I was getting whiplash from Anthony’s mood. One minute he was going to kill me then the next he was quotingScandaland sounding a little concerned about me, he was definitely a little off. My head was starting to hurt, so I rested my head on the head rest of my couch again and closed my eyes. I was starting to relax a little and get comfortable when I suddenly felt a burning pain so bad, it felt like someone put a flame against my cheek. When I jumped up from the couch my feet were a little clumsy because I was disoriented, but my reflexes were good enough to throw a jab, and it landed hard against Anthony’s jaw.
Instead of stumbling like I thought he would, his crazy ass just smiled and laughed when he licked the corner of his bleeding lip like he enjoyed the pain. The blood on his teeth made him look unhinged and maybe he was but I still squared up with his big ass and got my feet together so I could bang withhis big ass. When I adjusted my stance that’s when I realized he had that long ass knife out and there was blood on the blade. I reached up and touched my cheek when I felt wetness on it and that’s when I knew that the pain I felt was from this son of bitch cutting me.
When I swung again, Anthony moved fast as lightning and dodged my punch at the same time he hit me on the same exact spot he just cut me, making the cut bigger. I clenched my teeth and held my cheek. I was shocked by the pain that lit up my body and he used my moment of distraction to tackle me with his shoulder. As soon as my back hit the floor I swung again and hit him in his eye.
This time I hit him so hard I cut his eyebrow and again, this maniac smiled brightly at me before he took his hand and gripped a spot on my neck that shot intense pain down my left arm. I had to grit my teeth to stop myself from screaming. I brought my knee up to hit him in his nuts, but he blocked it by moving his hips. Still I swung at his ass twice, and he moved too damn fast and dodged them. Next thing I knew he grabbed my right leg and put it in some sort of leg lock and bent it so that I felt pain shooting into my hip. The pain was so intense I had to roll on my side just to relieve some of the pressure.
As soon as I was on my side, I tried to sit up and punch his ass in his ribs and kick him with my free leg, but he bent my leg more, and I bit down on my lip as I writhed in pain because it felt like he was about to break my leg. When I tried to kick him away again he held my foot tighter My eyes bugged out of my head when I saw him pick up that big ass knife. I started bucking and trying to throw him off of me, but his grip tightened and the pain in my leg almost had me crying. My heart was racing because this muthafucka was about to kill me.
“You know, Titan, I appreciate the fight you’re putting up; you hit hard as fuck. I think my sister will be in good hands ifshe comes back to you,” he said chuckling and my eyes widened when I saw him pick up that long ass knife and swipe it across the bottom of my right foot.
“Fuckkkkk!” I yelled out when I felt the burning pain from his knife. But this shit hurt much worse than the cut on my face. He finally let my leg go, and I felt a split second of relief when I felt the pressure in my leg and hip dissipate. I quickly sat up and grabbed my foot looking at the blood oozing from the cut. “What the fuck?!” I yelled at Anthony’s crazy ass while I grabbed a napkin off the table in front of me to put pressure on my foot. He chuckled as he used his pants to wipe my blood off his knife, not caring that his own blood was running down his face from the cuts in his eyebrow and mouth. Then he picked up his gun holster off the coffee table and put it back on his shoulders.
“Why you yelling at me? I said I came here to make you hurt. I could have killed you but instead I wanted you to feel the same pain my sister might have felt tonight. It’s a win to me.” He walked over to the sink behind my bar and spat his blood into it. Then he turned on the faucet to rinse his mouth and face. He took a paper towel off the dispenser and dried his face.
“Besides I didn’t cut your foot too deep so you should be fine. But Titan I want you to remember this night and remember what I told you in the pizza place. Whatever you do to hurt my sister I’m going to take pleasure in doing the same thing to you. And if I can’t do it, trust me, I know people who will.” He smiled again then took another apple from the cargo pocket on his camo pants and walked out of the single door that was next to the sliding doors that led out to my pool.
“That muthafucka is crazy,” I mumbled as I stood up and went to the bathroom down the hall to get myself cleaned up. When I looked in the mirror, I looked like hell. My eyes were bloodshot, my hair needed to be brushed, and my beard was matted in some places, not to mention the cut on my cheek.
I didn’t like how I was feeling right now, even after I learned that Justin wasn’t my son after Eva cheated on me, I was heartbroken, sad, even had bouts of depression but I never felt so…empty. But after I went through that I dusted myself off and got back to work. The answer was simple: I needed to get my Bailey back and I was prepared to do whatever it took to earn her.
The next day, I walked into my office early with a slight limp and a band aid on my cheek. I didn’t feel completely like myself, but I was feeling better now that I was on a mission. The first mission was scheduling a meeting with my brother Torrence so I can explain to him what I remember from my meeting with Eva. I still had some pieces that were missing but luckily I had cameras with audio on this floor and in the lobby. The next mission was getting Bailey back.
When I rounded the corner to my office, Royce was at his desk arranging the three bouquets of red roses on his desk and when he saw me he frowned.
“Mr. Browning, what are you doing here? What happened to your face?” He said, staring at my band aid.
“I cut myself shaving, and I own the building Royce; thought I could come and go as I please.” He looked at me like he didn’t believe me, but I didn’t pay him to believe me, I paid him to assist me.
“Of course you can, sir, I just meant I thought you would be taking more time off or at the very least taking it easy.”
“I am but right now I have to get some things done, can you call Torrence and tell him I need to meet with him as soon as possible and call IT. Tell them I need all the camera footage from four days ago when you know who was here.” I was treating Eva’s name like Voldemort fromHarry Potter,because Eva was“she who must not be named.” Then Inodded my head toward the roses on his desk.
“Oh, these came for you yesterday, there was no name on who sent them,” he said, hesitantly. I knew he had a feeling they were from Eva, and so did I because the vases were the same as the big one I threw to the floor yesterday. As soon as I felt myself getting angry, I quickly took a few deep breaths to calm myself.
“Throw them away or give them to someone else. I’m not taking any calls today unless they’re from my family or Bailey,” I said walking away. When I walked into my office I closed my door and frosted the glass before I sat my briefcase down. I started to pace the length of my office next to my windows that overlooked Cincinnati and kept taking deep breaths to get my anger under control. I needed to resolve this shit and finally get that woman cut out of my life once and for all because I did not like that the thought, or the mention of her name made me so damn mad. I was going to stop giving her ass that much power over me.
“Mr. Browning, Torrence said he’s on his way over here and IT said they just emailed you the footage you requested,” Royce said, through the intercom on my desk.
“Thank you Royce,” I said once I got back to my desk and sat down.
I opened my laptop, and my breath caught when I saw my calendar. Next weekend was theTech in Blackconvention here in Cincinnati and I was one of the keynote speakers. I was going to RSVP Bailey as my plus one, but she told me she was scheduled to be there. She had been invited to be a speaker on a women’s panel that was centered around Black women entrepreneurs and how to increase your reach through social media. My palms became damp because this event would be the first time I saw Bailey since yesterday, and I was already nervous. I tried calling her and texting her this morning but ofcourse she left me on read. I looked over at her picture on my desk and felt my heart flutter.
God, I missed my baby.
I immediately scheduled an appointment with my tailor because I wanted to make sure I looked my absolute best when I ran into Bailey, so she could see what she was missing. After I made my appointment, I sent an email to a friend of mine who was a jeweler. I knew very quickly that I wanted to make Bailey my wife. So, it was time to show her I was all in when it came to her and this relationship. The next thing I did was look up the speaker lineup for the convention and saw that her panel was going to be on the first day while I was scheduled to speak the second night. That didn’t mean shit. I was going to be there bright and early on day one. I bought a VIP ticket so I could reserve myself a seat in the front row of the auditorium where her panel was going to be.
Now that I had at least that part of my plan to get Bailey back in place, I started sifting through my emails. I was at least halfway through the more urgent emails when my brother came into my office without knocking.
“What up Ty? I came as soon as I could when Royce said you werehere, why are you here? And what happened to your face?” Torrence looked concerned as he walked over to my desk and sat in one of the wing back chairs across from me. He took off his glasses and wiped them on his black silk tie before putting them back on.
“I cut myself shaving and I need to get some shit handled; I still don’t remember all the shit that went down when that woman was here. So, I had IT send me the footage from when she was here,” I said, and he leaned forward to take off his black overcoat and unbutton his black suit jacket before taking it off. When he rolled up the sleeves on his white shirt, I smirked.
“Well shit let’s get down to business,” he said standing up and turning his chair toward the flat screen monitor on the wall across the room. “Put the footage on the big screen.”
I queued up the footage as I turned on the screen and then pressed play.
Me and Torrence watched in rapt attention as me and Eva talked, and I looked pissed off as I told her I didn’t want to work with her but then I saw myself look at Bailey’s picture on my desk and the calming effect it had on me. Then the footage switched to us in the lobby, and I asked her for the truth about Justin.
