“Uh . . . I was there, but I was in the back. Yeah, in the back handling some details. Why, what have you heard?” His voice sounded suspicious as if something was wrong.
“Nothing, baby. Chill. I need to see you,” I said.
“You do?” he said, snorting into the phone and then laughing. “And why is that? Marcus not returning your calls after the shit you pulled in Phoenix?”
“That wasn’t me. That was crazy DJ. Whatever. I need to see you. When can we hook up?”
“Oh, so you want to see big daddy now, huh?” I heard him swallow something and clear his throat. “You know all you got to do is say the word and I’m there.”
“Let’s cut the shit, Kareem,” I hissed into the phone. “You know we both have to get this deal back on track. And neither one of us has a lot of time to make that happen.”
“I’ll be out of town the next two days, but I’ll call you to set up a meeting when I get back,” he said before hanging up.
I put the phone back on my nightstand and reclined against the pillows. Kareem was desperate right now, and desperate men were dangerous. I dialed Darryl to fill him in on my conversation.
“Sounds like you might need something with you when you meet with Kareem,” Darryl said, the sounds of the city in the background.
“What did you have in mind?” I said.
“Let me know when he calls you to arrange the meeting. I’ll contact our friends and get you a gun that can’t be traced just in case he causes trouble. That wouldn’t be good for business.”
CHAPTER 28
Nia
The walk to DeAnna’s office was long. I imagined this was what it would have been like for prisoners walking to the guillotine. I hadn’t seen DeAnna since we’d gotten back from Phoenix. I had heard she’d been behind closed doors much of the last two weeks, and I assumed she was busy working with HR and the legal department to get her ducks in a row to break my contract and follow through on her promise to fire me. And since I knew she was going to fire me anyway, I decided there was no need for me to have the website or magazine cover any of the stories about the brawl at the gala and Vanessa’s miscarriage. I was not going to add to my friend’s misery.
The rumors were circulating heavily that Glam Network was going to cancel Laila’s show due to the fight she caused at Marcus and Vanessa’s party and the subsequent backlash in the press and on social media. And once word got out that Vanessa had lost the baby, Laila was officially the most hated black woman in America. But in my experience, I knew that some media execs would think that was another reason to tune in to her reality show, to see the woman you love to hate.
When MJ poked his head into my office during a cover meeting to tell me DeAnna’s office had called, I was glad I had told him a week ago to pack up our essentials. I knew the call would be coming, so there was no need to suffer the added humiliation, yet again, of security standing over us as we cleaned out our desks before being escorted out of the building.
As I approached DeAnna’s corner of the floor, I smoothed down the front of my black Prada dress with the A-line skirt and adjusted the hot pink Michael Kors belt that matched my pumps. Clearly it was fitting that I was wearing black today. I saw DeAnna’s regular assistant wasn’t at her desk guarding her door as usual. A petite woman with short natural hair typed away on a keyboard. DeAnna must have brought in a temp for the day.
“Hi, I’m Nia Bullock. I’m here to see DeAnna,” I said. The young woman looked up and smiled brightly.
“Hi, Ms. Bullock. I’m Terry. She’s expecting you.” Terry walked around her desk and led me to DeAnna’s office and then opened the door. But when I walked in, it was Miki Woods I saw sitting behind DeAnna’s desk. Shit, I thought to myself, DeAnna took this all the way up to corporate, and now because I fucked over Glam Network, this chick is the one to fire me.
“Hi, Nia. Come on in.” Miki smiled and walked from behind the desk to sit in one of the leather chairs. I took a seat opposite Miki and looked around for DeAnna, sure that crazy bitch was about to pop out from behind the sofa or out of the closet at any moment to gloat over getting me fired.
“I’m sure you’re wondering why I called you here,” Miki started, taking a sip from the cup of coffee that Terry handed to her. “I really enjoyed our conversation in Phoenix, and I wanted to follow up.”
Now I’m really confused. First, no DeAnna and now Miki’s talking about following up on our conversation. I didn’t say anything and waited for her to continue.
“I liked your expansion plans for the Diva brand. You’ve got good instincts, and your business is solid.”
“OK, but what about the party?” I asked, looking at her with an eyebrow raised as I crossed my legs.
“Ah, yes, the party. Well, your live stream of the event was the highest-rated stream we’ve had. So your instincts were spot-on.”
“But what about Laila and the show and the cover story on Vanessa?”
“What are you talking about? That was great! Breaking the story at her party was huge. You know what gets people talking and tuning in. It didn’t matter to me that people hated Laila and rooted for Vanessa. That’s great TV!”
“So you’re moving ahead with Laila’s show?” I asked, still unsure of what was going on and when DeAnna was going to pop out of the closet.
“No, of course not. Thanks to you.” Miki smiled as she took another sip of her coffee. If the show was canceled, why was she smiling? “I can’t thank you enough for having Vanessa call me.”
“Vanessa called you?” Why would Vanessa have called Miki?
“Yes, of course. And when she said that you had suggested she pitch me on the idea of switching horses, I thought it was brilliant!”
“Switching horses?” I said, repeating her words. I was thoroughly confused. Now there were horses in the show?
“This is exactly what I’m talking about, Nia. You have a sharp mind and see how things can be bigger than they already are. And telling Vanessa to call me and getting her to agree that she and Marcus would do a reality show made the idea of killing Laila’s show a no-brainer.”
Suddenly everything made sense. In an effort to save my job and get back at Laila, no doubt, Vanessa had called Miki and told her that I had convinced her to do her own reality show with Marcus. She hadn’t mentioned anything to me about this the last time I saw her. The only thing she seemed focused on was rebuilding her marriage with Marcus through thrice-weekly counseling sessions. But clearly, she was also focused on getting revenge against Laila and making sure she didn’t make a dime off being tied to her husband.
“So you’re going to do a reality show with Marcus and Vanessa?”
“Yes, all thanks to you.” Miki jumped up from her chair and began to walk around DeAnna’s office, talking about how big the show was going to be and how she was so excited to be working with them.
“OK, but where’s DeAnna?” I asked, still needing one piece of today’s puzzle clarified.
“Well, unfortunately DeAnna didn’t share my enthusiasm for your career, and when she tried to get you fired, I had to step in. DeAnna is no longer with the company. And now the digital division reports to me.”
“So you’re my new boss?” This was officially the weirdest meeting I’d ever had.
“Yep, and we’ve got big plans. I want you to get started on drafting your expansion plan. I want to see a full budget and revenue plan worked up by next week, and I agree that we should start immediately. Are you ready to move to DC?”
The rest of the meeting passed in a blur as Miki prattled on excitedly about the plans for Diva’s expansion and Marcus and Vanessa’s new show. I nodded my head in the right places and jotted down what I hoped were relevant notes as my head spun.
When I got back to my office, I told MJ what happened.
“Hallelu-jer!” he said in his best Madea voice as
he slapped me a high five. “Now I don’t have to sell this body on the street to pay my rent, honey.”
“Well, that’s good, because you wouldn’t have gotten much,” I shot back as I walked into my office and closed my door so that I could call Terrence. How could I tell him about moving to DC when we had just gotten back together?
“Hey, baby. I was just thinking about you,” he said, picking up on the third ring. “I called you a few minutes ago, but MJ said you were in with DeAnna. Is everything OK? Did you get fired like you thought?”
“Uh . . . well, I didn’t get fired. In fact, I think I just got promoted.”
“That’s great, Nia! We’ll have to celebrate over dinner tonight. I also have some news about Diablo.”
“What is it?” My ears perked up as I pushed aside thoughts of DC.
“Well, I followed up on Kalinda’s Facebook account and used the location services feature to see where some of the pictures were taken that she posted right around the time that Kareem took those trips to Mexico.”
“And what did you find?”
“Well, if he was with Kalinda, then he was in Tijuana and Zitácuaro, two of the main locations for Diablo Negro outposts. And you’re really going to love me for this one: we ran all of Carlo’s passports that we found in that locker at Port Authority, and it turns out he had been to those same cities at least four times in the last year.”
“So you think Kareem is somehow tied to Diablo? Why would he be mixed up with those guys? Drugs?”
“I don’t think it’s drugs. I had one of my buddies put in some calls to UCLA where Marcus and Kareem played basketball in college and pull their college files. Marcus was clean as a whistle. But the NCAA had investigated Kareem for possibly shaving points during his junior year.”
“What do you mean ‘shaving points’?”
“Shaving points is when a player manages the score of a game by making fewer shots or throwing a game.”
“What does that have to do with Diablo?”
“The NCAA was never able to prove anything, but typically when you’re talking about point shaving, the player is tied to a bookie or loan shark, and Diablo, in addition to many other operations, is also heavy into sports gambling.”
“So how does Diablo end up trying to kill Vanessa, and why’d they kill Kareem’s girlfriend Kalinda and then Sean?”
“I haven’t figured out that piece yet. All I know is that we can tie Kareem to the same cities in Mexico where Diablo has a stronghold, and at one time he could have been throwing games for the Diablo crew.”
“But what about when he got in that car accident?”
“Well, that’s also an interesting point. The night of the accident, Kareem and Marcus had a sweet last-minute victory against Duke to go to the championship. In fact, Kareem sank the winning shot. I wonder if Diablo told Kareem to throw the game and when he didn’t, they ended his career.”
“OK,” I said, warming up to Terrence’s theory. “That would make sense, because I remember after the accident Vanessa telling me how devastated Marcus was that they never caught the driver because Kareem was never able to give any identifying details about the car. Maybe he knew who ran him over all along.”
“Very good. Now you see where I’m headed.”
“OK, but if Diablo did end his career, why would Kareem still be working with them? He doesn’t have anything to offer now. He can’t throw any more games for them or anything. He doesn’t even play anymore.”
“No, but up until a month ago he had something even more valuable.”
“He had Marcus King,” I said as I fell back into my chair with the realization. “But wait a minute—Marcus would never throw any games. And he’s playing better than ever. The Gladiators are headed to the play-offs next week.”
“Remember how you said Vanessa’s lawyers found out through the forensic accountant that Kareem was stealing about half of Marcus’s money? Well, once you’re into Diablo Negro, you can’t get out. I think Kareem was paying Diablo all these years out of Marcus’s earnings.”
As I wrapped my mind around all that Terrence was theorizing, my mind zeroed in on something that Vanessa had said to me two weeks ago after the news broke that Marcus had taken on a new agent.
“Wow, that would make sense because Vanessa said that when the accountants identified all his assets, all he had was a little over two hundred thousand dollars in the bank. They couldn’t find any trace of the tens of millions of dollars he’d taken from Marcus and Vanessa’s accounts.”
“Exactly,” Terrence said. “The money had to have gone somewhere, and I’d bet anything it’s gone to Diablo all these years.”
“OK, but none of that explains why Diablo killed Kalinda and Sean and attacked Vanessa.”
“Look, we’ll talk some more about it over dinner. What time can you be ready?”
I glanced at the calendar on my computer screen and saw that MJ had rescheduled the interrupted cover meeting for later in the afternoon. I also had two other meetings with the fashion and beauty teams to review the summer trends that they wanted to shoot for the magazine. I wouldn’t be able to get out of here for a while, but fortunately Terrence’s day sounded just as busy.
“I have to be in court in thirty minutes, and then I have to wrap a few things. I’ll come get you around five o’clock, and then we can go out and celebrate your promotion.”
“Perfect. See you then.” I hung up the phone with my mind whirling over the Diablo connection to Kareem and the fact that I hadn’t told Terrence that my new boss had just asked me to move to Washington, DC.
CHAPTER 29
Vanessa
After I put Damon down for his afternoon nap, I headed into the master bathroom to run a hot bath. My aching muscles, still sore from yoga that morning, called out for a warm soak. As I started to fill the large Jacuzzi in the center of the master bathroom, I sprinkled in some lavender bath salts and then dimmed the lights. I pushed some buttons on the iPod dock, and the sounds of Jill Scott filled the room.
I was beyond tired. It had been a long day already and an even longer week. Going to counseling with Marcus three times a week was intense and draining. But unlike in the past when I had begged him to go and he had just sat on the couch saying whatever he thought I wanted to hear, this time he was the one who had found Dr. Gordon, a gentle and well-respected marriage counselor in Midtown. And this time he was fully engaged, searching for answers for his behavior and holding himself accountable. The sessions delved into the challenges in our marriage and the loss of our baby since that was something with which we were both still dealing. Marcus had also requested some solo sessions with Dr. Gordon, which was encouraging. I knew he needed to work through his issues of Kareem’s betrayal.
One of the other things we discussed was the new reality show deal with Glam Network. Marcus had been surprised that I had expressed an interest in doing something so public, especially with the network that had been promoting Laila’s show. I explained to him that by doing the show, we could effectively kill Laila’s show and all the talk about their relationship. At first, Dr. Gordon didn’t think it was a good idea for us to be entering into such an arrangement, but when I explained to her that I really wanted to use this show as a platform to build awareness for our family foundation and show people how hard we were working on our relationship, she agreed that it could be good for us. Of course, I hadn’t mentioned that I also wanted to show the world that Laila hadn’t gotten the best of me, but no need to tell the therapist that little nugget.
Dropping my jeans and T-shirt on the floor, I stepped out of my bra and panties. I groaned in appreciation as I slipped into the warm bath and leaned back on the terry cloth pillow attached to the back of the tub.
Shit, I thought as I sat up in the tub, I forgot to put my hair up. Too late now. The steam was already doing its magic. I settled back against the
pillow and closed my eyes.
“All I need now is a glass of wine.” I chuckled to myself.
“Are you sure that’s all you need?” Marcus’s deep voice startled me. Dressed in black jeans, a camel sports coat, and a black turtleneck, he looked so good.
“Oh, hi. I didn’t hear you come in.” I swirled the water around in the tub, suddenly feeling vulnerable and wishing I’d put in some bubble bath so that I’d at least have the bubbles to hide under.
“Mind if I join you?” he asked. Dr. Gordon had been encouraging us to explore some intimate moments with each other, but anything we had done since returning from Phoenix a month ago had fallen flat and felt tense. After everything we had been through, we felt awkward with each other. But I knew we had to break through this barrier if we were really going to have a shot at saving our marriage.
“There’s more than enough room,” I said, sweeping my fingers across the water. The tub could probably hold four people. As he began to take off his clothes, I pretended to look away. He took off his jacket and tossed it onto the chair next to my vanity. He lifted the cashmere turtleneck over his head, and I watched in the mirror how the muscles in his arms and chest rippled. Before I could blink, his pants and underwear had dropped to the floor. I closed my eyes and leaned back against the pillow. The water was about to get a lot hotter.
As I felt him lower himself into the other end of the tub, the water rose to cover the tops of my breasts. Even though the tub was large, it wasn’t long enough for his legs to stretch out, so he bent them at the knees, placing a foot on either side of my thighs.
“The water feels good,” Marcus said as he moaned and leaned his head back against the other end of the tub. “But you know what would feel even better?”
“What?”
“If you would come over here and let me hold you,” he said in a husky whisper that had a hint of vulnerability. I hesitated for a moment but then turned around and slid across the tub into his arms and between his legs. My back relaxed against his muscled chest as his arms wrapped around me.
Games Divas Play (A Diva Mystery Novel) Page 29