Mr. Wrong

by Alessandra Hart

  With that, she swept away. I was left staring at Jacob, confusion etched on my face as I frowned. He looked nervous, and I was immediately filled with a distinct sense of foreboding.

  “Who was that?” I asked. “I saw her come out of the guesthouse. Are you renting it to her or something?”

  He rubbed his chin. “In a manner of speaking.”

  I gritted my teeth. That didn’t exactly sound good. “What’s going on?” I said. “Who was that woman, and why was she here?”

  Jacob sighed. “This is a conversation I was really hoping to save for later. I wanted to spend more time with you first, let you get to know me better before you rush to judgment.”

  “Too late for that now. The cat’s out of the bag, and the woman is out of the guesthouse. So who is she?”

  He sighed again and looked at the floor for a moment, clearly not wanting to answer my question anytime soon.

  “Jacob,” I said in a warning tone.

  He looked back up at me again. “That was Ina,” he finally replied.

  I rolled my eyes. God, he was being so damn evasive. “So I heard. Who is she?”

  Jacob steeled his jaw. “My wife,” he said. “Ina is my wife.”

  19

  Nora

  I stared at Jacob, aghast. His wife? His goddamned freaking wife?

  He held his hands up. “Don’t react yet. Please. Just—”

  “You’re married?” I shrieked. How could I not react to this news? “You’re fucking married?”

  “It’s complicated. Can you please sit down and we’ll talk about it? Just let me explain.”

  He tried to come closer to me but I pushed him away. “Get the hell away from me! God, I can’t believe how dumb I am. I trusted you so fast, like some stupid lovesick teenager… and after all the shit you pulled when we met, too! I’m such a fucking idiot.”

  I was an idiot. I’d only known Jacob for about a month. Not even that. And we’d only started sleeping together two days ago. Yet here I was thinking it was a good idea to stay at his house and make sex tapes with him.

  Jesus, what was I thinking? Of course it was all bound to go wrong. He and I came from incredibly different worlds. I was a middle class nobody with a tiny little house in an area I could barely afford, and a moral viewpoint which included not having a spouse while sleeping with other guys. Jacob was a millionaire celebrity who could have anything he wanted, and his particular set of morals apparently allowed him to have a wife while sleeping with other women.

  Kind of a deal-breaker.

  “Please, Nora. I wanted to tell you so badly. I really did. I just wanted to wait and break it to you slowly. Not like this,” Jacob said. “She wasn’t meant to be back from her business trip till next month.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Oh, I’m so sorry your wife came back early and ruined your plans. Must be hard,” I said. I shook my head. “Jesus, how did I not know this? Does anyone even know you’re married?”

  “Not really.”

  “Wow, she’s a lucky woman,” I said, my voice thick with sarcasm. “A husband who doesn’t tell anyone she exists and cheats on her all the time… amazing deal there.”

  “I’m not cheating on her.”

  I waved my hand at him. “Oh, whatever. I don’t care if you call it an open relationship. Even if she’s fine with it, I’m not! I had a right to know before you seduced me.”

  Jacob raised a brow. “I don’t mean to be nitpicky, but you seduced me first, at your parents’ place.”

  I stared at him, incredulous. “Are you serious? We’re going to get technical like that so you can try and save your lying ass?”

  He ran a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I said that. Can you please just sit down and let me explain?”

  I craned my neck and looked outside. Oscar was a golden speck in the distance, thoroughly enjoying the lavish grounds. I whistled before turning back around to Jacob. “You’ve got until the dog decides to come back. Then we’re both leaving.”

  “Okay, okay. Just sit down. Please.”

  He gestured toward a nearby loveseat. I sat down, refusing to look at him.

  “Ina is my wife in name only,” he began. “We met on the first season of Code Grey, about five years ago. She was an extra.”

  “I don’t need to hear the romantic story of how you met,” I bit back at him.

  “Yes, you do. It’s not romantic.”

  “Fine. Whatever. Go on, then.”

  “Ina is from Corvenia. She came over here six years ago on a temporary refugee visa, hoping to get permanent asylum,” he said. He rubbed his jawline and sighed. “Well, actually, that’s not entirely accurate. She was trafficked over here as part of a sex slave ring. She escaped, and that’s when she was given temporary refugee status.”

  “Oh my god,” I said softly.

  Corvenia was a small country in far-eastern Europe. It had been under the control of the Soviet Union up until the very early nineties, and it gained its independence after the fall of the Iron Curtain like so many other places in the region. Things hadn’t improved much since the country’s claim of independence, though, as the country was run by a fascist government. It was subsequently rife with poverty, violence, and civil war between opposing factions in the north and east regions. Certain cities in the southwest of the country were apparently okay to visit, but they were still known for sex tourism, illegal drug trades, and gangland activity. Overall, Corvenia didn’t exactly have a good reputation.

  “She was working whatever jobs she could get while she waited for her permanent visa to come through. Waitress, retail worker, extra on TV and film sets. Like I said, I met her on the set of Code Grey. More specifically, I saw her crying behind a trailer one day and went and talked to her. She wouldn’t tell me much at first, but I finally got it out of her. Someone in Immigration had screwed up. Lost some of her papers. Instead of fixing the issue, they were simply going to deport her back to Corvenia in just three months. It was easier that way, I guess.”

  “Jesus.”

  “If she went back, she would’ve faced either death or more forced prostitution, because the people who ran the sex ring she escaped from would’ve more than likely found her again. And on top of that, she would’ve faced persecution for simply being who she is.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “You know how the Corvenian government feels about gay people?”

  I nodded. Many gay Corvenian people had applied for asylum in other countries after being persecuted for their sexuality. Some had even been killed before they could get out of the country because of all the ant-LGBT propaganda the government liked to spread.

  “Well, I’m not exactly Ina’s type,” Jacob continued. “She only likes women.”

  “Oh. I see.”

  “Anyway, I couldn’t let something like that happen to her. So I asked her to marry me.”

  “Wait… you’re saying this was a green card marriage?”

  He nodded. “Yes. I knew if I married her, she’d be able to stay in the country and become a naturalized citizen once enough time passed.”

  I shook my head slowly. “Jacob, do you have any idea how illegal that is?”

  He frowned. “Of course I do. I know I could go to prison if Immigration ever found out what we did. But letting them send her back to an almost certain death was even worse.”

  “I can imagine it was a very hard decision,” I said softly.

  He nodded. “Way I saw it, both choices were wrong. I had to choose the one that was less wrong. And I did. I made my choice, and I’ve been living with it ever since.”

  I was silent for a long time, trying to wrap my head around everything he’d just told me.

  “So how does it work?” I finally asked.

  “She has to live at the same address as me, in case Immigration come sniffing around. And they do, from time to time. She lives out in the guesthouse, but her address is still the same, so if they ever looked at
her mail or asked any of the staff here, they’d be able to confirm that she lives here.”

  “And how long will this go on for?”

  “We got married five years ago. That’s enough time for her to become fully naturalized to the point where even if we divorce, she’ll still be allowed to remain here in the US. So we’re actually in the process of filing for divorce right now.”

  I twisted my hands in my lap, still not entirely understanding everything. “How does no one know about this?”

  “A few trusted people do. My staff know. My manager and agent know. They helped me figure it all out. They didn’t want them to send her back any more than I did. But they figured if the media knew about Ina, she’d be dragged through the mud and her history would be examined in great detail. You know what the tabloids can be like. We didn’t want that for her after everything she already went through, and we also didn’t want to attract attention from people who might realize it was just a green card marriage.”

  “So you just hid it for this long?”

  “Yep.”

  “But when Immigration officers interview you every so often to check up on your relationship and ensure that it’s ‘real’… aren’t they bothered by your reputation? I mean, it’s always in all the magazines that you’re a player, a ladies man, et cetera. Surely they can tell the marriage is fake based on that alone.”

  “We tell them it’s all part of cultivating the whole bad boy media image, and that none of it is actually true. And my staff here at the house can easily confirm that I’ve never actually brought another woman back here. Except you, now that you’re here.”

  My eyebrows shot up. “Wait… you’ve never had a woman here before?”

  “No. I’ve been with other women over the years. After all, the relationship between Ina and me is purely platonic. But I took those women to hotels or went to their houses. I’ve never brought anyone back here. Not till you.”

  “Oh.”

  “I’m so sorry I kept this from you, Nora. But I wanted to wait until we knew each other better before I unloaded this mess on you, especially with all the shit you’ve got going on in your own life right now because of that asshole James. I was going to tell you, though. Please believe that,” he said. “I know how much you’ve trusted me. You made that pretty clear yesterday afternoon when you asked me to film us. And I trust you too. I wouldn’t have told you the truth about the Ina situation if I didn’t, because that truth could bury me if it got into the wrong hands. But I feel like I know you pretty damn well already, and I don’t think you’ll tell anyone and land me in prison forever, even though you so easily could. You essentially have my life in your hands, Nora, and I trust you with it. Does that mean anything to you at all?”

  I hesitated. He had a point. I’d previously placed my trust in him enough to do certain things like yesterday’s impromptu dirty film session, and there was a reason for that—my gut had told me that deep down, he was a good person who wouldn’t screw me over. And he was a good person. He’d done something highly illegal with this marriage to Ina, but he’d done it for what he thought were the right reasons. He’d done it to save someone.

  To add to that, he was right about his life basically being in my hands right now. If I wanted, I could go straight to Immigration and tell them everything. He’d go away for a long time if I did that, but he was willing to risk that just to tell me the truth. If he hadn’t cared about me or trusted me at all, he could’ve just lied about who Ina was. He could’ve told me she was simply a friend who rented the guesthouse, or made up any other number of lies.

  But he didn’t.

  He told me the truth.

  Was that enough, though? This was a pretty darn messed up situation. After all, it wasn’t every day that the guy I was seeing informed me that he was legally married to another woman, no matter what the circumstances were.

  “Nora,” Jacob said softly, grabbing my hand. “I understand how hard this must be for you. Your head is probably spinning. But please just answer this. Is it too much for you? Or is it something you think you can handle?”

  I bit my lower lip. Then I slowly shook my head and gave him my answer. “No.”

  20

  Jacob

  My heart sank as Nora shook her head.

  “No,” she said. But then she went on. “It’s not too much for me. But we definitely need to talk about this some more. Figure out how the hell this is going to work from now on.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief. I knew I’d just unloaded a world of crap on her, but once she saw Ina, there was no way I could’ve kept the whole truth about my life from her for another moment. I had to tell her, had to let her know that there was a massive roadblock in the way of our fledgling relationship. Namely my marriage.

  “I know,” I said. “And we can discuss that. But please don’t leave. This thing with James could get dangerous, so I want you and Oscar to stay here. Hell, I’ll go stay in a hotel if I need to. Just please stay. I need to know you’re safe.”

  She shook her head. “You don’t need to stay in a hotel, Jacob,” she said softly. “I really do appreciate what you’ve done; letting Oscar and me into your home like this. I realize you obviously don’t like having women here, but—”

  I cut her off. “Nora, I would’ve had you here either way. I want you here. You’re not like any of the others.”

  “Well, you’ve still saved us. Seems like you have a thing for saving people.”

  “I guess I do. I just don’t see why I should have all this money and not help people when I can. I know someone like my mom would’ve loved some help back in the day.”

  Nora was silent for a long moment.

  “I think your mom would be extremely proud of you if she was still with us,” she finally said, looking right in my eyes. “Even if you’ve done something incredibly wrong, you’ve done it for the right reasons. Even the way we met… you took me on that freaking awful date, all because you thought you were doing the right thing. You thought I was this terrible, evil dog thief, and you were trying to help James by rescuing Oscar from my clutches.”

  I chuckled. “Yeah.”

  “So this thing with Ina—it’s the same thing. You were desperate to help her. What you’ve done is illegal as all hell, but I get it. I really do. I think I would’ve made the same choice as you if it came down to it.”

  I nodded and stayed quiet for a moment, just staring at Nora’s perfect eyes before I spoke up again. “So you want to talk about how this is going to work,” I finally said. “Can I tell you how I feel first?”

  “Go ahead.”

  “I want you, Nora. All the way. I want to be with you, I want to wake up next to you, I want to take care of you. I know we’ve only just begun, but there’s no one else right now. Only you. And I don’t want there to be anyone else. I want you and only you.”

  I took a deep breath and continued. “But I understand you’re probably still very skeeved out by the fact that I’m married, even if it’s on paper only. So if you want to wait until Ina and I are officially divorced, I’ll wait for you. I’ll wait as long as it takes, and there won’t be anyone else in between. I won’t touch you, no matter how much I want to. I’ll wait. I promise.”

  Nora was quiet for a long moment, her eyes on the floor. Then she looked at me and spoke up, her voice clear. “Divorces can take up to a year, Jacob. I don’t need to wait that long, because I understand the situation. But if this is going to work, there’s something I want. Total honesty from now on. I don’t want anything else kept from me.”

  “Done,” I said, looking at my feet.

  “Why do you suddenly look uncomfortable? There’s something else, isn’t there?” she asked, her eyes flashing with suspicion.

  I nodded. “Yes. And it’s probably worse.”

  Her eyebrows shot up. “Worse than you having a secret wife?”

  “I think so. I think it’s my fault your house got broken into,” I said. I’d nearly come clean
about this yesterday, but then we were interrupted by Angie calling, and the moment hadn’t come again for me to admit my wrongdoing to Nora.

  She wrinkled her nose. “Huh? How?”

  “I went to visit James the other day. I think he thought you sent me.”

  She jumped up. “What?”

  I filled her in on the petty revenge plan I’d enacted to piss him off, and how I’d gone several steps too far by blowing up his date and then punching him. Twice.

  “You beat him up?” she said, her eyes wide and incredulous.

  “He called you a cunt.”

  “So you felt the need to defend my honor by punching him in the face?”

  I shrugged and looked at her with a shamefaced expression. “I’m sorry. It was fucking childish and stupid. And it’s my fault he came after you and trashed your house.”

  She sat down again and sighed. “No, it’s not.”

  “It is,” I insisted.

  “Not really. Maybe you provoked him a bit, but it’s his fault. No one forced him to break into my place and trash it. And he’s still been messaging me on Facebook from a bunch of fake profiles over the last few weeks. So occasionally I’ve lost my temper and replied, telling him to fuck off. I’ve probably provoked him just as much. But no more. Now that he’s done this shit to my house, I’m never replying to him ever again, and I’m taking out a restraining order.”

  “I hope they sort it out soon.”

  “Yeah. Work is starting up again tomorrow, and I’m going to the police afterwards to start the process with all the paperwork and so on. There’s a station not far from the studio.”

  “Good. Speaking of work, how are we handling ‘us’ there? Are we telling anyone?”

  Nora shook her head. “I’d rather we kept things quiet for now. I don’t want people to think I’m unprofessional and sleeping with the talent. Even though I guess I am.”

  “Fair enough.”