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Damien
I hated being in Halifax and not telling MaKayla. She believed that I was arriving the next day. That gave me twenty-four hours to convince Venus that I was on her side.
It was time to find out if Venus was really the morning person that she pretended to be on our little road trip. The sun was up, and hopefully, she was too.
I knocked on her door, and after a moment, she answered wearing her bathrobe.
Venus looked around and then back at me. “What are you doing here Damien? You do know that MaKayla doesn’t live here, right?”
“I came to speak to you. Would you mind if I came in? This is very...important and not something I think we should discuss outside.”
She didn’t look like she was going to agree. That would be unfortunate because the option was my going to MaKayla with the little I know. It would definitely get a reaction out of her, and probably cause a riff, and I'm not sure how it would heal.
She must have realized that I wasn’t going away so easily, and she opened the door for me. “I have some questions for you as well. Might as well answer mine first.”
I followed her inside and she told me to have a seat at the kitchen table. I wasn’t sure what she wanted to speak to me about, but my guess was MaKayla. Her expression was enough to tell me she was angry at me.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to go first?” I asked.
She shook her head. “No. Because I might not want to hear whatever you have to say after I hear your answers.” Taking the seat across from me, she asked bluntly, “Are you cheating on my daughter?”
“No.” At least this was one thing I could answer honestly.
“Then explain to me why my daughter believed that you were,” she demanded.
I had no answer for that. MaKayla and I never mentioned anything about another woman, and she'd never asked me either. “I don’t know why that is. All I can say is that I am not seeing anyone else.”
“And this trip to Tabiq was just a vacation for you and your brother?” she asked.
That was perfect for turning the line of questions around.My turn.“No. It wasn’t a vacation. I was there on business.”
“With your brother?”
I could see all the doubt on her face. It was okay that she didn’t trust me. The feeling was mutual.
“Yes,” I replied.
She crossed her arms and said, “What kind of business are you doing in Tabiq? Because there is only one reason that I know of that draws foreign men there.”
The disgust on her face was real. “I wasn’t there forthat.”
“Then what were you doing there?”
Looking her straight in the eye, I replied, “I was...looking for answers about you.”
Venus hadn’t expected that. “Me!?” Her reaction was as expected. Her body was tense, and her eyes were wide in fear. She knew it was all starting to unravel.
“Yes. I know you were born in Tabiq. I know you moved to Canada before MaKayla was born. I was looking for the reason why,” I said.
She averted her eyes from me and said, “People move all the time. I wanted something different. That's all.”
Good try. “I don’t believe you.” It was rude but accurate. I needed her to know that I wasn’t going to buy any of the answers she’d given MaKayla. “I’m here for the truth. If you aren’t willing to give it to me, I’ll go back to Tabiq and get the answers myself.” Glaring at her I said, “And trust me, I’ll find them. It’s what I am paid for.”
“What do you mean, paid for? Who is paying you?” she asked.
“Your daughter. She wants to find her family and apparently, you have stood in her way for many years. I want to know why,” I said firmly. “And before you try to sell me some story you think I want to hear, I know enough to decipher if you’re lying.”
“I...I don’t want to talk about this,” she replied.
