Chapter 91 - Bitter Pill To Swallow

"Are the two of you really that stupid?"  Dorothea cops an attitude, cocking her head to the side, "You really haven't figured this out?"

"Obviously.  Do you think that if we had we would be here?"  Jon snaps at her, with the look of a barking dog, "Please stop playing your games and just tell us."

"Please, Dorothea."  Beth pleads, wringing her hands tightly.  "Tell us how you ended up in a relationship with my dead ex fiance."

Dorothea starts to pace the room, feeling like she has the upper hand for once in her life.  She has information that Jon wants and details that Beth needs and she knows that she has to tell them, but she doesn't want to.  "Why do you have to know?"  

"Dorothea!" he barks.  

She gives Jon a crooked look and starts to say, "Why can't you just accept that I have a man in my life, why do you have to question it, like it's your business, Jon?"

With his frustration at a new level for him, a level that he never thought he would reach - but here he is, faced with another bad decision that his ex wife has made and he has to deal with the fall out.  "How can you think that this is okay, Dorothea?  He was going to marry Beth, they shared a life together and then he died."

"How is it any fucking different that he being with the man that I was married to, huh Jon?" she blurts back at him, "How is it any different?"

Beth can see that this is going nowhere fast and considering that they just returned from their honeymoon there are a million other places that she would rather be.   "Dorothea, he faked his death to avoid being caught for laundering and stealing money.  He turned into a bad man and he shouldn't be around the kids, the people that he wronged could possibly be looking for him."

"You don't know that?"

"Do you want to chance it?  Do you want to risk something happening?" Beth asks her, resting her head in her hands.  "He faked his death, what kind of man does that?"

"He's changed."  She replies, with major attitude.

"Jesus Christ.  Have you lost your mind?"  Jon utters.

"Dorothea, he stole millions of dollars and when he got caught, he faked his death.  He let me bury what I thought was his body and I grieved for a long time.  He died on his way home from his bachelor party."

"So!"

"So, do you really want to be with a man that would do something like that?  Steal money, and put his family and friends through the hell of losing him."

Jon can't deal with their banter anymore.  Beth would talk to her rationally as long as she could on the off chance that she will spill, but Jon knows better.  "Keep him away from my kids and keep him out of the house that I pay for.  And Dorothea, if this man does so much as burp in their presence, I will take them from you."

"You can't do that Jon.  He's only been around Romeo." she tries to defend herself.

"Well, hopefully he stays where ever he is and never comes back."  Beth adds, "But it was real fricken nice of  you to send him to our house on our wedding day.  You just had to fuck that up, didn't you?"

"I had nothing to do with that.  I had no idea he was going over there."

"Whatever."  Beth snaps, "You have been waiting for that day and who better to ruin it than my dead ex fiance."

"Well, I guess it's tit for tat.  You ruined my marriage, so I guess we're even."  Dot snaps back with a smug look on her face.  She knows that Brian showing up at their wedding was wrong and she knows that it ruined their day.  She has satisfaction in that, although she can't take the credit.

Jon is getting angry, not only because Dorothea wasn't co-operating, but because she's also playing dumb.  "What do you and Brian have planned?"

"Nothing Jon! Did you miss the part where I told you that he was gone?" She blurts at him, talking like he's the stupid one.

"When you learned who he was, what did you have in mind.  Did you really think that it was a good idea to get involved with him?" Beth asks, resting her head in her hands, rolling her eyes.  She is having such anxiety over the issue, it's hard for her to form a thought.  "Why would you want to be with someone like that?"

As Beth questions her judgement, Dorothea gets angrier herself, not tasting her words before she spits them out, "I wonder how Jon can be with you after you were raped?  And after you brought someone into his life that killed his baby."

Both Jon and Beth are floored by what just came out of her mouth.  They look at one another and Beth tries to fight the feeling of felling dirty, feeling like she was being identified by what happens to her.  "Dorothea, stop being such a bitch."  Jon yells at her, "Just tell us how you met him and what you had in mind."

"We had nothing in mind Jon.  Can't you accept that everything is not about you and your precious Beth Ann?"

Beth stands and walks to the window, overlooking the city.  She can see her reflection in the glass and sees that she's stressed, she can see that her eyes are dead and that makes her even more upset.  Without turning around she says, "When are you going to let him go?"

There is a silence in the room, Jon not taking his eyes off Beth can see that she's watching them in the reflection,   "Dorothea, if this is about me - you have to stop."

"Jon!" Dorothea screams, "Not everything is about you, didn't you hear what I just said?"

Beth doesn't let him answer, she doesn't give either of them a chance to respond, "Dorothea, we're married now and have a family.  You will never be with him again, so do what you need to do. Do what makes you think that you have a chance.  But as I stand here breathing,"  Beth turns and faces her, "If you or any of your crazy ass men, friends - whatever you call them, if they so much as look in the direction of my family, I'm coming for you."  Beth takes a few steps toward her leaving no room for a reply again, "You have fucked with us since day one and I have been the quiet one, the one that let you walk all over me - but that's done.  Just when I think you can't stoop any lower, you surprise me once again."  Beth takes a deep breath and takes a few more steps, she is now in Dorothea's face, "I think that you have hit bottom, but then you drag more up.  Mark my words Dorothea, I will come for you and I will come for you with a vengeance, you have crossed the last line."

Dorothea chuckles in Beth's face, "Am I supposed to be worried?"

"No.  You go ahead and do the crazy shit that you do, but I will make it my mission to see to it that you never see your own children again.  As it is, the older ones cannot stand the person that you have become.  They both are ashamed to call you their mother after the shit that you have pulled."

"What shit?" she barks in the half second that Beth stops talking.

Beth leans in and they are now nose to nose, Jon moves in a little closer, to be ready should he need to break them up.  He's never seen Beth this angry and he really doesn't know what she's going to do.  "Well, let's start with your suicide attempt, hiring someone to kill me - all the stupid shit that you have done over the years.  All the shit that has only gotten you children that can't stand you.  And once Jake and Romeo are old enough to see what you've done, they will stay away from you as well."

"My kids love me, they will never turn their back on me."

"You think what you want, you've always been good at self delusion but you r kids know that you're crazy.  I may have been the reason that Jon filed for divorce, but your marriage has been over for a long time."

"You bitch."  Dorothea raises a hand as if she were going to hit Beth.  Beth sees it and blocks it, connecting her other hand upside Dorothea's face.  The crack of her hand hitting her face, startled Jon.  But Beth moved too fast for him to act.

"I am the bitch that has your husband and the love of all of your children.  That's right Dorothea, I'm that bitch.  And guess what....."  Dorothea rights herself after catching her balance from the slap across the face, "Your life will only get worse if you continue to fuck with me and my life."

"Beth, let's go."  Jon gently grabs her arm and gives her a tug, "We aren't going to find anything out.  She's too wrapped up in her game."

Dorothea, covering her cheek with her hand says, "Jon, don't go!"

He shakes his head and looks at her, "Don't go?  Do you think that there is a small chance in hell that I would stay here with you?  You are crazy Dorothea, fucking crazy!"  

"I'll tell you what you want to know, but please don't go."  She pleads with Jon, and it's not making any sense to Beth.  Beth is watching them talk like she is at a tennis match, her blood boiling.

"He's not staying here, you crazy bitch.  Tell us what we want to know!!"

"Fuck you!"  Dot blurts at Beth, causing Beth to take a few steps in her direction, "I ain't telling you shit."

Beth stands there and glares at her, having perfected her own version of the stink eye, 

"For the last time, and I mean it Dorothea, how did you meet Brian?"  Jon says to her, between his teeth.  Jon is really good at talking without opening his mouth, Beth calls it his Jersey talk, "How did he get into our lives?"

Dorothea stands there and sees the pain and frustration in Jon's eyes and that hurts her heart.  She still loves him and would love nothing more than to be with him again, but she's seeing now that that will never happen.  She can see that the pain she is trying to inflict on Beth is also hurting Jon.  She never takes him or the kids into consideration when she's out for revenge.  "I met Brian when I was working with Dalton and Melissa on their book."

This time the silence was a little eerie, Jon and Beth were trying to process what Dorothea had just said.  "How does Brian know Melissa and Dalton?"  Jon asks,, running his fingers through his hair, "How does this all fit together?"

"Dalton and Brian worked together.  He was in on the theft years ago, they were partners."

Beth can't believe what she's hearing, pulling the memories together, she has to sit down.  "Brian was working with Dalton when he died?"  She mumbles, looking at Jon.  "Brian and Dalton know each other?"  Beth can't wrap her head around it, her body starts to tremble.  Jon sees it, and sits next to her, holding her close.

"How does Melissa tie into it all?" Jon asks, without even looking at Dorothea.  Whatever answer she gives is going to throw them for a loop, as they had no idea that the 3 were even connected.  "How does she fit into the whole game?"

"Simple.  She's Brian's wife."  Dorothea laughs, for she had just let a huge cat out of the bag that neither of them even know.  She had finally been able to catch them off guard and have a little satisfaction, even if it was just for a moment.