CHAPTER 25
JONATHAN
Things had settled down a little. The statement I released surely helped, and so did the numerous interviews I’d done making myself look like the victim. Many were sympathetic to my situation, and once the names of the women were released and their backgrounds were revealed, it wasn’t exactly pretty. Some of the shit put out there wasn’t even true, but when you knew people who knew other people, it was easy to get things to work in your favor. I was grateful to Jaylin for his assistance.
Two weeks later, I went into the office and faced my entire team. I apologized again and encouraged everyone to cease the gossiping and get to work. We definitely had plenty of it. The photos and videos did more good than harm, and my caseload was increasing by the day. I barely had time to do anything else, and all personal phone calls were ignored. I laughed at the one from Lesa where she took cheap shots at me and claimed how happy she was we didn’t get married. Britney’s mother, Beverly, had something to say too. She was highly disappointed, and she claimed Britney was ashamed to call me her father. That wasn’t the case because I had already spoken to Britney. We were good. Then there was Sylvia again. I figured she wanted to argue and fuss, so I deleted her message. I just didn’t have time for it. I doubted that I ever would.
I was sitting behind my desk, taking a ten-minute break. A salad was in front of me, and a cold lemonade drink was to my right. My secretary screened every single call for me, and she buzzed in to tell me that Sylvia was there to speak to me. I thought about telling her I was busy, but since I was in the middle of a break, what the hell? She came into my office, looking as if something was deeply troubling her. Her hair was swept back into a ponytail, she wasn’t wearing any makeup, and her attire was casual. I didn’t think she’d come to work like this, but maybe she was off today.
“I know you’re busy,” she said, closing the door, “but I had to see you. I promise not to take up much of your time.”
“No problem. Have a seat.”
Slightly fidgeting, she sat in a chair in front of my desk. Her eyes filled with tears, but she hurried to blink them away.
“I’ve been so caught up with you that I have completely lost myself,” she said. “I’m not going to ramble on about how I managed to get here, but there is something that you need to know. I don’t know if it will make a difference to you, but Lesa didn’t do all of those things that the so-called private investigator claimed she did. It was all a lie, so the two of you wouldn’t get married.”
My face was already scrunched. I honestly didn’t want to hear much more. “Are you telling me you made that shit up? Is that what you’re saying?”
“No. I didn’t make it up. Crissy did. She never hired a private investigator like she said she did. She was also the one behind those letters, and she did all of this crazy stuff because of her obsession with you. I never knew the two of you were involved with each other, but now that I know, it all makes sense. Her attitude toward you makes sense. She used me as a pawn to cause harm to your relationship. I had already been doing so by having sex with you while knowing that you were engaged to someone else, so I was an easy target for her. So as of the other day, I quit. She doesn’t know it yet, but she will know when she returns today. I don’t know how you intend to handle her, and, quite frankly, I don’t care. I’m tired of saving you. Now it’s time for me to save myself.”
I held my breath when she mentioned Crissy. It never dawned on me that she would do something like this, but, as Sylvia had said, it made sense. I remembered asking Crissy to send me the documentation from the private investigator. She never did, and I never followed up with her because I’d been too busy. I didn’t even know that she supposedly loved me. We’d only had sex around four or five times. It wasn’t that serious.
“I will deal with Crissy today, and I regret that I didn’t tell you about my relationship with her. It was very brief, and it didn’t occur when I was with—”
Sylvia held up her hand. “Save it, Jonathan. It doesn’t matter anymore, but I will say that you are one big hypocrite. All this time you made me feel so guilty about being with Jaylin. He’s your friend, but you had no issues with going behind my back and having sex with my so-called friend. All of this has been too much for me. All I can say is I wish you all the best.”
She stood then turned to walk to the door. I felt horrible for stringing her along, for not being completely honest about my feelings, and for putting her through this mess. She had a point about my friendship with Jaylin and her friendship with Crissy, but I didn’t bother to elaborate on it. I knew that if I told her how I felt right now, like she also said, it wouldn’t matter. There was a time when I would be able to relay everything to her and she would understand. Right now, she was hurt. She felt let down. Used. And I couldn’t do anything about it but watch her walk out of my office, and, possibly, out of my life for good.
Minutes later, I got up from my desk and marched to the other side of the building to Crissy’s office. I wasn’t sure if she was there yet, but just as I was coming down the hall, so was she. Sylvia stood waiting for her. From a distance, I saw Crissy walk up to her with a wide smile on her face. That smile vanished when Sylvia slapped the shit out of her. The slap was so hard that she spun around and hit the floor. Sylvia dropped a piece of paper in her lap then walked off. I strutted slowly up to Crissy, who was looking in awe while holding the side of her face.
“Did that bitch just slap me?” she said. “Who in the hell does she think she is?”
I helped Crissy off the floor. To spare us the embarrassment, I asked her to go into her office so we could talk. Several people whispered and watched as we entered her office, closing the door behind us.
“That bitch is fired!” Crissy yelled while still holding her red, swollen face. “Why in the hell did she do that?”
“You can’t fire her because she quit. I already think you know why. If you don’t, you may want to read that letter in your hand.”
She unfolded the letter and began to read it. I hadn’t a clue what it said, but whatever was in it caused her eyes to get real big. She swallowed hard then she ripped the letter to shreds, throwing it at me.
“You know why I did this,” she said through gritted teeth. Tears ran down her face, as she tried to explain her reasoning. “You know why, Jonathan, and why would you fuck me then ignore me? I wanted you! I needed you after my father died. You made me feel as if I was sooooo freaking special to you. You put the charm on thick, and the next thing I knew, you were off with another bitch, about to marry her. You left me hanging. I didn’t know what to doooo!”
I wasn’t sure how I felt about this. Crissy was a spoiled brat who got upset when she didn’t get her way. She acted that way in business, as well as in her personal life. I couldn’t believe that she thought I was serious about being with her, even though she implied her feelings were that deep. For me, it was all about sex. I needed sex after my relationship with Sylvia had failed and she moved to Atlanta. Crissy was my fallback person. She was nothing more, nothing less. I thought I made that clear at the time. Maybe not.
“It’s apparent that you’re unstable, and I don’t want to say the wrong thing. I am, however, sorry if you felt as if I led you on and made you feel as if we had something unique going on. I didn’t feel that way.”
“Sorry, Jonathan?” She wiped snot from her nose then blew it with a tissue. “Sorry my ass. Keep your fucking sorry. The arrival is too late.”
I shrugged. “Maybe so, but it’s been said. What has not been said is I want you out of here. Today. Your lies and games have hurt a lot of people, and you could be arrested for doing what you did. I’m not going to press charges, and I’m not going to say a word about this to anyone. That’s only if you resign and leave by your own free will.”
Crissy plopped back in her chair. She lowered her head into her hands, refusing to look up at me. “Get out, Jonathan. Get the hell out, now!”
“I will, af
ter you tell me your next move. Do I have to call the police, or will you be e-mailing me your resignation letter?”
Crissy sat silent for a minute. She knew that she had no other choice but to resign. I hated that it had to be this way. I wondered, if Mr. Duncan were alive, how he would feel about all of this. Surely, he’d be upset with me for involving myself with his daughter. He’d also be upset with her for carrying on the way she did.
“You’ll have your stupid freaking letter,” she snapped. “Now, get out!”
I left her office and returned to mine. Her resignation letter arrived almost twenty minutes later. I had security keep an eye on her as she gathered her things to go. Almost two hours later, they informed me that she had left the premises.
CHAPTER 26
SYLVIA
Sometimes, it takes people a little longer to work through the ups and downs of a relationship, but today I felt free. I wasn’t in love with anyone, but I surely had a thing for Brian’s two miniature schnauzers, Lady and Brady. They were so cute, and whenever Brian had to work ten- or twelve-hour shifts, he brought the dogs over to stay with me.
As for him and me, we were doing okay. Nothing serious yet, but I opened the door to give myself a chance. It was hard to let go of Jonathan, but I had to. Traveling backward was a big mistake. There was nothing there for me. I was so blind that I didn’t realize he had changed. Crissy had changed, and even Dana. I was stuck in the past. It prohibited me from getting ahead and preparing for the future. I felt a whole lot better, and never would I cause myself that much damage again.
While Brian was at work, I loaded Lady and Brady into the car so we could go for a long ride. After all that had happened, from the Hell House chaos to now, I had time to think about how I wanted to make my world a better place. I was still bitter about some things, and I knew that I had to get certain things off my chest in order to move on. Nonetheless, many people in and around St. Louis wanted to know who was in the process of building one of the most extravagant houses our city had ever seen. It was discussed in our office, Brian had asked me about it, and the media mentioned something about it a few weeks back when they gave a tour of the Fedelis house that had been up for sale. It was a $30 million mansion that was up for sale because the owners had been put in jail. Nobody knew who was building a house comparable to that one, but after recalling a conversation with Jonathan a while back, I knew who it was. I needed to clear up some things with Jaylin, so I drove to his new place, hoping that he would be there. Sure enough, when I parked my car I saw him standing outside with several construction workers in orange caps. Jaylin had on one too. He squinted to see who I was. The wind was a little gusty, and some of the dirt and debris was blowing around.
“What the hell?” he said, removing his hat and tucking it underneath his arm. “Why ain’t my security system working? Somebody better tell me what is wrong with the security system around here.”
One of the men responded, “They’re not on while we’re here, and the gates stay open so the trucks can get through. Would you like for us to keep them closed?”
“Hell, yeah,” he griped as he looked at me coming his way with two dogs on leashes.
I ignored his foolishness and rolled my eyes. Even put on a smile, so he knew I wasn’t there to cause trouble. “Hiiii, Jaylin. I came all this way to see you, and this is how you treat me?”
He cut his eyes then walked up to me. “What’s the occasion?”
“No special occasion. I just wanted to apologize to you for the way I’ve been acting toward you. I had you at the top of my hate list, and now I’m removing your name. I’ve thought about a lot of things that you’ve said to me, and even though they were pretty harsh, I needed to hear them. I’m so thankful that we got a chance to hook up. I wouldn’t trade my little experience for anything.”
There was a smirk on his face. “What in the hell have you been smoking? I know you didn’t come all the way over here to tell me that. You could have called me on the phone to say that.”
“Well, I wanted to see this house everybody’s been talking about, too. Care to give me a tour?”
He looked at the dogs as they sniffed the ground. “Do I have to give the dogs a tour too? If they ain’t trained, they can stay out here.”
I picked up one, then the other. I gave one to Jaylin. “They’re trained. And they like to be held, too.”
He held the dog while he spent the next several minutes walking me around his new home. Like Jonathan said, it was amazing. We sat near the pool, talking some more and watching the dogs play.
“Cute, well-mannered dogs,” he said. “I’m glad my daughter ain’t here. She’d have me buying them from you.”
“You may be able to buy her anything she wants, but those dogs aren’t for sale.”
“That’s your take on it. I have mine. Now, why haven’t you spoken to Jonathan?”
“I guess you have, huh?”
“Yes, I have. He told me about everything that happened. Sorry it turned out that way.”
“I’m not sorry. It needed to happen, just like the sex between us needed to happen, too.”
Jaylin stroked the hair on his chin, as if he were in thought. “Uh, I’m not so sure about that, but then again, you did need it way more than I did.”
I couldn’t help but to laugh at this fool. He was so full of it, but at the time, I guess I did. “I did need it. I needed to upset Jonathan, hook back up with him, encourage him to break up with his fiancée, meet back up with Dana . . .”
“I get it. It was all in the plan. We don’t always know why things happen, but one day we discover why.”
“Absolutely, my friend.”
Jaylin moved his head from side to side. “No more friends. I already got too many, but you can always go on the waiting list.”
I playfully shoved his shoulder. “No, thanks. I’m good.”
We conversed for a little while longer then he walked me to my car. As I put the dogs in the back seat, Jaylin held the door open.
“Call Jonathan,” he said. “Don’t completely depart from the man, and the least you two can be is close friends.”
“I agree, but not now, Jaylin. We can’t be close friends, but one day we may be able to and mean it.”
He nodded then opened his arms to give me a tight hug. It felt good to put closure to one more thing that had been bothering me. Now it was time for me to carry on with my life. I drove away with a smile on my face, feeling good about where things were headed. This time, I was going to get it right!
CHAPTER 27
JONATHAN
Crissy was out. Sylvia was gone. Lesa was no more, and Dana was remarried. I was perfectly fine with all of the above. I had some soul searching to do, especially after this thing with Crissy went so far left that I didn’t even see it coming. The truth was I had hurt a lot of people. I had been hurt too, but it was always wise to get to the root of the problem and figure out why the same shit kept repeating itself. That’s what I did. I’d always had an urge to be married. That’s what my parents represented to me, so I wanted what they had. But what they had took patience, commitment, compromise, love, respect, and honesty. I wasn’t all the way there yet.
One big problem with me was that a woman would always be second to my career. Many wouldn’t accept that. Dana didn’t, so she found herself in the arms of another man. Lesa wouldn’t have accepted it either, and Sylvia surely had her complaints about it, but I loved my job. It took priority over everything. I spent years and years building my empire. Maybe I was being a little selfish, but for now that’s how it had to be.
I was in the kitchen eating a sandwich and reading notes from a case that was due to start next week. The doorbell rang, and I was slightly perturbed about being interrupted. I made my way to the door with a frown on my face. Through the wavy, blurred glass, I could see a couple of people standing on the porch, but I didn’t know who they were. I assumed they were some people from the media, but when I pulled the door o
pen, there stood Britney, along with a young man holding a baby. Britney and he smiled at me, but my expression remained flat. I was a little confused. I was definitely happy to see my daughter, so I invited them in and quickly embraced her. She was still beautiful as ever. Her natural hair had grown longer. It was thick and fluffy as it hung past her shoulders. She had picked up a little weight, too, and as I thought about her appearance, I pulled away from her then looked at the baby.
“We named him after you,” she said to me. “Well, his first name anyway. His middle name is Dayon, and his last name is Wilford. That’s my last name too. I want to introduce you to my husband and one-month-old son.”
“Hello, Mr. Taylor,” the young man said.
I staggered backward, damn near falling. I almost thought I didn’t hear her correctly, but I knew I had. Of course I was happy, but I had so many questions swarming in my head that I couldn’t even respond to her. Britney reached for my hand, clenching it together with hers. She pulled me over to the couch, where I took a seat. She sat next to me, while the young man sat in another chair with the baby.
“I know this is very shocking to you, but please don’t be mad at me, Daddy. I haven’t been home to see you because I got pregnant. I wanted to keep going to law school, but with all that was going on, I had to quit. I don’t know if I’m going to return, because that little boy needs me as a full-time mother right now. I love him to death, as I do my husband. I wanted so badly to tell you this, but I figured you wouldn’t understand. You had high hopes for me, but my being a lawyer was always your dream, not mine. Please, please, don’t be upset with me, and if it’s okay with you, I want to move back home. Dayon was just offered a job here. We want to move back here with our baby. We may have to stay with you for a while, but I promise you that we’ll do everything to get on our feet and move out as soon as we can.”
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