Jimmy

Taking a day off work helped me to try and sort through some things. The private detective agency was keeping me abreast of their findings, but it didn’t look good. It was taking them longer than they thought to trace all the IP addresses, and they would be cutting things close. I told them to use whatever they needed, and I would shovel the difference out-of-pocket. I needed this wrapped up by the end of the week.

I couldn't stand to lose any of my investors.

I drove myself out to the beach and rented a condo for the night. I was still confused and hurt by Ashley and what had happened between us. I knew, now more than ever, that she was pregnant. The heaving by the elevator confirmed it for me. Why she was still hiding this from me, I had no idea, and it felt like a knife was piercing my gut. After everything we had been through with Nina and what we were going through with her mother, all I wanted was the truth from her.

And she couldn’t even give it to me.

I came into work early, hoping to avoid her. This week was important, and I needed all the space I could get to figure things out. I was pouring over documents that had long since been buried in the files room to see if I could find any leads. I was trying to bat away the investors who were now bugging Ashley, Ross, and me. I felt my world crashing in around me, and I still couldn’t concentrate.

Not with Ashley’s office just down the way.

A soft knock came at my door, and I felt my gut turn over on itself. I knew who was out there. I knew who was knocking on my door. Ross had informed me that she had been looking for me all day. The front lobby told me she had come in yesterday morning in a trance trying to find me. Maybe she was ready to talk, ready to finally admit to me what was going on with her so we could get her to a doctor and get her through this.

Though with her mood swings, she would probably have to take a backseat in the company. Because they were getting bad.

“Come in,” I said.

“Could we talk?” Ashley asked.

“Shut the door behind you and take a seat,” I said.

I watched her walk across the room, and I could see the fear in her body language. The way she hid behind her glasses. The way her hair spilled in her face. The way her shoulders were slightly caved in as she sat. She was petrified, and I didn’t know why. I had no clue what I had done to make her think I would be upset over something like this.

I was ready to put this behind us, save my company, and move forward with our family.

“Are you ready to admit it?” I asked.

“Yeah, but I’m still not pregnant,” she said.

“Come on, Ashley. Stop with the—”

I watched her dig around in her purse before she pulled out a bag full of pregnancy tests. She tossed it onto my desk and kept her purse on her lap, her eyes boring into my face.

I picked up the bag, looked at the tests, and all of them were negative.

“Can we get on with it now?” Ashley asked.

“You’re not pregnant,” I said.

“Nope.”

“But you didn’t eat lunch.”

“Because I wasn’t hungry, Jimmy.”

“And you were heaving at the elevator.”

“I was sobbing at the elevator. What you saw was my trying to hold back sobs,” she said.

“You were you crying that hard?”

I felt my stomach drop to my toes as Ashley’s face hardened.

“Yes,” she said.

“But you’ve been on edge, and your skin is paler. I know you see it. It’s obvious you haven’t been getting much sleep,” I said.

“Thank you for pointing out how shitty I look,” she said. “But we’ve all been on edge with everything going on in the company.”

“But you’ve had it the worst,” I said.

“Because I know who L.R. is.”

The bag dropped from my hands and to my desk as I sat forward.

“What?”

“It took me a little while to piece everything together, but I know who it is. I’ve been in a rough state because I’ve been trying to figure out how to tell you, but I know you won’t believe me, not after this fight over trust,” she said.

“Ashley, how long have you known this?” I asked.

“Since Saturday,” she said.

“Okay. Who is it?”

“Remember when we went to get drinks with Markus? You know, the time Jamie couldn’t make it?”

“Uh, yeah. I do. Why?” I asked.

“Markus and I had a long discussion while you were in the bathroom about our mothers.”

“Ashley, stop beating around the bush.”

“Sit back and listen, Jimmy. It’s for your own good.”

I clenched my jaw as I sat back in my chair.

“Markus and I talked about our mothers and how they both struggled with Alzheimer’s. He mentioned his mother calling him Lou one time. He said something about it being his father’s name, and he thought maybe she thought he was his dad or something. Then, he told me another story about how there were times when, like my mother, she would forget she had been married. His mother would correct the nurses whenever they called her Bryant. She would tell them her last name was Roth, not Bryant.”

I felt the breath leaving my lungs as I took in Ashley’s every word.

“If you combine ‘Lou’ and ‘Roth’ together, you get the initials L.R. You also said Markus has been here since the inception of the company, guiding you and giving you advice. Did you ever give him control of the finances at some point?” she asked.

“Of course, I did. Because I trust Markus. What are you saying, Ashley?”

“When did Markus leave to establish his headquarters in Alberta?” she asked.

“What the fuck does that have to do with anything?” I asked.

“Was it three years into the establishment of your company?”

“Markus is not the one behind this. Without that man, we wouldn't be here right now.”

“Of course, he would want to help you. He’s siphoning money from you. He said he was here because of company issues, and I looked up some things. There are articles being run about him, rumors going around that his company is struggling financially. Has he talked about it at all?”

“Shut up,” I said.

“Jimmy, I know you want to trust him. I can’t imagine how hard this is for you to hear, but you have to believe me. Everything about his story makes sense and fits. Why he’s staying in town longer. Why the initials didn’t exist on any of the balance sheets until three years in. Jimmy, he even reacted strangely when we clued him in on what was going on. How defensive he—”

“I said, shut up, Ashley!”

I flew up from my chair and slammed my hands on my desk. Was this woman insane? Did she really think Markus, of all people, would be behind something like this?

“Jimmy, I said you wouldn’t believe me, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s true,” she said.

“You’re crazy,” I said.

“I’m not. You’re upset, and I get it. But this is happening. This is serious.”

“It’s not true,” I said. “Markus would never do anything like that to me.”

“Jimmy, take a deep breath and think about this logically.”

“You want me to think logically? After your emotional tirades over the past few days? Accusing me of being ashamed of you and pushing you away? I introduced you to the only man I ever considered to be a father to me. I met your mother and went along with her degraded state so I could cultivate a relationship with you. I promoted you, secured you a career that could give you everything you could’ve ever wanted. I made you comfortable, and I pulled you into my life and bent over backward to make you happy, and this is how you repay me?”

I watched Ashley stand from her seat and take a few steps away from me.

“It’s pretty shitty of you to be so upset with me, you would try to put the blame of something like this on someone so close to me, someone you know I love and respect with everything I have.”

“That doesn’t change what he’s doing, Jimmy. Just because you love him doesn’t mean he’s not doing this,” she said.

“You can’t stand it, can you?”

“What?” she asked.

“You can’t stand not being the center of attention in my life. You’ve been jealous ever since Markus came into town.”

“What? No. I liked Markus until I figured out what he was doing to you.”

“Where’s your proof?”

“I just gave it to you.”

“That isn’t proof. It’s some stories you laced together, stories Markus trusted you with that you’re now twisting to use against him like Nina twisted shit to use against me.”

Ashley continued to back up toward the door as I came around my desk.

“In this moment, you’re no better than her. You’ve taken stories an innocent man trusted you with, and you’re throwing them back at him spitefully because you can’t stand that someone else has my attention.”

“Jimmy, that’s not what—”

“I should’ve seen it the moment you got upset with me for not calling you after going out drinking with him Friday night. One night with me and him. Just one. You attended all of the others, but you couldn't stand one night!”

“Jimmy, you've got this all—”

“Get out,” I said.

I watched her open the door as she stumbled out of my office.

“Get to work.”

The last thing I saw were tears welling in her eyes as I shut the door in her face. I couldn't believe it. After falling in love with her, she turned around and showed her true colors. I would have to tell Ross what she was doing in case she went behind my back like Nina did to try and take my company down. I raked my hands through my hair and yelled out into my office, filling the corners of the room with my anger.

Fuck.