I sit forward in my chair. “Then I definitely don’t have to listen to you. You raised her, giving her everything she ever wanted, and then, because of one mistake, you took away everything she had ever known. You’re not only a bad father. You’re a cruel person. And to tell her it’s what Damien would’ve wanted is the biggest load of bullshit I’ve ever heard. If Damien had wanted to punish her, he would’ve done it himself. Good thing he’s much more forgiving than I am.” The more I talk about it, the more I get agitated. “A chairman of the board is supposed to put the company’s best interests at heart. How does getting the Director arrested supposed to be in the company’s best interests? When
Gerry told you where I was, you should’ve talked him out of it.”
Terry squirms, frowning before he drops a bombshell.
“He didn’t call me. I called him. Clarissa didn’t call him. She called me.”
My mind blanks. I don’t know if I actually heard him or my brain conjured it up. “Say that again.”
“Clarissa didn’t call Gerry to tell him where you were. She called me. For help. She thought I could help find a way to mitigate the effects of what you did. I’m the one who called Gerry. And together, we decided to anonymously report you. She didn’t call him. She was telling you the truth.”
Confusion scatters all over my brain. “I don’t believe you. You’re lying.”
“It’s the truth. I can show you.” He holds out his phone. I take it because my body feels unable to process anything just yet.
I look down at the phone. Clarissa’s number, two weeks ago, at two a. m.
“This doesn’t prove anything.”
He shrugs, “That’s because you’re trying not to believe me. But it’s the truth.”
I stare at him. “Why didn’t she say anything?!”
He takes the phone out of my hands and tucks it back into his pocket. “Maybe because she was protecting me, I don’t know. But she’s not speaking to me. And I don’t think she ever will again.”
I just stare at him, openmouthed. “Why, Terry? Why the fuck would you do this? I was going to handle it!”
His eyes cement in hate, jaw hardening. “Your family, you Baxter’s”-he spits my family name out of his mouth like it’s acid-“have ruined my daughter. My beautiful daughter, who could’ve achieved anything, done anything. But your brother turned her head and then abandoned her. Left her like she was trash by the side of the road.”
I shake my head. “That’s not what happened.”
But he doesn’t hear me. “And then you. Pulling her under with your reckless behavior! It was only a matter of time before you hurt her. She was doing so well here. She was taking responsibility for her own life for the first time and then you just screw it all up! I needed her to get her away from you as soon as possible, by any means possible. And if she hates me for the rest of her life, at least I knew what I needed to do for her.” He sucks in a rough breath. “I didn’t know the history with Gerry. He never told me. But… now. I can’t have anything to do with him. With any of you.”
Terry is the hero in his own little story, the one where he did the right thing by his daughter, until it was his ass on the line. “You’re a piece of work. You’ve turned everything in your head. She was never the victim, with Damien or me. Only with you. You’ve hurt her more than anyone else ever has.” “Until now,” he says, his eyes glinting. “You say I hurt her, but she risked everything she’s worked for, all the work she’s done to distance herself from her family…. for you. She called me. For you. She did the one thing she never wanted to do again. For you. And what did you do? You didn’t even have the decency to hear her out.”
He’s right. “So why are you telling me this?”
“Because she doesn’t deserve you thinking she did this. I’m done with the lot of you, I’m handing in my resignation, I’ll let you all figure out how to fix this bloody mess. But I don’t know if you’re going to even still be here to see it all. Your days are numbered here; your uncle has seen to that.”
The room spins and I have to lean back into my chair, watching him walk out of my office, leaving the debris of the bomb he’s just detonated.
Clarissa didn’t betray me. She didn’t collude with Gerry. Whatever happened before has nothing to do with us, but she didn’t betray me.
Elation sparks in my chest, the first feeling of life I’ve felt in weeks. But it’s immediately stomped out by the dread that comes with the memory of her face when I saw her at the club.
“You wouldn’t believe me, anyway. You were always waiting for a reason to distrust me.” Was she right? Had I been carrying around the baggage of the past without realizing it?
Guilt blasts as understanding dawns.
She couldn’t have felt like she could tell me about Gerry because I would’ve acted like she was fulfilling every betrayal that I was just waiting to happen. Maybe that’s why I had tried to hold on so tightly. So that maybe when it came time for her to run, she’d be bonded to me.
I just hadn’t expected that I was going to be the reason we weren’t together anymore.
I hadn’t given a fuck that she’d slept with Gerry. I didn’t like it, but I knew what kind of slimy weasel he could be, and it’s not like I was some saint before we’d gotten together.
It’s because it was a confirmation of everything he was saying.
It was confirmation that she had turned to him in my worst hour.
I need to see her. I need to talk to her; tell her I know everything. And hope that she can forgive me.
“Hannah, don’t call. I’m going out,” I call out as I run out of the office. “Good. About time.”
***
Me: Meet me at the tree in Washington Square Park. I need to talk to you. Please.
***