Synopsis
Juliana Valentine had it all, but it wasn’t enough to satisfy her thirst for love from the one and only man that she couldn’t have, Reginald Towers. She thought giving him the one thing that his wife Lisa couldn’t would make him leave and marry her, but instead it made the situation worse and Reginald went to the extreme to cover his infidelity and secrets. Putting her identical twin sister Julia who no one knew of into a situation she’d never thought she be in. Unwilling at first to go along with Reginald’s evil scheme, he is forced to threaten the lives of Julia’s loves ones to keep his secrets hidden and Miles, her twin sister’s other lover is the only one who can help Julia escape the snare that Reginald has her trapped in.
Excerpt
She had an agenda that had her living in the mansion Lisa lived in. She knew it was only a matter of time before she was going to make that happen because Reginald was stone cold and he wasn’t an easy win so she was going to have to put on the show of her life if she was going to take him from Lisa Towers.
“You okay?” he asked because Juliana was quieter than usual.
“Yes, I’m okay; well, I hope I’m going to be okay,” she said ready to tell him the best news of his life.
“You don’t look okay. You look like you just lost your best friend and after what just went down you should be smiling from ear to ear,” he said and got up to go to the kitchen to get himself a beer, and when he came back she was ready to tell him.
“Reg, come sit down, baby,” she said. He looked around for his boxers and wondered what she wanted this time.
“Juliana, spit it out, baby. I know you’re getting ready to ask me for something. What is it, baby? A new car, a trip, shopping spree? What do you want, baby?” he asked and leaned over to kiss her.
“I want you to sit down so we can talk,” she said, and he sat down. Juliana was beautiful, and he cared for her, and if things were different, he’d make her his first lady because she was not only beautiful but had a voice of gold, and Reg knew he had to keep her happy to keep her making the company the money that she made. “Do you love me, baby?”
“Of course, I do, you know I do for the hundredth time.”
“Then why won’t you divorce Lisa and marry me? You know you don’t love her like you love me, and I know her stuck-up ass ain’t sucking your dick like I suck your dick.”
“Jules, please, we’ve had this discussion a thousand times. I can’t leave Lisa, and I don’t know why you keep coming at me with this. It’s like you can’t be happy for shit, Jules. You are the number-one R&B female artist in the world. You live an affluent life. I give you whatever you want, yet you’re still not content.”
“I want you, Reg, and I want to be on your arm at the awards. I want what we have to be public, and I’m so tired of sneaking around with you and Miles, poor Miles. I hate doing this to him. I hate pretending to love him, and I don’t. I love you, Reg, and I want to be your wife. I know you give me everything, but it’s not enough. I want you for me, and Lisa is a bitch, and every time she sees me she gives me attitude.”
“Lisa is like that with any woman that is around me, Jules, so please, baby, I don’t want to hurt you, but I will never leave my wife, and if you can’t get that through your head, you and I may need to chill,” he said, and she couldn’t believe her ears.
“What . . . what, Reggie? You know that’s not what I want. You are the only man for me, and you know this. Tell me, do you like me being with Miles?”
“No, but you have to be. Miles is the greatest song writer in history, and if he knew that you and I were together he’d be gone, and I am not ready to give up any of what I have or what we have. Now, come on, baby, let’s not talk about this anymore, okay? Let’s just enjoy what we have and continue to make each other happy the way we have and just chill, baby,” he said kissing her tenderly.
“Reg, I’m afraid things are going to be different,” she said because she had to tell him.
“Different how?” he asked wondering what she was up to.
“Because I’m pregnant,” she said, and Reginald almost passed out.
“You’re what!” he yelled getting up from the bed.
“Pregnant, baby. You’re finally going to have a baby. You’re finally going to be a daddy,” she said hoping he’d be thrilled.
“No, no, how could you get pregnant, Juliana? I trusted you were taking birth control. You know damn well a baby is not what I want.”
“Then why is Lisa paying top dollar to see fertility specialists around the damn globe if you don’t want a child, Reg?”
“Hey, that is me and my wife’s business, Juliana. What we are doing has nothing to do with your ass, and it’s not your damn business!” he yelled. He was furious because every time they spoke of children he made it clear that a baby would be a bad idea and it would mess up everything, and she goes and breaks the agreement they had.
“Don’t yell at me, Reg,” she cried. “I’m sorry, okay? I just thought you’d be happy. I thought this would be good news for you. I thought—,” she cried.
“Why would you think something so crazy like that when I’ve stressed to you how important your career is and it would be bad not only for your career, but people’s lives will be destroyed if we brought a baby into this,” he said pacing, because he had too much to lose if it got out that she was pregnant by him and that was a bad thing for her to be pregnant.
“I’m sorry, Reg, please, baby, don’t be mad. It’s going to work out. It’s probably better this way. Lisa will leave, and you and I—,” she tried to say but he cut her off.
“Juliana, are you out of your fucking mind? It’s not that simple, and you are going to ruin my marriage!” he yelled.
“Reggie, this is our child,” she cried.
“No, this is your child. How do I know it’s mine? You have been with Miles; it could be his. How do you know it’s not his?”
“Because Miles uses condoms. Miles sees that I’m not too fond of his son, so he knows that the last thing I want to do is have his child, Reg. Why would you say that? You and I have been together for forever, and you know I’ve been in love with you since the first time I laid eyes on you. You are the one who told me to get with Miles. That wasn’t my idea and to make you happy I did what you asked. I did what was best for business,” she cried.
“Yes, you did, but then what did you do, Jules? You go and get pregnant—do you think that was good for business?”
“I thought this would be good for us, Reg. I was thinking of us,” she said sobbing.
“No, you were thinking of yourself because you know this is not what I wanted, and I don’t need this shit right now. Look, I love you, Juliana, but you can’t have this baby.”
“Why?”
“Because this will ruin everything!” he shouted, and she was confused. He was on top of the world, and all he had to do was leave Lisa and marry her and raise their baby.
“For who, Reggie? I know you love me, and I know this baby is a good thing,” she said trying to touch his face.
“Get rid of it,” he said coldly and pushed her hands away.
“What? You can’t be serious.”
“I am dead serious. You cannot have this baby, and I’ll have an appointment set up by the end of this week,” he said and started to dress.
“No,” she said because there was no way another man was going to make her have another abortion. That would be her third one, and she wasn’t going to go through with another abortion.
“Juliana, I’m not fucking around. You are not having this baby.”
“Yes, I am, and I’m not having an abortion. I can’t believe you’d asked me to do that, Reggie,” she cried in disbelief.
“I’m not asking you, I’m telling you.”
“No, please, baby, please don’t do this to our baby, please,” she begged with her face drenched with tears.
“At the end of the week,” he said and stepped into his shoes.
“I will not, Reginald, and if you try to make me, I will go to Lisa and tell her.”
“Don’t fucking threaten me, Juliana. You do not want to fuck with me. Trust me, you do not want to fuck with me,” he said walking up on her like he was about to hit her dead in her face, and it scared her.
“Please, I don’t want this to get ugly. I want to work this out. You, me, and the baby can be a family. You have nothing to lose; we can be happy,” she said reaching for his hands, but he snatched them away.
“Listen, Juliana, you are beautiful, and you are at the height of your music career. Do you know how a baby is going to change everything? You are not ready to be a mom, and you know it. To get pregnant to get me wasn’t the answer, so let it go. This baby is not going to be born, you hear me? Now I’ll be in touch,” he said and walked out.
She yelled out his name, but he kept on going. She hated him for what he had done to her and wanted to hurt him just as bad as he had hurt her. She was devastated that he wanted her to get rid of her baby, and she knew she had to do something to make him understand how much she wanted to be Mrs. Towers. Her child was going to be the start of his legacy, and he wasn’t going to make her get rid of her baby no matter what he thought.
She got up and showered and headed back to her house. When she got home she listened to her voice mail. She was happy to hear her sister’s voice telling her that she could come by the end of the week. She was happy because she didn’t want to be alone, and there was no one else she could tell at that moment about her pregnancy. She called her sister back, and Julia could feel something was wrong.
“Jules, what is it?”
“Nothing, darling, I’m fine.”
“You’re lying—I can feel it when you’re sad, plus I’ve been having some weird nausea going on, so out with it,” Julia demanded.
“Lia, babe, don’t worry, because I’m fine. I’m just a little tired. I had a show this evening so I’m just a little worn out, that’s all, but your sister is fine,” she said lying.
“No, Jules, there is something else. I can feel it.”
“Listen, I’ll call you tomorrow about your flight information and we’ll talk when you get here, okay?”
“You sure? Because I’ll be happy to listen now,” she offered.
“No, sis, get some sleep and I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Okay, Jules, I love you, and I can’t wait to see you,” Julia said.
“You too, sis, I can’t wait ’til you get here,” she said, and they hung up. The next day she got up and made arrangements for her sister to come out to L.A.
Please tell us about you and your book(s).
My latest book is titled Split Image and it is about a woman from a small town that pursued her dreams of being a singer against her southern Baptist minister father’s wishes and ends up in a very bad situation with a man she should have never gotten involved with. She lies about where she is from and her family and hides the fact that she has an identical twin sister, who will suffer for her sister’s bad choices.
Tell us why we should read your book(s)?
Well my books are categorized as romance, but they offer realistic story-lines that average people go through. Since I don’t write fantasy romance more readers can relate, because the story lines are based on scenarios that could really happen.
Get to Know Anna:
1. What inspired you to write it?
A dream actually. I dreamed it and woke up looking for my pad and pen.
2. What do you enjoy doing when you are not writing?
Spending time with my family. We are close and we do a lot together. We are very competitive and we always have some type of game going on.
3. Do you have a motto?
Yes, it is you get what you put in. If you put in much work, you get much success, if you put in a little, you get a little.
4. What are your pet peeves?
Be a man or woman of your word. Do what you say you’re going to do.
5. If you had a chance to have a dinner date with anyone-dead or alive- who would it be? Why?
Christ, because I have a million and one questions for him.
6. What is one word that describes you?
Funny.
7. What is the best advice someone gave you ?
You can’t hold on to someone who wants to go. You should never have to convince someone to stay with you.
Web-Links:
www.annablack.net
www.twitter/annablack72
www.facebook.com/anna.black.
Email address: annablackreaders@ymail.com
www.amazon.com, www.b&n.com, www.smashwords.com, www.annablacknet/books.html, www.delphinepublications.com/
