CheckMate 4: Winner Takes All

by Tiece

  “Let me explain.” Chad said leaning down in the car as they came face to face, yet again.

  “Explain what? My God Chad! You have a kid? What else don’t I know? And why the hell are you living in the house that used to be mine? What kinda fucking games are you playing?”

  “Please, just put the car in reverse. Let me explain.” He pleaded.

  MiKayla sat there angrily shaking her head. She wanted nothing more than to pull off and run his ass over in the process, but another part of her wanted him to explain. She hit the steering wheel with one hand, and then put the car in park. “Explain Chad, please fucking explain.” She spat.

  Chad disappointedly shook his head. He’d not been upfront with her about a lot of things and now it seemed like it was time for him to come clean.

  “MiKayla, please just hear me out.” He said sounding sincere.

  MiKayla stared at him with regret and disappointment in her teary eyes. She was definitely hurt by his actions. “You got five minutes to talk.” She said, but before Chad could say something she continued. “And, the only reason why I’m remotely even listening to you is, because at one point in my life I really did love you.” Her lips trembled as she spoke. “But, when I leave here I don’t ever wanna see you again.”

  A hard lump formed in his throat as Chad stood there with tears in his eyes unable to speak.

  “TALK!” MiKayla yelled at him. “Damnit, just fucking talk! Your time is winding down.”

  “I’m an undercover FBI Agent.” He confessed.

  MiKayla frowned, and then said, “What? You’re a what?” she questioned with disbelief.

  “I’m an undercover FBI Agent,” he repeated. “I’m sorry. I know that this doesn’t sound right or even believable at this point, but it is the truth. I’ve been an agent for six years now.”

  “Damn Chad,” MiKayla said with a shake of the head. “Why you gotta be lying? Just be fucking honest.”

  “I am,” he said pulling his badge out of his back pocket and handing it to her. MiKayla looked at that badge wallet. His picture was in it, but the name on it was Chris Crimson. She frowned immediately thinking about the little boy name Chris.

  “That figures,” she whispered feeling somewhat disgusted at this point that she’d been played like a fiddle by the one man she just knew loved her without a doubt.

  “Listen babe,” he started.

  “I’m not your babe. You lost the right to call me that a long time ago.” MiKayla shot his way while still staring at the badge wallet in her hand.

  “I’m sorry. I couldn’t tell you that I was undercover. It’s not something that we can talk about.” He explained. “I met you and I instantly fell in love. Things with me and my wife had long ago fizzled.”

  “Wait, what?” She questioned with a serious mean mug on her face. “Your what?”

  Chad sadly shook his head. “I was on an assignment to bring down this drug Lord when I met you, but I couldn’t stop myself from falling for you. So, I put on like you were the only one. I bought this house for us and I tried to be that man. However, my wife found out and threatened me.”

  “Maaannnn, go ‘head on with this foolishness.” MiKayla uttered still shaking her head. Chad sounded like a real fool right about now and she didn’t know what to believe.

  “It’s not foolishness,” he said. “She threatened me with a lot of bad of things that I’ve done if I left her. I’ve taken from people and I’ve had my fair share of fucking people over.”

  “Tell me about it,” MiKayla uttered.

  “I’m sorry. I’m sooooo sorry, but they’d kill me if I went to prison for some of the shit I’ve done and from the people I’ve taken from. How do you think I was able to leave you all of that money?” He questioned with a sincere look on his face. “My intentions were never to hurt you. It wasn’t supposed to end that way, but when she threatened me I knew I had to back away and the only way to do that-”

  “Was to fake your fucking death,” MiKayla cut in through gritted teeth. “Nigga, are you fucking kidding me?”

  “No, I wish I was.” He responded. “How I wish I was.”

  MiKayla was stumped as she sat there. Nothing was adding up, but then again as she thought more; it was. Come to think about it, she never really spoke to the police like that. His mom always did. And even when the cop came to their house, he only asked a few questions, and then she never heard from or saw him again. “Wow,” she whispered while thinking that they never had a real funeral for him either, and when they did it was just her, his mom, his brother, and her sister. It was very intimate and low key.

  “I love you though. I swear I do and it has been eating me up to not be able to come forward and keep it real with you. I’ve watched you from afar wishing and praying that you were alright. I was depressed for months after you lost our son, but I couldn’t reach out for numerous reasons. My mom couldn’t even be there for you like she wanted to, because it was best for you to move on and the sooner the better.”

  MiKayla rolled her eyes. “Oh you think?” She pondered with sarcasm.

  “I know you’re mad and someday I hope that you can forgive me.” The minute he said that, a black, new BMW 750 pulled up in the driveway, but stopped right in front of MiKayla’s car since she was now out by the curb. “Damn,” Chad whispered.

  Immediately, a pregnant woman got out of the car. MiKayla just looked with a blank stare as Chad backed away from her window. The woman stared in the car at MiKayla like she knew her, but clearly they’d never met. She could see that MiKayla was crying, and then she looked at Chad. He had a guilty expression on his face and she could tell that he was seconds away from crying himself. She glanced back at MiKayla with a shake of the head, and then her eyes glanced back over to her husband. “Is that her?” She asked.

  MiKayla looked at Chad and pulled the gear of the car down in drive. “You aren’t a man worth forgiving. And to move your family in our house?” she questioned as his wife just stood there looking crazy. “Don’t ever fuck with me again or I’ll call the FBI people myself.” She threw his badge at him hitting him in the chest, and then pulled off. From that day forward, she hoped to never see him again.

  Chapter 12

  The next day Monty sat inside of his office contemplating Susan’s offer. If he landed this deal with Monica he’d be a rich man. The only problem with that is why would Monica want to make him a rich man? Furthermore, why would she want to sale property that was worth millions of dollars? The property now belonged to her family, more so her. There was no way that was happening.

  Monty sighed, and then leaned back in his seat while propping his hands behind his head. “Damn, how the hell am I going to work this shit out?” he questioned himself. Monica was no joke when it came to the business. She didn’t play and knew all kinds of shit. She learned the game from her father who learned everything he knew from his grandmother, the woman that raised him like a son. They were just as wealthy as Susan Winter’s and her family; probably even more so with the land that they’d been so conveniently given.

  “I just don’t know about this one.” He apprehensively said while looking at his calendar. He then realized that he had an important phone call to make within the next ten minutes with a client. As he sat there now typing away on his keyboard sending out an email, his yahoo messenger beeped with an alerted email message. He glanced in the corner of his computer screen noticing that the message was from MiKayla.

  “She always has the perfect timing,” He said with an agitated shake of the head. He hadn’t spoken to her since she’d been by the office that day and he still didn’t care to talk to her now. He just wanted her out of his life so that he could move on. As he wrapped up his email, thoughts about her email just sitting there waiting for him to read it nagged at him.

  He sighed while taking in a deep breath. “Damn,” he whispered. His thoughts were now distracted. He couldn’t even focus on the email he was trying to type. Backing away from the compute
r, he took another breather trying his best to shake MiKayla. “Focus,” he whispered, but the minute he was done sending his email, he couldn’t help himself from opening up hers. He started reading the email with an eager expression on his face.

  Hey Monty, I hope this email finds you in good spirits and health. I’ve not heard from you in a few weeks and it has been absolutely heartbreaking. I feel that life has dealt me a really shitty hand and I have to find a way to deal with it. I’m sorry for ever hurting you. Those were never my intentions. I know what it’s like to be hurt, betrayed, and shitted on. Trust me; I’ve had my fair share of it.

  People have always misjudged me. For some reason, I’m usually known as the underdog, the naïve one, or the hoe that broke them up. But, I’m not those things. I’m just trying to live my life and be happy. I’ve realized that I can’t please everybody and that they’ll always have their own opinions. I’ve also realized that I can’t make someone love me if he doesn’t. I can’t make someone stay if he’s ready to leave. And, I sure as hell can’t win him over if his heart is with someone.

  I sent this email, because I’m leaving the states on tomorrow morning. I can’t even say how long I’ll be gone, but I need this retreat to regain my life back. I know you wholeheartedly thought that I was hiding something from you when Chad showed back up in my life. However, I wasn’t. I was just as blindsided as you were which makes this situation even more disheartening. I honestly don’t know where to begin, but I’ll start here.

  I woke up yesterday morning and caught a flight back to my hometown in Utah. I’d been sitting here lost with no clue or direction as to what had happened or why Chad had showed up on my doorstep from the dead. Since Chad would not reveal any information for his disturbing actions, I had no choice, but to leave here and head back home to find my own answers. I don’t know if you’re ready for this one, but this is what I learned.

  Monty continued reading as his eyes widened with each line he read. His mind was spinning from reading such an unbelievable story.

  “A fucking Undercover FBI Agent?” He whispered with a frown on his face. It seemed unreal that this girl would have such hard luck. “What the fuck?”

  I know that what I’ve told you may seem unbelievable, but please believe me that every word of it is true. I was in denial myself until he showed me his badge wallet. It was definitely legit. The only reason why I even cared to share this with you is because I wanted you to know that I didn’t know. I promise to God I didn’t know.

  I’m sorry to have hurt you, but right now I’m dealing with my own pain. I don’t expect any sympathy or you running over to apologize or anything like that. I’m cool with us going our separate ways now. It’s for the best. I truly believe that. They say that things happen for a reason. Well, I don’t know what those reasons are when it comes to me, but I refuse to go down without a fight.

  I’ll have my assistant continue to work with you on your media packages. I wish you the best in business and love. Thanks for making me smile again. Take care.

  MiKayla…

  Monty sat there stumped in his feelings. The pain and uncertainty in her email had certainly caught him off guard. He’d been nothing, but shitty to her and now he was feeling seriously bad for it. She was leaving in the morning to catch a flight out of the states. A part of him wanted to call her, but from what he could tell she didn’t want or need him to. She had certainly gone through a lot and he didn’t want to add to that.

  His phone started beeping alerting him of the client call that he had to make. “Damn,” he whispered with a sad shake of the head.

  ***

  Rico sat inside of his office wrapping up a client call as he surfed on the web looking for available property. He’d learned a lot in what little time he’d been in the business. His pockets were fattening and his knowledge was rapidly growing. He wanted his love life to be going as great as his business, but Mona still wasn’t budging on moving back in with him. It had now been almost two months since she had moved out and every morning he woke up without her and Caylin being near him it hurt.

  He was lost in love, and so he buried himself in his work. Monica was still Monica and trying to get with him, but he’d held his ground more than a few times without sleeping with her. Just that morning she’d called him over to let him know that she would be taking a trip to Florida for the next few weeks on business, and even though he didn’t want Aiden to go there was nothing that he could do about it. She even attempted to suck his dick in hopes of fucking him before she left, but surprisingly he brushed her off without thinking about it twice. The only person he wanted to be with was Mona and he wasn’t going to give up until she saw the change in him to take him back.

  A light knock was heard at his office door as he glanced away from his desktop. “Come in,” he called out.

  Mona stepped inside the office holding baby, Caylin. Rico’s eyes lit up to see his baby girl. She was just as adorable as ever and the minute she laid her eyes on him she coo’ed out loud with laughter. This in turn caused Rico and Mona to start laughing. She was happy to see her daddy. Rico stood up from his desk while ending his call. Immediately, he walked over to Mona and Caylin while reaching for her. “Hey Daddy’s baby,” he said in his baby talk. Mona just stood there with a smile on her. “Come to Daddy, pretty girl.” He said. Caylin continued grinning and talking baby gibberish.

  Mona laughed at her. Caylin already had a silly personality and laughed all the time. “She is a mess.” Mona said. “How are you today?”

  Rico laughed as he nodded his head agreeing. “I’ve been good.” He said. He hadn’t seen her in a few days, but as always she certainly looked good. Lately, they’d been keeping a pretty cool distance while somehow working things out where Caylin wouldn’t miss either of them. She’d spend almost just as much time with Rico as she did with Mona. “How are you?” he questioned while giving her a light hug.

  “I’m good. I can’t complain.” Mona answered, and then sat down in the comfortable chair that sat in front of his desk. Rico made his way back behind his desk and sat down with Caylin in his arms.

  “Hey pretty girl,” he said to her while kissing on her softly around the neck. Caylin just laughed out loud like it tickled her so. “So, what brings you by?” he questioned. “Do you need some money for pampers or something?”

  “Oh nah,” Mona said with a light shake of the head. “Caylin was just telling me that she missed her daddy and since we were on this side of town then I decided to bring her by.”

  Rico grinned. “Oh really? Caylin told you that?” He said looking from his daughter then back over to Mona.

  “Yeah she did,” Mona teased with a smile. The truth was that she missed Rico and time had definitely gone by where she’d seen some change in him, but she still was unsure about taking him back.

  “Well, I’m glad that you stopped by.” He said with a smile.

  “Yeah, me too,” Mona responded. “So, what are you working on?”

  “I was just talking to a client. I’m hoping to close a deal with him soon, cross your fingers.”

  Mona held her fingers up. “Their crossed.” She said loving the man that Rico had become since he’d stop selling drugs. He was now a legitimate working man and being about his business looked damn good on him.

  “Did mama call you?” He asked her.

  “Yeah, she wanted me and Caylin to come over tonight for dinner.”

  “What’d you say?”

  “I told her that we’d come since she’s looking forward to seeing her grandbaby.”

  Rico smiled. “I’m happy to hear that.” Mona just smiled as she looked from him then to Caylin.

  “She is really a busy body. Your mama talking about feeding her some potatoes tonight,” she laughed. “That’s why she so chunky now. She’s six months old looking like she’s ten months old. Her fat butt,” she teased.

  Rico laughed. “Daddy’s baby is chunky now.”

  “Speaking of Daddy�
��s baby; what’s going on with Aiden?”

  Rico shrugged his shoulders. “I stopped by Monica’s on my way to work to see him, because she is leaving to go to Florida.”

  Mona slightly rolled her eyes, and then asked, “Again?”

  “Yeah, she says that she may have to move back there for a while, because of business or something.”

  “Well damn, she is so indecisive. I think that Monica makes these types of decisions based on your reaction. She wants you to beg her to stay or something. I know she still wants to be with you.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t go that far, but I know I don’t wanna be with her.” Rico said with a roll of the eyes.

  “Who do you wanna be with?” Mona questioned.

  “You,” Rico said with a handsome smile on his face. “Baby, I wanna be with you. I want my family back. I just want you to forgive me.”