Saint's Sacrament - Sins of the Father (25 page)

Holy Shit…and they have no idea…

Suddenly, the two made eye contact. Lawrence tossed the soiled tissues in the trashcan.

“What?” he questioned, his eyebrows bunched.

“Uh, nothing, just thinking about the conference.”

“You’re lying!” Lawrence grinned. “And now you’re blocking! What do you know?” Lawrence demanded, standing erect, invading Saint’s
personal space. The man knew it was something about him, and he wanted answers. Suddenly, Saint’s cell phone rang. Sighing with relief, he grabbed it from his pocket, almost tripping as he maneuvered around the desk.

“I’ll be back,” Saint lied as he thanked his
Creator for the much needed interruption. “It’s Xenia.” He exited Lawrence’s office in haste, making his way down to his own office and closing and locking the door behind him, as if a boogeyman was hot on his tail.

“Hi
baby, boy do I have something to tell you but you can’t tell anyone because—”

“Saint!”

He could hear the tears and agitation in her voice.

“Honey
, what’s wrong?” He made his way to his desk and collapsed in the chair, certain it had something to do with that Grayson motherfucker.

“Saint, I need to know the truth, please! What happened when Sinclair
came to my house the day we got married? The first time we got married, that is. What did you say to him?”

Saint sighed loudly and
leaned back in his seat. He rubbed his hand over his face and swiveled toward the vast window behind him. He looked out into L.A. traffic and the garden below. Such a contrast of the divine and slow to grow—the garden was a place that reminded one not to miss a moment of love and life. The fast lane, on the other hand, was full of cars and colorful blurs, of people rushing to things and places that didn’t mean anything in the long scheme of things…

“Baby,
okay, here is what happened.” He sighed. “He came to your house to try to force you to empty out your bank account for him. Did you know he’d been stealing money from you? He’d done it a few times, small amounts so you wouldn’t notice right away…”

He was met with
a sharp, indrawn breath and then silence. He gave her a moment to clear her thoughts.

“Um, no, but I had my accounts locked after they’d been hac
ked. Money had been removed, and it wasn’t from me. They were unable to tell me who authorized it but my bank notified me so I had everything changed to prevent anyone from doing it again. If my memory serves me correctly, it was about five thousand dollars total, three separate transactions. Until today, I had no idea how that happened. My security was too lax I suppose, my password obvious. Never use your birthdate.” She laughed nervously. “It was…it was, Sinclair? Figures.” Her voice sounded weary, as if a part of her knew, but hoped to hear otherwise, that the man she’d once trusted would not have been the cause of her pain.

“Yes, baby, it was Sinclair. He had r
un into some financial trouble and he was desperate…”

Again, he was met with
brief silence.

“
It’s all making sense now.” She exhaled. “He had been under a lot of stress and acting a little strange at times ever since that lawsuit began. Dawn Records was after him like a hound dog. I had started to distance myself, but I didn’t want to leave him completely in his time of need…plus, I still… Damn, I was so stupid.”

“You weren’t stupid. After a
while, you knew what he was about. That is why you left him, Xenia. Whether I’d come into the picture or not, you were on your way out. You know that is true. Regardless, you cared about him, so you didn’t want to hurt him, though you knew you deserved better.”

“
Saint, why in the world didn’t you tell me about this
then
?”

“Xenia,
because I took care of it.” He fisted the material of his slacks and stared out the window. “Why have you all upset? There was no reason to ruin our wedding day. He came over there to make you,
force
you Xenia, to give him that money. I didn’t make his ass leave town though; he did that on his own accord. There were some guys after him for unpaid debts and then that Dawn Records deal went bad, and he was in a world of trouble. He was desperate, and desperate people do dumb things. I took one look at him and could smell it all over him.”

“Did you tell some of the recording artists that he had sold the rights
to their songs to another recording company without the proper consent? That’s what he said, but I know it’s bullshit. That’s not even in your character to get involved in some mess like that.”

“Hell no
, I didn’t. I just wanted him gone and to make sure of it,” Saint swiveled around and poked his desk with his index finger, “I let him know I had the goods on him, so he wouldn’t return and try something stupid. If he believes that, then that explains this even more—but he already had enough reason to hate me from what happened that one night.”

“So,
you knew all this time that he…never mind.” She was breaking his heart. The woman of his dreams, and now his reality, was tumbling like curtains from a rod in slow motion. The woman he adored was falling the fuck apart. He felt guilty, angry and a concoction of hot, twisted emotions that were driven to the forefront. His beloved’s soul screamed, ‘I’m sorry for bringing this piece of shit into our lives!’

But baby
, it’s not your fault…

“So, he didn’t get the money he needed, Xenia
,” Saint continued, breaking up the silence. “At least not all of it, so he had to leave his life here and start over. He made something of himself, became accomplished, but at a price. For whatever reason, he blamed me for what transpired.”

“He brought this on himself. He
was never fully capable of accepting responsibility. He is kind of narcissistic that way. His talent was a waste.”

“Well, that may be true but as it stands, I believe he is convinced
that if I hadn’t come into your life, fell in love with you and then stopped him from getting the money, it would have never happened. He could have paid everyone back and slick talked his way out of the lawsuit. None of that came to pass. I messed everything up for him, in his eyes.” He glanced back out the window.

“But that was so long ago.”

“Oh, I know, but time doesn’t always heal all wounds, Xenia. Especially if someone points to the scab and tears it back off.”

“What do you mean? I haven’t had contact with him in years
up until the show.”

“Well
…” Saint pivoted slowly in his chair, facing his desk. He ran his finger along the glossy edge, tracing the intricately carved afro, the wooden maiden staring at him like a vixen. “I believe I know what happened.” He swallowed. “He saw you had a new show, and all those old feelings, all that longstanding anger came back, rushing to the forefront. It’s a pride thing, Xenia. It’s a man thing, is what it is, baby. Now that he is big time, he feels like…” Saint sighed, “he feels like he can’t let me get away with that, and he has the ability now to show me who is boss. As a man, he feels I disrespected him, and in some regard, as far as the rules I live by, he is correct. I took what he believed to be his, and caused him a form of loss and devastation.” Saint tapped his fingers against his bottom lip as he contemplated. “The show ticked him off, too, baby. He didn’t want to see you happy, enjoying life—successful. Not after all that had happened.”

“
I love you so much, Saint. This is just…crazy. Trying to talk sense into him would be hopeless at this point. I’m so glad I have you in my life.”

His heart warmed at her endearing words.

“He hates me, and he just wants to make shit difficult is all. He hates me for taking away his golden key, that being you, so he could rub elbows with celebrities, too. You see, baby, there are so many facets to this. The man is mad at me about so much shit. He’s got that Hollywood virus. You know he was trying to climb up the ranks, you said so yourself.  At that time, you were becoming a household name, and he was riding your fame ’til the mothafuckin’ wheels fell off. He hates me for taking you away because you were faithful, reliable…beautiful.” He paused, wondering if he should even continue.

I better just say it all now, get it all out in the open…

“You looked good on his arm, he saw you as a trophy. And he hates me for the fact he
did
end up having to deal with the guys that were after him and now you tell me he thinks I ratted him out.” He shrugged. “They fucked him up, Xenia… He spent two months in the hospital, almost died twice and then he had to do some jail time, then prison after sentencing and no tellin’ what happened in there. Sinclair isn’t built for incarceration. I could look at him and see that. He probably went a little crazy in there.”

“
I’d have to agree. He was something else, but I would never describe him as crazy, until
now
. He is ten times worse than he ever was. Jesus…and you picked all of this up? Read him like that?”

“
Yes, his energy was crystal clear. When you hate someone that much, you can’t mask it. He’s got a thing for me now, a jones. I had to protect you from this, but I know how it went down wasn’t right. I’m sorry, Xenia.” It was a heartfelt apology, he now had to come clean, but the worse of it was that he wouldn’t change a thing about how’d he handled the situation. He had not left the woman’s side in spirit. He plugged into her at work since the first incident buzzed, feeling her vibration, checking around. Today, he’d been busy with other tasks and like the slithering serpent Sinclair was, he struck when the king’s head was turned. He didn’t ask Xenia about every single thing Sinclair said to her. What did it matter? He had the gist of the situation and he didn’t feel inclined. He’d had enough of this motherfucker’s shit and it was time to put an end to it.

I’m going to have to settle this once and for all before it gets even worse…

“So, what do we do now?”

“
You
do nothing. You sit tight and do your job. This is your gig. That man isn’t getting away with a damn thing. I’ve been working some things out; I needed a little more time. Being rational at this point doesn’t work with him, because he wants revenge. I’m going to have to hurt him where it counts.”

“Saint…”
There was a warning in her voice, not for his safety, but for what she knew her husband was capable of. She didn’t want him in some brawl, or worse yet, a murder that would cause him to be incarcerated. “Look. He said a lot of people hate you and he has help. I don’t know what he is up too, but you have to watch him. Please, just—”

“I got this baby, don’t you worry your pretty little head about it, now
.” He smiled as he swiveled back toward the window, taking note of the way the sun set so pretty in streaks of gold and dark orange. “I do have some good news despite all this bullshit. But, you can’t tell anyone, Xenia.”

“I could use some good news
. What is it?”

“Donna is pregnant.”

“Oh my God!” Saint heard her voice muffle, get distant, as if she’d almost lost the phone in the excitement. “I just spoke to her. She didn’t mention one word.”

“Well, that’s because she doesn’t know yet. I can’t tell
her and Lawrence, that would ruin the surprise of them finding out on their own. So now I have to stand around here looking stupid. He knows I know something, and I’m sure he will try to get Jagger to help him pick my mind. I have had to put everything on lock down until they find out on their own.”

“Oh
, no.” Xenia giggled. “That is going to be hard! Both of them teaming up on you like that.”

“I know, and I’ve been open with them
but because of this, I have to pull my energy back. I’m really happy for them though. I know they’ve been trying for a while.”

“Do you know what sex it is?” Xenia whispered, as if someone were nearby.

“Yes, but I’m not telling you!” He laughed.

“Oh, come on, Saint!”

“No ma’am. You will start talking to someone, it will spill out, and then everyone will know. You’ve got fast lips, Xenia,” he teased.

“What ya tryna say? I’m a gossip?”

“Somethin’ like that.” He grinned as he relaxed, his mind and body at ease. “I shouldn’t have even told you about this, but I couldn’t keep it to myself. I’m just so happy for them.”

“Mum
’s the word! I promise to not leak this. Well, honey, I have to go. Thank you for explaining to me what happened. I wish you had told me sooner, but now I know. This way at least I know what I’m dealing with.”

“…And that is why I didn’t tell you.
You
aren’t dealing with anything, Xenia, I am. Act natural; don’t say one damned word to him. I don’t know what went down today to spur this on, and I don’t care. He has used his last lifeline. Like I said, just concentrate on your show, being the best you can be at it, and let me take care of this.”

“Saint,
listen to me. Sometimes you just rush into stuff! Promise me you won’t do something that lands you in prison.”

“I’m not going
any
damn where, but his ass is. I gave him a chance, and now he has run out of opportunities. Most of the guys I grew up with would have slashed his goddamn throat at the first offense.” His eyes turned to slits and his pupils burned. He was certain they were bright, China red as the anger inside of him multiplied like deadly cells from an incurable virus until he was eyeballs deep in the shit, fiery rage burning inside of his veins, from head to toe.