t wait to go to school and meet new friends.

“What can you say about the school, baby?” Emerald asked as they were on their way out of the preschool. They just talked to the school head, and she was pleased with how they interacted with the kids.

“I like it, Mommy,” Ace replied, making Emerald smile. She was glad the boy liked it there because she didn’t want to look for another school since it was already convenient. “I can’t wait to have new friends!” the boy added happily.

“I’m sure you will have a lot. You’re very kind and sweet, so I know that everyone will like you”, Emerald encouraged him. She wanted her son to meet a lot of people his age. She didn’t want him to live the way she did out of insecurity and fear that people wouldn’t like her because of what Emerose had told her. Now, she promised herself that she would motivate her son to learn to associate and interact with other people with respect.

“I just hope Daddy Liam is with us so he can see my school, too,” Ace said when they stopped to wait for the Uber Emerald had booked.

“Baby, please don’t call Liam that way. You can call him uncle or anything, but not Dad or Daddy.”

“Why not?” Ace asked in a low voice.

“Because he is not your Daddy. What if he likes someone, and then that girl hears you and gets disappointed thinking he has a son and a wife?”

“But Daddy Liam said it was fine.”

“Of course, he won’t tell you it isn’t because he is not seeing someone right now. What I’m trying to say is, when the time comes that someone would like him.”

“But I want to have a Daddy.” Because of what the boy said, Emerald couldn’t help but think of Jace. She was torn between telling young Higginson about their son or not. She started to feel scared that he wouldn’t accept Ace and the boy would get hurt. She didn’t want her precious son to suffer the same suffering she had been through.

Before Emerald could reply, their car arrived, and they got in. She needs to send Ace home because she still needs to go to the office for work. Without her knowing, Emerose, who came from the village beside the school, saw them and was curious.