Page 54 of Forbidden Desires

I couldn’t lie to placate this man’s conscience. “No. I don’t think I can forgive any of you. But I can move on. There’s no point in holding on to this anymore. I should have let it go a long time ago.” There was a lot that I needed to let go of now, but at least I felt as though I could release myself fromthisanguish before I truly dealt with the misery of losing Eric.

“For what it’s worth…I am sorry,” he said. “And whatever you do from here, with your information, I respect your choice. Even if it damns me.”

I knew right then that there wasn’t anything more I needed from this visit, because there wasn’t any greater pain I could inflict upon this man. “I can’t damn you anymore than you’ve already damned yourself.”

CHAPTER 26

Eric

I’d never felt so exhausted and miserable as I did now. I stared out the window of the posh New York hotel suite I’d been living in the past six weeks, finishing my morning cup of coffee before I headed to the Wellington Later Life Care Facility to see my parents and spend some time with them—which had been my routine since arriving in the city weeks ago, right after my life had imploded in Florida, right along with my carefully constructed control.

As soon as the article inThe Affluent Collectivehad spread across Coral Gables and had people gossiping about my once sterling reputation, the first thing I did was issue the society page a defamation of character lawsuit, which promptly made the article disappear, even though all damage had already been done.

The second thing I did was pack a bag and leave for New York. As much to put distance between myself and the scrutiny,but to also make sure that none of the scandal touched my parents in any way. And, at the time, I wanted as much space as possible between myself and Jasmine, who’d I’d been furious with. Her betrayal had cut so deep, shattering pieces of my heart and leaving me numb after the fallout.

Initially, I was adamant that I never wanted to see her again. Didn’t want to talk to her. Didn’t even want to chance running into her because that initial anger I’d felt after being blind-sided by the article had been all-consuming. To the point that it had clouded my judgement and good sense when I was normally a man who took a step back from chaos so I could look at the situation logically and rationally.

I didn’t give Jasmine that same consideration. I’d just taken my rage to New York with me and let it simmer.

At least seeing my parents truly healthy and happy in their environment assuaged the guilt I’d carried with me since putting them in the facility to begin with. I found it bittersweet, how some days they had the ability to remember me and wanted to know where my wife was and reminisced about the past, and other days they saw me as a nice stranger who brought them lunch or sweet treats and did puzzles with them to pass the time. Sometimes, it was a heart-breaking mixture of both.

They wove in and out of the present and the past, but spending time with them on almost a daily basis made me realize, and accept, that they were exactly where they needed to be. They were well cared for, and so far, nothing of the scandal that had broken in Florida had reached New York, and for that I was grateful.

But it was the evenings when I was alone in the hotel room that were the most difficult. At first, because I couldn’t stop thinking of Jasmine’s betrayal, and then, eventually, as my anger ebbed and my rational mind gradually returned, I realized…how much I missed her. That despite how things looked for her—andadmittedly they looked bad—I couldn’t believe that Jasmine was responsible for doing something so heinous. I couldn’t believe, didn’t want to believe, that she’d ever manipulate my emotions in that way, when she’d been the only woman who’d ever given me the safe space to be open and vulnerable with her, while she did the same with me.

As time went by, I wanted to pick up the phone and reach out, but I didn’t know what to say. What to do. I felt a complete loss of control over everything. My life, but especially my emotions where Jasmine was concerned, which were so tangled up I didn’t know how to unravel all the threads. All because I’d fallen in love with her…and I had no clue how to process those feelings.

A few days after arriving in New York, I contacted the same security firm that had given me the information about James’ debt that I was still holding on to, after issuing him an ultimatum to stay away from myself, and Jasmine. Considering he’d violated that order, I had every reason to expose him when there was no doubt in my mind that he’d providedThe Affluent Collectivewith the information on my parents, most likely as a form of revenge after my threat toward him.

But other than my extreme reaction with Jasmine—which had been a purely emotional one—I wasn’t a man who acted in haste and I wanted all the pieces of the puzzle together before making that move. Because I still didn’t know what James had been doing at Jasmine’s apartment that day. I had originally assumed that it had been an exchange of money for information, but I knew in my heart, in the depths of my soul, that Jasmine was not the kind of woman to sell me out.

But I still needed to knowhowJames had found out about the facility, and the fact that I had used women to pretend to be my wife to placate my parents. I wanted, needed, proof of his involvement so I could utterly destroy his standing in thecommunity and make him persona non grata in Coral Gables, which was no less than he deserved.

Unfortunately, according to the security firm,The Affluent Collectiveremained tight-lipped about who their source was. I told the security firm to keep digging, because even if James was responsible for the leak, where hadhegotten those details if not from Jasmine? I needed that connection, that evidence, to confront James with irrefutable proof he couldn’t deny.

Those were some of the questions that plagued my nights, but this morning I had a moment of clarity. It was time to return to Coral Gables. It was time to give Jasmine the opportunity to explain the situation with James and why he was at her apartment that day…if she would even talk to me at this point, considering how I probably devastated her with my disbelief. My gut feeling told me that James had used her as a pawn in this game between the two of us, because that was his MO, and I was determined to figure all this out, somehow, someway.

Regardless, I needed to speak with Jasmine, all the while hoping and praying I hadn’t annihilated the one woman who meant everything to me.

I booked the two-hour flight home for noon that day, which gave me the time to swing by and see my parents before I left New York. After a brief visit, as I was walking out to the car I’d rented, I received an email from Chuck, my main contact at the security firm.

We received an anonymous phone call today after our initial contact with Wellington Later Life Care Facility, inquiring on your behalf if James Duponte had either been to the facility, or had called to talk to anyone there about your parents. During that initial call with Wellington, we had been assured that there was no record of James doing either. However, this source gave us the name of Paula Reynolds, who is no longer working at the facility. We were told thatMs. Reynolds had revealed to this anonymous source how much she’d been paid for ‘easy information’. We contacted Ms. Reynolds, and after some…strong arming, she admitted that she talked to someone named James, in exchange for money.

Also, you asked us to inform you when James returned to Florida from London and have confirmed that a flight from London Heathrow with his name on the manifest arrived at Miami International Airport last night.

My blood went cold in my veins as I read their recent update. Paula, the receptionist who normally checked me in when I arrived at the facility, who’d been there when Jasmine had come with me. Interestingly, Paula hadn’t been there since my arrival back in New York six weeks ago, and I just assumed she’d quit and moved on to a different job, as many people did.

Now, it seemed James had greased her palm for information, and she either now had enough money to do something different or had quit before anyone discovered she’d been the one to leak confidential patient information.

That rage sparked inside of me again, all directed at one single person:James.

I typed out a quick email to Chuck.I’m heading back to Florida from New York immediately. I will be there by three this afternoon. Turn every stone in the fucking vicinity until you locate exactly where James is, then keep tabs on him until I arrive in Coral Gables.

That done, I headed to the airport to catch my plane, which seemed to be the longest flight of my life.

By the timeI touched down in Miami, Chuck had provided me with James’ current and exact location, and other pertinentinformation, like who he was with. The fact that James had spent the day playing a leisurely round of golf at the Coral Gables Golf and Country Club, and was now lounging in the bar with some investors—as if he could just return to the community and resume his life after shattering mine—only spurred my anger into full fledge fury as Jeff, who’d picked me up from the airport, drove me straight to the country club.

I strode in and found James exactly where Chuck said he’d be. He was sitting at a table with three other men, enjoying a drink and laughing at something one of them said. But his expression quickly sobered when he saw me walk in, a flash of uncertainty passing across his features that was quickly hidden behind a mask of cocky bravado.

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