Page 82 of The Devil

As much as I want to run after him, I need to see to my Jess first; she is my main priority. I gallop back inside and leap up the stairs, two at a time, but when I burst into her room, it’s empty.Shit! In a blind panic, I check all the rooms of the house, shouting out her name as I go along. It’s only when I get outside that I notice her bike is missing. She’s gone too.

She must have cycled down the river path, which means I can’t track her down in my car. Besides, I know where she’s going, so, reluctantly, I concede to the fact that I’m going to have to wait until they eventually call me.

Helena

I’m sitting alone in the garden when I finally get the phone call from my sister-in-law, still sobbing into an undrunk glass of wine.

“Hello,” I sniff into the phone, “please tell me she’s alright.”

“She’s fine, Hels,” Lily says quietly, as though Jess is close by. “She’s very angry, but she’s safe. What the hell happened? Did you guys fight or something?”

I shake my head silently as the sobs cause my shoulders to shudder.

“Evan’s not…” I begin but can’t manage to get the words out.

“Evan?! What’s he done now? He’s not there with you, is he?” Lily asks in a panic-stricken voice. At her outcry, a more masculine voice suddenly takes over, with his voice full of fear and anger.

“Where the hell is Evan? Helena, you tell me right now or so help me-”

“For fuck’s sake, Evan isn’t here!” I cry, cutting Cameron off before he can go on any more about the man who caused all of this. “Hopefully, he’s dead in a ditch somewhere.” I’ve never meant those words more, after everything he’s said and done, this is the final thing that would push me to homicide. “Evan isn’t Jess’ father; she did a DNA test without me knowing and now she’s demanding to find out who he is.”

“Fuck!” Cameron eventually gasps down the phone. “I’m coming over.”

When Cameron finally turns up, I end up blurting everything out. Every detail between Spain, the pregnancy, not knowing who the father was, DNA tests, right up to Lucius storming out of here. The only thing I leave out is just how bad my marriage was. That’s not important right now; Jess is the crucial thing in all of this, and I need everyone to remember that.

Cameron has remained quiet and pensive throughout, all while holding my hand in a comforting and reassuring way. If nothing else, I finally have my brother again.

“Helena, we will fix this,” he says determinedly. “I’m not going to let that fucker screw up anything else. Do you still have the DNA results that Evan gave to you when Jess was a baby?”

“Of course, I kept it with all her baby things.”

“Good,” he declares, sounding like his role as CEO of Medina Technologies. “You’re going to get it and take it over to Lucius right now… Actually, maybe give him half an hour or so.”

“Why the hell should I?” I cry in outrage, suddenly feeling anger surging up from the very depths of my being; how dare Lucius sit on his pedestal of judgment?! “Whatever he thinks of me, he’s pretty much just rejected Jess and accused me of being a completely heinous bitch. How could he think I would do this on purpose?”

“Hels, I-” Cam says, putting his hands up in a defensive stance, but I’m on a roll.

“I’m so fed up with everyone accusing me of being some kind of slut, even my own daughter! I did the right thing, I used protection, I agreed to a DNA test, and I married who I thought was her father. I gave up my life, my happiness, and I’m still the damn villain!”

“Calm down-”

“No! Did anyone think less of you or Nate when you two slept about? No! Because you’re men and that’s what men are supposed to do. Us mere little women are supposed to wear chastity rings and save ourselves for our husbands so we can be good little wives.”

“Woah!” Cameron cries, grabbing hold of my shoulders to stop my angry pacing and ranting. “Where the hell is all this coming from, Hels? I just meant that perhaps you need to see it from his point of view…if only for a moment. As much as I think the guy’s still a cocky little fucker, he has just found out he is a father. Not only that, but he’s also the father of a near-on adolescent.”

His words finally manage to make me take a moment to breathe. Standing still, I try to do as he says and think about it, even though I am physically shaking with rage. Unfortunately, I’m still breathing fiercely, as if I’m a bull in a fighter’s ring, getting ready to go to war, so Cam tries again.

“He has just been told that everything to do with his child was taken away from him, without him even knowing about it,” Cameron says gently, placing his hands affectionately on each of my shivering arms. “This is not your fault, but at the moment, he doesn’t know that. He can only see the shit storm before him.”

“Damn it,” I whisper begrudgingly, “don’t come over here being all reasonable about him now.”

He simply smiles and gives me one of those brotherly hugs I’ve been missing for all these years.

“Don’t worry,” he says as he holds onto me, “you can get back at me soon when I’m sleep deprived and going all goo goo overmybaby.”

“What?!” I gasp with a huge smile on my face. “You mean Lily’s…?”

He nods, looking beyond smitten over the news.

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