13. Ivo
Ivo
“ W ell, don’t you look handsome!” Marcella opened her arms for an embrace when I slid into the front entryway of the mansion.
Her party was in full swing, and I didn’t want to be here, but she’d made it clear it was mandatory.
In my black slacks, green Tom Ford, jacquard-style blazer with a black undershirt and silk tie, I was flying solo.
Two days had passed and there had been no word from Jordan.
I reminded myself to stay on my toes just in case she tried to pull some bullshit.
Her attorney she hired had been in touch, on the other hand, with both me and Emerald.
We were supposed to go to court in two weeks over this whole surrogacy contract.
“Smile, Ivo. It’s not that bad.” She pinched my cheek.
“Says you, Cella. I need a drink.”
“Whiskey is being rotated on trays. Make sure you eat, baby.” She rubbed my back when I pushed past her to the kitchen.
I damn sure was going to do that before I started tossing them back heavy.
I pre-gamed a little at the house by myself while getting ready, but my mind was all over the place.
Pausing at the island in the kitchen, I surveyed the different platters with appetizers displayed like they were right out of a cookbook.
Grabbing a saucer plate from a pile nearby, I grabbed two of everything until I was satisfied.
Stuffing my mouth with some crab puff thing, I spotted Sol standing outside on the patio with her back to the house.
She was dressed to party like the rest of us, but it was obvious she wasn’t present from her posture.
Days had passed since the shit with Haco, and she’d been notified that night about everything.
She immediately summoned me and my brothers to find out what really happened, and when she heard the truth, she put us all out.
That was the last time I’d seen her. Taking a chance with my plate in hand, I slid outside to join her.
“What’s up, Sol?”
Slowly, she turned, face beat to perfection, but sadness resting in her gaze.
The black beaded gown hung off her shoulders and hugged her waist before flowing in a mermaid style to the ground.
Platinum jewelry accented her wrist and ears, but she left her neck bare.
I also peeped that she had gotten rid of her engagement ring and wedding band as she gripped her glass of whiskey.
“Hey,” she greeted me, tipping her glass to her glossy lips.
“Didn’t expect to see you here tonight.” I squinted at the moon showing out above us.
It was at half crescent, hiding behind a few transparent clouds as I inhaled a large stuffed shrimp.
“Why, because my husband is dead?”
“Type of shit can make a muhfucka go MIA for a minute. I wouldn’t hold it against them.” After swallowing, I faced her.
For a minute, her eyes just lingered on mine before something else flickered behind them. She swallowed the rest of the whiskey in her glass.
“I’m straight. It’s easier when you know the truth. I ignored red flags, and that’s on me. I refuse to give my energy to a man who clearly had no love or regard for me, and neither should you.”
“Shit, fair enough.” I shrugged.
“Why are you out here? Avoiding Rossi?” she tittered.
“Avoiding everybody right now,” I said, taking a bite from what looked like a pig in a blanket.
“What’s going on?”
“Shit went left at the surrogacy thing the other day.”
“That’s right. Rossi said that Jordan called her upset. What the hell happened?”
“What didn’t happen?” I rebutted, shaking my head. “Emerald’s already pregnant.”
“By you?” Sol hiked a brow.
“I definitely been in that shit raw and shooting the club up like we ain’t been planning this surrogacy for months.
I was stupid and careless, and now Jordan is about to be on a rampage.
She’s taking us to court, and I don’t know how this shit even works.
We’re supposed to meet with Jason on Monday to go over some things. ”
“When you say we…”
“I mean me and Emerald.”
“Wow. So not going to bother letting the divorce go through first or anything?”
“Doesn’t matter at this point. Jordan knows everything.”
“Doesn’t mean you should keep adding fuel to the fire, Ivo. She’s going to use all this against you.”
“I don’t give a fuck. Our prenup is airtight, and we don’t have an infidelity clause. Shit just is what it is. I didn’t want to hurt her like this, but maybe it’s for the best she found out the way she did. Now everything is in the open, and I can move on.”
“With Emerald?” Sol pried.
“Why you keep saying it like that? Now you sound like fucking Rossi,” I scoffed.
“I just want to make sure you know what you’re doing.”
“Emerald ain’t the same teenage girl that used to be scared of what people thought about her or allow muhfuckas to make decisions for her.
She’s grown. She’s also already a mother, and she’s been through some shit.
I never stopped wanting to be with her, and the minute she walked back into my life, that changed everything. ”
“Hmm, well, I know I can’t talk you out of anything, but Rossi will try.”
“Rossi doesn’t run my life, and the sooner she figures that shit out, the better off we’ll all be.”
“Is that so?” The sound of my mother’s voice behind us left me swinging around to face her as she wheeled herself out onto the terrace.
She displayed nothing but elegance in her black gown and diamonds, while her long hair was pulled back into a french roll, and a few loose tendrils hung off to the side near her ears.
Both of Sol’s brows lifted, and she twisted her mouth as if to say ‘well,’ and brushed past me.
“I’m going to go grab another drink.”
“Ma, I ain’t about to argue with you?—”
“No arguing.” She held up her hands as if she was surrendering. “I just want to talk.”
Squinting suspiciously at her, I sighed and set my plate on a nearby table.
One thing I gave her credit for was the fact that she didn’t mince words.
It wasn’t her style. If something was on her mind, you heard it straight from Rossi.
Most people thought we got that assertive, direct shit from Justus, but my mother was no pushover.
“Jordan is very upset about all this. How could you betray her like that? I expected this from Emerald, but not you, Ivo. That girl has loved you and been there for you for as long as I can remember.”
“She’s also lied and manipulated me time and again. I was wrong for the affair with Emerald, but Jordan been playing me since we got married. She kept things from me, things that . . . had I known, I wouldn’t have married her. We can’t take any of that back either.”
“Now Emerald is pregnant, and Jordan is seething. So how do you plan on fixing this?”
“Jordan and I are already separated. Divorce is the next step.”
“And what about Emerald and the baby?”
“Well, we’ll talk with Jason on Monday about the situation. The judge will be the one to decide how this goes, but this was a traditional surrogacy. It’s not like this was Jordan’s embryo to begin with. The baby was already going to be mine and Em’s. Jordan and I were just going to raise it.”
“Now you’re leaving Jordan with no baby and no husband. You can’t think that’s fair, Ivo?”
“Nah, it ain’t fair, Ma. I also can’t change it though.”
“Fine.”
Lowering myself into a chair at the iron table where I set my food, I leaned forward with my arms resting against my legs. Distraught, confused, but also excited, it was hard to pick an emotion right now with everything going on. Rossi wheeled herself closer to me.
“You know that I love you, right?” she whispered.
Slowly, I lifted my gaze and bobbed my head.
“All I have ever wanted for you and your brothers is the best.”
“You might not see it because you felt some type of way about her all this time, Ma, but Emerald is what’s best for me.
I was resentful when she left too, and I moved reckless when I married Jordan.
I only did that because I knew on some level it would hurt Emerald if she heard about it.
She was always a presence in our marriage, whether me and Jordan spoke on it or not.
” Sighing, I sloped back in my chair and rested a hand against the table.
“But she feeds a part of me that a lot of people don’t understand or even care to.
With Jordan, it was always like this prize she thought she won in some contest. Over the years, I did grow to love her, but I was never in love with her.
How I feel about Emerald can’t ever be compared to another woman. She’s the bar.”
“I realize that after all these years, if I can’t change your mind about her, then it is what it is.
I have to accept that. I’ll admit . . . I may have been wrong about her,” Rossi mumbled, causing me to sit forward attentively because I was sure I’d heard her ass wrong.
Furrowing my brows, I tilted my head and stared at her.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“Look, I’m biased when it comes to my sons and what’s best for them.
I know what kind of women are out there.
I’ve had to deal with them when it came to your father.
I was once young and wild, stepping to any bitch who thought she was going to come at my husband.
I heard Sapphire when he spoke about her that night at dinner.
Hearing his admiration and the selflessness that Emerald displayed after losing her father .
. . it gave me a lot to think about. I might have even put in a good word for her at that new media company so that she could get that job.
I thought it would be perfect for her to get her feet wet and have something of her own. She’s been through a lot.”
Awestruck, I blinked a few times before clearing my throat. I didn’t want to get all emotional and shit, but the fact that Rossi had made that move showed that she was trying to move forward.