“I helped you out a bit,” Sherise said. “Gave you a little head start on getting out of here.”
He pointed at her angrily. “Sherise, you’re fucking with me again. I thought you understood that I wasn’t going to put up with this shit anymore.”
“You won’t have to,” she said. “You’re going to offer Jerry your resignation letter today and get the fuck out of here.”
“You’re the one who’s—” Maurice stopped mid-sentence as he saw Sherise turn the tablet that was in her lap around so he could see it.
The first picture was of him with the young prostitute laughing on the bed. She was fully naked. He was only half so. Sherise slid her fingers across the screen. The second picture was of him snorting coke off her small breasts. The third was of his mounting her from behind, grabbing on to her blond hair.
“What the fuck is this?” Maurice reached for the tablet, but Sherise held it away.
“Snorting coke is so eighties,” she said. “But I hear it’s coming back. Now this is more modern day.”
She slid the screen, showing him the next picture of him dropping an ecstasy pill in a glass of a brown substance while he licked her neck.
“How did you get those?” he asked, agitated. “You were . . . spying on me?”
“You’re a creature of habit,” Sherise said. “Which is surprising considering you’re such a lover of blackmail. You know habits make it sooo easy . . .”
“You’ve gone too far this time,” Maurice warned.
“No, sweetie pie. You went too far this time.” She slid to a picture of the prostitute. “Her name is Dana, by the way. Did you bother to ask? She probably told you her name was Kitty. Which is appropriate.”
“Why do you say that?” he asked.
“Because she’s just a little kitten,” Sherise answered. “You see, Dana is unfortunately not the age she claims to be.”
Sherise smiled as she saw Maurice’s eyes widen. No, of course Dana wasn’t really under-aged. Even as desperate as she was, Sherise would have never been a part of something that disgusting. But she wasn’t above letting Maurice think he had.
“She’s only fifteen,” Sherise said. “One year under the legal age in D.C. So you’ve moved up, Maurice. Usually, when you pick up your H Street whores, you’re only breaking one law. You broke two laws last night.”
“She was . . .” Maurice was shaking his head. “Bullshit.”
“So,” Sherise surmised, “while you might not go to jail over law one, you’ll definitely do some time for law two.”
“I won’t,” Maurice said confidently. “I have connections that—”
“No one is going to touch this,” Sherise asserted. “And no one is going to touch you when they hear of this.”
“But no one is going to hear of this,” Maurice said. “Jerry won’t let this get out. You have no idea what you’re dealing with.”
“You said that to me before,” Sherise began, “and it was true then. But not anymore. I know everything now, Maurice, and you should be ashamed of yourself.”
“I don’t believe in shame,” he answered.
“You blackmailed Jerry over exposing Stephen’s DUI hit-and-run to get this job.” Sherise said it all as if it was a boring aside, but relished the look on Maurice’s face.
“Jerry told you?”
She shook her head. “Stephen told me. How else do you think I found out about your whore habit? You weren’t at that jail helping out a friend. You were arrested picking up . . . Diamond.”
Maurice cleared his throat and gathered himself together for a moment. He looked at the ground and shook his head. When he looked up again, he eyed Sherise with contempt.
“If you know everything, then you know that I can’t be fired.”
“Why would you think that?” she asked. “You’ve got nothing to back you up. There are no records of Stephen ever being arrested or in the hospital. You made sure of that.”
He laughed as if amused by her naïveté. “But I know they—”
“You know they existed?” she finished for him. “How well will that be taken from a statutory rapist with no evidence?”
“It won’t just be me,” Maurice claimed. “I have a high-ranking police department contact and the chief of staff at Vision Hospital to back me up. They’re the ones who helped me get rid of the evidence. They’re friends of mine and—”
“Not anymore,” Sherise said. “Nathan O’Brien, the D.C. chief of police, has been tapped by Jerry to be deputy secretary at Homeland Security and former COS of Vision Hospital Joshua Bush as the new deputy sec of the Department of Health and Human Services. They’re on his side now.”
Maurice swallowed hard.
Sherise stood up looking him intently in the eye. “They don’t even recall your name anymore.”
Through gritted teeth, he said, “I can make things an awful mess for all of you.”
Sherise just shook her head. “Do you have any idea all of the horrible things Jerry could have done to you when you first blackmailed him? He didn’t use his immense power because he didn’t want to make things worse. But now that he knows he can use them to make things better, I’ll make sure he does.”
“Jerry won’t play dirty,” Maurice assured her. “That’s his weakness.”
“No,” Sherise corrected. “Stephen is his weakness, but Stephen is safe now and I promise you I will make sure that he plays as dirty as he has to if you make any trouble for him.”
Maurice opened his mouth and pointed his finger at Sherise as if he wanted to pull his ace card, but quickly realized he didn’t have one.
“It’s over,” she said, placing both hands on her hips and smiling wryly. “You need to save all that energy for figuring out what to do next. We can make this easy for you or hard. Your choice.”
When Billie stepped inside Belga Café in the Barracks Row neighborhood, her heart felt like it was beating a thousand times a minute. She looked around and saw Michael sitting at a table in the back against the dark red wall looking . . . well, looking awful. Pain shot through every single inch of her at the sight of him.
This was the first time she’d seen him since their encounter outside her office building where she’d left him doubting that she ever loved him at all. Since her realization that he might have been telling the truth and Dee Dee’s confession, Billie had come to terms with how much worse she had made an awful situation.
After she’d walked away from him, Michael stopped calling her. It had only been a couple of days, but Billie had gotten the distinct feeling he’d given up. After being in the apartment and remembering more clearly what she’d seen, or more importantly, what she hadn’t seen, Billie knew she needed to talk to Michael. Then Dee Dee’s surprise appearance and confession that Darina had been planning to seduce Michael all along made the situation more urgent.
When she called Michael asking if they could get together and talk, he didn’t pick up. She left a message, but he didn’t call her back until two days later. It felt like two weeks and as every hour passed, Billie was certain that her refusal to give Michael even a chance had ruined any chance for them to clear the air, let alone fix this problem.
She’d missed his call and had played his message agreeing to meet her at Belga Café today over and over again. It was emotionless, almost conciliatory. Billie wasn’t hopeful, but allowed herself to be distracted by dealing with Erica for one day.
He looked up and saw her when she was halfway to the table. Billie didn’t know what to do. Without thinking, she smiled at him, although noting that he looked miserable. Was that a good sign or a bad sign? Was he miserable without her and eager to be with her again? Was he miserable at the thought of having to talk to her after their last ugly encounter?
Michael didn’t smile back. He sort of looked to the side and then back down. Billie felt her heart thud, having hoped he at least would pretend to be happy to see her. When she reached the table, he stood up because he was a gentleman.
/>
It was terribly awkward standing only a foot or so away from the man she had intended to spend the rest of her life with and not being able to touch him. Or could she? No, it wasn’t the right time.
“Hi, Michael,” she said softly.
“Hi.” He sat down as she sat down.
They looked at each other, their eyes focused, but not connecting. Billie was scared to death. She wanted to know the truth, but she wanted to be smart and not let her heart tell her mind what was real.
“Thank you for meeting with me,” she said, her voice cracking a bit.
“This isn’t what I wanted,” Michael finally said. “I was hoping you would agree to see me for me.”
“That’s why I’m here,” she said.
He shook his head. “You’re here because my mother told you what she and Darina planned for me.”
“Michael, please . . .”
“No, Billie.” He held up his hand to stop her. “Please excuse me if I’m not happy about that. I just found out that my own mother plotted to destroy my relationship with the woman I loved out of selfishness and greed. That was bad enough.”
“I’m so sorry, but . . .”
“But to find out that you’re only willing to talk to me after she talked to you . . . I have to say that hurts even more.”
“But you’re wrong, Michael. That’s not the case.” She tried to hold his gaze, knowing that he was reluctant. “I mean, yes, having her confess to what she did made a difference, but I was already doubting before that.”
He shook his head as if he didn’t believe her. “The last time I saw you, your mind was made up. You didn’t want to hear a damn thing I wanted to say.”
“I was wrong,” she admitted. “But, Michael, you have to cut me some slack.”
“Do I?” he asked. “You didn’t cut me any.”
Billie was concerned by the change in his expression. He’d seemed nervous in the beginning, but now he was just angry.
“Michael, I believed you’d been unfaithful to me. You know what I’ve been through.”
“So I’m supposed to accept that I have to pay for the sins of the man before me?”
“This was about what you did to me,” she said. “I mean, what I was certain you’d done to me, not Porter. But yes, I was using my prior experience. It was to protect myself.”
“Protect yourself,” he repeated her, shaking his head. “From me. Never thought I’d hear that.”
“Neither did I.” She lowered her head, looking at the table.
The waitress approached them, but Michael waved her off.
“I’ve tried,” Michael said. “I’ve tried to understand what you must have been going through. Exactly what Darina wanted you to. Exactly what my mother wanted you to.”
Billie was overcome with compassion for him as she watched the pain on his face as he mentioned Dee Dee. She wanted to reach across the table and touch him, comfort him. She had to stay focused.
“But even with all of that,” Michael continued. “For you to just cut me out of your life without even a chance, a word. You can’t imagine how much that hurt me.”
“Please don’t say you thought I loved you more than that,” Billie pleaded.
“Then what do you want me to say?” he asked. “Billie, I begged. I pleaded with you. Everything that we had, everything that we were, and you still didn’t even allow me a chance to talk to you.”
“It’s because of everything we had and everything we were,” she explained. “It’s because I love you so much that I couldn’t bear to hear you out. I was wrong to use Porter against you, but all I could think of was how I allowed my heart to make a fool of me. So much pain and so much time lost. I couldn’t bear it again.”
“So you were willing to just give up on us?” he asked. “Instead of risking a chance that it wasn’t what you thought.”
“Be honest, Michael. You know what I saw. That, plus the buildup of everything Darina had been doing and my history. All of it made me jump to a conclusion.”
He shook his head as if he didn’t want to agree, but couldn’t resist doing so.
Billie saw him place his hand on the table and she didn’t waste a second. She reached out and grabbed it with her own, squeezing tight. He looked at the action and then looked up at her.
“Now I’m begging,” she said. “I’m begging that you believe me. I know I have a lot of nerve because I didn’t give you the same courtesy, but I swear to God, Michael, I was going to reach out to you before Dee Dee came over.”
“Billie, you said—”
“I went home,” she continued. “I went back to our home and it came rushing back to me. Everything was so suspicious. I couldn’t see it the first time because of the shock, but I saw it then. I was going to reach out to you. Then Dee Dee came and . . .”
“So you believed me?” he asked. “You believed me when I said I didn’t cheat.”
“I believed you when you said you would never purposefully do that to me. I know she set this up. I was just so angry.”
“I made it easy,” he said. He placed his free hand on top of hers. “I’m guilty of that.”
“You wanted to believe that she was being honest for Duncan’s sake.”
“Even at the end,” he said. “When she came over with the paternity test. She was supposed to have been on a plane, but there she was trying to get cozy with a bottle of wine and a joint. It was how we used to celebrate big things. I just ignored it.”
Billie shook her head. “She took advantage of the extreme emotional vulnerability you had, just learning that Duncan was really yours.”
Michael slammed his fist on the table, garnering a few stares. Billie could see that he was still so angry over this. He had every right to be. Even more so than her.
“My abandoning you only made things worse,” she said. “Michael, I’m so sorry.”
“I’m sorry too,” he said. “You warned me. But, Billie, it’s most important that you know I didn’t sleep with her. I know that now that I’ve spoken to her.”
“You finally got in touch with her?” Billie asked.
He nodded. “I threatened her with everything I had. I threatened to take Duncan away from her. I have rights. She kept him from me. If she’s arrested for drugging me, I have a very good chance of getting him away.”
“That must have scared the shit out of her,” Billie said.
“It did,” he said, disgusted. “The only reason I haven’t already is because of Duncan.”
“He’s already been thrown for a loop,” Billie said. “As much as I wish all legal hell would rain down on her, he would suffer the most.”
He looked at Billie, his hand squeezing tighter. “I was thinking about . . . I mean, what if I did that? Would you . . .”
“Oh my God, yes,” Billie quickly proclaimed. “I would support you in every way I could. Emotionally, financially, and legally. I would move to Atlanta if you needed to in order to make this work. Michael, I love you with all my heart and I would stand by my husband. Whatever you—”
“Your husband?” he asked, his eyes widening. “Are you saying that you still want us to get married?”
“I do,” she answered, without hesitation. “If you still want to marry me.”
He laughed. “Do you really need to ask me that?”
“I abandoned you when we were tested,” she said. “So yes, I do.”
“It was a pretty big fucking test,” Michael stated. “I think I can give you this one free pass. We both made some very big mistakes here.”
“We’ll make more,” Billie said. “All I know is that I’ll handle it better next time. I promise.”
“I’ll do a better job of listening to you next time,” he promised.
Billie got up from her chair and came around the table, still holding his hand. She sat down on his lap and touched his cheek with her free hand. Neither of them cared that people were starting to look at them. Just being this close to him, touching him like this
, washed away so much pain, suffering, anxiety, and fear.
When their lips touched, Billie felt so much pain and anguish wash away. She felt comforted and refreshed. His lips, so tender and pleading, brought her love and forgiveness. The warmth and ease with which her body responded quelled her fears.
When they separated, Billie looked down at him and smiled. “You know we’re going to have to be on top of our game every day if we’re dealing with Darina.”
“We’ve got her number,” Michael said. “This craziness she just pulled will always be in our back pocket if she ever gets out of hand. She won’t have Mom on her side anymore. We can handle her.”
“Together,” Billie said, “We can handle anything.”
Arlington Cemetery, located in Arlington, Virginia, sits along the Potomac River, near the Lincoln Memorial. More than 400,000 people are buried at the cemetery, mostly war veterans, but also nurses, spouses of decorated veterans, and prominent civilians.
The only time Erica had been there was with her mother when she was a young girl to visit the graves of President John F. Kennedy and civil rights activist Medgar Evers. Her mother had impressed upon her the sacrifice that the men and women buried there had made, but all Erica could remember was the morbid feeling of seeing so many white headstones.
It was her mother’s words that helped Erica make her way through the massive cemetery to the place she needed to be. She had to remind herself that although Jonah Nolan had been an awful person in a lot of ways, he had served his country in two Gulf Wars.
She’d intended to come here anyway. After being with the girls, Erica knew they were right. Things were a mess and they were only going to get worse until she made peace with the man who made her.
“Finally,” she said as she approached the headstone.
It wasn’t elaborate at all. As opposed to the private section in the cemetery where families paid to have their loved ones buried, Jonah was buried in the public section, per his request in his will. Here, all graves had simple white marble headstones.
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