For the first time in my life, I hated the way I looked as she described Taylor through my features. "You met Taylor, I assume?"
"Once. It was then that I realized my sister had gotten into something that was going to be bad for her. I just didn't realize how bad."
"What happened to make things go bad?" I asked, knowing the basic outline of the story. My brother had gotten a teenage girl pregnant and like a coward, had turned his back on her and the baby. What I didn't know was why.
"She found out she was going to have his baby. I tried to convince her to have an abortion. She was only fifteen, for God's sake. I was nearly nineteen at the time and I couldn't have handled a baby. She was too young, but she wouldn't listen to me. She was in love with him and thought they'd get married and live happily after. I tried to explain things to her, but she just said over and over that he could take care of her. I guess she thought since he was wealthy that he'd do just that."
"Did she tell your parents who the father was?"
Jessica shook her head sadly. "Not at first. She told him, but then the calls from him stopped. He wouldn't talk to her. She became depressed and stayed in her room all the time. My mother began to ask questions and finally Amanda told her she was pregnant. But even then, she wouldn't give up his name. She was sure he would come around. She thought he might be scared because of who our father was. Amanda wasn't stupid, even if she was naive. She knew a twenty-four year old man with a fifteen year old girl was considered statutory rape, even if she was madly in love. My father was a judge, and she was worried that Taylor might be afraid to live up to his responsibilities because of the difference in their ages."
I tried to imagine this person Jessica was describing, but I didn't know him. My brother had always been so on the straight and narrow. I couldn't imagine how he'd think sleeping with a teenage girl was okay.
Knowing what I was about to say may upset Jessica, I lowered my voice and quietly said, "Was your sister a willing participant?" I couldn't bring myself to ask if my twin brother had raped a child.
"If you're asking did he force himself on her, the answer is no. He wasn't a rapist, Tristan. He was a son-of-a-bitch who discarded my little sister when things got too real for him. He was fine with her when she was a simple thing to play with, but when real life crashed in on them, he abandoned her, leaving her to deal with a baby on her own."
"Why?" I wondered aloud. "He'd have to pay for the child whether he admitted it or not."
"Because he never cared for her like she cared for him. She was a toy he liked playing with. She adored him and hung on his every word. She'd tell me about meeting him and I never heard her say they talked about her. It was all him. He was a narcissist and she was his adoring fan. As long as she stayed in that role, everything was fine, but once she began to make demands on him, he wanted nothing more to do with her."
"I'm sorry, Jessica. I had no idea. I wasn't part of Taylor's world then. I was busy making my own bad choices. Nothing like he did, but..."
I let my sentence trail off. This wasn't about me and my stupid decisions.
"Something tells me you're not as alike as I would have thought. Do you have children, Tristan?"
Shaking my head, I forced a smile. "No. None yet."
"Your brother's child would have been going to kindergarten this year. I think about that sometimes. A little boy or girl ready to begin school. That never came to be, though."
"What happened?" I asked, my heart heavy at the thought of her sister dealing with having a child at such a young age herself.
"Amanda tried to get him to talk to her, but he wouldn't even answer her phone calls. She didn't know where to find him and when he changed his number, she became depressed. It broke my heart to see her like that. She cried all the time, wouldn't eat, and stopped going out. Finally, she gave up and took her life when she was three months pregnant."
Jessica could no longer hold back her tears, and as they streamed down her cheeks, all I could do was sit there feeling like I was in the middle of a horror story. Taylor's neglect had been the direct cause of Amanda's death, and nothing had ever been said about it by my father or mother. Had they known about it? My father had, if the dots Joseph Edwards had connected were true. My father had known what Taylor did and then made it worse.
I wanted to reach out to touch her hand, but how could I, the identical image of the man whose monstrous behavior had taken her sister away?
She wiped under her eyes and sat quietly for a moment. "She made me promise not to tell our parents who the father was, but when she died, I couldn't lie to my father and mother anymore. I told them about Taylor and who he was. They deserved to know who had done this."
"Do you remember talking to a man named Joseph Edwards after your father's death?"
Shaking her head, she suddenly got a look of recognition in her eyes. "I do, actually. He came to see me because of the bombing. He wanted to know about your father, though, not Taylor. I told him I didn't know anything about him, but then I explained everything that had happened with Amanda and your brother. He seemed to think that they were connected, I think."
"The bombing and what had happened to your sister."
"Yeah. The police never thought that, though. They still believe it was a gas explosion. I don't. I find it too coincidental that after my father tracked down your brother and told him what had happened to my sister and then your father's company is part of a case my father is judging that he suddenly is killed in a gas explosion."
"Do you remember anything about the case?"
"Not much. It was just a basic sexual harassment case, a civil suit. Your father's company was being sued by some woman and my father was the judge in the case."
I thought back to what Joseph Edwards had written in his notes about Stone Worldwide winning the case once Jessica's father wasn't the judge anymore. As much as I wanted to believe my father hadn't been responsible for Albert Cashen's death, there was too much to show me otherwise.
"That man, Joseph Edwards, told me he'd want to talk more with me, but he never returned. How did you find out about him?"
I swallowed hard before I began to tell the events that had brought me to Nina and ultimately, to Jessica and the truth of my family. "Joseph Edwards was murdered shortly after he spoke to you. His daughter is the person I believe may be helped by what you've told me."
Jessica covered her face with her hands. "Oh, my God! He was murdered? They killed him, didn't they? Your father and brother killed him like they killed my father."
Unable to hide from the overwhelming facts anymore, all I could do was nod in agreement. A young girl was dead because my brother had been a manipulative bastard and coward, and my father had had two men killed to protect Taylor and his own despicable actions.
"I don't know anything else, Tristan. That's all I have. I heard your family was killed in a plane crash a few months after my father and sister died."
"They were," I said quietly.
"I'm sorry. I guess you're the CEO of Stone Worldwide now. You know, I fantasized at least a thousand times about what I wanted to do to ruin your family like your brother and father ruined mine. I used to think about exposing everything they did and taking all that money your family has. I wanted to hurt you like they hurt me."
Jessica's voice caught in her throat and she looked away. When she turned back to face me, her expression wasn't one of hate or anger as it had been seconds earlier but sadness. "I think I feel sorry for you, Tristan. We've both lost everyone in our families, but I get to remember my sister and father as good people who never intentionally hurt anyone. You can't do that. Now that I've met you, I'm sorry you have to go through life knowing that."
I felt like I'd just been slammed in the chest with a cinder block. The truth of her statement was almost too much to handle. Here I was in a common suburban home I could buy twenty of with someone who had lost everything in her life, and I was the one being pitied. I, Tristan Stone, was worthy of pity for my family's guilty behavior.
"Please tell Joseph Edwards' daughter that my sympathies are with her. I know what she's going through."
I stood to leave, needing to get out of there as quickly as possible. She followed me to the door as we said our generic goodbyes, and as I left, she grabbed my arm to force me to turn around. I stopped dead and looked at her, not wanting to hear any more.
"I believe you're trying to do the right thing, Tristan. I can't imagine how hard this must be for you. I hope after what I've said you can find some kind peace with all this."
The car waited for me at the end of the sidewalk, and while I watched Jessica's house grow smaller as I drove away, I also hoped someday I'd be able to find some kind of peace after everything I'd learned.
Chapter Nineteen
Nina
I had basically fallen in love with the Peachtree Suite within an hour of being there. This was my first trip to one of Tristan's hotels since my accident, not counting his incredible penthouse, and I loved the idea that I could add my artistic touch to such beautiful places. The colors of the suite were muted neutrals, but the designer had included a splash of color with deep burgundy draperies. I wanted to highlight that accent and really make it pop.