There’s the man I know.
He’s still in there, hidden under the veil of illness and impending death.
“That is true. That’s how I found out. My initial inclination was to put a bullet in Amos’s skull. I sat for hours at my desk looking at my gun, but I didn’t want to make it easy for him. I wanted him to know what it feels like to have your entire world pulled out from under you.”
“We already know that’s why you stole his business and drove my family away,” Jared says, his anger flaring again.
“No, son. That’s not even the half of it.”
Jared growls, and I wrap my arm around his front, offering him comfort. He presses a kiss to the top of my head, and a softness crawls over my father’s face as he watches us.
“Continue, Herman,” Sawyer says, ensuring we stay on track.
“I went to Gladys with the evidence. She was devastated.” His lips curl into a snarl. “But she came to me the next day and told me whatever I was planning she wanted in.”
“No.” Jared bolts upright, jabbing his finger in the air. “You are not going to implicate my mum in this.”
“Jared, you need to let the man explain,” Xavier says.
“You need to prepare yourself,” Sawyer adds, drilling my boyfriend with a look. “Your mother is involved in this. We found some proof, and that’s what led us to Herman’s door. This will not be pleasant to hear, but Herman is telling the truth.”
“Babe.” I rub my hand up and down his chest. “Whatever it is, we’ll get through it together. Just hold on to me.”
Jared wraps his arms around me and eases back, but his body is still rigid, and he’s wound tighter than a ball of yarn. I hug him close and nod at Herman to continue.
“Gladys and I had an affair for a year while we both plotted to steal Amos’s company from under him. I was under no illusion. Neither was your mother. It was just revenge sex. There was no love or anything even close to it. Our hurt fueled us. One by one, your mother charmed the members of the board while I was stealthily buying up shares until I had a majority holding.”
Herman’s eye glaze over. “Our plan had been to show up at a board meeting, tell Amos his company was now ours, Gladys was going to divorce him, and his life would be left in ruins. But a couple weeks beforehand, Amos found a positive pregnancy test, and he came to me because he said it was evidence Gladys was cheating on him. Unbeknown to her and me, he’d had a vasectomy years earlier. Amos was a serial cheater. Gladys knew about some of his other women but not the vasectomy. I talked Amos off a ledge and then met with your mother.” He stares at Jared. “That’s when I saw her true colors. When I realized she was playing both of us.”
Jared is visibly seething, and I hug him tighter. “What does that mean?” he asks in a clipped voice.
“She wasn’t ever going to divorce your father. She was going to steal his company and take her share of the profits and hide it, but she wasn’t ready to give him up. I was obsessed with my wife, but Gladys’s fixation with Amos was on a whole other level. Amos was hers, and she wasn’t letting him go. It’s why she tolerated the affairs. She knew he was coming home to her every night.”
“I don’t get it. So why have an affair with you and plot to take his company if she planned to stay with him?” I ask.
“I believe she wanted the money so she had a way out should she choose one in the future. That money gave her back some control and power in her marriage. But mostly, she wanted him to suffer, and it was all payback for Michelle. She thought fucking his best friend would destroy him, that he’d finally realize her worth and change his ways.”
A nasty chuckle tears from his mouth. “When Amos found out, he was angry but only because I’d bested him and stolen his company right out from under him. He couldn’t give a shit I’d slept with his wife because he never loved her. Not the way he loved my Michelle.”
Jesus Christ. This has got to be killing Jared.
“The stupid bitch thought the baby was Amos’s. She thought a baby would cure all the problems in her marriage. When she discovered it was mine, she aborted it without telling me.” He breaks out in a coughing fit, and Xavier walks to the table and refills his glass with more water, urging him to drink it.
“My mind is reeling,” I whisper while Herman is composing himself.
“Join the club,” Jared whispers back. Pain fills his eyes when he looks into mine. “I will never forgive my mother for this. I know we haven’t heard it all, but I’ve heard enough. She’s dead to me now.”
“How did we end up with such shitty parents?”
“Rotten luck.” He presses a kiss to my brow. “At least when we’re parents, we’ll know all the things not to do.”
“Guys, we’re ready to resume,” Sawyer says, glancing at his watch.
“Things went to shit after that. I was furious with Gladys for the abortion and stabbing me in the back. When Amos confronted her about the pregnancy and abortion, she threw me under the bus. Said we’d been having an affair, which she had tried to end several times, but I was obsessed with her and wouldn’t let her go. She tried crying and pleading, but Amos saw through her. Of course, she didn’t tell him the part she played in taking his company from him. After he lost his business and went to England, I had proof of her treachery hand-delivered to him. I believe that’s why he divorced Gladys.”
“Jesus, Dad! Couldn’t you have let it go? Enough damage had been caused.”
“She had to pay. She still does. It’s why I’ve been working for years to find enough evidence. I will fight to see justice done for my Michelle before I draw my last breath.”
