always felt slightly lost. I guess that’s why it was so easy for Frank to manipulate me and it was so easy for me to have a crush on Hunter. But with you, I don’t feel lost anymore. I don’t feel like I have to pretend to be someone I’m not. I can be me. I can tell you how I feel. I can tell you what I’m thinking and you can do the same. We can both be real with each other. Neither of us is perfect. Neither of us knows what’s going to happen, but we can figure it out by ourselves. We can do this. We can really do this, Jaxon.” I grabbed his hands and held them in mine. “For so many years I’ve doubted myself and my thoughts. I’ve been scared to know who to trust and what to do. The first person I ever met that made me believe in myself was Meg. She saw something in me, she liked me and she treated me as an equal. I’ll always love her for that. However, at the end of the day, she has a best friend. She has someone that holds her in high regard. You and me, we’re loners. We play by ourselves. Well Jaxon, we don’t have to be loners anymore.” I snuggled up next to him and stroked his face. “I trust you and I want you to know that I think coming to the Lovers’ Academy was the best decision I’ve ever made in my life.” I took a deep breath then, not wanting to overwhelm him. I could see from his face that he was taken aback. A part of me wondered if I’d come on too strong. Maybe I’d scared him? I swallowed hard as I waited for him to respond. I needed to know that he felt the same as I did. It didn’t matter what trials were put in front of us as long as we had each other. I really and truly believed that.
“ Thank you.” He said finally, his eyes bright, but his face not as excited as I’d hoped. “You’re one of a kind, Nancy. You’re truly one of a kind.”
Chapte r Nine
Jaxon
The day of the wedding was bright and sunny. It belied the dark and cloudy feelings I held inside. I wasn’t happy and I wasn’t excited. Nancy had agreed to go to a local courthouse with me. A local priest was going to come in and do a quick service. I should have felt happy that I was finally getting vengeance for my father. Ever since he’d killed himself, I had vowed to take down Brandon Hastings. If it hadn’t been for Brandon buying his company and putting him out of business, he never would have commit suicide. I hated Brandon with everything that I had. I’d grown up knowing that I would do anything to bring him down. I knew that my father, as I called my uncle now, was disappointed in my actions. I knew that he didn’t want me to go after revenge, but I also knew that he understood.
I picked up the phone to call him before I went to leave the room.
“Hey,” he answered quietly, almost somberly.
“ Hey.” I repeated.
“ So you’re on your way.”
“ Yes.” I nodded, even though he couldn’t see me. “We should be married within a few hours. Then she’ll become a Cade and I will become a legal member of the Hastings family, via marriage.”
“ How long will it take you to gain control?” He asked me quietly.
“ I’ll get a seat on the board of Hastings Corporation within a month once I’m a legal part of the family. There’s nothing Brandon can do to stop me.”
“ I can’t believe that his grandfather set it up like that.”
“ He wanted to make sure that the business remained a family business.” I smiled. “I’m here to make sure that it remains a family business as well, until every last dime is gone.”
“ You don’t have to do this, Jaxon.”
“ I do.” I sighed. “I’ll text you when you can let Hunter go.”
“ He’s been a nuisance.” The man sighed. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he goes to the police and says he was kidnapped.”
“ Don’t worry about it. I have a file full of papers on him. If he knows what’s good for him, he won’t go anywhere but home.”
“ I can’t believe you got everyone to believe he was dead.”
“ No one
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