Sweet Little Lies (25 page)

“Mark Monroe.”

“Hey, baby, how you doin’?”

Mark’s heart stopped before it began to slam against his chest.

Geneva.

“Y
ou still there, baby?”

Mark licked his lips. This couldn’t be happening.

“Geneva,” he said rather than asked.

“I knew you’d recognize my voice. What’s going on?”

“What do you want? How’d you get this number?”

“When did you start calling yourself ‘Mark?’ Actually, I kinda like it. Sophisticated.”

“What the hell do you want?” he repeated.

“Is that how you talk to your wife after you haven’t talked to her for all these years?”

“We’re not married. It was annulled.”

She chuckled. “I never signed no annulment papers. So that means…We. Are. Still. Married.”

“Geneva, let me explain to you how I broke the vise you put around my neck. You see, I got my annulment under a concept in the law known as ‘Service by Publication.’ Look it up.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Geneva! I’m an attorney—you think I don’t know what I’m doing?”

“I wanna see some proof.”

Mark laughed again. “Oh, I’ll get you your proof.”

“Oh, well since I’m in town, I can just drop by, and
you
can show ‘em to me.”

“What do you mean, ‘since you’re in town’?”

“Well, Boo, I fell on some hard times all those years ago. I mean, I’d just had a miscarriage and my husband had left me. And, well, a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do to survive, so I wound up in jail. Just got out a few weeks ago—you know I read about you gettin’ married in
Jet
? I was gettin’ my hair done, and you know how they keep
Jet
around the salon for years. That’s how I found you. So I got on the bus, and here I am. I want to see you.”

“The hell you will.” Mark leaned into the phone. “How much?” he asked.

“What you mean, ‘how much’?”

“To make you go away. That is what you want, isn’t it? Money?”

Mark heard Geneva pause on the other end.

“Baby, I can’t believe you’re treatin’ your wife this way!”

“You were never my wife!” Mark said, pounding the desk.

“Baby, we were as man and wife as man and wife could be. I mean, we created life. Why did you go off and hook up with that skinny girl?”

Something inside of Mark snapped when Geneva referred to Kelly.

“You shut up—you don’t get to talk about her. She’s none of your business.”

“Baby, you need a real woman. How’s that skinny little bitch gonna satisfy you? Can’t do you like I did you, can she, baby?”

Mark went stone cold as he flashed back to exactly what Geneva had done to him.

“Shut up, Geneva. Not one more word.” Mark was drenched in sweat and wished he would wake up from what was happening.

“Oooooh. Someone sure did get sensitive. Must be from bein’ married to skinny heifahs.”

“Geneva, if you say one more word about my wife…I will kill you, and that is a promise,” he said in a low and menacing voice. “Now, I’m going to ask you again—how much will it cost for me to make you go away?”

“I told you. I want to see you.”

“Too bad.”

“Well, damn. I came all the way up here,
on the bus
, and you can’t make some time to see me?”

Mark looked around his office, almost hoping a genie would pop up and make all of this go away.

“Listen, I’m leaving town for a few days, and I don’t have time for this.”

“Oh, hey, where you goin’?”

“None of your goddamned business.”

“Damn, you’ve changed. You used to be so sweet.”

“Go to hell.”

She laughed. “Only if I can take you with me, because you and I will never be apart.”

Mark smashed the phone down into the cradle, nearly breaking it. His breathing was ragged as he tried to understand what just happened. Seconds later, the phone rang again.

He yanked it up. “What?”

“So when are you coming back?”

“Damn it, do not call me anymore.”

“Well, I just want to know when I’m going to see you again?”

Mark closed his eyes, fuming. He opened his eyes again and glanced over at the Caller ID. He snatched up a pen to scrawl down the number.

“You going to be at this number for a few days?”

“Yeah…yeah. How long do I have to wait?”

“You just be at this number early next week.”

For the second time that day, Mark smashed the phone down before he dropped his head onto his desk.

When he and Kelly moved in together, he had rented a storage unit for some of his old files and knew the annulment papers were in that unit. He’d retrieve them when he got back to town.

He had a bigger problem, though.

Geneva was crazy, and he didn’t put anything past her. How could he make her stay out of his life forever? Paying her off meant he would probably have to keep paying her off. He could go to the police, but he didn’t want any of what had happened coming out, as he knew it would. His other option was to tell Kelly, but he was afraid of that, too.

He was sitting at his desk lost in thought when he heard his cell phone ring. In a fog, he picked it up and saw it was his wife. He tried to mask what he was feeling and put on a happy face for her.

“Hey, baby,” he answered with forced cheer.

“Hey, it’s twelve-twenty. Are you on your way?”

Mark looked at his watch and mouthed, “Damn.”

“Baby, I’m sorry, I had a client call me at the last minute with a problem, and I had to take care of it. I’ll be there in a few minutes.” God, he hated lying to her.

“That’s okay, we’ll just come and pick you up. No worries. Just be downstairs. See you soon.”

“Kelly?”

“Yeah?”

“Have I ever told you how much I love you?”

“No. Never.”

“Well, I do. Don’t ever forget that.”

Kelly chuckled. “You got it.”

“See you soon.”

Mark turned off his phone, shut down his computer, and grabbed his coat along with the bag he was taking to New York. He closed his door and hurried to the bank of elevators. He was usually so jovial and would say goodbye to everyone before he left the office for any length of time. Today, however, he shot out of the building before anyone had a chance to stop him.

M
ark sat at a table in a little coffee shop in Rogers Park. Geneva was supposed to meet him, and the last thing he wanted was to be anywhere he could possibly run into anyone he knew, so he told her he would meet her up north.

The morning after he and Kelly had come back from New York, Mark had rushed to the storage unit with all of his old files. It took him a few hours, but he found the annulment papers, almost crying from relief once they were in his hands. He’d gone over his options again and had decided money would be how he would make this problem disappear.

He checked his watch. She was late. Finally, he saw her waddle into the shop. He recoiled. She’d always been big, but she was obese now. Her coppery skin had dulled into leathery ash, and her canary yellow tank dress was two sizes too small and three lengths too short, veering into dangerous territory. It took him a minute to realize she had a little boy with her. Mark got a good look at him, and his heart stopped.

There was no denying that he was the spitting image of Mark.

“Heeeeyyyy, baby! Damn, it’s been a long time,” she said, a big smile on her face. She pulled the little boy’s bony arm until he was standing in front of her, staring down at the floor. She tapped him on the shoulder. “Baby, I’d like you to meet your son, Marcus, Jr. Or should we call him Mark, Jr. now?”

“How is this possible?” His voice dropped to a whisper. “You had a miscarriage.”

Geneva pulled out a chair and sat down while the little boy remained standing, his eyes trained on the floor.

“Well, as it turns out, I was pregnant with twins and lost one of them. The doctor said that happens sometimes. So I had the baby and then, well, like I told you, I’ve been in jail for a while. He’s been with my sister the past few years.”

Mark turned his stunned gaze to the solemn little boy in front of him. He continued to stare down at the floor, almost as if he wished it would swallow him up. He knew the feeling. Mark looked back at Geneva.

“How old is he?”

“Nine. He don’t talk much. I think he’s slow. You know—” Geneva thumped the side of her temple, “—touched in the head.”

Mark looked back at his son and leaned closer in an attempt to make eye contact with the boy.

“Hey,” Mark said, his voice soft. “How you doin’?”

He looked over at Geneva as if he were seeking permission to speak.

“Dang, boy, your daddy asked you a question. Answer him.”

On cue, he squeaked out a barely audible, “Fine.”

Mark was furious, heartbroken, and touched. He would be forever linked to this woman, yet he was charmed by this quiet little boy.

“You hungry?” Mark asked.

The little boy nodded. “A little.”

Mark dug into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He extracted a twenty and held it out to the boy.

“You think you can get yourself something to eat at the counter?”

Again, the boy nodded, barely looking up at Mark. He edged his hand out and took the money before he turned away. Mark watched him trudge up to the counter. He looked back at Geneva, a knowing look on his face.

“This doesn’t change anything. I still don’t want anything to do with you. You give me full custody, and I will write you a check for more money than you could ever dream of.”

“You think I’m going to let you raise our child with that bitch?”

Mark banged on the table, causing Geneva to jump back. “I told you,” he pointed his finger in her face, “you don’t talk about her. This is non-negotiable.”

“You can’t talk to me like this.”

“Geneva, I can talk to you any way I want to, because I don’t give a shit about you.”

“How do you think she’s gonna feel when she finds out you already got a wife?”

Mark smiled and leaned back in his chair as he pulled out the annulment papers he’d brought in preparation for this meeting.

“I took the liberty of making a copy for your files,” he said, sliding them across the table to her.

Dismayed, Geneva looked at the papers for a minute before she tore them up into tiny pieces. Mark laughed.

“I’ve got fifty more copies, locked away somewhere you will never find them, so—” he shrugged, “—go ahead, rip it up, because it doesn’t matter.” He leaned back. “Now, you’re going to listen to me, and we’re going to do things my way.”

“You think so?”

Mark leaned closer, a malicious smile smeared across his face. “I know so.”

“You think I can’t make trouble for you?”

“Try it and you’ll wish you’d hung yourself with your bed sheet in jail.”

Geneva went to slap Mark, but he was too quick for her and grabbed her hand before she made contact.

“Don’t touch me.” Mark glanced over his shoulder to see the little boy was still standing in line waiting to be served. He turned back to Geneva.

“Look, it’s pretty clear to me that you could care less about him. Give him to me, I’ll write you a huge check, everyone is happy.”

She shook her head. “I don’t think so. You will never be rid of me. We’re soulmates, and we have a child together that we should raise as man and wife.”

He shook his head, a wry smile on his lips. “Hell no,” he whispered.

It was Geneva’s turn to lean toward him.

“How do you think your high-priced law firm and all your clients are going to feel when they find out you was married to me, then deserted me and our baby? You think they want someone like that?”

Mark felt the vein in his neck tighten. “Don’t fuck with me, Geneva.”

“No,
you
don’t fuck with
me
. Don’t think I won’t make your life a living hell if you don’t give me what I want.”

Mark narrowed his eyes. “And what is that exactly?”

“You. And a few other things.”

“Too bad.”

“Oh, I’ll get you,” Geneva smiled. “You sure you want to be leaving that pretty little wife of yours alone?”

Mark twisted Geneva’s wrist until she yelped. “If you do one
single
thing to Kelly, I will kill you.”

“Get off me.”

The little boy was making his way back to the table, clutching a muffin. Mark dropped Geneva’s arm when he saw the boy. Geneva scraped her chair back against the wooden floor and grabbed the boy’s hand. The muffin dropped to the floor, bouncing away from the trio.

“You’re going to be so sorry you messed with me,” she whispered before she began to pull the little boy out of the café. Mark jumped up and began to follow them. He ran to catch up to them, but Geneva managed to get into a cab that had just turned the corner and hopped in before he could stop them.

“Damn,” he murmured to himself.

What was he going to do now?

A
nd so Geneva began a relentless campaign in her quest to make Mark’s life a living hell.

For starters, she’d hidden Mark Jr. Then she would call Mark’s office countless times during the day, a repeat of those horrible days back in New Orleans. She’d also discovered Kelly’s office number and began to bother her with hang-up calls throughout the day, only occasionally saying she got the wrong number. Then the phone calls to the condo started. She sent Mark pictures of Kelly cut in half or with big “X’s” drawn over her face. She stood outside their building every morning, waiting for Mark to go to work. She would sit in the downstairs lobby of his office building, calling him to let him know she was there, demanding he come down, until he finally did.

She refused to tell him where his son was until he gave into what she wanted. She insisted on a house, a car, and an allowance, or she would kill the little boy.

Mark was on the verge of going to the police, damn whatever happened, when Geneva pulled her worst stunt.

Because she had no money, she gave some guy a blowjob as payment for following Kelly and then ramming his beater into the side of her car, just to injure her a little. Kelly wound up in the hospital for a few days with a concussion and broken wrist. When Geneva showed up outside Kelly’s room, Mark hustled her out to the stairwell, and they struggled as he attempted to shove her down the stairs. Geneva pulled out a gun and said there was more of that if he didn’t give her what she wanted; a lavish house in Olympia Fields, a new car, and bank accounts.