GREED(15)
He sat, crossed his legs and folded the paper across his lap.
“Bridge,” I said, opening the floor for her.
My mother, distracted before, finally noted Bridge’s puffy eyes and red nose. “Bridget, honey, are you all right?”
The tears started streaming anew, but she stayed my mom with a hand when she attempted to comfort her. “I’m fine, well, not fine, but I have something to tell you both.”
She took a deep, cleansing breath and I sat forward, fists clenched, preparing for the inevitable blowup from my father.
“I’m pregnant,” she said.
The quiet was deafening.
“This isn’t a problem,” my dad said, with eerie softness, pressing the creases of the paper over and over.
“It’s not?” I asked, bewildered.
“No, this is an easy fix, especially since it’s over Christmas break.”
“No,” Bridge said, realizing what he meant.
“Excuse me?” our dad said, breaking his cool exterior and uncrossing his legs.
“No,” Bridge said strongly.
“Dear, lovely, stupid, whorish Bridge,” my dad said, sliding forward and staring right into her eyes, his face pinched with the most evil expression I’d ever encountered, reminding me of Piper yet again. “You will get rid of that thing, or I swear to God I will have you killed and make it look like an accident.”
My mother gasped.
“Dad!” I said, jumping up.
He stood and met me nose to nose.
“She wants to keep it,” I said.
“I don’t give a shit. This will not be tolerated. I’m in the middle of the biggest merger of my life and I will not have our family name tarnished!”
“Oh, but having her murdered won’t bring unnecessary awareness? Possibly negative awareness?”
He considered what I’d said, the sick bastard.
“Perhaps,” he agreed, “but it’s got to go to save this merger.”
“Give it up, old man. This family name is soiled beyond redemption and you know it. It’s why Peter Knight said no. It’s why they all initially say no. It’s why I’m always called home to fix it.”
His neck turned beet red.
“Shut the fuck up, Spencer!”
My fists clenched tighter and my chest met his. “Make me, you lousy piece of shit!” I yelled in his face.
Bridge stood and pulled me away. “I’m keeping it, Dad,” she said, charging past me toward the stairs.
Mom stood with her hands over her mouth, unable to speak.
“Stay right there!” Dad yelled, and she, like I, was powerless to disobey. “Come here,” he said more steadily.
She descended into the sunken living again and stood beside me once more, this time trembling.
“I—” she began.
“Shut up.” Her mouth shut tightly. “You forget,” he said, with frighteningly quiet intensity, “I have a lot of political pull in this city. I’ve got a handful of doctors sitting in my back pocket right this minute. So, I’m only going to say this once. You will take care of this of your own volition and immediately, or I will have you deemed of unsound mind and get one of my judges to approve any medical procedures I see fit. Now, think about this for a moment, Bridget. Imagine how difficult I could make your life if I had this kind of power over you.”
My heart pounded in my chest. “You wouldn’t,” I said, scared by him for the first time in a very long time.
“Wouldn’t I?” he asked me and only me, a devilish smirk across his face. And, of course, I knew he would. “I consider it your job to make sure she goes through with this,” he told me.
He walked out of the room, never looking at Bridge or my mom again.
“Bridge,” I said softly, edging toward her.
Her eyes became glassy. “No,” she whispered. Tears spilled over. “No,” she said again.
“Bridge,” I said, reaching for her, “we have to.”
My mom wrapped her arms around her, and I wrapped my own around both of them.
Bridge and I talked all night and I finally convinced her that going in was the best thing because either way, dad would make sure it was done. Going in voluntarily would at least save her the punishment of my dad controlling every aspect of her life for the rest of her life. He would do it too, just to punish her. I didn’t trust the man before, but I never thought him capable of the threat against Bridge until I saw the expression in his eyes. He showed me how truly heartless he was, how he was willing to take down his own daughter to achieve what he wanted and any miniscule feeling I had left for him was snuffed out the second he proclaimed it.
She agreed that her friends and classmates would desert her, judge, and mock her as well. She didn’t think she’d be able to weather their torment. She remembered a classmate of hers getting knocked up and the hell she was put through. She decided she wouldn’t go through that.