Chapter Twenty Two: Dead Man Walking
Manhattan, New York
February 21st
Beyoncé G. Knowles:
I sighed when I saw Megan on her bed, crying again.
When I came back from Onika's house a week ago, she was doing the same thing. She wouldn't tell me why she was crying but she also couldn't stop bawling long enough to actually say anything.
I walked over and sat down beside her, wrapping my arms around her. She laid her head on my shoulder and I could feel her tears on my shirt.
"Can you please tell me what's wrong with you? I hate seeing you cry, and then I can't do anything because I don't know what's going on."
"I already know you look at me different for sleeping with somebody's husband," She sniffled. "I don't want you looking at me any differently than you do."
I chuckled. No I didn't. If anything, she'd be looking at me differently for sleeping with someone's wife and falling in love with her. I couldn't help it. It just is what it is. Megan should know by now that I would never judge her, no matter what she did.
"You can tell me anything Megan. I would never judge you and you should know that."
"I had an abortion," She started crying harder. "And Emilio broke up with me."
She was crying so hard, whatever she said next, I knew I wouldn't understand it.
I squeezed her tight. "I don't see you any differently than I did before you told me you were having sex with him. You're still my best friend. What are you sad about?"
"I don't know," She cried then went silent. "I miss Emilio. I think he's going after Giovanni."
"What?"
"I could see it in his eyes. He wasn't even mad at me, he was sad for me. He told me I sabotaged the one good thing that happened to me."
"Why did you let him talk to you like that?"
"He didn't lie."
"He loves you, everybody can tell. Maybe you need to do something big for him or give something special to him. Let him know that you're genuinely sorry and you'll do anything to get him back. I know you want him back."
"That's all I want," She sniffled. "I wish I would've never did it."
"Is he at least good in bed?"
"Giovanni?"
"Yes."
"It was okay. Nothing like you or Emilio."
"Can't nobody touch me in bed," I joked and she lifted her head off of my shoulder, giggling. "You're gonna get him back. He loves you."
Manhattan, New York
February 21st
Emilio A. Brooks:
"Son may I speak to you for a minute?"
I held my hand up to the crowd that stood around me then followed my father into his office.
"Adi you too!"
I heard Aditi's footsteps. She came inside the office too and shut the door behind her.
"I was doing something."
"Now you're talking to me. Sit down, both of you."
We both sat. He was staring between us. "A week ago, Giovanni Maraj came into my office to tell me that his wife was fraternizing with a student that attends this university. Emilio, I know that you are very close with someone who attends one of her classes."
I scoffed. "We aren't close anymore."
"What happened?" He asked me.
"She cheated on me with Giovanni."
He hummed and sat back in his seat. I could see he was ruling Giovanni out as a reliable source. I wanted him gone for touching my woman.
I knew I should've been angry with her, but I loved her too much. I couldn't see her as the devil here the way I saw Giovanni.
He, my father, and I had a long standing sort of.. rivalry. Giovanni always thought everyone's woman belonged to him even when he had that gem of his at home, sitting, waiting, longing for him to come home. I was glad that someone had finally come to swoop her up to the point where he was scrambling and putting his business in the hands of my father.
The large age gap between him and I meant nothing to me. I was trained skillfully from the moment I was able to stand, walk, and speak. I couldn't say the same for Giovanni. Protecting my little sister came first, then the woman I decided I'd love for the rest of my life, and then of course, my father.
I looked at this infidelity as a lesson and a blessing. Who Megan decided to cheat with gave me incentive to get my hands on him. My father said a man who moves on impulse, is a man who will always lose. I'd never had an actual personal reason to go after Giovanni, just ones I felt were morally wrong. Now, I do. He'd touched my gem while someone else touched his.
"Aditi, you can go back to what you were doing," He dismissed her, but he knew his daughter. She wasn't going for it.
"Daddy I know what you're doing."
"You find out everything anyway, my smart girl. Go," He smiled at her and I heard her leave and shut the door behind her.
His smile dropped and he looked at me. "Do you believe him?"
"About what?"
"About his wife."
I did. I wanted to. I needed to. But I didn't need to tell my father that.
"I don't think anything that comes out of Giovanni Ferrara's mouth is credible."
"Why then? Why would he come to me to tell on his wife?"
"Giovanni's a cheater himself. He's been that way for years. My guess is that she found out and he can't do anything about it so he came to you."
He nodded his head repeatedly like he was taking in the information I was giving him. I'd just fed him bullshit. I needed him not to believe Giovanni so he could go in with me or just let me put him to sleep for good.
"And his wife?"
"What about her?" I asked.
"His accusation didn't come out of nowhere. The question is do we leave it alone or start investigating?"
"This isn't Law & Order Pops. She's never even given off a clue that she's been fraternizing with a student. Imagine you go interrogating her and everyone around her just to come out wrong. All he came to you with was an accusation against his own wife. If that doesn't qualify as the ultimate betrayal, I don't know what does."
"Do you love her son?" He switched the conversation with ease. It wasn't so easy for me. I needed to know exactly what we were doing with Giovanni. I needed him out of the picture completely, because he was a parasite that would keep moving, completely ignoring the debris he'd left behind him.
But for the sake of knowledge, I answered, "I do. I really do."
"Are you taking her back?"
"I'm thinking about it."
He looked me in my eyes so I could hear him properly. "Don't let your hate for Giovanni turn into hatred for Megan. If you love her like you say you do, leave her alone, wait her out, then pull her out of the misery that she should be in if she's truly sorry. Don't let someone else conquer your queen. She's yours."
When my father spoke like this, it always made me wonder where his love originated from. Where did all this passion and anguish come from? In all of my 21 years, I'd never seen my father so much as speak about a woman he was interested in, let alone wed one.
"I hear you."
"Feel me," He said and I got up to leave.
Needing to clear my mind, I sat in the den. Just by the look in my father's eyes, I knew we were on the same page. Giovanni was a dead man walking. I couldn't think of his wife. I couldn't think of it as my father and I widowing her. I could only think of it as me relieving her of a man who couldn't have actually loved her. She would recover well, remarry, and hopefully forget all about him.
I smiled and shut my eyes to fall into a deep sleep, ceasing the thoughts that would crush me if I continued.
❦
I figured I'd given Megan enough time to be by herself, wallowing in regret for doing what she did. It was the first of March, I felt we needed to be renewed anyway. Plus, I couldn't keep going hours, days, weeks, without speaking to my woman. She belonged to me, no matter her wrongs.
I greeted everyone back, shaking hands, kissing cheeks, and hugging bodies as I made my way through the dorm hall, to my woman.
I knocked on the door, hearing the loud, sad music playing. I couldn't help but smile. Now I had the confirmation that she did regret what she'd done. I knocked again and again until she opened the door.
When she saw me, she threw her arms around me, disregarding whether I was angry with her or not. I was tired of hurting without her and letting her hurt without me. I slipped my arms around her waist, resting my head on her shoulder. I felt her hand on the back of my head, rubbing it. I relaxed into her.
I hadn't realized how much I missed her until right now. Being in her arms felt like heaven.
She pulled away from me. "I'm sorry."
"What you sorry for now?"
"Everything. Cheating, hurting you, and hugging you just now. I know we aren't even on speaking terms right now."
I stepped inside the room and shut the door. "I'm yours Megan, no matter what you do. My father always told me the quality of your love will forever determine how much you can take. All of the nights I stayed up thinking, I still can't see you as evil and cold-hearted as your actions were. I love you girl, we can get through anything."
"I don't deserve you or the love you give me. You should've left me."
"I did," I kissed her forehead.
"You know what I mean."
"You got me wrapped around your finger Ms. Pete. I'm not going anywhere."
She was already miserable enough and I was too. She'd learned her lesson, I felt like.
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posting again cuz look what i got yall.