by J. L Rose
“Alinna, it’s good to see you again,” the real estate agent said with a big smile as she walked up to Alinna and gave her a hug.
“Alinna!” James called, getting Alinna’s attention. He nodded his head toward the front gate and said, “There’s Vanessa pulling up.”
Seeing Dre’s Land Rover and Tony T’s Aston Martin at the front gate, Alinna looked over to James and said, “Send one of the security to open the gate.”
“The code is 26, 19, 20,” the real estate agent announced as she smiled over at James.
* * *
“This is a one-of-a-kind masterpiece,” the real estate agent told Alinna and the others as she led them into the mansion. She continued, “It has panoramic water views from the sweeping 280-degree lot-and-a-half estate. It has a private 100-foot floating dock, plus an additional lift and watercraft floating pad. Fully gated and fenced, this estate offers privacy and security. There’s full-house automation, with video, audio, and a full theater. The unique single-level floor plan features five luxury bedroom suites and a sixth suite designed as a private guest quarters with its own kitchen and private entrance. The master bedroom suite includes his-and-her baths, a morning kitchen, a dramatic shower looking out to the private orchid gardens, and designer closets. The owner’s retreat is just off the master bedroom. There is a 1,000-bottle wine room and a full bar, a dramatic pool with reflecting fountains and spa, and a bridge over the koi pond leads to the dock . . .”
They listened to the real estate agent as they all followed her through the house, looking over everything. Alinna watched the family’s reaction to the house. Once Amber and Harmony had the agent’s attention, Alinna pulled Vanessa to the side and asked, “What you think, Vanessa?”
“You mean about the house?” Vanessa asked, smiling. “Girl, you know I love it!”
“You think Dante gonna like it, Vanessa?”
“Alinna, that’s your man!” Vanessa told her playfully. “You know my brother will love anything you pick out, since he crazy about you.”
“So, Alinna, what do you think?” the real estate agent asked, smiling as she walked up on Alinna and Vanessa.
“How much are you asking?” Alinna inquired, meeting and holding the agent’s eyes.
“The asking price is $12 million,” she responded.
“God damn!” James said under his breath from a few feet away after hearing the price.
Cutting her eyes over to a smiling James, Alinna looked back at the agent and asked, “How fast can we move in?”
* * *
Alinna was back at the penthouse that Dante moved everyone into right before he was taken into custody. She was inside the master bedroom, laid across the bed with her son D.J., when the house phone rang next to her head on the bedside table.
She reached over and picked up the cordless phone from its base. Alinna placed the receiver to her ear to hear the collect call operator ask if she would accept the call from a Dante Blackwell from the Miami-Dade County Jail. She accepted the call by pressing 5.
“What’s up, shorty?”
“Hey, baby,” Alinna said, smiling at hearing Dante’s voice. “I was wondering when you was going to call me. Everything okay?”
“Everything good on this end. You take care of that thing I asked you to handle?”
“Yes, Dante,” Alinna answered, rolling her eyes thinking about Angela. “I gave that to her earlier. But anyway, I went by and saw the new house. You’ll like it!”
“How big is it?”
“It has five bedrooms and a sixth bedroom with private guest quarters. It also has a separate retreat away from the main house.”
“You like it?”
“Dante, I love it, baby. I already started the process to buy it.”
“Yeah, alright. Where my lil’ man at?”
“He right here watching TV with me,” Alinna replied. “You don’t wanna know how much the house is, Dante?”
“Knowing you, I’m pretty sure it’s up there. Put my lil’ man on the phone.”
Alinna smiled as she handed the phone to her son, telling him that his father was on the line. She laid back and watched D.J. talk and laugh with his father. She reached out and ran her hand through his short, curly black hair, smiling as she stared at the spitting image of Dante.
Alinna took the phone back from D.J., placed it up to her ear, and asked, “Yeah, baby?”
“Alinna . . . listen! I’ve been doing some thinking about what I was telling you about at visitation. Something really don’t feel right about all this. I’ve got something in the works, but I’ll explain it to you at the next visit.”
“Also, I had that meeting with our new friends you told me to meet with.”
“How’d it go?” Dante asked, instantly knowing she was talking about the new connects.
“Everything went perfect once I mentioned your name to them.”
“That’s good,” Dante replied, and then continued, “You got that new shipment from what’s his name?”
“I haven’t heard anything from him since you came home,” Alinna told Dante, understanding he was speaking about Dominic Saldana.
Quiet for a few moments, Dante finally spoke up, “Look, Alinna, this phone about to hang up, but make sure you get out here next week . . . Monday . . . so we can talk. I love you, shorty.”
“I love you too, Dante!”
Hearing the phone hang up, Alinna put it down. She then got comfortable in the bed and wished that Dante was lying next to her.
* * *
Unable to sleep the entire plane ride to Miami, since she was overly worried about her child’s father, Natalie Saldana looked over to her right as one of her armed security men walked up beside her seat. She smiled when she noticed that it was Gomez, her personal security bodyguard.
“Natalie, we’re about to land in three minutes,” he told her, taking his seat across from her on her personal jet that her father bought her for her eighteenth birthday.
Natalie could feel how fast her heart was beating. She just wanted to get off the jet and find out in which jail Dante was being held. She all but jumped out of her seat as soon as the plane came to a stop, ignoring Gomez as he called out behind her.
Rushing to the front of the plane as soon as the jet stopped rolling and the engine was shut off, Natalie rushed Gomez to hurry and open the door. She was off the plane within moments of the door being opened and the mobile stairs being placed in front of the door to the jet.
Natalie saw Greg Wilson, who used to work for her father but was now employed by Dante. She rushed over to the middle-aged man as he stood next to a metallic black Maybach Benz, with two Benz trucks parked behind him.
“Ms. Saldana . . . !”
“Where is Dante?” Natalie cut him off as he was about to greet her.
“Okay . . . ,” Greg said as he turned to face the Maybach. He laid his briefcase on the top of the hood of the Benz and opened it. He then pulled out a file and handed it to Natalie and said, “This is everything I was able to get on Mr. Blackwell. As of right now, he’s down at the Miami-Dade County Jail.”
“Gomez . . . that’s where we’re—”
“Ms. Saldana, you cannot visit Mr. Blackwell at this moment,” Greg interrupted before quickly continuing upon seeing the upset expression in her face. “Mr. Blackwell may not have any more visitors until tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. Visitation is finished for today.”
“Damn it!” Natalie stated, looking down at her rose gold lady Rolex and seeing that it was already after 6:00 p.m. She sighed loudly, looked back at Greg, and asked, “Where have you placed us, Greg Wilson?”
Pulling keys and a small white envelope from his briefcase, he handed over the items to Natalie and explained, “I’ve leased the whole top floor at the Grand Plaza for you and your security duty, Ms. Saldana.”
Thanking Greg and expressing that she would call him the next day, Natalie handed over both keys and an envelope to Gomez and then walked over to the back do
or of the Maybach while pulling out her cell phone to call her mother.
“Natalie?” Carmen Saldana answered on the other end of the phone.
“Yes, mother!” Natalie answered as she climbed inside the backseat of the Maybach once Gomez unlocked and opened the back door for her. “I’m just landing in Miami now and heading to our hotel.”
“What have you found out from Wilson about Dante, Natalie?”
“He’s being held at the Miami-Dade County Jail, but I will not be able to see him until tomorrow,” Natalie told her. “Greg Wilson also gave me a file on Dante. I’m going to read over what’s inside.”
“Alright, sweetheart. Let me know if you need anything that can help you get Dante out of that jail.”
“I will, Mother,” Natalie replied, pausing a few seconds before asking, “What about Daddy? Is he still upset?”
“Sweetheart, you know your father. He will be alright,” Carmen told her daughter. “You just focus on what you went to Miami for, which is freeing Dante. Do you understand me, Natalie?”
Nodding her head even though her mother couldn’t see her, Natalie answered, “I understand, Mother. I’ll call you later.”
“Love you, sweety!”
Hanging up with her mother and sliding her cell phone back inside her Dolce & Gabbana bag, Natalie looked toward the front seat at Gomez behind the steering wheel, who asked, “You okay, Natalie?”
“I’m okay, Gomez,” Natalie told her friend and bodyguard, meeting his eyes in the rearview mirror. She then gave him the address of the hotel off a sticky note that was inside the file.
“We’ll get him out, Natalie,” Gomez told her, meeting her eyes once again before he focused back on the road.
* * *
Natalie read over the file that Greg Wilson had given her on what was happening with Dante’s case and charges. She realized where she was only after Gomez called her name to announce that he was pulling in the Maybach to park at the Grand Plaza Hotel on South Beach in Miami.
She put away the file and then climbed out of the car once her door was opened. Natalie followed behind Gomez while her team of security surrounded her. She noticed all the stares as she entered the lobby of the hotel.
After allowing Gomez to handle everything at the front desk, Natalie then followed him onto the elevator, along with three members of her security team behind. She stood there thinking about the murder of the law enforcement and federal agent personnel along with his many other charges.
Following Gomez off the elevator on the penthouse floor, Natalie stopped behind him as he stopped in front of her suite door. She entered the penthouse once he opened the door. Gomez remained outside in the hall talking with security.
After finding the master bedroom, Natalie tossed her bag onto the bed and sat down on the foot of it. She then went back to reading Dante’s file to see what they were up against.
3
D ante heard his name as he was waking up from the light sleep he was in. He opened his eyes and looked at the officer standing at the front of the unit. He sat up in bed to see the male officer waving him over.
Swinging his legs over the left side of the bottom bunk he was in, Dante slid his feet into the jailhouse shoes that Officer Kerri had given him to wear, since his pair of Stacy Adams were taken on the day he turned himself in. He then stood up and walked over toward the officer’s desk.
“Blackwell, you’ve got somebody down at visitation trying to get in to see you,” the officer told Dante. “She’s not on your visit list. You wanna add her?”
“Who is it?” Dante asked, staring at the officer with a confused look.
“Hold on!” the officer responded as he spoke into the phone and requested the name of the visitor. He looked back toward Dante and announced, “It’s Natalie Saldana downstairs. You wanna put her on your list or not?”
“Yeah . . . ,” Dante answered, surprised to hear Natalie was at the jail to see him. “Go ’head and put her on.”
Dante got himself ready for his visit with Natalie and then followed the escorting officer from the unit once he was picked up. Dante wondered if Dominic was also down in Miami with her.
Once he reached the visitation area, Dante entered the room. After the door shut and locked behind him, he walked past the first three visit booths and then saw Natalie, with Gomez standing behind her. She sat down and smiled at him once she saw him.
“I love you!” Natalie cried as soon as she and Dante picked up the phone receivers. Still smiling, she added, “I miss you so much.”
“What are you doing here, Natalie?” Dante asked as he sat down on the counter.
“You don’t sound like you miss me, Dante,” she told him with a pout, which caused him to smile down on her.
“I miss you too, Natalie,” Dante told her before asking, “But what are you doing here?”
“I got here last night after I found out you was locked up.”
“Where’s Dominic?” he asked, shifting his eyes to Gomez, nodding his head in greeting to the big Spanish bodyguard. After receiving a nod in return, Dante looked back at Natalie to see the change in her expression. “Natalie, what’s wrong? What’s up with Dominic?”
“Dante . . . Daddy isn’t here in Miami with me, and he isn’t coming!” she explained, staring straight into Dante’s eyes.
Slowly nodding his head in understanding of what Natalie was actually telling him, Dante changed the subject by asking, “You talk to Greg Wilson yet?”
“He met me when we got here,” she answered. “Baby, what can we do? I’ve read up on what you’re being charged with. What can we do? Mother said she will help us in any way we need her help.”
“That’s good to know,” Dante replied as ideas began flooding his mind. “I’m actually happy you’re here. There’s something I’ve been trying to figure out, and you may help me in figuring all this out. I’ll explain.”
* * *
Hearing her cell phone begin to ring inside her Gucci bag just as she was climbing inside her Phantom, Alinna pulled out the phone as James was climbing into the car beside her.
Smiling at hearing it was a collect call from Dante, Alinna accepted it and said, “Hey baby. You calling me early. What’s up?”
“Alinna . . . look! I just had a visit from Natalie. She’s here in Mia—”
“Whoa!” Alinna said, cutting off Dante, unsure she was hearing him correctly. “You said you just had a visit from who, Dante? Natalie?”
“Yeah, Alinna,” he answered. “Baby, don’t trip out. We already talked about this, and now isn’t the time to be fighting about this.”
“Dante, we talked about this before you went to jail. What the fuck is she doing down here?”
“She’s here to help, Alinna.”
“Help?” Alinna said, raising her voice. “What the fuck can she do that I can’t, Dante?”
Sighing into the phone, Dante calmly said, “That’s just it, Alinna. The both of you are going to be working together on something I’ve been putting together inside my head. Something isn’t right, and I need you to do this for me, shorty. You gonna do this for me, or am I fighting alone?”
Sucking her teeth, Alinna asked, “What do you want me to do?”
“That’s my shorty!” Dante said, but then added, “Here’s Natalie’s number. I want you to call her now. I’ll call you back this afternoon by 3:00.”
“Whatever, Dante!”
“I love you too.”
“Mmm-huh!” Alinna replied, hanging up the phone yet unable to keep from smiling after hearing him tell her that he loved her.
Alinna called the number that Dante had given her. She sat and listened to the line ring twice, when a Spanish-accented female voice answered the phone and said, “Hello.”
“Is this Natalie?”
“Yes, it is. And I’m guessing this is Alinna.”
“Correct,” Alinna answered with a slight attitude. “Listen, I’m calling because Dante asked me to call.”
> “I have instructions from Dante, but I’d rather not talk about them over the phone. Can we meet?”
“Where are you?”
“Where do you want to meet?”
Smirking at the woman’s response, Alinna said, “Alright. Meet me at Granny B’s Soul Food.”
Alinna gave Natalie the address and then hung up. She looked at James, saw him smirking, and asked, “What?”
“You two are completely different but are completely the same when it comes to Dante,” James explained, fully smiling now.
“You mean you know her?” Alinna asked, balling up her face as she stared at him.
“I spent time with her and Dante, so I’m pretty sure how you and she will respond to one another.”
“I don’t like her!” Alinna told him as she turned to look out the window.
“I wonder why!” James said, shaking his head and smiling at Alinna.
* * *
Angela pulled her new Lincoln Continental into the parking lot down at the county jail, parking in the visitation area. She shut off the engine and then grabbed her recently bought Gucci bag. She climbed out of the car, started across the parking lot, and headed toward the front entrance of the jail.
She noticed the long line as soon as she walked into the visitation area of the jail. Angela sighed deeply, as she was really not in the mood to have to stand in line to wait to see Dante. However, she was willing to do it because she wanted to see him and maybe even make him an offer, depending on his response to what she had to ask him.
Pulling out her cell phone while waiting in the slow-moving line, Angela saw the three numbers with blocked-out names on her phone. She was certain they were from Dante, since he was probably wondering where she was because she had arrived later than the time she told him she’d be there.
Finally making it to the front desk, Angela stepped up to a young, dark-skinned female officer and asked, “I’m here to visit with Dante Blackwell. He has visits today, right?”
