When Love and Lies Collide

Caoimhe I stared at the colourful invitation card, my hands shaking aggressively, my head swooning as the room spun around me. I couldn't believe my eyes. In my hands was the invitation card, proudly announcing the wedding of "Mr Jason Lodge and Miss Sarah Hartmann" at St Paul's Cathedral next month. There was only one problem, Mr Jason Lodge already had another fiance, me. And Sarah Hartmann definitely wasn't my name. That would be my step sister. "Are you okay? Miss Hartmann?" The voice of the doorman tore through my thoughts, reminding me I wasn't alone. I looked up from the card, realising I was still standing in the lobby of my apartment building, where the doorman had handed the card over to me as soon as I had come home from work. "Who gave you this?" I asked, ignoring his question. "Why isn't it in my mail?" "A gentleman brought it here ma'am." The man said, looking a bit confused, "He insisted I handed it to you personally." I swallowed hard, this couldn't be possible. "Is everything okay Miss Hartmann?" The guy, a middle aged chubby man who we all called Sal, asked again. "No, it's fine." I said quickly, struggling to regain my composure, "Thanks for delivering it." He didn't look convinced, "Are you sure-" But I was already walking away, towards the elevator. I needed to speak to Jason and to know what was going on. I got into my car, making my way across the city. I had to see him, I had to hear what he had to say. The GPS lady's voice, a monotonous drone in normal circumstances, grated on my nerves. "Recalculating route," it announced, and for some reason, a choked sob escaped my lips, hot and unexpected. "Maybe it was a mistake, maybe they had somehow gotten the names wrong, or even mixed up the cards," I said to myself, trying to convince myself I was thinking too much but it didn't make any sense to me as to why they would mistake my name for my sister's name. But the sinking feeling in my gut refused to be quelled. There was a sickening certainty, a cold recognition of a truth I desperately wished I could un-know. This was real, as real as it got. And I needed answers, as soon as possible and Jason was the only person who could give me that. I needed to confirm it was a mistake because who would make such a mistake? Following a hunch, I steered towards the posh neighbourhoods, the buildings with million dollar leases on their apartments. I remembered how Jason had always promised to find a better place for us when we finally got married. How he wanted to move into the even posher neighbourhoods of Westchester with me, where we would find a nice home and raise our kids together. My heart hammered a frantic rhythm against my ribs as I parked the car, the rain drumming a relentless tattoo on the roof. Taking a breath to gain some stability, I steeled myself. I walked into the elevator of the building and pressed the number of his floor, before leaning against the wall my heart pounding as the elevator slowly began to inch upwards. My mouth felt dry, a small sweat breaking out on my forehead. This was it, this was the moment of truth. Inserting his passkey and pushing open the heavy oak door, I was met with a wave of warmth, the smell of expensive cologne and cigarette smoke thick in the air, but he was nowhere to be found. And that was when I heard it. The voices coming from his room, just across the hallway. I approached slowly, straining to listen to what was being discussed only to realise they were not saying anything. The voices I heard were moans, and grunts, coming from the bedroom. I approached, feeling a bit lightheaded and dizzy, my heart pounding as the voices became clearer. "Oh Jason-" That voice, I knew that voice, I had grown up with that voice. "Oh f**k me, yes! Yes!" Followed closely by his grunts, the headboard of the bed slapping against the wall. Dreading what I was about to see and yet unable to stop myself, I swung the door open, pushing into his bedroom. All the doubts I had about the validity of the card, as little as they were, vanished in an instant. He was there, over her. Completely and totally butt naked. I caught him mid thrust with her legs wrapped tightly around his waist, her carefully manicured toes curled in the throes of an orgasm, her hands wrapped around his powerful, bronze arms. I screamed. My fingers reached up to scratch my face, my eyes open in shock. For a moment, I just stood there, the air thick with the weight of my anguish. Staring at him, his gaze met mine, and the groan died on his lips. His face, a mask of surprise morphing slowly into a look of defiance. Beneath him, covered in a layer of sweat, her face contorted with a look of absolute pleasure, her blond hair a mess was my step sister. Sarah. "Jason, what the bloody hell is going on here," my voice faltered.