For the Love of Gina: The President's Girlfriend

by Mallory Monroe

  “What are you?” she asked him. “My bodyguard?”

  But Roman continued to stare. This woman was no girlfriend of Dutch’s. From a distance she looked polished, but up close she looked ghetto. He could see it all over her. Dutch had a predilection for women like Gina. Women with some class about them, some style. Not this hood rat. Roman even noticed a tattoo on her arm. A tattoo! The idea of Dutch Harber, the former President of the United States, dating a woman with a tat was ridiculous to Roman.

  But Dutch didn’t deny he knew the woman, so maybe he dated all kinds. Even this woman that Roman could easily see on a stripper pole, but never in a million years could see in the presence of people like Dutch and Gina.

  But the million years had come full circle because Gina walked into the room and suddenly this so-called hood rat was face to face with the former First Lady. She stood to her feet. Brandy might not have respected Dutch, but she had high respect for Gina.

  “Have a seat, please,” Gina said as she made her way to the conference table and sat across from the woman. Brandy sat back down. Roman knew he could have left. He did, after all, have tons of work to do. But he wouldn’t miss this for the world. He stayed put.

  Gina leaned back. She actually had a pen and pad with her, as if, Roman thought, she was going to be taking notes.

  “You’re Brandy Clarke?” Gina asked her.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “You said downstairs that you were my husband’s mistress. Is that correct?”

  Brandy swallowed hard. Roman noticed her hesitancy. “That’s what I said,” Brandy admitted, “but that’s not correct.”

  Roman glanced at Gina. Gina was still staring at Brandy. “Then perhaps you can tell me what is correct?”

  “My name is Brandy, that’s the truth. But I’m not your husband’s girlfriend. I wouldn’t be even if he begged me to. I’m your brother’s sister.”

  Roman frowned, and so did Gina. “My brother’s sister?” Gina asked.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “You mean you’re . . . Marcus Rance’s sister?”

  “Marcus Rance? Oh, no ma’am. I’m no kin to that fool. I mean, my brother is kin to him because they have the same daddy too. Like you.”

  Gina continued to stare at the young woman. “Like me?”

  “Yes, ma’am. My baby brother, DeAndre Clarke, is your baby brother too. He has a different mother than you do, but y’all have the same father.”

  Gina was thrown. She didn’t know what to say. This was about her? About some brother she never knew existed? Roman, too, was stumped.

  “I know it’s a shock to you, ma’am. And I wouldn’t have come, I know I was supposed to stay away. But DeAndre, your brother, is in serious trouble. They’re saying he robbed and murdered this store clerk, and because she was pregnant they’re saying he could get the death penalty. But he didn’t do it, ma’am. I swear to you he didn’t. But he’s just another poor black kid to them. He’s just another thug, another statistic to them.”

  Gina couldn’t even wrap her brain around what this woman was saying. Her deceased father had another son, beyond Marcus Rance, and this son was accused of murder, like Marcus Rance? It was uncanny! But that wasn’t the bombshell for Gina.

  “He should have told you,” Brandy went on. “But I knew he wouldn’t. He paid us off and swore us to secrecy too.”

  Roman unfolded his arms. Who was he? Dutch?

  Gina looked at the woman. “What are you talking about?” she asked her.

  “I’m talking about your husband. When me and my mama contacted this lady who worked at the White House, and we told her that DeAndre was your brother, we didn’t hear anything else about it. Then this doctor shows up at our house and gets DNA from DeAndre, and I guess they secretly got some from you somehow, I don’t know. But then the next thing we know the president himself pays us a visit. At my little house! And he makes us sign all these documents that says we won’t tell anybody and that DeAndre will have a trust fund for life after he turns twenty-one if we don’t violate the terms of the agreement. Then they gave us this boatload of money and said if anything comes out about it, or if we even think about contacting you or the president or anybody else, that DeAndre won’t get a dime and our lives will become a living hell.”

  Gina couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She stared at the woman. “Are you telling me that my husband knew that I had a brother out there, and he paid you not to tell me?”

  “We couldn’t tell you or anybody else. We would lose everything if we told. My mama died three months ago, she had cancer, but I stuck to the agreement. I want a better life for DeAndre too, and when he turns twenty-one he’s going to get that better life. He’s only eighteen now. But then he was arrested, and that changed everything. I went to your husband, but he blew me off.”

  “You went to him again?”

  “On Friday, yes ma’am. Just before the weekend. I came to BBR, after I left Harber Industries, looking for you, but you wasn’t supposed to come in on Friday. At least that’s what they told me. So I stayed in town and waited until today, Monday morning, to come and see you.”

  Gina’s heart was hammering. She was completely at a loss for words. Roman was staring at her. What, he wondered, did she think about that husband of hers now? In many ways, this had to be worse news than him having an affair. This was a downright betrayal, and nothing less, in Roman’s eyes.

  And then the door to the conference room opened, and Dutch stepped inside. Gina looked at him as if, it seemed to Roman, she was seeing him for the first time. And in her anger, she found her voice.

  “Is it true?” she asked him as if she still couldn’t believe it. “Did you know I had a brother out there, that I had my own flesh and blood out there, and you hid it from me?”

  That look of disappointment, of fear, of distrust on Gina’s face, did something to Dutch. He felt as if he was going to die where he stood when he saw that look in her eyes.

  “Is it true, Dutch?” she asked again, and all eyes were on him.

  He placed both hands in his pants pockets and let out a sharp exhale. This was a long day coming, somehow he knew it was. But the burden was still there. “Yes,” he said. “It’s true.

  CHAPTER TEN

  The door to Gina’s office suite burst open and Gina, with Dutch on her tail, walked in and moved swiftly toward her office in the back of the room. The support staff in the outer office were stunned and delighted when the power couple came through in such silent contentiousness, but their ringside seat was quickly squashed when the couple entered Gina’s inner office and Dutch slammed the door behind them. Now it was just he and Gina, and Gina wasn’t trying to hear it.

  “You should have told me,” she was saying as she hurried behind her desk.

  “You don’t tell me what I should have done,” Dutch shot back as he walked up to the front of her desk. “I did what I thought was best. You don’t know a thing about those people, Gina!”

  “What difference does that make?” Gina angrily blared, slamming her pad and pen on her desk. “That boy is my flesh and blood and you had no right withholding that from me! You had no right, Dutch. No right!”

  “I was looking out for you, I had every right! When those people came to me you had just been shot by Marcus Rance. Shot, Gina! What did you think I was going to do? Introduce you to another half-brother just when you almost died at the hands of the other one? No. Hell no! I wasn’t taking that chance. I made the right call!”

  “But that wasn’t your call to make, Dutch, how can you not see that? That child is my flesh and blood! That was my call to make!”

  “You were on your deathbed, Gina, and I’m sorry but I didn’t give a damn about any out of the woodwork relative looking for a quick payday. You were on your deathbed.”

  “When I got off of my deathbed, why didn’t you tell me then?”

  “I wasn’t putting you through any more pain.”

  “Right,” Gina said, and be
gan stuffing papers in the briefcase on her desk. “It wasn’t about Marcus Rance and you know it. It was all about you deciding my life for me the way you’re always trying to do. You decided. You didn’t ask me shit. You decided. You didn’t like the way they stepped to you---”

  “You mean the way they tried to extort me? The way they wanted me to pay them for their silence?”

  “That was the mother and the sister. That had nothing to do with my brother. He was seventeen years old, Dutch. He didn’t come to you like that. That wasn’t his fault!”

  Gina grabbed her purse out of her drawer, grabbed her stuffed briefcase, and then began heading back toward the exit.

  “Get your plane ready,” she said to him. “I need to use it.”

  “Use it for what?” he asked, then he grabbed her by the arm as she was about to walk pass him, and slung her back toward him. “Will you stop walking and answer my question? Where do you think you’re going?”

  “I’m going to Georgia to see about my brother. You heard his sister. He’s being railroaded---”

  “Oh, Gina, you don’t believe that nonsense!”

  “I’m going to see about my brother, whether I believe it or not. Now you can get your plane ready to take me there, or I’ll fly commercial if I have to. But I’m going.” She snatched away from him and began heading out.

  Dutch knew that look in her eyes. There was no stopping her when she got in this kind of zone. “When will you be back?” he asked her.

  “When I get back,” she said, and slammed the door as she left.

  Dutch just stood there, fuming with her and angry with himself. He was only looking out for her, but he should have known better than to keep this from a woman like Gina. Now he was paying that price. He therefore went behind her desk, picked up the phone, and dialed his executive assistant’s private line.

  “Yes, sir?” she said as soon as she came onto the line.

  “Contact my pilot. Tell him to get the plane ready. My wife will be using it.”

  “For immediate departure, sir?”

  He exhaled. “Yes,” he said.

  “I will notify him right away, sir,” she said, and Dutch hung up the phone. Then he placed his fingers to his temple, and squeezed his eyes shut.

  As the plane prepared for takeoff, Brandy thought she was in heaven. Here she was, on a private plane, sitting across from Regina Harber, talking about her baby brother. It was still surreal to her that the former First Lady was going to Georgia to see about DeAndre. And she was so nice and kind. Nothing like the bitch Brandy thought she’d be.

  “You said he’s an honor student?” Gina asked, holding Brandy’s cell phone and looking at the picture of DeAndre that Brandy kept as her screensaver.

  “Yes, ma’am,” she said. “He even won a scholarship to college.”

  “Really? Which one?”

  “Florida A & M.”

  “I’m impressed. He seems like a sweet young man.”

  “He’s wonderful. That’s why I was so angry with your husband. He should have never kept DeAndre out of your life. I think if you would have been in his life, and the world would have known he was your brother, those cops would have never arrested him.”

  “But you said he was there when the shooting took place, did you not?”

  “He was there, yes, ma’am, but he didn’t do anything. He was there to buy some candy, not to shoot or rob somebody.”

  Gina looked out of the plane’s window when she caught sight of a Cadillac Escalade arriving. She knew that was Dutch’s SUV. And sure enough, Addison, Dutch’s assigned Secret Service agent, opened the backdoor, and Dutch stepped out, looking like the impressive man she knew he was, as he buttoned his suit coat. Then he and Addison began heading toward the plane. Gina watched him, with a mixture of emotions. Brandy, seeing Gina’s attention diverted, looked out of the window too. And when she saw Dutch, she frowned.

  “What’s he doing here?” she asked.

  Gina looked at the younger woman with surprise in her eyes. “Excuse me?”

  “I said what is he doing here? He’s gonna try to convince you not to help DeAndre, watch what I tell you. He’s done enough damage already. If it wasn’t for him, DeAndre would have never been arrested.”

  “Okay, now,” Gina said, and sat upright in her seat. “Let’s get one thing straight,” she said. “There’s not a universe that has ever been discovered where you get to denigrate my husband, on his plane, in front of me. I understand you love your brother and you’re concerned about him, I get that. But don’t think for a second that you have my permission to disrespect my husband. You don’t. Nobody does.”

  “But how can you defend him?” Brandy boldly asked. “He lied to you.”

  “He did not lie to me, all right? Don’t get it twisted. But no matter what he did to me, Brandy, that’s between him and I. That’s our business. And nobody, especially some female I just met, get to have a say in our business.”

  Brandy was stunned by Gina’s venom. So much for nice, she thought as she requested her cell phone back and gave up on any kind of conversation with this woman. She used to see her on TV when she was First Lady, and at first she was proud of her. But when she wouldn’t show the American people her baby boy, and when she was accused of sleeping around on the president with some man, she turned on her too. She heard that there was no truth to those allegations, but she believed them anyway. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, or fire done been there, was always what her mother taught her. Why else, she wondered, would those allegations be out there if there was absolutely no truth to them? Besides, a beautiful black sister like Regina Harber with a white husband? Hell yeah she was probably sleeping around. Every girl, in Brandy’s view, had to have them some Mandingo dick every now and then.

  So Brandy clammed up and despised Gina all over again as that husband of hers boarded the plane. She, instead, kept her focus on DeAndre and getting him help, even if the help had to come from a bitch like Regina Harber and a dog like Dutch Harber. But at this point in Brandy’s life, and given her lack of power and resources, any fool offering help would have to do.

  When Dutch entered the area where Gina and Brandy were seated, Brandy could hardly contain her disgust. Gina, however, looked up at him.

  “Hey,” he said.

  “Hello.”

  “I wanted to make sure you had everything you needed before you pulled off.”

  Gina didn’t respond to that.

  “Spoke to Walter?”

  “I did. I told him I’d see him tonight. Of course he was so busy during some school project that he wasn’t thinking about me. I also spoke with Nanny and gave her some instructions until I get back.”

  “Okay.”

  “I’ll call you,” Gina added, “if I don’t make it back in time.”

  Dutch nodded.

  Then they fell into a kind of awkward silence. Then Dutch spoke up. “I contacted William Bates.”

  “You did?” Gina asked, surprised. “When?”

  “Last week, when Miss Clarke paid me a visit. He went there and looked into the case.”

  This interested Brandy. Who, she wondered, was William Bates?

  “And what was his verdict?” Gina asked.

  “He seems to think the police got it right.”

  “That’s a lie!” Brandy yelled, and Dutch looked at her as if she had lost her mind.

  “Who do you think you’re talking to?” he asked her.

  “My brother didn’t rob anybody and he didn’t shoot anybody,” she responded. “I don’t care what that man told you. My brother is innocent!”

  Gina looked at Brandy. She was a feisty woman who probably had to fight to be heard her entire life. When Gina used to be an advocate for BBR, long before she married Dutch, she used to have that same kind of fire.

  “I’ll look into it myself,” she said to Dutch, “and hear what DeAndre has to say before I reach any conclusions.”

  Brandy was pleasantly surprised by
Gina’s response. She expected her to defend her husband, the way she had done just before he boarded the plane. Instead, she seemed to be withholding judgment.

  “Don’t get your hopes up, is all I’m saying,” Dutch said.

  Gina nodded. “Fair enough.”

  Dutch exhaled, and looked at his wife. He loved her so much that it tore at his soul to have her so upset with him. And he could tell she was still upset. Mightily.

  “Are you sure you don’t want me to go with you?”

  Brandy looked at Gina. She couldn’t bear him going with them.

  “I’m positive,” Gina said, to Brandy’s inward relief.

  Dutch knew it would have been something near impossible for him to get away from the office right now anyway. But he would have if Gina would have wanted it. “We’ll talk, then,” he said, “when you get back.”

  “Okay.”

  “You call me if there are any problems at all, Gina. Any problems. You hear me?”

  Brandy didn’t like the way he spoke to Gina, as if he was the great white father and she was his child. But Gina, to Brandy’s surprise, didn’t seem to see anything wrong with his tone.

  “I will,” Gina responded.

  Dutch continued to stare at her. Then the feelings overtook him and he couldn’t help himself. He knew he might be rebuffed, but he couldn’t help it. He walked over to her, leaned down, and kissed her lovingly on the lips.

  Gina knew she should have recoiled. They, after all, still had major issues to work out. But as soon as he came near her, and she smelled his familiar cologne scent and felt his wonderfully sensual lips on hers, she couldn’t recoil or resist. She returned his affection. Dutch placed his hand on the side of her face as he couldn’t stop kissing her. They had an audience, and he knew it, but he couldn’t help it. He loved Gina and he didn’t want her to ever think otherwise.

  When they stopped kissing, a frown appeared on his face as he fought back tears, and then he rested his forehead against hers.

  “I love you,” he said to her so heartfelt that it made his chest hurt.