Once we were back in Anthony’s tank, Bailey sat on my lap in the back seat, and I held her tightly, while she rested her head on my shoulder.
“Seriously Anthony, where did Angelo and Eva go?” Bailey asked.
“Why does it matter?” Was his response.
“I need to know,” Bailey said.
“No, you don’t!” Kiara snapped. “Youwantto know because you’re nosy and sometimes being curious and inquisitive are great traits to have. However, there are times when that shit can get you killed. You understand what I’m saying?” She turned her head and glared at Bailey to make sure she understood her point.
“Yeah, I hear you. I have another question: what was that shit Eva said a little while ago? And earlier Anthony was sniffing cocaine and said ‘The Morretti’s got the purest white girl I ever had.’” I could tell Bailey was genuinely curious but the tension Ifelt in the vehicle when she asked her questions was enough to strangle me.
Instead of answering, Kiara hit a button on the dash and the sound of a phone ringing filled the speakers. After the second ring the call connected, and I recognized Giada’s voice as she answered crunching on something.
“What up, y’all handle that?” She asked.
“Yup,” Kiara replied, then she started speaking Italian. I understood because I spoke it fluently, which Giada told Kiara when she said me and Bailey were in the vehicle. Kiara gave a very coded rundown of what Eva said to her and the silence that greeted her was definitely loud. Then she told her about Bailey’s questions.
“Bailey?” Giada asked.
“Hey girl,” Bailey said, she sounded tired.
“I won’t explain myself because that’s something I never do. But I will say that if what you heard tonight will be a problem for you, we can part ways now and there will be no hard feelings. Being associated with me requires some blind loyalty and trust, and if that is going to be a problem, let me know soon,” she said and hung up.
“Well, damn.” Bailey muttered and I heard Anthony chuckle.
I rubbed my hand over Bailey’s stomach, and she placed her hand over mine as we rode in silence.
Titan
After Bailey’s abduction, the rest of the week went by in a blur. I gave Torrence a very condensed version of what happened. I told him what Bailey told me about Eva and Anthony fucking around. Of course, I didn’t tell him they were dead, attorney or not, there was just some things he didn’t need to know. We canceled the press conference because news started to come out about Brandon Moore, Eva’s now widower, freak offs. Videos of him in Vegas hotel rooms with different prostitutes snorting cocaine out of their asses or tied up and getting pegged, started hitting the news circuit. What was kind of sad was he never reported Eva missing.
However, Angelo’s father did report him missing, but his disappearance was overshadowed by the multiple lawsuits of sexual harassment and sexual assault, that started coming out against him. Multiple women came forward and filed a class action suit against Davis Advertising. After the news picked up about what Angelo did to Bailey, women went on record about how Angelo would harass them, and how his father would make them sign NDAs, and if they refused, he threatened their lives or their future career opportunities. So, the news and law enforcement were concluding that Eva left town toavoid embarrassment and Angelo skipped town to avoid legal responsibility, since there was no evidence of anything else.
The day after Bailey’s abduction she had a private conversation with Giada, after what she said to her in her brother’s car. Although they were friendly before, their friendship solidified after their conversation… and Bailey walked away with a new best friend. No matter what gray area Giada and her cousins lived their lives, we knew they were good people. But remind me to never get on Anthony, or anyone with the last name Morretti bad side.
Bailey told Marlow what happened to her, and she made her take time off because Bailey was still going to come in to work. I worked from home to with Bailey and I only took virtual meetings that I couldn’t reschedule.
Now it was finally the day I’ve been waiting for, Bailey’s doctor’s appointment. We sat in the colorful lobby of Bailey’s Obstetrician’s office and my knee bounced nervously as I held her hand. I don’t know why I was so anxious, probably because it felt like I’ve been waiting for this day to come for years. I knew from a young age that I wanted to be a father and now that it was really happening I didn’t know what to do with myself.
Bailey and I sat up all night preparing gift bags of our pregnancy announcements to my parents, my siblings, her mother and brothers, along with Marlow, Fred, and Giada. All that was missing was a sonogram to put into the picture frames we bought.
When we heard our name, I practically yanked Bailey up and dragged her to the patient room. I looked at all the pictures on the wall of babies in different stages of gestation and the size of fruit they were at different stages. I was completely engrossed in the information when I heard Bailey’s doctor, Dr. Lassiter come in, she was a caramel-colored woman with long hair in a style Bailey told me was called sister locs. As I looked at her, I couldsee why Bailey spoke so highly of her; she looked to be around my age, and she had her brow pierced and colorful tattoos on her left forearm.
“How are mama and daddy doing?!” She asked brightly and my eyes immediately got misty hearing her say daddy. If all goes well, I will be a daddy in nine months, and I’ll be responsible for the molding and shaping of a human being. Suddenly, the tears I was trying to hold back started flowing. I felt the doctor press a tissue into my hand and I mumbled a thank you to her.
“It’s normal to be emotional your first time being a parent,” she said, giving me a comforting smile and I immediately felt calm.
“Is it also normal to want to tear his clothes off anytime I’m in the same room as him?” I laughed at Bailey’s question because I could tell she blurted it out without thinking. Dr. Lassitter laughed as she washed her hands and then came over to lift Bailey’s shirt.
“Hormones are going to be all over the place, but yes; it is normal to have an increased libido during pregnancy as long as you don’t get busy in front of me. We’ll be all good.” She laughed and I saw that she had a gold grill on the bottom row of her teeth. I loved the representation of being your authentic self no matter the profession.
She squirted gel on Bailey’s stomach, and I squeezed her hand as we waited for the doctor to do her thing. My anxiety was starting to build because where was my baby within my baby? I was about to ask when Dr. Lassitter yelled out.
“There they are!” She said with a bright smile. I looked at the screen and saw what looked like beans or something, I couldn’t tell but if the doctor said that was my baby then that was my baby. Then her words hit me.
“Hold on… did you say theretheyare?”
“Yes!” I was starting to feel that happiness was the doctors’ normal disposition, “See! Look, baby A, baby B, and baby C.”
