Jaded (24 page)

Was that really true? If so, why had she stayed around for this long?

Trina continued, “Jade threatened to call the cops on you for fraud. Save the pride, Syeesha. I’d make her pay to keep things quiet. And don’t talk to me about any confidentiality clauses either. Perception is reality. Their reputation could be damaged if you sued them for . . . I don’t know . . . false imprisonment? Even if you withdrew the lawsuit, it would still leave an impression on the court of public opinion. You could ruin Rodney’s career.”

Syeesha didn’t want to ruin Rodney’s career. Part of her felt sorry for him. She was just ready to get away from them. Even Maria, who, instead of being an ally, had looked at Syeesha that day in Jade’s office as if she were a common thief. What was it that had made her stare at Syeesha that way?

“Technically, I could’ve left any time I wanted.”

“She threatened you, Sy,” Trina reminded her. “You were worried about your career. Hell, you were worried about being charged criminally with whatever that wack job dreamed up. You could have left, but at what cost?”

Syeesha could hear the frustration in her sister’s voice. Why wasn’t Syeesha as angry? Why wasn’t the taste of revenge warming her blood? 

Because I thought Rodney was dying. 

Seeing Rodney on that floor had done something to her. It had made Syeesha realize how fleeting life was. She didn’t want to live another day under the weight of someone else’s threat. Jade could do what she wanted. But no longer would Syeesha pander to any of these people for the promise of good things to come.

“Are you over there crying?” Trina asked. The prolonged silence on Syeesha’s end automatically made her sister think that she was flooding the streets with her tears.

“Trina, I think I’m all cried out. Lost my guy. Left my school. Leaving my job. And yet . . .”

“What?”

“Aside from losing Christian, I don’t feel sad.”

“Good because that ain’t the emotion I’m trying to stir up in you.”

Syeesha pitched the newspaper in the trash. She didn’t want to read about the debt crisis or consumerism or high-stakes divorces. It felt too close to home.

Out in the street, Syeesha hailed a cab. 

“So?” Trina asked. “What do you feel?”

Syeesha thought about it.

What do I feel?

The word that came to mind startled her.

Perhaps Syeesha had been naïve and afraid and desperate. But through all of it, she’d retained her pride. She’d need it when she walked out of the McCann’s door one last time. That image pleased her.

“Free,” she finally said. “I feel free.”

***

Chapter 3
8

“You’re leaving, aren’t you?” Maria asked.

Syeesha looked up from the mess of clothing she’d sprawled onto the bed. There wasn’t much she was keeping. The unemployed probably didn’t do much lounging around in Agent Provacateur and Jimmy Choo’s.

“I wouldn’t call it packing so much as excavating. Trying to figure out what’s feasible in my next life.” Syeesha put the sexy red shoes that Jade had an identical pair of in the leave-behind pile.

“Is she coming back?”

Syeesha noticed for the first time what Maria was wearing: tight jeans, a T-shirt, and a shiny pair of ballerina flats. A departure from the usual white scrubs Jade made her wear.

“Don’t get too comfortable,” Syeesha warned. “Pretty sure she’s coming back.”

“Where will you go?”

“What do you care?” Syeesha asked. She noticed Maria look over her shoulder, down the hall. There was no one was in the apartment but them. Jade must have really done a job on her.

“I want to show you something,” Maria said.

“Not interested.”

“How do you know unless you see?”

Syeesha sat on the bed and folded her arm. “What game are you playing?”

“No game.”

“Everyone in this place seems to have a game.”

Maria shrugged. “So say you come look? If you’re not interested then you take your things and go bye-bye.”

Syeesha wanted to go bye-bye this very minute. But she was curious. What could be so special that Maria would want her to see?

“Fine.” Syeesha stood up. “Lead the way.”

Without another word, Maria turned around and led the way out. Syeesha’s curiosity had gone from a low simmer to a high boil when they arrived at Jade’s office.

“So why are we here?” Syeesha asked.

“You were always curious about that bottom drawer.”

“Mildly. Not everything in Jade’s office needs to be my business.”

“This is true.” Maria hesitated as though wondering if she wanted to say more. Not for the first time, Syeesha noticed how beautiful Maria was. Why had Jade not chosen her for her little scheme? “However,” Maria continued, “just because something isn’t my business doesn’t mean I have to pretend it doesn’t exist.”

“Let’s get to it.” Syeesha nodded toward the drawer. “What do you have?” 

Maria removed a rubber key ring from around her wrist. It held just one key. She held it out to Syeesha.

“No thanks,” Syeesa said. “You can do the honors.”

Maria sucked her teeth in agitation. At the drawer, the key fitted easily into the slot. The drawer opened. Syeesha took tentative steps forward. A couple of envelopes were inside. Not enough to justify having its own drawer.

“So?” Syeesha said. “Jade’s hidden a couple of pieces of mail.” Maria, still bent down by the drawer smiled and slowly shook her head. “Jade isn’t hiding her mail?” Syeesha asked, confused.

“She doesn’t know that anything’s down here,” Maria said with more than a hint of pride in her voice. “She figured her last assistant must have been using this drawer, but no.”

“Why are you using the drawer?” asked Syeesha.

“I’m not using it.”

“Still lost here.”

“Rodney is,” Maria said.

“He has an office of his own. That doesn’t make sense. Then again,” Syeesha said more to herself than to Maria, “when have these people ever made any sense?”

Syeesha shook her head. This mysterious big reveal was doing nothing but wasting her time. She turned and noticed the eyes of Joy Sinclair, the dead pop star, in the picture on the wall. If felt like she was staring at her. Was that pity in her eyes?

Syeesha ran a hand over her forehead. “I suppose the mystery lies within the envelopes.”

Maria picked up a large manila envelope and tossed it at her.

Syeesha caught it. The envelope wasn’t sealed. She opened the metal clasp and looked inside.

“Oh my . . .” Syeesha said.

Maria chuckled. “Oh my, indeed.”

Syeesha put her hand in the envelope and withdrew a stack of money. She held it to her nose and inhaled deeply.

“Nice, huh?” Maria winked.

“One stack could probably change my life.”

“That’s ten grand you’re holding.”

“Ten grand,” Syeesha repeated. She breathed in again. A steady current of electricity buzzed through her. She could get a decent apartment with this and not have to worry about rent for at least three months. By then, she’d be working again, even if it was just in the administrative capacity. A few advertising dollars had started to trickle in through her blog. If she focused on content, drove more traffic to her site, she’d generate even more advertising dollars. In a year or so she might even score a book deal. This money, ten thousand dollars, could be just the start she needed.

“There’s more,” Maria said.

Syeesha opened her eyes. She’d almost forgotten Maria was in the room. Maria nodded to the envelope that was in Syeesha’s hand.

“How much is here?”

“A hundred thou,” Maria replied. “And there’s another one in here.”

“Two hundred total?”

Maria nodded.

Syeesha whistled. “Why is he hiding—“ The answer came to her before she could form the question. “He’s really divorcing her?”

Maria smiled, nodded. “This week. I heard him talking to his lawyer. And that isn’t all.”

How could it possibly be worse for Jade than getting served with divorce papers?

“Go on,” Syeesha urged.

“He’s broke.” Maria nodded her head in such a way as to say that explained why her pay was late so often. “He’s filing bankruptcy first. Then he’s serving her with papers.”

Syeesha couldn’t believe it. “Broke?”

“He doesn’t make movie star money anymore,” Maria said. “And the pay he gets from the government isn’t enough to pay for this place.”

“So he’s putting a little away for himself. Jade is going to go ballistic when she finds out.”

“How about we take it?” Maria watched Syeesha carefully. “One for you, one for me. For our troubles.”

Syeesha looked at the money in her hand, then at the bag in her other hand. It was tempting. Rodney wouldn’t miss a little bit gone . . . The stack was smaller than a novel. It would fit easily in her purse.

“Not all of it,” Syeesha said. “It’s too obvious.”

“Then a little, what do you say?”

“And when Rodney finds out some of his money is gone?”

“So he tries to come after us. He’ll have to explain all this money.”

“Explain it to the IRS.”

“Worse,” Maria said. “To Jade.”

Syeesha was still confused about one point. “I don’t get why the money’s here in Jade’s office.”

“All I can figure is that he wanted to keep it out of the banks and put it in a place where Jade would never look.”

“Her own office.” Syeesha followed Maria’s thinking. “And you’re sure it’s his and not hers?”

“Positive. She’s never had the key for this drawer and neither did her assistant. Once, though, I was in here. He didn’t see me and he moved real slow, like he was up to something, you know?” Syeesha nodded. “So I hid behind a curtain and watched him go into the drawer. I didn’t know what was in there but I was curious.”

“How’d you get a key?”

“He left it in his pants pocket. I took them to the cleaners, made a copy of the key.”

“That was sloppy of him,” Syeesha said.

“The rich can afford to be sloppy. We could split one bag evenly,” said Maria. “Fifty each.”

“Fifty thousand dollars,” Syeesha repeated. It was a good deal of money, although still less than Jade had originally offered her. Syeesha didn’t go through with the plan, but wasn’t she owed something for the emotional abuse she’d endured?

“No one would know for certain it was us.” Maria conjoled in a soothing tone. The idea was irresistible.

“Why are you telling me this, Maria? Why not just take the money yourself and leave?”

“You know how they say misery loves company?” Syeesha nodded. “So does guilt. I’ve wanted to ask you for some time now. You’ve been here long enough to have suffered at the hands of Jade. You know what she’s like. We deserve our little break, and if the roles were reversed, I bet she’d take the money and she’d pretend she never even knew it was there. Just like we’re going to do.”

Maria had apparently settled in her mind that Syeesha was going to go along with the plan. It wasn’t a matter of if anymore, but of how much? Syeesha opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, she was startled by the unmistakable voice of Jade coming from behind her.

“What the hell are you two doing in here?”

***

Syeesha slipped the stack back into the envelope before turning around.

“Jade.” Syeesha barely recognized the woman standing before her. Jade had ditched the glamorous wig for a short, youthful haircut dyed in various shades of golds and browns. Syeesha would never give her the satisfaction of knowing just how well the look suited her. “Did you get my messages?”

“What messages? My cell died.”

The envelope scorched Syeesha’s hands.

“Rodney’s in the hospital,” she said. “You need to get there quickly.”

Or . . . maybe not that quickly since the worst of it is over . . .

“What?” Jade said, panicked. “Come with me.”

Jade hurried from the doorway. Syeesha’s presence in her office with Maria already a memory to Jade.

Syeesha tossed the money to Maria and started after Jade.

“Don’t touch a dime,” she warned from the doorway. Maria turned up her chin and looked the other way. Syeesha went back and grabbed the envelope out of her hand. “On second thought,” she said, “you do what you think is best.”

“Where are you going with that money?” Maria asked. “Are you taking it?”

“Right now, I’m going to put this in my purse.” Syeesha folded the envelope with the ten stacks inside. “After that, I’m not sure what I’m going to do. But whatever I decide, you can best believe that tonight I’m going to sleep like a baby knowing I’ll never have to set foot in this place ever again.”