Emily’s Dilemma: Seduced by Billionaire Brothers

“Jackson?” Emily repeated, willing a memory but nothing was forthcoming

“Ethan’s my brother” Jackson added and Emily only stared although the shock was evident on her face.

“Oh” she said, so simple in fact and looking him over dressed impeccably in a suit. “I mean it should be obvious, but then again it’s not”

“I totally get what you mean” Jackson said. “Do you want to take a walk?” He asked her, she was about to respond when she looked him over again.

“Aren’t you going somewhere, you’re all dressed up” she said

“Oh yea, work but it doesn’t matter. I mean, I have the largest shares, I practically own the company I don’t have to be there all the time”

She nodded with a smile, falling in step with Jackson “That’s great, you can stay with me then. It’s been boring these past few days since I left the hospital”

“Why so?”

“Ethan always has to be at work and it’s exhausting to do anything else” she said, pausing for a while and turning to face Jackson almost immediately “If Ethan’s your brother and you practically own the company, why does he always have to be at work?”

“He’s a workaholic” Jackson offered

“It gets lonely” she said, with sadness to her eyes but she tried to hide and Jackson held her hands affectionately. Emily felt goosebumps rise up on her skin at his touch, it felt so familiar but it was impossible to pin, and frustrating still.

“How much exactly do you remember?” Jackson asked and Emily thought for a while trying to sort out her memories, and even that felt cumbersome. They had reached a waiting bench outside and Jackson gestured for her to sit down

“I remember a lot of things but they’re not particularly orderly, like i could remember doing something but not so much why I chose to do it. The doctor said it’ll get better and everything would be clearer but that can’t happen if Ethan’s not telling me anything”

“I’ll tell you anything you want to know” Jackson said sharply. Emily sighed, taking a deep breath and suddenly feeling hot beneath her sweatshirt even though it was freezing.

“What happened to me, what caused this?” She asked, blue eyes focused on him, he almost didn’t speak but he caught himself on time.

“Ethan and I got into a fight and you were there, something fell-”

A flash of memory, an enclosed place, ball gowns but then again there was a child crying , an adult screaming, the memories so jumbled in her head it was impossible to make sense of it. She felt a sharp pain cut across her forehead and she winced in pain.

“Are you okay?” Jackson held her immediately, taking hold of her face and she nodded, her face still contorted in pain.

“I’m fine” she told him “it just hurts when I try to remember stuff”

“Maybe you shouldn’t try to remember, let it come to you Emily”

“You think?” She asked and he nodded, drawing closer to her on the bench

“How about we do it this way, I hang out with you everyday of the week just to keep you company”

Emily remained quiet for a while, she didn’t really know this guy but somehow she felt safe in his presence. Even though she couldn’t place it, his aura was familiar, the way he looked at her, smiled at her, why couldn’t she remember, well she couldn’t remember a lot of things. She remembers getting married to Ethan but not exactly why, she remembers Anita being her half sister but not so much the circumstances surrounding that. It was hazy up there.

“I’d like that” Emily smiled

**********************************

Emily returned to the house she shared with Ethan that evening, her steps hesitant, her mind brimming with thoughts that swirled like leaves in an autumnal gust. She kept thinking about Jackson, even though she had spent the better part of her day gallivanting through stores, cafes and restaurants, but yet his touch lingered in her mind, the goosebumps rising on her skin, the flash of memory, Jackson’s concerned eye etched at the corner of her brain, so familiar yet not forthcoming.

She was not expecting to find Ethan at home but he was, nestled on the armchair, a furrow deepening between his brows as he brooded into the distance.

Ethan glanced up, a perfunctory lift of his eyes in acknowledgment of her arrival. “Where have you been?” he asked, his voice so flat it barely echoed in the sparse, silent space between them.

Emily hesitated by the door but walked in anyways, her fingers wrapped around the strap of purse. “shopping,” she said, staring down at her empty hands that bore no evidence, but then again why did she have to prove anything.

Ethan merely shrugged, making no move inquire further, his attention slipping back to whatever internal struggle held him captive. He held a book which he wasn’t really breading but a perfect distraction to bear his thoughts alone.

Emily sighed, wishing he’d ask more but he wasn’t paying anymore attention to her. She wanted to tell him about Jackson, she has opened her mouth to speak already but immediately thought against it, he never wanted to tell her about him, an important piece of her memory that he enjoyed missing, instead she scooted closer to him perching on the arm of his chair.

Emily forced a cheer into her tone, a stark contrast to the somber atmosphere. “You know what we should do, we should go on a date”Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.

“A date? Why? You’re unwell” Ethan said, without even glancing up.

“You kinda said we’d go on a date after my GED exams?” The reminder was a grasp at normalcy, a desperate cling to the structure of a life she didn’t fully remember.

“You remember that?”Ethan’s voice was flanked with surprise. “Well you didn’t even take the exams yet”

“It’s not like I can take the exams now when my head is all floozy, but we should hang out”

“You’re just bored, you should get a hobby maybe, besides I have a business trip coming, so maybe when I get back?” he said distractedly

Emily’s heart plummeted, a stone sinking in the deep well of her confused emotions.

As she walked inside to the bedroom, Emily allowed the emptiness to wash over her-a stark contrast to the inexplicable warmth she had felt in Jackson’s presence. She wondered what it meant and why Ethan seemed so afraid of the answers that might lie within her lost memories. He was avoiding her and she wondered why. Instead she picked up her new phone that now bore Jackson’s number, she sent a swift text

“What time tomorrow?”