Chapter 13 My Woman

• After Tanya left, Flynn came back in, holding an envelope.
• Tobias opened the envelope to find Skylar’s information and pictures of her when she was still a toddler.
• Skylar Jones, a twenty-year-old art university dropout, was much younger than he had imagined.
• She had a boyfriend, Jeremy Lane, who had also dropped out of university due to his illness.
• The ghost of a smile touched the corner of Tobias’ lips as he had roughly pieced the puzzle together. So it was for Jeremy’s medical fees that Skylar had lost her virginity to me that day.
• How great of her to sacrifice everything for love.
• Her parents had divorced when she was three years old, and in the same year, her mother had been imprisoned for murder.
• Her father was the millionaire, Thomas Jones, who had abandoned her after the divorce.
• After that, Skylar had been basically living with Meredith, her maternal grandmother, since she was three years old. That was until the latter passed away when she was in her third year of high school.
• After Meredith’s death, her uncle and his family had occupied the house, leaving her homeless.
• In Tobias’ eyes, Skylar’s background stunk. The fact that she was still alive after encountering many unfortunate events was a miracle.
• Feeding the documents on Skylar into a paper shredder, he looked out into the night sky through the window.
• At the same time, Skylar had just reached home. However, she realized that the living room was in a total mess with her suitcase and personal belongings lying around.
• Karen, the landlady, was sitting in the living room with her legs crossed while smoking a cigarette.
• “I’ll definitely pay you the rent in a few days, Karen. I swear,” Skylar said with a warm smile on her face.
• Karen took a drag on her cigarette. “As if I’ll believe that. Pay up or scram.”
• With just a few pennies to her name, Skylar couldn’t tell when she could pay her rent.
• “Can you make an exception this time and give me another day?” She tried to negotiate. “How am I supposed to find a place to stay at this hour?”
• “You can always stay at a hotel,” Summer chimed in, raising her brows.
• Skylar shot the former a murderous look.
• We’ve been living together for about six months now. Does she not have the slightest bit of compassion? How am I supposed to afford to stay at a hotel?
• “Let’s not be too brazen here, shall we?” Karen rolled her eyes. “Why don’t we end this nicely before things get nasty.”
• Afraid that Karen would go hard on her, Skylar could only carry her suitcase downstairs without even having the chance to pack up what was left in her room.
• She stood at the entrance, not knowing where to go. There was no place where she could call home now since Meredith had passed away.
• The feeling of loneliness crept into her heart as the cold wind swept over her.
• “Skylar.” Jeremy’s voice was heard. “Were you expecting me?”
• Skylar, who thought she was hallucinating, quickly looked back. Jeremy was standing behind her, right next to his brand new Audi.
• “What are you doing here?” She wore a bewildered expression. “Are you here to return my money? Wow, I guess you won’t have to go to hell when you die now.”
• As a matter of fact, Jeremy had been calling Avery for days to no avail.
• Hence, he had started to miss Skylar, who was always at his beck and call.
• No one had loved him as much as Skylar, and frankly, he was a little reluctant to let her go.
• “Did the landlady kick you out?” he asked in concern, seeing that she was standing at the entrance with a big suitcase, looking absentminded. “I’ve rented a house nearby. I can take you in.”
• “Oh, just drop the act, will you? You make me sick,” Skylar said and turned away, seeing that he was about to help her with the suitcase. “Isn’t it a little too late for you to play the good guy now? You liar!”
• He grabbed her wrist with such strength that showed no sign that he was a severely ill patient. “Baby, stop messing with me. You’re nothing without me.”
• “Let go of me,” Skylar said, struggling to break free from his grip. “We’re over. It’s either you return the money or wait for my lawyer’s letter.”
• Ignoring her pleas, Jeremy pulled her into his arms, wanting to force himself on her.
• Skylar continued to struggle, feeling disgusted at the thought of getting kissed by him.
• Suddenly, just as their lips were about to touch, a jarring honk of a vehicle was heard.
• A man alighted from the car and put out the cigarette in his hand. It was none other than Tobias, and he was glaring at Skylar with a gaze like that of a predator.