“Good morning, baby.” Alonzo slid up beside her.
A kiss to the cheek like he always did before he grabbed his coffee that she prepped for him in a to-go cup and the lunch that he rarely ate.
“Morning,” she mumbled, filling the dishwasher and closing it after dropping a Cascade pod inside it.
“You two ready for school?” he asked, checking his watch as he scooped his bagel off a plate and left the eggs and sausage behind.
“I see you still haven’t gotten rid of her,” Giselle acknowledged, hand on her hip while glaring at him as he swallowed the first bite of his bagel.
“You said yourself the girl is sharp, G. We need people like that on the business side.” He tipped his coffee to his lips for a sip. “I might be late tonight. We’re reviewing with a new investor that’s got some things they want to pitch to us.”
“Of course. Shouldn’t expect anything less.” Giselle watched him scarf down the bagel.
“I gotta go. I’ll talk to you later,” he said, phone in hand, scrolling through a few new messages and heading for the door.
“Bye, Daddy Lonzo!” Her son, Heir, called after him from the table.
Alonzo waved but didn’t look in any of their direction on his way out. Silence settled after the door shut. The twins went back to eating, and Giselle watched the empty doorway with a tight jaw. Her phone lit up, a notification with an article about Knox Design and their design of the month. It was a piece that Giselle had personally crafted and was extremely proud of, yet her photo was beside Esti’s name in big font introducing her as the firm’s new executive liaison.What the hell?
Everything in her wanted to call her husband and demand answers, but going against Alonzo never really got her anywhere. He had a mouthpiece and was a master manipulator and narcissist. Instead, she wiped down her counters and cleaned up after her kids, so she could get them ready for daycare. Standing at the large island, she sipped her homemade shaken iced espresso and did a self-exam. The kitchen suddenly seemed too big, too quiet. A perfect cage. She didn’t have time to dwell on what wasn’t. There was a list of clients waiting for her services.
Once she got the kids off to school, she was on a mission to hunt down all the supplies she needed so she could go to her studio and get busy. Her business had grown over the years. Not only did she do interior design for some of the elite in personal and business spaces, but she’d also started her own furniture line. Little by little, she was developing personal pieces to accommodate her clients’ style, and she was loving every minute of it. Even with her own kids, most of the items in their room were custom, one-of-a-kind pieces, down to Harlee’s pumpkin shaped carriage bed suited for a little princess. If it weren’t for work and her kids the last few years, Giselle didn’t know what she would do.
“Mommy, we ready to go!” Heir’s little stern voice broke into her thoughts.
Giselle almost choked on her drink. Both twins were dressed and ready in their denim outfits. She really didn’t mean to dress them alike, but sometimes she couldn’t help it, and they were too little to complain. When Heir looked at her with that halfcocked brow wrinkling his little face, it cut her deep, though. Her babies had Heavy’s entire face, with her rich, chocolate brown eyes, down to his sienna curls. Sometimes she stared at them in awe of what they made with twinges of regret that she’d kept them from him. So much time had gone by that she wasn’t sure what couldmake any of this okay. She was the villain in this scenario, and she would have to eat that.
“Okay.” Giselle swallowed more coffee, then picked up her cup and cell phone from the counter. “Let’s go.”
She led her children through the two-story modern mansion into their garage and to the black Aston Martin SUV parked beside the Porche Cayenne she whipped when she went on her solo trips. After loading both children into the truck and securing them in their car seats, Giselle hit the button to the garage door opener and hopped into the driver’s seat. She played a lot of ’90s music in the car, so her children were always making requests. If it were up to Giselle, they wouldn’t know anything about this washed-up new shit.
Once she got them dropped off, she hit the highway to her favorite little upscale boutique, so she could check out their new fabric collection. She thought she might also do some personal shopping because it felt like she hadn’t bought anything for herself in forever. Having children was the most humbling experience she’d ever had, and nobody could tell her different. It was like life hit the reset button on her with these little people, and she lived for them every single day.
Humming along to the alternative playlist playing overhead, Giselle picked over fabrics with a critical eye. With a few tucked under her arm, she checked another row and peeped the time on her cell phone. She still had a few hours to pick up her kids, so she’d grab some more coffee and hit the grocery store before heading home to prep for dinner.
She didn’t know why she expected Alonzo to hit her up. In the beginning of their marriage, he was all about her. Very loving, attentive, all that. The longer time went on, the more distant he grew. She thought it was because of the twins, but he even doted on them in the beginning. Something shifted, and she didn’t doubt that Esti had something to do with it.
The girl was like a plague that Giselle could never get rid of. Nearly two years had passed since Alonzo brought her in as a consultant, and she hadn’t been able to shake the bitch since. Giselle was post-partum and trying to take care of two children by herself while he held the business down. At the time, she had her concerns, but he always brushed them off like they were nothing. She didn’t want to come off as the crazy, nagging wife, so she let it go. These days, she had time.
Once she’d found everything she needed in the store, she approached the counter and dropped her haul in front of the cashier. She slid the credit card she normally used from her wallet and inspected all the stuff in her face that she could add to her tab.
“Sorry. This card was declined. Do you want to try another one?” the older Caucasian woman asked.
Blinking slowly, a polite laugh slipped out of Giselle.
“No. That’s crazy. Try that one again.”
The clerk ran it again and frowned at her screen with the same unapologetic look.
“Maybe it’s the chip. I know that happens a lot.”
Giselle yanked another card from her wallet; this one was for one of their many business accounts.Beep!Declined again. Heat rushed to her face. There were people behind her, ready to be rung up, and this was embarrassing as hell.
“It’s probably just one of those fraud alerts. I’ll call the bank.” She walked out with the same composure she’d learned from those charity galas she hated.
Heels steady, head high, but her hands shook the minute she hit the curb outside. Suddenly, the bright sunshine felt a little too sharp. By the time she pulled up to their home, the knots in Giselle’s stomach had gone from little pebbles to full on boulders. She stepped inside and dropped her purse at the entry table but kept her phone in her hand. Ambling down the hall tothe kitchen, she grabbed a bottle of white wine from the wine cooler beside the fridge and a clean glass. Not even bothering to remove her pea coat, she filled her glass.
On the drive home, she called the bank. After waiting with that lame ass hold music for ten endless minutes, a calm representative told her that all joint accounts had been closed by the co-signer two days ago. She went back and forth with that woman the whole way home, just knowing she was giving her false information. Before completely spazzing out, Giselle ended the call, hit her lawyer up, and left a message for him.
