Chapter 70



“What’s gotten into you?” Jake exclaimed, visibly shocked by Kallie’s reaction. He didn’t release his grip on her bag. Instead, he clutched her wrist tightly with his other hand. “Have you lost your mind? My mom mentioned you’ve been acting strange at home! What’s going on with you?”

Kallie didn’t respond. As Jake seized her hand, her instinctive reaction was primal—she bit him.

Driven by an intense need to protect her unborn child, Kallie was desperate to keep its existence hidden from Jake, fearing for its safety.

“What are you doing?” Jake recoiled, shocked by Kallie’s sudden aggression, something he had never seen from her before. She quickly snatched her bag back.

“Are you hiding something from me?” Jake demanded, his suspicions growing.

Suddenly, a thought crossed his mind, and he blurted out, “Did you really cheat on me?”

Kallie, having checked the contents of her bag, locked eyes with Jake, her expression a mix of defiance and wariness.

“You’re taking me back to our childhood. Remember our first real fight?” Jake’s tone softened, dipping into a nostalgic warmth.

Kallie hesitated for a moment as memories flooded her mind. Her fiery temper as a child had been well-known, and it was that same spirited nature that had drawn her to Linsey.

There had been an incident where Jake took something precious from Kallie, and she had launched a full-on attack, her youthful energy wild as she pummeled him.

Jake, a few years her senior, had adhered to the unspoken rule of never hitting girls. He had taken the beating without fighting back, even as Roderick chuckled in the background, amused by Jake’s decision to provoke someone as fierce as Kallie.

“You haven’t shown that side of yourself in a long time,” Jake commented, a faint smile on his lips as he looked at her. “So fierce.”

But Kallie remained unmoved by his reminiscence. Her memories reminded her that the old wounds hadn’t fully healed. She recalled overhearing Jake complain about how he disliked assertive women, specifically pointing out her once fiery temperament as off-putting.

In an effort to win his affection, Kallie had softened herself, adopting a more subdued demeanor. Yet, even that hadn’t won his heart.

Suddenly, Jake made a swift move, snatching Kallie’s bag from her grasp. In one smooth motion, he upended it, spilling its contents onto the bed. Among the scattered items, some folded papers caught his attention.

Grabbing one, Jake quickly unfolded it, his expression hardening as he read the contents. He turned sharply toward Kallie, holding the paper up. “Do you really need to carry a divorce agreement with you, even on a business trip?”

It was a copy of the divorce papers Kallie had sent him, identical in every detail.

Kallie remained still, her expression unreadable as she faced Jake. Yet, her hand instinctively cradled her stomach in a protective gesture that spoke volumes.

“Kallie,” Jake said, his voice now cold and commanding as he stepped closer. “You’re already my wife.”

He gently brushed a lock of hair from her face, his touch soft, but his words firm. “You’re mine, forever. Do you understand?”

Kallie met Jake’s gaze, her eyes steady but filled with challenge, as if silently asking, “Yours, how exactly?”

Before Jake could respond, Kallie’s gestures became sharp and pointed, expressing that she was neither his pet nor his possession—she was not something he could control at will.

Jake’s face clouded with confusion and irritation. “What are you talking about?”

Kallie didn’t back down. Her hands trembled slightly as she gestured quickly, conveying that while Sarah was his lover, she herself had been treated more like a pet, kept at his side without regard for her own feelings.

This was the first time Kallie had spoken so openly and critically about their relationship.

“A pet, huh?” Jake scoffed, shaking his head in disbelief, his gaze narrowing. “You were the one who wanted this marriage. Now you suddenly want out? It’s not that simple!”

With that final statement, Jake slammed the door behind him, leaving Kallie alone with her thoughts.

For a long time, Kallie remained still, the echo of the door’s slam lingering in the room. Eventually, she moved to the bed to gather her scattered belongings. Hidden in her bag’s compartment was the crumpled pregnancy test report—Jake hadn’t noticed it during their altercation.

Despite Jake’s accusations, Kallie reflected on their past. She had never pressured him into marriage; no one had. He had entered into it willingly.

The next morning, at nine, Kallie and Irene arrived at the filming location on time. It was Kallie’s first time participating in a shoot, and while she felt a flutter of excitement, her nerves were surprisingly calm.

But her cheerful mood quickly soured as they entered the studio. There, seated comfortably in the director’s chair, was the last person Kallie wanted to see: Sarah. She was all smiles, casually chatting with the director as if she owned the place.

“Someone who doesn’t know her place is here for the shoot?” Irene muttered, her irritation clear.

“She’s just here to try out,” a male voice casually remarked from behind them.

Kallie’s heart clenched as Jake approached. She closed her eyes briefly, a faint, mocking smile on her lips.

Roderick had always told her to do her best and leave the rest to fate. Yet here was a reminder that sometimes, even your best efforts couldn’t stop others from interfering.

Indeed, even here in Halstead, Jake’s influence was impossible to escape.

The director, despite his prestigious background and the authority he had shown with the previous day’s casting decisions, seemed noticeably more subdued in Jake’s presence.

“Does she even know how to restore antiques? Can she handle those tools properly?” Irene’s voice was sharp, her frustration spilling over. “If this shoot is going to be treated like a joke, we shouldn’t have bothered showing up!”

“Don’t be so rude,” Sarah said, rising gracefully from the director’s chair. Her voice was soft, her smile gentle.

“I actually have a background in acting, and I’m looking to get back into it. This project feels like a great step in that direction,” Sarah declared, her tone a mix of enthusiasm and false modesty.

The director, clearly caught off guard, let out an awkward cough, struggling to maintain his composure at Sarah’s explanation.

Everyone present could see through her declaration—this university promotional shoot was clearly just a convenient way for Sarah to overshadow Kallie.

And Jake, doing nothing to stop her, seemed to support Sarah’s move.

Turning to Kallie with a forced smile, Sarah proposed, “Since I’m not skilled in restoration, I’ll handle the broader scenes. For the detailed close-ups, Kallie, could you fill in?”

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