Bad Desire: New Beginnings - Fast Forward

Part 25 - try and save me

Continued...

Todd had explained to Juliet how he'd told Sophie it was a one off however, he'd soon got tied up into once again. One job, turned into another and so on. The more he got involved, the harder he found it to get out. He was sucked into that addictive lifestyle and revolved himself around the guns, danger and drugs. 

Sophie was done with second chances at that point. She had lost all patience with him and ended up doing the hardest thing imaginable, and ended their relationship, even though it had pained her to do so.

"I was angry with her at first. I didn't understand how she could just end things like that. I felt like she was judging me for it all." Todd continued while pulling another cigarette and his lighter from his pocket.

"But when I finally understood it and realised how badly I had fucked up, it was too late."

"You understood what?" Juliet asked, trying to clarify where he was going with this.

"I understood why she had been so heartbroken at what I was doing." He began, pausing before placing the cigarette between his lips and lighting it up.

Juliet just watched on while he blanked out for a moment. She could see the short-term satisfaction on his face as he exhaled the smoke from his lips. This was a bad habit but one that was able to take the pain away, if only for a few seconds.

"I was working for her and with her, not some other company. I was screwing her over this time, not a boss I couldn't give two shits about. She'd let me in. She'd let me build a relationship with her children, work in her business that she had worked so hard to make successful. I was putting everything she had built for herself at risk by joining that gang. I could have ruined everything for her. At that point I understood why she shut me out her life. She had her family and livelihood to look out for. She couldn't keep saving my arse when I didn't appreciate it."

Juliet watched Todd with such intent as this all started to make more sense. Todd and Sophie had been so happy together, that she was shocked when she found out it ended. But now she fully understood it.

Todd was so much like Matt. He did stupid things without thinking and was so caught up in the life of a gang that it sometimes blurred out the life around him.

Those brothers were drawn to danger. It was like they couldn't help but surround themselves in trouble. It was addictive. It was like a drug.

"But after all of that, after everything I did to hurt her, she still manages to have the fucking heart to try and save me." Todd exasperated while flashing a piece of paper around in his hand. "I didn't deserve it. I don't deserve her, but she's still there for me. Even when she's laying on her fucking death bed, she's still trying to make a better life for me."

A single tear finally fell from Todd's eye. It was the first tear she had ever seen from this man. It was the first bit of vulnerability he had ever expressed in her presence and in some way, it opened up a whole other side to him.

As he quickly reached up to wipe it from his cheek, Juliet's gaze fell back down to the piece of paper in his hand. She didn't know what was written inside but whatever it was, had put Todd in this overwhelming state.

"Todd." Juliet found herself almost whispering. "What is that?"

Following her gaze, Todd also looked down to the crumbled paper.

"Some of the details from Sophie's will." He answered simply, and Juliet felt physically sick at those words.

The mention of a will brought the reality of the situation to life once again. It confirmed what she and everyone else was dreading.

"Why do you have that?"

"Read it." Todd said as he passed it over to Juliet, and watched intently as she unfolded it with caution. She didn't know what to expect but she knew it had to be serious.

It was a letter from Sophie's lawyers. It had the professional logo printed in the top right and it was directed at Todd, with very clear directions on it.

Although there were many pages to this letter and many aspects that Juliet truly didn't understand, one particular sentence caught her attention.

'The management of Sophie Rivera's business as detailed below, will be signed over to Todd Russle.'

As her own body was full of shock , she looked up to see the look of distress on Todd's face.

"I don't get it." He muttered, his voice breaking once again.

"She's giving you her business?"

Todd didn't say anything. He was trying to hold back the tears before he spoke. He didn't want to break down. He didn't want to do this here and now in front of Juliet, but little did he know that she already saw it coming.

"Her kids will have ownership when they're 25..." Todd began once he had grasped some composure. "...and they have access to a percentage of the earnings now, but she's put my name down as the management. She's put me down to control everything, to direct how it runs and be in control of the whole fucking thing. She's put me down to take her place."

There was so much distress in Todd's voice. It was painful to listen to. He was genuinely so lost in this whole situation and full of so much guilt.

"It should have been Jace, her mum, or Felix. Not me! I don't understand. I questioned it, I queried her lawyers because I thought it was wrong. I thought these details were from when we were together... I thought it was a mistake."

"It wasn't?" Juliet asked, more out of confirmation than confusion.

Realistically it didn't make sense for Sophie to pass her life's work over to Todd however, at the same time Juliet understood it. Todd might not see or understand her reasonings after everything he had done but in some twisted way, Juliet did.

"No. They told me she changed it a few days before this all happened. It was the day she got back from Brighton. She changed her mum's name to mine."

Sophie had met with lawyers as soon as she returned to New York to change many aspects of her will after her trip to Brighton. On her flight back to New York, she had hadn't just written the heartfelt letter to her friends, she'd also had time to think about every aspect of her life.

She had realised so many things on that journey and it had opened her eyes to everything that had happened. She was angry at Todd, of course she was. He had thrown away everything they had for the sake of a gang. However, she had also always loved him. Whether they were together or not, she had always wanted him to be happy.

He had always been there for her from the moment they met. He had managed to push aside his cold heart that he had acquired through a torturous upbringing, to love her in a way she had experienced.

Although he had betrayed her and caused the most painful end to their relationship, she still believed in him. She still believed he was capable of building his life back up by using the talents she had always seen in him.

He had started off as just some hot guy, covered in tattoos who had come walking into his first day of a standard retail job many years ago. However, his bad manners and lack of motivation to work at that minimum wage job hadn't fooled Sophie.

Each day that he showed up at work and put in effort to do something other than standing around, he had proved himself. He was always well dressed, with a good eye for what worked and what didn't... even if he didn't have the politest mannerism when it came to giving advice to customers.

Sophie hadn't wanted him to give up and that had been her reasonings for changing her will. That had been the reason for handing her life's work and passion over to Todd Russle, who had always just been known as some gang member.

to be continued...

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