Breathless 3: In Love With An Alpha Billionaire

by Greene-Dowdell, Shani

  “Take a deep breath and calm down, baby girl. If you hit her, she must’ve been really out of line. It takes a lot for you to snap,” I said as I walked downstairs and into the kitchen. I went to the coffee pot and started brewing a pot.

  “Mama, it wasn’t her talking down to me that bothered me. She was talking about you, calling us animals and her friends were cackling in the background. Before I knew anything I was all over her. But that’s not the worst part…”

  “Oh my, what else could have happened, Destiny?”

  “I got arrested.”

  Upon hearing of my daughter being arrested, my back became rigid. I yelled, “I know like hell that old hag didn’t cause my baby to get arrested. I’m on my way to Miami now.”

  “Mama, you don’t have to do that. It’s already handled.” Destiny tried to quiet my worries, but I was already too upset. I stormed back upstairs and entered my bedroom. John was sitting up on the bed on his elbows.

  “Who got arrested?” he asked.

  I raised a finger at John and whispered, “Destiny.” Then, I told Destiny, “Give me time to get dressed and I’ll be there to handle this.”

  “Is that Mr. Turner? And if so, what is Mr. Turner doing at your house this early in the morning?” Destiny asked.

  “Who’s at my house is not your concern, Destiny.”

  “Well Tammy having me arrested isn’t your concern either, but you’re on your way,” Destiny said.

  “Stop being a smart aleck. Are you at home now?”

  “Yeah, Jacob brought me home last night. He’s going to talk to his mother today about having the charges dropped.”

  “Destiny… Lord knows that woman is too old to be carrying on this way. She has no business running around picking fights with my child.”

  “Will you tell me what is going on?” John finally asked.

  I put my hand over the phone and told John, “Destiny got arrested for fighting Tammy.”

  “Oh, Lord,” John said getting out of bed and rushing into the bathroom to get dressed.

  “Mama, I didn’t call you so you could get hyped up. I have my own feelings I’m dealing with and I needed someone to talk to. I feel so bad for attacking her.”

  “Did you attack her or did you defend yourself?”

  “It was a little bit of both. She talked to me like I was the scum of the earth. She didn’t touch me, but her words hit so hard that before I knew anything I was on her like white on rice.”

  “Don’t beat yourself up about it. People will take you there. But hey, after a Baker beat down, I’m sure she’ll think twice before getting slick out the mouth with you again.”

  “I do want you to come down here and stay with me for a few days,” Destiny said. I could hear in her voice how much she needed me there.

  “Sure thing. I was planning to come for Montana’s party, but I’ll fly back with John today,” I promised.

  “So that was Mr. Turner I heard?”

  “Goodbye, sweetheart. I’ll be there later today,” I said before hanging up the phone.

  I looked at the empty space John left in the bed as I listened to the shower flowing. I thought about the consequences of our actions so many years ago. Those consequences had brought about every situation we were facing at that moment.

  Chapter 15

  Jacob

  From Salty to Sweet

  “Yes,” Mom answered her phone sounding salty before I even had an opportunity to address her.

  “Hey, Mom, it’s Jacob.”

  “I know who this is. The year is 2015 and everyone has caller ID on their phone.”

  “Well, I’ll get straight to the point. Is there a particular reason why you were disrespecting my wife yesterday?” I asked cutting to the chase.

  “Oh, you called to confront me?” she asked on a gasp. “I thought you were calling to apologize for that out of control woman you intend to marry.”

  “She’s not out of control,” I began to argue but then digressed. “You know what, fuck all these games you’re playing. I’m done. You are too old for me to tell you what to do and how to act. This is how this is going to go down. You have until five p.m. today to trot down to the police department and drop any and all charges you put on Destiny.”

  “Aha!” Mom’s laugh was so loud and vicious that I held the phone away from my ear and looked at it. “You’ve been hanging around that harlot for so long you’re starting to sound like her. Did you just curse your mother, Jacob?”

  “I did and it’s nothing close to the curse you’ve been executing over my relationship with Destiny. I’m tired of dealing with you on this, Mom. If you know what’s good for you, you will go to the station and drop the charges. Then, stop playing games.”

  “Well, my darling son, since your respect is at an all-time low, you can forget my number and never dial it again.”

  “I know you paid off that judge off in Atlanta.”

  “You know no such thing!”

  “I found the paper trail going from one of your offshore accounts directly into one of his fundraising accounts for his political campaign right around the time of that mockery of a trial.”

  “So what? I donate money to hundreds of people. You have nothing.”

  “We’ll see how much of nothing it is once I buzz the ear of a higher judge that’s interested in a discount on his construction site. Then, maybe I’ll just call up the media and see how they will spin the story. Do you want to take that chance?”

  “Your threats mean nothing to me. I raised you, Jacob. I’m not afraid of you,” Mom said firmly.

  “I don’t want you to be afraid of me. The one thing you are afraid of though is having your reputation tarnished. It would kill you to have your face flashing in a news story about embezzling money from Turner Enterprises to pay off a judge, so your best friend’s daughter could walk after almost killing a black woman.” Mom remained quiet and I was sure she was envisioning the headlines with her name in them. “So I’ll say it again, if you don’t clear Destiny’s name and I mean by the close of business today everyone from Miami to Atlanta will be talking about your bigoted, criminal behavior.”

  “If all you have on me is making a donation to a judge, then goodbye, Jacob. Have a nice life,” Mom said, just as she was about to hang up again.

  “I know it was you that was having an affair with the VP of finance, and not Justine. You were willing to let them both go down for you. Justine agreed to say it was her having an affair with him and helping him cook our financial books in exchange for your help in getting her off during the trial.”

  “Jacob, these are all lies!” Mom said.

  “See, I wondered how it was that my mother, the woman who raised me could be so cold to someone I loved, so I did a little digging. What I found was enough to blow the lid off your high and mighty front. You’ve been covering your own ass – self-preservation at its finest.”

  “Get to the point, Jacob.”

  “You were willing to throw Destiny, me, Justine and anyone else under the bus, just so long as your affair with Tom remained off the radar. And all the money you had Tom stealing for you went into offshore accounts. Dad thinks the money came from your joint accounts. He has no clue that you were also stealing from the company.”

  “You have no proof I have done anything of the sort,” Mom said, sounding like she was out of breath.

  “Tom admitted it, Mom. Actually, he admitted the entire scheme to me just this morning when we met. Dad gave you anything you could ever want, more than most will see in a lifetime over. Why did you do it, Mom?”

  “I didn’t steal from Turner Enterprises. I don’t know why Tom would make up such a horrible lie about me,” Mom said sounding distraught.

  “Mom, it’s time to stop playing. The game is over. Toward the end of your affair, Tom suspected you would leave him high and dry, so he recorded you instructing him to deposit certain amounts of money into your offshore account,” I said, remembering how mad I was when
Tom played back Mom’s voice over the phone. It was a good thing our meeting was over the telephone. Had I been in the same room with Tom when he revealed this, I would’ve gone apeshit on him. Not only had he betrayed me, Dad, and the company, my mother was at the root of his betrayal.

  “Damn you, Tom,” Mom said through tight lips. “Jacob, let me explain…”

  “I don’t want your explanation.”

  “At least hear me out.”

  “Mom, I don’t want to hear anything you have to say. All I want from you is action. Go down to the station and drop the charges on Destiny. I will keep my mouth closed to the media and Dad. It’s not like he needs this type of stress in his life right now either.”

  “Okay, I will drop the charges.”

  “The part that gets me the most is that you didn’t care about Dad, and you obviously didn’t care about Tom either. He lost his job fooling around with you.”

  “I wouldn’t worry about Tom. I made sure he had enough money to live comfortably.”

  “No he doesn’t. He has to pay back every dime he embezzled and, at the end of the day, money is not everything.” There was silence on the line so I continued. “Why did you act so upset about Dad’s feelings for Ms. Clara when you were having an affair all along?”

  “Have you ever stopped to think that maybe I was having an affair because Ms. Clara has always played a role in our marriage? Even though her name was not mentioned, I could just look at your father sometimes and tell he was thinking about her. I could never seem to measure up to her.”

  “Mom, you have to take responsibility for being a hard person to deal with. You have to consider the possibility that you gave Dad too much time to reminisce. When you should have been all about Dad, you were trying to impress the world with your grandness.”

  “I’m not the type to cry on anyone’s shoulders, but I had my own issues I was dealing with.”

  “Like?”

  “Like not wanting to be married to John or tied down with a family. I would’ve loved to be on Broadway chasing down my next theatrical gig instead of living the lie being someone’s housewife. I loved you and your father as best I could.”

  “Mom, it’s time to do right by people starting with yourself.” Mom was silent until I heard a faint sniffle. “I just have one more question,” I said.

  “What?”

  “Why you would steal from the company after I took over? Was it an attempt to make it seem like I was incompetent?” I asked.

  “It had nothing to do with you. I wasn’t thinking about how this would affect you in your new position.”

  “It most definitely affected me and I don’t appreciate it one bit. If I make this a legal issue, it will not fare well for you.”

  “So your barbaric girlfriend slapping and spitting on me is just brushed under the table, because my hands are dirty?”

  “Mom, you let me deal with Destiny. You get downtown within the next hour, drop the charges, and get on the phone with an apology for talking to her the way you did.”

  “I will do no such thing.”

  “Do it or you will be the one sleeping on a rusty cot in a crowded jail for the rest of your life. Trust me, Mom, jail is no place for a woman like you.”

  “Jacob, this is blackmail.”

  “I wouldn’t call it blackmail. I would call it motivation, for you to do the right thing.”

  Mom blew out a gush of air and, “Fine.”

  I hung up the phone content the charges would be dropped within the next hour. I wasn’t thrilled with my tactics. However, the bombshell Tom dropped on me that morning was enough to get Mom’s attention. Come to find out, after everything went down with him losing his job and respect in the community, Tom was hurt by the way Mom distanced herself from him. Her reaction caused him to come clean about everything. Tom went into explicit detail about his affair with Mom. He also assured me that no one else in the office was involved with their scheme.

  Chapter 16

  Destiny

  Picture Perfect

  “I’m so glad you came,” I said as Lynetta led Mama into the living room along with Mr. Turner. “Hello, Mr. Turner.”

  “Hi, Destiny, how are you, sweetheart?” Mr. Turner asked.

  “I’m doing better today. Would you like something to drink?” I asked including Mama and Mr. Turner in my gaze.

  “No, thanks,” Mr. Turner said.

  “You got any bottled water?” Mama asked.

  “One bottle of water coming up,” I said getting up to head to the kitchen.

  “I’ll get it, Ms. Destiny,” Lynetta said one step ahead of me.

  “Okay,” I said with a smile.

  Mama gave me an approving nod.

  “John, do you mind if Destiny and I have a moment to talk?” she said blushing under Mr. Turner’s stare.

  “Of course not, honey. I’m going to check out the rest of the house and see what my son has going on here. If you need me holler,” Mr. Turner said as he gave Mama a peck on the cheek.

  “Okay, dear,” Mama said with a big smile rushing to her cheeks to meet his lips.

  Once Mr. Turner went out the patio door, I asked, “So you’re just going to date my father-in-law like that?”

  “I wish I could say all we were doing is dating,” Mama said with a knowing grin.

  I waved my hands in the air and shook my head. “Say no more! That is already too much information.”

  Mama laughed, and for the first time in years her laugh seemed to be coming from a light in her soul. I was so happy for her that I sat on the sofa beside her and gathered her up in my arms. “I’m happy for you, Mama. This is the love you deserve.”

  “Thanks, baby. For the first time in a long time, I feel good about being in a relationship.”

  “This is good for you. I like Mr. Turner,” I admitted.

  “He is really a good man. Already talking about marriage.”

  “Marriage?”

  “Yes, he asked me to marry him.”

  “What did you say?”

  “I told him he should come back and ask me again as soon as he divorces Tammy.”

  “That’s a good answer,” I admitted. Even though I knew Mama was giving him a hard time, she had the right to be the only one in his life before making such a huge commitment. “Do you want to marry him?” I asked.

  “I do. I just want to do it the right way and, when he’s ready to stand firm for what he wants this time around, he will do things the right way, too.”

  “All I want is for things to work out in your best interest.”

  “And if they do I guess we’ll both have big days coming up in the near future,” Mama said, raising her hand to give me a high five.

  “We’ll both be marrying Turner men!”

  “Yep,” Mama said taking a drink from her water.

  “Do you know what would be neat?” I asked.

  “What?”

  “It would be neat if we had a double wedding.” I imagined standing at the altar with Mama and Jacob on either side of me. Mama wearing white and Jacob standing there looking as handsome as ever.

  “I always thought double weddings were nice,” Mama said, as she gave herself a moment to envision it. “But we’ll have to talk about it more after John is disconnected from that witch, which brings me to the reason why I’m here.”

  “Mama, let’s enjoy the moment and not even go there right now.”

  Mama put her hand on her hip. “That’s the reason I’m here, to go all the way there.”

  “I know I asked you to come down so I could have you in my corner as I deal with Mrs. Turner, but I don’t want to talk about it anymore. Jacob is upstairs right now talking to her on the phone. I just want to forget yesterday even happened,” I got up off the sofa and walked over to stand by the window. It was a bright sunny day out and I didn’t want to add gloom to it discussing Mrs. Turner.

  Mama rolled her eyes into the back of her head. “You go right ahead and forget about what she
did, while she continues to run over you like you’re a bump in the road. I’m not going forgetting anything.”

  “She’s not going to run over me, Mama.”

  “That’s right,” Jacob said as he entered the room. “Things are about to get a heck of a lot better. Mom is on her way down to the station to drop the charges, and I expect she’ll be issuing you an apology soon.”

  A feeling of relief rushed over me. “She’s dropping the charges?” I asked.

  Jacob walked over to stand in front of me. “That’s what I said, babe. We can put this entire incident behind us now.

  “Hi, Jacob,” Mama said.

  “Hello, Ms. Clara,” Jacob said as he turned to give Mama a hug.

  “Glad you’re around here handling things. I was beginning to think I was going to have to check Tammy myself,” Mama said after she hugged Jacob.

  “There will be no need for any checking. Going forward, Mom will stay in her own lane and we will stay in ours.”

  “Look at all my favorite people standing in the same room. I need a camera,” Mr. Turner said when he reentered the room.

  “Hey, Dad, I didn’t know you were here,” Jacob said, looking to me for answers.

  “Yeah, Mama and Mr. Turner flew back in from Atlanta this morning.”

  “Together?” Jacob asked.

  Mr. Turner walked over to Mama and put his arm protectively around her waist. “Yes, we’re together, Son. As a matter of fact, I asked Ms. Clara to marry me.”

  Jacob protectively slid his arm around my waist as well. We all stood sharing an awkward moment, until Lynetta announced that lunch was ready. “Lunch is prepared, Mr. Turner,” she said.

  “Thanks, Lynetta. Are you two staying for lunch?”

  “Yes,” Mr. Turner answered for them both. I was surprised to see that mother allowed him to answer for her, while she wore a smile that I’d never seen.

  “I’m starved,” I said breaking the ice that was building in the room. I pulled Jacob by the arm to the table where we all sat and bonded for hours.