by B. M. Hardin
Sonni took a deep breath.
There was so much that had come out of her mouth that it was going to take me a minute to process it all.
I couldn’t believe that she’d told such a horrible lie.
And wait a minute…she’d worked at the hotel too?
What!
But I’d looked at the women that day or at least I thought that I had.
I guess I hadn’t really paid much attention to their actual faces but still I would have noticed my own sister.
I couldn’t have seen her.
Maybe she was in one of the rooms that were behind me; the opposite way that we’d gone once we’d gotten off of the elevator that day.
It was just hard to believe.
And Mr. Ben had stalked her too?
Hell, maybe that’s why he’d stalked me.
It could have been because I reminded him of her.
My head was starting to hurt and my ears felt as though they were about to bleed.
“Look, maybe it doesn’t make sense to you, but this is who I am, what I want and where I want to be. I don’t belong there. I don’t even want to be there. I just want to be free. And now that I’m supposedly dead…I’m free.”
Sonni stood to her feet.
I was trying my best not to cry, but I couldn’t help it.
I felt as though she was dying right in front of me.
As though I was watching her being murdered just as I’d watch Tia; but Sonni was doing everything by choice.
This was her choice.
“Do me a favor?” Sonni said grabbing her things.
I simply nodded.
“Don’t tell anyone that you saw me. Just let me be,” she said.
I nodded again and she smiled.
I felt as though I was going to pass out as she prepared to walk away.
I sat on the bench and she looked back at me.
“Goodbye Envy. Enjoy the rest of your life…sister,” and with that, she was gone.
There weren’t enough hours in the day to explain how I felt at that moment and I wouldn’t have dared to even have tried.
I sat there and cried as I watched her until she disappeared.
After a while, finally, I was able to stand and I walked in the other direction.
I glanced by one last time, just to see if maybe she’d turned back around and maybe had second thoughts.
But she was gone.
My mouth started to move but no sound escaped from my lips.
Goodbye Sonni. I love you, sister, I mouthed.
***
As soon as the cab pulled up in front of our house, I noticed the pearl colored Cadillac Escalade, with a big red bow.
I looked over at Silas, who was already looking at me.
“I figured that it was time that you got something new,” he said and he helped me with my bags.
I smiled at him and headed towards the car.
I’d never had a brand spanking new car before and as I sat in the driver’s seat, I couldn’t help but feel as though I’d hit the jackpot with Silas.
Though I had to keep my eye on him, as long as whatever he was into didn’t cause me any harm or any issues, I was fine with that.
Maybe he was into drugs or something.
I hope not.
“Do you like it?”
“I love it. And I love you.”
Just as we started to kiss, Josephine and her family pulled up to drop off Horizon.
I missed her unexplainably.
She ran to me and I hugged her like never before.
I guess knowing that Sonni never even wanted to see her kids again, made me love and adore Horizon even more.
I hadn’t been able to get Sonni off of my mind but I knew that I was going to have to try to forget about her.
She didn’t love any of us.
To them she was dead and I secretly had to try to convince myself of the same.
I would never see her again.
I would never hear from her again.
And I just had to get over it and accept it.
Of course I was going to keep my knowledge of her being alive away from Josephine and the others.
There was no point in telling them such horrible news anyway.
So, I was adding another secret to the list and hopefully this was going to be the last one.
I just wanted the opposite of what Sonni had wanted.
A normal life.
No secrets.
No lies.
Just love, a husband, kids, family and happiness.
That was all that I needed.
And I was going to have it.
After chatting with my sister and inviting her, Grant and the kids to stay over for take-out, as soon as I could get away, I headed to the bedroom, grabbed the urn and flushed the ashes down the toilet.
Who in the hell ashes were they anyway?
But though I knew that they didn’t belong to Sonni, as they disappeared down the toilet, it seemed as though I forced all of the love that I had for her to go down with them.
There was no point in holding on to someone that didn’t want to be held on to.
I headed back towards my family, but at the ringing of my cell phone, I stopped in the hallway.
It was Detective Wiley.
“When will you be going back in to the hotel?”
Damn!
No hello.
No how was your trip.
No I’m glad that you didn’t drown or die in a plane crash.
Nothing.
Either it was just me or he seemed to want to crack this case as bad as an alcoholic wanted their next drink.
I mean he really wanted to take down Carmen, the others and the thirteenth floor.
Maybe it was for recognition or maybe it was for other reasons, but whatever the reasons were, he wanted it so bad that he could taste it.
But still, there was a way of talking to people; especially those that you needed to help you.
Why he gotta’ be so rude?
“I’m going in tomorrow. I told her that this was going to be my last week.”
“Yeah, well, I’ll be the one to make that decision,” he said and hung up without bothering to say goodbye.
After it was all said and done, I was going to curse his ass out from here to Mexico.
Detective or not, I was going to let him have it!
Taking a deep breath, I ignored the call from Carmen and headed back to enjoy my family.
Carmen would get plenty of talk time from me tomorrow.
Tonight, I was going to talk to people that I actually wanted to talk to.
“Damn, not one returned call,” Carmen said.
I smiled at her but she didn’t smile back, so quickly I gave her an excuse.
“I didn’t want to be bothered with the phone at all. I just wanted to relax,” I said to her, hoping to stay on her good side.
At first she didn’t say anything.
She just looked at me.
She looked at me as though she hadn’t seen me in years.
After a while, she shrugged and then headed for the inside of the hotel as I followed.
I was so lost in my thoughts that I accidently bumped into one of the maids that were hard at work.
I apologized and she went back to dusting and tending to the plants in the lobby.
I could tell that she hated her job.
I could tell that she was just there to make what little paycheck that she could, just to get by.
I used to be her.
That used to be me.
I’d been in her shoes and I knew exactly how trapped she felt.
Quickly, I glanced at her name tag and continued to follow Carmen to her downstairs office so that we could get on the secret elevator and head up to the 13th floor.
“So, is this still your last week or what? I’ll make it where you can only be reserved and go ahead and start taking you off the menu,” Carmen asked as we got off of the elevator
.
I really didn’t know how to answer the question.
“I don’t know,” I answered her.
“Okay, Envy, so why are you still here? We both know that it isn’t for the money and I’m sure you are tired of selling your ass to men who don’t give a damn about you. So, why are you here?” Carmen asked fiercely.
“I told you. And I guess that I’m just somewhat unsure of what the future really holds. I hate being here, I do. I’m just...” I acted as though I was at a loss for words.
Hell, I knew why I was there but that was my business.
Carmen didn’t say anything to my response as we entered her office.
She took a seat and then finally she spoke.
“Okay, well, since you are saying all of that…what about taking over?” Carmen said with no shame at all.
Yeah right!
At least that’s what I wanted to say.
Was she stupid?
I definitely didn’t want to be in her shoes.
And besides, all of this was about to come to an end.
“Never.”
“Why not? You’re having a hard time leaving and I have been ready to go for years. It pays more money than you could ever imagine. I’m tired. But it’s tricky when it comes to walking away. But if I had a replacement, now that’s a different story. And on top of that you know the business and you have been in the game for a while now. They would accept you and learn to trust you with no problem. I just need to get away from this place. I just need to live,” Carmen said, sounding like a normal person.
But she could sing that tune to someone else, because I already knew what was in store for her and the others, in the near future, so if she wanted to live, she didn’t have long to do so.
But then it hit me.
If she thinks that I may consider being her replacement, maybe she would open up a little more.
Maybe she would start saying a few names that could be helpful to the case.
Now, that sounded like a plan.
Just maybe pretending to be onboard with the whole idea just might work.
It just might give me that extra boost to get her to trust me one hundred percent.
Maybe.
I looked at her as she looked at me.
She looked somewhat different for some reason.
For the first time, ever, she looked her age.
Maybe she was serious about being tired, and I’m sure that she was but I wasn’t going to be able to help her out on that one.
But for now, I was going to give her just a little hope.
“I don’t know Carmen. I mean being in charge…I just don’t know. I’ll think about it.”
The bait was set.
Now, I just had to wait for the fish to bite.
*****************************************
Chapter NINE
“Here is your tip trick,” the man said and left the room.
Maybe it was something in the air, but every new client I’d had lately had been extremely rude and nasty.
If they weren’t one of my regulars, they’d been just awful.
I cleaned up the room, but just as I headed out, Carmen burst into the room.
She was crying, and I couldn’t believe it.
It was like seeing a hungry lion showing its evening meal sympathy or like a shark deciding to take a day off from biting anything that was close enough to it that he could call lunch.
Basically…it was just very weird for me.
She bum rushed me and forced herself into my chest.
For starters, I was butt ass naked, sweaty, and uncomfortable didn’t even begin to describe what I was feeling.
Carmen bawled for all of five minutes and I just stood there.
I didn’t pat her back or ask her what was wrong.
I literally just stood there.
After a while she finally pulled herself together and sat on the edge of the bed.
I watched her curiously, waiting for her to say something but instead she started to laugh.
And I mean…laugh.
She was literally laughing.
And it was like a crazy, overly hysterical, creepy kind of laughter.
This bitch is crazy!
Boy I’m telling you, she needed therapy and she needed it right damn now!
“Carmen what’s wrong?” I finally asked her in between her laughs.
She continued to laugh and looked in my direction.
“Envy, nothing is wrong.”
What?
Oh hell no!
That was my cue to make my exit.
“Come sit and chat with me for a second,” Carmen said and patted the bed.
Ugh, but why?
I wanted to go in the opposite direction, out the door that is, but hopeful that she just might say something that I needed to hear, hesitantly I made my way over to her.
I grabbed a dirty towel from the table and attempted to cover up; though my curves and hips had no chance in hell of being hidden.
But at least my breasts and kitty cat were concealed.
“Envy, so is tomorrow your last day or should I put you back on the menu?”
I’d had her take me off just in case but I hadn’t gotten a thing out of her all week so I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to just walk away.
But then again, maybe I could.
The detective didn’t have to know that I’d quit.
And the fact that Carmen thought that we were the best of friends, I could still come and visit during the week, just to sit and chat and hopefully find out what he needed to know.
But that was risky.
But…
Hell yeah, that was a chance that I just had to take.
Thinking briefly about my last lay, I knew that it was time for me to go.
Mentally, I just couldn’t take it anymore.
I just had to go.
And that’s exactly what I was going to do.
“Yes. Yes it is. But that won’t change our friendship. I’ll still come by and see you during the week just to chat. Hell, until all of the plans are up and running for the boutique, I won’t have much to do. And since technically you sit around here all day, not doing a thing, I can come bother you, if that’s okay,” I said, trying to ensure that I would be able to come to the hotel and up to the thirteenth floor, even if I wasn’t working, before I made a for sure decision.
Carmen smiled.
“I was worried that you couldn’t wait to get away from me,” she said.
She was absolutely right but of course I had to keep my thoughts to myself.
“We’re friends, now, despite rough beginnings. So hopefully we can stay that way,” I said to her and forced a smile.
I was sure that somehow she would find out that it was me that had sold her out but what the hell could she do to me behind bars?
The detective said that they would make the big bust, once everything came together, on a day that I was off from the hotel, so that no one wondered why everyone was going to jail except for me, but since I was really about to call it quits, I guess that wouldn’t really matter now.
The only problem with this whole thing was the thought of knowing that no matter how careful we tried to be, I still could be found out.
And especially if I just ended up trying to take what I wanted, then of course Carmen would know that I helped the police get what they needed.
And if there was as much power at the top of the food chain as Carmen had mentioned, then there was no telling what kind of connections they had to deal with snitches.
But I couldn’t worry about that.
I was promised witness protection if it ever became necessary but if it was done right and I remained discreet, I was hoping that things would be just fine.
I took a deep breath.
I was really going to do this.
I was really going to walk away, finally.
It was time.
Yes, it was time.
&nbs
p; “Envy?”
Carmen started to ask but she hurriedly placed her hand over her mouth and headed towards the trash can.
I turned away as she puked.
First she was crying, and then she wasn’t, then she was laughing and now she was throwing up.
Hmmm….
“Carmen, are you pregnant?” I asked suspiciously.
She didn’t answer me.
She continued to gag for another minute or so and once she stopped, I asked her the same question again.
“Are you pregnant?”
“I don’t think so. I’m not sure. I haven’t been pregnant in years…”
I could tell that she didn’t mean to say the last part of her statement because she stopped abruptly and bit her bottom lip.
She’d been pregnant?
Wow.
She’d never mentioned it before.
“You were pregnant? What happened to the baby?” I asked her.
My gut told me to stop asking questions but my curiosity got the best of me.
“What happened?”
Carmen let out a deep breath and then joined me back on the bed.
“It died.”
She didn’t have to call it an “it”…but then again she may have not known what the sex of the baby was.
“Oh no, you had a miscarriage?”
“No.”
No?
“Well, how did it die?”
She looked at me for a while and then she’d had that “oh well, what the hell” moment, and then she opened her mouth.
“It died in a car accident.”
Wait a minute…what?
What was she trying to say?
“Damn, do I have to spell it out for you Envy? Silas and I had a daughter. And her name was Carmen.”
“What? So you mean to tell me that Silas and your sister’s daughter, the one that died, and the little girl, Carmen that died, was really your daughter?” I asked her.
She nodded.
What!
What the hell going on around here?
I was so confused.
I was surrounded by liars!
Silas and Carmen had a child?
And then he took her and let her sister raise her as her own?