The Devil Is a Lie

by ReShonda Tate Billingsley

  “That’s an understatement. I guess she explained to you what happened.”

  “Yeah, she did.” Vanessa removed her long black robe and took a seat behind her desk. “She told me your divorce wasn’t finalized and now your husband is trying to claim half your lotto winnings.”

  “That’s right. I feel so stupid. I keep beating myself up about it.”

  “Well, don’t,” Vanessa said, motioning for Nina to take a seat. “I can’t tell you the number of cases that have come before my court. I grant their divorce, and for one reason or another, they don’t file the paperwork, they don’t pay the fees, they don’t come back and fulfill the terms. You’d be surprised at the large percentage of would-be divorces that never go through.”

  “What?”

  “Yeah, the numbers are pretty shocking. You’d think if you want to kick someone out the door, you’d make sure all the i’s were dotted and t’s crossed.” As soon as Vanessa said it, she looked like she wanted to take the words back. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking. I didn’t mean to be condescending.”

  “No, don’t apologize. You’re right. I guess I was just so hurt that I left everything up to Todd. I just didn’t want to deal with it.”

  Vanessa’s voice softened. “That happens. The burden of the divorce usually falls upon the person who requested it.”

  “So now the question is, how quickly can I expedite the divorce?”

  Vanessa leaned forward, her expression serious. “You can move it through the court system pretty quickly, but I can tell you, in regard to the lotto win, it’s not gonna help you much. At the time you purchased the ticket, you were still married, and any court of law will recognize that marriage.”

  “So you’re telling me if you were the judge hearing this case, you’d side with Todd?”

  “I wouldn’t want to, but unfortunately, I’d have to,” Vanessa responded matter-of-factly. “It’s the law. Now, back when I was having some troubles of my own, I would’ve been looking for a way to get revenge on him, make him pay for not only cheating on me but then coming back and trying to take my money. But I’ve grown a lot over this last year, and I’ve learned that an eye for an eye only leaves everybody blind.”

  Nina felt her heart sink. She knew her outlook was grim, but to hear an officer of the court say it made it that much more real. “So what you’re telling me is that I don’t really have a choice.”

  “Basically.”

  Nina let out a defeated sigh.

  “Who’s handling your case?” Vanessa asked as she picked up a box of Kleenex and extended it toward Nina.

  Nina took a tissue and dabbed at her eyes. “The court order said somebody named Judge Wallace Kirkwood.”

  “Ohhh.” Vanessa grimaced. “Now, I can tell you for sure that you need to just get ready to pay. Judge Kirkwood sides with the men.”

  “Just my luck.” Nina sniffed.

  Vanessa leaned against the front edge of her desk. “May I ask you a question?” She didn’t wait for Nina to answer. “Why don’t you want to give your ex half the money?”

  Nina frowned as if she didn’t understand how that question could possibly be asked. “Excuse me?”

  “I said, why don’t you want to give your ex half the money?”

  “Because I don’t want to finance that trampy girlfriend of his.” Just thinking about Pam made her blood boil again.

  “So this is all about the other woman?”

  Nina hesitated, trying to think it through. “No. It’s also about my ex, Todd. I just have to figure out a way around this…this whole mess. I mean, I even thought about letting someone else claim the ticket.” The words slipped out before Nina could remember that she was talking to a judge.

  Vanessa flashed a reassuring smile to let her know it was okay to be honest.

  “I’m sorry,” Nina continued. “I just don’t believe that he deserves any of my money.”

  “Why? Because he hurt you?”

  “Exactly.”

  “So this is about revenge?”

  Nina fidgeted in her seat. Of course she wanted revenge. Todd had destroyed their marriage by leaving her for another woman. He definitely didn’t deserve to be rewarded for it.

  “Look, believe me, I’m not trying to judge you. I definitely can’t throw any stones,” Vanessa continued. “But I’m telling you, I know from experience that you’ll never know happiness until you let that need for revenge go.”

  “I’m not trying to get revenge,” Nina said, being truthful. “I didn’t slice his tires, harass her, or anything like that. I just don’t want to give them four million dollars.”

  “I understand that. But you have to understand the law. And that need for revenge is causing you to try to think up ways to circumvent the law. And that could lead to more trouble than you bargained for.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like Judge Kirkwood determining that you were trying to commit fraud by keeping the money and then turning around and awarding it all to Todd.”

  “What?” Nina exclaimed.

  “I’m just giving you a worst-case scenario.”

  Nina felt a knot turning in her stomach. She was coming up short all the way around.

  “Fine,” Nina said, resigned. “I guess it’s like you said, I don’t have much choice.” Still, Nina couldn’t process the fact that she really was going to have to give Todd and Pam half her money. Plus, like Vanessa said, she had to work past the evil, vengeful thoughts.

  Vanessa squeezed Nina’s hand. “Try to reach a settlement with Todd. It’ll bring you so much more peace.”

  Nina nodded. She heard everything Vanessa was saying, and she appreciated her legal expertise, but giving Todd four million dollars? Right about now a call to her shady relatives was looking more and more like her only choice.

  17

  “What’s up, cuz?”

  Nina shivered at the sound of her cousin Lee Roy’s baritone voice. As a child he had terrorized everybody in the neighborhood, and as an adult, she’d heard he was still doing the same thing. He was six four, three hundred solid pounds, and he could scare someone out of their shoes without ever opening his mouth.

  “Nothing much,” Nina replied. “When’d you get out?”

  “Oh, been out ’bout two months now. Daddy told me you hit a lick, for real,” Lee Roy said. “I thought you’da been long gone by now.”

  “Naw, I’m not goin’ anywhere. But did Uncle Buster also tell you about my ex?” Nina asked.

  “Yeah, and I’m trippin’. I can’t believe ol’ dude is tryin’ ta take your money.”

  Nina shifted uncomfortably. That was precisely why she was calling. “Yeah, it’s pretty messed up, especially because he’s still with that girl he cheated on me with.”

  “See, he gon’ make me go back to the pen messin’ with my kinfolk,” Lee Roy joked.

  There it was. He’d just given her the opening she was looking for. Now all she had to do was jump on it.

  Still, Nina couldn’t bring herself to say the words she wanted to say. “Well, umm, what are you doing with yourself these days?”

  “Just chillin’. You know the old man harassin’ me about get-tin’ a job. But a brotha don’t take rejection very well.”

  I have a job for you.

  Lee Roy laughed. “But I know you didn’t call me to find out what I’m doing with myself these days. So what’s really goin’ on?”

  Just say it. “Ummm, what were you in prison for again?”

  His laugh turned mean. “They say I broke somebody’s arm and both legs and also left him paralyzed.”

  “They say that, huh?” Nina said, trying not to sound appalled.

  “That’s what they say.”

  “Do you have a problem with them saying that?”

  “People gon’ say what they say.”

  “Do you have a problem with doing what they say you did?” Nina asked slowly and deliberately.

  “Depend on whether the person deserves to h
ave their legs broken,” Lee Roy responded just as deliberately.

  “Well, ummm…”

  “Look,” Lee Roy said, “I got a honey on her way over. I ain’t got time for all this secret code stuff. Do you want me to take care of ol’ boy or not?”

  Nina felt the phone trembling in her hand. “By take care of him, what do you mean?” Her eyes darted across the room. Even though she was home alone, she was nervous as all get-out. And what if someone was tapping her phone?

  “Look, double-oh-seven. It means what you want it to mean. I can just send him a message to let him know he needs to forget about tryin’ to take any of your money. Or I can make it where you ain’t got to worry at all about him takin’ nothin’. It’s nothing for a dude to disappear these days.”

  Kill Todd? In her shock Nina dropped the cordless phone. She hurriedly picked it up. She couldn’t believe she was even considering this. She couldn’t take part in conspiracy to commit murder. She couldn’t even order for Todd to get hurt. What in the world was she thinking? The money was driving her mad, and she hadn’t even cashed the check.

  “So, what’s it gonna be?” Lee Roy asked.

  “Ummm, no. No. That’s not what I was calling for. I-I don’t want anything like that,” she stammered.

  She could hear his smirk through the phone. “You always were a Goody Two-shoes. Well, if you change your mind, you know where to reach me.”

  “I…I was just calling to check on you,” Nina said, and added firmly, “that’s all.”

  “Whatever. You just remember me when you get all this money stuff worked out. Remember what I’m willin’ to do for you. Show a brotha some love by slidin’ some duckies his way, a’ight?”

  “Of course,” Nina said, still shaking. How could she have thought she could have Todd beaten up? “I was going to give my family something anyway.”

  “That’s what I’m talkin’ about,” Lee Roy said. “Shoot, I might be tempted to take care of ol’ dude on my own ’cause now he tyin’ up my money.”

  “No!” Nina quickly said. “You’ll get all I was going to give you, okay? I’ll let you know when the money comes through.”

  “Hold on, somebody’s at the door.”

  Nina wanted to just hang up, but she wanted to reinforce the fact that she didn’t want Lee Roy to do anything. “What’s up, Dana?” she heard her cousin say.

  “It’s Dasia,” a female voice responded.

  “Dasia, Dana, whatever, come on in. You sho’ lookin’ good.” He turned his attention back to the phone. “A’ight, cuz, I gots to go. My honey is here.”

  Nina heard the girl giggle. “Okay, Lee Roy. Just remember, I’ll handle this, all right?”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Holla at ya later.”

  Nina hung up the phone and bowed her head. She said a quick prayer for God to forgive her for calling Lee Roy in the first place.

  18

  Money can’t buy happiness.

  Nina remembered her grandmother always used to say that when she was growing up. At the time, Nina thought that was the craziest thing she’d ever heard.

  Although she was happy in her marriage to Todd—pre-Pam anyway—the issues they did have revolved around money. In the beginning, they were always struggling. She’d always believed that if they earned enough money, all their other problems would go away. But once Todd was making good money, he started to become restless.

  Now she could see her grandmother was right. More money just meant more problems.

  “…And so, I was just thinking, if you front me the money to open my business, you could be like a silent partner.”

  Nina turned her attention back to her sister. Yvonne stood in front of her, chewing on a wad of gum like a cow chewing its cud.

  “I mean, it’s win-win for everyone,” Yvonne continued when Nina didn’t respond. “You’re helping family out and investing in a very lucrative business at the same time.”

  Nina wasn’t giving an ounce of encouragement. “Number one, Yvonne, if I were going to invest in a business, it wouldn’t be a beauty shop slash day care slash car wash slash pager store, especially because no one even uses pagers anymore.”

  “I can’t believe you’re not feeling that idea,” Yvonne exclaimed. She’d shown up on Nina’s doorstep, excited about yet another business venture that had popped into her head overnight. Yvonne had more ideas than anyone Nina had ever met. None of those ideas ever came to fruition, of course. “Do you know how many women can’t find a babysitter? They would love to bring their kids to day care, get their hair done and their car washed, and pay their pager bill all in one swoop.”

  “Number two,” Nina continued, holding up her hand to stop her sister, “what part of ‘I don’t have the money yet’ do you not understand?”

  Yvonne rolled her eyes like that was just a technicality. Nina had explained the whole situation with Pam and Todd to her sister when Yvonne showed up on her doorstep first thing this morning.

  “I can’t believe that fool is trying to take your money. He ain’t got no kind of dignity,” Yvonne said.

  Nina started to tell her sister that was the pot calling the kettle black, but she left it alone. “So as you can see,” she continued, “I can’t make any kind of decision on what to do with the money, because I don’t have the money.”

  “Well, it’s just a matter of time. Maybe Todd will get hit by a truck or something today.”

  “Yvonne!” Nina cried, immediately wondering if Lee Roy had been talking to her. “Don’t say stuff like that.” She’d prayed to God to remove the hateful thoughts from her heart, and she didn’t need her sister pumping them back into her.

  “What?” Yvonne shrugged. “Shoot, if it was me, and him and his bimbo were trying to take my money, I’d be the one driving the truck.”

  That made Nina chuckle.

  “Anyway,” Yvonne continued, “just think about the idea for when you do get the money. You already told me you were gonna give me some money, but this would be separate from that. That’s gonna be my spending money. This is an investment.”

  Now she was setting conditions on the free money? “Fine,” Nina said, hoping to end her sister’s begging. “Just get me a proposal and I’ll see.”

  Yvonne frowned. “A proposal? I just gave you the proposal.”

  “No, you gave me your idea. I would need something in writing.”

  “Writing?” A baffled look crossed Yvonne’s face.

  “Yes, Yvonne, writing,” Nina said. “You cannot ask someone to loan you money for a business and not have a business plan.”

  Yvonne folded her arms across her chest. “It ain’t like you Bank of America.”

  Nina sighed. She had a bunch of stuff to do, and she didn’t have time for this foolishness. “This isn’t open for discussion. If you want money for a business, you have to present me with a business plan.”

  “Fine,” Yvonne huffed. “Say, where’s your man?” she added, looking around the room.

  “He’s out looking at the property he’s trying to buy for his gym.”

  Rick was trying his best to stall Mr. Mathis, but tomorrow the broker was expecting to close the deal. Since they were no closer to working out the money issue with Todd, Rick wanted to go by himself and, in his words, “look at my dream before it goes up in smoke.” He didn’t neglect to throw in that everything was falling apart all because Nina didn’t “handle her business.” She wanted to remind him that he wouldn’t even have been able to buy the property in the first place if not for her. But she knew he was hurting, and pointing out facts like that would only exacerbate the problem.

  “Hmph, I bet he doesn’t have to give you a business plan to get money for his gym,” Yvonne said.

  “For your information, he was planning to open a gym long before we won the lottery. And he has a business and marketing plan.”

  “Before we won the lottery?” Yvonne raised her eyebrow.

  “Yes, we. Rick and I are engaged. So what’s mine is h
is.”

  Yvonne considered that. “Engaged. Not married already. Don’t be no fool. Especially because you ain’t known him but a year.”

  “Whatever, Yvonne.”

  Yvonne didn’t trust men as far as she could throw them. So it came as no surprise that she would think sharing the money was a bad idea. “Do you think that fool would marry you if he had won?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  Yvonne shook her head in pity. “You always were the naive one.”

  Growing up, Nina had believed in love and happiness. Yvonne was the exact opposite. She was bitter by the age of sixteen and always believed in taking what you could, as soon as you could, from a man. Her high school boyfriend had been five years older than her and no good. So she had her heart broken many times before she even graduated from high school.

  But Nina had never let her sister’s tainted view of men affect her—even after Todd broke her heart.

  “Yvonne, seriously, what is your problem with Rick? You haven’t liked him from day one.” This mess with Todd made Nina want to alleviate another area of stress in her life—her sister’s contentious relationship with the man Nina was going to marry.

  Yvonne turned up her lip. “Because I know his type. I see them on the streets all the time.”

  “What type would that be?”

  “Shifty, conniving.”

  “Whatever. That couldn’t be further from the truth.” Rick had always been open about his past. He’d been in some trouble but had gotten on the right path and hadn’t had any problems in seven years.

  “I don’t trust him,” Yvonne said, shooting her sister a look like nothing Nina said could convince her otherwise.

  “You trusted Todd,” Nina pointed out, “and look what happened.”

  “If you recall, I liked him. But I didn’t trust him.”

  Nina chuckled. “You’re right. Have you ever trusted any man?”

  “Nope. And not going to either.” Yvonne stood to leave. “Just watch your back, sis. That amount of money can bring out the worst in even the most trustworthy person.”