Page 51 of Doc Hollywood

Reading aloud, he said, “Keeping up with the Jones’s. Today, we’re touring Jack and Natalia Jones’s beautiful waterfront mansion.” Taylor made a face and carried on reading. “We at Hello magazine are lucky to be talking with Doctor Jack Jones, Medical Doctor, entrepreneur, innovator, artist and philanthropist and his beautiful wife Natalia Jones, model, influencer, and vice-president of Green-care, her family’s multi-billion dollar company, currently headed by her father, Billionaire Sergei Petrovich.” Dropping the phone, Taylor met her eyes, “He married an heiress?”

“Yup,” Clara confirmed, not letting her gaze fall from his, however much she wanted to let them drop with embarrassment at how easily Jack had taken advantage of her.

“So this shithead. I’m guessing he’s the cause of your mountain of debt?”

She took a couple of deep breaths, surprised at how perceptive Taylor was, then blurted, “Yeah. I can only blame myself. I didn’t notice him do it, and I signed things for him that I should have read.”

“That doesn’t sound like you.”

Clara’s eyebrow rose. “You only met me this week.”

“I know, but you’re so measured in everything you do. How did he trick you into signing things you didn’t read?” His voice was gentle.

“I was so tired. He wasn’t working, I was supporting both of us while I tried to keep up with his spending. I was working all hours. I didn’t notice when he signed me up for several high-interest-rate credit cards. Although, I did know about the car he bought.

“He insisted he needed a Jeep, and as he wasn’t working, the loan was taken out in my name, but the title was in his name. So, his car and my debt. I can only blame myself for that one. I should have said no, but I did it to please him,” Clara sighed,staring down at her lap, unable to meet his eyes, but she was surprised at how easy it was to tell him these things when she had never been able to tell anyone else.

“He told me that a Jeep would help his mental state and that he would stop threatening to hurt himself as it would bring pleasure to his life.” She laughed bitterly. “The irony is, he never hurt himself, not once. Me, on the other hand—“ Clara shrugged, “he didn’t seem to feel bad about hurting.”

“Clara, I’m so sorry.” Taylor shook his head.

“It’s not your fault. I should have left him. In hindsight, I want to scream at the idiot woman who stayed for so long. But for every nasty thing he did, he would follow it with a period of being so loving that I would kid myself into thinking he had changed, and things would go back to how they used to be.”

She now knew he was ‘love bombing’ her, keeping her close to him, even when he was so awful to her.

“Was he nice to you at first?” Taylor squeezed her hand tighter.

His thumb massaging the palm of her hand in small, soothing circles, calmed her mind as she spoke. “He was amazing. He was kind and loving; nothing was too much trouble. He would spoil me with small gifts, nothing expensive as neither of us had much money, but they were always so thoughtful. I can’t even remember any more when it all changed. I don’t know. I guess I thought that the mean, nasty man was an aberration and the true Jack would come back, if only I didn’t upset him, if I let him go on expensive retreats that I funded, if I took the stress of everything so he would be able to relax.”

Clara laughed bitterly, squeezing her eyes closed, barely aware any more of who was sitting beside her.

“Did the good man ever come back?” Taylor murmured.

“No,” Clara said flatly. “He used high-interest rate credit cards, in my name, to buy things for Natalia. When I wentthrough them, he was buying her flowers, jewellery, and nights away in hotels on days he claimed to be staying with his parents. I paid for him to woo the woman he left me for.”

“Fuck. He’s more than a shithead.”

“Yeah. I held out hope until the bitter end that he wasn’t a total shithead, I even phoned him six months after he left when I worked out exactly how much he had spent, and I requested the money to cover the debts he ran up. Do you know what he did?” Clara’s voice rose, and she felt sick when she remembered the words and tone of Jack’s reply.

“No,” Taylor whispered.

“He laughed at me, laughed and laughed, and then told me if I ever contacted him again, I would hear from Natalia’s lawyers. Then, they were married within a year. I debated trying again, but I didn’t have the money for a lawyer; my head was barely above water.” And there it was, she had finally said all the things she wished she had told someone when they were happening and hadn’t felt able to.

“What did you do?” His voice was edged with steel.

Clara glanced sharply at Taylor when she heard the growl in his voice. “I consolidated the debt and vowed to pay it off in four years so I could move forward with my life and never have to think about Jack again.”

“How much does he owe you?”

Clara smiled ruefully, huffing, “Somewhere north of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, the interest has been a killer.”

“Ouch.” Taylor winced.

“Yeah. I’m sure her dad wouldn’t have let her marry him if he had debts, so he made sure they were all mine. I even paid for their engagement ring,” she glowered.

Clara had phoned the jewellery shop and asked what one hundred thousand dollars had been spent on. They had initiallybeen reticent to tell her. However, she had sent proof over that she was the primary account holder and spun them a sob story about a cheating partner and wanting to know what he had bought as she didn’t think he had given it to her. To be honest, it wasn’t a sob story; it was the truth.

“Are you kidding?” Taylor sputtered.

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