*THE HOLLEN SERIES 02*
????????????EPISODE 61????????????
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*?? PERSONAL as-sISTANT??*
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Evan’s POV
“Son, we cannot seem to get an exact location
on Jasmine. We tried tracking her cellphone,
but we lost the connection,” my father
explained on the other end of the phone.
I was alre-ady settled in my pri-vate jet, EJ next
to me.
Zenia! I thought and dialed her number.
“Hello?”
“Zen. It’s Evan. I nee-d Jasmine’s exact
address.”
“I can’t provide you with such.”
“Zenia, plea-se! I nee-d to get to your sister as
soon as possible!” I begged.
“I swore to secrecy. I’ll be betraying Jasmine if
I tell you.”
I knew, at this point, she wasn’t going to give
me the address unless I did something I never
enjoyed doing. Bribery.
“Zen, if you do this for me, I’ll give you the
capital to start your own clothing line and
boutique, and that’s a promise.”
There was a long pause on her end, which was
a good sign because I knew she was
considering my proposal. Jasmine had told me
that it was her dream to own her fashion
boutique one day.
“Okay. I’ll text you the address and ap@rtment
number.”
Bingo!
We hit the skies ten minutes after.
When we arrived in L.A. at 5:45 p.m., EJ and I
went looking for the address Zenia had texted
me.
“I think it’s this one,” EJ said as he pointed to
ap@rtment 12.
“Lets go.”
We headed up the stairs; then, we heard a
gunsh0t.
“STAY BEHIND ME!” I yelled at EJ as I ran
towards Jasmine’s ap@rtment.
I had no idea where the gunsh0t c@m£ from,
but as I got closer and closer to ap@rtment 12,
I heard the cries of a baby.
I bur-st throu-gh the door and my blood boiled
instantly, reaching an all time high. Aria was
standing there with a gun. Jasmine was lying
on the floor with blood soaking throu-gh the T-
shi-t on her back; the baby was still wra-pped
up in her arms un-derneath her, crying.
I speared Aria to the ground like the wrestler
R0m-n Reigns.
The gun flew out her hand and slid un-derneath
a nearby couch.
“EJ! CALL 911!” I shouted as he walked in
cautiously. His eyes popped when he saw the
situation in the room.
He took out his cellphone and took Jevan out
of Jasmine’s arms. Jasmine wasn’t moving.
She was lying face down in a pool of blood.
Her blood was all over the baby.
I picked Aria up and slammed her into a
corner. I was not a woman beater, and I didn’t
like manhandling women, so I wretched her
hands together with my belt and placed her
onto a chair. I snatched my engagement ring
off her f!nger.
“Ev… Evan,” she mouthed. The wind was
knocked out of her.
“Shut the hell up. Don’t even try to speak to
me. You’ll pay for everything you’ve done!”
“I’m sorry.”
“You took a gun to Jasmine’s ap@rtment, and
you sh0t her with my son in her arms, and
you’re going to tell me that you’re sorry?”
She looked at me with fear.
I sl@pped her across the face. “WHAT ARE
YOU SORRY FOR ARIA!?”
The sound of a blaring siren flooded the
premises. Jasmine was carried away by the
medical team, and they took Jevan as well.
The police officers, who accompanied the
ambulance, arrested Aria and found the
weapon she had used to shoot Jasmine
beneath the couch.
EJ and I followed the ambulance in our rented
car.
I paced in hospital ward, again. My eyes
flooded with tears and a ban-ging sound was in
my head.
“It’s going be okay, bro. Jasmine and Jevan
will pu-ll throu-gh this. They’ll bounced back
quic-kly,” my brother comforted me.
“How could I had not have seen this coming?
My son is in a state of trauma at just two
months old.” Tears sli-pped out my eyes.
EJ wra-pped his arm around my shoulder and
led me to a chair in the waiting room area.
After five long hours, two doctors c@m£ up to
us.
“Evan Hollen?”
“Yes?” I lifted up my head and wiped away the
tears.
“I’m Doctor Harvey and this is Doctor Johnson.
We have news on your son’s condition and
your–”
“Fiancee,” EJ inputted.
“Fiancee’s condition.”
“We’ve managed to retrieve the bullet and st©p
the bleeding, but the bullet almost reached her
right lung. This means she was sh0t at a very
close range.”
“Oh God, is she going to be alright?”
“Yes, Mr. Hollen. She’s going to pu-ll throu-gh
just fine. There will be swelling and pain
around the wound, but it should go down
gradually with rest and medication, and we’ll
provide pain killers as well.
In your son’s case, he is okay. There’s a small
bruise on his forehead, which means he
endured a bit of impact. We’ve conducted a
head scan and it c@m£ back normal. We’ll
bring him to you in a few minutes.”
“Thank you so much, doctors. I greatly
appreciate this.”
“Just doing our jobs, Mr. Hollen.”
Jevan was placed in my arms after another
twenty minutes. His big bright eyes looked
directly in mine. He gave a small smile then
closed his eyes. I held him up to my shoulder
and felt his small hands hvgging around my
n£¢k.
“He does look like you, bro, and you two are
bonding instantly,” EJ said as he looked on
with a smile.
“Yeah. I can’t believe how stupid I was.”
“Man, don’t put that pressure on you. Aria had
everyone fooled. You just nee-d to let that go
and look forward to the future with your kid
and your new fiancee.”
We shared a small laugh.
“I don’t think she’ll ever forgive me,” I said.
“Just think positive, bro. Jasmine still loves
you.”
“Mr. Hollen, your fiancee is awake,” Doctor
Johnson interrupted.
“Can I see her?”
“Sure.”
I handed Jevan over to EJ and followed the
doctor towards Jasmine’s room.
_____________
Jasmine’s POV
I woke up on a hospital be-d. I knew where I
was instantly because it was the one place I
hated.
“Jasmine Blackman, how are you feeling?” A
doctor stood inside the small room and was
looking at me.
“I feel like my back is un-der attack.”
“That’s because you were sh0t in your back.
Do you remember being sh0t?”
I nodded.
Aria aimed the gun at Jevan’s head, but I
quic-kly turned around and the bullet pene-trated
throu-gh my back instead. I hit the floor, with
Jevan un-derneath me.
“Okay. Your fiance is here and he’s coming to
see you now.”
Fiance?
After five minutes, another doctor ushered the
so-called fiance into my room.
Of course, Evan.
They left us in the room alone.
“Hi,” he started. “How are you feeling?”
“I’ll be fine. You told them you were my fiance,
Evan?”
“Yes, I did.”
I scoffed.
“Jasmine. I’m really sorry for everything I did
to you. I’m sorry for not believing you and for
not giving us another chance. I’m sorry for
putting you out my house along with my child.
I’m so sorry. Words can’t describe how sorry I
am really.”
The tears welled up in my eyes.
“Evan, just st©p. This doesn’t change anything
between us. I don’t care how sorry you are, I
just don’t. This never would have happened if
you had just listened to me.”
“Jasmine plea-se… Let me–”
“St©p it. This thing is over. Me and you are
over. It was over for me the moment you put
Jevan and I out your house and sided with your
FIANCEE! The same woman who s£nt her ex-
b©yfri£ndto attack me in my ap@rtment when I
was pregnant with your son! The same woman
who paid to have a false DNA test done to
show he wasn’t your son.”
“Jasmine, I didn’t know.”
My tears poured down. He made several steps
closer to me and got down on his knees next
to the be-d. Tears in his eyes, too.
“Jasmine, I want to be there for you and Jevan.
I want us to start over and have a family
together. I want you back Jasmine. Just plea-se
give us one more chance. I know we could
pu-ll throu-gh this together and build a future.
plea-se Jasmine, plea-se don’t shut me out.”
“No.”
I had had it. I had had enough of everything
life threw at me.
“Jevan is your son so I wouldn’t deprive you of
being a father to him. You can fly to L.A.
whenever you want to see him. As he grows
up, he will travel to see you and spend
summers and Christmases with you.”
“Jasmine, I can’t be traveling back and forth
every time I want to see him. Plus, I have a
company to run and–”
“Then go Evan! And don’t come back!”
Tears fell down his face and that was the first
time I saw Evan cry: Mr. CEO, Mr. Hollen
Tower, Mr. World’s Strictest Boss.
“Where’s my son?” I asked him.
“He’s with my brother.”
EJ is here too?
“So, your mind is made up Jasmine? You’re not
going to give us one more chance?”
“Did you give me one more chance when I
begged you for it Evan?”
“Okay. I’ll fly here whenever I can to spend
time with my son. I wish you all the best in
life, Jasmine. Just know that I’ll always love
you.”
He planted a k!sson my forehead and walked
out the room.
Jevan was placed in a small crib next to me
until I was discharged from the hospital three
days later.
_______________________________
My world was finally at peace. Evan c@m£
whenever he could to spend time with his son,
and every time he c@m£ by he tried to talk me
into moving back to Brooklyn and starting over
with him, but I wasn’t hearing it. Everyday,
Jevan looked more and more like him too, so I
was constantly reminded about Evan and
everything we had before.
Aria was s£ntenced to twenty to life in prison
for attem-pted murder, and her ex-b©yfri£nd
Michael was s£ntenced to fifteen to twenty for
as-sault and conspiracy. I had Evan to thank for
saving my life and, because of him, Aria was
finally where she belonged– behind bars.
Who’s the monkey now?
Zenia and Mom still resided in the penthouse
but always promised to come visit Jevan and
me. I knew they would soon.
Emma, Emily, EJ and Ethan always kept in
t©uçh with me. They also promised to visit
soon. The distance was killing the bond
between us.
I found another job as a secretary in a law
firm. It was nothing like being Evan’s as-sistant,
but it was still a great job.
Jevan was placed in a daycare whenever I had
to work. He was such a wonderful child with
the personality of an angel. We got a new
ap@rtment with much better security. I didn’t
want to be reminded of Aria having a gun to
my child’s head so I moved us.
All in all, I was finally finding myself, for once,
and life had favored me.
I had settled the past, engaged in the pres£nt,
and I was looking forward to what else life had
in sto-re for Jevan and me.
__________________
*Tbc