Act Like You Love Me (Jessica) novel Chapter 107

Chapter 107

Jessica’s POV

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The tires screeched against the hospital’s ambulance bay before he SUV had even fully stopped.

Aaron didn’t wait. He was out of the door and shouting for a gurney before I could even unbuckle my seatbelt.

My heart was pounding so hard I could feel it in my throat, a relentless drumbeat that drowned out everything else.

Everything collapsed into sterile white light and the hurried clack of wheels racing over linoleum.

Paramedics crowded in, speaking in rapid, clinical terms that made no sense to me, their voices piling on top of each other until all I could hear was the blood circulating in my ears.

I ran alongside them, my fingers white as I gripped the edge of the metal railing, trying to keep my hand on Aunt Lydia’s until the very last second.

“You have to stay here, Ma’am,” a nurse said, her hand a firm barier against my chest.

“That’s my aunt!” I screamed, but the doors swung shut anyway, swallowing her and the sea of blue scrubs.

I was left standing there, gasping, the air tasting like bleach and old floor wax.

Behind me, Aaron had already taken over the intake desk. He was issuing control.

His voice was low and unnervingly steady, carrying an authority that cut through the chaos and snapped the staff to attention, threatening to buy the entire wing if it meant Aunt Lydia got the best care.

He used power the way others used fists-and for once, I was glad he was exactly that man.

I sank into a plastic chair, pulling Adrian into my lap.

He was too big for it, his legs dangling over my knees, but I needed the weight of him to keep from floating away.

Ella sat beside me, her hand rubbing small, soothing circles on my back.

‘Please,’ I prayed, my eyes fixed on the flickering fluorescent lights. ‘Please don’t take her. I’d already lost my mother before I could even say goodbye!’

Aunt Lydia was the bridge to my past, the only person who had held my hand through the terror of the last six years. If she left, I would be truly alone in the dark.

Eventually, the adrenaline wore off, and Adrian’s heavy head slumped against my shoulder.

He was exhausted, his small face puffy from crying.

“Jess,” Ella whispered, her voice a soft tether to reality. “Let me take him back to our place. He can sleep in a real bed, and you can focus on Lydia.”

My grip on him tightened instinctively. A primal, ugly fear flared in my gut.

If I let him go, Aaron would have a clear shot at me. If I let go, the only thing keeping me sane was gone.

But then I looked at Adrian’s uncomfortable position, his neck bnt at an awkward angle.

“Okay,” I whispered, my voice cracking. I looked Ella in the eyes my gaze desperate.

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Chapter 107

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“Please. Watch him. Don’t let him out of your sight. If he even has a tiny itch, if he wakes up and cries, if anything happens…. call me.”

“I’ve got him, Jess. I promise.” Ella squeezed my shoulder, her expression full of a sister’s understanding.

Tony stepped forward and gently lifted the sleeping boy. Adrian didn’t even wake; he just tucked his face into Tony’s neck.

I watched them walk down the long corridor until they turned the corner. The silence they left behind was deafening.

Alone now, the dam finally broke. I buried my face in my hands and let the tears come-not the quiet, controlled ones, but the ugly, body-shaking sobs of a woman who was losing her grip on her life.

I couldn’t sit still. I paced the narrow hallway, my heels clicking in time with the second hand of the clock on the wall.

Every few minutes, I’d stop and try to peer through the tiny rectangular window in the surgery door. All I could see were the tops of surgical caps and the frantic, synchronized movement of nurses.

“Here.”

The voice was close. I looked up, startled, to see a bottle of water being held out to me.

My gaze drifted from the bottle up to Aaron’s face.

He wasn’t looking at me. His eyes were fixed on the surgery doors, his jaw set in a hard, uncompromising line.

That lack of eye contact hurt worse than a scream would have. It was as if I’d become a ghost in his presence.

With trembling fingers, I took the bottle.

“Thank you,” I muttered.

I tried to twist the cap, but my hands were shaking so violently I couldn’t get a grip.

I fumbled with it, my frustration rising until I felt like screaming at the plastic.

Without a word, Aaron reached out. His fingers brushed mine- brief, electric spark of heat that sent a jolt through my spine.

Our eyes locked for a fraction of a second. In that moment, I saw the man I loved and the man who hated me, battling behind his pupils.

He broke the contact first, looking away as he twisted the

cap off with an easy crack.

He handed it back. I whispered another thank you and chugged the water.

The cold liquid soothed my parched throat, but it did nothing for the soul that felt like it was being slowly incinerated.

We stood side by side in the heavy silence of the waiting room.

Finally, he broke it.

“Is he mine?”

His voice wasn’t loud. It was dangerously calm-the kind of calm that precedes a hurricane,

I bit my bottom lip so hard I tasted copper. I wanted Aunt Lydia wanted her to be here to shield me, to tell me it was going to be okay.

I wasn’t strong enough to face his wrath alone.

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09:41 Mon, Jan 26 G GG.

Chapter 107

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“Jess,” he said, his tone dropping even lower, vibrating with a dark authority. “This will be the very last time I’ll ask this. Is that little boy mine?”

The truth felt like a heavy stone finally falling.

“Yes.”

Aaron’s POV

The word struck with brutal weight, settling deep in my gut until it turned to lead. Yes.

A sick, twisted part of me had been hoping she would lie.

I wanted her to tell me I was crazy, that the resemblance was a coincidence, that she had moved on and found someone

else.

Because if he wasn’t mine, I could just be angry at her for leaving

But if he was mine… then the last six years were a theft.

I felt flabbergasted. Hurt. Disappointed. But mostly, I felt a white hot rage that I had to exert every ounce of my willpower to keep under the surface.

This was already a devastating night for her-her aunt was behind those doors fighting for her life-but the betrayal was too massive to ignore.

I closed my eyes, drawing in a long, slow breath through my nose, trying to keep my voice from echoing through the ward.

“How much longer did you plan on keeping this from me?” ”

She didn’t answer. Instead, she let out a broken, jagged sob and slid down the wall until she was curled on the floor.

She wrapped her arms around her knees, burying her face, her shoulders heaving.

On a normal day, I would have moved with the speed of light to console her. I would have knelt, pulled her into my arms, and told her I’d fix everything.

But I couldn’t move. I was rooted by my own fury.

“I’m sorry, Aaron,” she wailed into her knees. “I didn’t mean to-

I scoffed, a harsh sound that cut through her crying.

I rolled my eyes at the ceiling, feeling the burn of my own tears threatening to surface.

“You didn’t mean to? Jessica, it’s been six years. You deprived me of being a father to my son for six fucking years. Do you have any idea what you’ve stolen? Every first step, every word, every birthday.”

My voice was rising now, the “calm” I’d fought for evaporating. I was raging inside, even as I stayed rooted to the spot.

“Tell me, Jessica. Why? Why did you do it? And I swear to God, you better hope your reason makes sense.”

She snapped her head up. The sadness in her eyes was suddenly overshadowed by something else—a flash of ancient, simmering anger.

It made my blood boil. She had no right to be angry. None.

“Maybe,” she seethed, her voice trembling with a decade of resentment, “if you weren’t locking lips and trying to get with your ex-girlfriend five minutes after having sex with me-after hearing me confess my love for you-I wouldn’t have

back

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Chapter 107

run away.”

I froze. My brows furrowed, my eyes narrowing as I processed the sheer absurdity of what she was saying.

“What the fuck are you talking about, Jessica?”

She rolled her eyes, a bitter, hysterical laugh bubbling out of her

“Oh, please, Aaron. Stop pretending. I saw you that morning. After the…” Her voice dropped, her face flushing.

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“After the sex… after that perfect morning when you brought me breakfast in bed, when you made me feel like I was the only woman in the world…”

She shut her eyes, drawing in a deep, shuddering breath, as if trying to erase the memory—like it was a regret. And that hurt, because even in old age, it’s a memory I’ll never forget.

“I just wanted to go for a walk, to clear my head and soak in the happiness. I went to the deck for a moment of peace, and instead, I found you. I saw you with her, Aaron. I saw you kissing Fiona.

In all my years of high-stakes business and public scrutiny, I had never been more genuinely shocked.

I stared at her, waiting for the punchline, but her eyes held a terrifying conviction.

For a split second, she looked so sure that I almost questioned my own memory.

I ran my fingers through my hair, clutching the strands as if the pain would help me make sense of this.

“The last time I kissed Fiona,” I said, my voice tight and precise, was the day before I found out she was cheating on me. The day I ended it. Whatever you think you saw on that deck… I have no idea what you’re talking about. I spent that entire morning looking for you.”

The look in her eyes shifted from anger back to a fragile, broken confusion.

The silence between us stretched, thick with the realization that six years of our lives might have been destroyed by a shadow and a misunderstanding.

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