"The Magnolia Bloom has been open for a few years now...it has pulled in hella money but never anything like this in one day. And then the commission on that is....I'm just. I am so amazed by your tenacity. It take a lot to impress me and Nita Smith, you have impressed me."
The light was beaming out of her from my words. She was so happy with herself. Nita was special and only a bad boss would fail to elevate her instead of putting her talents to good use.
"Mrs. Scarpetta thank you so much! When I took this job, I wasn't sure that this was the role for me. My family is kind of down on their luck. Everything that can go wrong has happened. This money is going to change our lives so much."
"Family is important for sure," I gave a small smile and I felt the baby kick. "I....my family was...I haven't always been good at the family thing. But now that I'm about to be someone's mom, I want to be better."
"You're going to be a great mom," she smiled. "You took one look at me and thought I could do this job. It means everything that you had a little faith in me."
We talked for a few more minutes and then we headed out of the office together. Everything seemed in order aroundThe Magnolia Bloomand I was happy. Money had that effect on me. You would have never known that I'd just been in an explosion and had suffered a panic attack in front of my presumed dead husband.
I had pushed all of thoughts of Thierry aside.
I hadn't seen him since the hospital and didn't want to. Not one word had dripped from my lips to his brother's ears about him being alive. In fact, I was having him declared legally dead in just a matter of days. I was going to be running everything Knowles-Scarpetta and it was literally just ticking down to a date set with a judge that had an affinity for getting whipped. I had made friends in low places and that judge wanted to keep his beatings secret so he had agreed to have this hearing over and done with quickly.
Something red caught my eye as I stepped out in to the sunlight. Morgan parked the brand new Audi SUV just a little ways from the store. The sun was glinting off the black paint and the closer we got redder the object appeared. It wasn't until I was on the door did I see that it was a red rose stuffed into back door handle.
"Wait," Morgan cautiously placed her hand out in front of her.
Obeying, I watched as she got down and looked around and under the car. Alistair was still on the loose and no one had seen him since the attack. This was what Morgan was for; she was earning her damn paycheck.
She stood up and plucked the rose from the door. There was a card attached and she handed it to me. "You have a secret admirer?"
Reading the card, my chest began to feel tight again. An unsettling feeling seemed to settle itself in my stomach.Tesoro,the card read. It doesn't matter the hour or the day....I will be the first to hold him. You are mines, you both are. Now and forever.
It seemed as if the world had fallen away. It wasn't' until I felt Morgan tap my should that I became aware.
"Ma'am, is everything okay? You look like you've seen a ghost..."
Shaking it all away, I threw the rose down and stamped on it. "Take me home. I just need to be alone," I told her.
She nodded and soon we were flying down the highway and back to the mansion. Thierry thought he could play mind games because no one knew he was alive. I was going to fuck his world up. We reached the mansion in record time and as soon as Morgan parked, I dismissed her for the rest of the day.
Going upstairs, I took off the outfit that I was wearing and put on an old t-shirt and some maternity leggings. After that, I had limited energy and settled for stuffing my feet inside a pair of Nike slides. There was a back entrance to the house, and I called an Uber to take me for a ride. The address was that of The Atlanta Inn.
I was going to shoot and kill my husband.
Everyone already thought he was dead anyway, so this wouldn't be anything but me helping it along.
Chapter 6
Thierry
Pissing my wife off was a chosen past time of mine. I'd hidden across the street and out of sight when she'd came out of her fancy jewellery store with some large woman. The woman had the looks of an assassin about her. It was in the way she moved; the way her eyes were reading for danger.
The explosion had spooked both Diamond and Enzo.
They were taking no chances.
Good,I thought.
A smile came over my lips as I watched the large woman survey the car, looking for any signs of a bomb. She stood up and handed the flower to my wife. From where I was, I could just make out Diamond's features when she realized that it was from me. Part of me had wanted to slip out from my hiding spot and surprise her even further. I watched as her deep brown flesh seemed to go ashen. Diamond appeared to be in thought for just a moment and then she tossed the rose to the ground.
The heel of her foot crushed the petals with pure disgust. A smile touched my lips.
She had read the words written on the card and I’d meant every fucking word. I would be there the day she gave birth to my child. I would be the first person to hold him. Eventually, she would let me hold her again too. We would mend fences and then fight everything coming our way.
The microwave dinged in the corner of the hotel as I once again had Ramen cooking. I could already taste the MSG in the air and hadn't even opened the silver foil packet just yet.
