Cheating Hearts Ch. 03

I apologize for the delay. Blame it on the Christmas holidays. Hope chapter 3 is worth the wait, but to tell the truth I struggled to get back into the story.

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Luke thought of calling security to escort Elizabeth out of the building. She had managed to reach his office as it was only because Mrs Read was at lunch. Knowing Elizabeth she had timed her visit with that in mind. To his astonishment he was curious to find out if she will say anything about jasmine. Seeing Elizabeth again stirred absolutely no feelings in him, he acknowledged that she was a very beautiful woman. In fact she was picture perfect, and that was the main reason why he had made her his wife.

"Are you the father of Jasmine's baby?" Elizabeth demanded unceremoniously.

"Jasmine is pregnant?" Finding out she had been a virgin had made this possibility cross his mind, but not hearing anything from her for the past 4 months he decided it had not happened. In his experience no woman would have kept the news quiet. It would have been the simplest way for her to access his money. There was also the possibility that she may have met another man. Jasmine had really enjoyed sex, there was no faking the type of pleasure her body displayed, so she could have gone looking in order to experience the intense passion with another man. "How far along is she?" He asked instead.

"She is too far along for you to get rid of it." Elizabeth said vehemently. She showed no visible sign that she was shaken by his answer. She had had her suspicions even before she found out Jasmine was 3 months pregnant, but she had hoped she was wrong about Jasmine and Luke. His unsurprised response made her face facts. He owed her no loyalty and had every right to move on with his life, but sleeping with her own sister? And Jasmine, how could she betray her like this? "I would have thought it was beneath a worldly man like you to use a mere child to exact your revenge on me." Elizabeth was angry.

Luke sighed. "It was never about revenge. I will have to still care about you to want to hurt...

"You never cared about me. I fooled myself for a while, but in the end I knew it was never love that made you propose to. I don't know why you married me, but it was not love." Elizabeth had been devastated. She had not really loved Luke. He was passionate in bed, and charming outside of it, but you always felt as if he was play acting. Like the real Luke was hidden away. She had wanted to be the woman to finally conquer him.

"That still did not give you the right to deceive me. I would have granted you a divorce and freed you to fuck anyone you wanted to, but then again I should have expected it of you as a woman, it is not within women to tell the truth." His voice was harsh and there was a cold look that frightened her in his eyes. She actually took a step back.

"Are you saying all women are deceitful?" Did he really believe that? She had not thought it possible to feel sorry for someone like Luke, but she did feel sorry for him. How can you ever have any intimate relationship without trust?

"Did your sister tell you about our bargain? That she paid for your surgery with her body?" Did that not prove they all lied? At 19 Jasmine was already adept at keeping secrets from a sister she supposedly loved.

"I did not know that you hated me enough you would have let me die at the hospital." How could she have missed this cruel streak in Luke? But thank you for enlightening me with regards to my sister's motivation. I did not think it was your overwhelming charm that had lead her to betray me, but it feels a lot better to know she loved me enough to prostitute herself for me. Can you say that about anyone in your life?" She turned to leave and then stopped and looked back. "I will repay every cent I owe you. Stay away from my sister from now on.

Luke said nothing as he watched her leave, struck to the core by what she had said. Would he have let her die?

Jasmine knew Beth knew the truth as soon as she stepped into their apartment. Beth found out by accident this morning that Jasmine was pregnant. There was no hiding the overly big swell of her stomach through the transparent shower curtain in their bathroom when Beth had walked in on her.

"Don't look so worried. He told me why you did it." Elizabeth said with a smile.

Jasmine shook her head. "I wanted to tell you. I just did not know how." She paused in her pacing of their small, but cosy living area of their now smaller apartment. "I did not want you to hate me Beth because the truth is he did not have to force himself on me when I finally had to do my side of the bargain." There she had finally said it. There were no more lies between them. She had absolutely hated lying to her sister. She twisted her hands together as she paced the small living area. "I am sorry, but I have sort of had a crush on your ex-husband." She could not look at Beth.

Elizabeth stepped closer and took her into her arms. "We will get through this Jasmine, I am not angry at you." She was a little, but she will get over it. They will both get over Luke Randall.

Jasmine had not believed her relationship with her sister would survive the betrayal, but Beth insisted that they would get through it. Jasmine was not to worry about anything except for taking care of her baby. They moved out into a smaller flat that Beth paid for with money she was making as a model. To their surprise she was more in demand as the ex-wife of Luke Randall, than she had been her short lived marriage.

The sisters had written Luke off, but he was not to be easily dismissed. Jasmine was coming back from a visit to the obstetrician a week later, still reeling from what the man told her, the last person she wanted to see was Luke Randall leaning against their apartment's door.

She looked big for 16 weeks to Luke, and not at all pleased to see him at their door. Had they not moved so quickly he would have come sooner. He waited until she was at the door before he moved aside giving her space to open up.

She was careful not to brush up against him. She did not say anything as he looked around the living area of their small place, it was clean and the furniture decent, anyway who cared what he thought? She would not even offer him anything to drink like any good host, because she wanted him out of here as quickly as possible. Today was just not a good day for her to be confronted by the last man she had never wanted to see again.

His eyes finally came back to rest on her. She looked beautiful with that pregnancy glow. "When were you planning to make your demands for money?"

She was not surprised or shocked. Luke was a cynical jaded man, and she believed it was not due to what her sister had done, it was too deeply ingrained in him "I will not dignify that with an answer. What do you want?" She ignored how her body was responding to his presence.

"What do I want? You did not think I will want to know whether the baby was mine or...

"Its babies, not a baby, and they are yours." She still could not believe she was carrying twins, but she had the picture from the sonar scan.

She was carrying twins? He was going to be a father twice over. Before he could say anything while he digested the news Jasmine was speaking again.

"I don't need anything from you, so don't worry about child support. Even if you wanted to be in their lives, I don't want a heartless man like you in my babies' lives." She will be fine on her own, sure two babies seemed like it was going to be a lot of work on her own, because even if Beth was willing and offered to help she still had her own life to lead.

"Well I am glad the court systems these days take the rights of fathers as seriously as those of the mother." He paused to see the stricken look on her face and let her digest that bit of information. "I have every intention of being in their lives." He was not going to be like his cowardly father who had not fought to keep his own kids. He shook the thoughts off his head. He had written the cowardly bastard out of his life a long time ago.

"What is that supposed to mean?" she was almost shaking and in her position she had every right to be frightened. Luke Randall was a very powerful influential man if he wanted he wanted her babies it was very possible he would get them. She was 19 and had no resources to fight him with.

"You heard me. I don't want to be an absentee father. I want to be there for the kids, and you are not going to fight me on this." Luke could see she was ready to fight him though. She was not going to be the kind of mother he had, who only saw her kids as bargaining chips for a higher alimony.

A brief look of what looked like pain crossed Luke's eyes, but was so quickly gone she would have thought she imagined it, but for the shake of his head as though dispelling bad thoughts from it. "We don't have to fight over kids who are not even her...

"Is there something wrong?" Luke was quick to ask even moving closer to her before realising she would not welcome her touching her at the moment.

"No!" Jasmine was quick to reassure him. He looked genuinely fearful. "It's just that the obstetrician said multiple pregnancies generally require more care, and he was worried about my blood pressure as the pregnancy carries on." She was going to get as big as a house was what he meant.

And here he was upsetting her, but there was a solution to their problem. "Marry me. That way you will have someone on hand to look after you and our kids will have two parents to love and care for them."

He did not allow her to get a word in.

"Ultimately it is not about you and me. It's about them." Luke finished. She did not look impressed with him though. Was it because she could not imagine having anything to do with him anymore?

"People no longer get married for a reason like ours anymore Luke." Marriage to Luke Randall? That was the craziest idea she had ever heard. "So my answer will have to be no thank you."

"Then I guess I will see you in court." With that Luke turned and walked out without a backward glance.