Chapter 2
Jennifer
"Mommy, I forgot Sofía!" Alma yelled out.
"No, no in Spanish please". When it was just Alma and I, I wanted her to keep using Spanish. I didn't want her to forget her native tongue. Adam had tried to learn Spanish, but it just wasn't clicking for him he picked up a few words. But, that was about it. So anytime and I were alone I made sure we still spoke Spanish. For her not to know it is like me forgetting Cajun. Its a part of who I am.
Plus, it was good to be bilingual. At the beginning it was rough for Alma to learn English. But, she did finally get it. French was hard for her and Adam and I had tried to work with her on it. Thankfully the school was understanding. Most of the classes were taught in English anyway. It would come in time.
Not even thinking about it Alma switch to Spanish and said her sentence again.
"Sofía, is at the dressmaker remember?" Alma loved her doll like it was real. Anywhere she went Sofía went too. It was a one-of-a-kind doll Adam and found down in Mexico. And impossible to find a replicant. Because Alma loved Sofía so much she got dirty easily. And anytime I tried wash her it traumatized you would swear I was waterboarding the doll the way she cries.
"Can we go get her tomorrow?" She asked.
I swear sometimes she uses that doll to sweep the floors. It didn't matter how many times I washed it it still had an odor to it. So Sofía had become a dry clean only doll. Hopefully they could work a miracle.
"We'll see, baby", If the dry cleaner didn't work. I don't know what black magic I was going to have to perform to keep Alma happy.
I looked in my rearview mirror and saw police lights flashing behind me.
"Uh-oh", Alma said hearing the sirens.
"It's okay, little one. They're going to help me drive faster", and as soon as I said that the police car behind me jumped in front of my car while another appeared behind me.
Sometimes it's good to have the police on your payroll. We took off at neck braking speeds speeding down the D 17 Highway.
Alma and I fell into light conversation she told me about school today and how she wanted Adam and I to come to bring your parent to school day. I remember getting an email about that, the teacher just wanted us to come in and give a short explanation on what we do. It was supposed to, help the kids start thinking about jobs.
Which is just ridiculous they're six and seven. Of course Adam and I will be there, if we didn't come Alma wouldn't get it her " free dress down day". I probably wouldn't hear the end of it from Gamila. As Alma's Godmother she made sure all of her clothes were couture only made by the House of Gamila. Nate and Josh were her Godfathers. Since day one they've treated her like she was a mini Beyonce.
Softly splashing water droplets hit the car windows as we drive onwards. The night skies are overhung with a blanket of grey, so much so that I c barely tell the difference between the sky and clouds. After a short 20 minute drive we were arriving at the castle-like mansion on the outskirts of Morbihan.
The police car in front of us punched in a code as we waited for the gates to open.In the shadow, cast by castle walls thicker than my arm is long, a chill creeps over the grass. The scent of late fall is laden into those gusts that push impetuously against the sentinel stone. Every flutter of a leave catches my attention.
We drove right up to the front door. I parked under a pavilion. As I looked out my blacked out windows I saw guards at every window and door all fitted with automatic guns. I turned back to Alma,"Stay close to mommy okay?"
"Okay", she said unbuckling herself from her booster seat. I reached over to the passenger seat and pulled out my medical bag. I stepped out of the car and walked around to the other side opening the door for Alma. I held her hand and we walked into the house. The police officers that drove with us would wait outside and make sure we made it safely home
One of the guards, opened the door wearing black cargo pants, combat boots, tight fitted green Dri-Fit t-shirt and of course to bring the whole outfit together a gun that he carried with both hands,"I'm Dr. Faust, I received a phone call".
"Right this way, ma'am", he opened the door and we walked into a white marble Fourier. It was more extravagant and lavish than anything I had ever seen. Gold trimmed everything, Italian marble adored the walls and floor, a jewel-encrusted dome decorated the ceiling cascading every color down on us.
This is something that would impress Michael.
The guard let us to a side room with an elevator and pressed a button to call the lift down. Alma was enamored but her new surroundings taking it and everything with a dreamy wonderment. Adams business has been damn good since Michael took over The Sinaloa Cartel. As soon as he and Sara got married she was pregnant not even two weeks later. They lived not even ten minutes away from us, but Michael mostly spend his time in Mexico and Sara stayed home with their kids. She was happy to take care of Allen and Heather. Alan had just turned four last month and Heather was almost a year old. Sara made motherhood look effortless. Every day they were doing some kind of pinterest-like project. I wanted to be like that, but God was it boring.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw a door slightly cracked open.
A powder room?
As I ran my eyes through the fine slit in the door I saw a woman staring at herself in the mirror. She had to be at least twenty in her skin tight black dress that shimmered in the soft light. Her hair was long and brown but dis-shoveled.
I heard soft sniffling coming from her direction and as my eyes made it up to the mirror. I saw her reflection for only a second.
Jesus.
Her eyes were swollen shut and bright red marks covered her face, her lips were busted open, bruises covered every part of her body.
Domestic abuse.
Our eyes made contact for only a second.
Ding!
"Right this way", the guard said tearing my attention away from the woman. I looked down to Alma.
Good, she didn't notice her. I ushered Alma into the elevator.
We stepped into the gold elevator and climb to the top floor,"Was Noah shot?"
That would explain the abuse I just saw. With Michael gone running his own business adventure Adam had to find someone to try and fill Michael's place. Unfortunately, he found Noah Stewart after Ava recommended him. He used to work in the sex trafficking industry. Adam had headhunted him only seeing the good he could do for him. I didn't see it that way, I'm all for people growing from their mistakes. But Noah had a bigger God complex than Adam. He liked to throw his weight around. If you weren't a straight, white, rich, male he didn't give a damn about you. Adam couldn't see that, because he is a straight, white, rich, male. As long as he did his job, and kept his viewpoints to himself we would work fine.
"Yes ma'am", he said. He must be desperate if he's calling me.
I was almost tempted to let him die. But, in good conscience I couldn't. Maybe, I'll just keep him in pain. I always got a bad feeling about Noah ever since day one. But, it was Adams business and he could do whatever he wanted.
Ding!
We arrived at our floor. I handed Alma my cell phone. That should keep her preoccupied while I fixed Noah up.
Noah had the elevator go directly up to his master suite. The room was the size of most apartments and lavishly decorated. I told to sit in the waiting area while I took care of Noah. She did completely focused on the phone.
Open the double doors and with the most forced smile I walked over to Noah's bedside. Heroin, weed and a slew of other drugs littered his nightstand. If the gunshots don't kill him tonight he'll overdose eventually.
"Noah, I'm Dr. Faust you called me?" I quickly looked over his body, clammy skin, excessive bleeding in the chest area, the bullet is still in the chest, and the bullet just missed his Femoral Artery. I lifted up his leg.
In and out.
Noah was barely conscience. I put my bag down and pulled out my surgical scissors to start cutting his clothes.
Before I can even make a cut the elevator dinged and a man rushed out,"Noah, I'm here! I made it!"
O good Lord.
"Dr. Bentley, I have complete control of the situation", I wasn't Dr. Pellegrini's first student but I was the golden standard. Nick Bentley was a human dumpster garbage. He was a type of person that would wear his white coat even when he wasn't in a hospital or on call. If I ever felt like I didn't have my shit together all I had to do was look at Nick. And I knew I was doing just fine in life. He rushed to Noah's bedside wearing his dingy white coat, khaki pants and a navy blue polo that was too big for him.
But probably saved him a penny by getting the bigger size.
Four divorces in the past three years, a slew of debt, he's lost over forty patients from negligence or just flat-out stupidity, and it didn't help that he was just cocky. I don't know where his confidence came from but it was annoying. You don't get to kill 40 people and just chalk it up to bad luck or it couldn't be helped. Most of his mistakes were first year offenses.
"No, I got it! Why don't you run home, the Boss man probably needs you, wasn't that your kid I saw outside", I wasn't going to fight with Nick over who gets to save Noah. Noah it would just be 41 in his long list of patience's killed.
It didn't make me any difference. I tossed my scissors into my bag and dead eyed I looked at Nick and said,"Do what you got to do".
I picked up my bag and started to head towards the double doors are called back to Noah,"Good luck, I'll still bill you for the inconvenience".
I walked over to Alma,"Come on, baby girl". She jumped off of the couch and ran to take my hand.
"That was fast", she said looking up to me.
"Mommy's just that good", we stepped into the elevator and as I hit the ground floor button we heard screaming.
That's what you get for calling Bentley.
He'll be dead by morning.
Ding!
"Let's go home", At least I got to get out of the house.
"Mommy", Alma said reaching up wanting me to carry her.
I shouldn't.
My body was still trying to heal after the twins.
But, It wasn't that far to the car, I reached down and picked her up. Alma hooked her arms around my neck and I started to walk towards the door.
I heard glass break in the powder room behind us. I should mind my own business, get back into my car and go home.
Damn it.
I put Alma down and told her to go get in the car. "Mommy will be right behind you", she did and she was told. And I walked over to the powder room door. I softly knocked,"Everything okay in there?"
The girl said nothing.
An abused person is often overwhelmed by fear, which can govern their every move – a fear of: further violence, the unknown, her safety ect. If I'm going to help her I'll have to keep that in mind.
"I'm coming in", the door slammed shut. "I can wait too". I rummaged around in my bag until I found one of my business cards. I slid it under the door,"I saw you and you saw me".
Nothing.
"Noah is probably going to die tonight. Do what you will with that information. I came here to treat a patient, and it looks like you're the only one in need of help".
A guard passed by me without a second glance.
"I'm Jennifer. What's your name?"
The door cracked a small bit. She looked at me with her one good eye if it wasn't far as the strain on her eye, I would say she had pretty green eyes,"I'm Lara, is he really going to die?" She said with a tremble in her voice.
"Dr. Bentley kills just about every patient he runs into", I said bluntly. I didn't have a lot of experience with abused victims. Other than their physical pains I didn't have too much knowledge to fix their psychological problems. I need the basics from when I volunteered at a women's shelter, the most important thing you can do is be there when they need it, listen and don't judge. "Can I look at your eye?"
"I don't have any money", she said.
"Do you see me asking for a credit card?" She look down like she was ashamed of what she said. I wasn't trying to be an ass. I was trying to lighten the situation. "Just let me take a quick look. I drove all the way out here it would be nice to justify the gas money spent".
She nodded and opened the door.
I smiled and walked into the small powder room. I close the toilet lid down and asked her to sit. I examined her face closely. There was no way around it someone had beat the shit out of her. The only thing I could do for her right now is to give her a cold compress, but she needed to go to the hospital she could have any number of problems, a fractured skull was my main concern and her broken nose, "How's your vision?"
"Blurry, but it'll go away", she said. I pulled a cold compress out of my bag breaking it so that it got cold and held it out to her.
"Okay, so you need to go see a ophthalmologist. Tonight", I said.
"What's a ophthalmologist?" She ask wincing as she put the compress on her face.
I don't know why but that question reminded me of Alma's why phase. She had a question for everything, why was the Sun yellow? Why can't humans fly? Why can't I breathe underwater? In the olden days was everything black and white?
"A vision and eye doctor", I explained.
"O", she said," I'll be fine. Thank you".
"No you will not be fine, you need to go to a hospital. Now. You could have hyphema and if left untreated pressure will build up behind your eyes. You'll lose your vision from glaucoma", I reached into my bag and pulled out a bottle of Tylenol. I was guessing by her weight and build she was around twenty maybe a hundred and twenty pounds. "How old are you?" I said shaking out three Tylenols.
"Fourteen",I damn near dropped all of the pills on the floor.
"I'm sorry what?"
"I'm fourteen", she said. I gave her two pills still trying to shake off the initial shock. She stood up and went to the sink running some water and stuck her head underneath the faucet. When she came back up she tossed the pills back.
She's a kid.
In Noah's house.
A dark seated rage started to build inside of me. If Noah didn't die tonight, I would kill him myself. He told Adam he left the sex trafficking behind him. Yet here he was still profiteering off of other people's pain.
"Okay, Lara I'm taking you to the hospital so get your coat and let's go", I said opening the door.
"I can't leave he'll... She didn't finish her sentence. But I knew how it would end: he'll kill me, he'll hurt me.
"Yes you can and you are", I picked up my bag. I saw fear in her eyes, as she tried to back away from me,"Look at my card". She pick the card up that I slid it under the door off of the sink,"Do you see the hyphenated name?"
She nodded.
"Which name is more important Stewart or Caffery. Because the last time I checked Noah was my husband's bitch. Not the other way around. Doctor's orders", I said ushering her out the door.
"Why do you care?" She said apprehensively.
"You are fourteen years old you have no business hanging out or being around a man like Noah. You're hurt, and you've been beaten within an inch of your life. If I was in your shoes, I would want help. And I would take it wherever I could get it", I said.
"I don't have a coat or shoes", she said.
"Then we'll buy you some. Right now, we need to get to the hospital", I held out my hand, willing her to take it. To let me help her. For a moment I thought she was going to run in the opposite direction. But she nodded her head yes and followed me to the car. I opened the passenger door for her and shut it softly behind her. I got in on the driver's side and took off. I called the police car in front of us and told him to redirect us to the nearest hospital.
Lara stared out the window. The few times I looked over to her I could see her reflection in the car window. She was silently crying. I had no idea what hell she had endured. But, it was over now.
Alma reached in between Lara and I's seat hold up her lovey blanket to Lara. Alma spoke in Spanish,"It's okay to cry. Lovey helps me she can help you too".
My baby has the biggest heart.
Lara wiped away her tears and looked down at the blanket,"Gracias". She said shocking me. She knew Spanish. Laura started to feel the tag on the blanket.
A coping mechanism.
I turned my attention back to the road. It wouldn't be long before we made it to the hospital.
When what?
I didn't know what to do after. And I hated not having a plan. One step at a time, I tried to remind myself.
Adam
I jumped awake. I fell asleep on Alma, again.
Shit.
I might as well just move into this room. Seeing as I slept here more than I did in my own bed.
I looked down in to my arms.
HOLY SHIT! WHERE'S FITZ!
I started to panic. I walked over to Alma's bed and found it empty too!
"ALMA!" I shouted. How the fuck did I lose two kids! One of them couldn't even sit up.
I have to call the police. No, James and Ross. I sprinted down the hallway,"ALMA!"
"Ssshhhhh", Yvonne said poking her head out of the twin's bedroom,"What's wrong with you? The babies are trying to sleep!"
"Is everyone in there?" I said looking over her head. I pushed the door open and walked into the Nursery. The nursery and the twins bedrooms were connected. Maria had her own room on the left, the nursery was in between and Fitz had his own room on the right. I ran into Fitzgerald's room.
He was asleep. Without a care in the world, I checked on Maria and she was asleep too.
That's two down.
I spun around on my heels heading back into the nursery area. I saw Yvonne sitting in a rocking chair. I whispered,"Do you know where Alma is?"
"With Jennifer. She got a call, and they went flying off to save them. You know how she is. She left a note on your nightstand", I didn't realize I was holding my breath until I exhaled hard.
Thank God.
Wait.
Who called her? I remember specifically telling everyone, if Pellegrini can't reach you while Jennifer was on maternity leave. Then you can just died.
And why take Alma? I really didn't like the fact that Alma was comfortable in hospitals and had a basic understanding of death.
She tried to imitate Jennifer. But, Alma is six she shouldn't be contemplating her immortality and fascinated with the McCobb.
And! It was way past her bedtime and it was a school night!
"Thank you, I'm sorry I freaked out. I just woke up and no one was around", I thought someone broke in and kidnap my kids.
"That's okay", she said brushing it off, "Jemma used to crawl out of her crib. So when I went to check on her throughout the night and I saw she was gone I did the same exact thing".
"Thank you, we really appreciate you helping out like this", I know I did. We both needed help. But, Jennifer was still strongly against hiring a nanny. She had this fantasy in her head that she would just take the kids to work with her. Which made no sense, if she did a house call she was going to take the twins with her? And when she was in surgery she was going to have the stroller right next to her?
We needed a nanny. The closest thing we had right now was Yvonne.
"Think nothing of it. Try and get some sleep in", she said softly.
I nodded my head and head back to our bedroom. If Jennifer was working tonight, it would only seem fair that I would stay home tomorrow. While she got some sleep, it's not like I minded or couldn't.
I texted Danielle, I was staying home tomorrow. After Jennifer had pushed her to go to college, she finally finished with a degree in Communications. Which she had no idea how to use, she couldn't speak in front of people, she could barely speak to people, she was still awkward and words seem to vomit out of her mouth when she was nervous. But that didn't stop me from hiring her as a personal assistant. With Michael gone, I needed someone to keep me organized. Jennifer had tried to help me, but I was slowly driving her insane. I couldn't do the planners, color coded schedules with hourly breakdowns and and constantly updating it. I was trying to keep up with it but I was quick lace trying to figure out that was a full-time job within itself. One which Danielle did surprisingly well.
She was worth way more than $15,000 a month.
I stripped out of my clothes until I was in my underwear. I laid down reaching out to Jennifer's of the bed. I missed her. Even though I saw her every night, and she said goodbye to me every morning. It was like we never really talked anymore. Between the kids and sleep there wasn't really time.
We needed alone time.
Just us.
I texted Danielle to rent or buy an Island. Jennifer and I had almost gone everywhere in the world. We needed somewhere new and exciting. Because I know if I asked her where she wanted to go, we would end up at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. Which meant we would end up on a boat just floating down the river. And somehow Yvonne always got us to go into the Bible Factory Outlet store.
Why?
I have no idea but it made Yvonne happy.
Dani texted me back. I was cleared for tomorrow, and she recommended the North Island, Seychelles.
Fine with me.
Just as long as Jennifer and I are together we're good.
I took off my watch and set it on the nightstand.
The note Jennifer left.
I picked it up and read it.
Alma said you fell asleep, I didn't want to wake up and my mom is watching the twins. Taking Alma with me. I got a call, heading out now. I'll be back late. I told Nate and Josh we couldn't make it tonight.
Love you,
-Jen
I should call her. Make sure everything's okay, right?
I called her.
No answer.
No problem, I had Brandon put a tracker on her car. She knew about it and could do the same to me. It gave us peace of mind.
Morbihan hospital?
I called Jennifer again.
Was she working or hurt?
Nothing.
She could be in surgery and that could take hours.
I'll check on her again tomorrow.
What could she get into?