Mr. Mysterious In Black

by S. Ann Cole

  Tilting my head, I gazed at him in bewilderment, thinking that he was back to being Complex Natalio again. But he ignored me and raked his eyes over the song titles on the back the cases then leaned forward, handing the mixed reggae disc to the driver. “Number eight, Ruddy.”

  Seconds later, Glen Washington’s Kindness For Weakness brought some life to the jeep, making Natalio’s reticence easier to bear. Jesus, this chasing the man thing was exhausting, especially when the man’s as spiteful as Natalio. The song he’d chosen gave me a modicum of hope, however. If he got overbearing again I’d just call him an asshole some more. Who knows, it might work for the better again.

  The sun was slinking behind the horizon, leaving the sky in a kaleidoscope of colors by the time we got to Natalio’s penthouse. He hadn’t said a word to me as we exited the car and traveled the elevator up to his apartment, and it was getting overwhelming.

  “You know, I did very well today at the bidding war,” I said, breaking the silence when we were finally in his place. He was really overdoing the silent treatment thing.

  Natalio strode over to the kitchen, emptying his pockets on the island. “What bidding?” His tone was phlegmatic, but at least he was talking.

  The apartment was swathed in a thin orange glow as an effect of the retiring sun and the floor-to-ceiling glass windows. I plopped down on the huge black leather sofa in the living area and turned to look at him over the edge—well, technically I was looking at his back that he had turned to me. “Gratuitously, I was given an opportunity by the kindhearted Geo Lee to model some of my designs in a bidding. All but three of my pieces were coveted and tendered on, making me five hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars richer.”

  “That’s nice,” was all he mumbled, as he walked over to his wine rack adjacent the fridge and selected a bottle of wine, grabbed a wineglass and went to sit at the dinner table. Concentrating hard on opening the bottle, he didn’t even cast a glance in my direction.

  What was his problem? Why did he bring me here if he was going to be all weird?

  After opening and pouring the wine, without even offering me a glass, he took a sip and stared down at the wine in his glass. “Are you hungry? Would you like me to order something in?”

  And then it hit me, nervousness about telling me what happened was the reason for his quietude. Maybe he really didn’t want to talk about it. Maybe something tragic had happened, making him reluctant to tread down memory lane. At least he could easily access his memories, mine had to be triggered.

  Getting up from the sofa, I glided to the kitchen to get myself a wineglass then occupied a chair across from him at the table. “No, I’m not hungry,” I whispered, dragging the wine bottle across the table to fill my glass.

  I truly wasn’t hungry. Might never even have an appetite again until I was warranted that all was well between us. I just wished there was a fast forward button that I could press, where we butcher this heavy ass elephant in the room and move on to the more interesting parts. Where he tells me that he loves me and can’t live without me and I do the same and then we get naked and… Oh, God, I’m growing impatient. “Are you nervous about telling me?”

  Natalio peered at me through his long, dark lashes; his eyes were one of their brightest shades of blue. Shifting, I crossed my legs under the table, resisting the urge to lunge myself at him. “I don’t do nervous, Sadie,” he answered with a cocky smile. But I saw right through its fakeness. He was nervous. “Where do you want me to start?”

  Oh god. It was time. Time to hear the tale of what really happened on the night I got deflowered and abandoned.

  Chapter Twenty

  “A-After…After I fell asleep,” I muttered.

  Intense sapphire eyes pierced me and I felt myself shrinking within my skin. My lips parted, as my nostrils were no longer inhaling ample air to oxygenate my blood. I shifted uncomfortably and Natalio broke his gaze. Taking a long sip of his wine, he peered at me over the rim. Savior, why did he have to be so…so damn tantalizing?

  “You looked angelic while you slept.” His sudden words startled me, but I sat still. “I didn’t want to close my eyes, I enjoyed watching you. You’d breath soft sighs, twitch your cute little nose or flutter those beguiling long lashes. It was gratifying just to watch you sleep. And your neck…your neck was so soft, smooth and virginal. I was obsessed with it, fighting the temptation to give you a third lovebite for fear of waking you.” Natalio lowered his wineglass to the table. “Then my phone rang, had me jumping to answer it before it woke you. It was Darren.”

  Hmm, Darren, the right-hand man.

  “I walked out into the living room to talk to him. And that’s when he started telling me that he just got this unbelievable deal on some ammo, but he was dubious about the link as to why the ammos would be for so little dough, and that he’d feel a lot better if I was there. He wanted me to go with him.

  “I told him I couldn’t go with him because I was with you. He badgered and groveled telling me it was just a few minutes away and we wouldn’t be long. That it would be less than fifteen minutes to exchange payments for goods and head back. I told him told off and hung up. Then I went back in bed with you. A few minutes later, Darren was banging on my front door. Furious, I went outside to blood his nose but he kept begging, telling me it wouldn’t take more than fifteen minutes. Eventually, I capitulated.” Natalio looked at me with a please-understand expression and said, “You know Darren was my main boy.”

  Expressionless, I stared at him and didn’t reply. Because frankly, I didn’t want to understand why he would choose to accompany Darren on an ammunition deal and leave me in bed on what was supposed to be my special night.

  He blinked at me and his expression changed to a wistful one. “I thought leaving you for fifteen minutes wouldn’t hurt. Darren wouldn’t relent. So I went back into the room, you were still asleep, and I got dressed, kissed you and left. Only…I hadn’t known that would be the last time I’d see you. That I’d never get to see your eighteenth birthday. That I’d never get to marry you. That I would lose you, your love, and your memories of me.”

  Natalio ran a hand through his hair, stood up from his chair, paced around for a bit, then reseated himself. “I told Darren to drive. Larry was in front with Darren and…and Otis was in the back with me. He was only fifteen.” He swallowed hard and sipped his wine.

  A vague remembrance of Otis came to me. Otis was Darren’s younger brother, tall and gangly with an ever-present smile.

  “Otis had always tried in earnest to be a part of the clique. But I’d told him he was too young and that he should focus on school. That night I got angry to see him there and tossed him out the car. But Darren insisted on him coming along.” Natalio shook his in remorse.

  What the hell happened?

  His voice grew harsh. “Beyond irritated, I conceded because my mind was on getting it over with so I could get back to you. And all the lingering and arguing was consuming time and I just wanted to be back in my goddamned bed. I wanted to be back before you were awake.” Natalio bit his lip in belligerence and exhaled noisily. “I grew freakin’ furious when ten minutes later we were still driving to wherever this godforsaken place was. Darren kept assuring me it was just around the corner, a corner that took another ten minutes to get to.

  “Finally, we pulled onto this open dry land with lines of trailers. Darren, Larry and I got out and I told Otis to remain in the car. Halfway to the trailer, I figured you’d probably be awake by then or would soon be and I thought maybe I should just send you a message telling you I’d be back soon. So I told Darren and Larry to go ahead and begin with the transaction and that I’d be there in a minute. I jogged back to the car for my cell and saw that you’d texted me, which made me smile, but then immediately cursed myself for not being there. As soon as I began typing a reply, my phone fell from my hands at the first fusillade of shots that fired. When I looked up, Larry and Darren were running back towards the car; Darren doubling over
, for he’d received a shot to his stomach. Ducking from getting hit while returning fire, we rushed back into the car and got the hell outta there. The thing is, I didn’t even have my tool, because I was too much in haste when I was leaving to remember, for one. And two, I wouldn’t have guessed that a simple ammo purchase could go so awry.” Natalio took a breath, and then continued. “The men didn’t pursue us further once we got onto the main, so we thought we were safe. Next thing I knew, police lights were flashing behind us. Darren went into a panic and gassed up. I began yelling at him, asking him what the hell he was doing. The flipping car was mine and if the police should trace the license plate they’d trace me.” He pointed at his chest. “Not Nelly, but me, Natalio Nelson!”

  And that wouldn’t be pretty, would it? I wrestled down the impolite urge to roll my eyes.

  “It would’ve been an easy task for me to bribe the cops if he’d just pulled over and played nice. But the stupid dolt carried on driving. And soon there were two police cars chasing us into the night. Otis was sitting next to me with widened eyes, and I was so pissed that this young kid that should’ve been at home nosing his books was out with us assholes in a car chase.”

  Natalio pushed back from the table with a loud screech. “Addlebrained Larry got so freakin’ frightened, that he pulled his gun and began firing at the cops. What kind of idiot does that?!” He ran both hands through his hair. “Unable to believe all this was happening, I started shouting, cursing, slapping the nitwit telling him to quit it. Then to my surprise, Darren said “Fuck it! There’s no living through this.” And he, too, pulled his gun and started firing.” Natalio wagged his head as if he still couldn’t believe. “Numbskulls.”

  “Who on earth doesn’t know that the cops always win in shoot outs?” I said. It was all I could manage, because honestly, I was shocked. Not in a million years had I imagined that this was his fate on the night I got jilted. At least, I thought I’d got jilted.

  Natalio didn’t look at me, he just continued. “Eventually, the cops began reciprocating. And everything was happening so fast it was all just a blur. Bullets shattered the windshields, grazing us by the inch. Darren swerved around a corner and…and…”

  Natalio trailed off and crouched down with his fingers laced on the nape of his neck and his eyes focused on the floor. My heart stopped beating. What happened?

  In a tone laced with lament, Natalio said, “That’s when Otis fell unto my lap. A bullet h-hole in the side of his head. His mouth hung open, his eyes vacant, lifeless. He was…dead. He was only fifteen. Fifteen.”

  A loud gasp escaped me and my hand flew to my mouth. Shit! So that was how Darren’s brother died and not of some illness? Why would his family lie about his death? Shame? My word, there’s so much that I was oblivious to.

  Natalio’s voice broke through my thoughts as he continued his tale. “Everything was so surreal, I kept thinking that at some point I would wake up and it would all be a dream. Darren kept driving trying to get away but the police cars only multiplied and I just thought to myself that that was it. We were ruined. I attempted moving my arm to shift Otis’s body so I could crouch lower, and a sharp pain slammed through my shoulder. That’s when I realized that I’d been shot.”

  So I was right then. The mark on his shoulder is a gunshot wound. I gazed at him with rounded eyes. My Natalio had been shot. While I was weeping, thinking he’d left me because he didn’t want me, all this was happening? A wail was swirling in the pit of my stomach, but I wouldn’t allow it to manifest.

  Natalio kept going as if he were unable to stop talking, his blue eyes void as he relived the horrid night. “Knowing that if the shoot-out protracted I’d end up like Otis, I shouted at Darren and told him to give it up or we’d all be dead; because he was already shot in the stomach and was bleeding to death. That’s when he glanced around and saw his brother sprawled lifeless, and that I was hit. He swore and made a loud cry, prompting Larry to look around, too. Blood was everywhere. The short distraction sent us crashing straight into a drugstore. I don’t know what happened, but all I remember was my whole body being flung from the back seat and towards the shattered windshield in one swift move. I remember not being able to move at all. And my last thought was about you…If I’d ever live to see you again. Then there was shouting, gas, smoke and fire. Then there was darkness.”

  I sat inert, numbed and speechless. Shocked to the core.

  Natalio unfolded from his crouch, stood up and paced the length of the room, raking his fingers through his hair repeatedly. “When I awoke, I was in the hospital. It was seven days later. I was comatose for seven days, Sadie.” His tone held incredulity as if such unfortunate circumstances should never befall someone like him. “Two of my father’s securities stood guard in my hospital room. And I knew then that I was in deep shit. They’d trimmed my hair. All my goddamned hair!” he shouted, with pure, undiluted anger.

  “They kept me hospitalized for another three days and I suffered from the trepidation of being sent off to jail. But I should’ve known better, that with my father, there’s no way on earth that would happen,” he said through a choked laugh. “When I was next awake, I was on my father’s jet being shipped off the Japan. The sonuvabitch drugged me!” Natalio kicked at a bar stool and sent it tumbling noisily to the ground. “The domineering tyrant that my father was, he sent me away because he thought that was best, because ‘I was getting out of control’.

  “Upon inquiring what happened with Darren and Larry and how I got off the hook, I was told that, somehow, my father’s lawyer got the boys to say they’d kidnapped me with the intention of asking for a ransom.” He laughed bitterly. “Ludicrous, isn’t it? But such was easily bought, because no one would ever believe that Marcello Nelson’s son, Natalio Nelson, CEO of a new multi-million dollar company on the rise, would be hanging out in a clique and shooting at cops. It was fortunate that I hadn’t my tool that night and that my fingerprints weren’t on any of the weapons.”

  A large lump in my throat hindered my breathing. Marcello Nelson was his father? That pomp, I do know. The man was obscenely wealthy—if ‘wealthy’ was a justifiable word—and involved in virtually everything from theology to politics. Damn right no one would believe that story. The man held supreme power in society.

  “I was forced to step away from my business for two years—well, not really. My uncle, Orthello Nelson, is the owner of NIFTZ in Japan. You know those smart cars?”

  I nodded. How could anyone not know them? They’re made in such bright colors that, from a satellite’s point of view, they’ll probably look like gum balls scattered on the earth. But consumers flock to them anyways because they’re convenient, swift and affordable.

  “Well he also owns an electronics company similar to mine. So for the years that I was forced to stay there, I’d gained more knowledge in that area. Apprenticed should you so say. Learned a lot from those smart and creative Japanese. By the time I was back in San Fran, I was abounded with ideas and a new direction for my company. I was able to turn my millions to billions in very little time. So, in some ways it helped me. I grew, in knowledge, wisdom and understanding. That’s what my father wanted to see.”

  Natalio stared at me squarely. “You have to understand, Sadie, there was nothing I could do. My brothers and I, our lives don’t belong to us, but to him, Marcello. Whatever he says, goes. We were raised with gentility and decorum. Home-schooled. And as soon as we hit eighteen, millions get shoved into our hands to start our own business. And it better be damn sensible and successful, too. Father would be right there over our backs making sure we turned those millions into billions. Honestly, he’s the only man on this earth that I fear. He’s a domineering, high-handed, insensitive megalomaniac.”

  Natalio began pacing the room again. “After those two years of living in Japan, he allowed me back home. And while I worked my ass off to right my company and regain my father’s reverence—because I’d messed up big time—I tried to get through to you,
at which I’d gained knowledge that you’d moved because your house had been burnt to the ground. So I zealously searched for you.”

  My heart leaped. He searched for me.

  “It took me a few weeks to find out about your father’s suicide and your mother’s attempt at the same. Of what had happened to you and that you were…you were with…Cali D,” his voice broke. But he quickly cleared his throat and strengthened his tone. “You’ve moved on. What could I do? Especially if you didn’t remember me? I sent warnings to him, to let him know that if anything should happen to you, anything at all, I’d pull his bloody intestines through his mouth.” Natalio ran both hands through his hair. “I couldn’t fathom how everything could go so wrong so quickly.”

  This was too much. So overwhelming. Hell, this man suffered more than I did. Suddenly I felt morbid. And everything I’d eaten for the day threatened to exit orally.

  But Natalio rambled on. “I’ve never left you. I assigned guards to keep watch on you for all those years you were with him. And whenever he messed up and you left, I’d be sure he got his ass kicked. But then days later you’d go back to him. Before I could even make a move from whatever part of the world I was to come to you, you went right back to that asshole! And I had to watch that shit for years.” He pinned me with a sulfurous stare. “Did you love him?”

  Caught off-guard by his question, I stuttered, “N-No. I-I didn’t.” I just couldn’t deal with starting all over again with anyone. Until you came along…again.

  “Then why the hell did you keep—” he stopped short, lifted the vase of white roses from his coffee table and pelted it onto a wall, causing me to jump out of my skin. “I slept with girl after girl, night after night. Trying to find you in one of them. A semblance of you. Something. Anything. Anything at all that would remind me of you. But I never did. You’re one of a kind, Sadie. The love I had for you just wouldn’t go. Wouldn’t fade. Wouldn’t allow me happiness with anyone else. And that’s why I couldn’t move on. So I waited and waited and waited.”