Page 214 of Taeja

“I have someone who wants to speak to you.” Taeja looked over her shoulder at Cassedi, who’d stopped combing her hair.

“Who?” Jerry asked.

“Cassedi,” Taeja answered, and Cassedi’s heart stopped beating completely.

No, no. It was beating. Hard and fast against her chest cavity, flirting with the risk of cardiac arrest. This couldn’t be normal.

“C-Cassedi?” Jerry stuttered, and Cassedi’s heart raced faster. The way he said her name differed from the icy tone he used with their daughter.

“Y-yes,” Cassedi said before clearing her throat. “It’s me.”

“What do you want?” Jerry asked, that trace of emotion gone and replaced by anger.

Whatever heat Cassedi felt sizzled away as if someone doused her in cold water.

“Watch yu tone when yaa talk to mi mother,” Taeja hissed.

“You need to watch your tone when you are talking tome,” Jerry bit back. “I am your father.”

“Some father you are,” Taeja mocked. “Mi nuh call fi argue wid yu. You need to speak to my mother. You have a lot to talk about.”

“I do not have anything to say to her—”

“Teddy lied,” Taeja blurted.

“W-what?” Jerry asked.

Taeja put the phone in Cassedi’s hand, and Cassedi looked at it like it was a foreign object. “Talk to him, Cassedi. I can’t do it for you.”

Cassedi nodded weakly, watching as Taeja walked a distance away from the vehicle. Cassedi inhaled a deep breath. “Jerry?” she said hesitantly.

He didn’t answer, but she heard his heavy breathing on the other end.

“H-how are you?” she asked.

“How do you think?” he hissed. “You have some nerve trying to talk to me, Cassedi.”

Her brows pulled together. “What do you mean?”

“You… left me,” he forced out, his voice shaking. “And our little girl. Do you know how many lies I had to tell her when she asked where you went? Do you know how it felt watching her grow up to become the type of person you are?”

Her throat tightened. “The type of person I am?”

“Yes,” he hissed. “A—” He paused. “I do not want to talk to you, Cassedi. Goto Romar. He has what you are looking for, correct?”

Cassedi batted away the tears. Jerry hadn’t changed much at all. This was the same way he acted when Teddy finally managed to get all the way in his head — harsh, condescending.

“Romar and I have never been in a relationship, Jerry.”

“What?” he mocked.

“That’s what our daughter was telling you. Teddy lied to you.”

“My mother has never lied to me about anything.”

Cassedi scoffed. “Can you allow me to speak?”

“Sure. Go ahead. I wouldloveto hear what sorry excuse you have.”

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