Chapter 145 Civilised

• " What happened to her?" Gerald asked when he finally calmed down, the pain still in his eyes as he stared at her picture... "She was ill," Alex answered and sighed deeply, thinking of a good way to approach what he had come to say... "What about Juliet... how is she," he asked,,and Patrick and Alex immediately exchanged looks. "I should have called sooner. I should have called even though she told me she didn't want to speak to me any longer. I should have known something was up," Gerald said and face palmed himself... "Do you mind explaining to us what happened, " Patrick chimed in, and Gerald sighed deeply. He still had no idea who the men who came to see him were, but he didn't care about that any longer... his heart felt like a spear had been run through it over and over again, and he felt like breaking out of prison to see his daughter. "Juliet.i Ineed to see jJuliet," He said,,and Alex saw this as an opportunity. "Juliet is fine, but she has no idea you are in here. She has no idea who you are," Alex said, and Gerald froze... "I know. shSheas very little back then... I didn't want her to remember her father as someone who was locked up and a criminal. shSheidn't deserve that... we both decided to hide it from her, ," Gerald explained... "After we left together, we got married, but things didn't go as we planned... I was an ex-convict, and it was hard for me to get a job; no one wanted to hire me, and I was too ashamed to go back to my mother and ask her for help," He continued and trailed off as the memories of the past invaded his mind. "We found out we were having a baby... we were happy. But things weren't looking up for us... we wanted to give our baby the best life, and that was when I met him. "
• "him?" Alex asked, and Gerald nodded. "I met him the first time I went to jail and he introduced me to a job, a quick way to make good money if everything went well, I was hesitant at first, but Juliet had been born... we wanted her to live a different life from what we had, so I accepted his offer, but things had not gone completely as planned" after he had gotten arrested for a grand theft gone wrong, his friends had completely turned on him and he had to take the blame for the crime he didn't even commit... it had put a strain on his relationship with his wife, and she had been disappointed in him. Juliet was just a little girl and didn't understand what was happening, which he was thankful for..
• "she didn't want anything to do with me anymore, and i wanted to keep where i was a secret from my mother, i didn't want her to worry." Gerald swallowed as tears escaped his eyes... "You were locked up for ten years. Why didn't you try to visit juliet when you got out?" Alex asked. He should have reached out to his daughter and tried to make up for the lost time, but he ended up back in jail just a few years later... "I did, I visited her. But she was in middle school back then. I didn't want to ruin her life. What if she got bullied because of me? I couldn't let that happen, so I just watched her from afar, and I didn't want to show up empty-handed. I wanted to make money... but I guess luck isn't always on my side, I ended up back in here multiple times, " Gerald said. Sadness in his eyes...