Page 17 of Half of My Heart
ChapterSeven
This feels so damn wrong.
Leaving Jenna’s condo after I just found them isn’t sitting right and it’s just adding more fuel to the fire that’s building inside of me. None of this would be happening if I was told the truth from day one.
I stalk toward the elevator and once I reach it, I punch at the down button. Not being able to stand still, I start to pace while we wait. My mother remains silent, but she watches me with concern. She knows I’m like a volcano ready to erupt.
The ding of the elevator alerts us to its arrival, and we walk inside when the doors open. As soon as they close, I can’t hold myself back any longer.
“Fuck!” I roar out before turning toward the wall and kicking the shit out of the wood paneling. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”
I kick the wall harder, the hole that has formed growing larger with each kick.
“Cal, please stop!” My mother pleads and I stop long enough for her to throw her arms around me, holding me as tightly as she can. I will myself to calm down and try to take deep breaths to regain my composure. Before I’m ready, we’ve reached the lobby of the building and the doors to the elevator open. Needing to get out of the confined space, I don’t even bother looking at the damage and instead, head straight to the front desk to report it.
“My name is Cal Harrington and I’ve damaged your elevator,” I tell the front desk concierge bluntly without any greeting. I take my calling card out of my coat pocket and hand it to him. “This is my assistant’s phone number. Please let her know how much it costs for repairs and I will pay for it.”
“I know who you are, sir, and if this behavior happens again, you will be banned from entering the building. Do you understand?” He barely glances at me while reaching for the phone and dialing what I presume to be the maintenance department.
“Noted,” I nod at him, liking the fact that he isn’t accepting my bullshit just because I’m a celebrity.
I turn and walk toward the front entrance, my mother following behind. As soon as we get outside, we walk to our awaiting car. I open the door for my mother, my anger subsiding enough for me to remember my manners. I shut her door once she’s in and move around the back of the car to my side, where the driver is holding the door open for me. I get in and once he shuts the door, I stare out the window. I can’t handle small talk right now and my mother must sense it because she gives me about five minutes of silence before speaking.
“Talk to me, Cal.” Her soft voice cuts through my thoughts, but my eyes remain locked on the outside world as it passes by.
“All this time. All this fucking time they’ve been out here without me.” I shake my head because I just don’t have the words for how lost I feel about everything.
“I’m so terribly sorry this has happened to you, Cal.” She reaches over and grabs my hand, giving it a squeeze of encouragement. “You have every right to be angry, but now that you know the truth, you need to regroup and focus on the future. You have a lot of decisions to make.”
“The only decision I need to figure out right now is how I’m going to make my ex-assistant pay for what she did. Everything else is decided. I’m moving to Chicago and being a part of my daughter’s life. There’s no discussion needed on that.”
“Revenge isn’t going to take away the past and the time you’ve lost with your daughter. Let that go, Cal. You need to put all your energy in building back Jenna’s trust. You and Jenna need to have an amicable relationship in order to co-parent without issues.”
“Oh, I plan on having more than just an amicable relationship with Jenna, Mother.”
“Cal…” she warns but before she can go any further, my cell phone rings. I grab it out of my coat pocket, hoping it’s Jenna, but disappointed to see that it’s Philip.
“Can you talk because the suspense is killing me!”
“Valerie,” I spit out in disgust. “Valerie was the mastermind behind all of this. She deleted emails from me, never told me when Jenna called and when Jenna told her that she was pregnant, Valerie pretended to be me in an email and told Jenna I wanted nothing to do with the baby.”
“Shut the fuck up!” Philip says in astonishment. “Are you serious?”
“When she said my email account was hacked and she 'accidentally’ broke my phone and got me a new number…all lies so Jenna would have no way of contacting me anymore.”
“But didn’t you have Jenna’s email address on a card?” Philip asks.
“Yes, but apparently Jenna changed her email address when she thought I didn’t want to be in their lives.”
“Wow, Cal, I’m in shock right now,” Philip mutters. “I just can’t get over what a crazy bitch Valerie is.”
“She needs to pay for this, Phillip.”
“What do you mean? We’re not killing anybody over this, Cal,” he says with a nervous laugh.
“I want to ruin her for what she’s done to me…to us.”
“Cal,” my mother starts but I raise my finger up to signal for her to stop so I can finish my phone call.