by Chloe Walsh
****
Kate
Two months later
I watched from the private balcony off our bedroom as Jake and Lucas kicked a soccer ball around in the garden below and my heart clenched at the sight of the father and son. It was amazing how quickly Jake and Lucas had bonded since our arrival in Seattle.
Already, Jake adored Lucas as both his father and a man, and had barely stopped talking about him since we arrived. Even for me, the transition had been surprisingly smooth.
Lucas had moved us into his secluded estate a few miles north of the city – away from the media frenzy. He was around constantly and seemed determined to spend as much time with Jake as he could.
And to give him credit, Lucas had been amazing with him – caring, gentle and endlessly patient with Jake, easing him into his new home. Lucas was clearly taking his role as Jake’s father seriously and it was pretty clear the man was devoted to our son and in it for the long haul.
When I watched Luke and Jake together I could almost imagine my happy ever after – almost…
But no matter how at home I felt, or how good this was for Jake, I couldn’t forget what was really going on between my husband and I.
This was a business arrangement, a contractual lifestyle – a trade-off. My role as Jake’s mother would stay secure in return for my services in Lucas’s bed.
Lucas had made love to me every single night since I arrived, devouring me, driving me to the most extreme of pleasures. My toes curled when I thought of his hands on my body. I didn’t deny that I wanted him with equal desire – more.
The truth was I was still very much in love with my husband and he didn’t need an arrangement to have me in his bed. I would gladly lay there – if he’d only believe me…
No matter how intimate we became, no matter how much of myself I gave to him, Lucas always blocked me out emotionally. His reasons for doing this were connected to his obsession with his brother Jared and the very wrong idea he had of Jared and me.
After the first night I had tried to bring up the topic of his stepmother being responsible for everything that had gone wrong between us, but every time I did, Lucas just shut me down – either by storming off or making love to me almost savagely and with none of the affection or care he usually showed...
I remained on the balcony until the sun went down and the boys went inside. I felt so unsure of my life, my husband, and most potently myself. Feeling nauseous from the clamminess in the room, I decided on taking a shower.
Stripping off my bathrobe, I stepped into shower, relishing in the feel of the cool water as it cascaded down my body, cooling me, calming all my doubts and worries.
And I had one big worry pressing heavy on my shoulders, a niggling fear that if proved positive would blow our fragile union to smithereens…
Warm hands encased me then, distracting me from my thoughts. A body of hard muscle pressed against me from behind seconds before a large hand splayed across my belly.
“Miss me?” Lucas whispered, kissing my neck.
“Hmm.” I smiled, leaning back into his embrace. “Where’s Jake?”
“In bed,” Lucas husked. “And I sure as hell missed you.” His hands found my soap-lathered breasts and he began kneading them lazily.
“Did you miss me?” I asked teasingly, stretching my arm up and wrapping it around Lucas’s neck. “Or did he miss me?” I added suggestively as I reached down between our bodies and grasped his growing erection.
Lucas let out a sharp hiss. “You’re a dangerous woman,” he growled.
Turning me in his arms, Lucas lifted me up, pressing me hard against the wall seconds before sliding inside me. “God, I’ve wanted you since I got out of bed this morning,” he groaned.
I gasped from the sudden penetration and threw my head back.
Lucas kept his left hand firmly on my hip before placing the palm of his right hand against the wall beside my head. He used his hips to hold my body captive as his licked and sucked every part of my skin his mouth could reach.
Spreading my legs to take his full length, I rocked my hips forward, crying out loudly every time Lucas’s pubic bone rubbed against my clitoris.
I felt the familiar swell building inside of me; climbing higher, harder and more necessary.
I pressed myself hard against each of Lucas’s vicious thrusts and I was rewarded when a surge of tingling shocks rippled through my pussy, causing me to clench and pull Lucas deeper.
“I can’t get enough of you,” Luke husked, ramming into me harder and my body peaked – shattering into a million pieces…
My body, held up now only by Lucas, trembled and shook as he continued to fuck me in a relentless race for release. “I’m never going to have enough of you, Katy,” he whispered, covering my mouth with his moments before his body stilled and Lucas emptied himself into me.
****
Lucas
“Lucas, is it true?” Julie DiMarco’s shrill voice boomed through the earpiece of my phone. “Tell me it’s not true....”
“Is what true?” I mumbled drowsily, checking the alarm clock on my nightstand.
It read 05.30 in the morning.
“Please tell me the write-up in the local edition is complete bullshit and you haven’t moved that parasite of a girl and her bastard into your father’s estate.”
My whole body froze and I honestly felt as if my stepmother had just thrown a bucket of ice-cold water in my face.
I carefully pulled myself out from underneath Kate’s naked body and sat up in bed. “That parasite happens to be my wife and her bastard is my son,” I snarled.
I glanced down at my wife and my heart hammered restlessly in my chest. “So I would be very careful of how I addressed them in future if I were you, Julie.”
Goddammit, I had done everything I could to keep Kate and Jake hidden from the vultures and they had still found them.
“Do you realize that you are all over the news – headlining every socialite gossip column in the United States,” my stepmother screeched. “They are claiming your wife’s bastard is Jared’s,” Julie hissed and I felt the blood drain from my face. “Our family is once again shamed because of that whorish girl.”
“He’s mine,” I choked out in a gruff tone. “I’m his father, not Jared.”
“Do you have that in writing?” Julie shot back in a derisive tone and my whole body tightened with tension. “Or have been stupid enough to believe that girl’s lies again?”
“I can’t have this conversation over the phone,” I grumbled before climbing out of bed and grabbing my pants. “I’m coming over.”
“Good,” Julie snapped. “This is your filthy mess. You should be here dealing with the hordes of reporters swarming our home, Lucas.”
****
Kate
I ate supper in the dining room the following night with only my son for company.
I felt queasy – my appetite had clearly deserted me – as I desperately tried to piece together the phone conversation I’d overheard Lucas having last night.
“I’m coming over...”
He had slipped out of our bed straight after and I hadn’t seen him since.
Dread hammered inside of me but I forced myself to remain calm for Jake’s sake.
Who was she?
Was she pretty?
Did he love her?
I assumed it was a woman on the other line because, let’s face it, only a woman could get a man out of bed in the middle of the night – and keep him out …
“Where’s daddy? He said he was going to take me fishing today,” Jake mumbled in between bites of his toast. “He missed it.”
I’m damned if I know… “He had important work to do today, sweetie, but I can take you tomorrow instead?”
Jake frowned, clearly not accepting this explanation as a good enough reason for his father’s absence. “But daddy said he would take me. You’re really bad at fishing, mammy,” he complained, pouting adorably.
&nb
sp; “I’m sure he will take you fishing another day. How about we Skype Annie before bed instead?” I coaxed as a sudden wave of nausea hit me full force in the belly.
My stomach heaved and I could feel the bile rising in my throat.
“You okay, mammy?” Jake asked but I couldn’t answer him. I was too busy shoving my chair back in my race to the bathroom.
****
“So how’s life with your hubby?” Annie teased and I had a moment where I wanted to throw my iPhone against the wall.
“I don’t know, Annie,” I muttered as I held my phone to my ear and tried not to move. Every time I moved I felt nauseous so after I put Jake to bed I had decided to curl into the fetal poison on our bed and wait for the sick feeling to pass. “Better than what I expected, I suppose – but it’s still so confusing.”
Annie chuckled. “Yeah I bet it’s very hard for you – going to bed each night with, and I quote, ‘America’s blue-blood billionaire playboy,’” she teased.
“Don’t start with all that rubbish,” I grumbled, pulling myself into a sitting position.
I immediately regretted moving when a wave of nausea hit my senses like a bulldozer. My stomach churned and I leapt off the bed, knowing I was about two seconds away from emptying the contents of my stomach on the bedroom floor.
“Oh sweet Jesus,” I moaned when I reached the toilet in the en-suite. Wrapping myself around the toilet bowl, I vomited loudly until I was dry heaving.
“Kate, are you alright?” I heard Annie say and it was only then that I realized I was still holding my phone.
“I’m not sure, ” I muttered, wiping my mouth with some toilet paper.
“Not sure as in possible food poisoning?” Annie asked in a worried tone.
I sighed heavily. “Not sure as in possibly pregnant…”
“Oh Kate, how do you feel about it…” I heard Annie whisper seconds before a surprised squeal tore through my ears.
“Ouch. That actually hurt,” I grumbled, pressing my forehead to the toilet bowl. “Could you be any louder?”
“Could you be any more famous?” Annie shot back. “You’re on the telly.”
“I am not,” I growled. “Don’t be silly.”
“Oh shit, Kate,” Annie hissed. “Switch on the television right now.”
“Hang on.” Climbing to my feet I wobbled into the bedroom and fetched the remote off the nightstand before flicking on the television.
What I saw when the screen came to life was something that would haunt me for the rest of my life…
****
Lucas
“DiMarco’s Secret Love Child.”
Sources have finally confirmed billionaire property tycoon Lucas DiMarco’s – of the infamous DiMarco Dynasty – latest leading lady as none other than former flame Katherine Summers.
The twenty-three year old waitress from the south west coast of Ireland was previously linked to DiMarco more than five years ago, shortly before his father’s passing.
Photographs have just surfaced of a fresh-faced Katherine clearly smitten with the eldest DiMarco son. A friend of the DiMarco family has revealed the playboy dated then eighteen-year-old Miss Summers exclusively for three months before a sudden split – an infidelity on the red-haired beauty’s part that apparently left Lucas DiMarco ‘devastated.’ According to public record, Miss Summer’s gave birth to a baby-boy just seven months after the couple’s shocking split.
But that’s not all, no, because our latest rummage in the DiMarco’s never-ending pile of dirty laundry has revealed a marriage certificate that suggests to us Katherine Summer is Lucas DiMarco’s wife and not his lover as we have previously reported.
Our sources allege Lucas’s half-brother Jared DiMarco is the man responsible for the DiMarco/Summer breakup though neither brother has confirmed or denied this claim.
Hearts across the country are waiting ‘impatiently’ this morning in their bid to discover whether or not their pedigree playboy, the infamous Lucas DiMarco, has tied down roots. However the one question on everyone’s lips has got to be: who’s the daddy…?”
I had never felt more suffocated than I did right now as I stood in my late father’s conference room with a dozen microphones shoved in my face and a camera crew surrounding me – blocking me in.
This was a disaster.
This was a goddamn disaster of the highest order and I felt like the past was coming back to drown me. What was I supposed to say to these vultures?
Yes, it’s all true and more…
How was I going to explain this all away – and without making my wife sound like a whore?
I couldn’t.
This was bigger than me – beyond my control – and my so-called brother was still in London – whoring and touring no doubt – leaving this entire bloody mess at my feet.
These past two months with Kate and Jake had been the best of my life, but standing here in a roomful of reporters, preparing to explain my wife’s affair with my brother – that she so vehemently denied – well, it felt like the final nail in the coffin for us.
“One short statement should suffice, Mr. DiMarco,” Mitchell, my PA assured me, but I wasn’t so sure. I wasn’t sure of a lot of things anymore. Doubt was creeping into my veins…
“Is the boy yours?” one excited journalist shouted out, and that one question seemed to lead the path for a dozen others.
“Did your brother have an affair with your wife?”
“Is Katherine Summers really Katherine DiMarco?”
“Did you knowingly leave her pregnant all those years ago?”
“Where does your brother fit into all of this?”
“Are you and your wife back together again?”
“Why was this not sorted when the boy was born?”
“Please tell us the truth, Mr. DiMarco…”
“People please,” my stepmother called out as she marched into the room, clearly basking in the attention of the media. “Let my son speak,” she added when she reached my side.
The room fell silent, but the flash of several cameras continued to blind me as I cleared my throat and braced myself for the backlash that would surely follow this statement.
“There is currently a paternity test underway to prove my son’s true lineage,” I said, lying through my teeth, in a level tone even though my heart was ripping inside of me.
I hoped Kate wasn’t listening to the news because I doubted she would be happy. There was no paternity test, but if I said that then people would speculate about Jake’s heritage for the rest of his life. “The results, due in any moment now, will put to rest any speculation as to whether or not my brother fathered my wife’s son.”
“Are you confirming their affair, Lucas?” one reporter called out and I nodded stiffly.
“But I have no doubt in my mind that Jacob is mine,” I added in a passionate tone. “My wife and I are trying to reconcile for the sake of our son and would appreciate some privacy while we navigate these tempestuous waters.”
My phone began to vibrate in my pocket and I held one hand up to the crowd before rushing out of the room to answer it. My heart sank when I saw Kate’s name on the screen. Inhaling deeply, I put the phone to my ear. “Kate…”
“You bastard,” I heard her scream down the line, letting me know she’d been watching and heard every damn word. “How could you say those things about me?”
“Kate, calm down,” I told her as I pulled at my tie. I suddenly felt like I was smothering and the sound of Kate crying was causing that feeling to intensify.
“If you didn’t believe Jake was your son then why am I here, Luke?” she cried out in a frantic tone. “Why…how could you do this to me?”
“I claimed him, Kate,” I snapped, feeling a mixture of desperation and anxiety course through my veins. “I took reasonability for the both of you, which is a lot more than can be said for Jared.”
“Jared…it always comes back to Jared,” Kate sobbed. “You’re never going to
hear the truth are you...?”
The door of the conference room opened and Mitchell stood in the doorway flagging me over.
“Kate, I have to go,” I told her in a gruff tone. “We’ll talk about this when I get home.”
****
Kate
I had always known I wasn’t the type of woman who could fit the title of ‘glamour wife’. I was odd and clumsy, nervous and shy. But with Lucas I had thought I’d found my home – the person I belonged with and the heart that my heart belonged to.
Not anymore.
Never again.
His words cut deep and the fact that he publicly branded me a cheater, well, that was something I didn’t think I could ever get over.
I’d told him on countless occasions that I was being wronged – that he was wronging me – but this…this public shaming was the final straw for me.
I couldn’t do this anymore. I couldn’t. Love and agony were co-existing inside of my heart and I was turning into someone I never wanted to be.
My mother.
Sighing heavily I trailed my fingers through my tiny son’s hair as he slept in his seat beside me. A concoction of adoration and despair coursed through me.
I didn’t think my confidence would ever get over the battering it had taken from the beautiful nightmare that was my husband.
I needed to escape this life. I couldn’t stay with him. It wouldn’t work. He believed lies. Horrible terrible lies about me – and that should be enough to make me hate him. So why didn’t I hate him? Why couldn’t I hate him? It wasn’t fair. I needed to in order to survive this…
My life, like my heart, was a complicated, never-ending maze of poor choices, implemented because of the traitorous feelings I felt for the wrong man…