Secret Words (Secret Dreams Contemporary Romance 1) (12 page)

Unfortunately, it wasn't. It glared at her from her computer screen. How the hell did Hannah find out about her?

She composed herself, knowing she needed to read the email again to be sure of what it contained.

Jasmine,

Yes, I know about you. You're the woman who dates engaged men and breaks up relationships. I don't know how Kane could be so blind about your true colours, but I suppose men will be men.

In case you don't know who I am, I'm Hannah, his ex-fiancée. As you can imagine, I've slept with him countless times so I know how much he loves sex. Unfortunately, when I lost Kane's baby (yes, I was pregnant with his child), I hadn't been in the right frame of mind to give him what he needed in the bedroom. I guess that was why he turned to someone like you. Understandable, and I could forgive him for that.

But hear this, Missy. I'm not going to let you ruin what Kane and I have built together. And Kane is a wonderful man who doesn't deserve to be conned by a slut like you. If you have any heart at all you will understand what I'm about to say to you in the rest of this email.

Kane and his architectural firm have recently been nominated for two international awards. If you don't know what this means to him then I'll tell you. IT MEANS THE WORLD TO HIM. Whether he will win would be up to the judges. But having two properties nominated in the same year is enough to shoot his profile up in the international scene. Some publications would no doubt want to dig up some dirt on him to sell their wares.

What does this mean? Well, you're probably clapping your hands in glee at the thought of Kane showering you with gifts because of his heightened success. But he's not yours. You stealing him from me doesn't rate because you're not serious about relationships. I am.

And here's another problem that I have with you. You're a threat to his success. A big one. Why? Because of who you are and what you do.

The world does not need to know that Kane was an unfaithful man who cheated on me. The world does not need to know that he left me while I was still grieving over the loss of our child and the death of my mother for some woman who has a history of being a relationship wrecker. If this gets out, you can just imagine what it would do to his reputation.

As long as you're with Kane, he is in danger of losing what he has worked so hard for.

You probably don't care about that but I do and I'm not beyond a little blackmail if it's for a good cause. What blackmail, you ask? Well, have a look at the attached documents and you'll know what I mean. I must admit I don't know where you publish your stories, but I wouldn't be surprised if you sell them to those pornographic magazines.

So this is the deal, Jasmine Allen. If you leave Kane alone now, the chances of someone finding out about you will be slim. That will be good for Kane and I won't have to resort to actions that would be bad for you. But if you don't leave Kane alone, I will send these documents to the company you work for and your family and friends. And if a negative article about you and Kane appears in the press, I will post these documents on the Internet.

If you think you could find a way to shut me up, think again. I have friends who also hold these documents. You won't be able to shut them up.

Be clear about this. I will do everything to get Kane back. We belong together so LEAVE HIM ALONE. If you do then I give you my word that your secret will be safe with me.

All you need to do now is break up with Kane. I'll be generous and give you five days to do it. If you don't, you know what will happen.

Hannah

With shaky hands, Jasmine opened the documents Hannah attached to her email. There were two of them.

She burned with anger as she read the first one. Someone had written a smutty short story about two men being 'serviced' at the same time by one woman. And whoever put together the crass, poorly written story included the name of the author.
Jasmine Allen.

When she opened the next one, all she could do was gape in shock. A pornographic picture with about ten naked people in various positions jumped out of her screen. She didn't have to read the story, for it was clear it was about an orgy. She stared at the words just below the title. It said
by Jasmine Allen
.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Jasmine's hand shook with nerves and anger as she dialled George's number. She hadn't planned what she was going to say to him. All she knew was she needed this whole thing sorted out immediately.

Distress swamped her when a recorded voice said that the number she had called was not connected.

"Damn it!"

She dropped the phone on her desk and buried her face in her hands. How could she fix this? By the looks of it, Hannah had been contacted by George, who told her lies. George must have played on Hannah's feelings for Kane and convinced her that she needed to do all she could to save Kane from the evil clutches of Jasmine Allen, the witch-whore.

But how did George know about Hannah? Or even Kane, for that matter?

She gasped as the answer came to her.

Tim.

How could she get in touch with that man? She didn't have his number. His caller ID was blocked on her mobile phone.

She went back to her computer and Googled his name. There were too many entries for Tim Smith or Timothy Smith. And she had been too uninterested in him to bother knowing where he worked.

There was no other choice. She had to find his number from her dad without him knowing the true reason why she wanted it. She couldn't afford to have her father reacting adversely until she had got to the bottom of things. She didn't trust Tim to hold back on doing something that might damage Kane's reputation.

~~~~~~~

"Hello, Tim," she said coldly.

"Jasmine?" an incredulous voice answered.

"Yes," she said flatly, trying to calm her outrage so she could have a rational discussion with the man who was endangering Kane's career.

"Wow," he said. "I'm glad you rang. I've been meaning to call you for so long but I'm just too gutless."

She frowned. Tim sounded apologetic. Not what she was expecting at all.

"Well, here I am, Tim. Fire away," she said in a still-icy manner.

"I'm really sorry, Jasmine," Tim said. "I believed it when I heard you were …"

"What, Tim?" she asked quietly when his pause became too long.

She heard him sigh heavily. "I was told that the reason you wouldn't go out with me was because I was a goody-two-shoes looking for a relationship when you weren't. When you broke up with George, he told certain people you were ready for your next casual relationship. He also said you preferred aggressive men who did a lot of chasing—that you like writing about it in your … porno stories."

She gasped.

"I'm sorry. That's what I heard," he said contritely. "My dad was very ill at the time. I was angry and worried. I felt hemmed in with the pressure of taking over Dad's work. I hated that none of my other siblings wanted to help and I was lumped with everything. I was in a low point when I decided to go for what I wanted. Trouble was, I did it in a very immature way. I drank too much at your sister's wedding and got miffed that you found another guy and I missed my chance again. I said to myself if you weren't after a serious relationship then fine, I'd just enjoy a night with you.
 
So I decided to take a chance and acted aggressive and playful."

Her mouth hung open as she listened to Tim explain his actions.

"Jasmine? Are you still there?"

"Yes," she managed to croak.

"I truly do apologise. When I think about some of the things I said to you, it makes me cringe."

"Tell me everything, Tim. I don't believe you've told me everything yet."

"There's not much after that. When you kept on responding angrily to my misguided courting, I realised you were not that kind of girl. I always knew you weren't. I guess I was just lonely and feeling sorry for myself. But that's no excuse."

She closed her eyes. "How do I know you're not lying to me to justify your stalking?"

He laughed mirthlessly. "I don't expect you to believe me, Jasmine. That's why I never called you."

She ran her hand over her face. Tim had a point. He didn't call her. She called him.

"I need to talk to George. Could you give me his phone number, please? The one I have has been disconnected."

"George? I don't have his current number either. He's … ah … he's disappeared."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, apparently he had a joint bank account with his ex-fiancée. He took a lot of money from it and disappeared."

"What?!" she said in disbelief.

"I guess I didn't really know him all that well. George was immature in a lot of respects, but I never thought he'd do something like that."

Damn it. She needed to talk to him. She held her head in her hand.

"Why do you need to talk to George, Jasmine?"

She sighed. "It's a long story I'm not prepared to share with you right now. If you happen to get George's new contact number, could you please let me know?"

"Sure. And Jasmine, I'm really sorry."

"Okay. Bye, Tim."

She let out a frustrated yell when she hung up the phone. If she couldn't get to George, and if no one knew where he was, how was she going fix this?

Well, there was only one option she could think of.

~~~~~~~

Hannah,

I don't know where to start. Your email came as a big shock to me. But please let me clarify some very important things.

First, I am deeply sorry for the loss of your baby and your mother's passing. Please know that neither Kane nor I ever meant to add to your hurt.

I am not a slut who breaks up relationships. I'm sorry for bringing this up but my understanding was that Kane had already made the decision to end your relationship after you lost the baby. That was before he met me. Kane breaking up with you was going to happen even if I had never entered the picture. Still, I want you to know that Kane and I didn't sleep together until after he broke up with you. We knew you deserved that consideration.

I did not write the stories that you attached to your email but I think I know who did. That someone is out to destroy my reputation and I think I know why. When I dated him, I didn't know he had a fiancée. I only found out about her after I broke up with him. I really don't know why he intends to hurt me and Kane. My only guess is that he wanted revenge for me 'badmouthing' him (even though all I did was clarify the situation to his fiancée).

Please be careful with your dealings with him and don't believe anything he says.

Kane and his firm winning the award would mean the world to me, too. Hannah, for Kane's sake, please don't let yourself be interviewed by anyone. That way, no one could misinterpret the situation involving you, me and Kane that could cost Kane his reputation. This is in your hands, Hannah, not mine.

I love Kane, Hannah. And he loves me. I ask you to please accept that. I beg you to please do the right thing.

Jasmine

P.S. If you do release the documents to my work and to my family and friends, as you have threatened to do, I will be within my rights to take legal action. I hope it doesn't come to that.

~~~~~~~

Jasmine,

I have read your email. Sure, you make some sense in some parts, but if you are telling me the truth then there is still a massive problem.

The person who has told me about you seems to hold plenty of ammunition against you. I confess to not knowing who he/she is. But the fact remains he/she obviously knows you well enough.

This person said that Kane cheated on me with you. Even if I believed your side of the story (I'm still not sure if I do) and pretended I was okay with you and Kane getting together, this person could still hurt you and Kane. (You yourself believe that's what he is out to do).

And even if I don't let myself be interviewed about how Kane treated me, I'm afraid my story is out. I have already shared it with this person.

Therefore, as you can see, you being with Kane is STILL a big problem whether I'm in the picture or not. YOUR bad press could still hound him, even if I stay silent.

No, this is not in my hands, Jasmine. It is in yours. If you really love Kane, then do the right thing by him. Stay away from him so your own personal problems don't affect his career and the professional reputation he's worked so hard to build.

Hannah

~~~~~~~

Jasmine had read the email at least ten times already and she read it again. Every time she did, the more she could see Hannah was right. While George was out there intent on revenge or whatever it was that motivated him, she had to stay away from Kane.

She buried her face in her hands and sobbed, her heart breaking into pieces. She had no choice. She had to break up with Kane—at least for a short while. It would be pure selfishness on her part to make him risk not only his reputation but his firm's. He had colleagues and staff who would be affected if they lost big contracts. This went further than the two of them.

She feared that if she told Kane about the emails from Hannah, he might not even agree to a pretend breakup. He'd want to find ways around the problem. He'd want to hunt George down and he'd want to talk to Hannah. That could push those two into doing something terribly vindictive.
 

She didn't want to take any risks, especially at a time when Kane had the biggest opportunity of his career. The cost to him would be enormous.

As far as she could see, the only way to protect the man she loved with all her heart was to convince him she didn't want to be with him anymore—just until she had sorted this out. And hopefully, with Tim's help, she'd find George and put a stop to this madness. Then she and Kane could resume their relationship.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Jasmine Allen, if you try to defend yourself against the sordid truth about you, or if you get Kane Summers to try to defend you in any way, you will both regret it. Unfortunately for Kane, he has much more to lose than you. Stay with him and he can kiss his impeccable reputation goodbye. Leave him and he'll be fine.