CHAPTER 45: JACOB

But before she could finish, he closed the gap, capturing her lips in a soft, deliberate kiss.

Alisha was too stunned to speak. Her eyes were wide open, almost popping out of their sockets, telling herself this wasn’t real, but she could still smell his cologne so close to her.

His arms were wedged right by her sides, so his weight wouldn’t crush her.

Dante kissed her like there was no tomorrow, making her stomach flip for the second time that night. She wanted to stop him. She needed to stop him.

They were in his room, and he was drunk. They’d never been intimate before, and if they were...

Alisha placed her hand on his hard chest, about to push him off of her but she couldn’t bring herself to do so.

She thought she would get disgusted by his touch after how the hoodlums had handled her according to Katherine’s orders. It was one of the reasons she didn’t like Dante touching her. And the other one was how her body tickled to his touch.

Alisha’s lips were closed, so Dante had to bite her bottom lip, causing them to part and he took the opportunity to slip his tongue in, making her shiver.

Before she could realize it, their tongues wrestled, fighting for domination but Dante won her, feeling the kiss even more as she moaned in his mouth.

His hands went to her thighs, holding on to the flesh before caressing it ever so gently.

Alisha’s hand circled his neck, pulling him even closer.

Then Dante’s hands reached her panties and the spell broke. Before she could stop herself, she pushed him right off of her body, his body flying off the bed before he could realize what had just happened.

Dante was lying on the floor, his jaw dropped and his eyes widened in shock.

Alisha tried to catch her breath as she stood up from the bed.

"Let’s not do this again," she said. "It was a mistake. Let’s just forget about it and pretend it never happened."

"Pretend it never happened?" Dante asked, standing up from the floor. "How do you expect me to pretend it never happened?"

"Just figure it out or something," she responded, reaching for the door but Dante held her back, making her wonder how quick he was to close the gap between them.

She yanked his hands off her. "How many times do I need to tell you not to touch me?!" She yelled. "Don’t touch me!"

She gulped down her saliva, feeling regretful when she realized she’d gone too far.

Then she left without waiting for Dante to digest her words.

The next day,

Alisha and Katherine were called into Megan’s office.

The woman was sitting in her chair while the other two ladies sat right across from her.

"I’ve seen the stories circulating on social media. Katherine’s fans attacking Alisha and Katherine’s...affair," she started.

"The pictures were edited by Alisha because she wants to ruin my reputation," Katherine immediately cut Megan off, earning her a glare from the woman.

"I don’t care if the pictures were edited or not. I don’t care who posted it and who didn’t, but you see this tension between you two, I don’t like it," she said as she cut Katherine off, her gaze darting between the two women. "Veila is a big name and I don’t want netizens gossiping about my artists on social media and dragging my company into your mess. So whatever scores you two haven’t settled with each other yet, you better do it before I take things into my own hands," she threatened.

Alisha was quiet throughout the entire meeting.

"I’m sure you already have your schedule with Nix for the photoshoot and I want to trust both of you can cooperate and not glare so hard at each other as if you’re going to rip the other person’s head off."

Still Alisha didn’t say anything, not because she didn’t want to, but because her mind kept going back to the night before when she and Dante had kissed. The image replayed several times it was living rent-free in her head at this point.

"As for the wardrobe malfunction that happened at the runway in the Sirena fashion show, Bethany had already confessed that you were the one who told her to tamper with Alisha’s dress," Megan said, facing Katherine.

Katherine looked stunned and betrayed all at the same time because she didn’t think that Bethany would easily rat out her name like that.

"I’m not telling you to confirm if it was you or not. I’m telling you because I’m not going to tolerate this childish act in my company. If you cause any more inconvenience to any more of my artists, I’ll have no choice but to contact Stella and terminate your contract with Veila." Megan’s expression was stoic, meaning she was standing on business.

Alisha quietly stared down at Katherine’s clenched fists that looked like they were only one second away from connecting with the table.

"My dream is only to be a top model but I never expected Katherine to be someone so mellow," she finally parted her lips to speak. "Honestly, I don’t have a problem with you as long as you don’t have a problem with me. We can still make this work, don’t you think, Katherine?" She asked, a small smile on her lips.

Katherine resisted the urge to wipe it clean with a slap against the face but she decided to take a deep breath. She’d been in the industry longer than Alisha. She was more professional and more experienced. A big scandal, and it was over for Alisha.

Nathan had managed to get rid of her photos from the internet so she didn’t have much to worry about anymore.

But the way Alisha was staring at her, as if she knew her deepest secrets bothered her. She’d wanted to dismiss Alisha as a mere rookie who would give up and mind her business, but the latter was starting to make her blood boil.

**

Katherine arrived at a beautiful penthouse she’d bought for her lover and her son, Jacob.

After the reconciliation meeting at Megan’s office, Katherine couldn’t bear to stay there anymore. She’d done her photoshoots for other brands but the day was still too early to return home especially since Nathan wasn’t back home yet.

"Are you sure it’s safe for you to come visit us when it was only yesterday when your secret was revealed?" Mason asked, pecking Katherine on the cheeks as she offloaded the groceries she bought on the kitchen island.

"You don’t have to worry about that. I managed to fool Nathan into believing that it was all fake and Alisha was simply trying to pick a bone with me," she explained, arranging the apples in the containers.

Mason could only shock as he twirled Katherine around, making her face him.

"How whipped is that man for you?" He asked, pecking her quickly on the lips. "Now it makes me want to hustle even harder so that I’ll be the one to provide this kind of lifestyle for our family, and then, you won’t have to share your love anymore."

Mason had been her first lover even before she’d met Nathan. At that time, her family had been poor but when she’d met Nathan, he’d wanted to marry her but his father had refused because of her family background, leading them to break up.

She returned to Mason, got pregnant by him, and gave birth. When her father’s business had started flourishing, Nathan came back but he was already in a relationship with another woman, Eva. But Katherine didn’t have to do too much because it was Nathan who wanted her. And he was rich, so he created financial stability for her.

"Where’s Jacob?" Katherine asked, as if on cue, a little boy came running into the kitchen while a nanny ran behind him, trying to catch him.

"Jacob," Katherine lifted him. Jacob was five years old, but he was a spitting image of her. He was old enough to start schooling but she was scared people were going to find out that she had a son out of wedlock.

She had no idea how Alisha had managed to get those pictures of her and Mason, but something told her that Alisha already had a clue about Jacob. However, if that was the case, Alisha would have released those pictures along with the ones she posted yesterday.

Katherine interacted with her son for a while before giving him back to his nanny while she and Mason went to their room.

"I’ve missed you so much," he said, capturing her lips into a fierce kiss.

"We saw each other two weeks ago," she said against his lips as he took her towards the bed, gently laying her on it.

"You look so stressed because of that woman. If you need any help getting things done about her, you can always come to me and I’ll make sure she disappears from the face of the earth, " he promised.