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CHAPTER 2
AURORA
Once Dane and his men left my house with Nick’s dead body, I drove into Georgetown to my townhome. When I entered the house, Michael rushed toward me, running as fast as his little legs could. I knelt and caught him in my arms. I squeezed my eyes shut, but I couldn’t stop the tears from flowing.
Michael saw the tears and his little brows furrowed with concern. “Why is you cwying, Mommy? Did you get hurt?”
He was only four years old but already acted as if he was my protector. I wiped at my tears and smiled. “No, Michael, I’m not hurt. I’m just very happy to see you.”
He beamed a smile, and the furrowed brow disappeared. “Okay. I is drawin’ with Anna.” He took my hand. “Come on. I show you. In the kitchen.”
I entered the kitchen with Michael to see Anna sitting at the dinette table with crayons and paper. Michael climbed into a chair and held out his artwork. “See!” He used different colors to draw a car and two stick figures holding hands. “This is your car, and this is you and me.”
Anna looked up from her drawing of flowers and hearts on her paper. Her smile didn’t match her eyes that were full of worry, “Michael may be a professional artist someday!”
I looked over just as Desiree and Lyla entered the kitchen. I employed them, and I treated them all very well. My working women were allowed to use my townhome anytime they’d want to relax and get away from their very demanding jobs as my high-dollar escorts. They knew something was wrong.
I looked back at Anna. “Will you finish your coloring with Michael while I talk to Desiree and Lyla in the living room?”
“Sure, of course,” Anna replied.
The women followed me into the living room decorated in Victorian-style furnishings in red velvet with gold and silver trimming. Desiree and Lyla sat down on the couch together as I sat directly across from them in the red velvet wing-back chair.
I inhaled a deep breath, then exhaled. “Ladies, you’ve been here since the beginning and helped build my business venture into a very profitable enterprise. I can’t thank you enough for staying loyal to me for so long. You’re not only my employees but my dear friends, and I love you both like sisters. Something has happened in the past forty-eight hours. Now things are set in motion, and I fear that my business is no longer mine. I want you both to leave my townhome today. I will call Tamika, Loren, and Candace to let them know as well.”
“What happened, Rory? Is your life in danger?” Desiree asked. She was a beautiful and voluptuous black woman. Her clientele were those rich and powerful politicians up on Capitol Hill.
“No, I don’t feel that my life is in danger. But I’m dealing with Dane Neri. He’s a very powerful businessman from Atlantic City who claims he owns everything that is mine. Dane is going to walk into this house soon, but I’ll not let him take my girls and pimp you out as a bunch of cheap hookers.”
“How is this Dane any different from those Caruso scumbags?” Candace interrupted.
“Nick and Jimmy Caruso are dead.”
Desiree and Lyla gasped.
“I don’t know much about Dane Neri. But he has taken over the Caruso business, their men, and all their power. He sees me as the enemy, and I fear he’s not going to go easy on me.”
I wrapped my arms around both girls as we shed a few tears. They both left the room to pack their things quickly before leaving the townhome. I called Loren, Candace, and Tamika on my cell phone, filling them in on what was happening. They both came over later that day and gathered their things too.
The sun had gone down when Anna put something on the TV for Michael to watch. I sat on the red velvet couch with Michael’s head in my lap when he soon fell asleep. I brushed his soft, dark hair over his earlobe. He wouldn’t let me do that to him for much longer, so I did it every chance I got. I looked over at Anna, who sat on the couch at Michael’s tiny feet.
“I need you to take him to my home in Jersey tonight,” I whispered. “I’ll stay here and try to work out all the business details with Dane.”
“Are you going to tell him?” she asked.
“No. I can’t. If Dane ever finds out, he would take Michael away from me.”
Anna reached her hand out to me. “This is so dangerous, Rory. I’m afraid for both you and Michael.”
I took her hand in mine. “Don’t be afraid. Let’s hold on to hope that Dane is not as vile and ruthless as the Carusos were.”
I carried Michael to Anna’s car as he slept. I placed him in the backseat. His eyes opened halfway, and he yawned. “Where are we going, Mommy?”
“Anna is going to drive you to the other house, near the beach.”
His eyes opened wider, and he smiled. “I can make sandcastles!”
“Yes, you can. Now go to sleep. When you wake up, you’ll be there, and Anna can take you to the beach.”
“Are you coming wiff us?”
“I have to do some more work here, but I will be there in a few days.”
Michael wrapped his arms around my neck. “Okay. I will tell Anna to cover me with sun-bock.”
I smiled, squeezing him. “You are such a smart little man. Mommy loves you.”
“I love you too, Mommy.”
Once I buckled Michael in, I shut the back door and walked around the car to where Anna stood. We hugged and cried before she climbed into the driver’s seat and drove away.
