Ex husband's Plea for Forgiveness novel Chapter 87

There was no way Emily would accept defeat to anyone, most especially to Melinda. Jonas had always belonged to her, ever since they were mere children. Sure, she might have left him behind years ago, but she had good reason to do it.

She was in dire straits then; he had no penny to his name. She needed someone who could help her elevate her status, and Jonas wasn’t that man yet. He wasn’t given any right to the Gu family inheritance.

If she’d only known that Melinda would enter the picture at the time of her absence! It wasn’t even Jonas, but Nelson, who wanted to take Melinda into the family, going as far as using Jonas's right to inheritance as bait to get them to wed!

She made the right decision by coming back just in the nick of time. But she had underestimated the old man’s stubborn resolve. She had underestimated Melinda as well, the bitch!

And now she was on the verge of losing everything again. She could never let that happen; she knew the only person powerful enough to reverse her circumstances was Jonas.

He had always served as her contingency plan when things got rough, and Emily was sure that this time wouldn’t be any different. After all, he came running all the way from Japan when he heard she had gotten injured.

But when they saw each other again, and after she explained her situation, all she got was a flat and resounding refusal. "I made it thoroughly clear the last time. I wouldn’t be helping you in any way anymore."

Jonas never was a man who got back on his word. He was firm in his resolve when he made his decision, and he would always stand by it. Besides, he had made a promise to Melinda, and that alone carried a significant weight over everything else.

He also knew that if he would give in yet again to his childhood friend, his wife would only misunderstand his intentions. He was having a rough enough time already; he had no reason to invite further troubles into their marriage.

"Are you being serious right now?" Emily asked incredulously. "Are you really going to be so cruel? Don’t you see that I’m being bullied? Are you just going to let this continue?"

"What I don’t want to continue is you constantly running to me and disrupting my time with my wife! I know you well enough to know that if I help you again, it would never stop; these scenes will only keep on repeating themselves. I’ve made a promise to my wife and my grandfather, Emily. There’s no longer anything you can count on me for."

"Jonas, how could you change so much," Emily started to sob. "You always protected me! Are you forgetting all those times, when we were still children?"

"That was in the past. You’re not a child anymore." Jonas didn’t waver. There wasn’t much in him that Emily could still exploit anyway. She had already overstayed her welcome in his life, and for far too long, too.

"You’ve been in the entertainment business for so long now, do you expect me to believe you never learned or gained anything to protect yourself with? It is by far one of the most ruthless industries out there."

She recognized the cold resolve in his eyes, and it was at that time that she knew he would never fold. Emily racked her brains to find something to guilt him with, a chip, something from the past, anything.

"All right. All right, but what about this?" She pulled out a bracelet from under her pillow. It was a simple silver chain with a single bell as its charm.

She held it out to him with trembling hands, and her face was now streaked with unstoppable tears. A testament, perhaps, to her talents as an actress.

Jonas's eyes narrowed sharply. Unbidden, his mind traveled back to his childhood, and hazy bits of memory played across his vision.

He was taken back to the time when he sneaked out from the mansion. His grandfather was away that time, and nobody was keeping him under close supervision. He came upon a rather large pond, and decided he would fish in it, and bring his hunt back home as a trophy.

Clumsy boy that he was, he slipped and fell into the water. Although it wasn’t too deep, it was deep enough that a boy his size could drown in it.

He struggled in the water for what felt like hours, until Emily came walking by. She found a tree branch and threw it over him and she pulled the gasping boy back to land.

He had sworn to her then that he would protect her all her life, in honor of his gratitude. He gave her the bracelet as a token of that promise.

He came over to the hospital bed and took it from her hand. The silver still gleamed, in spite of its age. "You’ve taken good care of it," he said softly.

He didn’t sound particularly happy, but he was no longer sounding cold and angry, and to Emily, that was a good sign. "I have always cherished this," she continued to sob. "I will never forget the moment you promised that you will protect me all my life."

Jonas was remembering that exact moment, too. As a matter of fact, that time was always at the back of his mind all these years.

He thought he’d done pretty well in keeping that promise. He had always defended Emily against her detractors, and even fought with his grandfather several times because of her.

A thought suddenly came to him: it seemed like Emily spent the past several years doing anything and everything to make him cash in on that promise. His jaw clenched.

"Jonas, they’re trying to dismiss me in the agency. They’re taking away my role from the project!

This was no accident, I just know it. They just want to get rid of me so they could cast someone else as the heroine."

She hung her head, and her crying started to get hysterical. He felt bad seeing her like this.

"Jonas, I really don’t know what to do anymore. I need this project.

Once the role is taken from me, I’ll be relegated to the ranks of the has-beens, and newcomers would just grab all the prospects that would have been mine! Please help me.

I don’t know anyone else who can. Please. For the sake of our childhood memories."

She looked at him with pleading eyes, perfectly projecting the character of someone who was abandoned.

Jonas closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. After a moment he heaved a big, frustrated sigh.

"I’m taking back this bracelet," he finally said, and that cold expression was back in his face. "This will truly be the last time I ever help you.

For the sake of our childhood, as you asked, but you no longer hold any aces, Emily. After this you have to take care of yourself and deal with your own problems."

As he turned to leave, he moved to pocket the bracelet, and then realized he had no pockets. He found that he was still wearing the fleece jacket, the one that was a match to Melinda’s. A couple’s outfit.

He wondered what she was doing as he strode out of the ward. It had only been a few hours since he last saw her, but he was already missing her.

It was late. Jonas didn’t want to worry his grandfather by suddenly showing up at the Gu's mansion, so he called William and had his secretary arrange for a hotel room.

When he was finally off his feet, he had felt a burning urge to call his wife. He balked, though, thinking she might already be asleep at such a late hour.

But he really wanted to hear her voice. In the end he refrained from calling her, and slept a restless sleep.