by Love Belvin
“Of what type?” I asked with my eyes still glued to Tom, standing with crossed arms, a posture of righteous indignation.
“Well, it’s already been arranged for Ms. Nena to fly home this weekend.”
“By whom?”
“Mr. Ellis.”
“And when are you returning, Nena?” I asked.
“I’m not.” Her head shifted left to right over her narrowed shoulders. A cool arrogance exuding from that act along with those two words.
“Not?”
She shook her head. “I’m staying home.”
My chin dipped. “Forever.”
That’s when there was a break in her cocky resolve. A slight eye shift, breaking our contact told me Nena was hurt.
“Did he…” I cleared my throat, not knowing how to ask a simple question regarding my father-in-law. “Did he ask you to leave?”
“No.” Her chin lifted. “I told him it’s over.”
My eyes blossomed.
“Tell her the rest!” Diane demanded.
Nena readjusted her silk wrap, once again appearing uncomfortable. I saw her throat move as she swallowed. “I’m pregnant.”
This time, the wall broke my fall. The dizzy spell lasted longer. “By whom?” I asked, fighting through it.
“That’s none of your business, sweetheart,” her throaty vocals hissed.
Miraculously, that crossness sobered me. “It is if it’s an Ellis baby, don’t you think?”
“No, but to answer your question…” Nena shook her head. “It’s not Earl’s.”
“That shit better not have been.” Diane huffed, rolling her eyes. “Earl would’ve had another heart attack when I was through with his ass.”
Stacy shook her head.
“What have Earl and Irene said about this dilemma?” I asked.
“It gets more complicated.” Stacy’s hand rested on my shoulder, a warning for me to brace myself.
“Okay…”
“See, Ms. Diane wants the jet, too, this weekend.”
“For what?” My eyes swept over to Diane.
“For a trip to Marye Island for a few days. I need to get away,” Diane explained, arms wrapping beneath her breasts. “Too much has been happening around here. I need an escape.”
“A trip to an exclusive Florida Key? Why?” My face folded.
“What do you mean why? You’ve been around here, too.” Diane’s head began its rolling again. “Even Irene’s taking one. Shit. Earl’s been sick, Nena’s pregnant, Palmer’s dead, the family’s on lockdown, you and Sadik staying here with a brand new baby, the girl are here every damn day, Iban’s…gone. It’s too damn much. I need a damn break.”
Taking a deep breath, I tried offering an affable smile. “And what did Earl say to that?”
Diane swung her arm toward me. I looked to Stacy.
“Maaaaaan,” Tom sang again, displaying irritation.
“Again, Mr. Ellis asked me to have you and Deek handle it,” Stacy tried explaining.
“Where is Earl?”
“He’s back at the hospital—just for tonight.” Stacy’s hand went into the air. “They’re running tests on him that can only be done there. He’ll be back tomorrow afternoon.”
“And Irene?”
Stacy’s regard met Diane. “Like she said, Mrs. Ellis has left town for a few days.” Then she stepped closer to me and whispered. “I think your talk with her did some good.” My eyes widened again. I had no idea Stacy knew I’d spoken to Irene. Stacy stepped back. “She is unavailable to deal with this. I called Deek, who asked me to have you deal with this.”
Deal with his parents’ lovers fighting over the appurtenances of the Ellis name?
I addressed Tom. “Do you know where Irene is?”
“No.” His nostrils flared.
“So she’s not on Ellis Island, in Antigua?”
His nostrils flared. “No, Bilan.”
“Then why are you going there?”
His head reared as he scoffed. “I don’t think that concerns you.”
“Stacy, you’re saying Earl and Sadik are deferring this call to me?”
“Yes, Ms. Bilan.”
It was my turn to snort as I neared the three of them. “Earl has a heart attack two months ago, and you’re pregnant by another man and leaving him.” I pointed to Nena. “He’s had complications from the heart attack, and you need a break?” I then pointed to Diane. When she began her rebuttal, I spoke over her, addressing Tom. “Your lover’s husband almost died. You stay at their home, vacation with and without their family. Her son almost died from shooting himself in the head. She’s so beyond her capacity, she’s slipped into an emotional shell where she’s hardly present for herself, much less her husband and their family. And you choose this time to want to grab up your buddies, take her husband’s private luxury jet to an exclusive island he owns, eat his food, and labor his staff.”
My eyes swept over the three of them. “You guys get to escape the heat happening on this twenty-acre estate, but still cool yourselves with the accouterments of the family. All the while, we’re left back here trying to put the fire out—if we survive.”
I backed away to grab my bags, once again, gathering them into my hands. Then I glanced over to Stacy. “The jet is unavailable until Earl or Irene says otherwise.” My eyes cast over the trio. “Indefinitely.”
“Whoa!” Nena barked out. “Earl already said I could go home on the jet.”
I nodded. “Oh, you’re going back home this weekend. I’ll see to it myself you’ll have a first-class, one-way ticket there on a commercial plane. In fact, Tom and Diane, you two can find some place to escape to that isn’t on the Ellis’ dime, nor with the use of any of their properties.”
“The fuck does that mean?” Diane trilled.
“It means your getaway has been granted, just not the way you wanted. You need an escape from the Ellis Titanic? That’s fine. You just don’t get to use any of their lifeboats for a reprieve. You also don’t get to stay on. Until Earl and Irene are present and able to call and invite you back, all three of you are out of here by Friday at ten a.m.”
“Who the hell do you think you are, Bilan?” Diane demanded. “You weren’t even around last year this time. You think you can make calls like that?”
“I wasn’t here this time last year, Diane, you’re right. But I married into this, unlike you. There’s no cheating when it comes to family. You don’t hopscotch your way through it. For better or worse, you stick around. This isn’t a clubhouse you hang out in to have fun. It’s these people’s real lives.”
“I ain’t about to sit here and let somebody who just learned how to spell Ellis judge me.” Nena waved me off, positioned to walk off. “I’ve got better things to do, and it don’t include you telling me when I have to be off my ex’s property.”
“Don’t wait on me.” I warned. “Wait on security.” I walked off, needing to distance myself from them. “Feel free to leave before Friday…on your own dimes.”
“I’ll send dinner up, Ms. Bilan.” I couldn’t deny hearing the triumph in Stacy’s cords.
“With an icepack, please.” I continued my stride to the elevator.
I turned two corners and was stepping on before I knew it. The back of my head rested against the metallic gold walls and I closed my eyes. My feet began to throb and belly toil from hunger. That’s when it occurred to me I hadn’t eaten since breakfast.
When the elevator tolled, I cringed. I bent over to remove my shoes; it was a great task. By the time I was done, my entire frame was vibrating of exhaustion. I had half a mind to leave the bags in the elevator, but knew it would be rude. God, I wished I could soak in the tub. I had quite a few months in between me and total body submersion in hot water. With fleeting energy, I gathered the bags and the straps of my sandals and left the elevator.
Sadik’s suite still felt a hike away. The endless marble floors, Grecian column banisters overlooking the atrium on the first level. The three
-story trees and water fountain made this side of the home’s architect feel like a mall. My trek faltered again when I heard soft hums of pleasure. Immediately, my brain went there. The beat of my heart increased to violent levels and my mouth dried. I was on the floor of the suite, on my way to our wing. Why would I hear soft, rushed pants?
Slowly, I turned around, but that end of the house was empty, darkened. It was typically vacant. Then my eyes rotated across the atrium. It took a few seconds to adjust my eyes, but two slender, feminine bodies could be seen grinding seductively against each other. One was more aggressive and agile than the other. I leaped behind a column and tried not to breathe. Then I craned my neck to look again. Taaliba was tonguing down a woman I’d never seen before. Both their eyes were closed, but the woman’s hands were all over Taaliba’s breasts then waist before finally pushing between her thighs.
My face tightened with confusion so bad it hurt. Last I knew, Taaliba was protesting Sadik about her not being able to support Danny after one of his family’s restaurants was burned down. Who was this woman she was making out with?
Taaliba pushed the woman back marginally with the palms of her hands. She looked uncomfortable, but not helpless or victimized. The woman, understanding, lifted from her.
“Are we going to do this again, Leeb?” I could make out.
Taaliba licked her lips, taking heavy breaths. “I told you I wanted to take it slow. This isn’t slow.”
“Then what is? You called me, and I came running right after my last class.” The woman’s hands swept in the air in questioning.
“I told you I needed a friend. I want to be friends again.”
“You told me you were ready,” the woman with the deep vocals argued.
Taaliba attempted a cleansing breath. I wasn’t convinced it worked. She appeared incredibly edgy. “I called because I need a friend, not the bullshit,”
“And I’ve been needing you all these years.” The woman’s voice was crystal clear at this point. “I’ve waited and watched, and have been ignored, and chosen over—”
“Who said I’ve chosen?” Taaliba questioned.
Maybe that’s the problem…
I turned and toed off to our suite, not caring if I was found out or not. This family—the one I once found so tightly woven and fiercely intimidating—had officially worn my soul. When I finally made it to the doors of the suite, I closed them behind me, dropped my bags and shoes, and sank to the floor in submission to a level of exhaustion I’d never experienced.
“I didn’t ask for—” Danny blinked successively. “I don’t expect…because…”
“Because you’re fuckin’ my little sister, you don’t expect Double E Bags to offer assistance?” I lifted a cynical brow.
He let go of a breath of discomfort while combing his fingers through his hair. “Look, Ellis.” We were at another one of the Lopez’s restaurants in Bloomfield. This place wasn’t as vast in size as La Cocina in Newark, but it was more contemporary in décor. We sat in the back of the restaurant partitioned by his men from the larger dining area. He turned back to face me. “I don’t know what you think is going on between Leeb and me.”
My chin dipped. “Taaliba.” I corrected. “It’s of no consequence to me, honestly. So long as she’s safe and happy, I don’t need the details of her contentment.”
“Then why are you giving me—” He glanced around the room, lowering his voice. “—shit about it? What’s wrong with Taaliba being mine?”
Shaking my head, I stood from my seat. “I didn’t drive all the way out to Bloomfield to discuss my baby girl. I came—” My attention shifted to my vibrating phone in my inner suit jacket pocket.
S. Cruz: If you cause me to miss my red-eye, you’re going to have to send me to Miami on the Ellis II with your flight crew on YOUR dime.
I snorted, reminded of her impatience. My meeting with Sofia was due to begin soon to go over Jules’ speech for the housing coalition. Just when I’d adjusted to the moods and temperament of my wife, it seemed I had to with Sofia again now that we’d been spending so much time together in Julius’ cabinet.
“You were saying?” Danny’s brown eyes expressed a mixture of curiosity and annoyance.
I tucked my phone away. “I came to inform you of my father’s loan of twelve street soldiers. Nine are new recruits, recently trained on his turf for long term battle. The other three are vets who will provide guidance and fight alongside them. They’re totally at your disposal.” I took a deep breath, feeling the weight of this. I knew the Lopezes were not a formidable opponent of Popov’s. Their strength was street level. Popov was a patient thinker…like me. He had technology Danny’s men couldn’t begin to grasp. Hell, neither did my father. The only difference between my father’s army and Lopez’s was Double E Bags’ was the largest in the state, and my father had…me. “He may not permit more, so use them prudently. Keep him in the loop.” I moved to take off. “Be safe, Lopez.”
“You don’t seem to have much faith in me,” he called to my back.
I peered over my shoulder. “Faith in you is for my sister. Respect is what you should be vying for from me.” Then I turned to him. “You got my attention when you killed your father. Earn my respect by moving with ration and not the emotion from losing your family in the La Cocina fire. This is how the men are separated from the boys.”
Finally, I continued to the door.
In the car, we were minutes into our commute, about to hit the Parkway when my phone rang. I glanced at the caller’s ID.
“Hey, Stacy…”
“Deek, I deferred the issue to Bilan as you and Mr. Ellis asked.”
“And?” I opened a file on my other phone to prepare for the meeting.
“And they’re all leaving.”
“Come again.”
“They’ve been told they all have to leave…by Friday.” I could have sworn Stacy snickered. She would never. “Ms. Bilan told them if they aren’t out by ten am on Friday, they’ll be escorted off the premises.”
My hands stilled midair.
“Did something happen? Someone threatened her? Upset her?”
“No. Tempers were ablaze before she came into the discussion. Bilan said no one will be using the family jet or visiting Ellis Island, or utilizing—and I quote—any of the family’s accouterments.” Again, I heard smothered giggling.
I blinked hard.
“What about Nena’s flight out on Friday?” She mentioned that when she called me with the dilemma earlier.
“I just left from serving Bilan dinner in your suite. She asked me for Nena’s cell number. Ms. Bilan called while I was there setting up and booked her a flight out for Friday morning.”
“Really?” My question echoed in the car.
Rory, sitting next to me, jerked her head to face me.
“Really.”
“Is she okay?”
“Bilan or Nena?”
“My wife.”
“Other than being irritated, she seemed just fine to me. She had Sadik with her in bed. She gave Camille the night off. I can check on her in a few, if you’d like me to.”
“Yeah.” I needed to make sure she was eating something. “I’ll be in late again tonight.”
The frustrating thing about my long scheduling now was not beating her to sleep when I got in and making sure she ate something. My chest tightened at the prospect.
“Consider it done.”
“Thanks, Stacy.”
“Goodnight, Deek.”
I took a deep breath after ending the call. My eyes rolled over to Rory. “What the hell happened to my wife today?”
Her big ass eyes shot wide and head reared slightly. “Fuck you mean?”
Tilting my head to pinch between my eyes, I shook my head.
“Sire,” Rory croaked.
“What?”
“I gotta put you D on some shit.”
I cracked one lid, then two when I saw the unusual fear on my girl’s face.
&nb
sp; Sofia was packing her briefcase, her back to me in cropped leggings, a YSL tank, and her hair in a ponytail over her head. The ensemble reminded me of the ones she wore after working out in my gym at the high-rise when she made herself at home there as a broke graduate student.
She peered at me from over her arm. “I’m surprised you’re still sitting here. I know you always have a fire to run to.” Her smile was teasing.
I lifted my wrist for the time as I sat reclined in a hard ass, old fashioned wooden rolling chair. It was after ten at night.
“You’re right: there’s always a fire to put out in ‘Ellis-land’,” I joked wryly.
Then I took a deep breath, stretching my arms. She was right, I needed to act as though I had a long commute ahead.
Sofia stood straight, facing me with her little fists on her slender yet curvy hips. “Dude, you look…fatigued. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen you like this—other than that time you got shit-faced at my cousin, Roberto’s, wedding when uncle Alonso made you his prosperity juice. That shit had you floating.”
That memory caused me to chuckle. Two glasses of that concoction in Monte Plata put me on my ass until I landed on American soil the next day. “I’m old. It’s official,” I murmured with amusement.
Sofia’s smile faded. “Don’t say that, papi.”
My brows pinched, though I found humor in her sudden mood change. “Why?”
“Because…” She shifted on her feet and shrugged her shoulders. “Because.”
I stood from my seat. “There’s nothing wrong with aging, sweetheart.” My movements faltered on the way up. That pet name was regrettable although it held no sentiment. Bilan didn’t like it, and I was now conscious of casting it. I recovered quickly with a smile as I reached for my phones on the conference table. “It’s a blessing to age, even if you begin to feel it after thirty-five,” I jeered.
It wasn’t lost upon me that her eyes were on me from my shoes to my face as I slipped on my jacket. “You still look as vibrant as the day I met you.” She spoke slowly, considerately. “Just more reserved, or maybe that’s because of…” She scratched the back of her neck before taking a deep breath. “You’re a new man…family man.”
