Chapter 77 CHAPTER 080
I guess I already knew the answer to my question from the moment I picked up Tyler's call and the first thing he called me was 'father' in that taunting tone of his. I suspected this. Some parts of me knew it. But because of its absurdity, I shoved it to the back of my mind. I refused to dwell on it. In my head, it simply couldn't be. I refused to acknowledge it.
But the evidence is currently avoiding my eyes. Face downturned in shame. I can't believe it. The car rolls down a smooth abandoned road quietly, cut off from the hustle and bustle of the main city roads, I can't tell where we are but I know it must be the suburbs or some inner part of the city. Sheryl and I both remain silent and my rage stews in the uncomfortable silence.
This is unforgivable. All this madness and it was all for a lie. For both mother and son's sake, I really hope Amelia is unhurt. I really hope I get her back untouched and with as less trauma from the experience as possible. I can't promise what I would do if it is otherwise.
"Now, why in hell's name would you drag me into your mess from twenty one year ago now? Why would you tell your mentally unstable son that I was his father? Me, of all people from that time in our lives. Why?" I don't know if I even really want to know her reasoning. I can guess. It would be another vindictive nonsense. And it would just make me all the more mad.
The more time that passes with Sheryl avoiding my eyes, the more my disbelief sours and turns to burning rage. Rancid and cold. I want to hit something. I want to hurt something. I can't believe she is disrupting my life all this years later.
"I don't know. I can't tell you anything you would reason with. Or understand. I was bitter. I take responsibility for everything." Sheryl pleads. I stare at her quietly, my gaze hard and leveled.
My unwavering expression tells her that the excuse wouldn't cut it. I need more. Something to still the bubbling within me.
She sighs and continues, voice low and dejected.
"Tyler hadn't spoken with me in months and when I finally reached him, he told me he was interning at your firm. He told me about how your company apparently wanted him enough that he was the only one accepted on merit. I was mad at the irony. Or lack thereof. I just wanted him to come home. I wanted to see him. I threw that lie at him from nowhere. I just hinted at it. I asked him to come home so we could talk more. I forgot about the whole thing as soon as I dropped the call. I expected him to come to me. I didn't anticipate all these. I sound crazy and I am terribly sorry about all these. But please, Linc, for old times sake, please, let me take my baby boy home. Please, don't hurt him. Please. I will take him to rehab, I will take care of him so something like this never happens, please. Please. I am so sorry." Sheryl dissolves into another bout of pathetic sobbing.
I stir. It is quite the sight to watch the confident self assured woman I remember Sheryl as, reduced to this. But I hold fast to my resentment. Refusing to be swayed by her display. Whatever she says, the fact still stands. Her son hurt my Amelia based off a lie she told. And that is unforgivable.
Whatever weird codependent relationship Sheryl has with her son, I want no part in it. I don't care what goes on between them, I just really hate how it is affecting me now.
I remember my first reaction to Tyler back at the firm. Distrust. I chalked it up to my jealousy of his youth and proximity with Amelia. But I know better now. I should have trusted my instincts instead of invalidating myself.
"There is no way you want to make me believe that you didn't know about this side to Tyler. At least the potential of it. Yet you set him on me. With a lie as grave as this. And for nothing, Sheryl. Nothing. I can't promise you anything. You will have to take whatever happens from here on out as repercussions for your actions." I say. My voice cold and unforgiving. She did not just give one lousy lie, she also questioned my integrity. There is no way I would have a child somewhere and not be in charge of their welfare. Not be aware of their existence. Not be present in their life as best as I could.
It worries me that Tyler didn't even deem it fit to come ask me. He just ran with it. But I guess I shouldn't. It is still part of his mental health issues. Coupled with the fact that he saw me and Amelia in my office that day, he must have felt a sort of moral superiority to punish us this way.
Sheryl sinks to the floor of the moving car, I stare at her, confused for a moment before I realise she is kneeling in front of me, hands clasped in front of her. Tears streaming down her lined face.
"Get up, Sheryl." I grunt, looking away. Things still feel like a fever dream. I can't come to grasp with the fact that someone really took my Amelia and is holding her hostage due to the worst case of miscommunication yet.
Sheryl crawls to me, hands reaching for my legs, I pull them away in disgust.
"Linc, please. He is just troubled. He wasn't always like this. I have made excuses to cover up for him for so long. But I can't look away anymore. I take full responsibility. Please, tell your men not to hurt him. Please. I will do anything. Please don't hurt my child. He is all I have got." Sheryl claws at her throat, sobbing desperately. She can sense that we are close to the hideout where we narrowed Tyler's location. The cars are slowing, and the road is thinning out.
There is an abandoned warehouse at the end of the road. I get a bad taste in my mouth, imagining Amelia in that drab dull building.