I lean a little closer to Beck, for moral support, remaining silent as I drink my coffee.
“That degenerate got her hooked. He deals all kinds of shit, and he became her personal dealer-slash-boyfriend. I hated him on sight. It’s the first time we fought seriously over anything. I begged her to get away from him, but she refused. She was having fun at first, and I didn’t realize the drugs were anything but recreational. Then she changed, and I confronted her.”
She briefly closes her eyes before heaving a sad sigh. “I should’ve gone to her parents when I realized she was in serious trouble, or I should have come to you. I considered it when she got really out of control, but it felt like such a betrayal. I tried to get her into rehab, but she refused. Then I tried talking to that dickhead. Begged him to walk away from her. His response was to hit on me and laugh in my face when I rejected him.”
“He sounds like a real nasty piece of work,” I say.
“He’s the worst kind of human.”
“What did he do?” Beck’s jaw pulls tight.
“He knocked her up.”
Tension slams into the air, and no one speaks for a few beats.
“I had no idea.” Beck slumps on the couch, shock etched upon his handsome face.
“He wanted her to abort it, but she refused.” She wets her lips. “That’s when she came up with her crazy plan. I’m guessing, from your reaction, she never said anything to you?”
“No, but she was trying to tell me something the last day we spoke.” He straightens up and levels her with a solemn look. “I broke up with her and ignored her cries for help. It’s my biggest regret.”
“I have a lot of regrets too, but months of therapy is teaching me how to let it go. Let’s just say I’m a work in progress.”
“What was her plan?” I ask, finishing my coffee and putting the empty mug back on the tray.
Jan eyeballs Beck. “She wanted you to marry her and pass the baby off as your own.”
Beck spits coffee all over the hardwood floor. “What?” he splutters as I race to the kitchen to grab some towels.
“She didn’t want to abort it,” Jan says as I return a few seconds later. Tears pool in her eyes. “I hadn’t seen Brielle that happy in years. I think that baby might have changed everything for her.”
I mop up the floor, and Beck flashes me a grateful smile.
“I didn’t let her speak the day I broke up with her, but even if she had, I wouldn’t have agreed to her plan. I would have found some other way to help her,” Beck says as I walk toward the kitchen to dispose of the wet towels. I don’t doubt that at all. If Beck knew Brielle was in trouble, he would have helped her. It’s so sad how everything went down.
“I suggested we go overseas. Dex was harassing her about the abortion, and I had a bad feeling. I wanted to get her away from him, but I was too late. He showed up one afternoon with two pricks who worked for him. They had guns, and Dex made it clear if Elle didn’t go with him to the appointment he’d arranged he’d kill her and the baby. He threatened me too so she’d go with them without a fight. When she came back later, she was distraught. He’d forced her into an abortion and then kicked her out of the car outside our place, telling her to find herself a new dealer and a new fuck buddy.”
“I want his full name,” Beck says in an eerily calm voice. “I want everything you have on him.”
Jan retrieves an envelope from her purse. “I was hoping you’d say that, so I prepared this in advance. It’s all the intel I have.”
Beck takes the envelope from her with a terse nod.
“This all went down two days before she took the overdose. That first day, she stayed in bed crying all day. The second day, unbeknown to me, because I’d had to fly to New York for a work conference, she went looking for Dex. Found him balls deep inside a girl she knew from work. He told her to fuck off and if she ever came back he’d put a bullet in her skull.” Tears stream down her face. “She went home, drank a bottle of vodka, and swallowed a load of pills. She left me a teary goodbye message. I only listened to it hours later.”
Sobs shake her body, and I move to her side, tentatively placing my arm around her shoulders. She doesn’t flinch or shuck out of my hold, so I continue to offer silent comfort. “I called her mother, and they went over to our place, arriving the same time as the ambulance. But it was too late.”
I hold her as she cries into my shoulder with tears sliding down my face.
I am officially done with this day.
Officially done with heart-wrenching tragedies.
Beck hands us a box of tissues, and sadness permeates the air.
When she composes herself, Jan looks embarrassed. “God, I’m so sorry. I thought I’d done all my crying.”
“You don’t have to apologize to us,” Beck says.
