The Dividing Line

by Victoria H. Smith

  I popped my head up at the sound of a cell phone ring. I’d left mine down in the laundry room, though….

  Following the sound, I made it to Lacey’s overnight bag. Her purse was in there. They must have slipped her personal items inside when I left her overnight bag. I found the phone. I moved quickly so its ring didn’t disturb her, but I still missed the call. I didn’t recognize the number and wondered who’d called her if their number wasn’t already logged into her phone.

  I compared the number on the slip of paper to it.

  No match.

  Who was calling her?

  The voicemail icon popped on, and I studied it. I didn’t want to invade her privacy, but in this case I felt I had to. I just had a feeling.

  Placing the phone to my ear, I listened.

  “Hey, Lace, it’s dad.”

  My brows twitched up. It was him.

  “I know you’ve probably already heard my other messages by now, but please call me back. I need to know you’re okay. Even a simple text. After that, I’ll leave you alone. I promise.”

  What the…

  There was no debate this time as I checked the message before this one. He left it for her earlier today, and it was pretty much the same as the one I just heard with instructions to call him back.

  I checked the first one he left. She’d received it just last night. Right before I arrived at the hospital.

  “Hey, Lace. It’s me dad.”

  His voice was breathy. Panicked even.

  “I know this isn’t the number I gave you, but this is me I swear. If you receive any contact from that number I gave you ignore it. It’s not me. I messed up, Lace. I’m so sorry. I owed some bad men from my past some money. Money I didn’t have then. Money I don’t have now. I’m ashamed to admit I was going to ask you. I know about your mama’s life insurance money, and with your life in Paris, I figured you might help me out. But that changed, Lace. I swear it did. I told them no. I admitted to them I didn’t have it. It didn’t take them long to figure out who my source was going to be. If you see a black SUV stay away from it and don’t go to the sober living house. I’m not there anymore. They know about it. If you need to contact me use either this number or the address I gave you. I’m so sorry, Lace. So very sorry. Please call me. I need to know you’re safe. That you’re okay.”

  I dropped the phone and the screen cracked when it hit the floor.

  *

  “Lacey’s dad really had something to do with her accident?” Derrick asked, not driving his car fast enough for my liking.

  I couldn’t think. I couldn’t breathe. All I knew was I wanted to act. Now. Thank God Derrick felt the need to come with me. I couldn’t have driven even if I wanted to. I was only seeing red right now, and I might have ended wrapped around a telephone poll if I drove tonight.

  “I told you what I heard, Derrick,” I said, scanning the streets like he would be walking them and not hiding like the coward he was at the address he gave Lacey. He did this to her. Her own father. I was going to kill him. Kill him.

  “I knew he was up to same shady shit. Mama wouldn’t listen, but I knew.”

  My head shot his way. “What are you talking about?”

  He gripped the wheel, facing the road. “Lacey’s dad tried to come in contact with her before.”

  “When?”

  “A couple times. The first was last year. He came around asking about her, but Mama turned him away. He didn’t come back after that, and we thought he would stay away, but then he came around again. About a month ago. The night of her welcome home party.”

  The clarity overwhelmed me. “That was the guy from her past?”

  He nodded. “He was talking like he genuinely wanted to be a part of her life both times, but I knew better.” He slammed his hand on the wheel. “I knew fucking better.”

  He came to them. Not once but twice about contacting Lacey. My thoughts flashed and scared words I hoped to never hear again blasted into my head.

  “I’m so sorry, Drake. I shouldn’t even have been out here in the first place. I should have told you about him contacting me. I should have told you.”

  Those words were the only ones that didn’t make sense when she called me, the ones she never got a chance to explain before she crashed. She had to have been talking about her dad. She had to have. He contacted her, and she was on the highway that night to see him. They found the car she drove in the middle of nowhere. She would have had no other reason to be out so far if not to see him. Those men after her dad must have intercepted her. She went out to him only to be attacked because of him.

  My mouth formed two words: “Drive faster.”

  *

  The address on Lacey’s slip of paper took us into the South Side of Chicago. This was one area I had yet to be in, and the rundown neighborhood we ended up in made some of the shabbiest areas in the West Side look like the North Shore. He would live here. Hell, this area was too good for the likes of him.

  Derrick pulled us in front of a duplex, and when I saw the numbers matched the one on the piece of paper in my hands, I was out of the car. I didn’t even know if we’d stopped completely. Had no remembrance of climbing the stairs. I only recalled knocking with a charging thump behind my chest, and after that, the door opened.

  A man who I’d seen before stared back at me. He’d been younger then, but I still knew it was him. Lacey had a picture of she and him from when she was a toddler, and it was a permanent part of her room no matter where she lived. No matter how her life had changed or how old she’d gotten she held onto that photo. She allowed it to be a part of her life. Allowed him to remain being a part of her world despite what he put Lacey and her mama through. He didn’t deserve that, no matter how small the acceptance she’d given him, and now, he was about to know it.

  The first punch I made to his jaw caused him to let go of the door, and the second he fell to the floor. I wailed on him, unable to stop the violence even if I wanted to. Rage fueled my fists, and the same aggression fired words from my mouth. I honestly couldn’t recall anything I said. No recollection could be made because I no longer had control. I’d really lost it. With his actions, this man nearly took the one person in my life that gave my own worth meaning, and he had to pay. He had to.

  Sometime in my haze, Derrick grabbed me underneath my arms and pulled me back. I was finally able to see what I’d done to the man. He was on the floor, curled and bleeding from his mouth, his nose. I’d made a sizeable knot on the side of his head, and I couldn’t tell if his nose was crooked before I hit him or not. The sad part was I wanted to be the one that had made it that way. And not only that, I wanted to do more.

  I jerked at Derrick’s hands, trying to force him to let me go. “It’s over,” he kept saying to me. “It’s done, Drake.” But I wouldn’t listen. I couldn’t.

  “She’s your daughter,” I spit out at the filth on the floor. “Your fucking daughter, and you used her. She trusted you, and you used her for money you piece of shit.”

  He managed to turn his head from the floor. Staring at me, he parted his busted lips. “You’ve talked to her? Are you Drake? Her boyfriend?”

  My eyes widened. She told him about me?

  “Lacey…” he said, so breathy and erratic I barely understood the word. “Lacey. Is she okay?”

  His fake ass concern for her almost did get me out of Derrick’s hands that time when I tugged. “She’s alive if that’s what you mean, but no thanks to you. Whoever was after you came after her. She was in a car accident.”

  A deep terror hit this man’s eyes so strong that I was nearly taken in by it. This guy was a good actor. He at least provided his daughter with one gift she was able to use positively.

  “If it wasn’t for her seatbelt and an airbag, you and I wouldn’t be talking right now,” I sneered at him. “It would be over.”

  Pushing on his shaking arms, he got himself to his feet. He put his hands together, his swollen eyes watering as he stared at
me. “Would it be possible to see her? Could you ask if she’d see me?”

  His request made Derrick have to wrap his arms around my chest to keep me from finishing the job I started here tonight. “Let’s go, Drake,” he said. “He can call the cops, and you’re no good to Lacey in jail. She needs you. You did what you came to do. Let it go.”

  Finally, I stopped fighting. Stopped jerking. He said the only thing that could give me my mind back. That could allow me to regain my control. Derrick must have felt that because slowly, he released my body. I expected the man in front of me to fear me, or at least flinch, but he did nothing. There was only that glisten in his eyes that came with his request. It could almost be mistaken for hope, but that wasn’t possible. How could he genuinely care about her? No, he didn’t.

  I pointed my finger at him. “You try to contact her again and I’ll kill you,” I said, my body shaking. “I’ll fucking kill you.”

  I turned away. Like Derrick had said: it was over. It was done now.

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  Drake

  The days melted into each other after that night, and eventually, what I could recall of it became a distant memory. Not because I had no desire to remember it or felt any guilt about what I’d done, which I could safely admit I hadn’t. The night faded into darkness because it didn’t matter anymore. The only thing that did was Lacey. She received all my attention, and I readily gave it. I was happy to give it. I tended to her every day, gave her what she needed to get better. When I enviably had to go back to work, others filled in when I couldn’t. Margot was an often visitor, and of course, her family was always by her side. Natalia and Mina had even stopped by, and I was glad. I very much wanted to continue being friends with Natalia, and though our relationship would take some time to reconstruct, it was nice to know it would continue.

  Lacey had a myriad of visitors come and see her, but the person who was there the most, the one person I had always been able to count on the most, was my sister. She stayed by Lacey’s side nearly every day after she got out of school, and always used her off-campus lunches to come see her. It was in those hours that we all started to see improvement with Lacey. Adele took her for light walks. Lacey finally had the spirit to go into the world again, and eventually, regained the desire to be social. Margot and Adele would take her to the Y. They’d go to the pool where they’d do light water aerobics, and that was the day I gave a silent prayer in thanks.

  She was getting better. Finally.

  I found her asleep after I left work, and my sister was at her station, sleeping beside her. Sitting on the bed, I woke the kid up by rubbing her shoulder.

  Her green eyes fluttered open behind dark eyelashes. “Hey, dork.”

  I’d grown accustom to hearing that greeting every day. I loved it every day.

  Adele sat up. After rubbing her eyes, she hugged her knees. “How was work?”

  I rolled my eyes to the heavens. “Work. But I don’t know how much longer I’ll be there.”

  She narrowed her eyebrows. “You got another job?”

  “Not exactly.”

  The conversation might have continued, but Lacey took my attention. She turned to her side in her sleep, cuddling up on the pillow she laid on next to Adele. I rubbed her back and a small smile made its way to her lips. Like she knew it was me who touched her.

  “How was she today?” I looked up at my sister.

  Adele gazed Lacey’s way, smiling. “Good, Drake. Really good. We played cards. She’s doing good.”

  “Knock, knock.”

  My sister and I gazed to the top of the stairs. Derrick was there.

  “Hey, Derrick.” Adele waved at him.

  “Hey, kid.” He smiled at her, but it looked a bit forced. “Drake, can I uh…” He pointed to the side like he wanted to talk to me.

  By his expression, it didn’t look good, but I didn’t let that reflect across my features as I went over to him. “What’s up?”

  He directed us into the stairwell away from Lacey and Adele. “He’s here.”

  My mouth formed a ‘who’ before my pulse raced. My heart sped. “Are you kidding me right now? Her dad?”

  Derrick nodded.

  “This guy must seriously have a death wish.” I pushed past Derrick, but he grabbed my arm.

  “He said he wants no trouble. He just wants to talk.”

  The man had to be joking with this. Did he not think I’d make good on my threat? “I’ll be damned if he talks to her.”

  “He’s not here for her. He wants to talk to you.”

  *

  I told Derrick I could meet Lacey’s dad out back. The man wasn’t going to set foot in the house. After asking Adele to keep an eye on Lacey a few minutes longer before she left for the evening, I closed the curtains. The backyard could be seen from upstairs, and I wasn’t about to let that asshole affect her. She was finally getting better. Finally, and he wasn’t going to ruin that.

  I made it to the backyard, forcing myself to remain calm. Derrick was there, sitting on the back porch steps. I knew he’d control the situation if he had to. Whether that be back up or whatever he had to do.

  Lacey’s dad stood directly ahead of him. He’d healed a bit. The knot on his head was gone, and the bruises light. With the clarity, I could see his face without anger now. Really see it for the first time. Though he was Caucasian, anyone could see his resemblance to Lacey. Especially around the eyes. It disgusted me she had to carry any part of him with her.

  “You got guts coming here, Kevin,” Derrick said to him, his expression hard. “I think I’ll let you take your chances today. I don’t plan on holding my boy back.”

  And with that, Derrick got up. He patted me on the shoulder, giving me a silent nod, then went into the house. He was going to let me do what I had to, and I intended to do whatever that was. Derrick and I had been through a lot of drama since I arrived to Chicago, but with his support, I knew it didn’t break the strong friendship we had.

  I didn’t approach Lacey’s dad. Not at first. I took the seat Derrick left vacant on the front steps. I’d let the man in front of me plead his case for as long as I was willing to listen. “So what’s this about? I told you not to come around.”

  He pushed his hands into his pockets. “I wanted to explain what happened.”

  “Why? Redemption? Either way you won’t be seeing her.”

  He nodded. “I understand, and I didn’t expect to. I just want her to know the truth. I don’t care how it gets to her. I just want her to know. I owe her that.”

  “I’m not going to tell her anything that will make her upset. You put her through enough.”

  His eyes left. “I didn’t mean to hurt her. I knew after I came across her at the cemetery I probably shouldn’t have tried to continue seeing her again. That I’d be nothing but stress for her.”

  “The cemetery?”

  “Yes. She was there seeing her mama.”

  That was the day of the initial contact? I closed my eyes, mentally cursing. I should have said no to staying at the carnival. I should have been there for her. If I’d gone with her perhaps I could have protected her. Prevented what had happened to her.

  “I went to see Naya that day. It was luck. Chance I even ran into Lacey, but once I had, everything changed. I had to see her again. I had to try.”

  I smirked. “To get money out of her like you tried at her party?”

  He shook his head adamantly. “It wasn’t like that. The money never even crossed my mind. It was about her. I wanted to get to know her.”

  “Then how did this happen? Why was she driven off the road by people who were after you?”

  “Before I got clean, I was into some bad stuff. Did all kinds of things to get my fix. I went to these guys for money. When it came time to pay up, I didn’t have it. I was arrested right around that time. Jail literally saved my life.”

  He was thankful to go to jail. How ironic that being a criminal saved him.

  “I
got out, and after I did, I got clean. I found out about Lacey’s mama passing. I couldn’t let my little girl be out there alone. When I finally got myself together, I went looking for her, but her aunt shunned me away. Wouldn’t tell me anything about her. Well, through some digging, I found out she was doing okay. She was overseas. Acting just like her Mama used to. I followed her career. Snatched up anything I could find about her in the papers.” He gazed away, and his lips moved into a smile. “I was so proud of her.”

  Tilting my head, I studied him. Was what he saying true? Or was he putting on a front? Trying to get into my head? It was so hard to discern. His pride for her could all just be a really good ruse put on by a talented actor. Or it could… be real.

  He looked up, drawing in a breath before he continued. “I realized she didn’t need me. My little girl had made it. She was okay. I got myself together, but I had been too late. It hurt, but I decided to step back. I never bothered her aunt about her again. I felt it was better that way. It was better for Lacey if I wasn’t around.”

  “Something changed obviously,” I said to him. “Made you come back.”

  His eyes flickered down. “Yes. Those guys I was talking about eventually caught up with me. Right around the time of Lacey’s welcome home party. They threatened me. Gave me thirty days to come up with the funds or suffer the consequences. I knew Lacey had fallen into some money. Even outside of her acting career, she was okay. Through some of my old crew in the neighborhood I found out Naya took care of her financially. I was so desperate I decided to go to her. The neighborhood was buzzing she would be back in town, so I came over and hoped she might help.”

  He passed it off as desperation. I guess a man willing to leave the mother of his child while she had cancer was capable of anything. I couldn’t put what he did past him.

  “Her family turned me away again. I really didn’t blame them. I was real messed up then. The whole situation with the money had me stressed out, and I wasn’t looking great. After I left, I was disgusted with myself. I was actually going to let the first meeting I had with my kid in years be about money. I was going to her for money. Just like I used to do with her mama when I was an addict. It was sick. Fucked up.”