24. Chapter 24
“Melanie!”
She turned around to see her sister coming down the aisle of the grocery store. Internally she groaned and pushed her buggy to the side so they wouldn’t be blocking the walkway. “How’s it going Jeanie?”
“Good, how come you haven’t stopped by to show me?” Her sister, who didn’t know what personal space was, grabbed her hand to look at the ring.
“I’ve been busy,” she said. Not that Jeanie couldn’t have come to her place or even their parents when she was there to see it, if she really wanted to. No, that would’ve been too much. Jeanie was always so busy. Soccer practice, ballet, piano, blah, blah, blah. Always something, like she was the only one in the world with a husband and kids. Her life was soooo hard.
“It’s not as big as I would expect a mobster to be able to afford,” Jeanie said.
Melanie pulled her hand back and rolled her eyes. “Levi isn’t a mobster. It’s an heirloom and I like it.” And she really loved the ring. He was right to give her something vintage that meant more to him than just a big ass ring from a fancy designer.
“When’s the wedding? Mom said you haven’t told her.”
“Because I haven’t decided. We’ve only been engaged for two weeks.”
“Well, all the good halls and churches book up months in advance. You need to get moving! You’re going to be thirty-three tomorrow, you don’t have forever. The clock is ticking.”
“Jesus, Jean, it’s not like I’m moving into a nursing home on my birthday or anything.” She pushed her buggy down to where she’d been going originally. This was not a conversation she wanted to have. Unfortunately, her sister followed her.
“I get it, he’s a younger man, you don’t know if he’s ready for kids yet. It’s ok. Mom said that he’s mature and will step up when the time is right.”
If they weren’t in public, she might have punched her sister right there. “He’s not that much younger.”
“Seven years, honey. In man years that’s like twenty years younger.”
Melanie couldn’t help but laugh at how ridiculous that was. “Man years?”
“You know they take longer to settle down into marriage and quit thinking about all the other pretty girls and the parties that they’re missing. You need to get married and get the process going.”
“You and mom are too fucking much,” Melanie said, snatching a box of cereal off the shelf. “Your views on life are so far to one side that you can’t even think about how maybe he’s the one wanting to go fast and I’m the one hitting the brakes.” She was pissed and said exactly what she didn’t want to. Now it was going to turn into a whole other conversation.
“Wait, why? Are you having second thoughts? Steven has this friend at work that you would be perfect with. I can set you up after a respectable amount of time after your breakup.”
All she could do was stare at her sister. That was the absolute dumbest thing she had ever heard her say.
“Mel?”
“Jeanie, I mean this with all the love in the world, but fuck off and don’t follow me around this store.” She pushed her buggy down the aisle and into the next one before she abandoned it all together in favor of walking out of the store. While on her way to the car, she called Levi.
“Hey, cupcake.”
“Are you coming home soon?”
“Yes, Perkins arrested the guy who killed Vincent.”
“Really? That’s good. Who was it?”
“Some kid who needed cash and thought he looked like an easy target. It’s sad really. Vincent was only here for a week to visit his brother and he became the first mugging death Berkland has had in two years.”
Yeah that was sad. “At least Victor finally has an answer.” Two weeks later. Better than never.
“I’m just finishing up and I need to swing by my place to get clothes then I’ll be there, I promise.”
“Actually, I was thinking let’s go out to dinner.” She got in the car and shut the door, locking it again.
“Ok…I thought you wanted to stay in.”
“I do, but—” She let out a frustrated groan and then started the car because she was cold. When the phone switched over, she heard Levi take a deep breath.
“What happened? Are you ok?”
“My sister happened. I told her to fuck off and then walked out of the store so I didn’t buy the groceries.”
“I want to hear more about that, let me get out of here though. I’ll pick up Chinese on my way to your place. How’s that sound?”
“Perfect. Don’t forget—”
“The egg rolls. I won’t make that mistake again,” he said with a laugh. “I’ll see you in forty-five. Go home and relax.”
“Thank you, Levi.”
“You can thank me later,” he said with another laugh. “Love you.”
“Love you too.” She hung up and headed home.
Just as she was pulling out of the parking lot, her phone rang. It was her mother. That was a definite no-go. She let it go to voicemail. But when her mother called right back, she answered because she never called twice in a row. Their unspoken agreement was that if she didn’t answer after the first time then she didn’t want to talk about it and her mom could try back in a day or two.
“Mom, are you ok?”
“Yes, Mel. Are you?”
“Why did you call twice?”
“Because I wanted you to answer.”
She gripped the steering wheel tighter, praying to God for strength.
“Jean told me what you said.”
“I’m not doing this, mom. She was trying to piss me off, and she did. We aren’t twelve anymore, you don’t need to mediate. She was being a bitch and knows that what I said was warranted.”
There was a long silence before her mom cleared her throat. “She’s jealous, Melanie, and when she’s jealous, she always lashes out.”
She frowned, thinking about why she would be. “Why?”
“You can’t tell her I told you.”
“Really, mom? If it’s like that, then maybe you shouldn’t tell me.”
Parking in front of her building, she unbuckled and leaned back in the seat to see what her mom said next.
“You’ll find out eventually. She thinks Steven’s cheating on her.”
Well, that at least made sense with the bullshit Jeanie was spouting off in the store. “With who?”
“Maybe Brooke in his office, she isn’t sure.”
“If she isn’t sure then why does she suspect?”
“He’s been working late again. He came home smelling like perfume the other night. And she said they haven’t had sex in three months.” Her mom sighed and just like Melanie thought would happen, she heard a wine bottle uncork. “Before that they were only sleeping together a few times a month. I told her what to do about it, but she said that he’s not interested.”
“Maybe there’s another explanation…”
“A wife knows, Mel. You’ll see.”
Fucking hell. “Dad never cheated on you.”
“Why would he? Your father gets anything and everything he wants from me. He’s got a nice, clean house to come home to and dinner on the table every night. Your sister didn’t take my advice when she had those kids and look at her now.”
“You make it sound like she’s the one that screwed up, not Steven.”
“If she was being a good wife then he wouldn’t have had to look outside of the marriage, would he? I know you think my viewpoint is dated and that I don’t know fuck-all because I’m just a housewife, Melanie. But let me tell you what, fifty years ago or fifty years from now the same concepts for men will always apply. Food, a job he’s good at, a nice house, and a woman on her back or on her knees when he wants them to be. That’s all it takes for a man to be happy.”
“God, mom,” she groaned. “I don’t want to think about you and dad fucking ok!”
Her mom laughed hard. “Baby, how else did I get kids?”
“Still! Ugh. So what’s Jean gonna do about Steven?”
“I don’t know.”
Melanie sat up when a DeLaney Range Rover rolled into her parking lot. When a second one pulled in, she knew that could only be one person. “Mom, I gotta go. I’ll call you back.” She didn’t give her a chance to answer, she hung up and jumped out of the car.
The back window rolled down as she got closer. “Got a minute?” Andrea asked.
“Yeah.” She climbed in the backseat while Hutch and Anna got out. “How are you doing?” She hadn’t seen Andrea since the day after her surgery when she had to go by their house to get a paper signed.
“I’m good. Some tenderness but otherwise fine.” Andrea flipped open her notebook and pulled a paper out of it. “Does this mean anything to you?”
Melanie took it and looked at it. “Yes. That account number is the secondary account for the escort service.” She handed the paper back and dug in her purse to get her tablet. After she logged in, she scrolled down through the account. “A payment was made to that company for $1500 using the card ending in 6709.”
“Who’s card is that?” Andrea asked.
She pulled up the sheet with card assignments on it. “Scarlett’s.”
“That doesn’t make sense.” Andrea dialed Scarlett and put her on speaker.
“Aren’t you supposed to be resting?” Scarlett asked when she answered.
“Do you have your credit cards for the escort service?” Andrea asked.
“Let me check.” There was some shuffling around and then a groan. “The second one and my personal one is missing too. Sabrina was here yesterday when I got out of the shower. I thought it was weird, but I didn’t think she would steal from me.”
“Well, you might want to check your account. Derek with the Red Stars forwarded me an invoice from one of his fronts. She used the escort credit card to buy $1500 worth of product yesterday, and Valerie hasn’t been able to get ahold of her today.” Andrea shook her head at Melanie.
“I’m going to kill her when I find her,” Scarlett grumbled. “I’m headed to Control to track her phone. We’ll find her.”
“Thank you.” Andrea ended the call and looked at Melanie. “Has she used the card anywhere else?”
She scrolled through and shook her head. “No.”
“That’s good at least. Shut it off and order a new one, please.” She leaned back in the seat and looked out the window. “I’ve sent her to rehab twice now, I don’t know what else to do.”
“I’ll get the new card coming,” Melanie said. She didn’t comment on the part about Sabrina because she didn’t have an answer to that. Addicts were complicated. To her knowledge Sabrina hadn’t been that way until the escorts died on her watch. It was ironic that she had turned to drugs when that was what had killed the girls.
“Thank you. Is there a way to flag a purchase from a certain company?”
“Uh, I can set up an alert, yeah.”
“Put one for this one on all the accounts,” Andrea said, handing the paper back. “Derek might not give me a heads up next time. He’s put the word out for his people not to sell to her, but that might not matter.”
She typed the info into her tablet for safekeeping. When she got upstairs to her laptop, she would do it. Andrea was still just staring out the window. “Is there anything else you need, Boss?”
“No, thank you.” She turned to look at her. “Sorry to just show up, but I needed to be sure.”
“It’s no problem.” She put her hand on the door but hesitated to get out. “I hope you find her in time.”
“Me too. Good night.”
“Night.” She hopped out and nodded to Hutch.
After they drove off, she pulled out her phone, debating on calling Jeanie or her mother. But Levi rolled in the parking lot, so she put the phone up and went to greet him.
“This day just keeps getting better and better,” she said when he got out of the truck.
“The Sabrina thing?”
“Yeah.”
“Was it her who bought the stuff from the Red Stars?”
“Yep. She stole Scarlett’s card.”
He shook his head and opened the back door. As he gave her the food he said, “Andrea wanted proof before she panicked. That sucks, but I’m glad you could help her.”
She shrugged because it was literally her job to answer those questions. Tomorrow when she ran the prior day’s spend report, she probably would’ve seen it and raised the question, but that was another night Sabrina would’ve been off doing whatever she was. “How much coke will $1500 get you?” she asked, taking the food from him to carry.
“A lot. Probably like an ounce.”
That didn’t really help because she wasn’t familiar with how much drugs even weighed. If he said it was a lot, she would just go with that. “Guess what?”
“What?” He held the door for her and then hit the button to the elevator.
“My mom said that Steven might be cheating on Jeanie and that’s why she was mean to me at the store.”
“That sucks.”
“You better never cheat on me, Levi Warner. I’ve got connections now, I’ll send a hitman after you or something.” She laughed and elbowed him since her hands were full.
“Cupcake, I would never.” He smiled and leaned down to kiss her. “If you cheated on me, I’d be heartbroken, but I don’t know if I could have you killed.” He winked when she gave him a look that said she wasn’t convinced.
She unlocked the apartment and put the food on the table while he flipped on the lights. “According to my sister I’m robbing the cradle with you, so I think if anyone was going to cheat it would be you. You might need to trade me in for a younger model or something.”
His arms slid around her waist from behind, and he squeezed her tight. “If that was a jab because your birthday is coming, then you should know I find it extremely sexy that you’re older than me.”
“Yeah?” She turned her head to kiss him.
“Definitely.”