One Wild Night

Chapter 443: Terrible Father

Jero opened his eyes slowly and was surprised when he saw Candace sitting by his bedside.         

    

He removed the oxygen mask on his nose, “You came back?” He asked weakly, and Candace who had been reading a novel on her phone looked at him before glancing at her wristwatch.      

“You have been sleeping for about eighteen hours now. How are you feeling? Should I get the doctor?” Candace asked as she stood up and dropped her phone on the chair.      

“Eighteen hours? Have you been here for that long?” Jero asked in a weak but surprised voice.     

“Don’t sound so surprised. I’m not here because I care about you,” she said in a flat tone.     

“Then why are you here? To kill me?” Jero asked, and Candace scoffed.      

“If I wanted to kill you, we wouldn’t be having this conversation by now. You’d be on your way to hell by now,” Candace assured him, and Jero looked at her with apologetic eyes.      

“I’m sorry for everything…”     

“I don’t need your apology, Jero. There is nothing you are going to say that is going to make me forgive you. Your apology won’t fix anything. It won’t change anything you did to Andy or Jamal or me. So save your last few breaths,” Candace advised before heading for the door to inform the guards that Jero was awake and they could get the doctor.     

After doing that, she returned to her seat and picked up her phone while Jero watched her, “I wanted you to myself,” Jero said, and Candace looked at him as he held the oxygen mask away from his face.     

“All my life I never had anyone who loved me or cared about me until I met you. My family never cared about me because I wasn’t as smart as my siblings. When I saw how you loved me, I wanted to have all your love to myself. I didn’t want to share your love with anyone else. Not Andy. Not Jamal either,” Jero said, making Candace look at him like he was crazy.     

“Love? I don’t think that was what you wanted from me. You didn’t love me or want my love. If you did, you wouldn’t have done any of those things you did. Andy is my sister. Jamal is your own son. They were not in any competition with you! How could you treat them that way?” she asked him incredulously.     

“I wanted your undivided attention. You were the only one I cared about. I never cared about Andy. I never really cared about Jamal either. I didn’t want him. I never wanted to be a father…”     

“You didn’t want to be a father? Why did you get me pregnant if you didn’t want him? Why did you let me keep him if you were going to treat him like that?” Candace yelled as tears dropped from her eyes and she stood from her seat.     

Jero closed his eyes as he tried to breathe before speaking again, “You wanted a child. You said you wanted one. All I wanted was to be loved by you. I wanted you to be happy, so I let you keep him. But when he came you barely gave me your attention…”      

“You are sick! So disgustingly sick! And listening to you right now is making me sick!” Candace hissed at him as the door and the two guards at the door walked in.     

From the look on their faces, she could tell that they had heard some parts of their conversation if not all, and had come in to make sure she doesn’t hurt Jero.     

“I know. I realized it when I was in prison. And seeing Jamal’s picture made me realize how terrible I was as a father, and that’s why I’m begging you,” Jero pleaded weakly.     

“It took you long enough. Terrible? You think you were terrible? If there is a word worse than that, then that is what you are. You were not only terrible as a father. You were terrible as a human being. Do you have any idea how traumatized they both were because of you? Do you have any idea how many times Andy cried herself to sleep because of you? Do you know the number of times Jamal suffered from nightmares because of you? Or how hard it was for him at school because he was always scared of his male teachers? Do you know how hard it was for me to watch them both suffer because of you?” Candace yelled angrily not concerned about the fact that they had audience.      

She watched as tears of regret dropped from Jero’s eyes and his ECG heart monitor began to beep, “I’m sorry…” Jero said with a gasp.     

“Sorry? Who is the apology meant for? Me? Jamal? Andy?” Candace asked with a shake of her head as she picked up her bag, wondering what had possessed her to think she could stay by his side or care for him in the first place.     

“Please tell them I’m sorry,” Jero said weakly as his ECG monitor continued to beep loudly, and Candace turned to the door when it opened and the doctor hurried to his bedside with two nurses following him.     

“I’m done here. Please let me know when he dies,” Candace said as she headed for the door, but before she could walk through the door, the sound of the monitor changed and she looked back when she saw the flatlines displayed on the monitor.     

“Time of death, 08:15 AM,” the doctor announced before turning to look at Candace.     

Away from there, seeing Jamal’s reaction, Lucy quickly opened the door and got out of the passenger seat, and went to join Jamal in the backseat, “No one is going to hit you,” Lucy said as she embraced him.     

“He is going to hit me,” Jamal cried as he hid his face from Lucy.         

    

“Tom would never hit you. You know that, don’t you?” Lucy asked as she held him close and kissed his forehead while patting his back.     

Tom said nothing as he looked away from both Lucy and Jamal, directing his attention to the cars in front of them.      

Why did he feel like Jamal was reacting to something someone had done to him? Was it possible he had been physically abused? Tom wondered with a frown, not wanting to believe that his father could have done something like that to such a little boy. He hoped not else he was going to make the bastard pay.      

Soon Jamal relaxed in the back as Lucy hummed a tune to him, while Tom looked at them through the rearview mirror.     

Tom sighed when he glanced at his wristwatch and saw that it was 08:15 already. He had a meeting scheduled for 09:00 AM, and from the looks of things, he doubted that they would get to the office in time for his meeting so he dialed Harry’s line.     

“Good morning, Harry. Are you at the office already?” Tom asked immediately after the call connected.     

“Am I not supposed to be at the office by past eight?” Harry asked irritably, causing Tom to frown.     

“Are you okay? Is there a problem?” Tom asked with concern.     

“I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Why are you calling?” Harry asked impatiently.     

“We are running late. I’m stuck in a traffic jam and I don’t think I can get to the office in time for our meeting with Mr. Willoughby, so you may have to start without me,” Tom explained, and Harry raised a brow.     

“A traffic jam? We both know there is hardly ever traffic on the route from your place to work. Is Lucy with you? Are you both running late on purpose? I told you I wasn’t going to condone it if you were making me Co-CEO just so you could slack off…”     

“Cut the crap, Harry! What is wrong with you?” Tom snapped at him irritably, and without waiting for Harry to say another word he hung up.      

Once again, Jamal started crying, while Lucy looked at Tom in confusion, wondering why he was yelling at Harry.     

Tom took a deep breath, feeling annoyed at everyone. Why did the day which had started so beautifully have to take such an ugly turn?      

“I’m sorry, Jamal,” Tom said as he met Jamal’s gaze in the rearview mirror, and Tom looked at him for a moment before taking out his handkerchief from his pocket and extending it to him.     

“You shouldn’t cry too much. You look even more ugly when you cry and I doubt Lucy is going to like you very much when she sees your crying face,” he said, making a funny face at Jamal as he turned to look at him, and Jamal forced a smile as he took the handkerchief from him.     

Lucy smiled as she helped Jamal dry his tears before looking at Tom, “What is the problem? Why did you yell at Harry?” Lucy asked Tom, and he shook his head.      

“It’s nothing,” Tom said without looking at her, but she could tell that he was upset, and she felt sorry because she knew that she had contributed to his current mood.      

“I’m sorry I ruined your mood. I shouldn’t have said what I said about wasting time in bed. I was upset and I took it out on you unfairly. I love you and…”     

Tom sighed, “I love you too, and I’m sorry I raised my voice.”     

“My job is important to me. I know that you may not understand…”     

“I understand you, Lu. I get you more than you think. I don’t have a problem with you loving your job. My only problem right now is that you seem to believe you are the only one making sacrifices for our relationship. I don’t think you realize that I also face criticism. I am criticized in the same manner. Do you think it’s different simply because I’m the boss and you are the lady?” Tom asked, and Lucy’s brows pulled together as she thought about it.      

Tom sighed as he watched her, “Let’s leave it at that. Don’t you think you should give your teammates a call to inform them that you will be late?” He reminded her, and Lucy held his gaze for some seconds before taking out her phone from her handbag to do as he had suggested.     

Tom winked at Jamal when he caught the kid staring at him through the rearview mirror, and made a funny face at him causing Jamal to laugh. Tom made a mental note to ask Jade about Jamal’s relationship with his father.     

As Lucy returned the phone to her handbag after putting a call across to her office, it beeped with a message notification and she took it out to see that it was a text from Sonia.         

    

[I just spoke with Jade. I can’t call because I’m in the car with Bryan and his parents. Jade said her boss is trying to help your aunt find her lost daughter, but it has to be kept a secret. Do you know anything about your aunt having a missing daughter? Don’t you think you should tell Jade about it?]     

Lucy sighed as she read the text. Knowing how smart Jade was, Lucy did not doubt that it wouldn’t take a long time before Jade would put everything together.      

All she needed was Sara’s pre-surgery photos, and once she was able to figure out that Sara was the same person in the photo in Harry’s bedroom, she would put all the pieces together.     

She was beginning to doubt that Aaron’s secret would stay secret for much longer, she thought with a sigh and looked up to see Tom staring at her through the rearview mirror.     

“Jade’s boss is trying to help Sara find her missing daughter,” she informed Tom with a worried frown.     

“Let’s not talk about that right now,” Tom said as he looked from her to Jamal who was still staring at Tom.     

Following his gaze, Lucy understood what he meant and gave him a nod, “Alright.”     

Tom returned his attention to the road when the car behind him honked, and he sighed in relief when he realized that the cars were moving again, and it seemed like whatever had blocked the road had been taken care of.      

Now that he had resolved his issue with Lucy, and Jamal seemed fine, his thoughts drifted to Harry. Why did Harry sound so upset? It wasn’t like Harry to speak to him in that manner, so what was wrong? Was it about yesterday? Tom mused.      

He wasn’t looking forward to spending the day with a grumpy Harry. He had a feeling that this was going to be another long day.