Chapter Six- Buddha #2
“I’m always stupid every time I bring up your precious Catalina.” I shook my head because now she was also hard of understanding. I stopped and turned to face her.
“Clean your fucking ears. I never said you were stupid; I said you sound that way. You’re hearing what you want to,” I told her, continuing on my way. I stripped off the rest of my clothes and turned the shower on.
“I’m glad I gave Victoria Catalina’s phone number. It’s obvious you still have some soft spot for her,” I stepped into the shower and looked at Dior and laughed at what she said.
“You really think you know my mother? You think what you did isn’t about to backfire in your fucking face? You don’t know Victoria; you’re about to regret what you did, and I’ll be right there to say I fucking told you so,” I said, laughing even louder before grabbing my body wash.
“Fuck you, Phillipe,” I knew she was really mad because she never called me by my government name. I’ll go ahead and sleep on the couch tonight. I’d do what was needed, so I wouldn’t strangle Dior in her sleep.
I woke up feeling like I couldn’t breathe, as if there was a crushing weight on me. Prying my eyes open, I saw Lotus curled up on my midsection, dead asleep.
“Lotus, I know you fucking lying. Get your big ass off me,” I said gently, nudging the dog so she would wake up and hop off my body.
I frowned as I tried to move; every inch of my body protested from spending the night on the couch.
“Mothafucka,” I complained, holding my back as I sat up.
I paused and looked around. The house felt strange somehow.
Picking up my phone, I saw it was 6:30 in the morning.
I can’t recall the last time I slept this late.
It must have been the alcohol and weed. I noticed I had a text from my mother and opened it.
We’re having breakfast at the main house this morning at 8 am. Please don’t be late, dear.
I read the text a second time, wondering what this breakfast was about.
It was too late to do my morning workout, so I would hop in the shower and get dressed.
I knew Dior would still be asleep, so I had to wake her ass up.
I felt like I slept on the floor instead of the sofa.
I held my lower back as I opened the bedroom door.
Noticing the bed was empty, I didn’t think anything of it.
I just assumed Dior was in the bathroom, so I walked over and opened the door.
I got the shock of my life when I realized she wasn’t in there.
Pinching between my eyes, I walked back to the living room and toward the front door.
Just looking at it, I could tell that it was unlocked.
Grabbing the knob and turning it, I cursed under my breath when the door opened.
Standing on the porch, I stared at the empty spot where my Bugatti was supposed to be. I felt blood run up to my head because Dior was really trying to get under my skin. I had no idea where she went, but she had better be at the main house.
Marching angrily back into the house, I found my cell phone and dialed my mother’s number.
“Phillipe, honey, why are you calling me? Hurry and get here so we can eat,” my mother said, answering my call on the first ring. I rubbed my forehead because I swear I kept losing my wife and always had to ask my father or mother where the fuck Dior was.
“Mamma, is Dior over at the main house?” I asked, cursing in my head.
“Of course she is. Where else would she be? She said you were sound asleep, so she took your car and drove herself over. You know you should look at buying her a car. We’ll talk about that when you get here,” my mother babbled on and on, not giving me the opportunity to say shit.
The next thing I knew, she hung up the phone.
“I’m about to kill everybody,” I muttered to myself as I dialed Lorenzo’s number.
“Yes, boss,” he answered promptly as he always did.
“I’ll need you to come get me in the next twenty minutes at my house,” I told him as I walked to the bedroom to have a shower.
“Sure thing, boss. See you then.”
I hung up the phone with Lorenzo and stripped off my clothes as I headed to the shower. Whoever said, he who finds a wife finds a good thing, obviously never met Dior.
I hadn’t said my Buddhism chant in a really long time, but as I walked into the main house, heading toward the living room, I said the chant in my head over and over because I really needed it.
As I stepped inside the room, I felt everyone’s eyes on me. I immediately looked for Dior and stared a hole right into her head. She had the fucking nerve to smile at me!
I grounded my jaw as I walked to the empty seat and sat next to her.
“Good morning, baby. You were sure knocked out this morning. I didn’t have the heart to wake you up,” Dior’s voice in my ear had me rethinking every decision I made where she was concerned.
Ignoring her ass, not even replying or looking at her. I helped myself to a cup of cappuccino.
“Where's Snow?” I asked, noticing my brother wasn’t around the table, nor was Ciara, but I couldn't care less about her.
“He said he had some stuff to deal with,” my father replied, reaching for a croissant. I looked at him and realized that I had completely forgotten to let him know that his wife knew about Catalina. I studied him, trying to figure out if he knew we'd been found out.
“Here’s the key to your Bugatti. We should talk about getting me a car of my own so I wouldn’t have to take yours,” Dior said, sliding my key over to me.
As much as I wanted to say something to her that would only make my mother and father want to kick my ass.
I stayed silent as I picked up my key and shoved it into my pants pocket.
“Sofia, how’s my little man Rocki?” I asked, once again, as if Dior didn’t fucking exist.
“He’s really good. I’m taking him to the mall today,” my sister replied, stuffing her face with that pastry she liked so much.
“I’ve been meaning to spend some time with him; maybe I can take him to Chuck E Cheese or something one of these weekends, " I told her, grabbing a slice of toast.
“That would be nice; just tell me when so I can make sure I’m free to join y’all,” I bit into the bread as a thought came to me.
Sofia was always so weirdly protective of Rocki.
Sometimes it felt as if she was scared to leave him alone with Snow or me.
I frowned a little as I thought about it some more, trying to think of a time when it was just Rocki and me.
There wasn’t one single memory that came to mind.
I mean, he was almost two; I think I could handle a two-year-old.
Sofia never shared who Rocki’s father was, only saying it was a one-night stand and she got pregnant.
It wasn’t my business, so I never really pushed for information, besides the fact that my father made Snow and me promise to be father figures in our nephews' life.
However, Sofia never gave us the opportunity because she always shielded Rocki as if we were the bad guys.
The only person Sofia seemed to trust with her son was our mother. “Yeah, sure, I’ll let you know,” I told her with a tight smile.
“Are you purposely ignoring me?” Dior asked, leaning into me. She kept staring at me, waiting for an answer, but I said nothing.
“Tomasso, what’s happening with the deal between the Russians?
Are we still on?” The deal with Ivan Petrov and the rare black diamonds was the last deal my father and I said we were going to do with Francesco and Luca.
We had already planned on participating in the deal with Ivan and splitting the money between all of us.
My father said it would show a lack of family loyalty to kick Francesco and Luca out now.
Once we're done and the deal is sealed, my father and I have decided we will no longer do any business with Francesco.
“Yes, in the next few days. I’ll let you know exactly when,” Tomasso answered, looking at the time on his watch.
“You ready for us to leave?” I asked, anticipating that I would be leaving for the day.
I put my coffee cup down, waiting for my father to say he was ready.
I felt a hand on my knee under the table, and I looked down at it.
Dior had placed her hand there, in a pathetic attempt to get on my good side.
Saying nothing, I reached down, lifted her hand off me, and placed it on her lap.
“Can you stop it? You’ve made your point,” she said under her breath as she leaned into me.
Casually, I finally turned to her and said absolutely nothing as I stared at her for a full minute.
Then, I turned my head away and focused on my mother, who was texting on her phone.
Something was up with my mother; she seemed distracted since I got here.
“Ok, I have a surprise for everyone,” my mother said, putting her phone down on the table. I frowned as she stood up with a sneaky smile on her face. I looked at my father, wondering if he knew what she was talking about, but he seemed lost, too.
“Wait here,” my mother said, walking toward the front door. My father looked at me; I looked at him, then at Sofia, wondering if anyone knew what was happening.
“Do you know what this is about, Sofia?” Dior asked my sister, who shrugged. Dior not knowing either was a big red flag; something told me I wasn’t going to like this.