The Million Dollar Deception Page 20

  “Nate, I told you—”

  “Think about it. Will you at least do that for me?”

  “Maybe,” Monica said.

  74

  What the fuck?” Freddy yelled the next night after Nate had finally answered the door, wearing his bathrobe.

  Nate looked down at his watch and saw that it was almost nine thirty. “What are you doing here?”

  “What do you mean? What am I supposed to do? Lewis has been ringing my phone, coming by my damn house, harassing my moms, my girl. When is this shit going to be over?”

  “You told them not to say anything to him, right?”

  “Yeah, I told them. But I ain’t even been going to work. I can’t answer my phone, because I think he might try calling me from another number. What the fuck do I do?”

  Nate noticed that Freddy looked pretty haggard. He had not shaved, or combed his hair, and Nate could have sworn those were the same clothes he was wearing last time he had spoken with him.

  Freddy was shaking his head now. “I don’t know. I don’t think I want to keep on with this. Just give me the money back.”

  “Come in here!” Nate said, closing the door behind Freddy. In the living room, Nate stepped very close to Freddy, looked him sternly in the eyes. “There is no giving back the money. You’re in this now, do you understand that?”

  “But I can’t take this.”

  Nate grabbed Freddy by the shoulders. “This won’t go on for much longer, I assure you. Keep out of sight and wait. Everything is going to happen as planned in a day or two. Somehow I’ll get her to notice the money is missing and then it’ll be all over.”

  Freddy shook his head, appearing on the verge of breaking down. In Nate’s grip, the boy felt weak, fragile. “I don’t know if I can keep this up. I don’t know if it’s worth it.”

  “You’re getting a brand-new house!” Nate said, becoming annoyed with him. “You’ll be able to move your family out of that horrible neighborhood, away from the shooting and thievery. Your family will no longer have to worry about that, and you’ll no longer have to worry about them. You have a baby who’s going to be born soon, don’t you even care—” Nate stopped himself and looked at Freddy with disgust. “You want it to end. Fine,” Nate said, stepping away from Freddy and turning toward his den. “You don’t want the house. You want the money instead—I’ll give you the money. Come back here, and I’ll give you what you ask for,” Nate said, walking away. But he stopped when he didn’t hear Freddy behind him. “You want the money or what?” Nate said, turning back.

  “Naw,” Freddy said, looking as beaten and worried as he felt. “I need to do this for my family.”

  “That’s right. You do, and you will. And when all this is over, you’ll know you made the right decision. Alright?”

  “Yeah, okay,” Freddy said, still sounding uncertain.

  Nate walked Freddy to the door, opened it, and watched the man step out. “The moment something happens, I’ll let you know.”

  “Thanks,” Freddy said.

  Nate closed the door, parted the curtain beside it, and watched Freddy until he got in his car and drove out of sight.

  Nate walked back upstairs, entered his bedroom, removed his bathrobe, and slid back under the sheets.

  “Is everything alright?” Monica asked.

  “Yeah, just a neighbor going out of town in the morning and he wanted me to keep an eye on his house,” Nate said, sliding closer to Monica, wrapping his arm around her bare waist. “Now, where were we?”

  75

  Monica had told Lewis she would be back tomorrow afternoon, that she was driving down to Detroit early today with Tabatha to meet with some people about opening a store there. Lewis was glad she was gone. It gave him time to think without having to duck and dodge her around the house.

  Now, at almost ten o’clock, Lewis sat in Monica’s home office, looking at the computer monitor. He was online, on Monica’s bank’s Web site. He had her account page open, staring at her account activity, at the fifty-thousand-dollar withdrawal he had made five days ago.

  He was shocked that after so long Monica still hadn’t come to him about the missing funds. Lewis figured someone must have been looking out for him. But as he shut down the computer and reached over to click off the monitor, he knew something had to be done, and it had to be done by tomorrow.

  76

  Freddy sat in his apartment on the bed, staring at the television but not paying attention to what was on. The discussion he’d had with Nate not an hour ago was still on his mind. Kia stepped out of the bathroom after taking a shower. She wore a nightgown and was smoothing lotion into her hands and arms.

  “Are you hungry? You want something to eat?” she asked Freddy.

  “Naw, I’m good,” Freddy said, paying Kia little mind.

  “Are you sure, ’cause I know you didn’t eat dinner.”

  “Goddammit!” Freddy yelled, standing. “I said I wasn’t fucking hungry, I meant it. Okay?” After a moment, he sat back down, lowering his head, knowing he had made a mistake to yell at Kia that way. If she had decided to walk out of there that moment, Freddy wouldn’t have blamed her.

  Instead, she quietly approached the side of the bed and stood there. “You never told me what happened after you told that man that you wouldn’t be helping him anymore.”

  Freddy’s arms were crossed over his chest, a scowl on his face. He cut his eyes to glance at Kia but said nothing.

  “Freddy, you need to talk to me.”

  Freddy clicked off the TV and pulled Kia over to stand between his knees. “I tried to tell him. But then he offered me something I couldn’t refuse.”

  “No. Don’t say that. There is nothing that he could offer you—”

  “No, no. Just wait till I tell you.”

  Now Kia crossed her arms, looking angrily away from Freddy as though she wasn’t interested in what he had to say next.

  “A house, Kia. A brand-new townhouse, three beds and two and a half baths. No more living in the basement for us. And it’s in a nice neighborhood. No more hearing gunshots at night and people breaking in.”

  “He’s going to give you a new house for doing this?” Kia said, doubt in her voice.

  “He showed me the paperwork with my name on it.”

  “And you believe him?”

  “Yes. It’s going to happen. I know it. All I have to do is—”

  “Sell out your best friend,” Kia answered for him.

  Freddy was quiet.

  “What’s going to happen to Lewis after all this is over? Do you even know?”

  “He’ll probably lose Monica. But the way he was treating her, he was on the verge of losing her anyway. So one way or another it was gonna happen. At least this way, we get a new house, a new start, a new fucking life, Kia.”

  “But you lose your best friend,” Kia said.

  “Yeah,” Freddy said, shame in his voice.

  “And you’re okay with that?”

  “Goddammit, Kia!” Freddy yelled. He immediately apologized, calming some, then said, “I have no choice.”

  Kia stood there staring at him, shock on her face. She pulled his arms from around her waist and slowly backed out of the space between his knees. “Maybe that’s all right with you, but not with me.” Kia grabbed one of the pillows and the folded blanket on the foot of the bed and moved toward the stairs. “Maybe my father was right. Maybe you’re not the man I thought you were.”

  77

  Nate sat bolt upright in bed the next morning, breathing hard. He looked wide eyed in the direction of the bathroom. He heard the shower water going and figured Monica was in there under it.

  Nate jumped out of bed, walked around the room, as if searching for something. He went to the windows, parted the curtains, looked outside as far down both sides of the street as he could see.

  The dream he had this morning was so real that even now he quietly opened the bedroom door, looked down the hallway, and then took the stairs
down to the first floor.

  “Hello,” he called.

  No answer.

  Nate quickly walked through the house, opening doors and peering into rooms to make sure that no one was there. Upstairs, he crawled back into bed, hearing that the shower water had stopped.

  Last night, Nate had suddenly awakened out of his sleep. He felt Monica sleeping peacefully beside him. He leaned over, blindly found her cheek, kissed her there, and was about to fall back off when he thought he felt a presence.

  He continued lying there on his back, feeling only half awake, when he’d decided to raise his head. There, standing at the foot of the bed, Nate saw the shadow of a person—a woman. He could not tell for sure, but he felt it was Daphanie. Nate said nothing, and neither did the woman standing in his bedroom. He felt his eyes closing, even though he was struggling to keep them open. He wanted to climb out of bed, explain what was going on, why there was another woman in his bed, but his limbs would not move. His head felt even heavier. It fell back to the pillow, leaving Nate wondering what would happen after he had fallen back to sleep.

  The only consolation was that he knew that it had not been Daphanie in the room. He had smelled the strong, sweet scent of perfume. A perfume different than the brand Daphanie wore.

  “I said, are you all right?” Monica repeated, pulling Nate out of his thoughts.

  She was standing beside the bed, fully dressed.

  “Oh, yeah,” Nate said, turning to face her. “My mind was just somewhere else. Sorry.” He slid out of bed, wrapped his arms around her. “And how are you doing this morning?” he said, leaning in to kiss her. Monica turned away from him.

  “Feeling guilty about staying over last night, huh?” Nate said.

  Monica stepped out of his hug. “This’ll be the last time I do this, Nate. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy myself, but I have to reconnect with Lewis and decide what I’m going to do with that situation. I know I can’t do that while I’m seeing you. It wouldn’t be fair to him.”

  “I guess I understand,” Nate said, knowing in a few days Lewis would be found out, giving Monica reason to finally leave him.

  “I appreciate you making this easy.”

  “But will you do me a favor?”

  “Sure.”

  “If you decide not to be with Lewis, will you let me know? Because I feel there’s still something here for us.”

  Monica smiled, touched Nate on the shoulder. “Sure I will.”

  78

  Morning number five, and Lewis was waiting outside of Freddy’s house for someone to answer the door again. He looked down at his watch, knowing that Monica was probably on her drive back from Detroit. She had not called him, so he assumed that she had not found out about the missing money, but he knew that would happen any day now, if not any hour.

  Freddy’s mother opened the door. “Good morning, Lewis. I told Freddy you were looking for him. He still hasn’t gotten back to you?”

  “No, Mrs. Ford, he hasn’t. Is he here?”

  “No. I’m sorry, he isn’t. He’s been in and out a lot lately. I’ve barely seen him in the last three or four days.”

  “Do you know where he is now?” Lewis said, trying to look past her to get a peek into the house.

  “No. I can’t say that I do. He should be at work. Have you tried there yet?”

  “No. But I’ll do that. Thank you.”

  “Take care, Lewis,” Mrs. Ford said, closing the door.

  Lewis turned and slowly walked down the steps.

  Something had to be up. Freddy wouldn’t do anything like this, Lewis thought, stopping in the middle of the short flight of steps. He knew how important it was that Lewis got this money back into Monica’s account.

  Regardless of what had happened, Lewis wondered why Freddy didn’t just come to him. At least let him know what was going on, so he wouldn’t have to sweat this shit like he had been.

  Lewis stepped off the last stair and was heading to his truck when he heard something.

  “Pssssst.”

  Lewis stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, turned and saw Kia standing at the side door of Freddy’s house.

  He pressed a finger to his chest, asking if she was calling him.

  Kia looked about, nodded her head, and whispered loudly, “Come here!”

  “What is it?” Lewis said, hurrying over to her, making sure he was not seen. It seemed she wasn’t supposed to be talking to him. He stopped, standing in front of Kia at the side door.

  “You’re not going to find Freddy,” Kia said.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “He knows you’re looking for him, but he’s hiding.”

  “Hiding?”

  “I don’t know a lot about what’s going on. But the other night, Freddy told me about a man who’s blackmailing him, making him do things to get back at you.”

  “What? What man?” Lewis said in disbelief.

  “I don’t know, Lewis,” Kia said, still looking out, making sure no one saw her. “But Freddy said if things go the way the man wants, then Monica would probably end things with you and put you and Layla out.”

  Lewis didn’t have to think a minute to realize the man Kia was talking about was Nate Kenny. “I don’t believe that, Kia. Freddy’s my best friend. He wouldn’t do that.”

  “I didn’t believe it either. I didn’t think he’d go through with it. But he said the man promised him a new house if he did. I’m sorry, Lewis. I know you’ve been looking for him, and I didn’t want to be the one to have to tell you this, but I thought you should know.”

  Lewis hugged Kia. “Thank you. I appreciate it. Where can I find him?”

  Kia looked sadly up at Lewis. “He should be at work. He left here not even an hour ago. But you have to hurry. He’s not going to be there long.”

  “Thanks again,” Lewis said, turning to leave.

  “And Lewis…”

  Lewis turned.

  “When Freddy comes back, I’m going to be gone. Tell him not to come looking for me.”

  Despite what Freddy was doing to him, Lewis felt sorry for his best friend at that moment, knowing he was about to lose the first woman he had ever truly loved.

  79

  When are you going to tell her the money’s missing so this can be over with?” Freddy said frantically into his cell phone.

  He was in the alley behind his uncle’s management company.

  Mr. Kenny said he’d do it today and assured Freddy that it was almost over. But Freddy didn’t hear much of that, because a noise from behind him caught his attention.

  “Mr. Kenny, I got to go!” Freddy said quickly, spinning around to find Lewis standing right behind him. Immediately, Freddy felt a fist across his jaw, knocking him back into a wall of cardboard boxes.

  Lewis bent down, grabbed him by the front of his shirt, stood over him, his fist cocked over his head, ready to strike again. “What the fuck is going on, Freddy? What the fuck is up with the money?”

  “Lewis, I been meaning to talk to you, I’m serious. But the check ain’t came in yet, and—”

  “Don’t fucking lie to me, man! I’m supposed to be your best friend. Why are you lying to me?”

  “What are you talking about? I ain’t lying.”

  “You are! Kia told me about the man that’s blackmailing you. Is it Nate?” Lewis said, shaking Freddy by his shirt.

  “Lewis, this wasn’t—”

  “Is it him?” Lewis yelled angrily.

  Freddy grimaced, a look of pain and shame on his face. “Yeah,” he finally admitted.

  “Why the fuck, Freddy? Why you doing this to me?” Lewis said, sounding more hurt than Freddy had ever heard him.

  “I ain’t want to. But he was the one who bought the taxes on my house. He was gonna throw us out unless I asked you for the money.”

  “And you did it?” Lewis said.

  “Did you hear me? He was going to put my family out. We was going to be homeless.”

  �
��I don’t give a fuck about what he said he was going to do. You were my friend. You could’ve came to me. We could’ve made a plan, handled this shit. You said you always had my back, and look what the fuck you do to me.”

  “I’m sorry, man. It’s just that—”

  “Fuck you. Just give me back the money and I don’t ever have to say shit to your ass again.”

  Freddy didn’t speak, just looked apologetically up at Lewis.

  “Give me back the fucking money!” Lewis said, shaking Freddy again.

  “I ain’t got the money! He do. And he ain’t giving it back. He gonna tell Monica today that the money is missing. He’s wants her to find out, wants you to get caught so she’ll put you and Layla out.”

  Lewis released Freddy into the boxes and turned his back on him, grabbing fistfuls of his own hair. “Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck! Goddammit, Freddy!”

  “You can get it back,” Freddy said from behind Lewis, his voice timid.

  Lewis turned.

  “He has a safe where he put the money. He’s at home now. You can go there, take the money back, then put it into Monica’s account before she finds out.”

  Lewis looked at Freddy as though he hated him, and Freddy was sure that he did.

  “Lewis, there ain’t no other way. I can go with you if you want.”

  Lewis stormed back across the space between them, grabbed Freddy again, reared back with a punch, wanting to slam his fist into his face, wanting to break some of his bones, have him experience a fraction of the pain that Lewis was going through at that very moment. But he could not. He held the punch just beside his own head, his fist shaking.

  “If this don’t turn out right, I will never forgive you,” Lewis said.

  80

  Nate sat in his den, his hand on the phone, about to pick it up and call Monica. He would tell her that he wanted to go ahead with the sale of her building to her.