"I thought you two loved each other? I know you had disagreements and stuff, but I didn't think it was that serious," Synai said.
"You're right, Synai, but there are also much deeper issues that me and Tae have that we didn't want you guys to know about," Kaiah explained.
"What about the baby?" Synai asked.
"I'm keeping it regardless," Kaiah said. She looked over at Shauntez who was unusually quiet. "Talk to me Tez."
"That's my brother and you're my sister. I want to see both of you happy, but I guess you two being together ain't making you happy and I'm pretty sure you trying to divorce him while he's doing a bid is not going to make him happy either and I know for sure that he's not going to sign the papers," Shauntez said.
"I'm not trying to divorce him because he's locked up. I actually gave him the papers before he got locked up," said Kaiah.
"Okay, but look at it this way Kay Kay, he's going away for a very long time. If he wants anyone to be by his side besides me and Synai, it would be the woman that he gave his last name to and the woman that's carrying his only child. You're supposed to be there for him and hold him down, no matter what. Even if you don't want to be with him, being there for moral support or just letting him know you care about him would be good. But you just do whatever you wanna do," Shauntez said before getting up and walking away.
He wasn't mad at Kaiah but he wanted her to stop thinking about herself for a minute. He was trying to explain how Deonte would feel if she just up and left him when he needed her to be by his side the most.
Kaiah sat there deep in thought. She was understanding where Shauntez was coming from but she was also trying to make him realize where she was coming from. Maybe she was being selfish for putting her feelings first, but she was always thinking about somebody else. Now it was time that she thought about herself.
4
Synai was out with Kaiah and Kaily so Shauntez had the house to himself. He was getting ready to leave when he heard a knock at the door. He opened it and came face to face with some Mexican man he didn't know. "Who are you?" he asked.
"I'm Cortez," he said as he extended his hand.
Shauntez knew of him as Kaiah's ex and Deonte and Kaison's supplier. "Oh, what's up?" He shook his hand. "Umm, Deonte's not here and he won't be for a while."
"I've heard, but I actually came to talk to you," Cortez said.
"Me?" Shauntez asked, confused.
"Yea, come take a ride with me," Cortez said. "You don't have to worry, I left the bodyguards and guns at home."
Shauntez looked out the door and there was only one car in the driveway. He shrugged his shoulders and locked the house up. He followed Cortez to his Jaguar that he couldn't help but to admire. "This bitch is clean."
Cortez smirked. "Thanks," he said before they climbed in. They hit the highway until they made it to Fort Lauderdale. They got off the highway onto a secluded road and Shauntez started to get worried until he noticed a big ass house in the view. The road led up to the house and it looked bigger up close than it did when they were pulling up. This shit bigger than Kaiah's mansion, Shauntez thought.
They drove down into an underground garage that had about six different cars in there. "Let's roll," Cortez said as he parked his car next to a Bentley.
They walked to the elevator and rode it to the main floor. They got off and walked down a long corridor where Cortez stopped and knocked on a door. "Entrar.” (Enter.)
They did as they were told and walked in. Shauntez thought that the older man looked real familiar, but he couldn't place him. The man looked up at Shauntez and smiled. He nodded his head towards a chair for him to sit.
"How are you, Shauntez?" the man asked.
"You know me?" he asked.
"Actually I do. You just don't know me, but all that is going to change starting today."
"Well exactly who are you?" Shauntez asked through squinted eyes.
"Cortez Emilio Rodriguez Senior, also known as Guapo, and I'm your father," Guapo responded.
Shauntez tilted his head to the side and looked at him through the same squinted eyes. "Come again?"
"I'm your father," Guapo repeated.
"Nah that's not possible because ain't no way in hell my dad would be living in this big ass house while his fucking son lived with a crackhead for a momma then when she disappeared, I had to live with my granny until she died, then my brother took me in. Now please cut the bullshit," Shauntez said heatedly.
Guapo nodded his head in understanding. He knew Shauntez had every right to be mad. "Actually, I'm not just your father but Deonte and Synai's as well. I've been watching over all three of you since birth. I may not have been there physically, but I was there in more ways than you can imagine."
"Ain't this some shit. You've got to be bullshitting me right now."
Without responding, Guapo hit a button on his desk and spoke. "Can you come here for a minute, mami?"
Shauntez sat there stuck. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. He just knew Ashton Kutcher was about to jumped out and tell him he was being punked. He couldn't wait to hear from his brother because he sure did have a mouthful for him. All this time the nigga he was working for was his brother. There was a knock at the door and in walked someone Shauntez hadn't seen in fifteen years. "Ma?"
There stood an older version of Synai. Katrina Smith was a very petite woman standing at 5'3 with smooth almond colored skin, beautiful brown doe-like eyes and deep dimples in her cheeks. She had long, straight hair going down her back and she looked a thousand times better than she did the last time he saw her.
"Hey Tez," Katrina spoke in a very low voice. She had her head down and played with her hands. She was embarrassed and scared. She didn't know how he would receive her or if he would reject her.
Shauntez wasn't the type of nigga to show his emotions, but he was getting teary eyed at the sight before him. He hadn't seen his mother since he was four years old and here she was standing before him. He walked over to her and lifted her head up. He looked deep in her eyes and noticed she wasn't the same person that left them years ago. He wanted to be mad at her, he wanted to hate her and cuss her out for leaving him and his siblings, but he couldn't.
He pulled Katrina into his arms and hugged her tightly. She wrapped her arms around her youngest son and broke down crying, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." Shauntez didn't say anything but he hugged her tighter. Guapo and Cortez couldn't take it, they both looked away at the same time so they wouldn't cry themselves.
Shauntez had so many questions that he needed answers to that he just started bombarding her. “Where have you been? Why did you leave us? How long have you been clean?”
Katrina just laughed because she knew she had a lot of explaining to do but she didn’t expect him to hit her with so many questions at once. “Okay, slow down. I’ll answer all your questions, just one at a time.”
Shauntez chuckled, “My bad.”
“Why don’t you take him out back so you two can talk?” Guapo suggested.
Katrina nodded her head and grabbed her son by the hand. She led him to the back of the house where she steered him out a double door that led to a man-made pond with a patio set next to it. “Okay, let me have it,” she said as they sat down.
“Okay, so how long have you been clean?” That was the first question that came to his mind.
“Let me see, Synai is fifteen now, so therefore I’ve been clean for fourteen years,” Katrina answered.
“So why didn’t you come back for us and why did you even leave in the first place?”
“I left because I didn’t have a choice. Guapo made it very clear that I was to either get clean or I was going to be cut off completely. The day Synai was born, I left the hospital and came straight here. He hired a nurse to be around day and night to help me while I was going through withdrawals and everything. At first, I was like fuck it, just give me a hit; but that was just the fiend in me talking,” explained Katrina.
“So
he really is our dad? How is that possible when you lived in Atlanta and he lived here?” he asked, puzzled.
Katrina explained to him how Guapo used to come to Atlanta all the time to handle business. He used to see Katrina all the time when he would go out and party but she would never pay him any attention. Being the type of nigga he was, he was used to getting what he wanted. He wanted Katrina, so he was going to get her.
Eventually they ended up hooking up. Katrina ended up getting pregnant with Deonte after a visit Guapo made to Atlanta where he stayed for a month. She told him and that's when she found out that he already had a wife and one son at home. She was mad at him at first, but couldn't be too mad because he didn't even live there so she should have known he already had something going on.
When Deonte was two years old, Guapo tried to get him and take him back to Miami with him but Katrina wouldn't allow it. Guapo got mad and stopped dealing with her. Whenever he came to Atlanta he wouldn't stop by to see her or Deonte. He would send one of his boys to drop some money off to her, but that was as far it would go for five years.
“One time, he came to visit and popped up at my house. That’s when I first started using and I was messing with a man named Sly. Guapo was so mad that he actually beat my ass. Thank God Deonte wasn’t there. He was with my mama or I really think Guapo would have taken him from me,” explained Katrina.
“But he had to have kept coming back if me and Synai are his kids,” Shauntez said.
“Our relationship was kind of difficult Shauntez. We had a very bipolar relationship that only we could understand.”
Katrina explained to him how she had told Guapo that she was actually going to get clean. She was for about six months until she relapsed. The only time she would get clean was when word got around that Guapo was coming into town. Fear of his wrath coming down on her made her stop using for a few days before he got into town.
“Every time he stepped down into Atlanta, he made it a point to come see me. That’s how you and Synai got here. One time, he surprised me and popped up, which was when I was pregnant with Synai. He told me I was either going to get clean or he was going to make me suffer. The day I gave birth to Synai, he came in my room in the middle of the night and we came to Miami. I’ve been clean ever since.”
“That’s deep. So Cortez is our brother. He and Deonte dated the same woman,” Shauntez said out loud to himself.
“What do you mean?” asked Katrina.
“D-Boy is married to Cortez’s ex-girlfriend and he never said anything.”
“Kaiah?”
Shauntez looked at her funny. “You know her?”
Katrina shook her head. “I’ve never met her, but her name rings bells around here. She usually does all the talking for her brother whenever he needs something from Cortez.”
“All this is crazy. You have to see Synai now. She’s all grown up. I know she’ll be happy to see you,” Shauntez said.
“I don’t know about that. She doesn’t even know me.”
“It’s better late than never, ma.”
Katrina just sat there and chewed on her lip. She would love to have a relationship with her kids but she knew it wouldn’t come easy since she was never in their lives. Especially Deonte. She knew that if he was anything like his father, he wouldn’t be so welcoming to her.
5
Kaiah walked into Keith's office with her mind racing. She had so much on her mind that it was starting to make her head hurt. She had so many responsibilities she had to take care of because Deonte had gotten locked up.
"Hello Kaiah, how can I help you today?" Keith asked as he hugged her.
"I'm here for a number of reasons," she sighed.“First, I want you to put a hold on delivering those divorce papers for me."
She had taken some time out to think and what Shauntez said to her touched her. He was right, she couldn't just leave Deonte at a time when he would really need her the most. He was always there for her when she needed him, so she wasn't about to turn her back on him.
"Okay, I can do that for you," Keith said.
"Thank you. Also, I know I've told you this before, but I want to start up my own business."
"A restaurant, right?" He asked.
"Umm, I used to want to own my own restaurant, but my heart’s not in it anymore. I actually want to be an event planner. I asked Natalia to be my partner since she's always wanted to do that. Tomorrow we’re going to go out and looking for a building to hold our business in," Kaiah clarified.
"I think that will be good for the both of you. You know I'll be happy to look over any paperwork you may get."
"I really appreciate it. So, what's going to happen with Deonte's case?"
"As of right now, he finally admitted to the murder, so we are waiting for the grand jury to be convened to determine if there's enough evidence against him to take him to trial or prosecute him," Keith explained.
"Okay, from my knowledge, the only evidence they have is a video of him walking into the barbershop around the time of the crime and then running out like ten minutes later. They don't actually have him committing the murder on tape, so how is that enough evidence to prosecute him?"
"Trust me Kaiah, I'm with you on this one. I don't think that's enough evidence myself, but the only thing we can do is leave that up to the jury to decide. Knowing them, they might try to come up with some other evidence when we go to the hearing."
Kaiah was almost sure that would be the case. She had done a little research and found out that Naomi's uncle was the chief of police. She also found out that they had already found Tae's prints in the shop but they weren't going to go by that since people go in and out of that shop every day.
"Thank you Keith, I know I'm asking a lot of you, but please keep me posted," Kaiah said as she got up.
"No problem, I'm happy to help in any way I can."
Kaiah wasn't supposed to be stressing because of her last episode that ended her in the hospital but she couldn't help it. It seemed like if it wasn't one thing it was another.
~ ~ ~
Angel took the day off of work today because she was having really bad back pains, plus she didn't have a choice because Kaison wouldn't let her leave. Kaison waited on her hand and foot until he had to leave to pick Keymani up from school.
She snuck downstairs to grab a cookie that she and Keymani had baked last night. She had just reached the bottom of the stairs when the front door came open. "Uhn hun, caught yo ass." Kaison smirked.
"I just wanted a cookie," Angel laughed.
"Come on Mommy Angel, Daddy said we have to take care of you today so you and my baby sister can rest," Keymani said as she grabbed Angel's hand and led her back up the stairs. Angel cut her eyes at Kaison and he stuck his tongue out. She didn't know why everyone wanted her to have a girl when she was praying for a boy.
Keymani led her to the bedroom and climbed in the bed with her. She laid her head on Angel's shoulder and rubbed her stomach. "Guess what mommy?" Keymani said.
"What's up?" Angel asked as she ran her hands through Keymani's hair that she had done that morning. She loved that little girl as if she had birthed her. She was just hoping that she was making Kalise proud with how she and Kaison was raising her.
"I love you," Keymani smiled. She had just recently lost a tooth so she had a gap, but it was cute on her.
"Guess what?" Angel said.
"What?" Keymani asked.
"I love you back," she said.
"Oh, but guess what?" Kaison said as he walked into the room with Angel's cookies and some for Keymani.
"What?" They asked at the same time.
"I love both of you more than you two will ever know," he said giving both of them a kiss.
"We love you more!" Keymani laughed. She was the true definition of a daddy's girl.
He had just plopped down at the foot of the bed when Angel's phone started ringing. She reached over to grab it off the dresser while Kaison massaged her swollen feet. "Hello?" sh
e answered.
"Ummm, Angel, I'm calling you before I call the police, but that girl that was here the other day is outside with a brick threatening to throw it through the window if you don't come outside. I locked the door so she couldn't get in and I told her you weren't here but she doesn't believe me and she won't leave," Kelly, one of the stylists that worked at the shop said.
"Okay, Kelly. Thank you for calling me. I'm on my way," Angel said, pissed off.
"Alright, I'm about to call the police," Kelly said.
"No, don't call the police. I'll handle this," she said as she hung up the phone and climbed off the bed. Kaison looked at her with questioning eyes as she waddled to the closet. She grabbed a pair of his sweats and his t-shirt. She snatched her Jordans off the shelf and walked out the closet. "Mani, you wanna tie mommy's shoes for her?" she asked since her round belly wouldn't allow her to do it herself.
Keymani jumped off the bed while Kaison still had that look on his face waiting for Angel to tell him what was up. She picked up her phone and called Kaily. "What's up, big mama?" Kaily answered.
"Call Kaiah on three way," Angel ordered.
Kaison climbed out of bed and put his shoes on just in case, while Kaily called Kaiah. "What's up?" Kaiah answered.
"Meet me at the shop, I'm about to go to jail," Angel said before hanging up. After Keymani finished tying her shoes, she walked over to her vanity and grabbed a ponytail holder. She threw her hair in a ponytail and was ready to go.
"Uhh, hello. Are you going to tell me what's up?" Kaison asked as he followed her out of the room.
"That bitch you used to fuck with is begging me to beat her ass," Angel said as she waddled down the stairs. "So today she's going to get what she wants. I don't care how much pain I'm in."
Kaison grabbed Keymani's hand and they all left the house. He was going to let Angel talk all the shit she wanted, but she knew like he knew that there was no way in hell he was about to let her fight while she was carrying his child.
When they got to the shop, Kaily and Kaiah were already there. Kaison just shook his head because he knew his sisters were always down for whatever. They had already spotted Mesha and knew what the situation was, so they were ready to put in work.
Pursuing The Madam 3 Page 2
