"Jasmine!" Kane exclaimed angrily. "Why didn't you wait for me before you did anything? How do you know he can be trusted?" He glared at George furiously.
Whoa. That was a scary look. She didn't know how George reacted to that since she kept her gaze on Kane. He needed to calm down.
"We'd really like to know what's going on," Joe interrupted in a low voice.
She and Kane looked at her dad.
"Okay, we'll start. But please, no fisticuffs," she said authoritatively, looking pointedly at Kane.
His lips twitched. "Okay."
She went to sit on the couch, dragging Kane with her. When they were all seated, she relayed the whole story, starting with Tim's behaviour at Jessa and Rob's wedding, with Kane interjecting some details here and there. They mentioned Kane's broken engagement to Hannah and the baby they lost, and the fact that he practically lived with her at Jessa and Rob's to protect her from Tim's stalking. They also divulged Hannah's hostile email.
Her parents listened without interrupting, their eyes wide. George was just as wide-eyed, which made her feel more sure he'd told her the truth.
When she told them about the last email she got, including the veiled threat to send a naked picture of her to a porno magazine, their audience of three couldn't have looked more shocked.
"Jasmine, I swear I never sent those emails," George blurted out. "I didn't even know who Kane and Hannah were before today. And like I said earlier, I haven't seen or spoken to Tim since we had a fight after I asked you out. It was most definitely not me who told him you sleep around to seek ideas for your stories."
"So if you're not responsible for this, who is?" Kane asked George, his expression still antagonistic.
"I have no idea."
"Who else did you tell about Jasmine's chapter that you stole from her computer?"
"No one! I swear that on my mother's life. I deleted it as soon as I got home that day," George replied before a horrified look formed on his face. "Wait a minute. I did tell my ex-fiancée Minerva that the woman she blamed for our breakup was someone I was just having a casual relationship with, that she was like her cousin's ex-girlfriend who wrote for porno magazines," he said dazedly as some realisation dawned on him.
"What? I don't understand. Explain," Kane commanded intimidatingly.
George leaned back on his chair and closed his eyes. ""Before I met Jasmine, I got engaged to Minerva, the daughter of the owner of the company I worked for. I dated her because she pursued me and I proposed to her because I was two months away from bankruptcy and was desperate for money. But a couple of weeks after we got engaged, I realised I'd rather go bankrupt than live with a domineering woman I wasn't really in love with so I broke off our engagement.
"Minerva is an immature spoiled brat who never worked for anything in her life. Her dad gives her everything she wants so she has this attitude of entitlement. She thinks if she wants something, she should get it.
"When I broke up with her, she went ballistic. I think her reaction was more to do with her fear of being a laughingstock amongst her friends rather than her feelings for me.
"She continued to pursue me but I made sure she didn't know about you, Jasmine. I didn't want to deal with the drama if she found out about you. But after you broke up with me—after what I'd done—I was really down in the dumps. Some friends guessed I was in that state because of a woman. I think that was what made Minerva guess I had a girlfriend after I left her.
"One day, she came to my place and demanded I tell her who this girl was that came between the two of us. I told her no one got between us. I simply didn't want to marry her. Typical of Minerva, she didn't believe that. She ranted that she would make life hell for the relationship wrecker.
"I already felt guilty for what I did to you, Jasmine. I knew I had to make Minerva believe I didn't have a real girlfriend because I knew she could hound you and make you miserable. So I told her that the girl I went out with was just some passing casual sex partner. Minerva said if I'd wanted sex, why did I have to go to someone else for it."
George rolled his eyes upwards, shaking his head. "Minerva was that thick. She just couldn't believe someone would reject her. Anyway, to appease her, I said you weren't relationship material, that I didn't go out with you to replace her but just to enjoy myself. I said you were similar to her cousin's ex-girlfriend who was sexually aggressive and would try anything and everything sex-wise because you also wrote for porn magazines. I was making things up as I was talking to her and that was the story that came out of my mouth," he said with embarrassment.
"So you did tell Minerva that Jasmine was a … slut?" Kane hissed, his body tense from controlling his anger.