The Head That Wears The Crown

by D D Bridges

  Francisco stopped pacing and looked at only me. “What do you have to say to all of this, CEO King?” he asked. Now everyone else’s eyes were on me too as they waited for my answer.

  I leaned back in my chair and contemplated my response before saying, “How am I to know which one of you to believe? This situation took place long before I was in the position that I am now. For all I know both you and Ziegler could be lying.”

  “And I respect your concerns. But allow me to extend an invitation to you,” Francisco said. “Come to Paris for a few days. That way you can see that my business is legit. I’m having an auction this weekend which is one of the reasons why I had to move this meeting up a few days. I will be leaving today so that I can return to Paris and make preparations for what is always a major event. You can come to Paris and spend a few days relishing in the beauty of the city. Then on Saturday evening you can join me at the auction and afterward we can discuss business. I will even invite Mr. Ziegler and we can all discuss this like men. What do you say?”

  Yes, Francisco Baptìste was a smooth talker indeed. He made going to Paris for a business meeting sound very enticing. All in all, going there to meet with Francisco and Ziegler wasn’t a bad idea. Speaking to both of them at the same time in a relaxed environment could be productive and help us get to the bottom of this. Besides, if there was any potential threat to the company then it was my responsibility as CEO to find it out.

  “I think that…”

  “Wait a minute,” Walter said, cutting me off. He had some nerve especially when he knew that I really wasn’t feeling him at the moment. “I need to speak to CEO King in private before he makes any commitments.” Walter stood and headed for the door.

  “Excuse us,” I said to Francisco as I stood and followed Walter out.

  “Darius, don’t do this,” Walter uttered once we were in the hallway. “I already know that you were getting ready to agree to meet Francisco in Paris for a business meeting, but it is a bad idea. Trust me.”

  “Trust you?” I shot back quickly. “How the hell do you expect me to trust you when you’re the one who’s been lying to me for five years?”

  “Darius, you won’t even talk to me about it so that I can explain myself. I’ve been calling you all weekend.”

  “I know. But I don’t have anything to say to you,” I told him.

  “How many more times do I have to tell you that I’m sorry?” Walter said, his words almost a plea.

  “I heard you the first six or seven times,” I said. “But I’ve made my decision on this. I’m going to Paris and hopefully I can get to the bottom of all this.”

  “Look son, this is not the time to stop listening to me. There are sharks out there and Francisco is one of them. If you make the wrong move then you are bound to get eaten. You go to Paris then you’re gonna be on Francisco’s home court playing his game. And trust me, even with your boys beside you, you’re not ready for the way that Francisco does things.”

  I tried to pretend as if I wasn’t listening to him but I was. I still respected this man but being lied to never felt good. Chances were that he could be right about Francisco, but I doubted that he was. If Francisco wanted to do me harm then he didn’t need to bring me all the way to Paris to do it. But the bottom line was that I already made up my mind on what I was going to do and that wasn’t about to change now.

  “This is Kingdom Enterprises,” I said, looking Walter squarely in the eye. “That’s my name outside on this building. So from now on we’re gonna do business my way.” I could tell by the cold look on Walter’s face that he didn’t like that statement one bit, but so what. It was the truth. This business was officially mine to run and it was time that I started making the type of decisions that CEO’s make. If Walter didn’t like it then he was free to leave. I knew that he would never leave though. He had invested over 25 years of his life in this company and even though my father was gone he was still committed to him.

  “Fine,” Walter said through clenched teeth as he was obviously trying to bridle his anger. “But if you’re going to Paris then I’m coming with you.”

  “No, I need you and Jai to run things here,” I told him. “I’ll take Jeff and D.J. with me.”

  “Why D.J.?” he asked.

  “Because I need to keep an eye on him. And besides, he may be more useful over there than he would be here.”

  “Who’s going to look out for you,” Walter wanted to know.

  “I’ll have my security with me,” I told him and he knew that I was talking about my boys. “Regardless of what you all may think of them, my boys are not amateurs. I wouldn’t have them in my corner if I didn’t know that I could depend on them.”

  “Okay, fine. I guess your mind is made up,” he said but I could tell that he was struggling to let go. For the past five years Walter had been making decisions for me and I always went with what he said. This was a big step for both of us. “But you have to promise me that if anything goes wrong then you will come back immediately.”

  “Sure,” I said nonchalantly as I turned and went back into the conference room. Francisco was still standing near my chair as he watched me walk in.

  “Mr. Baptìste, I will see you in Paris.”

  Chapter XIII

  To say that my boys were excited about moving into the mansion was an understatement. As soon as we left the office they each headed back to their places to get all of their things. Everything was happening so fast but my friends didn’t seem to be fazed by it. I was sure that after today’s meeting they had to have a lot of questions, and there were a lot of things that I needed to brief them on before we went to Paris, but that could wait. Right now I needed to make sure that I was on better terms with my mother before I left the country.

  I went upstairs to my mom’s bedroom in search of her. She didn’t like the idea of having my boys move in even though I explained to her the need for it. The reality was that if my life was in danger in any way, then so was hers. But my mom was as stubborn as they come, and on top of that she was still upset about the argument we had a few days earlier.

  I knocked on the door to her room and then let myself in since it was already partially open. At first it looked as if she wasn’t in the room, but then I spotted her out on her balcony. I quietly approached her as she continued to gaze out into our back yard. The sun was setting behind the patch of trees in the distance. My mom didn’t acknowledge my presence as I now stood behind her in the balcony doorway but I knew that she knew that I was there.

  “You still mad at me?” I asked softly.

  She sighed and said, “I don’t appreciate you disrespecting me.” She turned to face me and leaned against the railing of the balcony. “But you were right, Darius.”

  I was shocked to hear my mother admit that she was actually wrong. I couldn’t remember this ever being the case. My mother always thought that she was right.

  “I talked to Phillip and he helped me realize that I shouldn’t have kept the truth from you for all those years,” she continued to say. “You’ve always been a good son and you deserved better. You deserved to know your father and to have a relationship with him. And I am so sorry that I took that away from you.”

  Her tears began to fall and any anger that I still felt immediately dissipated. I walked toward my mother and gently pulled her into an embrace and allowed her to sob against my chest.

  “It’s okay, ma’. I forgive you,” I told her. “And I’m sorry that I disrespected you. And I’m sorry that my father hurt you. But all of that is in the past now. If we’re going to move on from this then we have to promise not to lie to each other and not to keep any more secrets.”

  “I promise,” she said as we released one another. “So does that mean that you’re going to tell me the real reason that you need a security detail.”

  “I already told you.”

  “No. All you said was that we could possibly be in danger. You didn’t tell me what the hell is going on.”
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  “Okay, I’m gonna tell you, but don’t get all crazy on me and start trippin’,” I said to her. “The same night that me and Jeff met with Mr. Ziegler, we were cornered in the parking garage by some foreigners with machine guns.”

  “What!?” my mom said in shock.

  “Yeah. Then some French dude named Francisco gets out of a limo and starts telling me that Ziegler can’t be trusted.”

  “He’s the one with the guns but he’s telling you not to trust Ziegler,” she pointed out.

  “Exactly,” I replied.

  “Why didn’t you tell me about that?”

  “Because I didn’t want you to worry. I’m going to get to the bottom of this,” I told her. “And not only that ma’, but ever since D.J. has been around he’s done everything but come right out and threaten my life. I don’t trust him and he’s crazy if he thinks that I’m just gonna hand him the company.”

  “Well he may be your half-brother, but that doesn’t mean that you can trust him,” my mom said skeptically. “You better watch your back, son.”

  “Yeah, I know,” I told her. “I’m bringing him to Paris. It’ll give me a chance to pick his brain and to see what he’s all about.” My phone went off indicating that I had a text message. I pulled the phone from my pocket and read the text. “Momma, I gotta go. I’ll be back later,” I said before turning to leave.

  *******

  I headed straight to Juanita’s house after she texted me. I had completely forgotten that she’d wanted to talk to me earlier that day. All of our focus had been on getting everything arranged for the trip to Paris. This was a conversation that I definitely wanted to have as soon as possible. I could tell by the look on her face earlier that whatever she wanted to talk about was serious. Maybe I was being paranoid, but I had the feeling that she was going to tell me something crazy like she was pregnant or something like that. If that was what she wanted to tell me then how would I react? I had no idea what I was going to say to her. This could definitely be a game changer.

  I knocked on the door of Juanita’s condo and waited for her to answer. It didn’t take her long to do so. She looked very comfortable and relaxed with her hair pulled back and the long, strapless dress that she wore.

  “Hey. Come in,” she said emotionlessly as she stepped aside. I stepped into the foyer and began to survey her plush living space.

  “What’s with the boxes,” I asked as I continued to look around. Everything seemed to be packed up except for her furniture.

  “That’s actually one of the things that I wanted to talk to you about,” she said nervously as she let her eyes rest on me. “But first I have something very important to tell you.”

  “What is it?” I said with a concerned expression.

  Juanita sighed as she looked at the floor disappointedly then looked back at me.

  “Darius, I’m pregnant with your child,” she told me and then waited to see what my reaction would be. It was the moment of truth. Whatever I said next would change the course of both of our lives.

  “You know, somehow I already knew that,” I said, “but I still don’t know what you expect me to say.”

  “I don’t expect you to say anything because I’m not keeping it,” she said matter-of-factly.

  “What?”

  “And I also wanted to inform you that I’m going to be moving to Chicago,” she said now walking into the living room. I was right on her heels.

  “Wait a minute. First of all, you’re not moving anywhere. And you’re crazy if you think that I’m going to let you get rid of that baby.”

  “No, what would be crazy is having a baby with a man who has made it clear that he doesn’t love me,” she shot back. All I could do was stare at her. Her angry eyes stared back but then they began to well up with tears. She put her hand to her mouth as she began to cry. She turned away from me and took a seat on the sofa.

  I sat down beside her and put my hand on her back as she continued to cry. “Juanita, don’t cry,” I said to comfort her. “You know that I’m more than able to take care of you and this baby.”

  “But that’s not what I want,” she said. “I don’t want a baby-daddy. I want a family.”

  “What are you trying to say?” I said looking at her with questioning eyes.

  “What I’m saying is that the only way that I’m keeping this baby is if you and I are going to be together.”

  “That’s not fair,” I said calmly. “You knew where I stood about that before you got into this.”

  “So you’re going to allow me to abort this baby all because you don’t want to be with me?” she asked rhetorically.

  I leaned forward and rested my elbows on my knees. My mind immediately went to Natalie. She and I weren’t even officially together when I had sex with Juanita, but I still felt like I had betrayed her. The last thing I wanted to do was lose Natalie. At the moment she was the most important thing in my life, but all of that would change if I allowed Juanita to have my child. Maybe Juanita wanting to have an abortion and move away was a blessing in disguise. Besides, I wasn’t the type of man who was made to be with more than one woman. All I needed was one and the one that I wanted was Natalie.

  I rose to my feet and Juanita stood as well. We stood face to face and stared at each other for a while. Somehow we ended up kissing. Even though our kiss was filled with sensuality, Juanita seemed to be a little hesitant. Me, I was just confused. I had a lot to think about before I could make a final decision about Juanita and our child.

  Juanita pulled away, ending our kiss. “So I guess this is goodbye,” she said looking into my eyes.

  “No. I won’t accept that,” I said firmly. Juanita sighed but didn’t respond. “Look, don’t do anything until I get back from Paris. When I get back then we will sort this thing out.”

  Juanita nodded in agreement but I couldn’t ignore the sadness and disappointment in her eyes. Juanita had fallen in love with me, but I was in love with someone else.

  *******

  I left Juanita’s house and drove down Peachtree Street on my way home. The evening traffic was unusually thick for a week-night, but I was grateful for some alone time to be able to clear my head. It was crazy to me how my life had been turned completely upside down in a just a few days, and the chips continued to fall. Maybe getting away from everything and everyone that was stressing me out was going to be the best thing for me.

  I was sitting at a red light and I caught a glimpse of a commotion out of the corner of my eye. I turned my head to get a better look and there was a couple standing on the side-walk having a heated discussion. Then out of nowhere the guy slapped the girl in the face. I immediately put my car in park and then reached under my seat for my pistol. It wasn’t until after I opened my door that I realized that the couple that was arguing was Allen and Leah.

  “Oh hell nah,” I mumbled to myself. Choosing to leave my gun behind, I quickly jumped out of my car and rushed over to them just as Allen was raising his hand to hit her again. Without even thinking I punched Allen’s punk-ass square in his jaw. He went tumbling to the ground and Leah grabbed my arm to keep me from jumping on him.

  “Darius, no!” she said.

  “Let me go, Leah.” I shook Leah’s hand off of me. I grabbed Allen by his collar and threw him up against the wall. By this time a small crowd had begun to form near us on the sidewalk. He tried to retaliate but I put the back of my forearm against his neck before he could. Even though Allen was slightly bigger than I was, he knew that he was no match for me.

  “So that’s how you do it now, Allen? You wanna hit women and shit?”

  “Let me go,” he said, even though it was barely audible since I was choking the life out of him.

  “Hell no!” I shouted in his face.

  “Darius, stop! Don’t hurt him.” Leah was pulling on my arm again as she spoke, but that didn’t stop me from pushing it harder into his neck before releasing him.

  “Are you okay?” I asked Leah as I turned tow
ard her and got a closer look at her face. Other than looking embarrassed she appeared to be fine.

  “I’m okay. We were just talking,” she said. She must have thought that her weak explanation was going to appease my anger, but she was dead wrong.

  “Leah, I just saw this man put his hands on you, and where I come from that’s never okay,” I told her. “Come on so that I can take you home.”

  “Hell nah,” Allen said as he took a step toward me. I could see that he hadn’t learned his lesson yet. “Leah is my woman so she’s leaving with me. Ain’t that right, Leah?”

  We both looked over to her but she looked away from us and didn’t say anything. I could tell by the look on her face that she was more than likely going to leave with Allen, and who was I to stop her if that was what she chose to do. But I had to do something because I knew that Walter would kill this dude for putting his hands on his daughter. I turned to Allen and got right up in his face.

  “I swear that if anything happens to her or if you ever put your hands on her again then I’m coming to see you. And when I do, I’m not going to be nearly as nice as I was tonight. You got that?”

  “I don’t think you know who you fucking wit’,” he said as a devious grin came to his face. “We will see each other again and when we do, I’ll be the one calling the shots.”

  “I’m not one of your friends from that whack-ass country club that you hang out at,” I reminded him. “I’m a boss and I’m always in control.”

  “Yeah, we’ll see about that,” he said, and I didn’t like his tone. He sounded as if he knew something that I didn’t, but I couldn’t determine what it might be. He walked toward his car which was parked against the curb and I turned my attention back to Leah.