by Rose, J. L
* * *
Once Dante and Alinna finished showering, they got dressed. Dante left with James to go pick up Mya. Alinna made some business calls to customers and workers who she knew she could trust.
By the time Alinna finally got out of the bedroom, she barely made it to the front of the penthouse when she heard the doorbell.
Unlocking the door, Alinna opened it and saw Vanessa and Dre standing at the door. She said, “What’s up, y’all?”
“Where my brother at?” Vanessa asked as she and Dre entered the penthouse.
Shooting Vanessa a look back over her shoulder, Alinna rolled her eyes, but said, “He and James sent to pick up Mya. They’ll be back soon!”
“Wait a minute!” Vanessa said, smiling as she stopped and stared at Alinna. “What’s up with you, girl?
“What are you talking about” Alinna asked, looking back at Vanessa and seeing the look on her friend’s face.
Slowly smiling as she continued staring at Alinna, Vanessa announced, “You slept with Dante!”
Sucking her teeth, Alinna turned away from Vanessa and started to walk away when she grabbed her arm.
“You did, didn’t you?” Vanessa asked, as she stepped in front of her. Seeing Alinna trying to hide a smile, Vanessa dragged her behind her to the back bedroom as she called over her shoulder, “You and I gotta talk, and I wanna know everything!”
Chapter 20
Dante busily spent the day taking care of as much business as he could. He called the new connects he was introducing to Alinna and the family and spoke with Natalie about her moving to Miami to live with him. He explained the possible living arrangements and was shocked when Natalie agreed to Dante’s proposal. After that, Dante finally made it to Angela’s house and picked up his daughter.
“Daddy, where’s my brother?” Mya asked from the back seat of Dante’s Benz.
“We’re going to where D.J. is now, baby girl!” Dante answered, smiling back at his daughter. “You hungry?”
“Yes!” She replied. “Can I have McDonald’s, daddy?”
Still smiling, Dante looked over to James and said, “Find a McDonald’s, J!”
After a successful trip to McDonald’s with Happy Meals for Mya and D.J., James finally made it back to the tower. He parked inside the garage and took the elevator up to the penthouse.
Nodding to security as he followed Mya off the elevator, Dante laid his hand on his daughter’s back as she watched the guards. Then he led her to the penthouse door.
Unlocking and opening the front door to the penthouse, Dante allowed Mya to enter first. He then followed inside, with James walking in behind.
“Alinna!” Dante yelled, as he followed Mya to the kitchen. He watched the way his daughter looked around the place.
“Yeah, baby!” Alinna answered, breaking out in a smile at seeing Dante and the beautiful little girl.
“Mya!” Dante called to his daughter. “I want you to meet Alinna. She’s D.J.’s mother.”
Looking from Dante to Alinna and then back to her father, Mya slowly looked at Alinna and said, “Is my brother here?”
Smiling back at the little girl, Alinna called her son. Upon hearing him in the den, Alinna called, “D.J., come to the kitchen, sweetheart. Your sister is here!”
Hearing D.J.’s bare feet running across the tile floor, Dante smiled when his son saw his sister. Breaking out in a smile as well, D.J. walked up to Mya and hugged her.
Alinna smiled as she watched the two children playing and talking to each other. Mya took her brother’s hand, looked up at Dante, and asked for their food. Alinna smiled a little harder as both children left the kitchen together, talking with the type of affection she found herself close to crying over.
“You alright?” Dante asked, as he walked up behind Alinna and wrapped his arms around her from behind.
Leaning back into Dante, Alinna tilted her head back and kissed him a moment. The she broke the kiss by saying, “Everybody’s in the den. I made sure they made contact with the workers and buyers. I also explained what you told me about the new contact but I left out anything about Dominic in case you didn’t want to mention it yet.”
“That’s my girl!” Dante replied. “I also called Natalie and she agreed to come to Miami. And I talked to both Sutter and Goldmen, the new connects. They’ll be here next week to meet with us. But you’re in control and it’s you they will be looking to talk to. Be ready though, because they’re sending a shipment down ahead of them to thank me.”
“Let me guess!” Alinna said, smiling up at Dante. “You made a deal with them instead of killing them, right?”
“Something like that!” Dante answered with a smile.
“Ummm…excuse me!” Vanessa interrupted, smiling at catching both of them. “I’m happy the two of you are back together but if you don’t mind, we have things to discuss. For example, this birthday party that’s tomorrow night. Thank you!”
Shaking his head and smiling as Alinna stood lightly laughing, Dante watched Vanessa leave the kitchen and head in the direction of the den.
* * *
Joining the others in the den, Dante and Alinna sat together on the loveseat and began discussing issues that concerned their business. Dante re-explained what Alinna had told the family about the new connect. He then went deeper and made sure that everyone understood that James was Alinna’s personal bodyguard. If anything happened to him or if he needed to leave to go back to Phoenix for a while, James would make sure everything went smoothly with the new connects.
Alinna began discussing the continuing issue with Fish Man and the Haitians. She moved on after a while to the issue concerning the D.E.A. Alinna mentioned Alex Whitehead’s supposed sister, Monica when Dante chipped in that he was waiting for Angela to call and would ask about Monica then.
Once all the issues were out of the way, Vanessa mentioned Alinna’s birthday party at Club Empire. She explained that there were still a few other things left to handle before the party.
Hearing his cell phone go off inside his pocket, Dante dug out the phone and saw that Angela was finally getting back to him.
“I’ma be right back,” Dante told Alinna, as he stood up from his seat and walked out of the den on his phone. “Yeah, Angela. What’s up?”
“Hey Dante! Where are you?”
“At home! Why? What’s up?”
“Okay, look! I just left the meeting at the station with the chief and the D.E.A. The D.E.A. has agreed to back off for the moment because of Whitehead’s death while his partner doesn’t want to take the case for some reason. She says she can’t deal with the case right now.”
“Wait! That’s something I wanna ask you now that you mention it. What’s Whitehead’s partner’s name?”
“Monica Martin. But they also had a third agent by the name of Paul Young. Why you ask?”
“Alinna mentioned Whitehead’s sister’s name was Monica. But I see now that she was undercover, too.”
“Well, I’m glad I had a talk with Martin after the meeting then because although I don’t gamble, I’m willing to bet that Alinna didn’t know that Monica Martin was more than Whitehead’s partner. She was his wife, and they had two daughters and a son together. They were only married five years before Whitehead died, so if I had to guess, Dante . . .”
“. . . This just became personal!” Dante finished for Angela.
“Pretty much!” she answered. “So, what’s the plan now?”
Quiet a moment in thought, Dante finally said, “Find out everything you can on Monica Martin and let me know. I’ll deal with her myself.”
“Alright, sweetheart! I’ll get started on that tonight, but it’ll probably take a while.”
“Just let me know when you get something.”
“I will!” she answered. “You keeping Mya tonight or are you bringing her home?”
“She staying with me! I’ll bring her home tomorrow afternoon.”
Hanging up with Angela and heading back i
nto the den as everyone was getting ready to leave, Dante got in his goodbyes and received kisses from Amber, Harmony, and Vanessa.
After the others left, Dante told Alinna he would talk to her in the bedroom. First, though, he pulled James outside onto the balcony to talk with him.
“What’s up, bro?” James asked, as Dante closed the sliding glass door.
Turning to face James, Dante stepped up to the rail beside him and said, “Bruh, listen! You know I trust you with my life, which means I trust you with Alinna and my kids lives as well. Shit about to get crazy from all sides and I’m not sure how it’s gonna end up with me. But I need your word that no matter what, you’ll protect my family.”
“Bro, come on! That’s not even a question. I got you, but tell me what’s going on so I can be on point, too!” James told him, staring straight at Dante.
Dante then proceeded to tell James about Monica Martin and Paul Young with the D.E.A., and everything Angela told him. He also broke down his feelings concerning the end of how things would play out for him.
“Relax, bro! It may not play out how you think it will!” James told him, dropping his arm around Dante’s shoulder.
* * *
“Baby, you alright?” Alinna asked Dante, as soon as he walked into the bedroom
“Yeah!” Dante answered, as he kicked off his shoes and sat down on the bed. “I’m just trying to get my mind right, Alinna.”
“What’s bothering you?”
After telling Alinna about Monica Martin and Paul Young, Dante added, “I think she’s making this shit personal since Whitehead’s dead now.”
“So, what are we going to do?”
“I got Angela checking out a few things for me. We’ll find out what the next play is then.”
“Daddy!” D.J. and Mya cried out, as they both ran into the bedroom laughing with the maid right behind them.
“It’s okay, Rose!” Alinna told the older woman, as she smiled at the kids jumping around with Dante, who was laughing as he got into kid mode with them.
Smiling and watching Dante with the kids, Alinna felt a tear stream down the side of her cheek.
Hating what she had allowed to happen between her and Dante, Alinna swore to herself that nothing would ever get her to turn her back on the man she loved.
* * *
Gathering the kids and James, Alinna and Dante took them to the mall, spoiling them with much more than they needed. Alinna also got a new outfit to wear to her birthday party.
Alinna went to try on an outfit but when she came out of the changing room, Dante and the kids were gone. Only James was waiting for her a few feet away. She walked over to him and asked, “James, where’d Dante and the kids go?”
“He just said he would be back!”
“That’s all he said?”
“Yep.”
Staring at the smirk on James face, Alinna rolled her eyes. Then she looked over her shoulder before heading back to the changing room and telling James, “You’re turning out to be just like your boy, Dante!”
“Thanks!” James loudly replied, which caused Alinna to lightly laugh and glance back at him.
After changing back into her own clothes, Alinna paid for all the items she was going to buy and left the store with James.
“Call Dante and find out where he is, James!” Alinna told him, as she stepped in front of a display window two doors down from the store she and James had just left.
Alinna walked into a jewelry store and walked up to the counter. She asked to see the white gold and diamond studded, Cuban link chain and cross. It had a tilting crown that sat at the tip of the cross with the word boss written out in diamonds across the front of the crown.
Alinna didn’t flinch at the price and bought the chain without a second thought. Then she followed alongside James a few minutes later after her purchase was wrapped and boxed up for her.
“Where did Dante say he . . . ?
“Damn, baby! What’s up?”
Looking down at the hand that was holding her arm and stopping her from walking, Alinna looked up at the creep and said, “First, I ain’t your baby! Second, you better get ya nasty-ass hands off me before you get fucked up in this mall in front of everybody.”
“What?” the guy said surprised. “Bitch, who the fuck . . .?
Alinna watched as James swiftly stepped in, slamming two quick blows to the guy’s stomach and one to the guy’s temple, sending him to the ground. Alinna continued watching as James picked back up all her bags and calmly said, “You ready to go?”
Smiling slowly as she continued walking again, Alinna said to James, “That was pretty impressive! You kind of fight a little like Dante.”
“Not that much!” James replied. “I fought against Dante in a contest. The boy got skills for real.”
“He won?” Alinna asked, just as she heard D.J.’s voice calling out to her.
Looking back over her shoulder at her son running over toward her, Alinna broke out in a smile as she set down her bags. She bent down to catch D.J. just as he threw himself into her arms. “Hey you!”
“Momma, daddy bought me and Mya matching chains,” D.J. told his mother, holding up the gold and platinum chain and heart locket.
“It’s beautiful, sweetheart!” Alinna told her son, as she opened the locket and find a picture of Mya and D.J. together smiling as they hugged each other.
“Daddy bought me one, too!” Mya said, causing Alinna to look up just as Mya and Dante walked up.
Looking at the picture inside of Mya’s locket, Alinna found a picture of D.J. Alinna looked up to Dante confusedly who simply said, “She just wanted a picture of her brother alone.”
“Well, it’s still beautiful!” Alinna said, smiling as she kissed Mya on the cheek.
“I just saw some dude laid out back there with a crowd around him. You two had something to do with that back there?” Dante asked, looking from Alinna over to a smirking James.
“I’m hungry,” Alinna announced as she picked up her bags. “Can we get something to eat please, Mr. Blackwell?”
Shaking his head and still smiling, James spoke up once Dante looked back at him: “I’m not buying, bro! She your woman and she asked you!”
Chapter 21
Alinna woke up to find Dante and the kids already gone. She smelled food, which made her smile. She climbed out of bed wearing one of Dante’s t-shirts and headed to the front of the penthouse.
“Good morning, Alinna!” Rose said, smiling when she saw the younger woman enter the kitchen.
“Hey Rose!” Alinna replied, looking around. “Where’s Dante and the kids?”
“Dante took both D.J. and Mya out for breakfast and asked me to cook you breakfast this morning. He also asked that I tell you to relax inside the hot tub and expect him home later. Oh, and I almost forgot. This is for you!”
Seeing the long, wide black velvet box that Rose picked up from the counter top, Alinna broke out in a smile as she walked over and grabbed the present from Rose.
“Dante left this for you!” Rose told her smiling. “He says this is one of the three birthday gifts he has for you.”
Alinna smiled as she opened the box. Her mouth dropped wide open at seeing the 14k strawberry gold Gucci chain. It had vanilla diamonds wrapped around a larger chocolate diamond and chocolate diamond studs. “This man is too much, Rose!”
“I think he’s perfect for you, if you ask me!” the maid told Alinna, smiling at her boss and friend.
Alinna found herself in the bedroom moments later, sitting on the bed trying to get a hold of Dante.
“Yeah!” Dante answered, after the second ring.
“Hey, baby! Where are you?”
“With the kids! You got your present?”
“Yes!” she answered, smiling harder. “Thank you. I love it, Dante.”
“Happy birthday!” he told her. “Now I want you to go ahead and hop inside the hot tub and relax. Rose will take care of everything until I get there.”<
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“When are you getting here?”
“Soon!” Dante answered.
Smiling while shaking her head as she laid the cell phone on the bed, Alinna looked up just as Rose entered the bedroom with a serving tray and food.
Alinna thanked Rose as she sat the tray on the bed. Shortly after Rose left the bedroom, Alinna heard the hot tub jets start bubbling.
* * *
Accidentally falling back asleep, Alinna woke up to feeling someone kissing her lips. She opened her eyes to see Dante smiling at the simple sight of her. She said, “Hey, baby! What time is it?”
“It’s 9:30 and time for you to get up so we can start getting ready!” Dante told her, sitting down as Alinna sat up and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him on the cheek.
“Where’s D.J. and Mya?” Alinna asked, as she sat up holding onto Dante.
“I sent them with Rose over to Angela’s house for the night,” he answered. “Come on! Let’s get up because I’m pretty sure Vanessa gonna call back in a few minutes.”
“How many times has she called?”
“I lost count!”
Standing back up from the bed, Dante bent over and kissed Alinna’s lips again and he headed towards the bathroom.
Alinna watched Dante until he walked into the bathroom. She smiled as she climbed out of bed to begin getting ready.
* * *
After 20 minutes, Alinna was fully dressed in a cream-colored Dolce and Gabbana full-body skirt with matching stiletto heels. She was sliding on her floor length, black fur coat that Dante had bought her.
“You look gorgeous!” Dante told her, walking into the bedroom and looking over Alinna hungrily.
Alinna stared back at Dante just as hard, as he walked out wearing a cream Stacy Adams three-piece suit with a sky blue dress shirt and pin stripe white and sky-blue neck time. Alinna walked over to him, reached up, and fixed the collar of the white floor length overcoat he was wearing. “You are the most handsome man I’ve ever known, Dante Blackwell.”
Winking at her, Dante held out his hand and asked, “You ready?”
Grabbing her handbag and her phone, Alinna walked over and took Dante’s hand. “I’m ready, baby!”