Secret Lover Ch. 05 Pt. 01

"Cole my boy, I was wondering where you trailed off to. When I said I would let you and Jamie get acquainted I didn't think you two would disappear for so long." Mr. Kincaid said

"My apologies Sir, your daughter and I got so caught up talking that we lost track of time, she dozed off on me, so I tucked her into the guest bed, I hope that's alright." Cole replied

"Of course it is, such a gentleman you are Cole. Well it seems your heading out for the night, why don't you sleep off the booze and come by my home tomorrow for lunch?" Mr. Kincaid said with his hand outstretched.

"That sounds great sir I'd like that." Cole replied shaking his hand.

"Good. I'll see you then son." Mr. Kincaid replied before turning on his heels and walking away.

The following morning Cole woke feeling gutted, even though he remembered his plans to meet for lunch with Mr. Kincaid he could have slept comfortably in his hotel bed for the rest of the day with no problem. He didn't drink much the night before but the thought of maybe seeing Jamie was making him nauseous.

Last night had been a brash of terrible decisions on both their parts and he was in no mood to go frolicking down memory lane especially not in front of her father. After about an hour of giving himself a pep talk, Cole got up showered, dressed and headed to the Kincaid estates.

On the drive over, he mentally prepared himself for what he would say to her but then convinced himself that he was putting too much into it. She was looking for fun, she got fun, and she clearly wasn't looking for anything serious so he had no reason to think of ways to let her down easy. Feeling a bit better about the situation Cole shook the thought away and focused on the drive.

When Cole arrived, he was greeted by one of Mr. Kincaid's assistants and led to a beautifully landscaped veranda where a spacious table had been nicely plated and covered with various foods. "Please be seated Mr. McKinney, Mr. Kincaid will be with you momentarily." The man said before disappearing towards the house.

Cole took a seat and poured himself a glass of what he assumed was lemonade before turning his attention to his phone. He hadn't been seated more than five minutes before he heard heels clicking against the stone ground. He turned slightly and caught a glimpse of Jamie out the corner of his eye. Her hair was tied up into a bun, elongating her already swan like neck. She wore a frosted steel pant suit with a low-cut white blouse and small classy shades.

"Afternoon Jamie, I was expecting you father." Cole said standing

"I'm sure you were, and while I'm sure he would find this little meeting exciting he actually had to run off for an emergency."

"However." Jamie said noticing the peeved look on Coles face. "He asked me to give you this." Jamie placed a large manila folder on the table which Cole swiftly took. He scanned the first pages and his eyes immediately grew wide. "He's signing his company over to me?" "Why?" Cole asked incredulously.

"When I woke up this morning I had a little talk with daddy, and told him that I thought merging the two companies would be a smart move. Seeing as he has no interest in running it himself and he agreed. He said he was impressed with you and thought that even with you speaking on behalf of you father that doing so would be beneficial for both parties." Jamie replied.

Cole sealed the folder and looked up at Jaime, "thank you I appreciate you speaking to him, this will certainly be good news to take back home."

"I'm glad to hear it. Well I have to be going but last night was fun." Jamie said with a smirk

Cole forced a small smile and nodded "yeah you could say that, it was nice meeting you Jamie." Cole replied before turning to leave

"Same to you Cole but we'll be seeing each other again soon I'm sure of it."

Cole paused for a moment, he was tempted to ask what she meant by that but noticed she had already made a swift get away. Deciding to let it go Cole departed the estate.

~

"Cole, I don't understand, this woman said she's your wife she has pictures of you two together, Pictures that you can't deny you took. I'm kind of fuzzy on how that whole story you told me factors all that in." Melanie said feeling herself grow angrier by the minute.

"After I left I went home and worked by my father's side merging Stanley's business with my fathers. I spent over six and a half months jumping from planes to hotel rooms for work. I ended up on a business trip in New York, Jamie shows up to my hotel room saying she was pregnant and that I was the father. When she told me this I asked her to get an abortion and offered to pay for it."

"I wasn't ready for a child, and neither was she. She told me she would abort the baby but I would have to marry her and that if I didn't she would tell her father I raped her that night at the governor's ball." Cole finished, hanging his head at his last words.

"You wanted her to get an abortion?" Melanie said shock written all over her face, she couldn't help but think how Cole would have reacted if she had told him she was pregnant. Would he have tried to pay her off, make her get rid of the life they created? Simply because he wasn't ready?"

She tried to stop the thoughts from clouding her mind, but couldn't help the fact that she was seeing him in a new light.

"Yes, I did Melanie, but understand I was young, scared, I wasn't ready to have a child. Especially not with her." Cole said ruefully.

"Well I think you should have considered that before you decided to sleep with her." Melanie snapped back.

Cole nodded, she was right, but he also knew that everything she said was coming from a place of pain and disbelief. He died inside seeing the way she looked at him, like he was some sort of monster that had climbed from the gutters, but knew keeping anything from her now wouldn't help him either.

"I know, and having reflected on it over the years it was a moment in time I wish I could have changed or taken back but that Mel, happened years ago. I was younger, stupider and at a place in my life where I didn't think much of anyone else but myself. I'm not saying that as an excuse, just to give context and to say that's not me, not anymore."

Melanie remained silent.

"I was terrified of being branded a rapist, of her going to my family and telling them all these horrific lies about me. So, I agreed to marry her. We kept both our families in the dark for a while. Eloped in Vegas and came back Mr. & Mrs. McKinney." Cole said standing up from the bed.

"Jamie's family was thrilled with the news but my family not so much, I made them believe it was what I wanted so they accepted it and moved forward. We weren't married a month before I confided in my sister about what happened, she ended up finding out that Jamie had never been pregnant and clearly used that and the threat of her telling everyone I raped her to get me to marry her."

"When I found out I told her I wanted out that I wanted the divorce, she refused to give it to me, wouldn't sign anything. So, I gave her a choice. Either I could have her placed in rehab for her addiction or she could just leave me alone, I would pay her off and she would disappear. That was the plan, so I paid her she went back home or at least I thought she did, I hadn't seen her until she came by my house." Cole said.

"She came by?" Melanie asked curiously

"Yeah about a week or so before I proposed to you, said she wanted to bury the hatchet that she had saw I met someone new and wanted to do the same. We had a drink and the next thing I knew I woke up in my bed, I couldn't remember anything from the night before." Cole replied

"When she showed up that night with those pictures, I swear I tried to remember doing those things, but I swear to you Melanie I can't! I don't remember any of it." Cole said, silently pleading with Melanie to believe him.

"Cole I..."

(Alarm blare)

Melanie Paused mid-sentence, both her and Cole looked at each other for a moment before she stood and walked over to her window. She looked down to the street below and could see the flashing lights and screeching alarm were coming from Cole's car and there was something in his windshield.

"Cole, I think you need to go to your car." Melanie said softly

"What?" Cole replied confused

"There's something in your windshield." Melanie said.

Quickly Cole got dressed, before rushing out of Melanie's house to his car with Melanie hot on his heels.

"Oh my god!" Melanie said as they got closer, a large brick was smashed into the windshield of his car with the words BASTARD written in what looked like lipstick above it.

"Jamie." Cole said under his breath shoving a tense hand through his hair.

Cole felt around in his pants pocket for his key fob and killed the alarm, he didn't give a damn about the car he had his share of them. But what did concern him was that she had been here, at Melanie's house and knew he had been here as well. Everything about this situation spelled trouble to Cole.

"Mr. McKinney?" A deep voice said from behind, causing both Melanie & Cole to turn in the voices direction.

Two men stood side by side, different clothes but the same face, Cole instinctively grabbed Melanie and pushed her behind him.

"My name is Evan, and this is my brother Eli, we need to talk to you about Jamie Kincaid. You two are in danger."