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I was busy looking through some papers when I heard the door burst open and in came Juliana, in tears.

I stood from my seat and went towards her, quickly pulling her into my arms.

"Jewel, what's wrong?"

She didn't answer but kept sobbing into my chest.

"Juliana?"

"Derick" she hiccuped, I cupped her face and looked into her red eyes.

"Tell me what's wrong?" I asked softly.

"My mom, I ignored her call"

I looked at her confused.

"Why did you do that?"

"They found out Derick! About us! It's bad! I don't know what to do! Everyone's judging me! Derick! They won't stop staring!"

I didn't know what to do except pull her closer and I sat down on the leather sofa and pulled her onto my lap.

She rested her head on my chest and we just sat there until I heard her breathing even.

She's asleep.

I sighed and gently laid her down and went to the desk.

I picked up the office phone and called Paige in.

I heard a knock and said a soft 'come in' not wanting to wake up Jewel.

I'll make whoever that made her cry like that pay.

"Sir, you asked to see me?" Paige said giving a nervous glance at Juliana before turning her head to me.

"Would you like to tell me what happened? I know for a fact she was supposed to be at lunch with you"

"I guess you don't know either Mr. Reid"

She walked over to me and pulled out her phone.

I took it and scrolled through the article before I felt my blood boil.

I wanted to break this phone and I think Paige sensed that because she grabbed the phone out of my hands earning a glare from me making her quickly apologize.

I sighed and swirled my chair before hearing the door burst open for the second time today.

I looked up expecting to see another crying morsel but instead I saw angry eyes belonging to none other than Issac Miller.

"You better-" we cut him off by shushing him and pointing to Juliana.

He makes an oh face and looks at Paige before nodding at her and that was Paige's queue to leave.

"When did you find out?" He asked his eyes going serious again.

"Right now, what about you?"

"I was supposed to be in Florida but cancelled my flight when I saw this and rushed over here, I'm guessing she didn't take it well?"

I ran my hand over my face and started getting angry again remembering the way they talked about her.

"Take it well?! They wrote actual sh*t about her! And you expect me to just sit here and watch her suffer?! I'm going to kill whoever was responsible for this! I need you to do some digging, I'm going to destroy that person and this journalist company!"

"Calm down buddy, I'll do the digging but don't kill the man and you didn't even need to ask, I would've done it anyway, I'd like to give whoever that hurt Julie a piece of my mind just as much as you do"

"I have another problem to worry about when she wakes up"

"And that is?"

"Her mother"

"What's the issue?"

"She doesn't know about us, how do you think she'd feel if she read that about her daughter? not to mention me" I closed my eyes putting my face in my hands.

He put his hand on my shoulder making me look at him.

"Go ahead and talk to her, she'll understand when you explain the situation, both you and Julie"

"Do you think she'll like me? She's one of those-"

"You don't need to say it, I know, Julie told me about her, great mom, she just needs to keep up with the times and trust me, she'll warm up to you, just like her daughter did"

I smiled at him.

"Thanks, you know, for the reassurance"

"Oh trust me it wasn't for you, it's all for Julie,"

Really?

"And maybe it had something to do with you being by my side half the time, during the time my sister passed away"

"Wendy was my sister as much as she was yours, I never saw the difference between her and Sia, I've always got your back"

He smiled and walked to the door but before going out he went ahead and gave Juliana a kiss on the head and winked at me mouthing 'take care of her asshole'

What a douch.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I heard shuffling noises and saw that Juliana had woken up.

"Feeling better?"

She just stared at me with her big doe eyes.

"I don't know"

I walked over to her.

"How about we go see your mom"

"Right now?" She looked at me her eyes widened.

"Right now, the sooner we clear this up the better, I'm doing some digging, I'll shut that site down"

We stayed in silence for awhile.

"Do you regret it now?" I sighed.

"What?"

"Being with me, do you regret it?"

She leaned closer to me and held my hand.

"I will never regret what happened between us, Derick, I'm in love with you, no sh*tty article can change that"

"I promise I'll fix this" I said kissing her hand.

"I know you can"

"Wash your face and fix your appearance let's go see your-"

And for the third time today, the door burst open, I swear that door will break at some point.

Both me and Juliana stood up seeing who it was and behind her was a distressed Paige.

I nodded at Paige and she left closing the door and then I faced the older version of my Jewel.

But she wasn't looking at me, she was looking at Juliana with venom and disappointment.

Before I could stop her she took a step closer and slapped her.

I stared in shock of what just happened and pulled Juliana closer making her avoid another slap.

"How could you?! You were publicly shamed for seducing your boss and yet you still choose to be with him?! You're a disgrace!"

She turned to look at me and gave me a glare.

I'm genuinely scared.

"Are you going to take responsibility for my daughter if she becomes pregnant with your child?! Or are you going to abandon her and throw her away like a piece of gum?! Not only did you shame her but you were pointed out as an ignorant fool!"

"Ma'am," I started calmly and from the corner of my eye I could see Juliana crying.

"With all do respect, both me and Juliana are responsible adults even though it's not likely I would gladly take responsibility of your daughter if she were to be pregnant with my child or any child for that matter, because I love her, your daughter didn't need to go to extreme measures to attract me, all she had to do was be the woman that she is and I was kissing the ground she walks on,"

I looked at Juliana and she was already looking at me and at that moment I saw my love for her reflected in her eyes.

"I'll drop my pride any day of the week just to make her happy, a reputation is a reputation, if I lose it, then so be it, I can build it up again as long as I have her by my side, it's possible"

Her mother stared at me for a few seconds and then sighed.

"I lost my daughter to a man who I thought was the best man I could ever give her away to, a man from a family I trusted and how do you think I can trust you?"

"You can trust me because I was the one who fell in love first, the one who had to threaten her to follow me to California, to convince her how she basically had me wrapped around her finger, no one has been able to do that, I once thought I knew what love was but after I met her, I think I'm an amateur when it comes to it"

Her eyes finally softened and I knew I had won.

But here's the thing; I didn't have to pull some dirty trick to win, all I had to do was be honest and really, no matter what I say, it will never be enough to describe my love for this beautiful woman.

"I'm sorry I was angry without understanding you first, I still don't completely trust you but..."

"Ma'am, I think you should apologize to your daughter, not me"

She nodded and I left to give them privacy.

When I closed the door I got a text that made me want to throw my phone on the wall.

Did you think physically was the only way I can hurt her? My boy, I thought you were smarter than that, I heard her mother is pretty uptight, I wonder how she feels about her daughter now? I told you to stay away from her, last warning.

Yeah not a chance buddy.

Before I could screenshot it, the text was gone and I got a phone call.

"What do you want? I got the message already" I said tiredly.

Can't he just leave me alone?

"I want you to meet your fiancé"

"Yeah no, tell her to go back to where she f*cking came from, I don't want her"

"I would but I won't, I think your girlfriend has a father still alive no? I wonder if he's still going through some problems? Problems that could land him in the hospital maybe?"

"Do you really have nothing better to do except threaten me? I don't even know if she cares about her dad, he was almost as annoying as you are"

"Is that how yuh talk to your dad?! If you'd listen to me for one minute I wouldn't have to go to such lengths! it's the usual place we'll be waiting"

F*ck.

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