Filed to story: The CEO’s Wife Is a Secret Boss Novel (Allison & Jeremy) Free Online
“Even if 99% of what he said was a lie, one thing was true.” Julien raised his swollen eyes to Jonah, a broken smile touching his lips. “That man was the love of your life. Not me.”
Jonah’s heart sank. “That’s not-“
*Actually, your heart… is gone. It’s gone to be with that person.” Julien’s voice dragged out as though he had traversed great distances, wearied by his torment. “He is the love of your life, the one you could have given everything for. As for me, I am merely a balm for your broken heart. A fleeting substitute.
“I know you thought of him during those nights when you held me close. You must feel lucky to have found someone who looks just like him.
*Coincidentally, this person also fell hard for you. But what a pity… nothing can ever compare to that one true love. The fake will always be fake. You cannot deceive yourself about your own feelings.”
Tears welled in Jonah’s eyes as he shook his head. The pain within him was becoming unbearable.
“I refuse to be a substitute. I would rather die than be someone else’s shadow.”
With that, Julien pulled a white rose from behind him. His expression turned cold and resolute as he raised the sharpened stalk to his cheek. He dragged it along his cheek, leaving a long, bloody mark.
He smiled and asked, “Look, Jonah. Do I still look like him?”
“Julien! Don’t!” Jonah’s eyes widened. As he reached for the rose, Julien cut himself again.
The intersecting, bloodied lines on his face mirrored the agony of his shattered heart.
Tears streamed down Jullen’s face as he laughed. “Tell me. Do I… still look like him? Do you still want me?” “Don’t do this… Julien, please!” Jonah dropped to his knees before him, gripping Julien’s wrists. The man who once held such pride now seemed to care for none of it. He cried out, “I beg you…don’t hurt yourself. You can do anything to me! Hate me, hit me… kill me! Just don’t inflict pain on yourself. Please…”
His love for Julien ran deep, and nothing tormented him more than witnessing this self-inflicted suffering.
“Is your heart aching for me?” Julien laughed, tears and blood staining his cheeks. “No, your heart doesn’t ache for me. You’re using me to ease your guilt over losing your true love. But now that you’ve redeemed yourself, who can save me?”
He closed his eyes, letting the white rose slip from his grasp. “Jonah, let’s end it here.”
The once pristine white rose petals were now marred by the dark stain of Julien’s blood.
‘Let’s end it here.”
Julien’s voice was soft, yet those four words shattered Jonah’s heart into fragments.
*Julien, I will not allow you to leave me!” Every muscle in Jonah’s body trembled with desperation. A ferocious rage ignited in his eyes. “I know who I love. You are not a substitute for anyone! Julien, don’t leave me… I cannot let you go!”
Panic coursed through him.
He cried and pleaded, desperately trying to hold Julien back. Tom between gentleness and force, he was willing to accept any outcome as long as the man he adored stayed with him.
The first time it happened, Jonah had barely survived the emotional turmoil. If it happened again, it would drive him to the brink of insanity and death.
His breathing became ragged; his bloodshot eyes blazed with determination.
With open arms, Jonah moved to embrace Julien, who had been reduced to pieces. But just as he leaned in, a sharp pain shot through his left eye.
“Don’t touch me!” In a moment of uncontrolled rage, Julien had grabbed another rose, dragging its thorny stem across Jonah’s face.
Jonah was fortunate to have closed his eyes just in time; otherwise, that thom could have slashed his eyeball, leaving him blinded.
Julien stared at the bloodied cut on Jonah’s face, momentarily forgetting his own pain. Dazed, his hands trembled as the instinct to care for Jonah flickered within him. Yet he fought against it, forcing out the words,” Jonah, you need to go to the hospital-
Jonah couldn’t be bothered about himself. A drop of blood trickled down his face. Fiercely, he pulled Julien into his arms. “Promise me, then… Don’t break up with me!”
*Jonah, I admit that I still love you. But now that it has come to this, I’m unable to convince myself to stay with you.”
Despite allowing Jonah to hold him, Julien’s eyes were vacant. All the passion that he once had in his eyes had disappeared.
“Even if I force myself to stay in this relationship, living by your side in the future will only make me feel like I’m acting as somebody else. That initial purity of your love for me is now gone. Yet, what I want, in particular, is just that bit of purity.”
As he said that, he smiled. In a throaty voice, he continued, “I really envy you and him. It was thanks to him that I was able to have such an unforgettable relationship with you. Jonah, that’s enough. This is it for us…”
By the time Alyssa and Sean arrived, Julien had already left.
In the expansive room, Jonah knelt, a forlorn shadow of his former self.
Alyssa’s heart sank. She stumbled backward slightly. The man before her was alive but resembled an empty shell, crushed and battered.
“Ms. Alyssa, what in the world happened to Mr. Jonah and Dr. Lovelace?” Sean questioned anxiously. He had been probing her the entire journey there but was unable to get a single answer from her.
He had assisted Jonah for a few years when Jonah was KS Group’s president. Yet, he had never seen him looking as devastated as this!
Alyssa took a deep breath, forcing herself to remain composed. “Sean, wait for me outside. Let me have a talk with Jonah in private.”
Knitting his brows together, Sean nodded. He had no other option but to retreat and wait outside the door. Looking at Jonah’s downcast expression, Alyssa welled up with tears. She walked to his side slowly, knelt down, and picked up the roses that had scattered across the floor, one at a time.
When she picked up the greeting card containing Julien’s heartfelt confession, she couldn’t contain herself any longer. Tears blurred her vision, smudging the elegant words.
Following that, a ball of fury exploded within her.
She was usually composed, but she could not hold back when her loved ones were suffering! Moreover, it was Jonah’s birthday today.
Stirring up such a huge commotion on such an important day was the cruelest way to break a person’s heart. Undoubtedly, they had rattled her cage.
*Jonah, I’ve mentioned this to you in the very first place. If you are both in love with one another, you have to give one another your absolute trust.
“Not only do you have to be honest with one another physically, it’s the same emotionally too. You can never hide anything from one another, especially when it comes to your feelings.”
Alyssa knelt right next to Jonah. In a raspy voice, she continued, “I believe you’re deeply in love with Jul. But you cannot deny the fact that you were once attracted to him because of how much he resembled your ex.
“You should have been frank with him much earlier on. But Jonah, you didn’t. Instead, you hid the truth from him till this day. Jul put all his trust and invested all his emotions in you. This was why this ended up being such a mighty blow to him.
“How could he take it? How could he continue to stay by your side? He’s such a proud person… He’s risked everything to be with you. Yet, you lied to him from the very beginning…”
*Julien isn’t like Blake… Other than their locks, they’re not alike at all…” Jonah’s head hung low as he replied, his voice bitter and weak. “Julien isn’t gentle. He’s capricious, arrogant, and rebellious. At times, he’s even more unreasonable than a woman…”
‘But I just love him… I can’t stop myself from loving him,” Jonah said.
Alyssa blinked hard to stop herself from crying. Many a time, Julien was like the male version of herself. At the same time, Jonah’s love for Julien was just like how Jeremy used to love her. How could he be so affectionate and tolerant if he wasn’t in love with him to the core?
“Lyse… I was wrong. I’ve made a grave mistake.” Jonah’s broad shoulders trembled violently. “It was true that I was attracted by Julien’s looks. However, what I love is his soul.
‘At the same time, I was afraid of Julien leaving me because of my past with Blake… So, I didn’t dare to be honest with him. I was too embarrassed to tell him the truth. I wanted to give him a perfect relationship.
“I was wrong… If I had known… If I had known that it would turn out like this…
Jonah choked back his tears and couldn’t bring himself to continue speaking. The thorns on that stalk of rose that he was clutching tightly onto pierced into his palm.
Alyssa kept her cool. In a soft voice, she asked, “Jonah, you received a call before you came here. Who called you?
“Uri Holland… He’s an older guy whom Blake met when he was at the orphanage. They were as close as blood brothers. Both of them were my core subordinates when I was leading Cloudtop.”
“Has this person always been pestering you in secret?”
Jonah shook his head. “He has never shown up ever since I disbanded Cloudtop after Blake’s passing.”
Alyssa frowned. A suspicion rose within her. “Of all times, he chose to wait till today? All just because he can give you an ‘unforgettable’ birthday?”
The more she thought about it, the more bizarre it felt.
When Jonah and Julien’s relationship was revealed back then, it caused an uproar and even became a trending topic on Twitter.
Uri had probably already found out that Jonah found a lover who looked incredibly similar to his younger brother. He endured silently for a whole year and didn’t take any action. Of all times, he put in so much effort to have an outburst at this time?
Was it all so that he could avenge his dead younger brother?
Alyssa kept getting the feeling that this wasn’t such a simple matter.
*Jonah, let’s talk in detail later on. You’re hurt. Let me take you to the hospital.”
Alyssa went forward to help Jonah up. Nevertheless, having just recovered from a major affliction herself, she wasn’t strong enough physically to help the strong-bodied Jonah up.
“Lyse… I want Julien.”
Jonah’s eyes filled with tears. Even though the pain in his left eye was so intense that he couldn’t keep that eye open, he gazed at Alyssa. “I don’t love anyone else… Julien is the only one I love. I want him to come back…” ‘Jonah, let’s go to the hospital now!” Alyssa’s heart wrenched at the sight of the wound on his face. “I’ll talk to Jul. He loves you too. I’m sure he can’t bear to leave you either!”
