Page 125 of Between Desire and Denial
In the bathroom, I took a deep breath as I stared at myself in the mirror, then threw some water on my face.
“We got this.” I rubbed my belly just as a woman I never expected to see there walked in.
Lucille with her pretty pink lipstick and her proper woven pant suit stood before me. Then, she leaned over the sink and grabbed a lip gloss from her black bag. “Who’s we? Are you…” She glanced down at my belly. “Are you already pregnant?”
“What are you doing here?” I whispered.
“Well, the pregnancy complicates things a bit,” she murmured to herself. “Although, Olive, I’m so happy for you! You’re going to be so happy.”
“What’s going on, Lucille?”
“Well, I’m quite positive your mother would want you to reconsider what you’re about to do. Going on vacation when you could make history by merging the Diamond Syndicate with the HEAT empire is a great opportunity, right?”
“What?” I whispered as my heart dropped. She stood between me and the door, but I felt the sudden rush to run, the blood pumping fast in my veins with the adrenaline screaming at me to move.
“Don’t run. I don’t want to have to bring someone in to fight you. I have men on the other side of that employee door though. Jameson and I believe you want this. Right? I was scared at first, too, of doing something so drastic.”
“What did you do exactly, Lucille?” I whispered as I glanced to my right and left. To my dismay, there was nothing to use as a weapon should I need to defend myself if she brought in those men. Hand towels. That’s all I had going for me.
“Look, we’ve got men surrounding Dimitri, and he’s big, but I think he’d only be able to bring down three of them, maybe four. I made sure to have five on him though. Plus, then the cops will get involved, and it just gets messy. We’re all going to have a nice chat, but we can’t afford to have you flying out of state. We want this to ultimately be your decision today anyway.” She glanced at her HEAT watch and read a text that must have come through. “There’s a back door for employees we can take so we can talk with the women before the guys arrive. We’re the only logical ones at this point. Come with me?”
“You didn’t answer me, Lucille. What did you do?”
“Well, I did kill my husband, if that’s what you’re asking.” My gut twisted with her confession even though I’d already known it to be true. “He deserved it.” She said it almost exactly in the same tone she used when I’d fought Melly.
“Lucille,” I murmured softly.
“Oh, don’t act surprised. You knew it when you came out to return my lawnmower in the middle of the damn night while Jameson helped me dispose of the body.”
“I couldn’t be sure.” I felt the vomit coming, the shock of her confession making me weak and queasy on my feet.
“Well, anyway, Jameson is such a gentleman. He told me he was going to do it after he’d found out what Earl was doing with his father and your father. They’d involved children. Knox was the last straw. They had him drive around neighborhoods noting the optimal students to target, the ideal schools to sell drugs into. Knox wanted to please your stepmom and dad so much, and Earl encouraged it. Had I known…” She shook her head in disgust. Then she looked at me. “Your momma told me to takecare of you two once she was gone. I got overwhelmed with Earl being so controlling most days. That was until Jameson told me. Once I found out, I was done with him.”
“So you killed him?”
“He hit me one night quite hard, Olive Bee. It was self-defense.” She fluttered her eyelashes. “Anyway, the disposal took much longer than we anticipated, and I’ve had to navigate those Irish men coming to my house asking for Earl and reminding me that blocking Dimitri’s office requests was best. I didn’t realize they didn’t want the Armanellis around nor did they want more security in our town to tip off residents. Earl thought he was so smart.”
I shook my head, not believing all of it.
“It’s why they supplied Knox with more drugs, got him more addicted. They wanted to be able to pay off more people in town before the next board meeting. They knew I was working on turning the tide, and then you came back and, well, they’re going to make moves if we don’t make them first.”
That’s when the vomit came. I bent forward over the trash can and let it out while Lucille patted my back the whole time.
“I want you to know, Olive Bee, I’ve always been an ally of your mother’s. Of the Diamond Syndicate. Of most everyone you know and have ties with, except your father. You’re like a granddaughter to me, I hope you know that.”
And I did know that. I knew she wouldn’t lie to me either. “What do you need me to do?” I asked softly.
“I need you to make that clear to Dimitri and his HEAT empire. I’d rather Paradise be safe under them than the Irish Mob.” I took a step back. “Unfortunately, I won’t be able to protect your father. He and your stepmom will most likely be going to jail after we’re through with them. They are being brought in though. That will be your decision. I hope you know that. But you need to convince Dimitri to trust us. We want toalign with HEAT, and their wives agree. It’s a good partnership but he won’t if he thinks you’re in some type of danger.”
“But—”
“We’ll discuss on the way.” She held up her hand and motioned toward the employee exit. “Please?”
With that, I took one step toward the back door. And then another. And another.
Not because of curiosity. But because I had a mother who had trusted her, a brother who needed me, and a baby I planned to raise in Paradise Grove.
I wouldn’t let them down. Not again.
