No Greater Loyalty (29 page)

"There you go again."

Nikki frowned as they walked hand in hand down the hallway. "There I go again, what?"

Angel glanced down at her with a sexy grin. His eyes took their time strolling down her body. "Thinking you run things."

"Oh. Maybe I need to be taught another lesson?" The question was hopeful and full of longing.

Angel threw his head back and laughed. "Greedy wench."

"But I'm
your
greedy wench."

Angel chuckled as they stepped on to the elevator that would take them to the second floor.
“Yes you are.” He leaned back against the elevator door and stared at her intently. “And I love you with everything in me. No matter what, always know that, Nikki."

Nikki smiled as she wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his chest.
“I do. I love you too, Angelo.”

CHAPTER 48

The next morning, Keisha lay beside Dominick, head propped up on her hand as she stared down at him. Last night he'd stayed up talking in length to Manny and making sure he was comfortable before coming to bed himself.

Keisha had looked in on them before she got ready to turn in and could see Dominick was in pain, but when she'd offered to bring him a couple of the painkillers the doctor had given him, he'd declined. She knew he didn't want his senses dulled by the pills while spending that time with Manny, so Keisha had them waiting for him when he came into the bedroom later. After he'd taken them, she’d helped him with his shower then gotten him to bed. He'd fallen asleep almost the moment his head touched the pillow.

Deciding to get up and let him sleep, she had just put some clothes on and was getting ready to leave the bedroom when she heard his groggy voice call her name.

Hurrying back to his side, she gave him a soft kiss before sitting on the edge of the bed. "Hi, sweetie, how are you feeling?"

Dominick winced when he attempted to sit up. Lying back down, he grabbed his ribs and closed his eyes. "Like I've just been kidnapped and beat to within an inch of my life."

Keisha didn’t have a clever retort for that because the picture his words conjured up was an all too real reminder of how close she'd come to almost losing him forever.

Dominick opened his eyes in time to see the fear on her face. "Hey, it's okay. I'm fine now."

"I know but look what they did to you." Her eyes scanned over the bruises and cuts on his face then looked down at the discoloration around the bandages that wrapped his cracked ribs. "Dominick, maybe you need to go to a hospital just to have them look at you. I'd feel so much better if..."

But Dom shook his head. That would involve too many questions and invite unwanted scrutiny. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he managed to push himself up this time. After Keisha propped pillows behind him, Dom carefully leaned back against them with a deep sigh.

"Thanks, baby."

"Dominick..."

"Keisha, honestly, I'm fine. I know I might not look as pretty as you're used to seeing me, but..."

The playful statement was meant to bring a smile to her face and ease her concerns, but the worry stayed in her eyes.

"Baby, I promise, I know it might not seem like it, but my injuries look worse than they actually are. Angel’s doctor has already checked me out. If I felt like I needed to go to the hospital, I would. Okay?"

When Keisha reluctantly nodded, Dominick patted the space on the other side of him. "Come here."

Careful so as not to hurt him, Keisha climbed over Dom and snuggled under the arm he curled around her. It was amazing to her that she could feel so safe just from such simple contact.

Dom kissed the top of her head. "I gotta admit, Keisha, I've never been so scared in all my life, but I wasn't afraid for myself. When I woke up in that warehouse, my first thought was whether or not you were safe. As soon as I found out they hadn't harmed you, I was at peace with everything else. If something had happened to you, baby..."

Dom shuddered, unable to even finish the sentence.

Keisha lifted her mouth just enough to be able to kiss his neck. "I know. I feel the same way. I was a nervous wreck."

Dominick looked down at her with a tender expression then lowered his lips to hers. After giving her a sweet loving kiss, he rested his forehead against hers and sighed.

"I don't ever want to feel like that again." He kissed her again. "I love you so much, Keisha."

"I love you, too."

"I know it might not be easy, but I want us to put this behind us. Move on. We have so much to live for, so much to be thankful for."

"Yes, we do. We've been given a second chance and I don't plan on wasting one minute of it."

Dom smiled in agreement. "I agree, baby."

Contentment and the lingering effects of the painkillers slowly lulled him into a sense of utter relaxation. Leaning his head back, he fought to resist the sleep that tempted him to give in to it.

"So tired, but I need to get up."

"No, you need to rest, Dominick. Matter of fact..."

Keisha got the medicine bottle off the nightstand and shook a couple of pills into her palm. Getting up to go to the bathroom, she filled a cup with water and came back to give it to him, but Dom shook his head.

"Nah, I don't want to take any more pills." But even as he said that his face twisted with pain. "Need to check on Manny, see Sam." He looked around as if just now realizing Christian wasn’t there with there with them. “Where’s my baby?”

"I took him back to his bed last night after you fell asleep. They're all fine, Dominick. I got up to check on them a little while ago. Manny was already up having breakfast with Angel. Nikki has Christian and Samantha is still asleep."

"Keish..."

"You have to take care of yourself, Dominick. You're not going to be any good to anyone if you push yourself too hard and end up being in even worse shape than you are now."

Dominick's eyes narrowed in a mock threat. "Thanks, babe. Appreciate that."

"You know what I mean. Here."

This time, he took the medicine without protest then he lay back down, mumbling that he would only sleep for a little while. Less than five minutes later, he was knocked out.

Kissing him softly on the lips, Keisha caressed his cheek with the back of her hand. She whispered another prayer of thanks that he was back home and safe and that they were all together as a family, because when it was all said and done, that was the only thing that mattered. Nothing else came close to this and it never would. 

CHAPTER 49

      "Hey, stay in your lane! Stop cheating, D.J.!"

Jerra glanced up from her laptop, smiling as she watched Darrell and D.J. play the new video game he'd gotten earlier today. She and Tina looked at each other and shook their heads as the same thought ran through their minds: Darrell was just as big a kid as his son.

Tina peeped over her glasses at Jerra. "Have you talked to Keisha today? I know she has to be so relieved that Dominick is home."

"We all are. I talked to her briefly this morning. Dominick was still asleep. I'll check in with her later, see if there's anything she needs."

"Yeah, my man gave us all a scare, but if there's anybody who could get through something like that it's Dominick," Darrell said.

Jerra glanced at Darrell when she heard his subdued tone. He'd tried hard to hide it, but she'd known how worried he'd been. He, Marcus and Dominick were more than best friends. The three of them couldn't be any closer if they were related by blood.

"Daddy, you're cheating, you can't do that!" D.J. screamed, breaking the tension in the room.

Eyes locked on the television, D.J. turned his little body in the direction of the racecar on the screen as if he were actually driving it. Making the last lap around the racetrack, his thumbs worked overtime on the controls to try and gain the advantage over Darrell's car.

"I'm not cheatin'. Umph!" Darrell grunted as he purposely bumped D.J.’s car with his own. "This is all legal, son."

"Darrell!" Jerra admonished. "Seriously?"

"What, baby? This is a valuable lesson I'm teaching our son right now," he muttered in a distracted voice. "Not everybody is gonna play nice in life. Sometimes you gotta do whatever it takes to win, right?"

"You mean like...this?" D.J. asked, copying his father's moves and gaining the lead.

"Oh shi...snap!" Darrell glanced at Jerra and saw her glaring at him. "Sorry, baby."

"He didn't say 'shit' this time, Mommy. He said snap."

"D.J.!" Jerra and Tina called his name at the same time.

Darrell smirked, but immediately wiped the amusement off his face when Jerra threw a pillow at him. "Watch your mouth, son," he said in a stern voice.

"Yes sir."

Shaking her head again, Jerra directed her attention back to her laptop where she was going over the household bills. Although everything was set up on automatic bill pay, she still checked to make sure the amounts they were billed equaled what was taken out of the account. It was a habit she still practiced after all these years, and now she was glad she did because something was off with the cell phone bill. The amount drafted was almost two times what it usually was every month. Obviously they were being overcharged.

She quickly went to the website for their cell phone provider and after typing their password in, she pulled up the itemized bill that showed the calls they were being charged for. She skimmed down the line of numbers, not seeing anything out of the ordinary. She did the same thing on the next page and was getting ready to call customer service to alert them to the error when a strange sequence of numbers caught her eye.

Frowning, she realized that this was where the extra charges were coming from. In fact, there were two calls in all made to the same number. International calls.

Suspicion began to form in the pit of Jerra's chest, taunting her by taking little stabs at her heart until it decided to plunge the knife completely in. The numbers started to swim on the screen. She blinked until they got back in focus.

"Jerra, are you okay?"

Jerra's head snapped up when she heard Tina's question. "Huh? Oh, uh, yeah. I'm fine."

She immediately went back to the laptop. Jerra recognized the first part of the sequence of numbers because she'd seen them on their bill before. When they'd all gone to the Caribbean to attend Angel and Nikki's wedding several years ago, she'd called home several times to check on D.J. Jerra had an excellent memory when it came to details. Although she could easily check the country code, she didn't have to because she was she was sure she was right.

Call the number, Jerra
.
Call it and find out.

A persistent little voice reverberated around in her head. Without giving herself time to even think about it, Jerra snapped the laptop closed and stood up.

Darrell looked up. "Where you goin', babe?"

"To get some water. I'll be right back," she mumbled.

Hurrying to the kitchen she placed the laptop on the kitchen table and opened it. Heart thudding double time, she stared at the number and took a couple of deep breaths. Maybe she was being paranoid. Darrell wouldn't risk their family or their marriage in the way she was thinking. He just...wouldn't. But Jerra knew she wouldn't rest until she found out for sure.

With trembling hands, she picked up the cordless phone she'd scooped up on her way to the kitchen and dialed the number on the screen. Bringing the receiver to her ear, she impatiently drummed her fingers on the table and waited.

One ring...two...

"What am I doing?" she whispered. "This is-"

"Hello?"

Jerra's blood ran cold when a voice answered the other line. But not just any voice. A female voice that she instinctively knew belonged to...

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

"Whom am I speaking to, please?" Jerra held her breath as she waited for confirmation that she was right.

"I'm sorry, who did you want to..." Suddenly the woman became eerily quiet, as if she too knew who was on the other line.

Jerra took a deep breath then just blurted out what she wanted to know. "Is this..."

"Jerra, what's takin' you so long, baby?" Darrell asked, walking into the kitchen. "I swear that son of ours has a competitive streak a mile long. Wonder where he gets that from?" he asked with a proud grin.

A loud gasp sounded from the woman on the other end. The next second, the line went dead, but it didn't matter. Jerra had her answer. The person whom her husband had been calling was his ex-girlfriend. Roni Winston.

"Sorry, baby, I didn't know you were on the phone." Darrell stood on the other side of the island and placed his hands, palms down, on the cool surface. "You finished?"

Jerra lowered the phone with an exaggerated movement. Her hand tightened around the receiver, seriously contemplating throwing it at her husband's head. But she wanted a few answers first, wanted to see how far he would go with his lies.

"Yes. I'm finished."

"Something wrong?" Darrell peered closer. "You look upset. Who were you talking to?"

"I..." Jerra's voice cracked. Feeling as if she were in a daze, Jerra cleared her throat and tried again. "I was going over the bills, you know, like I do every month, and one of them seemed off."

Darrell's gray eyes cleared as the smile reappeared. "Ahh, okay. What happened, they got on your nerves when you called to get it straight? Shit, they didn't know who they were talkin' to, did they?" he laughed. "Baby, tell me you weren't too hard on 'em."

"No. Believe it or not, I think I'm the one who 'got
got
', as you would say."

Darrell's head reared back in disbelief. "What? Nah, not the infamous Jerra St. James-Monroe."

"Yeah. Yeah, I guess I'm slipping." Jerra’s voice sounded hollow to her own ears.

"What bill was it?"

"The cell phone bill."

"What happened?"

"I…nothing. I didn't call them."

Confusion clouded Darrell's face. "Okay, you losin' me."

Jerra snorted at the irony of his statement.

"Jerra, what's wrong?"

Jerra stared at the phone she still held. "I called the number on the cell phone bill. It was long distance. International, actually."

Darrell tensed and became utterly still. His hands slowly curled up into tight fists as everything began to shift into place.

She pulled her gaze up to stare into his eyes. "Is there something you want to tell me? Something you should've told me
before
I found out like this?"

Darrell took a couple of steps to come around the island, but Jerra retreated, holding a hand up. "Don't."

But Darrell didn't stop until he was standing in front of her. "It's not what you think, Jerra."

"It's not what I
think
? Then tell me, Darrell. Explain to me what I'm getting wrong here." Angry accusation shined brightly in her eyes.

Seeing she was on the verge of exploding, Darrell held his hands up and spoke to her in a calm, soothing manner. "You know I've been dealing with something these last few weeks, something that's just been messing with my head like crazy, right?"

"Yes, we were supposed to talk about it, but we never did. I figured it had to do with something you and Tina discussed. Not...Roni."

"Nah, baby, it had absolutely nothing to do with her." Darrell rushed to reassure her.

Assuming he was trying to get her off the subject, Jerra's eyes grew even colder, her impatience mounting with each word he spoke. "Then why are you bringing that up now instead of answering my question. Darrell, don't think for one minute you're going to talk your way out of this. Not this time."

"I'm not."

"Then..."

"I promise I
’ll get to that. I’ll tell you everything, but this all started when Tina finally told me the identity of my...father." The word still stuck in Darrell's throat. "Some grimy dude whose family was involved in all kinds of illegal shit. I already knew he was married, but what I didn't know is that I'm not her first child."

Jerra had suspected some of what Darrell was dealing with had to do with his father, but this bit of information took her by surprise. "What?"

"Yeah," Darrell nodded, staring off as he thought about the conversation he and Tina had that night. "Apparently, he got her pregnant and took the baby. His wife wasn't able to have kids, so he took the child home to raise it with her."

"What?"
Jerra asked again, this time in astonishment. She momentarily deviated from the subject of Roni. "How did he just take her baby?"

Darrell shrugged. "Just did. I guess that's how much control he had over her. Soon after that, she got pregnant again with me, but he
’d made it clear he didn’t want any other children. He had his son, his heir.. Plus, he didn't want anything to take away from him being the center of her attention. He gave her some money and ordered her to have an abortion which..." Darrell gestured towards himself. "She obviously didn't do. Guess I should be grateful for that."

"This is unbelievable. And I guess when he found out, he wanted nothing to do with her. Or you."

"That about sums it up."

"What about your brother?" Jerra brought a hand up to her forehead. "It sounds weird even saying that."

"No shit. Tina found out that Isaac - my father - still lives in New York where she first met him. So does her other son. A couple of days before she told me all of this, she tried to get in contact with my brother for the first time, but he wasn't there. Isaac found out and called her back. Scared her and threatened her about what he'd do to her if she ever tried to contact his son again."

"
His
son? You mean the child
she
gave birth to, the one he stole from her when she was little more than a child herself? What kind of monster is he?"

Darrell's eyes grew a frosty gray. "What
’s so crazy is that it’s been thirty-some odd years since she last saw him and she's still afraid of him. I still fault Tina for a lot of things, but let’s just say I understand the circumstances a little better. But
that
son of a bitch? I won't rest until I look him in the eye and get some things off my chest."

"What about your brother?"

Darrell grew quiet for a moment. He'd asked himself that question a hundred times. Was it best to just let that go? He'd gone this long without even knowing he had any other relatives other than Gabrielle. Did he even want to open up that can of worms after all this time?

"J, I don't know, I guess I'll just play it by ear and take it as it comes. But as far as Tina reaching out to him, that
’s her decision. Not Pattel’s. If he wants to threaten someone, let him threaten me. In fact, I dare him to."

Jerra's heart jumped in her chest at the thought of the danger Darrell could possibly be in if this man was still involved in crime, but she just as quickly shut that part of her down because he still hadn't addressed the original issue.

Her face stiff and arms folded protectively over her chest, she said, "Are you going to tell me why you've been calling Roni?"

"After I talked to Tina, I did a little research about the Pattels."

Jerra frowned when she heard that name again. "Pattel. Where have I heard that name?" 

"I said the same thing," Darrell nodded. "Come to find out Isaac Pattel and his brother Joseph, are two of the most dangerous crime bosses on the East coast. They been runnin' shit for years, serious shit. Guns, drugs, prostitution...everything you could think of. The justice department has been after them for years, but they've never been able to make anything stick. They have shitloads of legit businesses, too. Guess what a couple of them happen to be?"