Games Divas Play (A Diva Mystery Novel)

by Angela Burt-Murray

  “Thanks for today. I think I’ll jump in a cab and head home,” I said.

  “I can take you home. It’s not a problem. That way we can talk this out some more,” he said, looking at me quizzically.

  “No, really it’s OK. I’ll see you in Phoenix.” I flagged down a taxi and jumped in before he could object further. I sank into the backseat of the car, which unfortunately smelled no better than the car Terrence had been driving, and let my mind wonder about what Carlo had been doing in Phoenix and why it was best that Terrence not take me home because I knew I wouldn’t be strong enough to turn him away a second time.

  CHAPTER 17

  Vanessa

  The private plane touched down smoothly on the tarmac in Phoenix. Damon clapped his hands excitedly.

  “Mr. and Mrs. King, welcome to Phoenix,” the flight attendant said into the intercom. “The local time is nine thirty a.m., and the temperature is a gorgeous eighty-six degrees and sunny.”

  “Daddy, we’re home!” Damon shouted, bouncing on his father’s lap as the plane continued to taxi slowly on the runway of the private airstrip. Damon didn’t yet consider New York home, so ever since we told him we were going to Phoenix, he’d been saying we were going home.

  “Well, you’re halfway right, little man,” Marcus said, hugging Damon tightly and leaning over to look out the window with his son. “We’re back in your hometown, but we live in New York now.”

  “We’re home, Daddy!” Damon squealed again.

  “Whatever you say, buddy,” Marcus said, laughing.

  “Are we going to our house, Daddy?”

  “No, Son. Remember I told you we sold our house in Phoenix, and we’re going to stay in a hotel this time?”

  “OK, Daddy.”

  I loved the sight of the two of them together and the sound of their laughter, and that was why everything had to go according to plan this weekend because no two-bit trick was going to break up my family.

  I was glad to be on the ground as well. I had been running back and forth to the bathroom, fighting nausea so many times during the flight, I was sure Marcus would begin to suspect something was up. I’d never had morning sickness with Damon, but this time was clearly different. Luckily, Marcus had slept most of the way with his large Beats earphones glued to his ears while he rested up for the nonstop weekend of events. If anyone suspected anything, it was Nicole, who passed me some saltine crackers after my fourth time rushing to the bathroom. I knew she wouldn’t say anything, so I wasn’t concerned.

  When the plane came to a stop, I looked out the window and saw two black Lincoln Navigators parked at the end of a black carpet. Kareem and Desiree were standing next to one while they both talked on their cell phones.

  “You’re not coming to the hotel with us, Marcus?” I asked, turning back to look at my husband.

  “No, babe. I have to go meet with Kareem and take pictures with the East team. I’ll catch up with you guys for a late lunch back at the hotel around one o’clock.” He turned and set Damon on the floor, and began to gather his earphones and magazines to toss into his Louis Vuitton tote.

  “Why don’t you take Damon with you?” I said, knowing as soon as I said it that Damon would beg to go until his father let him.

  Five, four, three, two . . .

  “Daddy, please. Can I go with you? Please, Daddy!” Damon said, his eyes wide with the prospect of going with his dad and seeing his uncle Kareem. He hopped up and down on one leg excitedly.

  “You guys will have fun together, and I can focus on going over the final plans and review the auction items for our Midnight Gala tomorrow,” I said to Marcus.

  Of course I had an ulterior motive. If Damon was with Marcus, he’d have to take Nicole, too, and that meant he couldn’t get into any trouble with all the hoes trolling around everywhere. Although there was only one ho I was really focused on this weekend. Plus, that would give me enough time to have the important meeting I was planning.

  Marcus tried to look at me with pleading eyes, but I ducked my head, pretending not to see him as I gathered my things to toss in my Bottega Veneta tote.

  “Have fun with Daddy and Uncle Kareem, sweetie,” I said as I kissed my little man on the cheek and then grabbed my bag and Gucci train case. I made my way to the front of the plane where the door had just opened.

  Damon skipped down the aisle, holding his father’s hand, and Nicole followed them out of the plane, carrying her purse and Damon’s bag filled with toys and snacks.

  As we all made our way off the plane, we could see luggage handlers taking out our suitcases from the luggage compartment. They piled the eight pieces of trunks, suitcases, and garment bags onto a trolley cart and rolled them over to the parked SUVs to begin loading everything into the back.

  “Uncle Kareem!” Damon squirmed out of his dad’s arms and ran over to his favorite uncle. Kareem dropped down on one knee and scooped up his godson.

  “What’s up, D? How was your flight?” Kareem asked as he slipped his phone back in his pocket.

  “Good, Uncle Kareem. Guess what?” Damon said, looking up at his uncle and taking his face between his two little chubby hands.

  “What?”

  “I’m coming with you and Daddy today! Daddy said I could.”

  “He did? Well, if Daddy says you can, then that’s all good with me.” I had watched Kareem’s face closely to see if he looked frustrated with this unexpected piece of news, but he took it in stride.

  “All right, baby. We’ll see you back at the hotel later.” Marcus leaned down to kiss me on the cheek, but I quickly turned my head so that he got my lips instead.

  “OK, baby. Don’t be gone long. I have something important I need to talk to you about.” I looked deep into my husband’s eyes and kissed him back. After I pulled away, I looked over at Kareem.

  “Take care of my men,” I tossed over my shoulder as the driver helped me into my waiting car.

  “Don’t I always, Vanessa?” he said with one of his fake smiles. I slammed the door closed. I smiled as I leaned back into the seat, knowing that I would have the pleasure of wiping that smile off his smug face for good this weekend.

  As the truck began to leave the airport to head to the Four Seasons hotel, I pulled my cell phone out of my bag and shot off a text message confirming the time and location of my afternoon meeting.

  Your days are numbered, Kareem Davis, and you don’t even know it yet.

  There was a knock on the door of the hotel suite right on cue. Damn, that girl is never late, I thought as I walked across the marble foyer to open the door.

  “What’s up?” I said, hugging Nia. She had called a few minutes ago, asking if she could come see me because she had some good news and some bad news to share. I’d never heard her sound that cryptic before, and she said she couldn’t tell me over the phone, so I told her to come on over.

  “Hey, girl. How are you feeling?”

  “Good. Come in the bedroom. I’m trying to figure out which gown I’m wearing to the gala tomorrow night.”

  “I only have thirty minutes. I’m meeting Terrence across town in an hour,” she said. That worked perfectly for me since my meeting was due to start in forty-five minutes, and I couldn’t afford to be late.

  “Terrence? What’s Terrence doing in Phoenix?” I said as I held a red sequined one-shoulder gown up against my body and looked at my reflection in the mirror.

  “You ought to know. His fiancée is modeling in your damn fashion show,” she said, flopping down on the king-size bed.

  “What on earth are you talking about, crazy? There’s no fashion show at our Midnight Gala.”

  “No, not the gala. Vivica’s modeling at the Basketball Wives charity fashion show bullshit.”

  “Oh, that’s right,” I said, snapping my fingers. “I remember now. Girl, I barely even go to that thing. I pop i
n and make an appearance and pop right back out. My first couple of years in the league I was all up in there joining committees, hosting events. Shoot, now? I’m focused on me and mine. I don’t have time for the petty gossip and nonsense, which is all that thing really is, anyway.”

  “Whatever the fuck ever. The fact of the matter is he’s here because of her.”

  “Look, that’s your own damn fault,” I said, turning back toward the mirror to hold a short strapless black lace dress with a train up against my body.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” she snapped.

  Sighing, I turned around and came over to sit with Nia on the bed.

  “What it means, dear sister, is that I know both of y’all are still in love with each other, and you need to just go ahead and tell him how you feel. Don’t be scurrrrred, girl.”

  “I can’t do that. He’s engaged,” Nia whined.

  “Look, until he’s married, all bets are off.”

  “Is that how you felt when you and Marcus got engaged and all those tricks were throwing their panties at your man, showing up naked in his hotel shower? You do remember that one, right?”

  “Chile, I had forgotten about that one. He called me from the road, half-scared to death, telling me about the naked woman who had snuck into his hotel room and was hiding in his shower.”

  “And I had to talk you out of jumping on a plane to get to wherever the hell he was playing and tracking that bitch down. Remember?”

  “Yes, Lord, I sure do. Wow.” I got lost in my thoughts for a moment, looking at how far we’d come. We went from him being scared of the crazed groupies he found in his shower to me having to accept the Road Code to where we were today. My stomach jumped as I thought about what I had to tell him tonight.

  “Hey, on the phone yesterday, you said you had some good news and some bad news for me. What’s up?”

  “OK, which do you want first?” she said, sighing deeply.

  “Damn, girl. What is it? Give me the bad first so you can leave on a high note.”

  “OK, here we go. I hate to even mention this heffa’s name, especially since you and Marcus are in such a good place right now.” I felt my body tensing up as she went on to explain how her company had acquired the network that was producing Laila James’s reality show, that all the publications were required to support the show, and DivaDish was going to be the sponsor for her premiere party tonight.

  “I really tried to get out of it, Vanessa. I swear I did,” Nia said as she searched my eyes pleadingly.

  “Let me mull that one over a bit while you give me the good news,” I said, thinking it better be great fucking news to get over the stinking betrayal I felt.

  She reached into her bag and pulled out a magazine and placed it in my hands.

  “This is the good news. This is your magazine cover that I’m going to reveal at Laila’s party tonight.”

  I usually don’t like any pictures of myself, but I had to admit Nia’s team had done a wonderful job. She had selected the shot of me wearing a bright pink off-the-shoulder Oscar de la Renta dress. My neck was laced with piles of gorgeous silver necklaces, and my hair was blown out sleek and straight and swept to the side. The makeup was flawless. I looked confident, happy, knowing.

  And while the photo was gorgeous, the cover line stole the show: “Marcus and Vanessa King on rebuilding their marriage and welcoming a new baby.”

  There was also a quote: “ ‘We couldn’t be happier,’ ” I read aloud.

  “So what do you think?” Nia asked, leaning over my shoulder to look at the cover. “Please tell me you love it.”

  “It’s really beautiful, Nia. Thank you so much.” I hugged my friend. I knew she had no choice in the party, but she was more than making up for it by debuting my cover tonight. It was perfect. She had no idea what this meant to me and what it meant to our family.

  “Wait until you read the story. I think Che did a great job, although I was sorry to hear that Marcus was never able to sit down for an actual interview with her due to his crazy game-and-practice schedule. But the quotes he e-mailed were great.”

  I slid off the bed and began to put the three gowns back on their hangers, fussing with the rack so that Nia couldn’t see the disappointment on my face.

  “So how was your flight? Did your stomach bother you?” Nia asked as she slipped the magazine back into her bag.

  “I’m good. Next week I’ll officially clear my first trimester, and all the morning sickness will be gone,” I said, laughing. “I’ll be so glad when I can stop all this sneaking around.” As soon as I said the words, I wanted to pull them back in.

  “ ‘Sneaking around’?” Nia asked, walking over to stand in front of me. “What do you mean ‘sneaking around’? Oh my God, you still haven’t told Marcus, have you?”

  “No,” I admitted. “I’m going to do it tonight.”

  “What do you mean you haven’t told him? What about all those quotes that Marcus e-mailed to my editor about how happy he was about the baby?”

  I stiffened my shoulders and stared back at her with a hard glint in my eye.

  “Look, I’m going to tell him tonight, and all those things I said in the magazine are going to be true.”

  “Going to be true? Are you nuts? That’s not how it works, Vanessa!”

  “Look, don’t try to get all high and mighty with me right now. Look at how you sold your best friend down the river by working with a woman who is trying to destroy my family,” I yelled back at her.

  “You know I didn’t have a choice, Vanessa!”

  “We always have choices, Nia. And I’ve made mine. The magazine will make its debut tonight at Laila’s party, and I’ll tell my husband that he’s going to be a father again. End of story. Even I couldn’t have dreamed that the magazine would be debuting the cover at that whore’s little party,” I said, clapping my hands. I knew I must have sounded and looked crazy, but I didn’t care. It was time for payback and for Laila to learn what it felt like to be humiliated.

  “You know I’m your girl forever and always, but you better have my back when the ish hits the fan with DeAnna for dropping this bomb at the party we’re sponsoring. You do realize I could get fired for this?” she asked me.

  “Look, Nia, you wanted a big story, and I gave you one. So now let’s just sit back and watch the fireworks.”

  When Nia left, she wasn’t totally happy with me, but she’d get over it. I was confident that my plan would prove fruitful for the both of us.

  The next knock at the door was also exactly on time. And after my last meeting, I was looking forward to this one, which was hopefully going to bring me more good news.

  “Mrs. King,” said the tall gentleman in an expensive black suit, crisp white shirt, and yellow Hermès tie as I opened the door. His dark hair and piercing blue eyes complemented his tan features, reminding me of Tom Cruise.

  “Mr. Knight, please come in,” I said as I shook his outstretched hand.

  “Thank you, Mrs. King. It’s such a pleasure to finally meet you in person.”

  “The pleasure is all mine. We’ve certainly been texting and e-mailing for quite some time. Please call me Vanessa.” I led him into our suite, and we walked past the formal dining room and into the sunken living room.

  “And please call me John,” he said as he unbuttoned his suit jacket and took a seat on the long gray sofa.

  “I’d offer you a drink, John, but frankly we don’t have much time. My husband will be here in about thirty minutes, and he’d go ballistic if he saw you here, so let’s get down to business, shall we?” I asked as I took a seat next to him on the sofa.

  “That sounds good to me,” John said, smiling as he reached into his briefcase.

  “Good,” I said with a smile of my own. “So, John, tell me how your firm, Knight Sports Management, plans to take my hu
sband Marcus King’s career to the next level and how you’re going to get him out of his contract with that thieving son of a bitch, Kareem Davis.”

  I closed the door behind John and ran into the bedroom, giddy with excitement. The Knight Sports Management proposal had exceeded my wildest expectations. While we hadn’t had time to go through the entire proposal, John hit the high points, outlining a top-tier strategy about how to make Marcus an international star.

  But the most illuminating part of the meeting had to be the research Knight’s team had done reconstructing Marcus’s earnings over the past year and matching that up with the forensic accountant’s audit I had begun when we first got to New York. I always suspected that Kareem was skimming money, but I had no way of proving it. Now, thanks to Knight, I had all the proof I needed and then some.

  He also shared one cautionary note: with all the recent drama Marcus and I had been going through, John heard that the Gladiators’ owners were getting nervous. They were concerned that Marcus could get involved with a career-ending scandal and, even worse, that winning basketball games didn’t seem to be his priority. John assured me that he understood that all athletes go through rough patches, but one of the things that his firm specialized in was crisis management and making unwanted people and problems go away.

  The buzzing of my phone on the nightstand interrupted my reverie. I rolled over to pick it up and read the incoming text message.

  What I read made me drop the phone and scream. This couldn’t be happening again.

  Welcome back to Phoenix, bitch! Are you ready to die?

  CHAPTER 18

  Nia

  As the elevator doors opened into the crowded lobby of the Ritz-Carlton hotel, I reconsidered if it was a good idea to come downstairs to meet MJ. My intention was to order a very large alcoholic beverage and download to MJ my disastrous confrontation with Vanessa, but the sea of bodies cut off a direct path to the bar. The lobby was packed with clusters of B-list celebrities and their entourages, basketball players in warm-up suits and sunglasses, and women dressed in what can only charitably be described as damn near nothing. Cameras were snapping, video cameras shooting, and phone and room numbers were exchanged. I felt like I had stumbled into hedonism.