As Tiffany descended the stairs carrying a duffel bag, she paused when she saw Jack seated by the foot of the stairs where she had left him as though he had remained there waiting for the past two hours.
He stood up immediately he heard her footsteps, "Tiffany, I know this is a lot to ask, but can I come with you to the hospital? Please?" Jackson asked hopefully.
"I don't think that is a good idea," Tiffany said flatly as she tried to walk past him but he grabbed her hand.
"Please, Tiff. I just want to see her, know how she is doing, and apologize to her. I understand I went about it all the wrong way. I took advantage of her loneliness. I thought seducing her would be easier than confessing my feelings to her. Please let me see her just this once, Tiff," Jack pleaded, while Tiffany looked at him surprised by the genuineness in his gaze.
The only problem she had always had with Jack as her husband was the fact that he flirted with so many ladies and usually wasn't discreet about it.
She didn't have a problem with him having an affair since she wasn't sexually interested in him, but she would have preferred if he had just a mistress and kept the relationship a secret instead of doing it so openly to the extent that everyone called him a dog.
Apart from that flaw, he was not a bad person. He treated her well even though they both knew they weren't in love with each other and he tried to show up at events that were important to her.
"I really don't think she would want to see you," Tiffany said weakly.
She had spent most of the last two hours upstairs crying and feeling bad for herself and Bernice. She had spent that time asking herself so many what ifs. What would her life had been like had she come out open about her sexual preference and lived her truth? Would Bernice's life had been better had Bernice gotten married to Jack instead of Adam? Would Jack have been happier and probably more decent?
"If she asks me to leave, I will. I won't create a scene I promise. Please, Tiff," Jack pleaded as they both held each other's gaze.
Tiffany sighed, "Let me get the food and then we can leave," Tiffany said, and Jack took the duffel bag from her as she went to the kitchen to get the food she had asked them to pack for her and Bernice.
As she approached the car, Jackson went to her and took the food pack from her which he carefully placed in the backseat while she got into the car.
Once Jackson got into the drivers seat he turned to Tiffany, "I'm sorry, Tiff. I know this whole thing is stupid and I must have sounded insensitive earlier. I did not mean to hurt your feelings by having an affair with Benny or telling you how I feel about her...."
"Can we not talk about it right now?"
"I'm sorry. It's all my fault. Please don't be mad at Benny," Jack said apologetically.
"I can't make up my mind yet if I prefer you fucking around with everything in skirt or I'm okay with you being in love with Benny," Tiffany said, and Jackson nodded.
"I understand how you feel. I know I made a mess of things. I'm sorry. I will apologize to Benny and try to fix things with Adam...."
"There is no need to fix things with Adam. Benny is divorcing him," Tiffany said, and for the first time Jackson felt hope surge within him.
"She is?" He asked, sounding more excited than he had intended to.
"Yes. But I hope you realize that this doesn't mean you can get together with Benny. You are still married to me. It would be weird for you to be with my sister," Tiffany reminded him.
"We both know she wouldn't want to have anything to do with me either, so let's not think about that. I will apologize to her, and also apologize to Adam, because it's the right thing to do," Jackson insisted, and Tiffany sighed.
"Alright. Let's go," Tiffany said, and with that Jackson started the car and drove off to the hospital.
By the time they arrived at the hospital, Lisa was in the room with Bernice, and she stood up immediately she saw Jackson, wanting to yell at him to leave, but paused when she saw that Jackson wasn't even looking at her, and his gaze was fixed on Bernice's sleeping form.
"Why did you bring him here?" Lisa asked in a tight voice, and Bernice opened her eyes.
"Because I wanted to. Benny, is it okay if Jack speaks with you? If you say no, he will leave right now," Tiffany said as she took the duffel bag from Jackson and placed it on the couch along with the food pack.
Bernice's gaze shifted to Jackson and she turned away from him when she noticed the bruise beside his left brow, and the crack on his lower lip. Tiffany had told her about the fight between Adam and Jack, and as much as she felt sorry for getting sexually involved with her sister's husband, she had felt an odd sense of satisfaction in knowing that Adam had been mad enough by her action to fight. She had been even more glad when she heard that Adam had taken more punches from Jack than he delivered.
Although Bernice didn't want to speak to Jack since she wasn't sure she wanted to be alone with him, she gave Tiffany a nod since the request had come from Tiffany.
"Thanks," Jackson whispered to Tiffany as he moved closer to the bed, while Lisa watched him with hawk eyes.
"Let's excuse them," Tiffany said, and Lisa raised a brow.
"Why would I want to leave your husband alone with her?" Lisa asked in annoyance, every bit the protective sister that she was.
"Lisa, we don't have to fight over everything, and I'm particularly not in the mood right now," Tiffany said, and without waiting for Lisa to follow her, she walked out of the room.
"Lisa, please excuse us," Bernice said quietly even though she was grateful to have Lisa looking out for her this way.
Lisa looked from Jackson to Bernice reluctantly and then back again, "Don't you dare try anything. I will be standing right outside the door. If she so much as whimpers I will kick your ass," Lisa threatened, before waddling away.
The moment Lisa shut the door behind her, Bernice turned her face away from Jackson. She couldn't bring herself to meet his gaze. She didn't want to.
"How are you feeling now?" Jackson asked in a concerned tone.
"I'm fine. The doctor said I can leave by tomorrow morning," Bernice said without looking at him.
"I'm glad," Jackson said as he continued to look at her.
"I know I messed up. I almost messed up your life. I'm sorry," Jackson said, not minding that she wasn't looking at him.
"None of it was your fault."
"It is my fault. I seduced you. I took advantage of your loneliness. Christ, Benny! You tried to take your life. If I had not seduced you, things would never have gotten to that extent. I would never have forgiven myself if you did not survive. Never," Jackson said and this time Bernice turned to look at him.
"I'm an adult and can take responsibility for my actions. I didn't try to take my life because you seduced me. I tried to take my life because I was feeling frustrated and I hated the person I had become. I wanted to end it all. It had nothing to do with you," Bernice said calmly.
"You wouldn't have felt that way had I not gotten into the picture. I'm going to do my best to fix this, Benny. I will do all I can, I promise."
"There is nothing to fix. Although, I'm sorry I slept with Tiffany's husband, we all agree that everything probably happened this way for the best of everyone. I finally got to see the sort of person my mother is and what she is capable of. Anita and Tiffany got to see for themselves too. Now we will all be free from her," Bernice said, and Jackson sighed.
"Does that mean you are not mad at me?" He asked hopefully.
"I have no reason to be mad at you. I knew you were my sister's husband when I chose to do what I did. We share equal responsibility in whatever happened between us. Now I hope we can put it behind us. I hope you can work things out with Tiffany, and this doesn't affect your marriage," Bernice said and Jackson nodded.
"Thanks. If there is anyway I can be of help to you, do not hesitate to let me know. You can tell Tiffany," Jackson said, and without waiting for her to say anything he quickly headed for the door so he wouldn't be tempted to tell her exactly how he felt about her.
Immediately he opened the door, Lisa rushed in to check on Benny, while Tiffany met her husband, "Are you done?" She asked, and he gave her a nod.
"Yeah. Thanks, Tiff," he said as he looked at her, and she sighed when she saw the sadness in his eyes.
"Are you going to the office now?" She asked, and he shook his head.
"I'm not sure. I think I will just head back home," Jackson said, and kissed Tiffany's cheeks before walking away.
Tiffany felt a pang in her heart as she watched him leave with his shoulders drooped in resignation, and she sighed as she returned inside the room to join her sisters.
Jackson dialed Adam's line the moment he got into his car, wanting to settle things with him and get that out of the way. He didn't want Adam to make a big deal out of his affair with Bernice or use that against her in any way.
Away from there, in Rebekah's apartment, she stood over Adam's unconscious form with the man she had called earlier.
Thankfully she had been able to call her maids and ask them to take some time off to themselves and come back later in the evening since she was in the middle of an important meeting and didn't want to be distracted.
"What do you want me to do with him? Bury his body or just dump him somewhere and make it look like he was involved in an accident?" The man asked.
"Judging by the crack on his head anyone call tell his head hit something. You can move his body somewhere else. And make it look...."
The rest of her sentence trailed off when Adam's phone suddenly started ringing, startling her.
"His phone. I forgot about that," Rebekah said as she looked down at Adam, and the man with her deeper his gloves hands into Adam's jacket to take out his phone.
"Jackson," Rebekah murmured when he showed her the name of the caller.
It would have been very nice if she could find a way to pin this on Jackson since they had both been involved in a fist fight just the previous day. It would prevent any further investigation that might point to her. But if she did that, she would be exposing the fact that Bernice had an affair with Jackson, and that would cause a lot of issues for Bernice.
How was Bernice going to cash out as Adam's widow if the news of her infidelity got out?
She pursed her lips as she considered it. If she would be able to get her daughters to deny Bernice's affair with Jackson, then maybe she could pull it off, after all she was doing it for them. She was certain her daughters would be willing to cooperate with her.
If Jackson gets jailed for the crime, Tiffany could file for divorce and take as much as she can get from him, and then Tiffany would be free to live as she wanted. It would be a win for her girls.
Having made up her mind she turned to the man, "Let's pin this on Jackson. Text him with Adam's phone. Make it clear Adam is leaving my house and going somewhere to meet with a witness. Ask Jackson to meet you there in an hour. Do you have any place in mind with stairs? Somewhere you can make it look like he really fell off the stairs in the middle of an argument?" Rebekah asked, and the man only thought about it for a moment before nodding his head.
"Perfect. I will let you take care of it then," Rebekah said with a satisfied sigh.
Although killing Adam had not been her plan, but this just as well served her purpose. Her daughters had accused her of ruining their lives, and now she was just going to fix it and make sure they all ended up happy. This was the least she could do to make her girls happy.
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