Anna.
“How long has he been detained?” Alison asks as soon as she enters my house.
It didn’t take much for me to call her. This was about my fiance and the father of my children. I didn’t hesitate to call her. She was the only lawyer I knew, and I knew she was good.
“Just a day. Thank you for coming so quickly,” my curt tone was impossible to hide.
She had been sleeping with my partner while I was with him. That hurt a lot, especially coming from someone I considered my sister.
“Okay, we’re good. Trust me, he’ll get out soon, especially once he talks to Dave,” she affirmed, very confident.
Talk to Dave? Alone? They’ll set a trap for me. It’s very likely that will happen. Why did I call her in the first place? God, I was frantic. I can’t think two things without my head burning.
“Try not to let him persuade you with his dick,” I muttered.
I was pretty sure he would.
But I wasn’t sure if she would really stoop so low to be with him. That wasn’t the Alison I knew, or at least, I thought I knew.
She approaches me, and I step away. She bites her lip, showing her shame. I didn’t need it; I didn’t want her apologies.
“Listen, Ann, I’ve wanted to talk to you for a long time…”
“No, it’s okay. I’m not interested anymore. I just need Henry out,” I broke down over and over again as the day passed, unable to do anything to help Henry. All of this is my damn fault. “I can’t do it alone, Alison. I really can’t do it without him. It’s been a day, and I feel like I’m falling apart. He doesn’t deserve this, and neither does Jeremy.”
She nods understandingly and gives me a sad smile. She understands better than anyone how I feel, knows what Henry’s absence does to me. She was always with me when I had Jeremy in my belly and knew how I dragged myself along the walls, hoping Henry would appear.
I could never hate her after all she did for me; I just felt the betrayal deeply.
“You look beautiful,” she points to my belly, and almost reflexively, I caress it.
“Thanks.”
When I sit on the couch, she sits beside me in a second, almost triggering an attack. “I’m really sorry, Ann,” she said quickly, knowing that no one could stop her now until she finished talking. “I fell in love. I didn’t think clearly. It didn’t matter if you loved Dave or not; I shouldn’t have done that to you. I just… I don’t know what came over me when I was with him. But I swear I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have, I shouldn’t have. I’m really sorry. If you don’t forgive me, I’ll understand, but I want you to know that I…”
I covered her mouth, trying to process each syllable she just said. She talks too fast. A simple question took over my thoughts, afraid of the answer. “Do you still love him?”
She didn’t say a word, just nodded and fixed her gaze on the floor.
I suspected.
“And how can I trust you then? How do I know you won’t leave my fiance in jail for some nice words that Dave says? ”
She runs her hands over her jeans several times, as if considering the possibility that it might happen. “I love him, but he’s an asshole. I would never do that to you or Jeremy; you’re my family. If you don’t free Henry, many things will come out against him. There are many benefits to sleeping with an idiot.”
She smiled, but I knew the whole situation pained her. She loved him and was practically asking her to ruin him. It wasn’t fair to Alison.
“What do you know?” I dared to ask. I’ve known him for five years, and I want to believe he wasn’t doing anything illegal. He spent his days writing in his office, was good at it, and that’s all he did during the day.
“Everything.”
Alison knew about an illicit business she was involved in with her father. They have several factories around the city, and she explained several technicalities that I would never understand. The only thing I could grasp is that her father’s entire business would go down the drain if certain documents were exposed, along with Dave’s wealth and a couple of years in prison included.
I couldn’t believe what I was finding out.
“Do you think you can blackmail Dave with that?” I asked suddenly, feeling hesitant; the bastard was crazy, and I didn’t know to what extent he would go just to hurt me.
“Without his money, he’ll commit suicide, I assure you. He made it clear to me many times.”
“Where do we get the evidence?”
Alison got up, grabbing the keys to her car and her purse. “We’ll get them today, and I need your help.”
“Anything.”
“Do you still have the keys to Dave’s house?”
“I think so…”
“Good, make yourself pretty and bring the keys. I’ll wait for you in the car. Don’t take too long.”
She was heading towards the door when I stopped her. “I can’t, Jeremy is asleep, and… Are you saying I don’t look pretty?”
“He won’t wake up; come on, Ann, hopefully, tomorrow Henry will be free. And about the other thing… Your eyes are swollen, and your shirt is full of snot. What do you think?”
I looked at my reflection in the nearest mirror, and yes, I looked awful. “Well, you’re right. What do you have planned?”
“You’ll distract him while I enter through the back door; you’ll have to give me the key. I think I know where he keeps the evidence. You have to be strong and endure whatever he says as long as you stay.”
“And if he wants something more…?”
“Endure a bit, try to delay him as much as you can. It’s the only way Henry gets out, Anna. Otherwise, he has a minimum of 5 years in prison, and if I’m not mistaken, he already has a record.”
He probably does; he was with the very mafia.
“Will you do it?”
“Yes.”
All for him.