Caught Up (Indigo Vibe) (13 page)

“Thank you. Did you make this?” He took two sodas out of the cooler, handing Rosa one.

“Of course,” she said as she fixed her plate. “I also made dessert.”

His brows rose. “When did you have time to do all of this?”

“I skipped work today.” She hunched her shoulders. “I just didn’t have it in me to go.” After saying grace, they began eating.

“Whew, you can cook!” He took another bite of chicken and returned to replaying the interview with George.

“Why, thank you,” she said softly without feeling.

A cool breeze kicked up off the lake. Rosa was wearing jeans and a Cubs T-shirt. She rubbed her hands on her arms. He took off his suit coat and draped it around her shoulders. “It’s a little large, but I think it’ll do.” He returned to his plate of food, knowing David may not answer his questions, so he needed to ask her about Ernesto and Harriet.

“It’s perfect. Thank you.” Her smile was sad, yet gracious.

“Before your parents divorced, what was their relationship like?”

“Daddy loved Mom to death. He gave her everything she ever wanted.” She picked the skin off her fried chicken leg and tore it into tiny pieces. “Grant Park is fabulous. It’s big, but still intimate. If that makes any sense…” She forked the leaves of her collards.

According to his research, after Ernesto purchased the technology firm, he sold many of his original business ventures. Upon further investigation, he found the majority of those businesses turned out to be fronts for money laundering. Directly after Ernesto’s divorce, he sold more businesses that could have easily been used for laundering. Ernesto went on two more dumping frenzies: one right after he moved from Chicago to Miami, and the last directly after David was convicted of murder. He wondered what happened to instigate these sales and if Ernesto owned any more money laundering businesses. He’d make sure to keep an eye out for Ernesto’s future deals. “Do you remember the last time Ernesto started unloading his holdings in companies outside of Bolí
var International? It was after you finished grad school. He sold off his auto dealerships and restaurant chains.”

“I thought this was a date.”

“I’m sorry.” He scooted closer to her but couldn’t take his mind off the sales or the interview with George. He tried paying attention to Rosa, but all he kept thinking about was Ernesto didn’t meet Harriet until after George had kicked her out. Thus Ernesto had known she was pregnant, possibly with David’s baby. What he couldn’t figure out was why she married Ernesto instead of David or why Ernesto decided to marry Harriet.

“…Are you listening to me, Samson?”

“Oh yes. It’s a beautiful park.”

She pushed him away. “I said that I haven’t been to the Field Museum in years. I was asking if you’d like to go sometime.”

“Of course, I’m sorry. My mind was on other things.” He ate some more of the perfectly seasoned greens. “This is excellent. Really.”

She continued talking about the sights they could see and events they could attend while he was in Chicago. Deep in thought, he wondered if Harriet knew Ernesto and David were friends when she met him. None of this made sense. “How did Ernesto and Harriet meet?”

Her eyes turned to black ice and face became hard. “Goodbye, Samson.” She pulled off his suit coat and tossed it at him.

“I’m sorry. I’ll stop.”

“Too late. You aren’t using me against my father.” She grabbed the bowl of potato salad, snapped on its lid, then threw it into her basket. “I’m such an idiot.” She snatched the platter of chicken, dropping a few pieces off.

“I was out of line. I should have left work at work. Please stop.”

“You can’t leave work at work. I’m part of the work. Daddy’s changed. Yes he did a few things he shouldn’t have, but the statute of limitations is up.”

“Why don’t we start this date over?”

“Let’s not and say we did.” Hands shaking in frustration, she threw them up. “You can have the food.” She walked off.

“Damn,” he said under his breath. He couldn’t believe he’d been so stupid and rude. “I’m sorry, Rosa.” She didn’t even glance over her shoulder. Instead of following, he cleaned up, thinking she needed time to cool off, and he needed time to get his act together.

* * *

“Please don’t say I told you so,” Rosa drawled as she plopped onto her plush white sofa. Using one of the smaller throw pillows to prop up her head, she resituated the phone.

“He grilled you today because he’s trying to tie me to David,” came Ernesto’s agitated voice. “I know you have feelings for Samson, but you’re nothing more than a case to him. He’d do and say anything he needed to use you against me. It doesn’t matter that I’ve changed.”

“I know, I know. I just…” she trailed off. He’d acted so kind, caring and loving. In a way, he reminded her of Ernesto. She had a thing for knights in shining armor. She didn’t want to believe it had all been an act, but she couldn’t take any chances. They’d punish Ernesto for the person he was, not is, and she couldn’t allow it.

“What did he ask?”

“Questions about how you and Mom met.” The sound of Ernesto cursing under his breath perked her ears up. He rarely cursed, and she didn’t see why his meeting her mother would upset him or Samson for that matter. Samson’s aloofness bothered her, but what worried her was his obvious distress. “How did you meet Mom?”

“I met her in a bar. It doesn’t matter. We have more important things to cover. Has David tried to contact you?”

“No, he hasn’t, and what bar?” Ernesto drank liquor even less than he cursed and went to bars even less than that. But, this was thirty years ago. She rationalized that maybe he’d changed after he married.

“I already have the DEA after me. I don’t need you hounding me, too!”

She couldn’t believe that he’d spoken to her like that. Dumbfounded, she sat up.

“I’m sorry,” he said gently. “I’m just under so much stress.”

She couldn’t speak. The possibilities of what he wasn’t telling her had robbed her of her voice.

“Please, Rosa, I’m worried about your safety; I’m worried about your mother; I’m worried that Anna won’t forgive my past; I’m worried they’re trying to send me to prison. I’m innocent. It’s all getting to me. I apologize.”

“I understand,” she said, but she didn’t.

What isn’t he telling me? What did Samson find out—what?

“Let’s tell the DEA everything. They’re going to find out anyway. You’re making yourself look guilty.”

“No. This is my decision to make. I’m not telling. I won’t risk you. You need to be worried about your safety, not how I met Harriet. Has David tried to contact you?”

This couldn’t be her father on the phone. It wasn’t like Ernesto to repeat himself. He was acting so strange. Then again, she’d gone through a lot of changes in the past few days also. This whole situation was wearing on everyone involved. “No, he hasn’t.” And she didn’t know the drug world. Maybe she was in danger and should listen to him. He’d never led her wrong before. The answers weren’t clear. She’d just follow her own heart.

“Be careful. David was always up to something. If he tries to contact you in any way, call me immediately.”

“I will. I need to get going. Love you.”

“Love you more.” They disconnected.

* * *

I hope I didn’t come on too strong
, thought Ernesto as he exchanged the phone for Rosa’s first grade picture. She’d had to start school with a cast on her arm. He tapped the glass.
I’ll always protect you…

Chicago, twenty-four years ago

Ernesto looked over the top of his newspaper at Rosa, who was sitting at a miniature oak desk, similar to his, and a multi-colored balloon tapestry office chair custom made for her. She glanced from her work, smiled sweetly, then continued writing.

His heart swelled with pride. She was definitely a daddy’s girl. Ernesto found himself doing double time to undo any damage he thought Harriet might be causing. At first, he resented being stuck with Rosa, but somehow she had worked her way through his protective shields and commandeered his heart.

Unsure what to do about Harriet, he felt trapped. He’d given her everything and treated her like she was his all and all, yet she never had enough. He looked around his office. Inside these four oak paneled walls was his sanctuary; the only place in the house where Harriet wasn’t allowed.

He chuckled to himself. When Rosa was around a year old, she’d toddled in saying, “Dadda.” He’d instinctively known she was trying to escape from Harriet.

He set his
Wall Street Journal
on his neatly kept desk. “What are you working on over there?” He’d enrolled her in summer school, so she wouldn’t be stuck with Harriet while he was at work. The school was more of an all-day playgroup, so she shouldn’t have had any homework.

“I’m writing a report,” she said with all seriousness and a hint of a Spanish accent as she brushed her naturally curly, black hair behind her shoulders with her hands.

He raised a brow. “A report?”

“
Sí
.” She skimmed over what she’d written, pushed away from her desk, straightened her pink and white pinstriped dress, grabbed her report, and marched over to Ernesto’s desk.

To match her seriousness, he snapped his business face firmly into place and slowly spun his chair around to her. She stood tall in front of him with her head held high and shoulders back, yet was the tiniest little thing.

“Can I go to your next board meeting?”

He’d taken her to the office a few times, and she’d loved it. “Not my next one, but I’ll see what I can arrange.”

She twirled a few of the baby hairs beside her ear between her fingers. “Then would you peezent this to them for me?” She handed the report to him.

“Present,” he corrected.

“Present,” she repeated with a charismatic smile and business face similar to his.

He read the report to himself.
Objetib. To git Daddy time auf to do what he want to do and spend time with his frindz…

He hugged his baby girl, the only person who always put him first and cared about his well-being. He kissed her forehead, then picked her up and set her on his lap.

“When I grow up, I’m going to buy you this whole wide world.” She took the report from him and stretched forward, placing the report in his outbox.

His eyes opened wide, and he pulled back slightly. “The whole world?”

“Umm hmm and the moon,” she tossed over her shoulder.

“Whoa, the moon, too. What about you? Don’t you want anything?”

“I want,” she flashed a billion watt smile and tapped her lip with her index finger, “for you to take me to your next board meeting, so I can make them stop working you too hard.”

“So hard,” he corrected.

“So hard,” she repeated. A much better reader than speller, she turned to the newspaper and began pointing out the words she recognized.

She had the same fire that he always envied in David. Now, he had his own piece to do with as he pleased.

If David had been tamed and trained properly, the DEA wouldn’t be hounding him. He controlled the drug industry in the Midwest, most of the eastern half of the country and parts of Canada, but Ernesto worried David’s wild streak would lead to their ruin. Ernesto had made it too far in the legitimate world to be taken down by David’s actions. David wanted Ernesto to take the second-man role in the drug side of the business, claiming Ernesto’s hands had been clean long enough; it was time for him to come out of hiding. Ernesto reminded David that the reason they’d done so well was because they’d never mixed territories and Ernesto’s laundering role remained secret. No blurring of power.

Unsure of what he wanted, he dragged his hands over his face. His legitimate business had grown to be comparable to David’s drug syndicate, but he wasn’t ready to let go of his piece of the drug world. The drug world brought a rush to him that he couldn’t explain or let go of—not yet.

“What’s this word, Daddy?”

“Erickson.” He watched over Rosa’s shoulder, helping her with the words she didn’t know. She would grow up to be his soldier. With the realization of what he wanted came a grin; he wanted it all, and Rosa would be his way of obtaining it. His crowning glory would be when she was head of both the business and drug worlds.

He never had anything of his own: not as a foster child or as David’s partner. Even thirty percent of Bolívar International belonged to other stockholders. He stroked her bushy hair with his fingers and straightened her pink headband. He finally had something of his own.

“Hey!” She pointed to an article about Bolívar International winning a riverboat casino contract. “That’s our name. What does it say?”

Every day he’d read at least one article to her and explain its content. His computer technology firm had grown quickly and taken over a large share of the market. He could envision every household having a home computer in it someday. With inspiration from raising Rosa, he had also capitalized on the children’s educational software and computer markets.

A knock at the door interrupted him. “Come in,” he said.

Harriet stood in the doorway of the office. “The car’s outside, sweetie. Time to go. I know you don’t want to miss the fireworks. Have you changed your mind, Ernesto?”

“I think I’ll pass this year.”

“Can I stay here with you?” Rosa asked.

He placed her on the floor. “Women need special time to themselves. This time is for you and your mother.” He tapped her nose with his knuckle. She hugged him, and then skipped out of the room a happy six year old. Harriet followed close behind.

Ernesto crossed the room and slid the portrait of him and Rosa that hung on the wall opposite Rosa’s desk to the right, revealing a safe. Turning the knob left, then right, then left again, he opened the safe. His head of security had suggested updating the surveillance in the house so every inch would be watched at all times, but Ernesto balked. He didn’t like the idea of anyone having recordings of who entered and left his residence or what went on inside of his home. He conducted minimal cartel work from home and didn’t believe in leaving paper trails, so his safe provided more than enough interior security.