by Rose, J. L
Staring at Dante a few moments, she said softly, “Dante, promise me that you’re not going down there because you want your kids mothers back. I mean either of them!”
Shaking his head as he reached over to brush her hair back, Dante leaned towards her and kissed her lips. He pulled back a little meeting her eyes and said, “Natalie, you have nothing to worry about. I’m yours. And I know I don’t say it but I am in love with you. I swear it!”
Looking at Dante in complete shock and surprise, Natalie felt the tears sliding down her face as she wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him as they both fell back against the bed together.
* * *
While Natalie slept after they made love, Dante began packing and made a call to James. He let him know the situation and his plans, relieved to hear James say that he would be to the mansion in an hour packed and ready to go.
Dante took a shower after packing his bags and got dressed in a black and cream-colored Louis Vuitton outfit and some brown Timberlands. Dante checked the time on his new Gucci watch with a Mickey Mouse face that had white and yellow diamonds around the face. He decided he wasn’t waiting any longer to wake up Dominic.
Dante called Carlos and asked him to wake up Dominic and have them all meet in his office. Dante hung up with Carlos and woke up Natalie.
“Mmmm…yeah, baby?” Natalie asked, as she rolled over and sat up after seeing that Dante was already fully dressed and standing on her side of the bed. “You leaving?”
“Yeah!” Dante answered, as he walked around to the foot of the bed and bent down to pick up two black leather duffel bags. “Come walk me to the mansion.”
Natalie climbed out of the bed in only panties and a bra. She slipped on one of Dante’s t-shirts and then walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his left arm.
Heading from the guesthouse over to the mansion, they met up with Carlos in the hallway leading to Dominic’s office. Dante nodded his head in response to hearing that James was inside the den waiting for him.
Dante arrived at Dominic’s office and knocked on the door. He heard him tell him to come in. He told Natalie to let James know that he would be with him shortly and he entered the office.
“Dante, what seems to be the emergency?” Dominic asked, waving to the chair in front of his desk as he sat comfortably in his desk chair, arms folded.
Turning down the invitation to sit, Dane began, “Dominic, I wanted to let you know that I need to leave for a little while. My family is going through a serious problem and need my help. I shouldn’t be gone longer than two weeks. But if something comes up and you need me, I will return with no questions asked.”
“It is fine, Dante,” Dominic told him with a smile. “After the issue with Stevens, I’ve heard that Victor has left Arizona. For the moment, things are how they should be. But if I need you, I will call. Tell me, though, how big is this problem your family is dealing with?”
“I’m really not sure!”
Nodding his head, Dominic looked at Carlos and said, “Carlos, I want ten of our men ready in thirty minutes to go back with Dante to Miami. Make sure that they have weapons as well. Also, call and have my personal jet gassed and ready for Dante.”
“Yes, sir!” Carlos replied before leaving the office just as Carmen and Natalie entered.
“Dante, is it true you are leaving us?” Carmen asked, as she stopped beside him.
“Only for a little while,” Dante answered, as Natalie wrapped herself around him and leaned into his side. “I should be back within two weeks. But if either of you need me, I’ll return here no questions asked.”
Smiling at his response, Carmen leaned into Dante. She gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. After releasing him, she added, “You just make sure that you make it back to us safely, okay?”
After finishing up with Dominic, Natalie left the office with him. He headed towards the front door, where he saw James and Carlos talking with one another.
“Everything is ready!” Carlos told Dante and explained further, “The limo will take you to the jet and from there you will be on your way. Have a safe trip there and try not to stay away too long.”
Smiling as he dapped up with Carlos, Dante turned to James and asked, “What’s up, J? You ready?”
“I move when you move, bro!” James replied with a smile.
Turning back and looking towards the hallway, Dante saw Carmen walking towards him with a large brown envelope, which she handed to him.
“This is for you from both Dominic and me. If you need more, just let us know and we will have it sent to you,” Carmen explained to Dante.
Accepting the envelope he felt was filled with money, Dante kissed Carmen’s cheek and said, “Thank you, Carmen.”
“You just be careful!” Carmen warned. She then quickly turned and walked off before Dante could see her crying.
Turning back towards the door, Dante handed both his bags and the envelope to James and told him to wait for him outside in the limo.
As she began to tear up, Dante wiped her face and said, “Come on, beautiful! No reason why you should be crying. I’ll be back.”
“I’m just going to miss you,” she told him, reaching up and wrapping her arms tightly around his neck. “I love you, Dante.”
“I love you, too, Natalie. You have both my and Vanessa’s numbers if you want to get in contact with me,” Dante told her as they broke apart. He wiped her face again, winking his eye at her, making her smile.
Accepting the kiss that Dante gave her, Natalie stepped to the front door and stood watching as he walked off toward the limo. He stopped and spoke with Gomez briefly, smiling and shaking hands with him.
Waving when Dante looked back up at her, Natalie smiled as Dante gave a goodbye wink. Then he climbed inside the limo as the driver closed the door behind him.
Chapter 15
Receiving his call a few hours ago telling her what time to pick him up, Vanessa excitedly pulled up onto the airstrip where she was supposed to meet, where she found a car and two SUVs already parked out on the strip.
She wondered if she was at the right place when she saw the blinking lights and heard the plane. Vanessa turned her attention to the white and dark blue jet that was landing.
She shifted her eyes to the Mercedes Benz and a white-suited gentleman climbing out. She turned her attention back to the jet, just as the hatch door was opening and the steps were let down.
Vanessa saw ten or eleven men step off the jet, followed by a white man in a dark grey cotton sweat suit carrying bags in his hand. Vanessa broke out in a huge smile and rushed over from her truck as soon as she saw Dante walking off the jet last.
“Dante!”
Dante heard his name being called. He looked to the far right as his security team pulled their weapons and pointed. He yelled at his team to stand down after realizing it was Vanessa.
“Relax, fellas!” Dante yelled out, as he stepped through the team of armed security guards and walked towards Vanessa with a smile.
“Damn, nigga!” Vanessa said, as she threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly.
“What’s up, Vanessa?” Dante said, releasing her. “You looking good, lil sis!”
“Look at you, nigga!” Vanessa told him, smiling at seeing Dante was bigger than before he left. “You done put on some more weight and muscle, I see.”
“Just a lil something!” Dante replied still smiling.
“And what’s up with all these niggas you got with you? Who they?” she asked, just as she and Dante heard his named being called out.
Looking over his shoulder, he saw James waving him over to a middle-aged, white gentleman in a suit. Dante looked back to Vanessa as she asked, “Who’s the white guy you brought back with you?”
“Come on! I’ll introduce you,” Dante told Vanessa, leading her over to where James was standing with the other man.
“Yo, Dante! Guy here says he needs to talk with you,” James told Dante, while starin
g over at Vanessa.
“Who you?” Dante asked the guy, noticing the way his team surrounded the unknown man.
“G-Good morning, Mr. Black-Blackwell, sir!” the white man began nervously. He took a quick breath and continued, “My name is Greg Wilson and I was assigned to you by a Mr. Dominic Saldana to take care of matters that you may need assistance with.”
“What can you do for me that I can’t do for myself?” Dante asked, as he stood staring hard at the guy.
“It’s not a matter of what I can do that you cannot, Mr. Blackwell. It’s a matter of my being able to handle things fast and when you need them, just as I’ve brought you vehicles for you and your men,” he told Dante, waving his open hand back at the Mercedes and the two Yukons.
Nodding his head slowly, Dante shifted his eyes back to Greg Wilson before calling to James, “Get Greg’s contact number so we’ll be able to reach him.”
Turning back to Vanessa and noticing the timid smile and expression on her face, he asked, “What’s wrong, Nessa?”
Shaking her head, Vanessa looked to the right of Dante as James stepped up beside him.
“Dante, Wilson says Dominic already paid for us to stay at some penthouse out on Miami Beach,” James informed.
“Alright!” Dante replied before smirking at the way James was checking out Vanessa. “James, meet my brother’s wife, Vanessa.”
“How you doing, Vanessa?” James said, shaking her hand.
“What’s up, James?” Vanessa replied, smirking as she too noticed the way he was looking at her.
“J, go ahead and let Wilson take you to the penthouse and take the team with you,” Dante told James. “I’ma roll with my sister.”
“I got you, but hit me up if you need me, bro!” James told Dante, touching fists with him. Then he said goodbye to Vanessa, whose smile provided an acknowledged goodbye.
Handing his bags off to one of the men on his security team, Dante turned back to Vanessa and said, “So, what’s up? You ready to go?”
* * *
“So, what’s up, Vanessa?” Dante asked, after he and Vanessa left the airstrip.
“What are you talking about?” Vanessa asked, glancing over at Dante again.
“Look!” Dante started, as he pulled a box of Black & Mild’s from his pocket, “I know I been gone a lil minute now but I’m still the same Dante.”
“Why you say that?”
“Because I peeped how you keep staring at me smiling. What’s really up with that?”
Quiet for a moment, Vanessa glanced over at Dante and said, “You just seem a little different from how you used to be before you left.”
“How?”
“You just seem different,” she repeated. She added, “First, you never used to smile so much but now you’re constantly smiling and seem happy. You seem relaxed and I noticed you got that whole thinking thing still but you’re quicker at using it than before you left.”
Hearing Vanessa’s words and considering what she just told him, Dante changed the subject asking, “So, where we going?”
“To see Angela and your daughter,” Vanessa answered, cutting her eyes over to Dante, noticing how he had changed the topic from himself.
“So, who all know I’m back?”
“Nobody! You told me not to tell anyone, right?”
“And you actually listened?”
Vanessa smiled and playfully punched Dante in the arm, which he grabbed and laughed. She said, “We can go to the house after we leave from seeing Angela and Mya.”
“Naw! I’m good, Vanessa!”
“Relax, Dante! Alinna’s not there anyway. She mostly stays with that dude she been seeing.”
Looking over at Vanessa before shaking his head and turning his attention out the window, Dante asked, “What’s up? Have y’all heard anything else from this clown, Fish Man?”
“No!” Vanessa replied. “But Wesley is looking into finding out what he can about his ass, though.”
“I also wanna talk to Wesley.”
“He supposed to call me later on,” she told him and asked, “What’s up with the white boy? James?”
“Why?” Dante asked, smirking as he looked back over at Vanessa.
“Dante, don’t play with me, boy. The white boy cute and all but he not my type and Andre would kill that white boy for real.”
“I don’t know about that,” Dante said, still smirking as Vanessa shot him a look.
“What you trying to say, Dante?” Vanessa asked him. “Who’s this white boy?”
“Let’s just say that I’ve seen James get down and that white boy about his issue, Nessa. Believe me!”
Deciding to leave the topic alone, Vanessa continued driving to get breakfast and gas, which Dante paid for.
Pulling up in front of Angela’s house ten minutes later, Vanessa shut off the BMW and climbed out of the car. As they walked around the front of the car, Dante asked about his nephew A.J.
“He with Andre getting a haircut today. We’ll see him later,” Vanessa replied, as they walked up the walkway to the front door.
Dante knocked on the front door and turned around to look over the neighborhood. Vanessa noticed that he still had his old ways about him.
He turned around just as the front door opened and Angela stepped into the doorway. Vanessa stepped to the side as she watched Angela’s eyes shift directly to Dante.
“What’s up, Angela?” Dante spoke as Angela’s hands shot up and covered her mouth, tears in her eyes.
“Oh my God, Dante!” Angela cried, just before she rushed toward him.
Catching Angela as she threw herself at him, Dante held her a few moments while she hugged him and cried.
“Oh God, Dante!” Angela said, as she released him and stepped back. She looked him over. “You look really good! You’ve gained weight and some more muscle.”
“I told you!” Vanessa agreed, as she walked past both Dante and Angela and into the house.
Shaking his head with a smile on his face, Dante looked back at Angela, catching her staring at him.
“You look a little different,” she told him. “Older and calmer.”
“I’m still me!” Dante replied before asking, “Where’s Mya?”
“She’s inside with her brother watching cartoons,” Angela replied, grabbing Dante’s hand and leading him into the house. “Wait until you see how big the both of them are now, Dante.”
Dante followed Angela to the den where Vanessa had given something to eat to the kids. He stood there staring at both of them and realized they were now old enough to feed themselves.
Vanessa said something to Mya and D.J, as they turned around and looked in Dante’s direction. Both children broke out in a big smile.
“Daddy!” Mya and D.J. cried together.
Dante walked over to his kids, as both of them climbed to their feet and reached up to him. He picked up both kids just as Vanessa said, “They both know who you are, Dante. We make sure that they see your pictures I got and we talk about you to them all the time.”
Looking back to his kids, while directly particular attention to his son, Dante stood smiling and listening to the boy as he struggled to communicate. Mya simply held on to his neck and hugged him.
* * *
Dante spent some time with his daughter and son, enjoying breakfast with both of them. He noticed how protective D.J. was over his older sister, as well as the affection Mya displayed by the need to hold her younger brother’s hand or always sit next to him. Dante smiled at these things, continuing to enjoy their company.
“Dante!”
Dante looked over his left shoulder upon hearing his name and saw Angela motioning him over. Vanessa walked back into the den with the children. Dante stood up from the sofa picking up the kids dishes before he followed Angela into the dining room. On the table sat a navy blue folder.
“What’s that?” Dante asked, as Angela took the plates from him.
“It’s the information you asked for
about Alex Whitehead,” Angela explained, as she walked off and headed into the kitchen.
Dante sat down in one of the chairs and opened the folder. He began reading through the information that was inside the file about Agent Alex Whitehead.
“Why isn’t there a picture of this guy in here?” Dante asked, looking up and to his right as Angela stepped up beside him.
“He’s undercover, Dante! DEA won’t let out a picture of him because of that.”
“So, who are Agent Monica Martin and Agent Paul Young?”
“The information I got back says that Monica Martin is actually Alex Whitehead’s partner and Paul Young is supposedly their back-up. Monica Martin has been with the DEA for ten years, and has been Alex’s partner for eight of those years.”
Nodding his head in acknowledgment of what was just explained to him, Dante focused back on reading the file when his cell phone rang.
“Yeah!” Dante answered after digging out his phone.
“Hey baby! You made it to Miami yet?”
Smiling at hearing Natalie’s voice, Dante stood up from the table, walked into the living room, and said, “What’s up, beautiful? Yeah! I just got to Miami a few minutes ago. I’m with Vanessa and the kids now.”
“I miss you.”
“Really?”
“Dante, stop playing! You know I miss you.”
“Yeah, I know. I miss you too, Natalie.”
“I’ll let you finish spending time with your sister and the kids. Tell Vanessa I said hi…and I love you, Dante.”
Dante hung up the phone after telling Natalie he loved her back. Then he headed back into the dining room, noticing the way in which Angela was watching him.
“So, that was her, huh?” Angela asked, as Dante stopped next to her at the table. “That was Natalie.”
Dante didn’t even bother asking how she knew her name. He figured Vanessa had told her. He answered, “Yeah! That was her!”
“I can tell,” Angela replied. “I saw the smile on your face when you answered your phone. I’ve never seen you smile like that before.”
