Emma raised an eyebrow in confusion as she looked at her phone. Where in the world had all these people gotten her contact information? Jackson had assured her that this was a private line when he gave it to her. No one was supposed to know it, yet there were twenty-three phone calls stating otherwise.
She went to open up the text messages when the phone began to vibrate again. She nearly dropped it she was so startled. No one ever called her. She decided to answer it and find out who exactly wanted to get her attention.
“Hello?”
“Hello? Ms. Sheridan? Ms. Emma Sheridan?” A female voice on the other line asked, sounding slightly surprised.
“Yes, that’s me. How can I help you?”
“I’m with the Daily Times and was hoping you could give me a comment,” the voice replied. She sounded nice enough.
“A comment about what?” Emma asked. “And how did you get this number?”
“A comment about the photo of Jackson Weathers kissing another woman,” the reporter replied. “Just days after proposing.”
A cold chill settled into Emma’s stomach.
“No comment,” Emma quickly said. “Do not call back.”
She quickly hung up. She closed her eyes. Maybe this was an old photo. Maybe it was a misunderstanding.
She pulled up the internet and ran a quick search.
The very first article had a picture of Jackson kissing a beautiful blonde woman. Her arms were wrapped around him in a passionate embrace. She was absolutely gorgeous and everything that Jackson usually went for.
In other words, not plain-Jane Emma.
“Maybe it’s an old picture they’re trying to pass off as new,” she mumbled. She tapped on the picture, even though it made her stomach flip. Seeing one’s fiancé kissing another tended to have that reaction.
Emma’s heart stuttered and her knees gave out. She reached for a kitchen chair and collapsed into it, staring at the photo.
He was wearing his blue suit. His new blue suit. She could see him putting it on while she lay in bed.
Had he worn it knowing he was going to meet her? Had he wanted to impress this new lover? She tried to think back to exactly what had happened two nights ago. She’d been sick and wanted to stay home. She had watched her favorite reality TV show.
She had thought it had been her decision not to go to the party, but now she wasn’t so sure. Maybe he had played her. He was known to be a player.
She swallowed hard and read the article. Maybe it was just a bad angle... maybe...
“‘Jackson Weathers kissed me,’ Alexa J. told reporters this morning. ‘He instigated it. He offered to take me to his yacht, but I didn’t want to leave the party yet. I was there to make business contacts, so when the biggest billionaire in the city offered to show me the ropes, I jumped on the opportunity to speak to him alone.’”
Emma read the article, her heart breaking with every word. Jackson had found a beautiful woman.
“‘I thought we were alone,” Alexa J. says. ‘I knew he was seeing someone, but I thought it was serious. I guess not.’” Emma read the words, her throat catching. “Alexa J. is a local student who has requested her last name not be printed.”
The phone clattered to the floor as Emma realized what this meant.
They weren’t married yet. The pregnancy wasn’t announced. If anything, the pregnancy would hurt Jackson and his company now. Not only was he cheating on Emma, he was cheating on a pregnant Emma.
There would be no salvaging his company’s reputation after that. The board would kick him out and he wouldn’t need Emma anymore. He wouldn’t need her, or their child.
The contract wouldn’t be valid anymore.
“That’s why he didn’t say he loved me back,” she whispered, the full realization of it hitting her. “He doesn’t. I fell for his act, hook, line and sinker. He played me.”
Hot, angry tears splashed down her cheeks.
He didn’t love her. He never had. She’d been played for a fool.