by Skye, Lena
“Bye Bill,” I said as I walked over to the mini bar and got a bottle of champagne and brought over two champagne flutes.
We sat on the balcony and enjoyed a glass of champagne in silence for a few moments. I needed to let it calm my nerves because I felt on edge, but I couldn’t put my finger on why. The alcohol had gotten into my system, and I poured the both of us another glass.
“I feel sorry for the boy for having to grow up with a mother like that,” I said.
Granted his mother didn’t seem as trifling as my own. I hoped that Jane would get her life together so that she could raise a healthy son because that’s what children deserved.
“I feel bad for him too; he’s a pretty great kid. But I’m relieved because I’m not ready to be a father right now. I’m happy that I don’t have to just yet.”
“Oh yeah?” I asked, “Are you interested in ever being a father?”
I couldn’t believe that he and I hadn’t discussed something so crucial yet. Children were a huge sticking point in most relationships, and we completely glossed over it.
“Maybe in about 8 years,” he responded.
I damned near choked on my champagne when he said it. That was such a long time away, and I never saw myself as being an old mother. I didn’t want to start having children in my mid 30’s because that would put me in the high risk category. I had to remind myself that he and I grew up in entirely different cultures. Where I was from most people had their children when they were in their late teens and the pregnancies weren’t planned. I was considered an old maid already and people always wanted to know what was wrong with me and my friends because we hadn’t ‘popped any kids out’ yet. He grew up in an environment where kids were almost always planned, and everyone had them later in life. However, I wanted kids within our first year of marriage or at least in our first few years.
I drowned my disappointment with another glass of champagne.
“Are you okay?” He asked.
“Yes, why?”
“I don’t know, you just feel a little different. If there’s something that you need to talk about just tell me and we can talk about it.”
“No I’m fine. I just have a lot to get done. Next week is it for us,” I said in mock excitement.
“Yes it is. I’m looking forward to celebrating that accomplishment.”
“Oh, I bet you are.”
#Chapter6
“I’ll happily smack your ass anytime,”
Kyle
What a difference a few months make.
Our businesses were going really well, and I’ve been so amazed at watching Camille grow into an amazing business woman. In many aspects she’s put me to complete shame in this arena. She’s taken to it like a fish to water, and it’s definitely her element. The first month put a huge strain on our relationship because it always seemed that she was upset with me about something. I wasn’t sure what I was doing wrong and so I had to eventually just put my food down and demand that she speak to me about what was peeving her.
She revealed to me that she was frustrated with my lack of work ethic. Initially, I wanted to bite her head off because I’ve been working since I was 15 years old, and hard work is something that I’m very used to. But she pointed out that I’m used to having to answer to someone and that maybe I’d gotten too comfortable because I didn’t have an official “boss” anymore. After I got finished nursing my bruised ego for about a week I realized that she was correct. I was spending way too much time celebrating and not enough time working and learning. It’s true that I can delegate a lot of my tasks but in the beginning phases of my projects I need to be a lot more hands on with what’s happening in my businesses.
I had a lot riding on their success, and I was leaving it in the hands of others, and that was unacceptable. Not many people would have told me the truth that way. Actually only my father would have told me that and it wouldn’t have been as nice. She was swallowing a lot of frustration, and I felt lucky to have a woman like her. She was 100% invested in making our businesses worked and not just on spending money, and that says a lot about her as a woman. Technically neither of us has to work again, and my children would never have to work either but I want to build them a legacy that they can be proud of. I knew that I’d chosen the right woman for me; she was my partner in every sense of the word. It was amazing to see how much she had grown from that shy and awkward girl who walked into my office for an interview all that time ago.
I’d gotten some bad news, and I wasn’t sure how to break it to Camille because of her excitement about the wedding but I knew it had to be done and neither of us was going to like what would happen next.
“Hey so what did you want to talk about?” Camille asked as she took a bite out of the apple she grabbed from the kitchen table.
“The date for the trial has been set, and it’s the week before the wedding,” I told her.
“Oh no,” she said as a look of sadness crept across her face, “Does he have to ruin everything? I’ll be so happy when I don’t have to think about Marcus ever again. What do you suggest that we do?”
“I think that we should push the wedding back because it could completely ruin our plans. I want you to be stress free, and we don’t know how this is going to play out,” I said.
She gave a labored sigh, “You’re right, I just want the trial to be over so that this chapter can be closed. I want to start another book,” she laughed.
“We’re already in another book; we just have some loose strings to tie up. It doesn’t matter what happens because we’re going to be together and we did the right thing,” I said.
“Yeah,” she said dispassionately. “I just hope our next book does not have quite so much drama.”
***
The next 3 months went by faster than the previous 3 months.
The businesses were booming, and we were already thinking about opening another restaurant just like it the southern suburbs within the next year. People were interested in franchising the bar, and we were seriously entertaining the thought. I sat in my new office and looked out at the lake. I was proud of myself for building something new and separate from my father. I was also back on speaking terms with my family and my sisters were coming around a lot more.
Camille stormed into my office, and she looked pretty shaken up.
“Kyle,” she said with a quiver in her voice.
I was immediately alarmed, and I stood to my feet. She rushed to me and wrapped her arms around my neck and started crying. I instinctively pulled her closed to me and kissed the top of her head.
“Tell me what’s going on sweetie,” I said.
She continued to sob for a few more seconds before she started pulling herself together. I waited patiently as I rocked her back and forth. I hoped that she was just frustrated about something petty instead of it being a major issue. But she rarely got that upset about something minor, which meant that it was a huge deal.
“I got a horrible email,” she said as she sniffled. I pulled myself away from her and went to my bathroom to get her some tissue.
“What did it say?” I asked as I handed her the tissue.
“It was an anonymous email saying that I wasn’t to testify against Marcus, or I was going to die,” she said.
My blood began to boil at the thought of someone threatening her. No one was going to do any harm to her as long as I had something to do with it. I considered calling the police, but I knew that may have delayed the trial further if we went that route and she was ready to get it over with. I didn’t want to take that choice away from her either.
“So what do you want to do?” I asked.
“I just want to get through this. I can’t live my life in fear, and I can’t let Marcus get away with everything that he did to me. He probably had someone send me threats as well. If he goes free, then I’m never going to get from under his thumb.”
My chest swelled with pride because she was able to push through her fear and be rat
ional even when she was emotional. Camille didn’t need me to tell her what to do or to save her from anything because she was strong enough to do it herself, but she was going to get my help anyway.
“We’re not going to let them get away with this bullshit,” I said, “I’ll have the IT guys come in and we’ll trace down the IP addresses and figure out exactly where that email came from. Everything is traceable, so that won’t be a problem.”
“That would make me feel a lot better. I need to know where it’s coming from, and that would give me a better idea of what I’m dealing with,” she said.
“I’m also going to up your security in the meantime until the trial is over.”
She nodded her head in agreement, “I think that’s a good idea even though I don’t like the idea of being followed around all the time. But if that will keep me safe, then I’ll do it.”
“We may also need to seriously consider moving after this blows over. I personally wouldn’t mind getting a fresh start.”
“What about everything that we’re building here,” she said quickly.
“We have a very capable staff and it will free us to start building in another city. We can come back whenever we want to check on things, but we may be better being away from all of this.”
“I’m going to need some more time to think about that. I don’t know if I would want to be that far away from Cynthia or Sandy.”
“We don’t have to make a decision now, it’s just something to think about,” I said.
I honestly had forgotten how close she was to her two friends. She rarely went a week without seeing either of them. They were her family, and she took family very seriously. I don’t know what she would do if she couldn’t randomly drive to one of their houses to go for a chat. Sometimes I think that’s the only thing that keeps her sane. I was probably going to have to find another solution for us. I guess if we were going to leave I would have to bring her friends along with us.
**
I rushed over to Cynthia’s place after I’d spoken to Kyle, and I was happy to find out that Sandy that was there as well. They still worked odd schedules even though they worked at our businesses. I guess that’s the nature of the industry, and I was grateful that they were available to me because I was still a little shaken up.
I still couldn’t get over how great it felt to drive to Hyde Park to see Cynthia. It fits her personality so much better than the west side of Chicago did. She adored her new neighborhood and couldn’t get over how friendly everyone was and how she could walk down the street at 2 in the morning and feel relatively safe. Sandy chose an apartment not too far from her and they were in walking distance from one another.
I walked up the steps to the huge brownstone 2 flat that she lived in. It was huge, and it had been renovated. I fell in love with it from the first moment that I saw it, and I could see why she was so set on having that particular one.
“Hey girly,” she said as she greeted me at the door, “Oh no, what’s wrong?”
“Do I look that bad?” I asked.
“You don’t look bad; you look frazzled as if you’ve seen a ghost.”
“I need to talk,” I said.
“That’s what we’re here for. Sandy’s psycho ass is in the kitchen eating up all of my food,” she said.
“Well, you’re about to have two psychos eating up all of your food because I’m hungry.”
Soon we were all sitting around her kitchen table eating pita chips and hummus. I wished that I had some wine to go along with it, but I was trying to stop using alcohol to deal with my anxiety. My mom used to use substances to deal with her problems, and that’s how she became a junkie. I didn’t want that to be my reality, and so I vowed to try to deal with my stress better.
“I got a death threat today,” I said.
“From who?” Sandy asked immediately.
“I’m not sure who it’s from but Kyle is going to trace it. We should have a good idea of who it is within the next couple of days. I don’t know why, but I really wasn’t expecting something like that.”
“Not to be harsh or anything,” Cynthia said softly, “But Marcus has proven that you can’t put anything past him. He’s already done things that we never thought he would do. Now that he thinks you’ve betrayed him, the gloves are off.”
“The gloves were already off when he started blackmailing her,” Sandy interjected.
I shook my head, “I don’t care what started this shit, and I just want it to be over.”
“So what’s going to happen from here?” Sandy asked.
I gave them the rundown of what Kyle and I had planned. I also let them know that a security detail was sitting outside of the house. It was a necessary evil for the time being.
“It’s going to be okay. They’re just thugs, and they’re not used to dealing with anyone outside of their tiny little box. They will get a lot more than they bargained for if they try to mess with you. Kyle doesn’t strike me as the kind of person to take these things lightly,” Cynthia said.
“He was pretty upset when he found out about the threats. I don’t think that he’ll do anything stupid, but I know that he won’t allow anything to happen to me either. I’m just so mad that I’ve brought that hood drama to his doorstep. He shouldn’t have to deal with this shit,” I said.
“No one should have to deal with this shit,” Sandy said, “But it’s the hand that you’ve been dealt. You’re worth the trouble, so stop worrying about what he has to deal with.”
“She’s right. Kyle is a very intelligent man and he isn’t going to do anything that he doesn’t want to. So calm the hell down and allow him to be there for you,” Cynthia said.
“I’m trying to let him. But I haven’t told him about how terrified I am.”
“What’s scaring you?” Cynthia asked.
“I really don’t want to testify against Marcus. We’ve been through so much together and for it to end like this…it’s tearing me apart on the inside,” I admitted.
“This situation isn’t your fault. He’s the one that put you in this predicament, and you had to do what was best for you. He didn’t care about betraying your trust. Don’t feel guilty that you’re the one that came out on top. You won and so you need to enjoy your victory,” Sandy said cold heartedly.
She was absolutely right but that didn’t make it any easier to process. I loved Marcus with all of my heart and I thought that he was going to be the man that I grew old with. I didn’t want to be the reason that he was locked away for a long time, even with the threats. But it was clear that I had to choose between him and Kyle. That wasn’t a tough decision at all because Kyle held my heart. I had to do whatever it took to make sure that Marcus couldn’t harm my future. I just wish he had never done all this in the first place.
***
Talking to friends was great but it didn’t do much to calm my nerves. I was just ready to get the whole ordeal over with. My hands were still shaking, my heart was still pounding, and my stomach was still in knots. Wine was a temporary savior, but the effects were quickly wearing off and I was left alone with my over reactive body. My thoughts were racing as I lay across our huge bed. Emotional exhaustion was something that I was learning the meaning of. I groaned as I thought about all of the cameras that were going to be in my face in the morning. The new security guards had managed to thwart the few that had approached me as I got out of my car in our parking lot.
I was enveloped in darkness, and our thick down white comforter had become my source of comfort. I wished that Kyle was home with me so that I could cuddle with him. We only had one last huge hurdle before we could get married, and it seemed like a mountain. I’d been prepped so much by our lawyer and his assistants. They told me that the defense was going to try to discredit me and destroy me on the stand. I just had to be strong and tell the truth. That seemed so much easier said than done, especially since I hated talking about my past. I’ve justified it by saying that I didn’t have any other choice, but
I couldn’t help but think about the lives that I helped destroy.
I hated what my neighborhood had done to my mother, and I helped to perpetuate the same cycle. I didn’t feel like I was any better than Marcus even though I’d never literally sold the drugs. However, I helped facilitate the distribution of narcotics in my own neighborhood. I helped create the very thing that I hated. I felt like I deserved to be in prison right along with Marcus. That level of guilt alone was enough to make me want to crawl under a rock and never show my face again.
Kyle showed up while I was in the middle of my pity party.
“Camille?” He asked before he cut on the bed lamp, “Are you sleeping?”
I played around with the idea of pretending to be asleep. I wasn’t in the mood to have a full conversation about my feelings. I just wanted him to crawl into bed and hold me.
“No,” I responded, my voice was muffled from beneath the bed sheets.
“Are you okay? Did something happen? I’ve been calling you for the last couple of hours.”
“I’m sorry,” I said as I emerged from the comforter, “I forgot to take my phone off silent.”
He looked visibly relieved, but his face was still full of concern, “I’m worried about you. I hope you know that I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
I wanted to tell him that there are certain things that money can’t protect you from. If someone wanted you bad enough, they could get you, and it didn’t matter who you tried to use as a shield. However, that wasn’t a reality that I wanted to share with him because I didn’t want to sound negative, and I didn’t want to shatter his world. I just hoped that the threats were idle and that they didn’t see me as worth it. I didn’t know how long it would take them to pinpoint where the person sent the message from. It was probably just one of Marcus’ idiotic friends.
“I’m really nervous about tomorrow,” I said.
“Yeah, Bill and the prosecutor said that they’ve been trying to call you too.”