by A. C. Arthur
Marvin frowned. “I could think of a worse way to spend your time and money.”
The brothers looked at him in surprise. Marvin had always been a straight forward and stern type of father. He told his children what he expected of them and then he sat back to wait until they did it. When they didn’t, as Renny, Adriana and now Gabriella could attest to, it could get a little tense. Rico had never wanted to walk that path. Now, it appeared he was not only walking it, but skidding down the road to destruction as if it were actually a race.
“It was a one-time thing and I didn’t spend any money,” Rico offered. The moment the words were out of his mouth he regretted them.
No, actually, he was tired of saying them, tired of having to give an excuse for making a decision. He was a grown man after all. If he wanted to have sex with a prostitute, he could, he was rich enough. If he’d met a stripper instead and ended up spending the weekend with her, well, that was his prerogative also. He wasn’t going to feel guilty and he wasn’t going to cower, no matter how he’d handled things in the past.
“Then you got free services,” Renny said with a grin. “That proves you’re even luckier than I thought.”
Rico wished that were true.
“Have we heard from this person since the letter was received?” Marvin asked.
“No, sir,” Rico replied. “And I’ve already contacted Sam Desdune to look into her background to see what type of person we’re dealing with.”
“Good,” Marvin said with a nod. “Desdune is a good guy. I trust his work. We’ll wait to hear what he suggests.”
Sitting behind his desk with the rotund stomach he seemed to be proud of as a sixty-three-year-old man, Marvin looked over to Rico. “Tell me about this woman in the picture.”
Marvin had a dark tree bark complexion to go with his booming deep voice and southern upbringing. The Bennett children, mixed with Beatriz’s golden Brazilian skin tone, all had a distinctive bi-racial look, from their dark eyes and wavy hair, to the lighter toned skin. Their father always said they were a beautiful mix of two cultures and destined to do great things. Rico didn’t feel like he was doing so great at the moment, but there was no time for a pity party, no tolerance for one either.
“We met. We clicked and spent some time together on Friday evening. There was a misunderstanding and I had to find her on Saturday. That’s when I found out she was an artist and I invited her to Renny’s showing,” Rico told his father.
“She’s extremely talented,” Renny added.
Alex, who had been looking pretty stressed by this conversation, nodded his agreement to Renny’s comments. “Monica is very excited about working with her. I think they’re planning a show for early summer.”
That was news to Rico as he hadn’t spoken to Eva since she’d walked out of his hotel room two weeks ago. He’d started to email her the night after Alex had given him the blackmail letter, but the draft message still sat in a folder on his computer, never having been sent. He hadn’t known what to say to her or how to say it, so he’d typed some words and then declined to send them.
“An artist,” Marvin said. He picked up the plastic with the pictures inside and looked at them again. “A very pretty artist who is working as a stripper. That’s quite a choice. Do you know why she made it?”
Rico had been sitting on the chocolate brown leather couch, one ankle crossed over his knee. He rubbed his hands over his thighs as he prepared to answer his father.
“She’s taking care of her brother. Her parents died when she was seventeen,” he replied.
“Really? I don’t think she told Karena and Monica that much,” Alex said. “How old is her brother?”
“He’s twenty. A business student at Columbia,” Rico said. “His grades are good and he was offered an internship at Leef & Jenner. He has a lot of potential.”
“Hmmm, you sound like you’ve been doing a little investigating on your own. Or did you learn all of this in the two days you spent with this woman?” Marvin asked him.
His father had leaned back in his chair, folding his beefy hands over his girth, watching his middle son through slightly lowered lids.
This was something else Rico hadn’t planned to tell anyone until it was absolutely necessary. He hadn’t even decided if that time would ever come.
“No, I looked him up when I came home, called the school and talked to a few of his professors,” he said.
Marvin nodded. “You’re thinking about offering him a job—a good paying job—so his sister won’t have to work as a stripper any longer.”
Rico only shrugged because he hadn’t been totally sure what his intentions were towards Makai Miller. He’d just made the calls and let the information he gathered sit in a folder on his desk, similar to the way that email to Eva was sitting in his draft box.
“That’s what I’d do if I were interested in this woman. And before you tell me you’re not interested, let me remind you that this picture is telling a different story,” Marvin said with a grin. He held the picture up and flashed it at Rico. “The interest seems mutual.”
Renny snapped his fingers and grinned. “I thought the same thing when I saw it, and when I mentioned it to Bree, she was certain there was interest. In fact, she said she saw it at the gallery.”
“Karena and Monica have had questions about that too. I’ve heard them talking, but I’m trying to stay out of it especially since I don’t have any information to offer,” Alex said.
“There is no information because there is no interest,” Rico told them. The moment the words were out he knew they were a lie and he hated the thought of lying to his family.
“Okay,” he said after a few seconds of his father and brothers staring knowingly at him. “There might be an interest, but it can’t go anywhere. We’re from two different worlds and that’s that.”
He stood then, rubbing a hand down the back of his head. “I’ll get a report from Sam and we can talk again about the blackmail situation. The rest…well, there’s nothing else.”
He’d walked out of the room without waiting for another word from anyone. It was better that way, Rico thought. Getting through the rest of the dinner while avoiding the knowing looks of the Bennett men had taken all the energy he’d had that night. And now, days later, Rico still felt worn out.
Bennett Industries was about to roll out an updated cell phone and tablet duo so marketing and production were in a tizzy, budgets were being ignored and there was general chaos at the office. Today’s meeting at the Manhattan office of the marketing firm they’d hired was hopefully going to stem some of the anxiety. The meeting was in Manhattan at the office of the marketing firm they’d hired. It was a late afternoon meeting that Rico wished he’d scheduled for early morning instead. To top that off, Sam had sent him a text at lunchtime, scheduling a conference call. Rico was going to take the call in his car while he drove to New York.
As if on cue, his cell phone rang at that moment. He adjusted the Bluetooth in his ear and answered, “Bennett.”
“Hey, it’s Sam.”
“Hi Sam. How’s Karena?” Rico asked.
Another issue that had come up was Karena having to be rushed to the hospital a few days ago. Bree hadn’t been able to give Renny too many details about what was going on and so Rico had only received a message that Sam would get back to him when things had calmed down.
“She’s doing good. Getting some rest on doctor’s orders. You know she’s hating that especially since they’re working on Eva’s new show,” Sam said.
Eva was having a show. Rico had learned that information at the dinner party and he was excited for her. He was proud of her. And he still hadn’t gotten the nerve to tell her.
“Was it something serious?” he asked.
Sam sighed. “It seems that having a second baby isn’t as easy as it was with the first. So we’ve been doing some different things and she was taking some type of supplement that didn’t agree with her.”
Oh wow. Rico
sort of wished he hadn’t asked. The last thing he wanted to talk about was having babies and trying to have babies. But that was probably what happened with married couples. Rico wondered if he would ever be in this position with a woman, or rather his wife. He wasn’t getting any younger, but he’d never really thought about having a Rico, Jr. Eva was still young, she should be healthy enough to have babies and…wait, what the hell? He was not driving in this car thinking about having babies with a woman he couldn’t even get up the nerve to send an email to.
“Well, I hope she’s feeling better,” he said to Sam, pulling himself back into the here and now. The realistic and the practical.
“Yeah, she is. I’ve just been juggling things with her and Elijah. Bree has been coming over to the house to help because Karena doesn’t want our parents to know what’s going on. To top that off Lynn and Brice are out of town, so Jeremy’s staying with us. It’s been stressful to say the least.”
Sam chuckled, so Rico joined in. He had no idea what Sam was going through, but a part of him, a very small part that Rico felt like he’d done a damn good job of ignoring all these years, wanted to know.
“But that’s not the purpose of this call,” Sam added. “I wanted to tell you what I found out about Ms. Nadja Carter.”
“Okay,” Rico said, feeling mildly better by the change in conversation.
“She has a couple of misdemeanor charges, mostly shop lifting. Born in the Bronx, twenty-four years old. Has been working at TEASE for three years,” Sam began.
“What about her finances? Is she desperate for money? A gambler?” Rico asked, frowning, but not surprised by what he was hearing.
“None of the above,” Sam said. “Two years of community college, no degree, no certificate, paid via financial aid. Student loan payments are made every month and on time. As well as her car payment and credit cards.”
Rico didn’t understand.
“Now, here’s where it gets interesting. Nadja’s current address is on Duane Street in a fourteen million dollar Tribeca loft townhouse.”
“What? How does she afford that? Who else has she blackmailed?” Rico asked.
“That’s what I’m about to tell you. The house is in the name of Renee Lorminsky,” Sam said and then waited a beat. “As in Councilman Bill Lorminsky.”
Rico let the names roll around in his mind for a moment before replying, “Wait. What? You’re telling me that Nadja lives with Renee Lorminsky. Bill Lorminsky’s daughter is gay?”
“Exactly,” Sam replied. “And after I went over a few past press conferences and appearances, the last campaign footage and the personal history of Renee Lorminsky, I figured it out. The councilman doesn’t know his daughter is gay. Nobody knows.”
“Except Nadja Carter. So she’s blackmailing Renee too. Take care of me and my bills or I’ll tell your father and the world,” Rico said, shaking his head.
This should not be an issue in this day and age. With same sex marriages being approved by the higher courts, celebrities, athletes and even preachers coming out of the closet, how could Nadja have created a complete lifestyle by threatening these people?
“I think they’re actually in a relationship, so some of the taking care of her, may be coming as a result of that connection and not necessarily a blackmail plot. At any rate, I’m sure this is a situation that Nadja does not want interrupted. Which means—”
“That we threaten her trifling ass the same way she tried to threaten us.”
“Bingo!”
The call with Sam and the meeting that had taken two hours, too long, but had been very successful, had Rico in a good mood. This mood had him calling Lucien’s and placing a to-go order of jalapeno-crawfish dirty rice, shrimp and grits and Mrs. Marie Desdune’s to-die-for bread pudding. The pick-up was quick, and soon he was back in his truck, driving down the familiar streets that would take him to an apartment building in Brooklyn.
He was taking a chance, Rico knew that as he parked his truck and retrieved the insulated bags that the manager at Lucien’s had insisted he carry his food in. Rico was certain other carry out customers did not get these type of bags, but the moment he’d given his name for the order and then showed up to swipe his credit card to pay, they’d known who he was. Since Sam and Bree had worked that first case for them, ending in Renny and Bree’s marriage, the Desdunes and Bennetts had been family.
It was with the complete confidence he’d been born and bred with that Rico took the elevator and walked down the hallway of the floor where he knew Eva lived. He knocked on the door and waited, expecting her to be there even though he had not called first. He assumed she would share this meal with him and couldn’t wait to hold her in his arms one more time.
“Hello,” Rico was forced to say with a measure of shock as a guy answered her door.
“Hey. We didn’t order anything,” the man said.
He was dressed in dark jeans and a plaid shirt, and wore black rimmed glasses that brought Rico’s attention to the diamond stud earring in his left ear.
“Makai?” he asked, taking a guess, and praying he was right.
Because if he’d come all the way over here just to interrupt Eva on a date with some dude, Rico didn’t know what the hell he was going to do.
“Yeah. Who are you?” Makai asked in return.
“My name’s Rico Bennett. I’m here to see your sister, Eva,” Rico said wanting to breathe a sigh of relief, but refraining.
Makai stepped aside to let Rico in, and once he closed the door said, “She didn’t tell me she was expecting anyone.”
“She didn’t know I was coming. I wanted to surprise her,” Rico said, as he set the food down on the coffee table across from the couch.
“Oh. Well, she’s working,” Makai said. Then he immediately corrected himself. “She’s in the other room painting.”
He apparently knew the kind of work his sister did and was guessing that Rico had met her at the club. Well, he had but, he wanted to make sure Makai knew he was not some type of pervert or jerk that had been hanging out at the club waiting to see Eva.
“She told me about you,” Rico said. “You’re a student at Columbia, right?”
Makai, who had continued to assess Rico with his dark brown eyes and that air of brotherly protection, nodded. “I do.”
“And you study business,” Rico continued, knowing exactly what this young man was thinking. “I work at a communications and tech company. We’re based in Connecticut, but I come into Manhattan from time-to-time for meetings.”
Rico had retrieved his wallet from his jacket pocket and was pulling out a business card. “You should give me a call so we can meet and discuss your goals. We may have a place for you at Bennett Industries when you graduate.”
Makai took his card and looked it over. “You’re the CFO of the company?”
“Yeah,” Rico nodded. “I’m really interested in sitting down and talking to you. I think you have a lot of potential.”
There was another moment of questioning before Makai was the one to nod. “I’ll definitely give you a call,” he told Rico.
“Okay, cool,” Rico replied, hoping he’d made some leeway with the young man.
He wasn’t lying to him, he did think Makai Miller had potential. His grades were good and his professors spoke highly of him. If internships were already coming in from other reputable companies, by the end of the next school year, there would be even more businesses hungry to hire new and young energetic minds. Rico wanted to get first dibs on Makai.
“I’ll go get Eva,” he said and Rico let out a small sigh of relief at knowing he had passed the brother’s test.
It made sense that they were protective of each other, they’d been on their own for so long. They depended solely on each other. Rico couldn’t relate to that as he’d always had his family. What he knew without a doubt was that both of them were too young and had too much going for them, for all this pressure and expectancy to be dropped on their shoulders. If giving
Makai a job would take some of that pressure away from him and from Eva, Rico was glad to help. And if having one night where she didn’t have to prepare a meal could be a step toward assisting Eva, he’d do that too.
Turning to look at the painting above her couch once more, he realized that he was willing to do just about anything for her.
#
Why was he here?
She looked a mess.
It didn’t matter. She didn’t want to see him.
Yet, she didn’t tell Makai to make him go away.
“Hi,” Eva said eventually.
She’d been standing in the doorway watching him stare at that painting. He looked so damn good dressed in a dark brown suit, his beige tie slightly askew. She’d missed seeing him, which was stupid, since she’d only seen him two days in a row, two weeks ago. Before that she’d never known of Rico Bennett. She wondered now whether she’d been better off that way.
“Hello, Eva,” Rico said as he turned slowly to face her. “I was in New York for a meeting that ran late. Got hungry and decided I didn’t want to eat alone.”
He nodded towards the bags on her table and Eva shook her head.
“You brought me dinner?”
“Yeah, I never bought you dinner when I was here before. My mother would have a fit if she knew that. She’s a staunch supporter of taking a pretty girl out for a good meal,” he told her.
He was already moving, unpacking containers from the bags. There were paper plates and cutlery, napkins and bottled sodas. The smell was mouth-watering and her stomach churned in response.
“You two have a good meal. I’m gonna head out now,” Makai said.
He’d gone back into his room and put on a jacket. “Oh, I’m sure there’s enough for all of us. Right, Rico, there’s enough?”
Rico paused, then looked over to Makai. “Sure, man. Sit down and join us. I bought a ton of food.”
Makai shook his head and winked at Rico. “Nah, I’m cool. You two enjoy. And Eva, you be good.”
He had smiled at that statement as he made his way out the door. When Eva turned back to him, Rico was smiling too. “You two aren’t funny,” she said.
