“As far as I’m concerned the only way to get her out of our lives, once and for all, as you put it, is to cut out her heart. Oh sorry, I forgot, she doesn’t have a heart!” Jason retorted his tone loaded with sarcasm.
“Jason,” Jackson rebuked, “those types of comment do not help anyone!”
“Speak for yourself, it helps me!”
Aviva jabbed her husband in the side with her elbow to gain his attention, and gave him a stern look.
“What?” Jason asked.
“You shouldn’t say things like that. We know you don’t mean them, but MacKenzie will think she’s involved with a family of barbarians.”
Jake couldn’t wait to hear Jason’s response.
“MacKenzie is Jake’s concern, not mine, so she can take me or leave me. As long as you know who I am, I don’t care about what anyone else thinks.”
Aviva’s look of exasperation amused Jake. On the other hand, MacKenzie’s expression of shock at Jason’s comments was worrying, but he said nothing. Jason had no filter and the sooner she understood and got used to his twin the better.
“That’s enough!” Jackson commanded, putting a stop to the way the conversation was developing. “Josh, have you managed to find out where she is staying?”
Josh gave the address together with the assurance that Diana was still in residence. “If she packs up to leave, I’ll know about it.”
“Give me her number,” Jackson told his youngest son.
Without comment, Josh reeled off the number, and they all waited as Jackson placed the call, and switched the phone to loudspeaker.
“This is Jackson Kingdom.”
“Jackson, why so formal? I would know your voice anywhere. I have to say I expected your call long before this,” Diana purred.
“What do you want?” Jackson asked with a no-nonsense tone.
“What do you think I want, Jackson?”
“Don’t play games with me, Diana. I don’t have the time or the inclination for it!”
“You will not take that tone with me. I hold all the cards, I may not be able to ruin you, but I will pull you and your precious sons through so much dirt, some of it will stick. So you had better rethink how you proceed.”
The sound of his mother’s modulated voice made Jake cringe. He had only seen Diana lose her cool once. That had been the day she was thrown out of their home. Now by the sound of her threats, she obviously thought she was in complete control.
“I repeat, what do you want, Diana?”
“I want you to come to my house tomorrow at 1:00 pm sharp. Don’t bother to bring the boys, you know I can’t stand them, darling,” Diana said with a laugh. “I know they’re all listening, hello boys,” she said with false amusement.
“What is the matter with you, Diana?” Jackson asked, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“Tomorrow, 1:00 pm.”
Then the phone went dead.
**********
When Diana hung up the phone on Jackson, she felt flushed. Why she felt the way, she did about him was something she was unable to fathom. For her, it had always been that way. Even before the first time she had deliberately instigated the meeting between them; she had seen him, and she had known they were meant to be together.
Diana hadn’t liked Jackson’s tone. She accepted it only because he had so readily agreed to meet with her. That she had given him little choice was of no concern to her. She also knew he had her on speaker and that he no doubt had his sons listening to their conversation.
That he had refused to take her back even after she had laid her heart open before him was a problem. A problem yes, but as far as she was concerned her dilemma wasn’t insurmountable. The smoke screen she had instigated in regards to Aviva and MacKenzie were just that, a means to her end. Her end game, Mrs. Jackson Kingdom... forever.
All her machinations had produced the result she wanted. Jackson was coming to her. Never for one moment had she doubted that he would come to her. Lost in a fantasy world where she and Jackson were the hero and heroine; it didn’t matter to Diana that she had hurt and used others. All that concerned her was that she got what she wanted. If there were casualties along the way, so be it.
Spinning around in her seat, she again turned her attention to the people seated before her. She had nothing but disdain for them. They had outlived their usefulness, and their presence was nothing more than an annoyance. Their petty little family secret meant nothing to her. Carlos Ernesto being a superstar meant even less. His mother however interested her.
Lorna Ernesto had been willing to destroy the mother of her only grandchild to protect her son. Some would say that her actions represented a mother’s love; she said, Lorna had an unhealthy obsession with her offspring.