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Hosea squeezed my ass and kissed my neck. “Your outfit is already laid out for the evening. I want you dressed and ready to go by seven.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Give me a kiss and tell me you love me.”
Tilting my head, I puckered my lips for what had become one of the sweetest parts of my day. Like always, my body melted against him the longer we kissed. Hosea pulled away, walking away just as quickly and casually as he’d come. For a few seconds, all I could do was stare at his tall, wide frame. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking, almost letting him get away.
* * *
As I headed up to the suite to prepare for my date with Hosea, I scrolled through all of my notifications. The one that stood out to me most were the several missed calls from Detective Sanders. My heart plummeted. All I could do was fear the worst. Had Ashley’s parents taken her off of life support and she died? I waited until I was off the elevator, headed down the hall to call him back, hoping he answered.
“Detective Sanders.”
“Hey, it’s Cartier.”
“Hey, are you available to come to the station for a lineup? We have Deandre in custody.”
“Really? That’s great! I’m not in L.A. right now, though. Are you able to hold him?”
“We can, but we need as much evidence against him as we can get. The prints that he left behind are a great start, but I want to make an airtight case for the D.A. If we have that plus your testimony and pointing him out of a lineup, he’s going down for the max.”
“Okay. When you can, let me know his court date and I’ll try to get there before then.”
“Okay, thanks.”
After disconnecting the call, I lingered in the hallway instead of going right in. I was so happy that Deandre had been captured, but this was a hell of a lot of pressure on me. It was the least I could do for Ashley, because if the roles were reversed, I would want her to do the same for me. Knowing that Deandre was arrested was going to make it easier for me to return to Cali to get the rest of my things. I might as well do it all at one time—go to the police station, get a moving company, and say goodbye to what I was at one point sure would be my forever dwelling place.
Twenty-Eight
Hosea
I stared at the paper, and the results were bittersweet. I was glad Santino wasn’t my son because I didn’t feel organically connected to him, but I was disappointed because there was a small part of me that wanted him to be my son. While I didn’t want to believe Mariah knew all along that Santino wasn’t mine, I was sure she did. With these results, I would finally be able to get the whole truth from her.
I made my way to their suite. Mariah smiled at the sight of me, and I couldn’t even fake the funk as I stepped inside.
“Is Santino sleep?” I asked as she closed the door behind me.
“He is. Did you want to get him early?”
“Nah. I wanna know why his mama lied to me about him being my son.”
Unbuckling my suit jacket, I kept my eyes on her as I took a seat. She blinked rapidly and shook her head softly.
“Hosea…”
“Is Gino his father?”
Sighing, Mariah nodded. “Yes, he is.”
“So you used me and my connections to kill his father?”
“If you didn’t, he was going to kill me,” Mariah reasoned, making her way over to me. She sat down and finally told the truth. “I cheated with Gino, yes. He offered a flashier lifestyle that intrigued me. You have quiet money, and though you provided security, Gino was more exciting with his.”
“Were you involved in the robbery?”
“No, not at all. He told me about it in advance as a test of my loyalty. To see if I would tell you or be loyal to him. The night you told me you loved me, I found out I was pregnant. I knew the baby wasn’t yours based on the timing. When Gino and I started having sex, you and I stopped. I couldn’t have sex with the both of you at the same time.”
She paused as tears fell. “I didn’t tell you I loved you back because I knew what I’d done to you. It wouldn’t have come out genuinely because of my guilt. In that moment, I decided the best way to show you my love was to leave you alone. I never wanted you to find out that I’d cheated and gotten pregnant with another man’s baby.”
