Chapter 8 #3
“About two days. You’re in the ICU still. If you show signs of improvement later tonight, they’ll probably take you to another room. That pain medication should kick in soon. I have more rounds to make. I’ll come back and check on you.” She gave me a small, humble smile.
It was innocent, reminding me of someone else I once knew. When the nurse was gone, the cops came strut in right behind her.
“Can you take these fucking cuffs off me?”
“We have a few questions. Until we have everything we need and you can clear your name, we’ll be keeping those in place,” the older, freckle-faced cop replied. “Now, what can you tell us about Harmonie Lawson?”
Suddenly, I was hit with an instant replay of the events that got me here.
Alba, our argument, her killing Harmonie and setting me up for it.
Karma really spun on a nigga something heavy.
When they were done with me, on top of the evidence that Alba put into play, I looked guilty as fuck.
The timeline of events and me being with Harold for part of that night only proved that I still had a window of time to kill Harmonie.
As soon as I was up for it, they were transporting me straight to prison until my trial.
Harbor
Chevy and Ledge had long gone home. The remaining guests also cleared out, and I was in the kitchen on clean up duty.
Frequency took off after the last parent, and I had no idea where he was going.
He never even said anything. My legs ached, and I kicked off my shoes, leaving them on the floor.
Glancing around the kitchen, I snatched up the last of wine that I poured into a glass and took a sizeable gulp.
This place was a mess. I was glad I hired a staff to come through and clean up.
Glancing at the time, it was almost that hour in fact.
Kara waltzed inside, carrying Maze in her arms against her chest. She kept a loving arm on his back since he was a little wiggle worm and stared into his little face with the biggest smile I’d ever seen on her.
“Oh, he makes my ovaries jump,” she gushed, pressing her nose against his cheek. “And Misa, my niece has some serious attitude. She says so much with just her eyes. Gosh she reminds me of Free.”
“Tell me about it.” I rolled my eyes and took another gulp.
“I heard some rumors as I walked around, about what happened before I got here.” She joined me at the counter.
“I just came to say, don’t let it get to you.
You seem like a pretty strong woman. And whatever happened and however you got here, I can see that you belong.
Otherwise, these two beautiful little beings wouldn’t exist. Free loves you.
He loves Ivana too, but it’s nowhere near the same,” she assured me.
“Trust me. I’ve been here for both attempts, and this time…
he got it right. I’m not here to talk you into staying with him or anything like that.
Ivy mentioned that you weren’t living here. ”
“I’m not, and I got an opportunity to do something I love.
It’s not here. So I’m taking the kids, and I’m leaving.
It’s not because I don’t love him. I love him more than anything, and that’s saying so much considering what brought me into this house to begin with.
I just need to see if loving him was my choice or because I didn’t have one.
Does that make any sense?” I asked, desperate for someone to understand what was going on and not seeming crazy for it.
“Somewhat. Just think about this… if you leave and something happens or someone else steps into his life, will you be able to live with that? Are you capable of letting someone else into yours after what you’ve been through here?” Kara wondered.
I couldn’t answer. The monitors showed that the cleaning crew were pulling up to the gate.
I needed to greet them at the door. Stepping past Kara, I entered the hallway stretching from the kitchen to the foyer, barely passing an ajar bathroom door.
My bare feet paused because something caught my eye.
A woman’s foot was stretched out, and the pair of shoes were familiar.
Squinting, I inched closer and nudged the door open.
Gasping, I stumbled back into the nearest wall, hand to chest, feeling like bricks had piled up, depleting me of oxygen.
“Oh my God!” I yelped, and Kara hurriedly appeared a few feet away.
“What is it?”
“Ivana,” I whispered, eyes wide as a deep wade pool and filling to the brim with tears.
“What about her?” Kara knitted both brows together in confusion. “I thought she left hours ago.”
Shoving the door open, my eyes found the mirror.
Big red lipstick letters took up the mirror, and a simple message had been penned.
I love you, Ivy. Shuddering, my eyes fell on her lifeless form on the ground.
A needle poked out of her arm and her glossed over eyes were fixed on the ceiling.
Mouth partially open, foam gathered in the corners and I knew she was gone. Slowly, I eased backward.
“I have to call the police. Can you take the baby upstairs? I have to deal with this cleaning company. Oh my God, what the hell am I going to do? Where’s Ivy?”
“She’s in her room with Celine and Misa,” Kara answered.
“Just… go up there and stay up there. Please.” I sucked in a deep breath and pressed my back into the wall.
This was too much. I didn’t want this for Ivy.
How fucking selfish of this bitch to pull this shit at her child’s birthday party?
Ivy would never forget this day going forward, and my heart throbbed achingly for her.
God, please help me. I prayed, pushing myself from the wall.
Never did I imagine waking up this morning that my day would end like this.
I had to turn the cleaning crew around while the police, forensics, and coroner did their thing.
Thankfully, Kara was able to keep Ivy and the kids upstairs, but Celine slipped down as the police were leaving.
I fell into her arms, desperate for comfort as they wheeled Ivana’s body out.
“How are we going to tell that little girl that her mother is gone, again?” I asked, pulling away from her.
“We will figure it out. Have you spoken to Quency?” Celine asked, keeping one arm draped over my shoulder.
“No. I tried calling, but he didn’t answer. He was so… cold when he left.”
“That probably had nothing to do with you,” Celine responded.
“I’ll give him a call. The babies are sleeping.
Kara and Ivy are watching a movie, and I agreed to come and get snacks.
Don’t worry about this. Ivana was a troubled woman, and she made her own bed.
This is nobody’s fault. We will talk to Ivy in the morning, and hopefully Free is back by then. ”
I waited up all night. Eventually, I dozed off on the sofa in the living room thinking I could be there when he walked through the door.
The twins were in their bassinets, and I got up a couple of times to nurse them.
After about 3 am, they slept into the morning.
At eight a.m., Free finally stumbled through the door.
He stood in the doorway, covered in what looked like blood and watching me.
I shot to my feet, barely waking all the way up before I rushed over to him.
“Oh my God, are you okay! What happened to you!” I started to touch his chest all over in a panic, looking for a wound.