by Lym Cruz
“Ezra,” she said, taking a seat behind her desk. “No one is forced to do anything in this life. People consume drugs because they want it. Because they yearn for it.”
“And you make it available.”
“We make it available,” she corrected. “But we don’t force anyone to buy or consume it. Now enough of that, come here I want to show you something.”
She typed a few keys on her computer and opened a list with bank accounts and their respective amounts. I did a quick estimate looking at the numbers to be close to eighty million. Thus far, I’d never been in contact with such high sums. Rowan would give me cash—never over a hundred grand—to clean but these accounts were the heart of the entire operation.
Surprised, I fixed my gaze on her familiar face. “Why are you showing me all of this?”
“I want you to get an idea of how profitable my business is. I will reward and compensate your efforts, very well. Nothing you do will be in vain.”
“Why me?”
“Why not you?”
“I’m not a criminal and this is getting out of hand. I don’t want to be involved with any of this.”
“But you see, you are already involved, and whether you like it or not, Ezra, you are a criminal.”
My guts revolted with guilt and anger. As much as I wanted to deny it, I couldn’t. I was a criminal.
The sun was rising by the time we left the basement. I was cold to the core. It felt like a block of ice rested heavy on my chest.
Chichi gave me a brief rundown of her empire. Although she had a few legitimate enterprises, eighty percent of her revenue came from drug money. I was impressed by how organized and meticulous she was. I silently took it all in, soaking in as much information as possible to pass it on to Detective Nunes.
“Well.” Chichi kissed both sides of my face. “I will be seeing you very shortly.”
Squinting at the sun, she pulled out a pair of glasses from her bag. The oversized frames took up half of her face. That was when it hit me like a herd of cattle running over me. How did I not see this before? She was the woman arguing with my uncle outside the office building. The one he didn’t want to talk about.
I fought to keep my expression unchanged but I couldn’t stop my chest from heaving as the recognition set in. Of all the people in this world, my uncle was the one I most trusted. There was no way he was involved with Chichi or her business. It couldn’t be.
Chichi turned on her heels and sauntered towards her SUV. One of her bodyguards opened the door for her, she climbed in and the car sped off.
Overwhelmed by the situation, I was cemented in place until Rowan spoke and brought me out of my thoughts.
“I’m getting out of here,” he said, “I’m still not fully awake yet.”
“I, um, gotta get to work.”
We shook hands and each wandered in a different direction. Like a madman, I drove to Vinnie’s house. I needed answers and I needed them now.
“Open up,” I yelled, banging on my uncle’s door and simultaneously rang the bell. “Open the door.”
“Where’s the fire?” My uncle’s voice bellowed from the other side. “Hold on, I’m coming.”
The door swung open and a concerned look took over his features when our eyes met. “Ezra? Is everything alright?”
I pushed past him. “Who was that woman you were fighting with the other day at the office?”
He exhaled harshly. “Ezra, I told you to leave that alone.”
Growling, I ran a hand through my hair, pacing back and forth.
“What is going on, son?”
“Who the fuck is she?” I snapped, raising the tone of my voice. “Just tell me the fucking truth. How do you know that woman, and who is she to you?”
Silence.
“Who is she?” I pressed.
The silence grew thick between us until he sucked in a rush of air. “Ezra.” His voice faltering on my name. “Son, stay away from that woman.”
“Chichi? Well too late, I’ve met her.”
His aging eyes bulged and his lips set to a firm hard line, but he wasn’t speaking.
“Please tell me who she is,” I pleaded, desperation clung to my words. All I wanted was to hear that he wasn’t involved with her. Vinnie was good. He was the only father I’d ever known and he always did the right thing. It couldn’t have been all an act.
“She’s your mother, Ezra.” Vinnie’s lips didn’t move, nor was it the sound of his voice I heard. I whipped my head to the right and watched my aunt come out of the kitchen, clutching the robe covering her frame. “Chichi is your mother.”
“Claire,” my uncle warned. “What are you doing?”
“It’s time he knew the truth.”
My face fell.
I didn’t know how to react or think. Immobile, I stood there staring at them blankly. This was the last thing I expected to hear. All on its own, a loud burst of disbelieving laughter escaped my mouth.
“Ezra,” my aunt said, reaching for me. I backed away still laughing. “I know this is a lot to take in. We love you, and all we ever wanted to do was protect you from that woman.”
There was tenderness in her eyes and when she blinked, tears spilled over.
Attempting to rein in my erratic emotions, I spoke, my voice barely audible. “Did she walk out on me and my dad, or was everything you told me a lie?”
“It’s true,” my uncle stated. “She left before your first birthday. Until ten years ago, we didn’t know a thing about her.”
“Ten years,” I echoed, flustered. “She’s been hanging around for ten years and no one thought about telling me?”
“We couldn’t.” Vinnie shook his head. “When she returned, she wanted to meet you but there was something off about her. She’d never cared and all of a sudden, she wanted to meet you? I couldn’t allow that, and to make matters worse she brought a bag of money to thank us for taking care of you. I reckoned that whatever she was involved with was illicit. I know it was wrong to keep it from you, but I couldn’t have a person like that in your life. That woman is bad news.”
My knees buckled. I stumbled back and leaned against the closest wall for support.
“We had an old friend look into her,” Claire continued. “That’s when we found out she’s suspected of being involved in shady business. We told her to stay away from you because you don’t need someone like her in your life. You’re too precious, Ezra.”
I wasn’t precious. I was a corrupt fuck who let greed drag me into a sinking hole.
“If she comes near you again,” Vinnie hissed. “You tell her to stay away. She promised she’d leave you alone if we gave her information about you.”
I raised my eyes. “What kind of information?”
“Pictures of your birthdays, report cards, what you liked doing. Just basic everyday type of things. She said she wanted to get to know you even if it was through pictures, but recently, she showed up again. Demanding we tell you about her.”
“Why does she need your permission? Why didn’t she come directly to me?”
My aunt shook her head. “I’m not sure. I think she wanted our approval, or for us to smooth things over for her. I do think she regrets walking out on you and I genuinely think she cares. It’s just that her life is too complicated.”
Wheels were spinning in my head. The only thing I was thankful for was that my uncle wasn’t part of her sordid business. There were a ton of things that didn’t add up and the only person who could give me answers was Chichi.
“I gotta go,” I said, pushing up from the wall.
“We need to talk, son,” my aunt argued. “Where are you going?”
I held my aunt’s face in my hands. Her blue eyes were filled with concern. “That woman isn’t my mother. She never was.” I placed a kiss on her forehead. “You are.”
I looked at my uncle and he averted his eyes. I believed he wasn’t involved with Chichi but there was something more he wasn’t telling me.
“Is there anything else I should know?” I asked Vinnie. “Is this all?”
“I promise you this is all we know. Please stay away from that woman.” It was my aunt Claire who answered. Vinnie still couldn’t fully lock eyes with me.
I left my uncle’s house to find Rowan. He was the only person who could tell me where I could find the woman that started all of this.
Rowan didn’t go back to sleep as he claimed. He was at the restaurant counting bills when I marched into his office.
“I need to talk to Chichi,” I demanded. “It’s urgent.”
“You went to one meeting and now you think you can boss me around?” He wrapped an elastic band around a stack of notes. “This ain’t how shit works around here.”
“Fuck it, Rowan.” I slammed my fist on his desk. “The woman is my mother. So I need to fucking to talk to her.”
The shock reflected on his face paralyzed him. Like me, he was trying to process the situation. He dropped the money on the table and crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back on his chair.
“I’ll be damned.” He whistled. “Now it all makes sense.”
“What makes sense?”
“And I take it you just found out?”
“Yes. What the fuck makes sense?”
He let out a dry laugh. “Why you’re here.”
Agitated, my right leg bounced. I pulled out a chair and sat facing him waiting for him to elaborate.
“Do you think you’re that special?” he taunted. “There are thousands of people in this city who could do what you do for us. People who could do it better without constantly having a crisis of conscience. Your mother …” He chuckled. “Targeted you. She specifically demanded I recruited you. I went to that bar where you danced and immediately knew you weren’t cut out for the job. But she said, ‘I want that boy.’ If I came to you myself, you’d run for the hills so I got Neo to reel you in.”
I felt like a fool for falling in this trap.
“If it were up to me,” he continued, “I would have killed you the first time you told me you wanted out. But Chichi said, ‘the boy has to live. Ezra stays.’ Well, now I know why she likes you so much. How fucked up is this?”
It was all too much. My mind was about to explode.
“Where can I find her?”
He grasped a pen and wrote on a piece of paper before sliding it to me. It was the name of a hotel with a room number. I wanted answers, but even more than that I wanted Christina. She was the only one who could calm the gale howling inside of me. In a span of five hours my life had tipped completely upside down.
Chichi was my mother.
Everything was unbelievable akin to a worst night terror; except I was awake and it was all real. I lost all sense of direction. Until I had a moment to breathe, think and let everything sink in, I wasn’t going to act.
However, I was contemplating an escape. Maybe I could use my mother to my advantage.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Christina
Ezra: I’m in the hallway.
Ezra: I need you.
My heart palpitated sensing the urgency coming through his texts. I pushed back my chair and rushed for the door, telling Stacie I needed to go to the bathroom.
Ezra was at the far end of the corridor. Head bowed, his hair falling over his forehead. The aura surrounding him was weighted. I quickened my pace to meet him. He raised his head and his jaw relaxed as his mouth curved up into a tender smile that didn’t match the dark emotions swirling in his eyes.
He placed his hands on my hips, lifted me off the floor and swathed me in a tight hug as if transferring all of his tension to me through the embrace.
“I missed you,” he crooned, setting me down.
“What’s wrong?”
“Everything.” The frown on his face cut a deep line in between his eyebrows. “Everything is so fucked up.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
Ezra nodded, parting his lips but no words left his mouth, instead he held on to my wrist, pulled me inside the men’s room and pressed me against the wall.
He cupped my face, sealing his lips over mine. His fingers trailed up my legs and paused at the apex of my thighs. The soft touch made me shiver, leaving a path of goosebumps and my nipples pebbled. Then his caress toured higher, and a finger slipped between my panties and touched my flesh. He massaged my bud. My core grew slick with anticipation.
“God, I’ve missed you,” he murmured over my lips, pushing his hips against mine.
I hesitated at first, not sure this was the place but the pain in his eyes told me how much he needed this and I couldn’t deny him. Ezra kissed me again, deeper, with greater intensity. And the little self-control I had disappeared.
His mouth worked my body. Moving lower, he kissed my neck while his hand found the perfect rhythm between my legs.
“I want to feel you inside of me,” he said.
Leaning my head back, I moaned flying over the edge. An orgasm rippled in pulsing waves and my entire body sprang to life.
Still panting I said, “We have to make this quick. Someone could come in.”
“Quick we shall be then,” he whispered over the shell of my ear, lifting my skirt up.
His fingers hooked onto the border of the thin lace of my panties, and then he glided them down to my knees. He cupped my breasts over the fabric of my blouse. I managed to unfasten his pants and lower his zipper.
He then palmed my behind, lifted me off my feet, and sat me on the cold vanity. He pulled down his pants, and I kicked off my underwear, as he aligned himself to my pulsing entrance. The head of his cock pushed forward. I looked down mesmerized as the rest of him slid in smoothly. There was a hint of pain, blended with intense desire. I spread my legs wider to better accommodate him, unable to tear my eyes away from the movement between my legs.
Biting my lower lip, I soaked in all the sensation as he slid further, stretching against my walls. Ezra released a low growl and his pace increased. I met his thrusts, grinding into him. Encircled by a mist of desire, my eyes fell shut.
“Look at me, Christina. Open your eyes.”
I obeyed and watched as his thick cock filled me, and my hands ghosted over the most sensitive part of my body to add to the glorious sensation.
“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered.
Ezra’s eyes fixed on the movement of my hands. I stroked myself faster and moaned louder. He pounded into me even harder, jolting my body. My fingers followed his rhythm. I was suppressing my moans into his mouth and then shoulder. His groans were low and feral; his desperate attempt to stay quiet. Surely he could tell how badly I wanted to scream out my pleasure.
His hands gripped my hips relentlessly, holding me in place. I linked my ankles behind his back urging him to move deeper and faster. He slammed in and out without mercy and the sound of his groans increased. I was done for. Everything in me stiffened and his name rolled out of my mouth almost as a sob. I let my weak body fall forward, holding on to his neck. After a couple more thrusts he came.
Ezra pressed himself forward groaning, “You can’t imagine how good you feel wrapped around me. How much I needed this.”
We didn’t move for a while and I maintained my legs wrapped around his waist, keeping him as close as possible.
“Ezra please talk to me.”
“I met my mother this morning.” He huffed a wry laugh. “I don’t know what to do.”
Dumbfounded, I stiffened. “Are you okay?”
“Not in the slightest bit. Everything is a fucking mess.”
I tried to shift, to look at him, but he held on tighter preventing any movement on my part.
“I thought I knew what I was doing,” he continued. “That I had everything under control, but it turns out that I’m a mess. Her presence changes everything.”
I had no clue what he was talking about, still I listened keenly as he vented.
“This morning when I left you, none of this had even cro
ssed my mind. How will I get out of this mess now? I’m burying myself so deep into this hole that I’m suffocating. I can’t breathe anymore.”
“I wish I could help,” I said, running my nails down his back with delicacy. “But you don’t ever tell me what’s really bothering you or what you’ve gotten yourself into.”
“I know.” He sighed. “I’m afraid you’ll hate me once you know everything.”
“There is only one way to find that out.”
I was being truthful. I would give him the benefit of the doubt and listen as promised, but I couldn’t vow that our relationship wouldn’t be affected by his secret.
“I have a few things to take care of today but come to my place tonight and we’ll talk. About everything. It’s time you know.”
I froze. Was I ready to know?
Chapter Twenty-Three
Ezra
Inever anticipated seeing delight wash all over her face as she let me into her hotel suite. Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect but her eyes told me she knew why I was there.
“Make yourself comfortable,” she said, fixing herself a drink. “Do you want anything?”
Shaking my head, I declined her offer. Instead, I watched her with interest, comparing her to the woman in the portrait. I was told my mother’s name was Pamela. In the picture, she was a smiling brunette who, even though I never admitted, I imagined as kindhearted and sweet.
However, the woman facing me was Chichi. Blonde, sophisticated with an air of arrogance. Not to mention bold.
“I take it you know who I am by now?” She crossed the room and sat on a sofa. “I must say I didn’t expect you to figure it out so soon.”
“Cut the bullshit and tell me the reason you came back. Why the fuck did you target me?”
For a moment she was pensive as if cautiously preparing her next words.
“I needed a successor and who better than my son to take over my empire.”
“I’m not your son.”
“Oh, but you are.” She snickered and then took a sip from her tumbler of amber liquor. “When I first arrived, I went to see your uncle and asked him to smooth things over with you. You know, to get you to talk to me but instead, he insulted me and warned me to stay away from you.” She deepened her voice, attempting to mock my uncle. “You’re no good for him. He’s better than you. We raised him right. Blah, blah, blah.” She waved her hand around indifferently. “But I’m not a woman who takes no for an answer. I decided to prove them all wrong and here we are, Ezra. I did what I had to do to have you on my side. Whether you like it or not, it’s my blood that runs through your veins. You are a part of me.”