“No. I have no idea. We went out a couple of times, but Jade wasn’t exactly the kind of person who told you her life story. You know what I mean? What’s this all about?” Greg asked as he attempted to adjust his disheveled clothing.
“None of your business,” Michael answered. “In fact, you can leave. You’re fired.”
“You can’t fire me. You don’t even work here. Who are you to fire me?” Greg protested.
“You’re right,” David agreed. “But, I can fire you. Get the fuck out of my office.”
Gone was Greg’s initial fear. He was suddenly full of bravado. “I’m gonna sue your ass. This whole fucking firm. I’m gonna sue all of you.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just make sure you tell them how you and Jade have been robbing this company blind.”
Defeated, Greg left the office quietly, hoping that he wouldn’t have to do time in prison.
Bridget figured Jade and Stephen had probably left the apartment by now and decided the only thing she could do would be to leave town. But, where would she go? She had five hundred dollars in cash in the apartment and she would need to pack some sort of bag. As soon as she entered the apartment, she could see the flashing red light indicating she had messages:
“Bridget, I don’t know what is going on in either of your heads, but I came by to see Jasmine and Consuelo bolted from the apartment like she had lost her mind. What the hell is going on with you? You’re clearly going over the deep end and I won’t let you take Jasmine with you. Call me as soon as you get this message. Don’t make me come back over there. If I have to do that I will go get a court order and prove that you’re unfit.”
The next message was from David:
“Bridget, I have begun taking steps to get permanent custody of Jacob. I tried to work with you. We could have worked this out among ourselves but you have pushed me too far. I have to do what is best to protect both mine and Jacob’s interests. If you don’t call me back, I will have no other choice but to proceed. Bridget, you don’t want to lose one, or even both, of your children due to stubbornness. Once an investigation is started that is exactly what may happen.”
Bridget had worked with David long enough to know that there was no place that she could go that he wouldn’t be able to find her; especially not with little more than five hundred dollars cash in her pocket. She realized she was trapped. Stephen, Jade and David were going to take her babies from her. The same people she had trusted, the same people who had claimed to love her; and they were trying their damnedest to take her children from her. If she truly believed she was unfit as a parent, she would have given Jasmine and Jacob to them willingly, but as far as she was concerned, they were the ones that were unfit. She was afraid for her babies. She couldn’t let them be raised by people like this. But, what was the alternative? As far as she could see it, she had none.
If Bridget had listened to the rest of her messages, she would have known that Brianna had located her phone number and called her at home. She didn’t. Instead, she quickly got dressed, packed a bag for Jasmine and Jacob, and prepared to leave. She stood in the middle of the apartment and remembered the day she and Stephen had first moved in. It was hard to believe how much her life had changed since that day. For the first time in a long time, Bridget truly felt broken beyond repair and she was suddenly more tired than she had ever been.
When Bridget first moved to 320 East Seventy-third Street, she was awestruck by the opulence that some people were afforded. Although by others’ standards, the apartment might not have been considered lavish, it had been by Bridget’s standards. She remembered thinking, on the day she’d first moved in, that she had come from nothing and that she now had all of this: the prestigious Upper East Side address, the well-appointed furnishings, and the man of her dreams. Amazing how quickly life can come crashing back down to earth. Bridget opened the door and said good bye to the luxurious life she had known; if only for a short time. But, before she left, she wanted to once more take in her beautiful view from the rooftop. After all, this would be the last opportunity she would get to take in all that had once been hers.
Bridget sat on one of the chairs on the roof and thought of what her next move should be. She didn’t have a clue. She was truly lost and so, therefore, were her babies. For so long she had promised herself that she would never be her parents. No, she hadn’t be come an addict, but she had brought her children into a world where she was incapable of caring for them. She had been selfish. She wanted so much to have someone to love that she hadn’t anticipated what would happen to them if she fell short. And, for that, Jasmine and Jacob would have to pay the price.
Bridget gathered up both Jasmine and Jacob and walked with them to the edge of the roof. She looked out over the city and found she couldn’t make them the same promise she had made them on this exact same rooftop when they were born. She couldn’t promise to give them everything, because she had nothing. She couldn’t promise to protect them until they were capable of caring for themselves; she had no idea what her fate would be. After all, she couldn’t care for two babies behind a prison cell. That’s when Bridget realized that not only her life, but Jasmine’s and Jacob’s lives as well, were doomed. She had no intention of allowing people like Jade, Stephen or David to crush her little angels, as they had crushed her. And she definitely didn’t want either of them to be sentenced to life in some God-awful group home.
Bridget had come here to say good-bye and as her tears gently fell from her tired eyes, she suddenly realized that was exactly what she had to do.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
BRIDGET’S RESCUE
“Get away from me, David. I won’t let you have him, I won’t. I’d rather he die than end up with you!”
“Bridget, please, step away from the edge of the roof. I’m not here to hurt you, or Jacob. There are some things you need to know about Jade.”
“I already know all about Jade. She and Stephen, they want to take Jasmine from me. They want my daughter. I deserve this, but Jasmine doesn’t. She’s only a baby; an innocent baby with the mis- fortune to end up with me as a mother.”
“Don’t say that, Bridget. You’re a wonderful, loving mother, and you don’t deserve any of this; none of it. I’m so, so sorry for what I’ve done to you. But, please, please, don’t take it out on our son.”
“Is that what you think I’m doing? Taking it out on Jacob? I’m trying to protect him. I won’t be here to protect him and this is the only way I can think of to save him from all of you.”
“But that’s just it, Bridget, you...”
“You raped me, David. I trusted you and you raped me. Without me here, is that what my son is going to become? A rapist like his father? Every time you look at him, are you going to see his mother, the whore? Admit it, that’s what you see when you look at me. So how am I to know you won’t treat Jacob any different? I’d rather see him dead than have him continue the McDonnell legacy.”
David was crushed. He had never heard the words said out loud, but that is exactly what he had done. He was no better than some of the scum he and his colleagues had defended through the years. He was little more than a rapist; he knew it and Bridget knew it.
“Bridget, I made a mistake, which I’ll spend the remainder of my life paying for. I realize that this is too little, too late, but I loved you so much. Seeing you in love with someone else was killing me. And like always, I exercised my non-existent control. Please forgive me. I know you will probably hate me for the rest of my pitiful life, but please listen to what it is I have to say. After you’ve heard me out, you can make your own decision as to what your next steps should be.”
He told her everything the investigator had told him, including the information he had learned on his own. After getting the investigator’s report, he and Michael went about following up on all the leads, contacting as many concerned parties as they could, whether they had to strong-arm or in David’s case, pay them to tell them all they knew. He revealed to Bri
dget how all these years she believed she’d killed Buster Douglas, when in reality he was anything but dead. He told her about Jade’s attempts to rattle her by making Buster “appear” at optimum times, like her wedding to Stephen. And, even though no one had conclusive proof, David was pretty sure it had been Jade who had given Chantal Marie Smith the lethal dose of heroin that eventually killed her. Marie’s body had been found where Bridget and Jade buried it all those years ago. There had been an autopsy and it was determined that pure, uncut heroin had been injected into Marie’s veins, something that seldom occurred by accident.
Bridget remembered that day; how could she ever forget it? It had been Jade who had gotten Chantal the drugs that fateful day.
“You mean she killed her own mother?” Bridget queried to no one in particular. She already knew the answer.
Suddenly, all the pieces began to fall together in a rush. That night that Buster raped her, he kept mentioning how she had asked him to come to her room that night. She thought it was his confused alcoholic state that made him believe that to be true, but it wasn’t. As far as he was concerned, he had been summoned there by Bridget, with Jade speaking as her proxy. She had always wanted Bridget to follow her to Hunts Point and that was the only way to see to it that the two of them left together. Jade knew Bridget would be leaving before her and she wanted to make sure that she was tied to her...for life. All of the bumps and scrapes that Bridget had encountered for the past few years of her life had been systematically engineered by none other than Jade.
“But how could she have known that things would turn out exactly the way she planned them? How was she to know that I would strike out at Buster the way that I had? How could she have known that I wouldn’t have killed him?”
“Bridget, Jade is a textbook-case sociopath. She didn’t care one way or another. She knew something would happen that would achieve her desired goal, and whatever that thing was, she would work from there.”
Bridget was so dumbfounded by all that David shared with her, she hadn’t even realized she had spoken those words out loud.
“But her own mother?” Bridget asked. “How could she have killed her own mother?”
“Right after you resigned as my assistant, Jade wanted your job, or any other job that would put her close to the ‘action.’ I asked her if she had ever been in love. I was so caught up in my own pain that I didn’t really pay close attention to her response. But I’ve had some time over the last couple of months to look back, and I now realize there was no response. Her reaction was vacant, completely devoid of any emotion—at all. I truly believe Jade is incapable of love; or even hate, for that matter. Jade is all about outcome. She wants whatever it is she wants for the moment and it’s not about love or hate; it’s about instant gratification. And once her need is satisfied, it’s on to the next thing. That’s why you and the twins have to get out of here. I hired a private investigator when I thought I was going to try and take Jacob from you, and there’s a lot more to what he found out. The investigator also learned that Jade has hired her own investigator and eventually will learn many of the things that my investigator has shared with me; some of which even Jade isn’t aware of. I’m afraid that when she finds out, she’s going to be ten times more dangerous than she’s ever been. That’s why you’ve got to come with me.”
Bridget wasn’t sure who she should trust or what David could be talking about. Only weeks earlier, he had threatened to take her son from her or worse. Now, here he was proclaiming his love for her and acting as her savior. She hesitated, unsure if she should go with him, or take her chances on her own.
David was hurt by the fear he saw in Bridget’s eyes and his heart ached to know that he had inspired that look through his own acts and deeds. He had to believe that he had her trust once. He also had to believe that he could win that trust back once again. In the meantime, he would have to appeal to Bridget’s common sense.
“I understand why you wouldn’t trust me, Bridget, but you were there; not me. Doesn’t everything I’ve told you add up? And, if my word isn’t enough, I have the investigator’s written report in my car. Believe me, all I want to do is save you and the babies. I want to do something right for once.”
The look on Bridget’s face visibly softened. For a moment, he saw a glimmer of the younger, less tainted Bridget he had been so taken by for so long now.
Bridget couldn’t help but remember how things were with her and David when things were good. He had been her teacher, her father, her employer. He had been the personification of all the things she had so desperately wanted and longed for all those years, growing up at Mannersville Group Home. In fact, hadn’t he been the person who paid for her and Stephen’s wedding? Whatever his feelings for her; obsession, love, it had to be difficult for him to pay for the very wedding he hoped upon hope would never take place. For so long her heart had ruled her decision-making. This time, she was going to do exactly what David suggested; she was going to deal with cold hard facts and work from there.
“Okay, David, but where are we going? Jade knows everything there is to know about both of us. She made sure of that. There’s no place we can go to hide from her.”
“Don’t be so sure about that. Even Jade doesn’t know everything.”
“David, you’ve got to be careful. If she’s capable of killing her own mother, what’s to prevent her from hurting you in the worst way? After all, you’ve got the most to lose here. She could ruin you, and your business.”
“She’s already started that. She’s stolen so much money from my clients and made it appear as if it were me that, at this point, she’s truly in the driver’s seat. What we need to figure out is how to turn this around so that it’s in our favor.”
“Just be careful, David. I’d hate to see you lose everything you’ve worked so hard for.”
“I wish I could say I’ve worked hard for everything I have. But, the truth is, I never wanted any of this. This is the life my parents wanted for me; especially my father. I have a son now and I want the very best for him. Therefore, I’m not going to throw his birth right away, but this was never the life that I wanted. Besides, being here with you and the twins is more than I could’ve ever hoped for. Anything more than that is a godsend.”
“David, I’m only doing this to keep Jasmine and Jacob safe. There’s a lot we need to discuss. I’m not ready for anything more than that.”
“Oh, no, I understand that. It’s just here and now is more than I could’ve ever hoped for. Even when I was married to Caitlin and she yearned for children so much, I was never truly sure that was what I wanted. I was such a terrible husband, I owed her something. But, when I found out that Jacob was my son, I can’t even begin to put into words the joy that I felt. That’s why I was so terrible to you. It was bad enough that you didn’t seem to share the same feelings, but the thought of you taking him away from me was more than I could bear. That’s why I threatened to take him away.”
“But, David, if you love me the way that you say you do, doesn’t that mean you know me for who I truly am? What kind of person would I be if I kept Jacob from knowing his father and you from knowing your son? You had no faith in me being a person with a decent heart and soul.”
“I was an idiot. But, if you’ll let me, I will do my damnedest to make up for it.”
After they had driven for over an hour, Bridget began to wonder where they were going. She looked at the signs indicating they were in Long Beach. For a long time this had been her private little retreat. Whenever she felt overwhelmed or afraid she would ride the subway down to Penn Station and board the railroad to Long Beach. She would spend the entire day there, dreaming of what her life would have been like if she had been born into another life. When she was on the streets, she had a john that was lonely and he would meet with her more to talk than have sex. He talked about Long Beach and how he had grown up there. It always sounded like such a fun place to grow up. One day she got information on how to get to Long Beac
h and rode the train there; spending the entire day lying on the beach and wiggling her toes in the ocean. That first day there had been the first time she had experienced such joy and freedom. She watched the families with their children and the carefree ways they seemed to live and again, she wished and hoped. Then when she started working for David, she would ride the train there on the weekends to get away from her guilt and her nightmares and her hopes. At Long Beach she could just be. Once she had gone exploring and saw a sign indicating a house for sale, right near the beach. To some it probably wouldn’t have been considered anything special, but to Bridget, it was a mansion. To Bridget’s surprise, David pulled up in front of that very same house. She looked at David, unable to speak, yet her eyes were full of questions.
“How?” she managed to muster.
“I’m old enough to be your father. But, right now I feel like a four-year-old that’s been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. I want to be honest with you, Bridget, but I’m afraid that if I tell you the whole truth, you’ll run away from me.”
Bridget already knew the truth. All those times she could’ve sworn she was being followed. She finally understood that old line: “Just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean they’re not after you.” For the longest time she had believed paranoia and guilt were at the root of her fears of being followed, but now she understood completely.
“I’m ashamed to admit it, but I’ve been watching you since I saw you in the warehouse district of Hunts Point. From the very first moment I saw you, I’ve been drawn to you. At first I thought it was because you reminded me of someone I once loved very much, but now, now that I know everything, I realize that my meeting you was predestined. I sound like some woman-stalking nut, but once you know everything, you’ll see why I feel the way that I do. Bridget, you and I were meant to meet for reasons far bigger than us.”
On one of those many days when he had followed Bridget under the guise of making sure that she wasn’t doing something that might hurt his business affairs, he had seen her looking at the house and he had been hoping, just as she had been hoping, that one day that house could be hers; if she wanted it. However, he wanted more than anything to share it with her. Despite that he had never shared with Bridget his feelings for her, he had always been hopeful. Therefore, he had bought her that house, untouched, with everything exactly as it had been.
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