Jessica (Tonya Kay) was the main villainess from the 2019 Lifetime film, Saving My Baby (alternately titled, Expectant Mother; airdate January 4, 2019).
Backstory[]
Not much is revealed about Jessica's backstory, only that she was a stripper at a club in Las Vegas when she met Travis Carter. The pair got married and moved to Palm Springs, where Travis ran a club. While her husband was comfortable with their life, Jessica aspired to become richer. One day, she sought out Sarah (the main protagonist), a wealthy woman who worked in real estate, and befriended her. Jessica convinced Travis to seduce and marry Sarah, then divorce her after a year to get half of her wealth, which they would share, despite his hesitance. Jessica also assured Travis that she was secure in his love for her and even claimed to be turned on at the prospect of him using another woman like this.
The plan worked, and Sarah married Travis after just six months of dating. However, two things complicated Jessica's scheme: 1) Travis genuinely fell in love with Sarah, and 2) she became pregnant with his child. Upon revealing Sarah's pregnancy to him, the villainess cried and lashed out at Travis for messing up their plan, also accusing him of wanting to leave her for Sarah, but he insisted he still loved Jessica and would stick to their con. Though she was angry at Travis for getting Sarah pregnant, Jessica's anger was more centered on the fact that he fell in love with their target.
Events[]
The events had an 8.5 months pregnant Sarah driving out at night to pick up Jessica from a friend's house, which the latter had asked Sarah to do as a favor. On that night, Jessica took Travis' car and followed Sarah, with the villainess running her perceived romantic rival off the road. Sarah managed to survive, but was hospitalized and gave birth to her daughter, who was named Lillian ("Lily" for short). Jessica's first appearance in the film had her maintaining a friendly demeanor towards Sarah's parents and sister, while feigning regret for taking advantage of Sarah. She opted to "help" Travis and his mother, Virginia, with Lily during Sarah's hospitalization, as Virginia believed she could take better care of her granddaughter than Sarah's parents, who she didn't get along with. They traveled to Virginia's home in Palm Springs, where Jessica antagonized Virginia with her attitude and kept complaining about Lily's crying. She urged Travis to think about their next steps, unwilling to go back to her old life.
Jessica's instability was revealed during the film's progression, as her jealousy resurfaced whenever an increasingly conflicted Travis spoke on the phone with Sarah, who had woken up and demanded that their daughter be brought back to Los Angeles, while growing suspicious of his lies and involvement with Jessica. Upset by Travis' distance from her, Jessica secretly sabotaged his car so it wouldn't start the next morning, leading to him having another heated phone call with Sarah. After the car was fixed, Jessica and Travis argued, leading her to snap at him again for ruining their plan by becoming a father, claiming Lily would deplete all of his money. Travis decided to take his daughter and return to Sarah in Los Angeles, despite his mother's protests, having enough of Virginia and Jessica's pestering. The villainess insulted Travis as "weak" for choosing to listen to Sarah and went on to declare she (Jessica) didn't love him anymore, prompting him to nearly hit her.
When the police arrived to arrest Travis for Sarah's attempted murder, Jessica briefly hid and acted smug afterwards when Virginia called her out for not helping him. Later, Jessica kidnapped Lily while Virginia was sleeping and drove to Las Vegas to meet with her friend (and fellow stripper) Ashley, as she was still angry at what she considered Travis' betrayal. Meanwhile, Sarah headed to Virginia's home to pick up her daughter, only for both women to find that Lily and Jessica were gone. Eventually, Travis confessed his and Jessica's entire scheme to the detectives, admitting he does love Sarah and revealing Jessica's role in her accident. That night, Travis was released from custody and phoned Jessica, leading to the villainess picking up her lover and co-conspirator. She tearfully confessed to running Sarah off the road, apologizing for her jealousy and justifying that Sarah and Lily were in the way of them being together. However, Travis countered that Jessica's sole concern was getting Sarah's money, and Lily was an obstacle in her greedy plans. At this, Jessica decided that Travis was a loose end and bid him goodbye before shooting him to death.
After dumping Travis' body out of the car, the evil Jessica drove to Vegas and met Ashley, who reluctantly agreed to take Jessica and Lily to her apartment. When Sarah called Ashley, Jessica acted happy to hear from her "friend," before quickly dropping her facade since Sarah had figured out everything. The villainess made it clear she didn't want Lily and demanded $1 million in exchange for the baby, also ordering Sarah to only contact her with a burner phone from now on. When Ashley questioned her, Jessica revealed she planned to flee to South America with the money. Ashley wanted a cut of the payment in exchange for helping her, but Jessica hypocritically called her greedy and refused. Out of fear that Ashley would go to the police, Jessica refused to leave when her friend tried to kick her out and prevented Ashley from leaving the apartment as well, before shooting and killing her.
When Sarah later called her, Jessica set a meeting at Red Rock Canyon at 4:00 the next day.
Death[]
The film's climax had Sarah and Jessica meeting in the desert to make the exchange, with both of them unaware that Virginia had tracked them. When Sarah confronted her over her actions, the greedy villainess responded that they were never friends and she was just playing Sarah. Jessica defended her actions by claiming that Sarah was born with a silver spoon in her mouth and had opportunities that people like the former never had, which (in her mind) gave Jessica the right to steal money from her. She also accused Travis of betraying her and admitted to killing him, as Jessica refused to share the money with him anymore.
At Jessica's demand, Sarah gave her the $1 million, after which Jessica kept her word and returned Lily to Sarah. She was about to drive off when a furious Virginia appeared with a shotgun. She berated Jessica for killing her son, stating that she tried to warn Travis about her, leading to Jessica shooting Virginia. Jessica walked towards Virginia with intent on shooting her a second time, only for the villainess to realize that she was out of bullets. Virginia survived the shot and fired her shotgun at Jessica, who got back into the car and tried to drive away. While driving, however, Jessica succumbed to her gunshot wound and died, collapsing on the steering wheel.
Quotes[]
- "You're a loose end that needs tying up. Goodbye, Travis." (Jessica's parting words to Travis Carter before killing him)
- "It's not about good versus evil, it's about the haves and the have-nots. You grew up with a silver spoon in your mouth, and I grew up with nothing." (Jessica's justification for her crimes to Sarah)
- Jessica revealing her plan and murder of Travis to Sarah:
- Jessica: But I wouldn't call the original plan stealing.
- Sarah: What would you call it?
- Jessica: Well, you fell in love with my husband, so I would call it blind love.
- Sarah: And you killed him. Why the hell would you do that?
- Jessica: Because he betrayed me and that was not part of the original plan! I didn't think he would fall for a spoiled brat like you but I was wrong. So I killed him. Do you think I was gonna share my money with somebody who didn't even love me?
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