by D. A. Young
She’d almost reached the kitchen door when Lena’s wobbly voice reached her. “I’m on board, Sidra. Your happiness really does mean everything to me. And I’m going to tell the truth about my branding.”
Sidra faced her mother with a smile. “Well, that was fast!”
“Hell, life is too short to hold on to anger, especially when Lucky makes me so happy.” Lena tossed her braids over her shoulder confidently as she walked up to her daughter and grabbed her left hand. “Good God, that is a fat ass rock! Your man did good, babygirl.”
“Yes he did,” Sidra agreed. “So the truth, huh? Well, I’ve heard it’ll set you free or something like that...”
“Yes, it will, but even better than that is the fact that America loves a good comeback!” Lena cackled as she pushed the kitchen door open. “Poor Nero. He’s in for a rude awakening. Ian’s had lawyers looking into our contract and found several loopholes that will enable all of us to be set free from his scheming. I can’t wait to see him today. But I’ll wait until after your meeting with him.”
“Dear God, help us all,” Sidra whispered as Lena called out to Lucky.
“Baby, I’m gonna need a diamond bigger than the one Sidra’s rockin’, got it?”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
How could he tell Sidra that her own sister tried to have her killed? The question spun around and around in Casey’s mind as he drove to Nero’s office. And in response, he’d killed the only person who could confirm it aside from the crazy bitch herself. But he needed to look in Nina’s eyes and see the insanity for himself before he took her out. How had he never seen it? SO FUCKING STUPID! He’d grown up with crazy and should have been able to feel, smell, and hear it from a hundred miles away! Her beauty and oscar-worthy performance of portraying a sane woman had blinded him and nearly cost him the love of his life. She wouldn’t be allowed a second chance at revenge or at life. Casey didn’t think he could reveal the truth to Sidra. Just this morning, she’d given him a slow, lingering kiss before leaving, and he recalled her last words to him:
“Wish me luck, boo. The goal is to find a common ground where we can all co-exist without hostility. Anything more than that would be a friggin’ miracle,” she said wistfully as she laid her head on his shoulder as he pulled her close and massaged her stomach.
“Are you gonna tell them about Bean?” he asked cautiously, biting his tongue to prevent himself from ordering her not to.
“No!” And her adamant answer filled him with palpable relief. “Enough people know for now. But I would like to have the baby be in a room where Mommy is not dropkicking some common sense into her aunt.”
Like hell would Bean ever be in a room with Nina.
Casey pulled up to Santos, Santos, Lawry & McCoy and quickly got out of the car. He strode into the building and up to the receptionist’s desk where he was greeted warmly by its matronly occupant.
“May I help you, sir?” she asked him in a professionally crisp voice.
“I’m here to see Nina Santos.” His voice brooked no opportunity for her to deny him.
“I’m terribly sorry, but she is out to lunch at the moment,” she coolly informed him.
“How is that possible? I’m actually here for the meeting that Nero is supposed to be holding in the conference room,” Casey informed her as she shook her head negatively.
“I do apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you, but that meeting has turned into a luncheon at The Capital Grille,” the receptionist replied apologetically.
“Thank you for your time,” Casey nodded and quickly left. A sense of wrongness overcame him. Something wasn’t right, so he called Darby.
“What’s up, bro?” Darby greeted him amiably. “Do me a favor? Next time you have somethin’ brewin’, keep me posted instead of goin’ all half-cocked. That’s how good men die, ya know? Tuck said you really put in work with that fool.”
“We can discuss that later. Can you get Dominick’s team to The Capital Grille? I have a really bad feeling in my gut,” Casey explained as he started his car, reversed it, and sped out of the parking lot. The uneasy feeling was surging through him now as he zigzagged in and out of traffic.
“Case, what’s goin’ on?!” Darby demanded to know. “Where’s Sidra?!”
“She’s supposed to be at the restaurant with Dominick, meeting Nero and Lena,” Casey yelled as he cut a driver off to get on the freeway. His phone beeped, and he saw that it was Sidra calling him. “Let me call you back; this is her!”
“Baby, I’m on my way there. Is everything okay?!” he asked frantically, but Sidra didn’t answer. “Sidra, answer me!”
There was still no answer, and then he heard muffled voices followed by gunshots and screaming.
“Noooooo!” he roared and floored the Jaguar’s accelerator.
***
An Hour Earlier…
“I see you brought an entourage,” Nero greeted Sidra and Dominick snidely as he watched Lena, Lucky, and Ian take a table close to the private dining room. Sidra noticed the way his eyes lingered on Lena, drinking in the sight of her hungrily. He paid no mind to the downright lethal stare Lucky was giving him. “Lena is as lovely as ever.”
“Could you focus on the fact that your estranged son is standing right in front of you for one second?” Sidra snapped her fingers loudly in his face, uncaring of the other patrons whose attention was now on the noisy trio.
“Yes, of course,” he offered apologetically and held his hand out to Dominick with a jovial, “How are you, son? It’s been a long time.”
Dominick stared at the man whom he’d practically enslaved himself to and felt nothing but loathing and disdain. For once, it wasn’t self-inflicted, and he couldn’t’ believe that he’d allowed another person to control his happiness. After spending time with Sidra and her family and friends, he felt more…centered. Especially with Ian. Listening to the other man share his memories and experiences while Lena spoiled him silly was like finally singing the perfect pitch or finding the quintessential beat on an elusive song. He’d longed for a mother’s love for practically his entire life, and Lena was an amazing surrogate, and so was Lucky in the paternal role. After meeting him for the first time, Dominick could see why Sidra had never sweated Nero’s fucked up mentality too much.
“I’m not your son,” he said quietly. “Shall we proceed?”
They entered the private dining room and sat down at the elegantly set table. Nero started the conversation with a look of remorse. “Let me start by apologizing for my reprehensible behavior that you both have suffered due to my cowardly actions. I realize that my poor treatment of you has severely impacted not just your lives, but Nina’s as well.” He held his hand up to protest their frowns. “Please, hear me out. My spoiling and over-indulgence of her has created a monster that I can no longer control. I had suspected this for a while, but your words at our last meeting confirmed it, Sidra.
There is no way to ever make up for the way that I’ve hurt you, and for that, I don’t expect you to ever forgive me, nor will I forgive myself. Dominick, it kills me that I’m responsible for the repressed way that you have lived your life. I should have accepted your sexuality, but instead, I rejected you because I was raised to believe that homosexuality is a sin.” Nero gave his son a beseeching look. “I want you to know that I am proud of the man you’ve become and would gladly stand behind you.”
Sidra wondered if Dominick was enjoying the Kool-Aid Nero was serving him. Nero was a master of word games, and he’d yet to say he would come out and publicly acknowledge that he not only had a son but a gay one at that. Idly, she wondered if Dominick knew the difference. Apparently, he did.
“WOW. Thank you for your generous support of who I am,” Dominick said, sarcasm oozing from every word. “That would have been great to have when I was scared and so confused about everything that was happening to me. I needed my father, but you robbed me of both of my parents! Now, I don’t want or need shit from you. What you do ow
e me is an apology for treating my mother like a common whore. You owe her a face-to-face apology!”
“As I said, I cannot change the past. What’s done is done,” Nero reiterated stiffly, his olive complexion turning ruddy with Dominick’s scathing assessment of his “apology”. This was a bad idea. He shouldn’t have listened to Sidra, but he hoped to appease the pair with a few well-chosen words. He would now have to go the distance. The door opened behind him, and he assumed it was the waiter with their meals. He opened his mouth to speak, but his hot-headed son wasn’t done.
“That’s not enough for me! I want the words! I need the words! I want you to go to the nursing home and beg for her forgiveness!” Dominick roared abruptly, standing to his feet and knocking his chair over. He leaned over the table and stuck his index finger in Nero’s face. “I couldn’t give a shit that you refuse to acknowledge me as your son! BUT YOU WILL APOLOGIZE TO MY MOTHER!!!”
“ANOTHER SANTOS BASTARD?!” Nina shouted from the open doorway. Her normally pretty face was an ugly, distorted mask of fury as she stared at her father with flames of hatred in her eyes. Then she focused on Dominick, the man she thought would be her accomplice in breaking up Casey and Sidra. He was her brother! So, he’d known who she was when she offered him sexual favors and never said anything! But her downward spiral of humiliation wasn’t quite complete until she noticed Sidra staring at her with pity.
Beautiful Sidra, who could do no wrong in Nero’s eyes. Oh yes, she knew. He tried to hide it, but Nina knew how he really felt about the two of them. No matter how hard she tried, she would never measure up to that puta! Sidra could stand on her own two feet and refuse all Nero had to offer. She was gainfully employed and had a wonderful, loving, and supportive man. But she wasn’t supposed to have all of that. Sidra wasn’t even supposed to be alive, but that incompetent buffoon Jimmy had failed in his attempt of killing her. But that was okay because Nina had a gift for him to ensure that his next attempt would be successful. She’d tried to call him but received no answer. She would just have to go visit him when she was done here and give it to him.
Then Nina noticed Sidra’s new accessory on her left finger, and her rage boiled over, making her incoherent of speech.
She was marrying the man who was meant for Nina! Never had she hated someone more besides Dominick for making a fool of her. Oh, how he and Sidra must have laughed behind her back! Was she being Punk’d? She would show them that she was no one’s fool and would have the last laugh. IMBECILES.
“Nina, calm yourself and close the door!” Nero commanded as he too rose from the table to address his eldest daughter. “Yes, Dominick is your brother. I…dated his mother briefly in college before marrying your mother.”
“Did you know he existed?” she asked her father, and he gave her a compassionate look that meant he did. “So, you knew I had an older brother who lived in the same city but said nothing. You never thought we would run into each other? Do you also know I tried to fuck him???”
“You should not be throwing yourself at men to begin with, then that would not have been an issue. Besides, Dominick is a homo, er, gay,” Nero said contemptuously. “Please, let us all sit and discuss my plans for us all.”
“And what ‘plans’ are those?” Nina demanded, pulling on her father’s sleeve. “What do you think you will be doing? Do you honestly intend to go public and acknowledge these two?! You will make the Santos name the laughing stock of D.C.! I won’t be able to go anywhere and hold my head high!”
“You propositioned a man to break up your sister’s relationship and held your head up just fine then!” Nero retorted. “If you must know, I am going to include them in my will. It’s the right thing to do.”
SMACK! Sidra couldn’t believe it when Nina slapped Nero. She stood up, not liking where this was going. She tried to get Dominick’s attention, but he was too wrapped up in the drama going down in front of them as an enraged Nero struck Nina to the floor with a ferocious slap of his own.
“You dare to put your hands on me, after all that I have done for you, you selfish, ungrateful, overgrown child?!” Nero fumed. “You are dead to me! You are fired, and do not bother going back to your house that I pay for because the locks will be changed before you even get there! Get out of my sight!”
Nina staggered to her feet, and Sidra was alarmed at the maniacal look in her eyes. She laughed wildly as she wiped the thin trickle of blood from her nose. “I’ve kept your dirty secrets for the majority of my life and have been a good daughter to you and my mother. You remember her, don’t you?! She was the woman who cried over you as you mourned not being able to be with your black family! I have always been loyal to you, and this is how you repay me??? By not telling me there was another Santos bastard, and now I have to share with them what is rightfully MINE?! Fuck you! I don’t think that will be happening, Nero The Great!” Nina spat venomously.
Sidra grabbed her phone and called Casey. He would worry if some shit went down, and he knew nothing about it. She grabbed Dominick’s elbow as Casey answered. Sidra didn’t have a chance to respond as Nina pulled a gun out of her purse and aimed it directly at a stunned Nero.
“You’re going to give me what you owe me! You are my father and Cecelia’s husband!” Nina cried her face a twisted mask rage filled anguish. “We will be a family again with no outside interference. The way it should have always been!”
She fired the gun twice, hitting Nero once in the chest and the head, killing him instantly as Sidra screamed at the sight of blood and brain matter spattering from Nero’s now lifeless body. Outside of the private dining room, chaos ensued, and she could hear Lena screaming her name.
Next, Nina confronted her siblings with a sad yet eerie smile as Dominick attempted to shield Sidra with his body. “He’s MY father, not either of yours. You will never have him! He belongs with me and my mother!”
And then Nina pointed the gun at her head and fired. SPLAT! Her lifeless body hit the ground with a dull, sickening thud.
***
Casey listened to Sidra calmly recount the murder/suicide with brilliant clarity to a police detective. He hovered over her, looking for signs of shock, but she was surprisingly calm if just a little sad. Casey decided to step in. “I think you have everything you need, Detective. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to take my fiancée home now. She’s pregnant and needs her rest.”
The detective side-eyed him but wrapped it up. “Thank you so much for your cooperation, Ms. Barton. If you can think of anything else, you have my card.”
Sidra allowed Casey to escort her to the entrance where her mother, Lucky, Ian, and Dominick sat in the lobby as her brother finished giving his statement. “Hey, guys.”
“How are you feeling, babygirl?” Lucky asked gruffly, giving Casey a grudging look of respect. They’d met earlier when Casey stormed on the scene and scuffled with cops as he tried to get through the melee to reach Sidra. Lucky had been hovering above Sidra, rubbing her back when Casey introduced himself with, “One, take your hand off of my woman before I fucking break it off. And two, who the fuck are you?!”
Ian and Lena had quickly gotten between the two men and smoothed things over.
“I’m okay; it’s just unfortunate that so many poor choices were made that led up to this,” Sidra said sadly as she rubbed her eyes and leaned into Casey who drew her protectively close.
“You can’t miss what you never knew,” Dominick offered listlessly. “I feel like Nina, in her selfishness, offered us a new start.” He looked at Lena and smiled shyly when she winked and smiled wanly at him. “I say we take it and not look back.”
“I agree,” Lena said, her expression was stark in her sadness. “I wish it hadn’t ended this way and that you two were able to resolve your differences with Nina.”
In Casey’s opinion, everything had ended perfectly. Now, he wouldn’t have to kill the bitch or have her every move monitored until the end of time. “If anyone needs to talk to someone, I know a r
eally good therapist.”
“I wouldn’t mind talking to someone,” Dominick spoke up and addressed him. “I’ve got tons of shit to get off my chest and work out.”
Casey reached into his pocket and pulled Dr. Laura’s card from his wallet. “She really knows her stuff and is extremely patient. She’s been our family therapist since I was really little. Seein’ as how we’re gonna be family, it only makes sense that you go and see her and get the family discount.” That caused a small chuckle from the group, bringing some much-needed comic relief to everyone.
He finished his statement by offering Dominick his hand. Sidra watched as her brother slowly shook it. “Man, I wish I could find the words to express how sorry I am for bein’ an ass, but I don’t think I can. Just know that I regret it with all my heart.”
“We’re square as long as you take care of my sister and treat her right,” Dominick stated.
“You’ll never have to worry about her,” Casey said confidently as he kissed Sidra’s forehead and then looked at Ian, Lucky, and Lena who gave him approving smiles. “That’s my lifetime promise to her and all of y’all.”
Epilogue
Whiskey Row
Three Months Later…
It was a beautiful crisp fall morning and the sun shined brightly as the red, orange, and gold leaves swirled around with the cool breeze and crunched beneath the trio of men’s boots as they walked through the cemetery. The last time they were here together had been for the burial after their lives were forever changed. They walked silently, being respectful of those who were resting eternally until they reached the back row and the large heart-shaped, granite tombstone engraved with the words they could recite in their sleep.
Here lies Moira Aileen Sullivan,
