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"No," Deira said. "Don't get in touch. I'll call you when we're ready to talk."
I could feel my whole body tense up. I was in the mood to fight, but I had to remind myself that Deira was not the one who caused these problems. That was on me, and Michelle. So, I nodded and left.
After I left their apartment, I sat in my car for a long time without going anywhere, and then finally I made a call. I told the PI I would double the fee if he could get me the info I wanted in the next few hours. I guess that motivated him, because I hadn't even made it home before he texted me with an address. I turned around and headed in that direction.
The apartment doorman called up, and she apparently told him to let me in. I hadn't given my name, so she must have been expecting someone else.
Sure enough, when she opened the door, her eyes widened in shock. But she quickly composed herself and gave me a bright smile.
"Cassius! I'm so happy to see you!" she said, and leapt forward to hug me. I dodged the hug, and pushed past her into the apartment. She closed the door and frowned. "You came to my place, but I guess you're not happy to see me," she said, crossing her arms and pouting.
"That's an understatement," I said. "I came to tell you to quit messing around with my kid."
She snorted.
"So, it really is true? I honestly couldn't believe it when the PI told me you had a kid. I guess that's one way to get you to commit."
Hearing those words come out of her mouth was like a slap in the face. Things had ended badly between us, but I wouldn't have thought that she would stoop so slow. I stepped forward and grabbed her by the wrist.
"What do you mean, the PI? You've got someone spying on me?"
She wriggled out of my grasp and backed away.
"Relax," she said. "Don't be so paranoid. I only hired a PI because I saw you with her. That woman. I had come over to try to patch things up. I figured I'd give you a few weeks, let you cool down, and then try to have a grown-up conversation. After all, we put a lot of work into this relationship. It's a shame to just throw it away." She tilted her head at me, in a way I vaguely remembered I had once found charming. Now it made my blood boil. I couldn't believe that I'd once planned a future with this woman. "I didn't expect to find you having a nooner with some blonde," Michelle continued, laughing. "I mean, at least I assume that's what you were doing. You drove up, went into the house for about 45 minutes, and came out looking quite a bit more disheveled. For someone who was so upset that I cheated on him, you sure did move on fast."
I tried to control my temper at this implication that I was somehow in the wrong. She was upset at how I had acted? Had she forgotten that she was the one who cheated on me and ended our relationship? I felt a spike of sharp anger that seemed to grow until it filled my whole body.
"What I do or don't do in my own house on my own time is no longer any concern of yours. We had a life together. You chose to blow it up. I'm sorry I didn't wait around for you to come crawling back and beg for forgiveness. But it wouldn't have mattered, because I was through with you before I even knew Deira's name."
I stepped up and glowered down at her, letting my anger show a little. She shrank back a bit.
"Listen to me very carefully, Michelle. Don't come near me again. Don't come near Deira. And most importantly, don't come near my daughter ever again."
"Or what?" she said. She tossed her hair coquettishly, but I could tell she was nervous. I was through playing games.
"Or I will ruin you. You know I can. I've got more money and better lawyers. I'll come after your reputation. I'll come after your job. I'll bankrupt you and leave you with nothing. Got it?"
She didn't even try to pretend she wasn't scared now. She just nodded, and I thought maybe I'd finally gotten through to her.
"Got it," she whispered.
"Good." I stepped back. "Let's never do this again."
I turned on my heel and walked away from her, glad that I'd managed to control my anger, and relieved to have hopefully put a stop to this for good. As I opened the door to leave her apartment, she called out, "I guess that woman and her kid really got a hold on you, huh?"
I ignored her, stepping out into the hallway and closing the door behind me. But as I headed for the car, I couldn't help but thinking that was the one thing Michelle had gotten right.
TWENTY-THREE
DEIRA
After Cassius left that night, I got a terrible night's sleep. It had seemed obvious from the way he reacted that he hadn't known about his ex, and hadn't been the one who told her about Makayla. That made me feel better about him, but worse about the situation as a whole. He had said that he would deal with it, but what was his plan?
I tossed and turned all night, and finally gave up in the early hours of the morning. I got up and made coffee and sat thinking through the last few days. As I thought over our conversation from the night before, I realized that I had dumped all my emotions on Cassius, even though he wasn't the cause of some of them. I hated to admit it, but I might have been too hard on him. And if he hadn't told his ex about Makayla, then I probably did need his help in dealing with her.
So again, I found myself lurking around his office at lunchtime. The door was closed, but this time I just went up to his assistant and asked if he was in. She shook her head.
"Did you want to make an appointment?" she asked.
