Chapter 108

“Danger?” Sabrina exclaimed. “You were in danger, and you didn’t think to reach out? We could have helped you!”
“No, you couldn’t have. In his desperation, my dad turned his trust to the wrong people. And they weren’t the kind of people you cross. If I had called either one of you, it could have put you in danger too.”
“I don’t understand how you were able to handle that all on your own,” Emma shook her head.
“Well, you know. I may be gorgeous, but I’m still tough as nails and can kick anyone’s ass,” Jess winked.
“I thought I saw you once. By the university.”
“Yeah,” Jess put her head down, and laughed. But the sound was sad. “It was me.”
“Why were you there?”
“I guess to try and check on you. I used the excuse that it was to get my stuff. But I graduated the year before. I didn’t have anything left there at all. I figured that going to the university would be the easiest way to see either one of you. Didn’t think you’d recognize me though. I mean, that outfit? All of this gloriousness was covered up. It was atrocious.”
They all laughed. Jess was proud of her body and showed it off whenever and wherever possible. But Emma couldn’t blame her. If she looked like Jess, she’d show off too.
“Things must be okay now, right?” Emma asked.
“Since you reached out, it must mean that you’re out of danger,” Sabrina added.
“Well… not exactly no.”
“What does that even mean?” Sabrina narrowed her eyes.
“To pay off the debts and revive his company, Dad made some questionable decisions. He took whatever jobs he could get. He cut corners and just did things he wouldn’t normally have done.”
“What do you mean?” Emma asked. Jess pulled a face like she didn’t want to say.
“Out with it, girl!” Sabrina demanded. “You’ve kept us in the dark forever. You called us here for a reason.”
“Ugh!” Jess’s hand flew into her hair. She ruffled it for a moment before looking back up at them. “Dad got a big job to work on this big building downtown.”
“Yeah, I know about that building,” Emma mused.
“You should. The job was offered by Stewart Industries.”
That news lingered between them. It was a heavy curtain, dampening all light. Emma wasn’t sure why those words felt like a lead weight in her stomach.
“I take it that isn’t good news?” Sabrina asked.
“It was at first,” Jess said. “The project manager that contacted us promised a 50% advance on the payment. It enabled us to pay off the debt we had accumulated.”
“But….”
“But” Jess echoed. “In order to get it, we had to work with the suppliers hired by their company. We couldn’t use our own suppliers or anything.”
“Uh oh,” Sabrina interjected.
“’Uh oh’, is right. I didn’t like it. Not one bit. I tried to talk Dad out of it. I told him that it seemed suspicious, but he wanted the money, so he signed the contract. Work started a month later.”
The feeling of dread continued to grow inside of Emma. It coiled like a serpent under her skin.
“What went wrong?” Emma asked. Sabrina and Emma leaned in, rapt with attention. Sabrina was also filled with a sense of trepidation. This story did not have a happy ending.
“A lot of things. It was clear from the beginning that things weren’t good. The equipment was faulty. The machinery was old and unreliable. It was mayhem. But we managed somehow.”
“This is downtown?” Sabrina asked.
“Yeah.”
“The construction that way is terrible. It’s causing all sorts of traffic delays and everything. Alex told over dinner once that Will had originally denied that project. How strange that it’s happening now.”
Jess made a face at that. In her searching, she had heard the same. While in the shadows, Jess had done a lot of digging and was starting to see that not all was well within Stewart Industries.
“We reported, well I reported all of the things that were going wrong. At first the project manager would help.”
“You reported things?” Emma asked.
“I made myself the foreman, foreperson I mean, at the site. Dad was only concerned with getting the money, so he didn’t hire one. He either didn’t care or didn’t notice all of the red flags. So, I stepped in and sort of took over. But like I said, the project manager helped at first. Then she just stopped answering. I couldn’t get a hold of her, or anyone at the company.”
“But like, what was going wrong? Sabrina asked.
“Girl, everything! Like I mentioned, it was bad equipment, bad machinery. The suppliers were unreliable. We went two weeks without any supplies being delivered. None of the contractors would speak with me. It was a nightmare.”
“Sounds like it,” Emma said. “Where was your dad this during all of this?”
“Doing his best to keep everyone paid. Because that was the other part. That 50% deposit we were promised turns out was a lie to get Dad to sign the contract. We never got it. We got 25%. When I called about the first time, the lady said it was a clerical error and they would resolve it.”
“Clerical error, my ass!” Sabrina seethed. “What the fuck is going on at Will’s company?”
“’What the fuck’, indeed,” Jess agreed. “I kept trying to contact someone. But then… it happened.”
“What did?” Emma asked, but she was certain she would not like the answer.
“One of the construction workers… he…” Jess’s eyes looked dark. Her clenched fists trembled with thinly veiled raged. She took a few deep breaths and looked back up at them. “One of our workers was killed on the site.”
“Killed?” Emma and Sabrina gasped.
“Holy shit!” Sabrina continued.
“It was bad. One of the excavators that the company provided had been acting up. I was calling about it for weeks. I told Dad that we shouldn’t use it. It had been giving us all sorts of problems, and the operator didn’t even want to use it anymore. But Dad insisted. Because of all the issues, we were terribly behind schedule. So, that day… The excavator, the big arm part, you know?” she asked. Her friends nodded, indicating they understood. “It fell off… and it… crushed one of the workers. Killed him on the spot.”
“Fuck,” Sabrina whispered. Emma reached across the table and placed her hand on Jess’s.
“I’m so sorry,” Emma tried to comfort her friend.
“He was young. He’d just gotten back from his honeymoon and found out his new wife was pregnant. I tried calling the project manager, or the person who had first reached out to my father. But nothing. No one will answer. I went so far as to go to the Stewart Industries office. But no one could or would help me.”
“You need an attorney,” Sabrina said.
“We can’t afford one. I’ve been taking care of as much as I can. Now Dad is sick because of this. The worker’s wife is suing us, the other workers have quit. Everyone thinks that Dad is solely responsible for this. It was no secret that he was hard up for cash. He had cut corners before to save money, so they think he did the same thing this time.”
Jess was trying to hold it together. Her warrior spirit kept her fighting, but she was so tired. She couldn’t even keep track of time anymore. Keeping her father in check, supervising a construction site, hunting down corrupt companies, and doing to her best to stay hidden. As strong as she was, she couldn’t keep doing it anymore.
“We got your back now,” Sabrina affirmed. “We’ll get justice for the man who died and for your Dad. Even if he made some dumb decisions.”
“The dumbest,” Jess rolled her eyes, but then smiled. “I am sorry for falling off the face of the earth. Things were crazy and by the time things were safe again, I was neck deep in waters I couldn’t swim through.”
“We forgive you,” Emma said. “We’re here for you now.”