Indie’s heart pumped furiously out of anger, and he knew that Ethic was about to incriminate himself. This was the moment that he needed on tape. It was his key to freedom. It was the way for him to have the last laugh, for him to feed Ethic to the sharks and get his wife back. All he had to do was let him keep speaking. Indie gritted his teeth because he struggled with the way this was about to go down. His morality was on the line. His manhood was in question. He could stand tall and take the ten years or go out like a bitch. Freedom wasn’t really free, was it? It would cost him his dignity if he went through with this plan. This ain’t me. My name is all I have. I played my hand and I lost. Now I got to stand tall, he thought.
“I ain’t here to talk about all that,” Indie said, interrupting Ethic before he could speak about anything that could connect the dots for the feds. Indie was a man and had to stand on his own two feet. He sat back in the booth and then looked outside wearily. This was it. He was flushing his future down the toilet.
“Then what we here for?” Ethic asked.
Indie’s face was screwed up with emotion as he realized he had to let his family go. He had to put his wife and his daughter in the hands of a man he hated, but one who he knew could protect and love them.
“You take care of my girls, man,” Indie said, breaking slightly as his lip quivered. “I’m going away for ten years. I don’t know if the baby she’s carrying is mine or yours, and I don’t want to know. There’s nothing I can do for them on the inside. You take care of them. I want to hate you for what you took from me, but I can’t because I have to leave them in your hands. Take care of my babies, man.”
Indie sniffed and stood abruptly, not wanting to expose his emotions to Ethic. This was the hardest thing he had ever had to do. To relinquish the rights to the people he loved most to his enemy. To give up. It twisted him up in ways he had never felt. Indie was a man broken by circumstances that he himself had caused.
Ethic stood with him. “I will,” Ethic replied. “You’re a good man.”
Indie nodded emotionally, and he rubbed his goatee. “Not good enough for her.”
Ethic extended his hand, and Indie reluctantly accepted it. Ethic pulled him in, and the men embraced slightly, acknowledging each other in the way that only gangsters do. Before Ethic released him he whispered, “Get you a new watch, nigga. That’s for suckers. Respect. I planned to move YaYa back to my hometown. Off the strength of the decision you made a moment ago, when you stopped me from talking reckless, I’ll keep her in the city, so she can come visit you when she wants.”
Ethic walked out and his goons followed. Indie removed the watch and placed it inside a cup of water that sat on the table, then walked out of the diner feeling nothing but despair.
* * *
YaYa paced her suite nervously as she waited for Ethic to come back. She had called him repeatedly, but he never answered. She was a wreck. She couldn’t imagine how a meeting between Ethic and Indie would shake out. God, please don’t let them kill one another, she thought.
The knock at the door caused her to breathe a sigh of relief, and she rushed to answer it.
“Can we talk?”
She frowned.
Indie stood before her, and his anguish was written all over his face. YaYa fought the urge to pull him into her arms, but it was no longer her job to comfort him. He had made it this way. It was too late for him to be at her door. “I thought you were meeting Ethic. What are you—”
“Please, ma, just for a minute. I just want to say a few things, kiss my daughter, and then I’ll go,” he said.
She wondered where Ethic was. What happened between them tonight? she thought. YaYa stepped to the side and let Indie inside her hotel suite. “Sky is next door, watching a movie with Ethic’s kids. I can go get her,” YaYa said.
YaYa went to the adjoining door, but before she could open it, Indie said, “I love you, Disaya. It’s an imperfect and illogical love, but it’s still love. Tomorrow I’m taking a plea. They’re giving me ten years, and I just wanted you to know that I love you. I’m haunted by the way I lost you, and I’m so sorry that I ever hurt you.”
YaYa stood frozen in place as tears welled in her eyes. Ten years was too much time. It was too harsh. They were locking him up like he was an animal. The void that would be in Skylar’s life would affect her for eternity, and although YaYa hated to admit it, Indie’s incarceration would leave a hole in her heart as well.
“I want to fight for you. I want to body that nigga over you, but I can’t. I can’t because in a place deep down I know that he’s the type of man you deserve. I’ve got to sit down for a little bit. I don’t expect you to wait; I can’t ask you to. My life will stand still for the next decade, and there won’t be a day that I’m breathing that I don’t think about you, YaYa. But you’ll be out here, with him, probably married with another kid or something—”
“Ten years,” she interrupted. “What about your trial? Why would you take ten years?”
“I could get more if I put it in the hands of a jury.”
She shook her head. “This isn’t fair,” she whispered.
“But it’s where we are,” Indie said.
“How did we get here? Me over here with him and you over there by yourself? It was supposed to be different. We used to be good for each other. How did it get this bad? It’s like I can’t even remember how it happened,” YaYa said sadly. Fresh tears flowed down her cheeks. “I wish we could go back. When we were good, we were really good.”
Indie stepped closer to her and let her rest her cheek in his palm. She closed her eyes. “Ten years,” she whispered.
“Don’t worry about me. As long as you’re happy and as long as my daughter is safe, I’ll be okay. I’ll knock the years down. I’m going with Einstein to the courthouse to enter my plea first thing in the morning. I just wanted to drop by and tell you first. Can I see Sky?”
YaYa nodded as she wiped her eyes. She was so emotional. She had been so angry at him that she had forgotten what was at stake. She tiptoed into Ethic’s suite and saw that the children were passed out on the couch. The glare from the television shone over them. YaYa picked Sky up and carried her back into her suite, where Indie was waiting.
He took his daughter from YaYa and was unable to control his emotions as a tear slid down his cheek. YaYa reached to wipe it away for him.
“Sky, baby, wake up for Daddy,” he said.
She stirred. “I’m sleepy,” she whined.
“I know, baby girl, but just open your eyes for a little bit,” Indie requested.
Skylar rested her head on Indie’s shoulder.
“Daddy has to go away for a little while. I’m going to call you, and I’m going to write to you. I want you to draw me pictures, okay? Send me some beautiful drawings to hang on my walls where I am, okay? Can you do that for Daddy?”
Skylar sat up and wiped her eyes. “But where are you going?”
YaYa covered her mouth and closed her eyes. She couldn’t handle this goodbye. It was too hard. It came too quickly.
“Daddy has to go fix some mistakes he made. I made some bad choices. Remember when I taught you about bad choices and good choices?” he asked.
“Uh huh,” Skylar replied.
“I want you to always make good choices, baby. Don’t be like Daddy,” Indie said.
“Will you be gone long?”
“Longer than I’d like, baby girl, but no matter how far I am, or how long I’m away, I will always love you. You are always in my heart. Your mommy is always in my heart. You’re my two girls, and as long as I breathe, I’ll be loving you,” he said. He looked at YaYa. “And you.” She knew that Skylar wouldn’t remember this conversation. She was only three years old. The words he said wouldn’t stick with her at this age. It broke his heart to think that another man would be teaching her all that he was supposed to.
A knock at the suite door interrupted them, and YaYa went to answer it. She took a deep breath before pulling open
the door.
Ethic stood there, and then he saw Indie holding Skylar.
“He was just—” YaYa started to explain, but Ethic interrupted.
“No worries, love,” he said as he leaned down and kissed her forehead. “I know the deal.”
Indie handed Skylar over to YaYa and then dug in the pocket of his jean jacket and pulled out a set of keys. He placed them in her hand.
“What are they for?” she asked in confusion.
“It’s to your building. I was wrong for even asking you to leave. I don’t know what you’re going to do with it, but when you figure it out, I know it’ll be great. Take care of yourself. Take care of our baby.”
When Indie walked out of the suite, it felt like someone had punched her in the gut. YaYa was sick, as if he were taking a piece of her with him. She couldn’t believe that this is how his chapter in her life would end. He was her history. He had given her love, the first real love that she had ever known, and now he was going away for a decade. There was no happily-ever-after, no reconciliation. She was devastated, and as Ethic closed the door, she looked up at him with hurt-filled eyes.
“I love you, and I’m so happy to be here with you, but tonight, I need a little bit of space to cry over the man that just walked out that door,” she said honestly.
23
Indie stood in front of Judge Remick. His soul was weary, but his mind was settled. He had to do his time, and as he waited for the white woman in the black robe to sentence him, he erased all emotion from his heart. He couldn’t think about his losses. After this judgment was issued, his ties to the outside world would only weaken him. He couldn’t think of King, or Skylar, or YaYa. Missing them would only make the time unbearable. He had felt all the sorrow that he would allow himself to feel the night before when he had said his goodbyes. Emotions would get him killed where he was headed. Shutting them down was the only way to survive.
“We are here because the defense and the prosecution have reached a plea agreement. Is that correct?” Judge Remick asked.
“It is, Your Honor,” Einstein said.
“On the count of conspiracy to commit fraud, how does the defendant plea?”
Indie squared his shoulders and looked the judge in the eye.
“Not guilty!”
The voice came from the back of the courtroom. Indie turned around to see YaYa rushing down the aisle toward him. “Please, Indie, ten years is too long! You can beat this. Don’t take the deal!”
“Your Honor, this is absurd!” the prosecution interjected.
“Your Honor, can we have a brief recess? This is my client’s wife. We apologize for the disruption,” Einstein said.
“Five minutes,” Judge Remick said, disgruntled.
“What are you doing?” Indie asked as confusion and surprise filled his face.
YaYa rushed over to Indie and ran straight into his arms. Her eyes were red and swollen, evidence of the crying she had done all night. She trembled as she laid her head on Indie’s chest, and he held her tightly.
“Please, don’t do this. I can’t see you locked away in a cage for ten years. They want to put you away like an animal, and it will kill me. Not being able to touch you for ten years will break me, Indie. You can beat this case. I’ll be here every day with you, supporting you, as your wife,” YaYa cried. He cupped her face in his hands.
“You’re better off without me, YaYa,” Indie said.
She nodded. “Probably so. In fact, Ethic might be the better man, the perfect man, in fact,” she said as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
“You praising him ain’t what I need to hear right now. You should—”
She opened her eyes and turned Indie’s face toward hers as she looked deeply into his soul. “But he’s not my man,” she cried. “He isn’t my one. You’re it. You’re not perfect, but when you walked out of my hotel room last night, I knew that I couldn’t live a life that didn’t include you in it. I need you. It’s like I can’t breathe without you. I’ve been dying slowly since I found out about you and Parker. I’ve been so angry and so spiteful. I just wanted you to feel what I felt, but it didn’t do any good. I love you too much. Seeing you hurt just hurt me even more. So I’m done. I’m done with the tit for tat. I just want to get back to us. I forgive you, and I want to be here, fighting through this with you. So don’t take the deal.” YaYa kissed Indie so passionately that even the judge looked up from her bench.
“Hmm, hmm.” The judge cleared her throat, interrupting YaYa’s emotional rant. “Can we get on with things?” she asked impatiently.
“Who said I wanted perfection anyway?” she asked Indie with a smile.
Indie wanted to push her away. He wanted to do the selfless thing and send her back to the man whom he knew would never hurt her, but his love was a selfish love. He wanted YaYa. He wanted every part of her. It had killed him to see her loving someone else. She had come home, though. That’s all that mattered. She was standing here in front of him, promising to be his again.
“Not guilty, Your Honor,” Indie said, without ever taking his eyes off YaYa.
“Counselors, prepare for trial. I’m going to set a date for November twenty-eighth. That’s in sixty days,” the judge announced before banging the gavel and walking away from the bench.
Indie wiped the tears from YaYa’s face. “I don’t deserve you.”
“Yes, you do. You’re not perfect and neither am I, but we aren’t going to give up on each other. We aren’t going to give up on our family. We can face anything as long as we do it together. We’ll beat this case, we’ll get King back, and we’ll rebuild our lives. I’ve got a plan—”
“A Prada Plan, huh?” Indie teased.
“Nope,” she said with a smirk. “God’s plan. That’s how I know that everything is going to be okay.”
Indie had everything at stake, and YaYa was just what he needed. Her strength would supplement his weakness while he stood trial. Her faith would keep him optimistic. He took her hand and walked out of the courthouse. Indie realized that even in the light of all they had faced, their love was still more potent than anything he had ever felt. Some people were just meant to be together. No matter who else came in and out of their lives, YaYa and Indie would always share a connection. Their bond may have bent in different directions, but it hadn’t broken. Some “happily-ever-afters” followed the storm and they were headed directly into a legal one that would test their marriage like never before.
It was a risk YaYa was willing to take because even if they only had a little time to love each other, she wanted to utilize every second. She wanted to stand beside him whether he was headed for a prison cell or toward freedom. Foolishness had made them enemies, and they had wasted time fighting for too long. YaYa had left Ethic and was putting her all into her marriage. Even before Indie had cheated on YaYa, thoughts of Ethic had stopped her from fully honoring the vows they had taken. The “what if” of it all had consumed her. She had wondered what it would be like to be Ethic’s queen, which made her look for problems with Indie. YaYa could have gone with the safe choice. She could have moved on and reveled in the love that Ethic gave her. She could have let Indie face his trial alone, but it just didn’t feel right. Deep down in her soul she yearned for Indie. He was her friend, her confidant, the one she laughed with, cried to, bitched at, supported. He knew every part of her. He had witnessed her rise and her fall. Anger and stubbornness had kept them apart. He had seen her through some of the toughest times of her life, and it just wouldn’t be right if she didn’t do the same for him. So she let go of Ethic. She let go of a perfect man who loved her in the most perfect way to be loyal to Indie. She would hold Indie down, and for that he promised himself that he would give her the world.
24
“Where’s YaYa, Dad?”
Ethic looked at his son and answered, “She flew into the flame.” He pulled his youngest child in for a hug. “Go tell your sister to pack her bags. It’s time to go home.”
Ethic watched Ezra Jr. run out of the room before collapsing onto the bed. YaYa had left him. It seemed all the women he ever loved were like moths to a flame, sucked in by men that would ultimately destroy them. YaYa was no different, but it still pained him to let go. Ethic leaned over as he rested his elbows on his knees and let his head hang in despair. Thoughts of the night before invaded his mind …
Ethic’s gut churned as the sounds of YaYa’s cries invaded his space. Even the wall that separated their suites couldn’t keep the anguish from spilling into his room. It was three o’clock in the morning. Even exhaustion hadn’t stopped her from mourning Indie’s departure. Ethic wanted to give her space, but he couldn’t help but venture into her suite. She sat on the floor, her head leaned back against the wall with a box of Kleenex next to her. She looked up at him, and sadness covered her.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered. Her words pierced him because it was at that moment that he knew she would leave him. He wasn’t hers to keep. He had given her all he could. Loved her to his capacity, and still she eventually had to go.
He took a seat beside her, and she rested her head on his strong shoulder as she sniffled.
“It’s not you,” she said. “I’m just fucked up. I love you so much. You have to believe that. Like my heart feels so full. I know that you are the man that is supposed to heal my heart, but it’s like no matter what he does or how bad things get with him, I can’t let him go. I’m a glutton for punishment. I don’t want to love him but I do, and you deserve so much more than half of me. If I stay with you, that’s all I can promise you—half of my heart. You’re good for me. You’re everything that a woman could ask for, and I’m lucky that you even want me. I know that I should choose you, but if I do, I’m going to ruin you. He still has a hold on me, and I’ve been trying to fight it. He needs me right now, and sometimes you have to sacrifice what you want for what’s good for your family. He’s my family. I will never forgive myself if I leave him to rot in jail. I will have to look Skylar in the eyes one day and explain to her what happened. I want to be able to tell her that I tried. Leaving and moving on with you is selfish. It’s what I want but—”
The Prada Plan 5 Page 24
