The Dirty Divorce Part 3 (3 page)

“I’m not feeling good, Mommy. My stomach and my head hurts.”

“She’s been complaining for a couple of days now, Ms. Marisol,” Maria answered.

When I looked at my nanny, thoughts about her being the only person to know my whereabouts flooded my mind like a river. Although I’d spent hours to calm myself down, now I was pissed off all over again.

I pointed toward the dining room. “Maria, can I speak to you for a second?”

“Sure.”

As soon as we walked a few feet away from the girls, I instantly got up in her face. I was so close, I’m sure she could smell the remains of the Starbucks Cinnamon Latte on my breath.

“Now, listen to me, Maria and listen good. I like you and all, but trust me, I’ll send your ass back to Cuba in a fucking box if you lie to me. Did you tell anyone where I was?”

Her eyes were the size of watermelons. “No, Ms. Marisol. I tell no one where you are,” she replied in her broken Englisnt>

“Are you sure?” I yelled.

“Yes, Ms. Marisol…please. I tell no one. Please don’t fire me.” She clutched her hands as if her ass was about to pray.

Figuring that she was probably telling the truth, I decided to let it go. “Don’t ever tell anyone where I am when I go out of town or when I’m coming back. Only you and the kids should know that,” I lectured.

She shook her head. “Of course.”

When we turned around to walk back toward the girls, Maria tapped my shoulder.

“Umm, Ms. Marisol, I didn’t want to bother you while you were away, but I’m worried about Denie. She’s very mean to the little ones. Also, I think she’s been smoking in her room. A strong smell is coming from under her door.”

“Oh really? Well, I’ll handle Denie. Can you take the girls to the playroom and let them open their gifts? After that, get Mia ready. I’m gonna take her over to Children’s Hospital, so Dr. Friedman can take a look at her before my meeting tonight.”

“Yes, Ms. Marisol.”

As I climbed the stairs to Denie’s room, I took a deep breath and prepared myself for the conversation that needed to happen. I knew that she was envious of the girls subconsciously, but acted as if it didn’t faze her on the surface. I had to be careful with her though; she was scorned and capable of anything, especially with what she’d done to Lisa. Who would’ve thought that my daughter would be capable of trying to poison someone? Even what she’d done to Rich was quite clever. After everything went down a couple of months ago, Rich and I thought it was best that Denie stayed with me so we could try and rebuild our relationship as mother and daughter. She and Rich were like oil and vinegar now, and couldn’t seem to get along. It seemed weird that she was more upset with Rich than me. She refused to even speak to him sometimes. Leaving her with Rich and Lisa had obviously done more harm than good, but that still didn’t give her a reason to act like a bitch toward her sisters.

She might’ve gotten away with that kind of behavior with Lisa, but not me. That shit wasn’t gonna fly in my house…daughter or not. The closer I got to the door I could hear go-go music and Denie’s constant giggling. Figuring she was on the phone with some knuckle head, I knocked two times. Technically, she was grown and I didn’t want to violate her privacy.

“What do you want Maria?” she yelled.

“Denie open the door, it’s Marisol!” I yelled back. I couldn’t believe she spoke to Maria with such disrespect.

Seconds later, Denie cracked the door open. “Wassup, I didn’t know you were home.” She seemed surprised and caught off guard.

“I just got here. What are you doing, open the door.”

“No, this is my room. You just can’t come in here.”

“Who the hell are you talking to? Get out the way!”

At that moment, I knew something was going on. Pushing the door open, my eyes widened as I looked at Denie’s barely dressed body along with some dude in her bed with gold teeth. The room reeked of weed and sex.

“Damn, baby, your momma fine as shit,” the ghetto-ass nigga chimed in.

“What the fuck is going on in here? Get the hell out my house!” I pointed to the Lil’ Wayne looking dude with piercing eyes.

“He’s not going anywhere. Last time I checked, I was nineteen years old,” Denie shot back.

Just like I’d done with Maria, I stepped up to her face…real close.

“Denie, don’t fuck with me. I can’t believe you’re actually smoking weed and fucking some loser-ass nigga while my two babies are downstairs. If you wanna be that damn disrespectful, then I suggest you get your own spot or go back to live with Rich. Trust me, I won’t have any problems kicking your ass out.” I looked at the dude one last time. “Besides, you need to step your game up if you giving out free pussy. He looks broke.” I walked back toward the door, then turned around. “He got five minutes to get out.”

“Fuck you, bitch. I got mad paper!” he replied.

Immediately, I snapped and went straight in my room to get my gun. I had to show both of them I wasn’t the bitch to fuck with. After being robbed earlier, I wasn’t about to be disrespected in my own damn home. It took me a minute since my room was all the way on the other side of the house, but when I returned it was obvious they’d taken me for a joke. Now, Denie had the nerve to be sitting beside him with a smile on her face.

Heated, I cocked my nickel plated .9mm back and pointed it at that fool who thought he was running shit. For him to have so much mouth as soon as he saw the firearm aimed at his chest, the bitch in him instantly came out.

“Like I said, you got five muthafucking minutes, no my bad…now you got two minutes to get the fuck out my house. And Denie if you got a problem with it, you can go with him,” I said.

Denie instantly switched up. “Jamal, you gotta go.”

Jumping out of the bed, he grabbed his clothes along with his shoes and fake-ass jewelry, then ran to the door. To my surprise, he at least had on some boxers.

“You crazy as hell lady!” Jamal yelled as he ran down the steps that led to the back of the house half-dressed.

One mistake I’d obviously made was giving Denie the suite with the private entrance. Now, that decision was coming back to bite me.

That’s what I get for trying to be nice when she first moved in
, I thought.

Once I heard the back door slam, I turned toward Denie again. “Let’s get something straight right now. There’s only one head bitch in this house and that’s me. Not to mention, you don’t pay any fucking bills around here, therefore, you have no say so. You will respect my house and my rules if you wanna stick around. Do I make myself clear?”

“Stop treating me like I’m a little girl. I’m grown. I thought you were different. You’re no different from Rich or Lisa? All of you hate me. I wish I was never born!”

“Denie, you can try and lay that guilt trip shit on me all you want, but it’s not gonna work. I’m sorry for what I did, but at the same time I thought that was best for you. Now, when you live on your own that’s when you’re grown to me and can do whatever you want.”

“But…”

“Let me finish. There are two little girls in this house who now look up to you as a big sister, so you’ve gotta make better choices. There’s a lot on my plate right now, and I don’t need to be worrying about you bringing random dudes in my damn house. Don’t you understand that you could be a mark to get to me through my enemies? If you’re not careful, I could lose the empire Carlos and I worked so hard to build.”

I’d already slipped up earlier, so I didn’t need her fucking up as well.

Denie looked at me and nodded her head. “I can respect that. I don’t want you to look at me as a charity case. If you want me to leave, then I will.”

“Denie, I’m not asking you to leave. I just need you to respect my wishes, that’s all.”

She paused for a moment. “I understand. Sorry about Jamal.”

“I’m not about to say no problem because it is a problem. Just don’t let it happen again.” I walked over to the ashtray on her nightstand that contained a half-smoked blunt and picked it up. “And get rid of this, too. The only person allowed to smoke weed in this house is me.”

Chapter 3
Marisol

After returning back from the hospital with Mia and taking a quick nap, it was time for me to meet with Javier. Completely drained after finding out that my baby’s Leukemia had more than likely returned, I really didn’t feel like leaving the house, but also didn’t wanna go back on my word. Besides, I was becoming even more curious about what he wanted.

Jumping in the shower, the hot, soothing water was just what I needed. With the day I’d experienced, my muscles were beyond tense and since I didn’t have time for my daily workout, hopefully the shower would provide me some type of therapeutic massage.

When I stepped out a few minutes later, I wrapped up in my Victoria Secret’s Pink robe, then sat at my vanity before running across a picture of me and Carlos back in the day. It’s crazy because Rich was the one who’d taken the picture. We’d gone on vacation to Aruba with him and Lisa before I got pregnant with Carmen. Looking at how happy we seemed, the guilt that I carried started to take a toll on me again.

Carlos is probably turning over in his grave
, I thought to myself.

It was oo. The onry repeating itself. What made me any different from Uncle Renzo for what he’d done to his brother or even Rich? No matter how it was dissected, it was all betrayal.

When I looked in the mirror I stared at myself as tears formed in my eyes. However, instead of becoming emotional this time, I immediately wiped my face before getting myself together. In a sense there was no need to keep crying about the past, what’s done was done. I couldn’t erase anything.

After pulling my hair back in a ponytail, I applied some concealer to the top of my lip to try and hide my battle scar. I then put on some mineral foundation before doing a quick, natural smoky eye for my lids. My hair was definitely in need of some TLC. With Renzo locked up, and handing the business over to me, my life had never been busier. I’d never gone this long without getting my highlights done, and needed to get in someone’s chair ASAP.

Before I put my clothes on, I texted Javier and told him to meet me at Dave and Busters inside White Flint Mall. Since I didn’t know what this meeting was about, I wanted to keep it casual so he wouldn’t get the wrong impression. Dinner at some restaurant would’ve forced us to stare into each other’s eyes the entire time, and I didn’t want that.

Slipping on my J Brand skinny jeans, I also put on a white James Pearse wife beater, along with some red Valentino flip flops. Even though my red Chanel bag and diamond cross didn’t necessarily say casual, I needed to look like money at all times no matter what. It also didn’t matter that I’d gotten robbed earlier. As a woman in this game money was the one thing that always guaranteed respect. I had to let these dudes know that there was a lot more to me than just a pretty face. I could never look like I’d fallen off, which would be a sure sign of weakness.

After kissing each of the girl’s goodbye, I let Maria know that I would be out for a while and informed her to keep an eye on Denie. I also told her to call me if that nigga, Jamal, showed back up. If he felt bold and wanted to come back to my house again, this time things weren’t gonna end so peacefully.

Once I jumped in my new Range Rover Sport, I slowly pulled out of the driveway. I had no idea what possessed me to buy another SUV since the Porshe was only a year old, but when I bought Denie her Range Rover a few weeks ago, it was so hot I had to have a white one for myself.

Driving down GW Parkway, I reflected back on the conversation between me and Mia’s doctor earlier that day. Thinking all her pain was due to an infection, he’d prescribed my baby some antibiotics and wanted her to get tons of rest. He also informed me that Mia’s Leukemia had more than likely returned, but wouldn’t be sure until the test results came back. My stomach turned flips every time I thought about the cancer no longer being in remission. Thinking back to when I was pregnant with both Mia and Carmen, the doctors asked me both times if I wanted to bank their cord blood in case of an emergency, and I declined. At that time, who would’ve thought that my daughter would get sick? Now, I was at a loss. Still mourning my husband, I didn’t know what I would do if I ever lost my daughter, too.

Moments later, I turned up the radio when the song,
Adore
by Prince came on. This song definitely reminded me of Carlos, when things were good. Feeling like an emotional roller coaster, I wanted so badly to pull the truck over and cry my eyes out. No matter how strong I tried to be, there was so much on my mind lately. But there was no sense in crying. Tears certainly weren’t gonna bring him back.

Since there was limited parking, I pulled up to the mall’s valet parking and got my ticket. Javier had text me ten minutes ago to let me know that he’d already arrived. After making my way up to the top floor and walking inside, I immediately spotted Javier over by the pool tables. He definitely looked like money.

Maybe he doesn’t need me after all,
I suddenly thought
.

Javier and Jade were twins, but he was a lot darker than she was. Even though he seemed to have lost a ton of weight, his cocoa complexion, midnight black, curly hair and tall frame still made him attractive. Actually, he was finer today than I’d ever remembered in the past. He was definitely a smaller version of Malik from the BET show,
The Game
.

“What’s up, Javier, it’s been a while?” I greeted him with a hug.

He smelled so damn good, I could tell how sexually frustrated I was after getting a slight tingle between my thighs.

“Hey, Marisol. Damn, Ma, you lookin’ good as usual,” he flirted in his New York accent.

“I see you’ve either been in the gym or you’re on a crack diet,” I joked.

“Real funny, I see you still a jokester. I’ve been takin’ care of myself eatin’ right, that’s all.”

“Well, whatever you’re doing your ass could definitely bottle it up and sell it. Shit, it looks like you lost a good fifty pounds. It looks good on you though.”