Page 79 of Just Like Summer

“I know. He’ll be mad but so what. He’s forgetting the bigger picture but I’m not. And you don’t even have to tell him it was me. I get it. Take this, give it to Fahaad tell him to get him a real lawyer. Take this for Dania, that should cover her school and salon.” Kamilla was stacking the money in the bag according to her directives.

“Kamilla, I’m not taking your money,” Dania protested.

Kamilla ignored her. “We’re using this to start a cleaning company. Hire some people here and in the valley. Ten percent of that will go back into Cai’s account. Once you get his release day, get him set up, okay?”

Nate couldn’t object to Kamilla’s plan. It was solid and she now had the funds she needed to steal the moon. “Aight, K.”

“The cut you got, upgrade your equipment, upload the videos, keep his traction going okay?” Kamilla propositioned Nate.

“I got you.” Nate agreed, seeing that magic in her Cairo saw. “KP taught you some shit, didn’t he?”

“He taught me everything,” Kamilla said with a sigh, zipping the bag up. “Now help me pack. I’ll call Fredo and see if he has another house in the valley.”

“When’d you two get so close?” Nate asked because Dania wasn’t in the business of telling all of Kamilla’s business.

“When I found out he’s my grandfather,” Kamilla announced.

“Oh shit!” Nate jeered.

“Yeah, I come from a line of women who couldn’t leave those Azuls alone,” Kamilla said, walking into Cairo’s small studio. “Can you take all of this and keep it safe?”

“Yeah, I got it.” Nate snapped his fingers and dug into his pocket. “I got you something else too.”

Kamilla’s brows fused as she watched him pull out a velvet bag. “What’s that?”

“KP’s jewelry. Cleaned and like new,” Nate replied, handing it over.

She took it and flung her arms around his neck. Sniffling, she let him go and looked at the bag. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”

“We got you, K. Don’t forget that shit. You’re not alone anymore.”

thirty-three

Two years later

“Kai Baby,” Kamilla started, as she closed the door to the Camero with her hip.

In one arm, she balanced cleaning supplies and the other, items to keep her toddler entertained while she cleaned this massive mansion. Since having him, she’d made a point to secure a babysitter or Fredo so she could clean and be professional. Today was a one-off – Fredo and Nate were unable. Dania was out of town for her baby brother’s graduation, leaving Kamilla to look at her tiny human and beg him to behave.

Kairo looked up at his mother, giving her his very short attention.

“Mommy needs you to stay in your playpen until she finishes okay? Can you do that for me?”

Kairo looked up at her, holding an innocent smile. “Okay! Got cookies?”

Kamilla laughed and held her hand out. “Yes, I have cookies.”

She walked up the short driveway of the massive ranch house. Like every cleaning job she’d taken since moving here, she never asked who the owners were. She made the schedule, cleaned it from top to bottom, left, and collected her money. Today was no different. Kairo was set up in his pen, an iPad playing his favorite show, snacks on a deck and occupied. Well, he should’ve been occupied but Kamilla learned over the last months that when you were a boy mom, they were occupied for a moment. Kairo, unlike his god cousin, Malayna, was active. He kept everyone on their toes and constantly running behind him.

Kamilla was finished with the kitchen and headed to the living room when a clash of what she knew to be expensive crystal was meeting the wooden floor. Like a bolt of lightning shot through her, she ran toward the sound of the noise as well as another human. The thing was, when she accepted this booking, no one was supposed to be here. Running into someone was supposed to be unlikely.

“Oh shit, my bad,” a baritone hit her ears.

Kamilla ignored him until she reached her crying son and scooped him up in her arms. With her eyes clenched, she cringed as she asked over Kairo’s crying, “How much was that?”

The man looked at the mess then at the young child in her arms, then the terror on her face. Her stomach twisted knowing that this was going to paint a negative image of how she handled business.

“I don’t know, it came with the house and I thought the shit was ugly. I just didn’t have the heart to do what the young bull did,” he spoke, moving closer. “Relax, you good.”