My office phone rang and my receptionist, Fiora's voice came through the receiver.
"Hey, Skye, I have a Jasmine Khan here who wants to see you. Do you want me to send her in?"
My heartbeats quickened nervously upon hearing those words.
"No. Tell her I'm busy," I said a little too harshly and Fiora hung up.
I didn't want to see that woman. What was her problem? Why couldn't she just disappear?
The phone rang once more and I answered the line from reception impatiently. "I told you I'm busy right now."
"Skye. I need to talk to you," Jasmine's husky voice came through and I frowned deeply, feeling really pissed off.
But I heard Fiora protesting something in the background and knew Jasmine was just going to create a scene if I refused.
"Fine. Come into the office." Folding my arms, I sat back and glared at the door.
It opened a few seconds later and she entered, looking so stunning in her black dress and knee-high boots that I felt very plain in my work clothes. My self-esteem had suffered so much since the pregnancy and here she was, making it worse.
"I told you that I don't care what you have to say," I bit out once she was inside the office and standing in front of my desk.
"You're gonna wanna hear this," she said in an arrogant tone and I narrowed my eyes at her. God, I couldn't stand the sight of her.
"What?" I snapped rudely.
She sighed and took a seat without being invited.
"I'm here to make a deal," she calmly announced.
My response was to laugh at her. "This should be good," I replied sarcastically.
Jasmine studied my face for a while and then looked around the office taking everything in. I'd noticed that about her upon first meeting her. She was very observant. So little escaped her notice and even a casual glance was calculated. Maybe that's what Jasper had found so appealing that he hadn't been able to wait to get between her legs.
"Tell Jasper about Jacob. And I'll get out of his life for good."
I blinked at her words, trying to understand her intentions and failing. What was in it for her? Did she want Jasper to hate me that much?
"Jasper isn't the father," I lied in a firm voice. I wasn't going to let her win. This was war and if she wanted to take me down, I wasn't going to go without a fight. "It just slipped out that night in the library. He had been so happy about the pregnancy that we all just kind of started to feel like he was Jacob's dad." I picked up a pencil and twirled it around as she kept on looking at my face with that shrewd gaze of hers. "We didn't place much importance on who had fathered Jacob then."
She gave me a twisted smile. "But what about later? When you discovered Jasper had cheated," she countered.
"Get. Out. Jasmine. He isn't Jasper's son, okay. He's mine and Cole's."
"So even the thought of me disappearing from his life isn't enough to make you tell the truth?" she questioned, looking surprised. "You have a chance to let things go. I won't be around. Jasper will come back to you. Jacob will know his real father-"
"He's not the father!" I yelled at her angrily.
Jasmine just let out a short laugh. "Skye...I know you don't want to hear this...but I have known that man for almost three years. I have lived with him for two of those. And no, we weren't sleeping together the entire time. But we did become close. Like best friends." She placed her hands on the desk and her eyes were full of some strong emotion I couldn't place as she continued. "I have observed all his habits, his mannerisms, how he looks when he's mad or sad or just plain suspicious. I took one look at that kid..." She paused and gulped a little. Her voice had started to tremble. "It didn't take me a minute to realise who was Jacob's father. How can you people do this to him? How can Cole do this?"
I stared at her, feeling tense and agitated.
"Cole doesn't know," I managed to whisper once I realised there was no fooling her.
Jasmine's expression was shocked. "That's not possible," she breathed. "Cole has been with Jasper the longest. How can he not tell? I could tell in a heartbeat."
I blew out a breath. "I don't know, okay!" I said exasperatedly. "Cole is...he's very different. Sometimes you could be standing right in front of him and he would still tell himself there's nobody there. He...sees things when he's ready to see them. But I think he really doesn't see it this time. He wouldn't believe it. He-"
"He trusts you so much that he never lets himself doubt that you could lie to him about something so big," Jasmine finished for me.
I swallowed down the bile rising in my throat.
"I did something horrible," I told her through clenched teeth. "But you don't have any right to judge me, do you understand?"
She frowned at me. "I'm not judging you, Skye. I just can't understand why you'd punish him this way by denying him his rights to Jacob. Jasper loves that little boy so much even though he thinks Jacob isn't his. Imagine what he would do if he knew he really is the father. He'd have a chance to bring more love into his son's life."
"Jacob has love in his life," I argued. "Our love. We're a family. I
