WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT WHEN CARMA'S INVOLVED?

CUARENTA Y DOS

Days passed without anyone hearing from or seeing me. My head and face were swollen, there was difficulty with blurry vision from my right eye, and the bruising turned my face all kinds of colors I’d never seen. Alixxander called, knocked, slipped notes under the door, and even tried talking to me through the door. I never answered. Román called and after a brief conversation, he refused my resignation. It was fine. I decided to work on my resume. When another job was lined up, I’d quit.

Before I knew it, a week and a half slipped away. My fridge looked bare, I needed toiletries, but my reflection put a*****e run on hold. Leaving the safety and solitude of my home caused me to be apprehensive and intimidated by those living their day-to-day lives. For the second time in my life, I was forced to contend with my foreboding dread of humanity. Do you know what kept me up at night? I could have easily broken weasel boy’s nose and walked away. Just before all hell broke loose, I tried to defuse his anger. It’s never wise to assume one’s own ability to control a situation or person. In hindsight, I see it clearly. He became outraged and literally foamed at the mouth like a rabid animal. I don’t condone violence. And it certainly should not be the first weapon used when trying to ease one’s way out of a tricky situation.

A few more days went by before I decided to try to cover up my injuries with my hair and oversized sunglasses. While I finagled the curls in front of my face, I heard the locks on my front door. I grabbed the Louisville slugger stashed under my bed and waited.

“Holy fck, did you finally leave this prison?” I walked out dragging the bat on the floor. “Guess it is too much to ask for.”

“How’d you get a key?”

“The super of the building has a copy for everyone’s apartment. You know, in case of an emergency.”

“Did Alixxander send you to check on me?”

“Nope. Mom did. But Alixx is driving himself insane because he is dying to see you and wants to show you the house.”

Carma refused to vacate. Alixxander called the police to have her removed. News crews got there before the police. It was a non-emergency call. Obviously, emergencies take precedence. On live television, she had been forcefully removed without her belongings. During the removal, I wondered where the baby was. Then again, Carma probably staged the whole thing for publicity. Discounting anything could be dangerous when she’s involved.

Allie told me he finally filed complaints in Nevada and Massachusetts against Carma and Evan for stealing his identity and the sham marriage. The authorities had to complete their investigation before arrests could be made.

“How is Alixxander dying to see me when videos and pictures of him partying with supermodels and famous people are popping up all over the place? If that’s what he wants, I am not going to stand in his way.”

“You need to go back and really look at the pictures. Watch the videos a million times over. Maybe I can see it because I grew up with him. It’s there.”

“What?”

“Fckin' misery. Trust me. He’s not happy. Dad told me to drop your mail off. Girl, when are you going to venture outside? What are you going to do when your ass needs to be present in the courtroom?”

“I’ll be good by then.”

Walking into the kitchen for a drink, I passed the stack of mail Allie dropped on my counter. I backed up because the partial name caught my eye. Allie went into the other room. For what? No clue. But I kept watch for her return as I pulled the envelope by the corner out of the pile. For two weeks' worth of mail, there was a lot to go through. My pulse quickened as I stared at the two envelopes. One contained the results sent to the court. The other could contradict the validity of the first.

To be on the safe side, I opened the envelope from the hospital first. With a one hundred percent certainty, Alixxander fathered Carma's daughter. Taking a deep breath before tearing the flimsy envelope from Wilson Labs open, I prayed the original results were wrong for Alixxander’s sake. The precarious predicament of paternity caused me deep anxiety. One moment in my life that compared, waiting to find out if I passed the BAR. As I read the report, my brow furrowed and the words, “Familial match.” slipped out.

“What?” My eyes bulged from their sockets when I looked at Allie.

“It’s nothing.” I shoved both sets of results into my back pocket. “I gotta go.”

“You're leaving?” Nothing but pure disbelief.

“Yes. Yes, I am.” I grabbed my purse, keys, and a pair of sunglasses. “Be sure to lock up when you leave.” I left a trail of dust behind me like I was Speedy Gonzales.

I needed to have a heart-to-heart with the only person who could make sense of the results. The streets weren’t too busy with mid-morning traffic, so my commute wound up being shorter than anticipated. My mind focused on strategies and the easiest ways to go about confronting the person without coming off as disrespectful.

The elevator operator greeted me with a friendly smile. Nevertheless, I stood in the back corner of the steel box shaking in my Nike's wishing I had a lazy eye, so I could split my line of sight between the numbers and the operator as we rose to my destination. If memory served me right, the stupid thing moved much faster. When we stopped at the top floor, I shuffled out and came face to face with a door I never thought I would walk through again. My heart raced, causing a rhythmic vibration in my ear canal. Which made sounds hard to discern. Taking some deep breaths helped.

Benji, the butler, answered the door. I know his grand smile is part of his job description. When he saw it was me, it became grander. “Hi, Benji. May I speak with the lady of the house?”

“Right this way. May I say, I’m glad to see you are okay, Miss.” He escorted me into the living area. A warning that Alixxander, Travis, Mitchell, weasel boy, and Román were present would've prepared me to have a better response when I saw them.

“Harmoney?” I can’t believe he had the audacity to address me. Before anyone else in the room, no less. Each syllable was like being stabbed in the ears.

I refused to give him a second of attention. “I'm sorry to intrude, but I need to speak with Mrs. Savage. It's important.”

She shooed everyone from the room and Benji closed us in. “We are trying to get them to talk it through.” Why?

“I don't give a rat’s ass.” Disrespectful right off the rip.

“Why haven’t you pressed charges then?”

It got worse. “Do you think Alixxander needs that? I can see the headline already. ‘ALIXXANDER SAVAGE FREE FROM CRAZY BTCH. PSYCHO BROTHER BEATS AND TRIES TO R*PE LAWYER’.”

“Your anger is not misplaced. We raised our boys better than that.”

“So Alixxander and Allie have said. Look, I have one question. Which one of your sons was not fathered by your husband?”

“Excuse me?”

I whipped out the papers from my back pocket. “From the get-go, I knew it wasn’t Alixxander. The biological father shares a familial match with him. Most likely a brother. Unless it was your husband. Should I repeat the question?”

Being angry shouldn’t have been an excuse for me to be disrespectful. Drama and lies were around every corner with the Savage family. Betty ushered me to sit. When I did, I waited patiently for her to begin. What she revealed was a doozy of a tale.

At fifteen, she fell in love with the boy next door. At sixteen, she gave birth to a baby boy. Her parents insisted the baby be given up, or she would be kicked out. With no place to go, a family acquaintance took her son to raise as their own.

When Román came along, their love was instant. Right away she confessed her sins. He didn’t care. In three months' time, they married. A month later, Travis was conceived. Then the twins, Aliceandrea and Mitchell, a little over a year later. Alixxander was next. Almost two years after the twins. When Alixxander was two, the family raising her firstborn son returned to Boston. His birth certificate had been doctored to keep the secret, and they enrolled him in school two years later than he should have been. Betty said Alixxander and his oldest brother met in school and were friends. She said no more about them.

But then her marriage got stale and began to fall apart. By her husband’s standards at least. A friend invited them to a discreet but invitation-only party. Masks were to be worn by all to protect the identities of the elite socialites in attendance. Swingers party clicked immediately. Every party has rules and that one was no exception. The men could have relations with every woman present. The catch, women were not allowed to refuse. If they did, they would be asked to leave and not come back. Oh, it got worse. Men were not required to protect their assets. Women were responsible for protection. Those are the kinds of things that happen in a society ruled by men.

Betty begged Román to leave. But he convinced her otherwise. She was approached and taken to a vault table that had been altered to strap a person’s arms down. Reluctant at first, she figured if it helped her marriage. Román picked his venture, and she performed oral as he watched his wife get plowed. The first finished and another took his place. She could see Román, and he smiled as another woman rode him. With each turn, they never stopped looking at one another. Four men left an unspecified number of pieces of themselves inside of her. She hated it. The men were rough and forced her to do things she'd never done with anyone. Román loved the idea and the fact he could screw without consequences. Betty agreed to let him continue without her, and the space beside her remained empty at least four nights a week.

“Does he still attend?”

“Román stopped after I found out I had become pregnant. We knew he wasn’t the father because we lacked intimacy before and after the horrible experience.”

“Do you know?”

“No. I do not believe in termination. For all intents and purposes, Román is Richie’s father.” Their marriage strengthened over time, and they are one big happy family.

There you have it. She gave birth to two children without Román's help. I had one final question.

“What’s your oldest son’s name?”

“It’s Evan. Evan is my son.” Jaw drop.

“He’s the father. It makes perfect sense.”

Even with Dr. Denton’s testimony, I needed to find out and prove that Carma bribed a lab tech to alter the results.

“I hope you don't think less of me.” For some reason what I thought mattered to Betty.

“People do what it takes to protect the ones they love. If your son could do what he did to me.... Chances are he's done it to someone else already or will do it to someone else. He needs help. Don't wait until he kills a woman and fcks her corpse.” Brutal and disgusting was the only way to get my point across.

I made a clean getaway from the apartment to my car. Then Allie called.

“Hey, girl. So, I spoke with Alixx a little while ago. He said it’s too difficult to be a stone's throw away from you, yet so far. He’s ready and waiting for a call. Don’t make him wait too long. Okay.”

“Thanks for the heads-up.”

Alixxander had officially moved back into his house. I’d been watching him move some of his things out. Believe me, I wanted to open the door and say hello. With the second paternity results looming, how could I look him in the face and lie? Again. Distance allows for healing. When the mess Carma made came to a legitimate end, Alixxander and I could give it a go.

I stopped to pick up a few things and did my best to ignore the onlookers and whispers. The worst one was the little girl that got scared and called me a monster. I cashed out and swore to not return unless I looked somewhat normal. In no rush to enter my sanctuary, I heard the door across the hall open. The place had a new inhabitant already?

Out of nosiness, I turned around. “Hi.” His eyes were greener than ever.

“Hey. I thought you moved out.”

“It was good to see you. At an unexpected place, no less.”

“I had a few questions for your mom. Something told me she was the only one that could answer them.”

“I don't mean to ambush you, but can we talk about this?” He received his paper copy of the paternity results.

“Do you want to come in? I can make a pot of coffee.” For a man who is way too comfortable in his skin, he looked extremely uncomfortable.

“Sure.”

He kept a decent distance between us and sat on my sofa instead of following me into the kitchen. Much has started there and ended elsewhere. He’s sticking to boundaries. That’s good. When I glanced over, he held the paper so tightly it crinkled.

Carefully, I carried the cup of black coffee and placed it in front of him. He remained unmoving, unblinking, and not himself. I went to retrieve the sugar, cream, and my cup. “I haven’t seen her since you blew up my marriage.” He wasn’t goading me into a response.

Alixxander followed me into the kitchen and sat at the kitchen table, continuing to stare at the results. My current phobia of the Savage men caused alarm bells to go off. If Alixxander could do that to his brother, there was the possibility of doing it to me if I overstepped somehow. I don’t care who you are, never say never. The overwhelming need to comfort him outweighed the thought of him hurting me. I wrapped my arms around his neck, rested my forehead on the back of his head, and held him tightly. He lowered his head and whimpered. I understand his want for that little girl, but she’s not his.

Holding back such pertinent information made me feel like I was the lowest of the low. The fcked up circumstances were created by Carma. I knew, in the end, I’d be the one to blame for not including him. None of that mattered because my job was not complete. The corresponding funds paid to the lab tech would be found. How long would it take me? Fingers crossed, not long. If it took working around the clock, I’d get it done. When the judge finds out the lengths Carma took to execute the entire ruse, she's not going to like it.

“I'm her dad. Why won’t she let me see her?” She's not yours, I screamed in my head. That woman was the queen of sneakiness.

He rose from the chair, forcing me to release him. The paper lay on the table as he turned and studied my face. Using his fingers, he gently traced the bruise. I had no control over my eyes. They automatically closed, remembering how good his touch felt. Pushing my hair over my shoulder, he firmly held the back of my neck, and I desired to lock lips. Warm breath expelled as he hovered mere inches from my face. “I love you, Harmoney. Rushing headfirst into a relationship was never a wise idea. Thank you for the coffee I didn't drink. I should go.”