WIDOWer

CHAPTER 12

Warren pulls back up to Bria’s house and she just sits looking at him but doesn’t get out of the car.

“I’m guessing you’re mad at me now” Bria states looking over at him

Warren finally turns in her direction then unable to gather his thoughts, he says

“I don’t know what I am, but…”

“It’s ok. I’m not surprised.”

“But just so we’re clear, I did not lie to you!” she states then gets out of the car

Warren sits watching as she walks inside then pulls off.

Susan is sitting at her desk, seeing the shadow of someone in her doorway she looks up

“Hey” Jacob states watching her

Shocked, she mutters

“Hey”

Walking in, closing the door behind him, Jay asks

“Can we talk?”

Sue just glares at him as he sits down across from her

“I ran into Renee yesterday” he states watching as an uneasy look crosses her face

“Why are you here?” Sue asks finally

“You’ve been avoiding my calls. You haven’t been home, and you haven’t been coming to therapy.” Jacob states

Shaking her head Sue stands up then says

“I’m not coming back to therapy or your house.”

“And I don’t have time for this.” She adds

“Sue, you know I love you. I told you…”

“I don’t care if it was once or twenty times. Cheating is cheating” she responds cutting him off

“When Jaylen got killed, I put some contingencies in place. In the event of my untimely death, I’ve made sure that…”

“You can save your threats Jay cause they won’t change anything!”

“Now get your adulterous *ss out my shop!” Sue states

Jacob stands up and stopping in front of Sue, he leans down to whisper in her ear

“You better make sure Nee digs herself a grave too!”

Sue stands watching as he saunters out of the shop taking his precious time to speak to everybody.

“CONTENGENCIES!” she thinks out loud to herself

Canceling the rest of her day, Sue leaves the shop and heads back to Bria’s house.

Bria is sitting in her car when Sue pulls up next to her.

“Hey, Nee. Where you going?” she asks

On her way to try and catch up with Doug and remembering Sue specifically told her to let her handle the situation, Bria lies

“Umm, nowhere”

“You lying. But I’m in a hurry so whatever.”

“I’ll be back in a few minutes” Bria replies

“Ok, I’ll see you!” Susan states heading inside

Sue orders a car service, then quickly gets changed, hoping to be gone before Bria returns.

Once she gets a rental car, she turns off her phone then drives to and parks across from Jacob’s office. With his car in sight, she sits in a dark blue Tahoe with tinted windows and waits for him.

Bria pulls up to Doug’s lounge and finding his car out back, she backs in the parking space next to his car. After calling the lounge phone, she asks him to come outside.

Confused as to why Bria would show up to the lounge wanting to talk to him, Doug calls Warren and leaves him on speaker, to listen in on their conversation.

“Hey, what’s up? Is everything alright?” Doug asks walking up to Bria’s driver side window

“Actually, I was wondering if we could talk” she states

“Do you mind getting in?” she asks

“What can I do for you Ms. Smith?” Doug asks once he’s settled in the passenger seat

“Call me Bria. You don’t have to be so formal. We’re practically friends, I mean, we do share a few.”

“My apologies, what can I do for you Bria?”

“I recently came into the knowledge that one of my dear coworkers was mugged, leaving your lounge.”

A complex look crosses Doug’s face and he says

“That incident happened weeks ago”

“I’m aware. Did you happen to have foreknowledge of the incident, prior to it occurring?” Bria asks

Doug laughs then says

“Bria, I must say. I like you!”

“But to have foreknowledge of a crime and not report it, would be a crime. And I’m not a criminal.” He adds

Before Bria can respond, Warren pulls up in front of her, blocking her in. Seeing him, she sits eying Doug as Warren comes to the car and opens the passenger side door. Not saying anything, Doug gets out and walks back inside the lounge.

Taking Doug’s spot in the passenger seat, Warren pulls his phone from his pocket. After ending the call, he takes his Bluetooth from his ear then lays them both on the dashboard.

“This is crossing a line! I’m not sure what exactly…” Warren begins but Bria cuts him off

“Why…”

“This is crossing a line and I’m not sure what you were hoping to achieve here.” Warren states not allowing her to continue

“But this isn’t how you go about it. So, you can either continue the conversation with me or not at all.”

Completely caught off guard, Bria just sits not responding for a minute, then finally she looks up at Warren and asks

“Are you willing to help me or not?”

“Absolutely not! And neither will anyone else I know!” he responds

“You need to rethink this all together. It can’t end well.”

“Your actions not only affect you, but they also affect her!” Warren adds referring to their unborn daughter

Then taking his phone and earpiece from the dashboard, he gets out of the car and goes back to work.

It’s close to eight o’clock when Jacob finally comes out of his office. Sue follows him, keeping a safe distance, to avoid being seen. Then when he pulls up to a house, Sue watches as Savannah waddles to his car then gets in the passenger seat. Her heart shatters once again as she sits watching her husband, who was once her world, with a woman who had been able to give him the one thing she couldn’t.

The night he had told her about Savannah being pregnant, her worst fear had become a reality. Preparing herself for what comes next, Sue tugs on her seatbelt and follows as they pull out of the driveway.

Finally in position behind their car, Sue slows down to give herself some room to accelerate. As the light ahead turns red, Sue smashes the gas and braces for impact, sending Jacob’s Mercedes flying into the path of oncoming traffic.

Warren sits in his office once again gazing down at the engagement ring he’d purchased for Bria. Only now realizing that it may never actually see the light of day from her finger.

Unsure what will come of Bria’s sudden need to avenge her best friend’s betrayal, Warren pulls out his phone to text Marcus. Unable to shake the feeling that she in some way had a hand in her husband’s murder.

Hey, did you check into that thing in Tampa?

Seconds later he gets a response

I’ll be there in a minute, I’m around the corner.

Remembering Savannah is also a soon to be victim of his soon to be fiancé, Warren texts Doug for an update

Hey bro, did you check into that thing?

Doug also texts right back

Yeah, bro. That’s dude sister.

They’ve been living together since she moved to town three years ago.

I found out a few more details that might interest you too.

Warren reads Doug’s text then before he can respond, the doorbell rings

Marcus sits down at the kitchen table with Warren and lays a thin folder on the table

“What’s that?” Warren asks

“It’s the case you asked me about.”

“It’s pretty cut and dry. Because it was ruled a double murder suicide, there really wasn’t much to the case.”

Warren takes the folder and flips through the pages. Marcus sits watching him then asks

“Why the sudden interest in this case?”

“I…” he begins still skimming the folders contents

“Did they investigate and see how the husband found them?”

“Was there messages or credit card charges?” Warren asks looking up at him

“No, bro. What the h*ll is up? Cause there’s nothing here.”

Warren sits staring at the folder then shaking his head, he says

“I just… I don’t know.”

“I’m gonna tell you something, off the record” Warren says finally looking up at Marcus

“This is some crazy sh*t man.” he states still shaking his head

“A few weeks ago, Bria rushed off to go handle something with Susan. Like half an hour after she left, she texted me to go check on Jacob. And I found him unconscious and stabbed in the shoulder.”

“He told the cops that somebody broke in and stabbed him. But Susan actually had stabbed him after he told her, he’d gotten some chick pregnant”

“What the f…”

“Nawl bro, that ain’t nothing, listen.”

“Ever since then, Bria’s been acting weird. The other day, we went to a doctors’ appointment and saw Jay there with his girl. Man, she straight lost it.”

“Bro, she had Jay hemmed up against the wall and told this man she was gonna kill him and ole girl.”

“What!” Marcus exclaims

Warren shakes his head then says

“Not only did she tell him, but she’s also told me that she was serious a few times and that he knows she’s serious.”

“I’ve known her what, almost six months. I thought I knew her but man…”

Remembering the comments Bria had made about the truck driver, Warren laughs

“Oh, and she went on to recall everything that had happened with Dillon and asked me what happened to the driver of the truck that killed Mia”

“D*mn bro!”

“What did you tell her?” Marcus asks

“I didn’t want to lie, so I just told her I wasn’t answering her question.”

With a raised eyebrow, Marcus says

“You might as well have said you killed him”

Laughing, Marcus says

“Looks like you’ve met your match!”

“Man…” Warren begins then just shakes his head

“I can’t wrap my head around her. What happened with the driver was justified, I mean…” he stops unable to find the words

“Well, in this case, she didn’t pull the trigger. She wasn’t even in the city.” Marcus states closing the case file

Doug comes walking into the kitchen before Warren can respond.

“I knew when you didn’t text me back, you was with this guy” he states opening the fridge

Marcus and Warren just sit not responding and Doug asks

“Did you tell him about your girl coming to see me today?”

“Man, I was a little turned on. Bro, she a savage!” He adds laughing

“D!” Warren states

“Man, I’m sorry…” Doug replies

“What did she come see you for?” Marcus asks

“About ole dude getting jumped” he replies

“She was fishing and wanting a favor!” Warren states

“Anyway. D, why you here?”

“I told you I had more details about dude sister Eva!”

“And since when do I need a reason?” he asks

“I already know Savannah is pregnant by Jacob.” Warren states draining all of Doug’s enthusiasm

“How…” he begins then stops

“So, what’s your plan?” Marcus asks

“I have no idea. Until all this sh*t with Jay, everything was perfect. I mean, Bria was finally talking to me again, and coming back to work at 981. Now I have no clue what the f*ck I’m gonna do.”

“I just know I can’t sign off on this situation with Jay and still be able to look Jewels in the eye.” Warren states

“She sounds like a serial killer, the way she keeps talking about Jacob. And I even tried reasoning with her, saying he’s Jewel’s uncle. She is like a shark that smells blood in the water!” he whispers still shaking his head

“I can’t let her kill Jay” he adds looking at Marcus

“But I also can’t let anything happen to her.”

“D*mn bro!”

“I mean, Jay seems to be the problem. He just needs to disappear, maybe he’ll just move to Venezuela, and she’ll forget about him.” Marcus states

Doug’s phone rings and pulling it out, he says

“I gotta take this” then leaves the kitchen

“I know you in love wit Bria and she’s carrying your baby, but honestly…” Marcus begins then pauses as Warren turns to look back at him

“She seems reckless.”

“You know I got your back, but there’s only so much I can do.” Marcus states then stands up

Doug comes back in the kitchen and asks

“Bro, you heard from your girl, Bria?”

“No. Why?”

“That was Jen, she told me Dillon’s sister had been in this huge pile up on the parkway. It was like a ten-car pileup.”

Warren’s phone rings distracting them, glancing at it he sees an unfamiliar number on the screen. His heart stops briefly as he answers the phone.

Twenty minutes later, Warren, Doug and Marcus arrive at Capital hospital. Walking in, they see what looks to be Dillon standing at the desk on crutches, talking to a nurse, and turning to the waiting room, Doug spots Jennifer sitting in a corner on her phone.

After seeing Dillon, Marcus tells Doug he’s not gonna stay and they walk back outside. Warren spots Bria getting out of her car when they walk outside and Marcus whispers

“And the plot thickens!”

“I’ll catch you later bro” he adds walking towards his car

“What are you doing here?” Bria asks when she sees Warren approaching her

“I should ask you the same thing.” He states

“Sue was in a car accident.” She responds

“Jacob and Savannah were also in an accident.”

“And I’m actually doubting it was an accident at all”

Bria ignores him and continues to walk past him. Grabbing her arm, Warren asks

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

“I just have a bad feeling about this.”

“Dillon is inside” Warren whispers causing Bria to peer up at him, eyes filled with tears

“Why is he here?”

“Savannah is his sister” he answers

Laughing, Bria says

“Of course, she is!”

Inside, they approach the desk and while Warren stands talking with the nurse, Bria spots Doug and Jennifer also sitting in the lobby.

The nurse informs them that Susan is in surgery and the doctor would be out as soon as he could to update them on her injuries. Jacob was being patched up and would be allowed visitors soon. Turning to the waiting room Bria asks

“What are they doing here?” Referring to Doug and Jennifer

“She drove Dillon here and Doug was at my house.” Warren whispers

Warren and Bria walk over to join Doug, Jennifer, and Dillon and to their surprise, Dillon struggles to stand up and Jennifer quickly gets up to assist him.

As Doug watches them, a suspicious look crosses his face. Once Dillon is to his feet, he leaves the area without saying a word and Bria sits down next to Jennifer and says

“You two make a cute couple!”

“Don’t start, we’re just friends” Jen replies

“Friends my *ss!” Doug mutters

Ignoring Doug’s comment Jen asks

“How is Sue?”

“I don’t know, she’s in surgery” Bria whispers

“What the hell happened?” Jennifer asks

“How is it that all three of them were in a car accident at the same time?” she adds

“I knew Dillon’s sister was pregnant, but I didn’t know she was pregnant by Sue’s husband. That’s some crazy sh*t!” she murmurs as they fall into an eerie silence

“Mr. Daniels!” the nurse calls out gaining Warren’s and everyone else’s attention

Doug goes to the back to check on Jacob with Warren.

Once they leave the waiting room, Jennifer asks

“What the h*ll am I missing?”

Bria just sits shaking her head, unable to shake the idea that Susan had somehow intentionally caused this accident.

“From the look on Dillon’s face, I’m worried” Jen whispers

“Why are you still hanging out with him?” Bria asks

“We’re friends, what do you mean?”

“Friends Jen, you seem more like his girlfriend.” Bria states

“No, he is obsessed with you!”

“Or at least he was!” she adds

“You never did tell me what went down with that whole situation, by the way” Jennifer states

Doug walks back out into the waiting room, passing Dillon on the way, with a wicked glare.

“Jay is ok, he just got whiplash and a sprained wrist.” he states walking up to them

“That’s good. What about Sue and Savannah?” Jen replies but Bria just sits there uninterested in Jacob

“I don’t know” he replies

“It’s getting late. Are you gonna wait for an update on Sue before leaving?” Doug asks sitting back down next to Jennifer taking her hand

“I umm…” she begins then stopping, she sees what looks to be a doctor walk out to talk to Dillon and with out another word, she gets up and goes over to them

Bria watches her then turning to Doug who is also watching her, she whispers

“You might need to send your goons back to finish the job” with a raised eyebrow, she smirks, and Doug stands up and walks over to Jennifer, practically dragging her out the door

Bria laughs then goes back over to the desk to get an update on Susan

An hour later, Bria stands at Sue’s bedside, searching her mangled body. Susan had suffered a broken arm, hip and leg and also had a mild concussion. Still unconscious from the anesthesia Bria had still been unable to get any answers.

Dillon had also been informed of Savannah’s condition. She was rushed into surgery after suffering serious internal injuries. They’d performed an emergency cesarean section but was unable to save the baby. Post-surgery after suffering a stroke, she had been placed on life support with minimal brain activity.

Warren stood talking with Jacob in an attempt to get to the bottom of he and Bria’s animosity.

“It’s complicated and it runs deeper than you could imagine!” Jay states

“Try me” Warren replies

“Look, I’m sorry you’re in the middle of all this.” Jacob responds

Shaking his head Warren says

“Jay, you’re like a brother to me but Bria is carrying our daughter and…” he pauses when he sees Jay’s expression

“After Mia, I never thought I’d fall in love again.”

“Well, you fell in love with the wrong woman bro!” Jacob states

“Nee is a f*ck*ng monster. You know her and Sue is the reason Jaylen was killed.” he adds

“No, there’s no evidence of that” Warren replies

Laughing, Jacob says

“Bria knew about Jaylen’s infidelity for years. It only took Sue making a phone call for all her problems to go away. Then all of a sudden, she was the wealthy, blindsided widow. Selling off his assets and ridding the world of his very existence.”

“She was patient, I give her that” Jay adds shaking his head

“What do you mean Sue made a phone call for her problems to go away?” Warren asks

“Sue called the husband and told him that Jaylen and the chick was in Tampa, they were gonna pay him, but the fool killed himself too.”

Warren stands dumbfounded, unable to respond. Even with the nagging feeling that there was more to Jaylen’s death, he never actually wrapped his head around how he’d feel once he got the answers he was looking for.

“Bria is a phenomenal person, she’s sweet, kind and loving. Julie loves her and I know she is crazy about Julie. Honestly, I see why you fell in love with her.”

“But?” Warren whispers when Jacob stops

“But it only takes one mishap for that sweet, kind and loving to become, evil, vicious and vindictive. There is literally a thin line between love and hate and in her mind, there is no way back”

“I slept with Savannah once, five months ago. It was a drunken blunder that I never intended to repeat. I love Sue with everything, and we were going through a rough patch because she couldn’t get pregnant. Just when things started to feel like normal again, Savannah called me out of nowhere and said she was pregnant, and it was mine.”

“Her words hit me like a ton of bricks, and I knew in that moment that my life was over. That night I told Sue and you know what followed. Since then, I’ve tried everything to get her back. I gave it one last shot today, but I know it’s over cause her and Nee have a target on my back.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if this accident was orchestrated by them, or at least Nee” he adds

“Jay, you know Sue was in an accident too” Warren states realizing he apparently hadn’t been informed

“What? How is she?” he asks sitting up in the bed

“She’s in surgery. Bria is in the lobby waiting to hear”

“They should have called you. Where is your phone?” Warren asks

“I don’t know. It’s probably still in the car. That accident scene was crazy”

Jacob sits up and presses the nurse’s button. But to his surprise a doctor comes walking in accompanied by a nurse seconds later. They inform him of Savannah’s condition and her loss of the baby. Unable to focus on anything other than Susan in surgery, he immediately asks to be discharged so he can go check on her.

Susan is awake and groggy when Jacob and Warren walk into her room.

“Why are you here?” Bria asks when she sees him

“This is my wife’s room!” Jay snaps

Warren and Jacob watch as Sue takes Bria’s hand and mutters

“It’s ok.”

Jay scowls at Bria and she stands up from the bed, where she’d been sitting next to Sue. Jacob gets in her face and through gritted teeth he says

“You evil B*tch, you did this…!”

“Hey!” Warren states cutting him off and stepping between the two of them, facing Bria.

“You should wait in the lobby!” Bria tells Warren

“If I leave this room, you’re coming with me!” he mutters

Turning back to Sue, Bria asks

“Do you want him here?”

“Sue” Jay states

“Yeah, give us a minute Nee” she states after studying Jacob for a moment

“I’ll be right outside!” she replies as her and Warren leave the room

Warren and Bria stand in the hall for less than five minutes until suddenly they hear machines beeping from inside Susan’s room and watch as nurses and doctors come racing towards them.

As they usher Jacob from the room, they call a code blue and without warning Bria lunges at Jacob and knocks him to the floor. Collapsing on top of him, she pins him down and doesn’t stop whaling on him until finally Warren is able to pull her off of him. After being forced to pick her up, he carries her to the nearest restroom to try and calm her down.

Warren stands watching Bria, out of breath and panting until finally she breaks down crying and buries her head in his chest. The two of them stand that way for a while until there’s a knock on the bathroom door.