The Enforcer or The Mafia Prince

Chapter 41

Gia circled the car and confirmed it wasn't tampered with while they were inside. Not that she expected anything to happen. The parking garage had plenty of security cameras. The group piled into the car, unable to stop laughing. The look of horror on Mr. Boerson's face when Tristan gave Leland his business card was too funny. Gia turned on the navigation system and started in the direction of Jess's parents' house.

"That poor kid. I don't know how he got tangled up with Bill in the first place," Tristan explained.

"Hey, what did you say to Mr. Boerson to make him sign the agreement," Jess leaned against Tristan and asked. Tristan took Jess's hand and placed his lips against it.

"Don't worry. I didn't threaten him, not in the way you're thinking. I did some research after I got home and told him that if he didn't comply, I'd tell his board of directors."

"Is that why you look so tired today?" Jessica placed her free hand on Tristan's face and looked at his tired skin. "You can take a nap in my room at my parent's house."

"Thanks, Princess." Tristan slouched in his seat and closed his eyes.

They arrived sooner than they'd planned, but Heather was home. Gia hopped out of the car and retrieved the care package from the trunk. Tristan and Gia followed Jessica into the house.

"Mom! I'm home," Jessica called.

Heather walked into the living room. She looked healthier than Jessica had seen her in a long time.

"Sweetheart, you're here!" Heather gave her daughter a tight hug.

"Mom, this is Gia. She's the trainer I told you about." Heather wasted no time and hugged Gia.

"Hi, Gia. My daughter has told me so much about you."

"She has?" A faint blush appeared on Gia's dark skin.

"Good things, I promise," Heather explained.

Gia giggled, "I'm glad. I brought you something. Gia reached into her purse and pulled out a small booklet. Jess said you liked numbers, so I got you a Sudoku book for when you don't want to be on your phone."

"Oh, that's so sweet of you. Thank you." Heather's eyes lit up. She liked sudoku puzzles a lot but didn't like doing them on her phone. It was too easy. This was so much better.

"Mom, you've met Tristan." Jess elbowed Tristan in the side.

Tristan sighed and stepped forward, his head hanging low. "Hello, Ms. Hernandez. Please allow me to apologize for my behavior last time we met. I knew you were sick and still had you tied up. That was unconscionable of me. I'm very sorry."

"Stand up straight, young man." Heather looked at Tristan. She knew from Jessica that apologizing did not come easy for him. Tristan rolled his shoulders back and looked down at Jessica's mom. "I accept your apology. Let us say no more about it. As long as you treat my daughter well, we can start over and get to know one another."

"Mom, we're not really dating," Jess reminded her. Gia's eyes went wide. Shoot!

"Gia, I'm still trying to get Jess to agree to an exclusive relationship. Right now, we're just going on dates." Tristan jumped in to explain the situation to Gia.

"Oh, I thought..." Gia looked at Jessica.

"I'll explain more later back home. As far as everyone else knows, I'm his girlfriend."

Gia shrugged. "I guess that's between youse guys. I'd hesitated to date you if you tied up my mom, too."

Jessica felt uncomfortable with Gia's nonchalance. Still, Jess appreciated Gia's humor. She'd have to explain when she had a chance.

"Mom, Tristan didn't sleep well. He's going to rest in my room while we catch up. Then you can open the box!"

Jessica showed Tristan to her room and then returned to spend time with her mom and Gia. The girls told Heather about their shopping trip and their secret presents to Emma and Jimmy.

"You told me about Emma last time. She's the one who just had a baby. How is she?"

"She's good. There was an emergency yesterday, so I watched the baby for her. He's so sweet." Shoot!

"It's a boy?" Gia squealed.

"Yes, but you can't tell anyone! Jimmy's going to kill me."

Heather laughed. "You always were terrible at lying and keeping secrets. Why would Jimmy be mad?"

"He and Emma have decided to spend time with the baby before naming it and telling the world if they're a boy or girl," Jessica explained.

"Yeah. It's kind of cool. They want to let the baby be a new person in the world for a bit. Before the weight of names and gender cast expectations on them."

"Oh, Jessica's dad and I did something similar."

"You did? I didn't know that."

"Yup. Your grandfather had passed away. Abbi, Jess's abuela on her dad's side, wanted to give you a very religious name. In the end, we named you after a few weeks."

"Oh? What after," Gia asked.

"Jessica was the name of my best friend growing up."

"That's sweet," Gia replied.

"I didn't know that, Mom."

"You never asked."

The look of confusion and shame on Jessica's face made Heather snicker. "It's fine, sweetheart. I'm teasing you. Lots of people don't ask. Your dad has no idea why he's named Manuel."

Gia and Jessica laughed. "So why are you named Heather, then?"

"Oh, my name? I'm named after a great aunt that passed away before I was born," Heather explained. Her face looked a little sad, and she changed the subject, "So, what's in the box?"

"Gwenny," Gia deadpanned.

"What?" Jess and Heather had no idea what Gia meant.

"Oh, never mind. Sorry. Go ahead, Jess."

"Well, Mom, I wanted to surprise you. Gia helped me put this together. Open it."

Heather opened the sparkly blue box and saw newspaper comics tapped to the inside of the lid. The image made Jess think of Declan. Something inside her squeezed her stomach before disappearing. Heather pulled out the tea, treats, and toys one after another. With each item, her eyes teared up.

"Oh, this is so sweet of you girls. How'd you guess I liked lemon candy?"

"Jess remembered the box and, well, my grandma had cancer. I remember that her mouth was always dry. So I recommended candy to Jess."

Heather hugged both girls. "I appreciate you two so much. This blanket!" Heather hugged the throw to her. "It's so soft."

Gia and Jessica's phones started to ring.

Andrea.

Ciaran.

The women locked eyes and answered their phones.

"Hello?"

"Yes, Sir?"

"What?"

"What?"

Both conversations were equally charged. Heather didn't know what happened. Still, something had happened. Both her daughter and Gia were wide-eyed and screaming into their phones.

"He said what?"

"Yes, sir. I'll tell him to call you right away."

They hung up their phones at the same time. Gia ran to Jessica's bedroom and shook Tristan awake. Meanwhile, Jess hurried over to her mom's laptop and pulled up a gossip blog site.

Tristan Spotted with New Girl as Liam and Sophia Call it Quits!

"s**t, s**t, s**t, s**t, shit."

Included in the post was a clear shot of Jess's face. Jessica's phone started pinging nonstop. She checked it. Notifications from i********: were flooding her phone. She couldn't even turn off the notifications.

"I woke Tristan. He's on the phone with Ciaran now," Gia said as she returned to the room.

"Gia, can you pull up my i********: account? My phone is blowing up, and I don't know why."

Jess carried the computer to the dining table. Gia sat next to her. The women could hear Tristan screaming in the other room but couldn't make out what he was saying. Heather sat on the other side of her daughter, not knowing what was happening. Gia pulled up her phone and looked up Jess's i********:. The comments under her two pictures with Tristan were disgusting.

"Homewrecker!"

"Tramp!"

"How dare you hurt Sophie!"

The comments went on and on. For every comment read, three more popped up. Jess had to turn off her phone and use the computer to log into i********:. She disabled her phone number and turned off commenting. It was all she could do for now. Jess knew she'd get more abuse for doing that. Even so, she couldn't sit there with a phone she couldn't use.

"What's going on," Heather asked.

"Tristan's ex, wait, that's not right. Tristan was seeing a woman named Sophia. Sophia was engaged to Liam Ryan. Liam is the heir to another family like Tristan's. He instructed Sophia to get close to Tristan and get information on him. Someone posted a picture of Tristan and me at dinner last night. Then Liam saw fit to formally announce his breakup with Sophia. To the outside world, it looks like Tristan stole Sophia from Liam and then dumped her for me."

Jessica explained the situation as fast as she could. Her anger was building against Liam. She'd completely forgotten he said he'd do something like this. Tristan walked into the dining room, bleary-eyed and pale.

"Dad wants to talk to you." Tristan didn't wait for Jessica's response before passing her the phone.

"Hello, Ciaran."

"Yes, I have seen the news. Yes. Yes. That's correct. Because I couldn't use my phone. No, you don't need to do that. Send someone from your marketing department to my condo. On the island are a set of four pictures. Yes. Yes, that's right. Please. Okay. I'll tell him. We'll be back shortly."

Tristan reached for his phone, but Jessica hung up and set it on the table.

"Everyone calm down. Tristan, take a seat. Mom, would you like some tea?"

Jessica got up from the table and boiled some water for tea. Heather, Tristan, and Gia sat at the table and watched Jess move around. Gia had never seen Jessica turn on her boss mode. This was new to her. After a few minutes, Jess returned with a selection of tea bags, mugs, and a kettle of hot water.

"Everyone, pick your favorite while I explain what's about to happen."

Jessica cleared her throat and began, "Gia. Tristan and I are not dating in the traditional sense. We like each other and enjoy going on dates. That being said, this is a political arrangement of sorts. For all intents and purposes, I am his girlfriend, and he is my boyfriend. Tristan, do you recall last Sunday? I was saving those photos for a problem like this."

Tristan nodded and let Jess continue.

"Last weekend, Tristan and I ran into Liam and Sophia. I invited them to join us for lunch and had someone sneak photos of it. My hope was that we wouldn't need them, but they had already proven themselves to be a pair of snakes. The photos look like a cheerful double date. Ciaran is having his marketing department put out a statement and release the photos. We are going to tell the world that Tristan and I have been friends for a while. We began dating long before Liam and Sophia broke up. Those photos are proof that they were together less than a week ago. At that time, they both knew that Tristan and I were together."

"I'd forgotten all about those," Tristan replied.

"Mom, we need to go. Tristan and I are going to go do some damage control. Are you going to be okay?"

"Mhm, don't worry about me, sweetheart."

"I'll never stop worrying about you," Jess said as she stood up and hugged her mom. "I love you."

"I love you, too, sweetheart. Gia, it was lovely meeting you. Tristan, if you hurt my daughter, you'll have more than your father to fear. Hear me?"

Something about Heather's mom-voice put the fear of death in Tristan, "Yes, ma'am."