Page 45 of Mister Concierge

Her eyes squeezed shut and tears fell harder as she nodded. “Yes,” Mariah whispered.

“Did you… cheat on me with him?”

“No.”

I chuckled softly and tried to step away, but she grabbed my hands. The last time I talked to Mariah, it was the day after she left. I remember the conversation clear as day. She told me she was okay, but that I would never hear from her again. I was worried for several reasons. It wasn’t just odd for her to not come home, but there had been a robbery at the Tower as well.

The robbers hadn’t just hit my safes and cash registers, they went after the load Remi had dropped off as well. The Black Mayhem Mafia had half a million in product that evening. I didn’t know if they’d taken Mariah as well or what. Relief came when I realized she’d cleared all of her things out and left me because she no longer wanted to be with me, but when the dust settled, that changed.

“Please, let me explain.”

“You have one minute,” I granted, looking around to make sure not too many eyes were on us.

Though she was badly bruised, Mariah’s clothing and hair were well put together, as always. The all-black jumpsuit she wore accentuated her curvy frame. She was thicker than she was the last time I saw her, and the weight looked good on her. Her hair was pulled back into a low ponytail that hung past her ass. Big diamonds laced her wrist, neck, and ears, so Gino was obviously providing for her financially. I wondered if that was the reason she stayed.

“I found out Gino was responsible for the robbery that night, so he took me. He told me if I told you, he would kill both of us. He said he’d always wanted me and would stop at nothing to have me. I did what I thought was best at the time and went with him to keep us both safe. I didn’t expect us to be together for as long as we were, especially when I told him I was pregnant with your baby, but that seemed to make him want me more. Gino was obsessed with you and the Black Mayhem Mafia. He felt like since he couldn’t be with them, he would try to beat them, and anyone attached to them. That’s why he robbed the Tower.”

Removing my hands from hers, I swallowed hard and crossed my arms over my chest.

“Did you just say you were pregnant with my baby?”

“Yes,” she agreed softly. “I wasn’t sure if I wanted to keep the baby, so I didn’t plan on telling you. When I left with him, I felt like that was my chance to have an abortion and start fresh without hurting you even more. If you knew I was pregnant, you’d do whatever you could to make us work, and I wasn’t sure that was what I wanted. But all it took was a few days with Gino for me to realize you were all I wanted.”

“If that’s the case, why did you stay away for an entire year, Mariah?”

“I didn’t have a choice! I felt bad because you’d told me you loved me and I didn’t say it back, and that was only because I was scared about the baby. I felt like I would lose you if I had an abortion, so a part of me felt like that was my punishment. Gino basically hid me until I had the baby, then he raised him as his own. He signed the birth certificate and everything.”

My hand slid across my face before I squeezed the back of my neck.

“I have a son?”

She nodded rapidly as more tears fell. “You do. Santino Hosea Latimore.”

“Where is he?”

“I dropped him off with Roxanne. I wanted to talk to you first.”

Feeling light on my feet, I walked over to the bench across from the reception desk and sat down. Mariah made her way next to me.

“I’m trying to process everything you said, but this is a lot, Mariah. It’s not making sense.”

“Gino flirted with me a lot, but I never told you because there was already tension between the two of you.”

I chuckled, feeling my anger brew even more. “It never occurred to you to tell me that someone you knew I didn’t care for was trying to get at you?”

“It wasn’t a big deal, Hosea. I knew you didn’t like him because he mishandled your sister. I didn’t want to add on to that.”

By mishandled, she meant drove around with drugs in his car while he was with my sister over a decade ago. When he was pulled over, he tried to convince Haley to say the drugs were hers because she had a clean record. She didn’t, and he ended up getting arrested, but surprisingly, the charge was dropped. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that he’d snitched on someone, which was why the Black Mayhem Mafia didn’t want to fuck with him on any level.

Gino hated that, so he tried to make himself their opponent over the years in the streets. Because they fucked with me, it made Gino hate me even more. I didn’t fear any man, especially one who wasn’t solid enough to do his own time. We had a few run-ins over the years, but it was nothing serious. Gino would talk his shit, but it would never get physical. Hearing that he flirted with Mariah didn’t surprise me because she was beautiful, but I was surprised to hear that he handled the robbery at my spot. I didn’t think he had the balls to pull off something like that with his team, but obviously, I was wrong.

“Okay, so I can get over that. How did you find out he was responsible for the robbery?”

“I went for a walk on the river to try to decide my next move. Like I said, I wasn’t sure I wanted to keep the baby. I knew if I got an abortion, that would make you want to leave me, so I was considering leaving and just not telling you. That way you wouldn’t hate me, and we could possibly get back together down the line.” She paused and released a shaky breath. “Gino pulled up on me when I stopped for a few drinks. I made the mistake of putting a picture up and tagging the location before I left. He did his usual spiel about how he can treat me better than you and all of that. I insinuated he couldn’t afford a woman like me, and he told me he could after the job he and his boys had just pulled. It was a rookie slip of the tongue that he tried to cover up, but eventually, he came clean and owned up to it. That’s when he threatened me and told me if I said anything to you about the robbery, he would kill us both.

“I promised him I wouldn’t say anything, and he made it seem like he believed me. When I got back home, I packed my things and prepared to tell you I wanted us to take a break until I figured out what I was going to do about the baby. By the time I had everything packed up, Gino had one of his men grab me and carry me to his car while the other drove mine. He told me he couldn’t risk me snitching on him. I told him I wouldn’t and that I had a baby to think about and his eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas. It was like the idea of having your woman and baby gave him joy. He took me to his home and told me to stay with him since it was clear I was leaving you. He promised to take care of me and make sure I didn’t want for anything, so I agreed. Like I said, I didn’t think it would last this long, but he didn’t want me to go. When I tried, the abuse started, and I felt stuck.”

“So why leave now?”

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