We celebrated Dad reaching the eight-week milestone after his heart transplant surgery. Everything had gone perfectly smooth, but I’d never had the opportunity to thank Jake like I’d wanted to, even after the surgery.
Saint John’s was terrific. Instead of seeing Jake as I thought I would, Dad had an entire team working with him during his hospital recovery. I was never around when Jake had slipped in to check on Dad’s progress and speak to the transplant team about how Dad was progressing.
It was probably for the best. Seeing Jake walk through those doors before and after surgery made my heart race with admiration of the doctor in him, and that’s what started me getting twisted up in this mess in the first place. Gawking at the gorgeous doctor who saved Dad’s life, and then I fell for the man’s charms soon after.
I wanted to hate him like any hurt ex-girlfriend would, but I couldn’t. He’d brought me back to life in more ways than one. He was fun, witty, and an all-around great guy. Catching wind of him being fully supportive of his son was sickening to hear at first, and it wasn’t lost on me how contradictory of me that was. It was my jealousy flaring up—jealousy that this happened when I wasn’t there for it. Because in reality, the kind of man I wanted him to be was a man who would step up in the first place, and that’s what he was doing now.
As fate would have it, I walked by the nurses’ station while they were talking about how excited they were when Jake told him he was expecting a son. There was no malice or gossip in their words. They were genuinely happy for him, given his own excitement about it.
Knowing that Carmen and Dad were still hopeful Jake and I would end up together, Carmen probed her nurse friends who worked around Jake for information. She loved to bring up how well he was doing in his support of—in Carmen’s words—the crazy woman carrying his baby.
“You know,” a woman’s voice said from behind where I stood in the gallery, staring at the portrait I wished I could afford. “I’ve seen a different version of this portrait.”
I looked to my side, and my eyes narrowed when I saw the woman I’d first met after I spilled my drink on Jake in the coffee shop. What was her name, and why was she in here?
“This is the second edition, painted to become a set with the first,” I said, stepping back from the portrait that was the missing piece to the one in Jake’s master bedroom.
“Yes,” she said, her eyes leveling me with a death stare. Then her smile appeared in some creepy, snake-like way. “The first edition is at Jacob’s house. I believe you’ve seen it?”
“I’m sorry, are you interested in buying this one? Perhaps for him?” I said, trying to keep this business and not allowing the woman to take this conversation where I knew she wanted it to go.
“Jacob can buy it if he wants. I prefer the one he has already. It’s stunning in my favorite room of his home in Malibu,” she said.
“Good. I liked it there too.”
“I’m sorry you two didn’t work out,” she said condescendingly. “At least you understand why he doesn’t keep women around for long.”
“Are you here to bring up my ex, or are you here to purchase a painting?”
“I’m only talking to you,” she lowered her voice and stared darkly at me, “to let you know it was never going to work between you two. I hope you aren’t too crushed.” She chuckled. “I’ve known him for far too long, and if only I could’ve warned you.”
“What makes you think I’m crushed or that I needed you to warn me about him?” I asked. “Jake’s a great guy. I’m pretty sure you’re just here to let it be known that you have him back, and your super clever way of telling me he’s sleeping with you again is by mentioning you’ve seen the first-edition portrait to this one? Well, I’m not interested. If that’s what you want, then, by all means, go get it. I’ve moved on. Now, can I guide you to a portrait you might be here to buy, or are we going to talk about how great the sex is between you and Jake?”
“How dare you speak to me that way!” she scoffed. “Why would you assume any of that?”
“Why are you talking to me if you’re not interested in buying anything? I remember the way you acted on the yacht. It was obvious you weren’t happy that I was there with him. And now, here we are, suggestively talking about the portrait that matches the one above Jake’s bed? I’m not an idiot.”
“Could’ve fooled me. You’re the one who thought you were in a relationship with a man who is incapable of holding one down, much less raise a child.” She smirked. “Coincidence that your little friend gets pregnant by your boyfriend, right? And, true to form, the relationship is over because Jacob can’t handle it.”
“Are we done here?” I asked, pissed off that this woman was digging up the past, and for what fucking reason? Jake and I hadn’t been in touch for almost three months.
“Yes, I believe we are.”
I watched in disbelief as Lillian practically ran out to the woman, screaming the name I’d forgotten.
“Vickie, darling! Oh, my heart is full,” she declared as if the Queen of England had walked into her gallery. “Ashley, dear, your shift is over. I’m closing up. Would you mind locking the front, and I’ll go out the back? My keys are over in Brea Hall on the desk.”
“Got it. See you on Monday,” I said.
“Bye, dear.”
The woman was three years older than me and treated me like I was five years old whenever people of importance showed up here. I hadn’t seen Jim since being on the yacht, so I’d assumed he kicked her crazy ass to the curb, but if he hadn’t, maybe after seeing Jake’s situation with Lunatic-Liz, Jim would think twice before staying with this nut job of a boss of mine.
Shit! Goddammit! My mind had been pulled back to the past after Vickie-the-bitch had shown up and tried to stab a knife through my heart. I hated these arrogant, rich assholes. They were the absolute worst. My confrontation with Vickie made me so rattled that I’d locked up the gallery and left without my car keys. I did not want to see either woman right now, but I also didn’t want to ride the bus home. What the fuck ever.
Walking in and hearing the shrill laughs coming from Lillian’s office, where she left her door cracked open, made my skin crawl. I rolled my eyes and walked toward my desk but froze when I heard Vickie say my name.
I walked toward the door, wondering what the hell these bitches could be saying about me when I was sure they had other fake shit to talk about.
“I can’t believe you managed any of this. I thought you were drunk and totally joking when you said you would ruin their relationship. I didn’t really think you’d be able to do it,” Lillian said.
“Jacob was mine. That girl had no idea she was in dangerous territory, coming into my world with my Jacob.”
“Hold onto that, let me pour us a drink. I want all the details. I love this.” Lillian giggled.
The tone in the woman’s voice made me instinctively text Jim. I don’t know why, but while they laughed, I had a strange feeling the shit these women were discussing was something he might want Jake’s lawyers to know about. The man could kill me later for wasting his time if this was nothing.
Ash: Hey, it’s Ash. Can you get to the gallery? Something’s up between Jake’s friend Vickie and Lillian. Not sure, but I have a weird feeling.
Jim: I’ll have my driver turn the car around. I’m about thirty out.
Ash: I’m going to record this.
Jim: Go for it.
A few moments later, after silently texting Jim, the things that came out of Vickie’s mouth had me sick to my stomach and utterly in shock. And my phone was recording all of it.
“Seriously, though. I don’t even understand how you managed it. Girl, this goes beyond stalking.” Lillian laughed. “How did you know the pregnant one was connected to my Ashley and then make it all out to be Jake’s baby? That is serious masterminding.”
“You have no idea. I actually saw Liz—she’s the pregnant one—she was with Ashley in San Francisco about a year and a half ago. They were at a rooftop reception that Saint John’s had put on after a medical conference, which is why I assume Liz was there because I came to find out later that she’s in the medical field.”
“This was all that long ago? I thought Ashley and Jake were more recent than that. I didn’t realize it was going on for so long. Was he with both of them the whole time? I’m so confused.”
“No, he wasn’t. It’s a pretty convoluted story. He met Ashley that weekend, and I was pissed because Jake wanted nothing to do with me after that stupid girl spilled her drink on him. That’s Jacob for you, though. When he sees something that he wants, he doesn’t stop until he gets it.
“Anyway, I think Liz is a total fluke in all of this. I only remembered she was Ashley’s friend because I was so furious that Jake was talking to Ashley that night that I couldn’t stop sizing up her and her group of friends. So, when Liz happened to be at a club in LA, I recognized her immediately, and in predictable Jake fashion, I saw him take her home. This was—I don’t know, it was about seven months ago or something like that. It was before Jake and Ashley got together officially.”
“Then, how did you get to the pregnant girl—Liz?”
“Obviously, I didn’t know she was pregnant when I went digging, but once Jake started blowing me off when Ashley came into the picture, I made it a point to find her friend.”
Lillian’s laughter sounded like a witch cackle, and this entire exchange was reminding me of Cinderella’s evil stepmother talking to her stepsisters. These women were wicked and enjoying every second of this. “Oh, you’re so bad! I love it. How did you find Liz?”
“It wasn’t hard. I knew she’d gone to that medical conference, so I started asking people from Saint John’s who went if they knew who she was. It wasn’t long before a resident told me Liz’s name and that she was always hanging around one of the lab technicians. And,” she said the word as if she were a game show host, getting ready to tell Lillian that what came next was a new car, “it turns out, that guy is the father of her kid. Agh! Can you believe it?”
“Wait!” Lillian screeched, nearly choking on whatever they were drinking. “That baby isn’t Jacob’s?”
“Oh, hell no. Jake would never sleep with anyone without a condom. Trust me, I’ve tried to lock him down that way more than once, but that’s one thing he never lets slide.” She giggled. “But, since the universe loves me, by the time I found Liz, I knew that she was pregnant, and I couldn’t help but go in for the kill. Condoms break all the time, right?” She feigned innocence, and I had no idea how I was able to keep listening over the ringing in my ears.
“But what about the paternity test?” Lillian’s voice seemed shocked as my heart was falling out of rhythm.
“I’m the president of the lab that did the DNA test, for Christ’s sake. I can manage whatever I want.”
“Does this girl believe Jacob is the father? I’m so spun out about this. You know you can’t tell anyone else this. This borders on you seeming quite obsessed, you know.”
“I am obsessed. Jacob is mine! I’ve watched him change since Ashley came around, and it drives me absolutely fucking crazy. I’m the only girl Jake’s never abandoned. Then to see him so fascinated with her? I had to end it all. I don’t lose. Ever,” she said like she was normal. “Liz knows that isn’t Jake’s son, but she’s desperate for money, so I paid her a shitload and arranged the transfer onto Jake’s team after seeing her pregnant. I also made sure she was on the yacht that night too. I needed Jake to put together the pieces of meeting her before. I had to have him think the girl was stalking him. A million dollars and a perfectly-timed pregnant woman he’d previously slept with? It was all primed for me to use to ruin Jacob and that lowlife employee of yours.”
“Wow.” Lillian softly laughed. “Remind me never to piss you off.”
“You have no idea of the connections I have,” Vickie said.
“I thought he was going to have more than one paternity test. What if they have it done somewhere else, and you can’t access it?”
“That test won’t be tampered with anyway. Once he finds out the kid isn’t his, the only person he’ll take it out on is Liz. What’s done is done with Ashley. There’s no coming back from that. After all of that is said and done, I’ll be innocently waiting for my man, as always.”
My body was paralyzed with the information download that I was previously moments away from never overhearing. Nothing in my life could’ve ever prepared me for being the target of such a sinister plot. I thought people as purely evil as Vickie were made up for television shows. Never in my wildest imagination did I think someone as vile as her could be real.
I couldn’t hold myself back anymore. I threw the office door open so violently that it crashed against the wall and dropped one of Lillian’s paintings. Lillian shot up from her chair as if she’d been caught by the FBI while Vickie stayed seated, staring at me wide-eyed but restraining herself.
“Thanks for that confession. Everything you said just went on the record for Jake’s lawyers,” I said as calmly as I could. “You’re an evil, psychotic bitch. What are you going to do next, boil a fucking rabbit in his kitchen, you sick fuck?”
“Give me the phone, Ashley,” Lillian said in a panic as if her life depended on no one knowing what’d transpired.
“I hope his lawyers bury your crazy ass. You need a psych eval—something’s not fucking right in your head. No one pulls that kind of crazy shit off.” Vickie sat there, still and unflinching. “And you can sit there and laugh like you love this?” I said to Lillian, who was eighty shades of red.
“Give up the phone!” Lillian shouted. “You’re not going anywhere with this.”
“Fuck both of you,” I said, and then the next thing I knew, the claws came out—literally. I was being clobbered by these wicked bitches—scratched, hair-pulled, and mauled.
I found a way out of the attack and ran right into the chest of a tall man who rushed into Lillian’s office.
“Come any closer, and the cops will be dealing with both of you,” Jim said.
“James,” Lillian cried out. “I had nothing to do with this!”
James held me protectively at his side. “Don’t come another step closer to Ashley, now or ever again. We’re leaving, and I suggest you take this time to find some good attorneys. Don’t bother calling anyone I know, either, so good luck with that,” Jim said in that commanding, CEO-tone that Jake always talked about.
“Oh, please, James,” Vickie said. “That trash clinging to you needed to be pushed out of the circle. She was there for Jake’s money—your family’s hard-earned money.”
“Save it, Vickie. We’re leaving.” Jim looked at me as I pulled away and steadied myself.
I handed him the phone. “Take this. It has everything she’s admitted. She’s all over the place, but it’s enough of a confession.”
Lillian collapsed theatrically, crying in her chair as if she’d been convicted at a murder trial, but Vickie held her stiff upper lip, almost unaffected by getting caught. She must’ve been entirely out of her gourd not to be freaking out about being caught on tape, confessing to committing multiple felonies.
Jim put his arm around my shoulders and ushered me out of the room and out the front door. “Where am I directing the driver?”
“I’ll drive,” I said through tears. “My car’s parked in the back.”
“Are you worried about it? I can have it brought to your place. You’re not driving in this state.”
“Jim.” I tried to dam up these tears of betrayal. “I can drive.”
“Sorry, Ash,” he said, walking me to his car. “You don’t have that option. I don’t trust those women enough to let you out of my sight, and I need to hear that recording anyway. We need to get it to my attorneys. I can handle all of this while we drive you home.”
“Clay and Joe’s place is closer.”
“Where are you most comfortable?” he asked as he guided me to sit in his car.
“I’d rather head home,” I honestly responded.
“Then that’s where we’re going,” he said, taking my phone and working it to airdrop the recording to his. “I’ll tell Jake about this later. He’s not going to take this well at all, and I need to be with him when he hears the news.”
“Were he and Vickie that close?” I asked, pulling it together.
Jim remained focused on his phone. “Perhaps once, but not for a long time. Vickie was a woman who filled his—” he paused and sighed. “She was part of the life he left behind after he met you. I’m concerned about his reaction to her vicious attack on his personal life, and the attachment he’s taken to this child. I think he’ll be relieved of the news, but after having accepted the child—he’s looking forward to meeting his son. A son he will soon learn was all a lie and not his to begin with. Are you going to be okay?” Jim asked.
“I’ll get through it,” I said. “I feel horrible about Jake. My God…”
“Don’t,” Jim said. “Jake will be fine.” He smiled at me, but I saw the concern in his eyes. “If I may say this…Jake does miss you.”
“How has he been?” I asked, curious as to if he’d moved on.
“He’s Jacob,” Jim laughed. “He lives in the water on weekends, and we get him out to the club now and then.” He looked over at me, and his smile was Jake’s. “He misses you.”
“I miss what we had,” I said.
“Maybe one day, fate would see to it that you both will get that back.” Jim winked and then went back to work on his phone once he was finished with mine.
