I looked from Alicia to the man next to her, Brutus, my head of security. I nodded. He returned it with a nod of his own before turning and walking away.
“Aaron, what is all of this about? And why aren’t we meeting in your office?” Alicia batted those long, false eyelashes at me, forming her red-tinted lips in a pouted moue. I took in her outfit—a form fitting black dress that clung to her lithe body. Her long, brunette hair sat in a bun high atop her head. Her makeup flawless, per usual. It all disgusted me.
“Alicia, have I not let you lead a good life?” My tone was low and I could tell it was menacing by the way she took a step back. “Have I not let you live in peace? In Paris, no less?”
Her forehead wrinkled. “Aaron, what is this about? Why are you asking me this? Why did you have me brought here to you? Why are we not in your office?”
“This,” I extended my arm wide, “is my office for visitors like you. Come in.” I stood to the side, letting her move through the doors unabated, mostly because I didn’t want to touch her. She jumped when I slammed the door behind her.
“You knew,” I seethed, turning to her slowly.
Another confused expression befell her face.
“Answer me!”
She startled. “Knew what?”
“Patience! She was pregnant, and you fucking knew.”
The answer was written all over her face. Her eyes glossed over, and her eyelids drooped in response to my demand.
“I thought she was lying,” she confessed. “You know how some women are. Lying to keep a man.”
“You mean women like you.”
Her mouth dropped as if I’d hit her. “Women like me? She was the whore who was sleeping with my fiancé! That bitch tried to call your cell two months after I found you at her apartment. I answered and she said she was pregnant. I knew she was lying. The skank!”
I took a threatening step toward her until I was in her face. “Don’t ever form your lips to call her that again. Because of you, I’ve missed five years with my children.”
“Children?”
“Twins. She was pregnant with twins. Twins you fucking gave her five hundred dollars to abort!”
Alicia’s mouth opened and closed a few times. “H-how do you even know they’re yours? How do you know you’re the only man she was sleeping with?”
I raised my hand, but stopped just two inches from clamping it around Alicia’s throat. “Don’t ever…You’re making me seriously consider my rule of never putting my hands on a woman.” Taking a step back, I thrust my hands into my pockets. “You’ve cost me time I can never get back. And for that, our deal is off.”
She gasped, but I kept going.
“Forget living in that comfortable little villa in Paris. Good-bye to the nice multi-million dollar bank account. You are on your own from here on out.” I turned to walk away, but she wrapped her hands around my arm. I yanked it away so forcefully she lost her footing, nearly falling. I just stood there, staring.
“What am I supposed to do?”
“Go to hell,” I answered before pulling the door open and nodding again at my security. They had their instructions on how to handle her from here on out. I had much bigger matters to take care of.
****
Patience
“Ms. Sheryl, I appreciate your willingness to stay here in Williamsport with me for the rest of the week,” I told my friend as we finished cleaning up after dinner. It’d been three days since I arrived back in Williamsport, and two days since my run-in with Aaron at the hospital. I was looking forward to ensuring my father’s surgery went well and he was on the road to recovery before getting back to Oakland and my life. Ms. Sheryl’s presence had not only been helpful with the kids, but for me as well.
“Don’t think anything of it. I’ve been waiting to visit the city you grew up. The kids seem to like it.”
I nodded. “They like anywhere there’s a park for Kyle and a library or bookstore for Kennedy.” I laughed along with Ms. Sheryl.
We continued talking a little more about what there was to do in the city with young children. She was going to take them on another venture the next day while I visited my father in the hospital. Just as we cleared out the last of our room service dinners, a knock sounded at my door.
“You order something?” I asked.
