“KRASIVO . . . ,” I heard him say as he looked out at the view of his backyard.
“Yes, it is a beautiful sight, Uncle. You did a great job.”
He nodded his head and took another sip of his vodka. “Your mother always wanted a garden like this. Always talked about the sweet smell of her purple roses, chamomile, peonies, azaleas, and Gerber daisies waking her up in the morning.” He smiled. “Every time the first morning wind blows and the fragrant aroma of those flowers fills my bedroom, I know it’s her telling me to get up and do something special with my life.”
“Something special?” I asked, with one eyebrow raised. I didn’t know what could be more special than being an enforcer for the mafia, but, hey.
“Special as in finding love and settling down with someone who would give me my firstborn son and love me the way that I deserved to be loved,” Uncle Kazi replied before he sighed and looked at me with sorrow in his eyes. “Natalya is probably rolling over in her grave right now. My life isn’t anything like how she wanted it to be.” I felt my uncle’s hand lightly clamp my shoulder. “This girl you supposedly harmed, you love her, yes?”
See what I was saying? The whole time I’d been here thus far, my uncle had been gone. Yet he already knew what was going on with me. Because I didn’t want to seem like an even bigger fool for being in love with the one woman who could potentially put me in jail for the rest of my life, I started to lie, but like always, my uncle already knew what the matter really was.
“There’s no need to lie, nephew. I already know. Only a broken heart will make a grown man pass up Alyona’s home-cooked meals. Especially her zapekanka.”
We shared a laugh.
“Is it weird that I’m in love with a girl who thinks I raped her and almost beat her half to death?”
He shrugged his broad shoulders. “I’ve seen worse.”
I turned from the window, grabbed the plate of zapekanka Aloyna had left, sat on the red-leather couch, and began to eat.
“I’ve gotten word from my source in the States that she’s awake. Did you know?” my uncle said.
I sat up straight in my seat and sat my plate down. Melonee being awake was news to me. The last time I talked to Marques, he had said that she was still in pretty bad shape.
“I need to go see her,” I said, getting up and heading toward the door to the den.
“You will do no such thing!” Uncle Kazi said sternly as he rounded the couch and stood toe to toe with me. “That would not be a smart idea, seeing as you’re the number one suspect in her attack.” He stepped back and took another sip of vodka. “Besides, only immediate family is allowed to see her right now.”
“But—”
“But nothing, Roman!” The sound of his crystal glass being slammed down on his desk echoed throughout the room. “You are not to see or contact her, or even step foot in that hospital, until we clear your name. Do you understand?”
I didn’t respond, but he knew I understood.
“And don’t think I don’t know about all those floral arrangements you’ve sent her during the past few months. Stop that immediately. Those can be traced back to you, and we don’t need to give the police any more ammunition than they have.” Uncle Kazi picked his now empty glass up and swirled the ice cubes around. “I have a gut feeling that someone set you up, and until we find out who it is, you need to stay away from that young lady and anyone associated with her, ponimayesh?”
This time I nodded my head. “I understand.”
My uncle Kazimir’s glare stayed on me until he felt that I truly understood. I’d listen to my uncle for now and stay away from Melonee, but eventually, I had to find a way to go see her. My life depended on it, literally and figuratively.
* * *
“Aye, yo! My man’s back in town!” Marques yelled as he gave me a brotherly hug in the airport’s baggage claim area. I had just arrived back in California, thanks to his family’s private jet. After staying in Russia for another week and going over things with my uncle, I had felt it was time for me to get back home and out of hiding.
After everything went down that night with Mel, the paparazzi and news people had been following my every move, trying to get a statement or catch me in some incriminating situation.
Because of the high-paid lawyers that I had on my side, and the fact that Melonee had been in a coma, I’d been able to stay out of jail after posting a five-million-dollar bail and agreeing to inform the authorities of my travel plans. The fact that I was still CEO of Real Time Delivery and needed to travel for different meetings overseas had allowed me to retain possession of my passport, and so far I’d been able to handle my company business.
“I’m glad to see you too, man,” I said back to Marques as he grabbed one of my bags.
“So how was your homeland? I know you missed this sunny California weather,” he said as we headed to his car.
“Bruh, you just don’t know. The only things I’m going to miss about being back home are spending time with my uncle Kazimir and Aloyna’s cooking.”
“Ooh, did she make that zapayaya stuff? Dude, please tell me you brought me some back,” he said excitedly. I didn’t realize he had stopped walking until I got to his car and he wasn’t there to open it.
“Come on now, man. What kind of best friend would I be if I didn’t?” I called over my shoulder.
“Shit. The kind who would have had to walk his ass home if he hadn’t,” he replied when he caught up with me.
We stared at each other seriously for a second, then broke out in a fit of laughter.
“I missed you, my guy,” Marques said, pulling me into another hug.
“And I you. But enough of the mushy shit.” I stepped from his embrace. “What’s been going on?”
The look on Marques’s face told me that there was about to be some bullshit, but this was something I was already prepared for. “Get in the car first, and then I’ll fill you in,” he said.
Without another word, we hopped into his brand-new Porsche and sped away from the airport.
It was a little before noon, and traffic on the 105 was a little heavy. We sat lost in our own thoughts for a few minutes as the radio blasted Drake’s new CD in the background. From the corner of my eye, I could see Marques look at me every so often, then back at the road. I didn’t know what his facial expression meant, but I thought I had a pretty good idea.
“I didn’t do it,” I said after turning the music down.
He sat back in his seat, with one hand on the steering wheel, while he lit up a cigarette. Eyes still focused on the car in front of us. His wild, curly hair sat high in that man bun he always wore on top of his head, while his equally curly beard was surprisingly trimmed but still covered most of his face.
“Really, Ro?” He blew out a puff of smoke. “I’ve been knowing you damn near my entire life, and you’ve never had to take the pussy from any chick. Even before you became Mr. CEO. Do you not remember all the pussy we got in college, or do you need me to break out the spring break pictures?”
I laughed. “Naw, man, please leave those where they’re at. I already have this rape thing hanging over me. I don’t need some girls I won’t even remember coming forward and talking about I raped them too.”
“Man, please. I may not be a lawyer or care for our judicial system, but I do know that there’s such a thing as a statute of limitations.”
“You really need to stop partying and watch the news sometimes. Did you not just see what happened to Bill Cosby?”
“And did you not just see how all those charges were dropped?” He smacked his lips. “Them bitches know they were lying, and so did the courts that entertained that foolery.”
“I get what you’re saying, bruh, but I just don’t want to add anything else to my plate right now. Besides, Uncle Kazi told me to lay low and drown myself in my work until he can look into some more things.”
Marques shifted in his seat a little, then took a pull from his cigarette. The l
ook on his face now told me that my plate was just starting to tip over.
“What’s going on, man? I know I’ve been laying low for a minute and keeping contact with people to a minimum, but I kind of feel like there’s something going on that I’m missing,” I said.
Flicking his cigarette butt out the window, Marques looked over his shoulder and switched lanes, then ran his hand down his face. “When’s the last time you talked to your parents or Benji?”
It had been a minute since I’d talked to them. More like two and a half months, to be honest. A few days after I was arrested and released from jail, I totally shut out everybody except for my secretary, who kept me informed about work-related things and the lawyer whom I’d hired for this case. I didn’t want the company to be tied to what was going on with my legal issues, so I had reached out to a college buddy of mine whose law firm was the best at these types of high-profile cases.
“I haven’t spoken to anyone, really. I was advised by Chasin and Uncle Kazi to keep to myself, since I didn’t really know who wants to set me up.” Chasin was my lawyer.
When Marques started heading toward my home and not my office, I had asked him to prior to landing, I wondered what was going on. I had a few documents that required my signature, and I wanted to get that out of the way since I was still technically on my mini vacation and out of the office.
“Look, man, I know by now you’ve figured out that I’m not taking you to your office right now,” he said.
“I can clearly see that now. My question, however, is, why?”
Marques licked his lips, then looked at me. “You know I’ve never lied to you, right, and I never will?”
I nodded my head. “I know that, and you know that it’s always been the same way with me. So what’s up?”
As we sat behind one of those big diesel trucks, waiting for the traffic to start up again, Marques kept his eyes trained on me.
“Ro, man, while you were gone, there was some decision making going on that I don’t think you’ve been informed about, seeing as you’re not ready to kill anybody.”
“Okay . . . ,” I said slowly. I had no idea what he could be hinting about. My secretary had been keeping me posted about things going on at my company, and my uncle had been supplying me with info about the case the DA was trying to build against me. So I was confused.
“I’ma just spit it out, because I can tell by the look on your face that you’re still lost.” He blew out a breath, as if to say, “Here we go.” “The reason I’m not taking you to your company is that I was instructed not to. I was told that if you stepped foot on the premises, the police and the media would be notified about your arrival.”
I laughed loudly at what Marques had just said. He must’ve gotten the wrong information. Last time I checked, I was the only one who could make decisions like that. Last time I checked, my title, CEO, hadn’t changed, either. I laughed again and slapped Marques on his shoulder. When I finally noticed that he found nothing humorous, my laughter died down.
I cleared my throat. “You’re not serious, are you?”
“Would I play with something like that?” Marques asked as he lit up another cigarette.
The smoke he blew out passed by me and went out the window. I wasn’t a smoker, but at that moment, I thought about taking a few pulls of his cigarette to calm my nerves.
“Did you know about the moral clause in the contract you signed when your father appointed you as CEO?” he asked.
“I knew it was there, but I didn’t really pay much attention to it.”
He took another pull from his cigarette. “Well, you should have. Especially since this thing with ole girl went down. You’ve been stripped of your CEO title as of last week.”
“Stripped of my title? How is that? My father hasn’t—”
Marques cut me off. “Your father? He’s the one who brought that moral clause bullshit up with the company’s lawyers. Chase hasn’t said anything to you?”
My lawyer, Chasin, hadn’t said anything to me. As a matter of fact, no one had. I had turned my business phone off last week, after some reporter kept harassing me with phone calls. I had wanted to change the number then but had decided to wait until I got back in town. I reached into the duffel bag sitting between my legs and pulled my phone out. Once it was fully powered on, notification alerts started going off back-to-back. When my phone started buzzing in my hand, I looked down at the screen and noticed that Chasin was calling.
“Speak of the devil,” I mumbled.
“If I were you, I’d answer that,” Marques said with his eyes still on the road.
I looked at my phone screen again before I accepted the call. “Yeah, Chase. what’s up?”
“Roman! I’ve been calling you all week! Where have you been? Never mind that. Where are you at now?”
“I’m in the car, with Marques. We were headed to my office, but I’ve just been told that I’m not allowed there.”
Chasin blew out a long breath. “Man, that’s what I’ve been trying to call you about since the last time we talked. Last week a new person was appointed CEO of RTD and will remain in the post until further notice.”
“Yeah, I just heard that,” I replied, looking at Marques, who was shaking his head. “But I have yet to hear who it is.”
“Well, you don’t have to look too far,” Chasin noted. “They appointed Benji as the new CEO of Real Time. The board voted on it last week. And because your father still has a controlling vote in the company, he was able to vote in your absence. I’m sorry you had to find out like this, man, but just know that this is only going to be temporary. Once we clear your name, once all these charges against you are dismissed, the board members can call another meeting and do another vote to have you reinstated.”
With the news I had just heard, it felt as if the weight of the world had fallen on my chest and I couldn’t breathe in much air. Did they really just say that I was no longer CEO of my family’s business? Did Chasin really say that my own brother, who wouldn’t know how to run a Fortune 500 company if it came with instructions, was now in charge? Why didn’t my parents call and say anything? Or my uncle Kazimir, for that matter? He supposedly knew everything. Where were his sources when that board meeting was going on? Or did he keep the news from me?
I could tell by the silence from Marques in the car and Chasin on the phone that they were waiting for me to say something.
“Aye, Ro. You all right, bruh?” Marques asked, breaking the silence.
“Yeah, I’m good, man. Take me to my parents’ house, though, so I can get some answers from them about what I just heard.”
“Chasin, thanks for filling me in, We’ll talk soon,” I said into the phone before I hung up.
I needed to know why nobody had felt the need to call me about this serious matter, and how everyone in the company knew what had happened before I did.
Melonee
The day had finally come for me to leave this hospital, and I couldn’t have been happier. My munchkin was here to roll me out in my wheelchair, as well as Proof, Granny, Fiona, and my aunt Bree, who had flown in last week. She said she had wanted to come sooner, but Granny had told her to give me some time to heal and deal with what had happened before she came.
I looked down at my growing belly and rubbed it. Although I despised the way this baby was conceived, I had to get over it and deal with carrying this fetus to full term since it was too late for me to get an abortion. The doctor had advised that if I really wanted to terminate the pregnancy, I could, but in doing so, I would more than likely have to forget about having a baby anytime in the future.
After countless talks with God, my granny, and the hospital’s psychologist, I had made the decision to have the baby, then give it up for adoption. I didn’t think I could spend the rest of my life looking at the face of a child who resembled the man who had raped me, no matter how much money Fiona kept telling me that he was worth.
I still couldn’t remember everyth
ing that had happened that night, but bits and pieces flashed in my mind from time to time. Especially when Fiona or Cowboy would show me pictures of the man who everyone was saying had raped me. Those piercing green eyes of his stayed in my head and sent chills through my entire body whenever they would pop up.
“Are you okay, Mel? Madison has been asking you the same question for the past three minutes, but you haven’t responded,” I heard my granny whisper in my ear.
We were outside the hospital lobby, waiting on Proof to pull the car around, and I was too ready to go. Other than having a few bruises on my face and a couple of bones that were still mending, I was doing pretty good for someone who was almost beaten to death. Even with the few pounds I had gained since I ended up in the hospital, I was doing okay.
I looked down at my baby girl’s face and smiled. She was the perfect mixture of her father and me, with her beautiful brown skin, round face, doe eyes, heart-shaped lips, and pretty hair. Proof and I did good with little Miss Madison. She was my joy, and I would always love him for blessing me with her. For as long as I was in the hospital, Proof had made sure to bring Madison to see me every day, claiming that she wouldn’t let him live if he didn’t. If you asked me, Proof had been more afraid about me not coming out of that coma than I might have been if I’d known what was happening at the time. He didn’t think I’d seen those tears falling from his eyes the day that I woke up, but I had. I turned my attention back to Madison.
“I’m sorry, Munchkin. I didn’t hear you. What did you say?” I twirled one of her Shirley Temple curled pigtails with my fingers as her small hands played with the other one.
“I said . . . can I name my little brother or sister whenever she or he comes out of your belly?”
I froze when I heard her question and felt the awkward moment linger in the air. This wasn’t Madison’s first time asking me this, so I didn’t know why it still made me feel funny to give her an answer. Proof had always been there to deflect the question until now, and her ass thought she was slick this time for deciding to ask me while her daddy was gone. I looked up at my granny, who was standing behind me, for some kind of help, but when I saw the expression on her face, I knew I was going to have to deal with this on my own.
The Black Widow Clique Page 16
