The Million Dollar Deception Page 18

  Monica looked both ways, then took a step into the street.

  All of a sudden, the Ford’s engine roared to life, the headlamps flicking on. Monica hurried toward the car and saw the woman shift the car into gear. She ran up to the window. “Who are you? Why do you keep—” But the woman sped off.

  64

  The next evening, Tim came by to see how Nate was doing. The two men had been talking, Nate telling Tim that everything regarding Monica was going exactly according to plan.

  “And you’re still going through with that?” Tim asked, sounding disappointed.

  “You think I like doing this?” Nate said, standing. “Do you think I like deceiving her yet again? Having her think that there’s something here, that there may be a future for us, knowing that once I get what I want, I’m just going to toss her ass away like I did the first time?”

  “Yeah. I think you’re enjoying it,” Tim said.

  “I don’t enjoy having to keep my feelings in check.”

  Just then, the phone rang. Nate walked over to his desk, glanced at the caller ID. “Shit. Not now.”

  “Who is it?” Tim asked.

  “International call. It’s Daphanie.”

  “Go ahead, playboy. You’re the man who has to have two women. Pick up the phone.”

  Nate picked up the phone and spoke to Daphanie for all of five minutes. For the entire time, his tone lacking enthusiasm, he stared at his brother. Finally he said, “I’m sorry, honey, but I really need to be going. I have some work that has to be completed by tomorrow.”

  Tim sat, his arms crossed, and just shook his head.

  “Sure. I got a second to consider one last thing,” Nate said. “What’s that?” He listened intently, then closed his eyes at the news he had just heard, as though it was something that he just couldn’t handle at that moment. “Yeah,” Nate said. “I know. Why not? You’re right. Why wait? I’ll think about us getting married when you get back, okay? But let me go. Okay. Me, too. Bye.” Nate hung up the phone.

  His eyes still on his brother, Tim didn’t say a word.

  “What are you looking at?” Nate said.

  “You’ve told me before that you could see yourself marrying Daphanie someday.”

  “Yeah, so what?”

  “I’m not getting that impression now.”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Before the phone call,” Tim said, “you said something about not liking to keep your feelings in check. What feelings? Feelings for who?” Tim stood up, walked over, and sat on the corner of Nate’s desk, smiling a little. “Could you be having feelings for Monica? Could my brother actually still have a heart in there, and it’s being melted by the woman he used to love and knows he never should have gotten rid of?”

  “Dammit!” Nate said, slamming his fist on the desk. “I want my money back, and I want to hurt her for what she’s done to me.”

  “But…”

  “But…we’re getting closer. And I think…I think, yes, I might still have feelings for her.”

  “That’s what I’m talking about!” Tim said, hopping off the desk, opening his arms. “Give me a hug!”

  Nate shook his head and hugged his brother, then fell back into his chair.

  “So what happens now?” Tim asked.

  “She won’t leave me as long as she’s with Lewis. So I have to give her reason to leave him, and that means keep doing what I’m doing.”

  “Continue to blackmail that boy who has nothing to do with this nonsense between you and Lewis?” Tim said. “That’s not a good idea, Nate. That man does not deserve to have his home and family threatened. I would really reconsider that if I were you.”

  “You don’t have to tell me what I’m doing is wrong. Tori pulled a gun on me in California for this nonsense. So I know. But once I get my wife back, I’ll be through with it. And if it makes you feel a little better for this boy I’m blackmailing, if he continues to act right, maybe I’ll throw him a little something extra in the deal.”

  65

  Freddy sat in his basement apartment, brooding, all the lights off, candles burning around him. He thought about what he had just put his best friend through, the lies he’d told him, the predicament he knew he would be putting Lewis in after all this was over. Kia sat next to him on the bed, just staring at him. The lights were off, not because he’d turned them off, but because the electric company had shut them off for late payment.

  “I gave them the money before they closed today, and they promised the power would be back on tomorrow,” Kia said.

  “I’m so sick of this,” Freddy said softly, angrily to himself.

  “Baby…”

  Freddy turned to Kia, a look of disgust on his face. “You want to know why we’re poor like this? Why we’ve always been poor like this, since I was eight years old?”

  “Why, Freddy?”

  Freddy paused for a long moment, then said, “I never told you, because I been afraid of how you would react.”

  “Just tell me.”

  Freddy swallowed hard, then said, “My father ain’t die in no car accident like I told you. I killed him.”

  “What?”

  “He was beating my mother. Like almost every day,” Freddy said, not looking at Kia, but staring straight ahead. “I thought he was gonna kill her. So one day, I came home for lunch, because I knew he’d be in his room sleeping. I grabbed my baseball bat, and I killed him in his sleep.”

  Kia jumped off the bed, released Freddy’s hand, and backed two steps away from him. “You killed your father?” she gasped.

  “We never been able to catch up without my father’s income, so we been struggling since. Bills went unpaid, and the house taxes, and now some motherfucker went and bought those taxes out from under us.”

  “You got to pay those,” Kia said, an urgent note in her voice. “After a certain period passes, somebody can come and buy those—”

  “Somebody else already has. That’s what I’m sayin’.”

  “Freddy, no.”

  “Yeah. And they telling me that if I don’t do certain shit for them, against Lewis, then they gonna kick us out of this house and have it torn down.”

  “Who is this? You told him no, right?”

  “I’ve been doing what he’s been saying—I ain’t got no choice! But something’s tellin’ me Lewis is gonna come out of this thing fucked up if I keep on.”

  “You can’t do that to Lewis! He’s your best friend.”

  “If I just keep on, the man said he’d give me the title to the house. It’ll be all paid for, no back taxes, nothing. We’ll be all caught up.”

  “That doesn’t matter,” Kia said. “You’ve known Lewis since you were eight.”

  “It does matter!” Freddy said, standing up. “Me and Moms been poor as hell almost my entire life. She don’t say nothing, but I know she blames me. I know it. Regardless what I say, I ain’t nothing but a loser to her. I killed her husband, and all she got to show for it is bills she can’t pay and a son who earnin’ minimum wage. I do what this man tells me, I can give her a house. I don’t, having me for a son, she would have not only lost her husband, but the house he bought her.”

  Kia stared at Freddy for a long while before standing and saying, “You’re wrong and you know it.” She walked over to him, took him in her arms. “You don’t want to admit it, because you’re scared. But you know if you were to tell your mother—”

  “I’m not telling her this.”

  “Okay. But if she were to hear, you know she wouldn’t want you to go through with this. You’re a better man than this, Freddy. You aren’t the type to let yourself be pushed around by whoever this is. My father is one of the top lawyers in this city—”

  “I don’t want to bring him into this.”

  “And I don’t think we’ll have to. I’m thinking the threat alone would be enough. All I’m saying, baby, is that there is a better way than to deceive your best friend like this. You
know that, don’t you?” Kia said, holding Freddy’s face between her palms.

  “Yes,” Freddy said softly.

  “Tomorrow, you tell this man, whoever he is, he can kiss your ass, and if he doesn’t lay off, he will have an entire law firm camped outside his damn house. Can you do that for me, baby?”

  Freddy smiled sadly, nodded his head. “Yeah.”

  66

  Monica sat at her desk in her home office, looking at photos of the building that Nate’s friend had sent her. A knock came at the door.

  “Come in,” Monica said.

  Lewis stepped in, carrying a bouquet of a dozen roses wrapped in paper. He walked around her desk, laid them in her arms, and gave her a kiss on the lips. He stepped back and smiled.

  “What’s this?” Monica said.

  “Things have been kind of rough for us over the past couple of weeks. It was because I was going through some things, but I’m happy to say that stuff is over, so now I want us to get back to the way we were.”

  Monica chuckled a little. “Just like that, huh?”

  “Yeah.”

  Monica set the roses down. “The last serious conversation I had with you, I remember you saying fuck people like me and that you never wanted to go with me to another business function again.”

  “I didn’t say fuck people like you. I said fuck the people at those functions and then you said you were one of them people.”

  “I see,” Monica said. “That clears it all up. But just so I’m even clearer, I assume you don’t want me to ask you to any other functions?”

  “I’m not sure. I have to think about that.”

  “Well, you take your time. But while you do that, I want to ask you another question. Where is this really going between us?”

  “What?” Lewis said, looking as though he had no idea where such a question had come from.

  “The future. When I asked you before what you wanted to do after graduation, you seemed uncertain. So now I’m asking you what you want to do with me.”

  Lewis smiled, scratched his head a little. “I mean first we’re gonna get married, right?”

  “Right. But after that? The wedding is just the beginning. We’ll have years and years to share our lives together.”

  “Then that’s what I guess we’ll do—share our lives.”

  “But my life isn’t just sitting on the living room sofa, letting you fall asleep on my shoulder while we watch DVDs. I love Layla to death, but my life also isn’t about just helping you raise her. And although it’s good, my life isn’t just having sex and taking nasty pictures with you, either.”

  “Where is all this coming from?” Lewis said, stepping closer to Monica, before she held out her hand to stop him.

  “Right now,” Monica said, turning her computer monitor toward Lewis so he could see, “I’m looking at a building I’m thinking about buying to expand my business. Do you think it’s a good idea? Or will you not be cool with that, because you think it’s going to take me away from the house more?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “I’m asking you, Lewis. I need to know. One of the reasons why I always ask you to go to those functions with me is because I want you to know what I’m doing, know the people I’m doing it with. But you flat out told me that you want no part of that. And then when I get some of the most exciting news this year about my business and try and share it with you at dinner, you tell me you don’t want to hear it.”

  “I’m sorry,” Lewis said.

  “Just tell me something. You don’t want to be around the people I do business with. You don’t want to be around me or them when I talk about it. What do you think is going to happen once we get married? You think I’ll quit?”

  “No. I never—”

  “I won’t stop talking about it. I won’t stop doing it. As a matter of fact, if the business becomes more successful, I’ll probably talk about it more.” Monica stood from her chair. “Is that the kind of future you want? Have you thought about that?”

  Lewis took a moment to think, stepped right up to Monica, placed his hands on her shoulders, and said, “I’m sorry for all of those things I said. I was going through something, but it’s over now. About me not appreciating what you do and you wanting me to be a part of it—you never put it to me like this before. But baby, I love you. Do you hear me? I love you. And that’s every part. You want me to go to your functions, I’ll go. You want me to work for you, washing the windows at your store, sweeping and mopping, so I can learn what you do from the ground up, I’m right there. All I know is, I want to marry you. I want us to be a family and enjoy each and every day together until we get no more. How is that to answer your question about what the future holds for us?”

  Monica smiled a little and said, “It definitely gives me something to think about.”

  67

  The next day, Freddy sat in the passenger seat of Nate’s Mercedes.

  “Why are we stopping here?” Freddy said, looking out his window at the new townhome they were parked in front of.

  “Just get out,” Nate said, stepping out of the car himself.

  That afternoon, Freddy had done as Kia told him and called Nate.

  “Mr. Kenny, I was just calling to tell you I’m not doing this for you anymore. It’s wrong, and I—”

  “Yes you are.”

  Freddy was quiet for a moment, not knowing how to respond. “No. I said—”

  “Freddy, we are at a very important junction where your cooperation is imperative. Or do I have to remind you that I still hold the deed to your house, and I will—”

  “I don’t give a fuck about that,” Freddy said, finally feeling as though he had had enough. “I said I ain’t doin’ it no more. You got me doin’ this shit to my friend, and it’s fucking with me. It ain’t right!” Freddy said, sounding on the verge of tears. “You try and kick us out our house, I know some lawyers, and—”

  “Freddy, Freddy. Hold on,” Nate said, his voice soothing all of a sudden. “Let’s not let this get out of hand, okay? So you said you won’t do it anymore. Fine. But do me one favor. Let me take you somewhere, show you something, and make you a simple offer. You can say yes or no to it. Either way, I’ll be fine with it. Will you do that for me?”

  The phone still pushed up to his ear, Freddy thought a long moment, then said, “I don’t got to do nothing? And I can say no if I want?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “All right.”

  Nate opened the door of the brand new townhome and stepped in.

  Freddy and Nate walked across the hardwood floors of the large living room, vaulted ceilings overhead.

  “It has a formal dining room, as you can see,” Nate said. “And up there is a loft area that overlooks this room.”

  Freddy turned, admired the beautiful new house. “Why are we here, Mr. Kenny?”

  “Come on, follow me.”

  Freddy followed Nate through the rest of the house—looked at the kitchen with stainless steel appliances and the newly built deck out back. They then took the stairs down to the finished basement.

  “You could stick a pool table down here or a nice flat-screen,” Nate said. Then he showed Freddy the three large bedrooms, the two and a half baths.

  Nate ended their tour out on the deck, overlooking the large backyard.

  “Oh yeah,” Nate said, pointing and smiling. “Two-car garage.”

  “This is a nice house,” Freddy said. “But you still haven’t told me why I’m here.”

  Nate cleared his throat and said, “The money Lewis gave to Salesha and Salonica, he stole out of Monica’s account. I expressly bought your little rehab house so you could give him the money to replace the stolen funds he had taken. Which means since Monica most likely won’t be getting her bank statement till the end of the month, she will never know what happened till then. But now I want him to steal from her again.”

  “What? Why?” Freddy said, surprised.

  “I want you to tell
Lewis what happened, that someone has bought the taxes out from under you, and unless you pay them in two days, your house will be taken and your family will be thrown out on the street.”

  “But how will I get the money back to him?”

  “You’ll tell him your mother has cashed in her insurance policy and you’re expecting the check any day now.”

  “But my mother doesn’t have an insurance policy,” Freddy said.

  “That’s not a problem.”

  “Because I’m getting the money from you?”

  “No,” Nate said.

  “Then how will I—”

  “You won’t,” Nate said, smiling. “Freddy, this time Lewis will get caught.” Nate stepped close to Freddy, took him by his shoulder. “I want my wife back, but she has to have a reason to leave her fiancé. This will be that reason.”

  “But what will happen to Lewis?”

  “I don’t know. I assume nothing. Monica knows Lewis doesn’t have the money to pay her back, so at worst, she’ll demand that he leave the house. She’ll have nothing more to do with him.”

  “I don’t want to do this,” Freddy said.

  “Are you certain? You stand to gain quite a bit if you do.”

  Freddy was certain, but his interest was piqued by what the man just said. “Gain what?”

  A smile reappeared on Nate’s face. “I think you already know.”

  Freddy felt the slightest weakness in his knees, felt his heart skip a beat. “You mean—”

  “Do this for me Freddy, and this house is yours. Free and clear. I promise. But, as I said before, you alert Lewis as to what’s going on, give him the smallest hint, then all deals are off.” Nate extended his open hand to Freddy. “Will you at least sleep on it tonight? Call and let me know in the morning?”