Third POV
"No! I won't let this happen."
Jed began to notice Nora more each time she visited. The way her eyes lingered when they locked with his, the way she always tried to get closer even in Cherry's presence — it all started to make sense.
Then one day, while Cherry was out grocery shopping, Nora came over without her knowledge. Jed was home alone. He offered her a drink while continuing the video game he'd been playing.
She thanked him. "But wouldn't you drink with me?" she asked.
Jed smiled, shaking his head, then gestured to the game. She smiled back, walked over to him, drank a little, then casually, almost delicately pulled a syringe from the pocket of her baggy jeans and slipped it into his glass. Jed was absorbed in the game and didn't notice until she pushed the glass toward his lips, her left hand sliding up to caress his shoulder, to rest on his chest.
His father's words brushed his mind at that moment.
"Perhaps I should just give in to this," he thought. He paused the game and took the drink.
From that first sip to the sudden, hot lust racing through him, it all happened in a blur. Before he knew it, clothes were discarded and mouths met. Nora had him. It was their first time together.
It started with a single reckless, stolen act.
And it did not stop there.
Nora knew what she wanted and felt no shame. The idea of betraying her sister never seemed to trouble her. Jed convinced himself it was nothing — he had reasons, he told himself; reasons that would justify enjoying another woman while still keeping Cherry close. Even while dating Cherry, he kept seeing Nora.
Every visit after that came with small touches, lingering glances, stolen kisses. A mistake he never let Cherry discover. He planned to tell her when he was ready to leave her or when it suited him.
"At least, no matter how she might feel, my reasons are clear as hell," he muttered to himself, caressing his own chest. "When I want her back, with this, I'll be able to."
That was his plan.
By graduation, Cherry was more in love with him than ever, proud of how he'd struggled without relying on her money. But there seemed to be no way for him to repay the student loan. He'd thought about getting a job at another tech firm, but nothing had panned out. Cherry felt she had to do something to pull him out of that pit.
Nora, however, knew everything even Jed's true family identity. Jed had confessed his background to her and urged her to keep it secret.
"We're going to use her in a way she would never suspect," Jed bragged once. "And then I'll dump her." Nora grinned.
Each kiss, each secret night, pulled Nora deeper. She viewed her sister's future with Jed as something she could steal.
Her chance came when Don Griffo finally followed through on his promise and gave Jed a business to run not a random company, but one bound to the family's sphere. It was Jed's entry to the life Don Griffo wanted for him.
Fertility Clinic.
To outsiders, it was a cutting edge fertility clinic, promising heirs to the powerful men who wanted to protect bloodlines without messy attachments. Men who didn't trust women. Men who wanted biological heirs without mistresses or loose ends.
The clinic paid donors three times more than any other place. Desperate women lined up for the payout.
Cherry was one of them.
One evening she came to Jed, voice soft, eyes bright with love and resolve.
"You've carried your burden long enough," she told him. "Your student loan… I found a way to help."
Jed froze, wondering what way she'd found. He already had a plan of his own.
"Hoping it's not something else," he muttered.
"What do you mean?" she asked, narrowing her brows.
She smiled as though it were simple. "The new fertility clinic. They pay women huge amounts for egg donations. Enough to clear your debt. I'll do it for you, Jed."
He nearly shouted no. The very idea of Cherry selling parts of herself stirred something ugly inside him. But he remembered: egg donations, not her whole body. He breathed a secret, steadying relief.
My goal is getting closer to reality, he thought.
"You don't ever do that!" he snapped, feigning anger, eyes hard. "If you strip, if you sell yourself to any man for money I swear I'll never look at you again."
Cherry blinked, wounded. "Jed, it's not like that. I'm not selling myself, just eggs. Cells. That's all. Please let me do this for us."
His voice dropped, brittle. "If you must, then donate eggs. But never ever sell your body. Promise me."
She nodded quickly, reaching for his hand. "I promise."
He softened, pulling her close. "It's fine. You can donate all your eggs. With this sacrifice you're making for me, be assured nothing will stop me from marrying and remaining married to you." He paused, staring into her eyes. "Even if it costs us children."
Cherry believed him. He had always looked honest in her eyes; she remembered how much he'd loved her when things were easier. That trust is why she laid all hope on him.
Not everyone who married wanted kids. Some couples chose to be childless and adopted others' children. Cherry saw that possibility with Jed. She resolved to sell her eggs, even knowing the risks, to raise $140,000 for Jed's loan.
Blinded by love, Cherry began donating. Once, twice, again and again until she'd given far more than was medically prudent. She ignored the strain and trusted the clinic's doctors. They said nothing; they let her continue. She thought she was helping Jed.
But the truth was darker.
Her eggs were never pooled with the others. They were kept in a separate wing, locked away, labeled with her name. The doctors had been paid to ensure it.
And they were fertilized not randomly.
One man had claimed them all.
The same man who had anonymously sent her three million dollars on her GoFundMe with the caption: "Forget about him and move on. Who knows? Maybe he was trying to protect you."
He ordered that Cherry's eggs never touch another man's sperm except his.
Since Jed's father wouldn't let him have the woman he loved by normal means, Jed elected to have her another way, a deceitful, heartbreaking way. Even if it demanded killing the two people who mattered to him most, he would do it.
He would, just to have her.
And now, years later, he met Cherry again — not alone, but with her children.
But the question remained:
Would Cherry Norman, a respected judge accept a dangerous criminal like Jed Griffo as her husband, simply because he fathered her babies?