“You can tell me,” I reassured.
“It’s Mama,” he said in a low tone, his eyes hitting the floor.
“What’s wrong with your mom?” I did my best to control my voice. The nervousness I felt began to constrict around the muscle at the center of my chest. Everything from possible sickness to losing her job, to some other harm coming to her ran through my mind in the span of a few seconds.
“It’s my dad.”
“What about him?” I prodded.
Diego nodded. “He took me from school last week. I didn’t want to go because he said he was gonna take me to live with him if my mama kept being mean to him.”
I wrinkled my forehead, trying to make sense of what Diego was saying.
“Your mama was being mean to him?”
Diego shook his head. “That’s what he said, but he was yelling at my mama. In his office. He saw a picture of us with Mr. Tyler at the football stadium and he told my mama to stop seeing you.”
My eyes widened but I bit my tongue to prevent the curse that tried to escape. I didn’t want to scare Diego with my rage.
“How do you know all of this, Diego?” I had to be positive that he was sure of what he was talking about. Despite my love for this kid, I had to remember he was still a six-year-old child with a possible overactive imagination.
“I heard them. In his office. I was wearing headphones so they didn’t think I could hear but I turned my game off. Right after he said it, my mama called you and said she couldn’t see you anymore.”
I gripped Diego’s arms but lowered my head as a bitterness I’d never felt before ripped through my chest. Somebody was going to lose their life. But I had to tamp down on that emotion for now, in front of my little guy.
“Diego, can you tell me your father’s name?” I asked, slowly, measuring each word.
He looked up, eyes rolling upwards as he pondered. “Um, I think it’s Gabriel and Garcia, like my last name.”
“Gabriel Garcia,” I repeated in a low voice, committing the name to memory. I took another breath and pulled Diego into me again for another hug. “Thank you, Diego. We have to get you back to your class.” I didn’t want to turn him over to his teachers but I had no choice. The students needed to get back to school and now, I obviously had a someone I needed to conduct a thorough background search on.
As soon as the students piled back onto their bus, I pulled my cell phone out of my pants pocket. I could’ve taken what Diego told me to Michelle to confront her about it, but that’s not how I operated. If this Gabriel Garcia was the blockade that stood in between Michelle and I, then he needed to be removed. Just as Eric had said earlier.
~ Chapter Nineteen ~
Michelle
“God, I do not want to go in here,” I whispered under my breath. I stood outside of the hotel where the Williams & Brodsky banquet was being held. It was an hour before the guests were due to arrive. I needed to be there to ensure setup was going well. Nancy was scheduled to arrive a little later on, though she wouldn’t be staying the whole evening. This event rested entirely on my shoulders, and that knowledge made me sick to my stomach.
Let’s get this over with,I told myself, picking up my feet and placing one in front of the other until I made it through the doors to the hotel’s lobby. I went straight for the banquet hall where the event was to be held. I entered and my breath hitched. Despite my hating the occasion of this event, I will admit that the setup looked beautiful. The room lighting had been lowered, and overhead, the hotel had strung a series of lights. It gave the room an intimate feel without it being too dark. Across the room circular tables were covered in red tablecloths with beautiful bouquets of red roses in gold vases as the centerpieces. The long-back chairs were covered in white chair covers, with a red stripe running down the centers. At the front, a podium had been set up for the speakers that would give speeches throughout the night.
“Oh good, you’re here.”
I turned to the now familiar voice and smiled, greeting Ariel, the hotel’s assistant manager.
“What do you think?”
“It’s gorgeous. Exactly what I’d envisioned.”
She let out a sigh of relief. “Good.”
“We need to go over the security detail, and the itinerary one more time. I want to make sure everything is on schedule tonight.”
She nodded. “Right.”
We got to work reviewing the schedule. I even went into the hotel’s kitchen to talk with the head chef for the evening to ensure he had enough hors d'oeuvres, main dish options, and desserts. This night had to go off smoothly, because I had no doubt that Gabriel would blame me if it didn’t, and with his irrational behavior I had no idea how he’d respond. Ever since that day in his office, he had been calling day and night. Sometimes he would say he was calling to check up on how the event was going. But I knew that was bullshit since most of the time he was calling well after nine o’clock at night. He was checking up to make sure I was following his orders. Making sure that I was keeping my distance from Carter.
And there went that pang of guilt, anger, and pain I felt in my abdomen whenever I thought about Carter. I don’t know what hurt worse ? remembering the expression on his face when he left my door that night, or realizing that, that had actually been the last time I’d heard from him. He hadn’t made any attempt at contacting me since. And while I should’ve been grateful, it hurt like the hell to think that maybe he really had given up on me. On us.
