I rang the doorbell and waited for footsteps. Everything was quiet as I rang the doorbell again. What were they doing? Luca was home with someone else. Could be his friends or even Sha'Kayla. But the car I'd seen was expensive. There's only one person I know who can afford it right now and still drive it like it's old.
I was taken aback by the figure in the doorway. Diane was chewing gum and staring at us expectantly. Why the hell was she here? I swear this woman was attached to people who didn't like her. I couldn't form any greeting to answer her look. Vincent almost pounced on her. I had to drag him back before she broke a fingernail on his face.
"I'm sorry," I grumbled. "He's just not in his right mind right now."
"Oh..." Diane smiled.
"I am in my right mind, you conniving bi--" Vincent started. I covered his mouth.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she said calmly. "Come in. I was just making some tea."
"It's okay. I was just looking for--"
"No one wants your poison..."
I motioned for Diane to close the door. As she obliged, someone came running down the stairs to the door. I smiled as Jasmine shoved Diane aside and slammed into my legs.
"Papa!" she screamed. "Vinnie!"
Vincent straightened in the presence of his sister. She let my legs go and practically jumped into his arms. If not for the workouts we do together almost every other weekend, he wouldn't have been able to catch her weight.
"Jazzy!" he exclaimed in feigned happiness. "It's been a while."
Jasmine wriggled from her brother's hold and dragged him into the house. I shook my head and smiled at their backs. Diane looked like she was going to murder the both of them. I wonder what Dominic was doing. Did Rylie ever come back after hearing about Lexi?
"He reminds me of someone," Diane muttered.
"Like mother, like son." I sighed.
"What?"
"...Lexi. She's his mom."
Diane got this look on her face that said she was disgusted but not surprised. I got that a lot from my family. Especially Ricardo whenever I mention Lexi like she was a good person. I can't blame either of them. A lot of people hate to know their favorite person has a child they didn't know about.
"What are you doing here anyway?" I asked. "I thought you went back to New York with your kids and Ian."
"...Oh...I, uh...Jordan and I came back to welcome Lexi home." She chuckled. "We all know Luca doesn't care that she's there anyway. He's in the kitchen with his girlfriend right now."
Of course he was.
"But Lexi hates you."
"So..."
"Just saying."
I walked into the house and noticed that it wasn't just Jordan and Diane. Tiffany and Sebastian were reclining in the living room. Dominic was sleeping in Jasmine's arms. I assumed she didn't like kids, so it's good to see she's not a total chienne. Jordan was just a few feet from them on the phone. He wasn't trying to keep his conversation a secret.
"I need bodyguards with her when they finally let her go. And a plane ready that night."
Interesting...
I masked my surprise when I saw Sha'Kayla sitting on the island with Luca feeding her grapes. A cliché from any mythology. It was cringe-worthy. My eyes narrowed as I made my presence known.
"You're just gonna pretend your wife isn't in the hospital right now?" I asked.
"Why are you worried about me?" Luca retorted. "There's a fine line between me not caring and me just being nice. Don't get those mixed up."
"She's going crazy and you're not convincing her she needs to take her medicine and get the right treatments."
"...I tried. It's not easy trying to tell a woman with Schizoaffective disorder and MPD what her life is going to be like in a few days. She won't listen."
"She doesn't have MPD!"
Luca finally looked at me and rolled his eyes. "Of course you would know that. What'd she tell you Wednesday?"
"She told me to get out. Said I was lying to her and didn't love her," I replied almost immediately and hated myself for that.
"Exactly."
"What?"
"Lexi has never acted like that before. Seeing that she's forgotten the perfect little relationship she had with you and how she acted all innocent then high and mighty with me, we can only assume it's that."
Merde. I hate it when he's right.
"I'm going to kill you and Jackson," I tried instead.
"What did lil ol' me do?" he asked.
"Don't get me and my child involved with crap I never asked to be a part of. If I wanted to be kidnapped, I would have asked the Korean president personally."
Luca laughed. Sha'Kayla looked at me, biting her lip like I was someone she wanted. My eyes snapped away in distaste.
"Asher," Luca started. "You and I both know you moved to Palm Springs to be closer to Lexi. The only reason you haven't made a move is because I won't let you. Whether you want to believe it or not, Lexi has never truly loved you. The things Brad told her about you...Lies."
"You don't know anything."
"I know enough to keep you at bay, French trash."
Before I could respond to his stupid insult, Sha'Kayla jerked her head towards the window. I sent her a questioning look. She sighed and slid off the counter. After a quick kiss with the man who's going to end up a dead man, she took her leave.
"I'll be back, Luca," she said. "I just need to check on something. You'll be here when I return?"
"You know it, babe." He winked at her.
She left the kitchen eyeing me and bumped my arm on purpose. Her eyes darted to the window then back to me. Oh. She wanted to talk to me? I guess I could spare a few seconds.
"I'm heading out too. Vincent's still here, so I'll be back to pick him up after I run an errand," I announced like I actually had to seek permission to leave my child here.
"Eff off."
I shuffled out the kitchen down the hall. Sha'Kayla had stopped to converse with Diane who was being animated in their discussion. I slithered past them and out the door. The late July sun was not playing today. When I patted my pockets to get my keys, I realized they were still in the car. Wow.
"You left your keys in the car, didn't you?" she asked.
"...Yes." I sighed.
"Shame. Have you gone to visit Lexi today?"
"Last night. Or tried to. We're not on speaking terms right now."
"You said yourself that she wasn't in her right mind."
"She was never in her right mind."
Sha'Kayla rolled her eyes. "You need me to call the key place? Or I can drive you wherever you need to go."
"It's fine." I lifted my arm. "I can unlock it with my watch."
"You fu--"
"What did you want?"
"Oh. Could you follow me then? I promise I won't lead you to your death."
⭕⭕⭕⭕⭕
We ended up at an abandoned barn out in the middle of nowhere. Where no one can hear me scream. No familiar place to hide. I was in her territory. Or whoever owned this place. I needed to be cautious. Everyone just loves a sketchy setting. No telling what kind of things Sha'Kayla had to check on.
"I didn't bring you here to kill you," she assured me. "Someone just wants to have a talk with you."
She then brought out a set of keys and unlocked the rotting wood doors. I only watched with my hand on my gun. I'm glad I didn't change after getting off from work. It's better to be safe than sorry. She turned around and looked at me.
"What..."
"You're not going to need that."
"You never know."
"You won't."
I took my hand off to make her happy and followed her inside. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the sudden darkness. We walked for what seemed like forever until Sha'Kayla told me to wait. I busied myself with figuring out where I was and who could be standing with me at this very moment. How could a place like this no longer have windows? How was it even inhabitable for even a few minutes? Something was weird.
After a short wait, Sha'Kayla came back. She told me they were ready for me and led me to another rotting door. She opened it and gently pushed me inside. There was a small lamp on a desk and a swivel chair turned around. I could only see the back of the man's head, but I immediately knew who it was. She set me up!
"Wayne," I growled and whipped my gun out.
"Asher, no!" Sha'Kayla yelled.
Wayne did nothing as he turned the chair around. He looked amused by my actions. After some consideration and shifty eyes, I could see why. There were thousands of tiny red dots centered around my heart.
"...Jackson's here too. I don't see you pointing a gun at him," he snitched.
I pulled out my other gun and pointed it just a little behind me. Jackson stepped from his hiding spot.
"How'd you know I was right there?" he asked.
"I could smell you," I sneered.
"Must be the new cologne. I thought it smelled amazing, too."
Why was he always the demented one? It really stinks. He knows my nose is sensitive to smells like that. If not for the snipers, then he would have been dead by now.
"Well, it's great to see you again, Asher. I knew bringing you back to that place would wake you up." Jackson chuckled. "Sha'Kayla, you can leave now. Go home or something. I'm flying back in a couple of days."
"Yes, sir." Sha'Kayla left the room.
"Now, now, Asher," Wayne started. "Let's all act like civilized men. You put your guns down and I'll have my men put theirs down. I may be a traitor, but I'm no liar."
"...Fine." I slowly put my guns away. "It wouldn't do you any good to kill an officer anyway."
"You're not on duty, so no one would care. Now let's get to it, shall we?"