by Zi'ere
“Babe, please don’t cry. I don’t understand how you even have tears left anyway. I can’t stand to see you like this it is killing me.” Carlos rubbed his wife’s back and tried to console her.
“You know the fact that Emani is acting like the selfish wench we all know that she is doesn’t top my own mother not even taking a moment to check on her child either. What kind of family unit do I really have Carlos?” Amina covered her face with her hands.
Her words only caused more tears and snot to drip from her nose. Carlos used Kleenex to keep her face dry and nose clean.
“You know I’m not going to speak ill of Bren or Emani, I have to hope there is a legitimate reason for them both not being here. I mean someone has to run the agency right? And we don’t even know where on earth Bren might be. She could be on the other side of the globe, you know that. Even though you didn’t have them, how about all the other people you had here today? I know those two probably mean the most, but how can you outdo the ten that you did have?”
Amina knew every word he spoke was truth that she couldn’t deny.
“You are right baby. I won’t even try to deny it.
“Tell me how I can make my pretty Amina smile again?”
Eyes red and puffy, Amina looked him square in the eyes and said, “make love to me”.
Without hesitation and no thoughts of the doctor’s orders, the two were joined as one physically in a matter of seconds. Even though she was sore from all that she had been through the week before and lying in the same position for days, Amina allowed her King to work the kinks out. Carlos made love to her mentally, spiritually, and physically. Amina did the same. She was over thirty but she still felt the need to feel her husband put passion marks all over her body. He was thirsty for her and she needed him just as much. She had left the hospital with a prescription for birth control pills that she never intended to get filled by any pharmacist, ever.
15
Two days later on a Thursday, everything had semi returned back to normal. Carlos and the rest of the family were all back on their normal work schedules. She only had Mama Anna and Bella to fuss over her during the day. But on this day even those two busy bodies would be relieved of their duties because Amina’s best friends were coming to spend the day with her. Zoey and Laini were identical twins born four months after her and Emani. Laini was the eldest, but she didn’t treat Zoey in any way near the form or fashion the way Emani treated her. In a strange way, Amina felt closer to her friends than she did her own twin. Emani wanted her way and that was the end all. Laini was in charge, but she had many bright stars that shone behind her. She didn’t need to be the sun in the universe the way Emani did.
Simply speaking, her best friends had it going on. Now doubt that because Amina had not been in the office for two weeks now, the twins would show up with her normal takes from their label. The thought of two African American queens designed, sketched, and produced everything a woman would need to survive. It was spring so Amina was excited to see her own special signature pieces that had been designed just for her. Since they all shared the same office building and Purple Label used over ninety percent of the space, Emani was convinced that Laini was getting a return investment on all the clothing she gave away. To Amina, it was just another conspiracy theory Emani came up with to discredit the beautiful women who were still modeling but were no longer size two’s.
Laini let her and Zoey in with their own key right at eight am on the dot. Just as she suspected they came bearing gifts. She got flowers, clothing, shoes, and two new bags. The ladies had breakfast together nestled together in the nook in the kitchen. Afterwards they insisted Amina get dressed so that they could take her out for fresh air. Amina was no fool, they were going shopping. She wasn’t sure what they would be on the hunt for that day, but whenever the Jefferies were out in public it was to be on a hunt. After Amina cut the corner to head to her bedroom she heard Zoey whisper something to Laini that she couldn’t make out clearly. It was official, something was going down. It didn’t matter how much it would upset her, she would get to the bottom of it that day. Even if it meant she had to drive to the office building herself. When the ladies traveled together on their own personal days, they generally drove themselves. On this day, Laini’s driver Liam was driving an Escalade. Once the ladies were safely inside, Liam pulled off without any instruction. Amina’s stomach began to turn in knots.
“What’s going to be our first stop?” Amina just had to know.
“We have something that you need to see with your own two, instead of being told by our two.” Zoey’s answer was soft spoken, but I still heard her frustration.
The car ride was void of all conversation. The ladies listened to Beyoncé’s CD, engrossed in their own thoughts. As soon as they hit the city, Liam steered in the direction of an unsavory part of town. Pretty soon they were in front of a condo that had definitely seen better days, but what brought the property value back up on it was what was sitting in the driveway. A white Mercedes with mirror tint, the tag read ‘E-money’. It was none other than Emani’s personalized car. There wasn’t another car, make, model, or color in Arizona. Liam only stopped long enough for me to see the license plate for myself. He briskly pulled off to keep from being noticed.
“Ok, you remember the reason your brother in law was held for days a few months ago on possible murder charges?” Laini spoke up.
“Yea, his baby mama was murdered and they thought he did it.” Amina spoke up.
That was a tough time for her sister in law to be in but she and her husband overcame. They now had a beautifully blended family.
“Yes, Leslie. Remember Leslie’s best friend Angel?” Laini again.
“Yes, the woman that tried to trap Darrell and Ced into thinking they had fathered the same non-existent baby…” Amina answered with a puzzled voice and head.
“Bingo, one in the same! That was Angel’s condo.” Laini kept her focus out of the window.
Only Zoey made eye contact with Amina. She solemnly shook her head yes. Amina was dumbfounded. Emani personally visiting someone who tried to single handedly tried to bring down the Haywood family was beyond foul. Even if she was there to get an understanding on Darrell’s behalf, that was still a big wheel barrow of no. The Haywood men would never allow a Haywood woman to go into that part of town alone, for no reason. Amina’s husband only had one sister and she was the baby. She was affectionately called Baby Steph. She sometimes got away with well- known actions that were bad as committing a murder, there might have been a screaming match but Steph always got her way in the end. And nobody could say a word or they would have Greg to deal with. Even Baby Steph knew she could not be caught in that part of town and definitely not inside of Angel’s house. The entire situation read dirty and grimy. There was nothing good that could ever come out of that situation. Amina took her cell phone from her bag. She speed dialed her brother in laws personal cell.
“Hey my brother!” Darrell answered her call on half of the second ring.
“Hey, honey- is everything ok?” Darrell’s voice was on alert.
“Yes, everything is fine with me. I’m just trying to find your wife. I’m with the girls and we wanted her to get out of the office today. The only thing is, it’s after ten and she hasn’t made it to the office yet. She’s not working from home is she?” Amina tried to keep her voice pure.
“As far as I know she went into the office this morning as scheduled. Her driver picked her up and she was gone before me this morning. Let me see if I can’t locate her for you and I will call or text you right back.” Darrell’s words were laced with anger, there was no mistaking that.
“Don’t worry about it! Since I have been out of the office she is undoubtedly doing double duty somewhere. I won’t worry her, I’m just going to focus on getting back into the office next week pulling my fair share.” Amina tried to make eye contact with either of her best friends, neither woman would look at her.
“Are yo
u sure? It’s not a problem for me to contact her but it is a problem that she is not answering her cell.” What Amina had wished to accomplish, she had.
“I will see you tomorrow night at dinner ok. Have a good rest of the day.” Amina cut him off to get off the phone.
“Ok, ya’ll heard it for yourself! Her own damn husband doesn’t even know where she is.” Amina was sad.
“Well she damn sure isn’t at the Agency pulling double duty because she hasn’t been in the office a full day since you’ve been gone.” Laini laid out the facts.
16
Like the great driver that he was, Liam pulled into a tight space in a nearby strip mall. In the matter of minutes Emani’s white Mercedes came whizzing by. Liam pulled out and followed her at a safe distance behind. Amina would have liked to have thought Emani would have been making her way to the office or maybe even to her husband’s dealership. Amina had to be the only one in the truck thinking that. Although Liam was following Emani, he was making turns as if he knew where she was going already. Emani was making all the proper turns to get her back to the affluent side of Chandler but Amina was still leery of her next stop. It turned out to be at a two story home that was well kept. A strange female came out of the house and hopped in Emani’s car. In a matter of seconds she was back in traffic. Liam followed her to a Best Buy electronics store. After too darn long waiting in the truck, Emani and her new friend came out of the store laughing it up while two men in blue shirts and khaki pants carried boxes behind them.
“Before you even ask, we have no idea who this chick is.” Zoey patted Amina’s arm as she talked.
“Ok, I’ve seen enough for this day. I’m hungry.” Amina needed time to process all of the information she had received. She had no idea if she should even tell Carlos that Emani was at Angel’s house. That would be totally selling out of her sister, but her sister had already disappointed her to no end.
“Yes, it’s time that the three of us sit down and put our brains together.” Laini spoke up and Amina felt like she was talking more to Liam that she was to her.
A few minutes later, Liam was helping the ladies out of the truck one hand at a time and opened the doors to a nearby Olive Garden. The ladies giggled. Of all the restaurants in the whole entire town, paparazzi would never guess to see them at an Olive Garden. Amina was a star in her own lane, but she was not stalked by the media the way Laini and Zoey were. She could only assume that her life was too boring for the general public to be concerned with her comings and goings. Lord knows she had enough in laws to watch her steps. She didn’t need any further guidance. At times she didn’t understand how her best friends kept their sanity. One thing was true and two were certain, the Jefferies women were “the it” girls in the world and they had definitely learned how to trick the thirsty cameramen. Amina had never seen either lady in an Escalade before.
Seated in a quiet corner and with Liam at the bar, it didn’t take long for the conversation to flow.
“Ok sister girl, I am going to try to make this as painless as possible. I don’t want to give you too much too fast but I also don’t want your millions pulled out from under you in the blink of an eye.” Laini pulled her chair in closer to the table.
She was seated beside Amina and Zoey was on the other side. Amina looked at Zoey for confirmation. Amina knew Zoey never had a bad word to say about anyone. If this is what she needed to hear, it had to be the truth for Zoey to hold her in such a way to keep her safe.
“While you have been away, Emani has been on some “Devil Wears Prada” bullshit in ya’lls offices! She actually had the nerve to fire Ms. Gert. Well, she thought she had the authority to fire her until Ms. Gert produced an iron clad contract that stated she did not work- well, hell you know what the contract said- you were the one to draw it up! Let me tell you that your big sister lost her mind. That was a kick Emani in the shins sin act number one.
The fact that the contract was drawn up on Terrell Haywood’s stationary gave her a swift kick in the gut as hit number two. Then all it took was for her to see Ms. Gert talking to me in a hushed tone for her to go off on everybody on our floor. Now you know how I treat Purple Label employees, but you also know I’m not going to tolerate Emani’s shit either. She sent poor little Felicia home after she had only been in the office for an hour with the statement that she had better have vacation or sick time to cover her absence because she would not be getting paid for the day. Of course, I cut her a check paying her regular salary for the week just to give her some extra cushion before she left. I didn’t know for sure if the poor girl would ever come back to the building. I’m not saying I have the best track record on judging character, but that only pertains to men. When it comes to women I do know when something in the milk isn’t clean.
“I have a few irons in the fire right now and I am aiming to get to the bottom of everything going on with Mrs. Emani Barton-Haywood. I just needed you to give me the okay to use your shares as well as mine to allow me to do what I need to do without disrespecting you or your position at the agency. What would you like me to do?” Laini paused from her speech and looked at Amina for an immediate answer.
Amina looked at Zoey. She got a meek head nod. Then they both looked at Laini.
“My screw-ups are in men, not making money. You know that.” Laini cut her eyes at her sisters.
Amina was speechless. Emani had tried to fire Ms. Gert. She had to admit that she couldn’t have been surprised at all. She knew Emani would do such a thing the first chance she got that is why she had prepared her trusted confidant with an iron clad contract in the first place. Amina knew that but she never knew Emani would actually take it all the way there. Amina knew that Emani talked a lot of trash about Laini’s choices in relationships. Regardless of what Laini did with her personal time, the businesses never took a hit. The last time they’d talked about Laini they’d a heated discussion where Amina’s argument beat out Emani’s based on the black and white proof that Laini had helped to make the two women independently wealthy. Their profits increased each year and the agency was in the center of every event just like it should’ve been. Amina understood that she was tired of Laini getting all of the media attention. Good or bad Emani wanted the spotlight. No matter what she did, she could not maintain the media’s attention the way Laini did. Amina finally settled on Emani being flat out jealous of Laini, her supposedly best friend and sister.
17
“Look, I see you analyzing everything in your head. I’m not saying start a zombie apocalypse on your sister. I’m just saying entertain making sure Amina is okay for Amina. Don’t count on Emani doing right by you just because she’s your sister and for certain not as your business partner. That might be a big bitter pill to swallow but we’ve known all our lives that we don’t really know who we can trust. Right now all we have is us, these three seated right here. We cannot loose what we have built since we were kids not knowing what in the hell we were doing but somehow we managed to make millions. I have shares that I want to continue to turn profits. It’s my job to help Barton Modeling Agency make millions, am I right or wrong?” Laini paused again.
“You’re absolutely right. The plan was to always be in a position to pass the torch to our children one day just like it was passed down to us.” Amina confessed. “I trust you to do what you have to do to protect our businesses. End of discussion. There is nothing left to be said about that, whatever you have to do- do it.” Amina sat back and crossed her arms across her chest.
She knew that things were not going to end good for Emani no matter how the loaf of bread was sliced. Emani was going to have a tantrum out of this world when she found out that Laini had the authority to trump every decision she made because Laini would be ruling with her own shares and those of Zoey and Amina.
“You to have my complete trust; I trust you more than I trust Emani right now and from what I have seen today, we will never get back what we used to have. Angel tried her best to bring my family down. T
here is no legitimate reason for Emani to be in her company at all. When Steph finds out that this going to be a Mayweather or even a Pacquiao boxing match that won’t make it to pay-per-view but will make YouTube for sure!” Amina couldn’t help but release a hearty laugh.
Baby Steph was going to beat Emani’s ass and Amina was going to let her. Not only had Angel try to extort money from Darrell, she tried to break up the relationship and marriage Steph shared with her husband Ced. Angel had even disrespected the elder Haywood’s. If there ever was a collective family enemy, Angel was it.
“Let’s eat ladies. Amina can you have a glass of wine now?” Zoey asked as she caught the attention of the waiter.
She watched Laini stretch her neck to peek at what Liam was drinking with his meal while seated at the bar. She was satisfied to see the standard glass filled with ice & Sprite. The ladies spent another hour and a half in the restaurant eating, drinking, and being merry. The three of them ended up merrier than they should have been but they all were going on the family get away with the Haywood’s the next day so everything was great. All of a sudden the three ladies all looked at each other.
“Zoey, I bet you those hot pink stiletto’s with the Swarovski pink and clear crystals that she doesn’t go on this family trip!”
“You can bet your last dime, I will take that bet!”
“How are ya’ll gonna leave me out of the bet. Ok, I have my own bet. I bet the both of you that she goes but remains in a Xanax coma the entire time!” Laini shot imaginary guns at both Zoey and Amina.
The two looked at themselves, Laini knew Emani like a book.
“Don’t fret your little baby sister brains about the how and why’s ya’ll didn’t come up with that first. Either way it is going to be interesting and we all will be fully entertained!” Laini stood up and began to fix her clothing and picked up her bag.
