Chapter 18
A few days had passed since Diana returned to New York with Caesar. It felt like the last few weeks of her life hadn’t even happened. One minute, she was living her best life. The next, reality hit her like a sack of potatoes. Maybe the thought of retirement was an illusion. Either way, it was beautiful while it lasted.
She’d found her way back to the Sugar Trap and sat in the office she’d given up to Morgan. She looked around the room where she’d spent so much time and found she didn’t recognize it. Morgan had completely redecorated it. She’d even put a new couch and desk in it. It was too colorful for Diana’s liking. It reminded her of something out of The Brady Bunch. The only remnant of Diana was a recent photo of her and Morgan that she’d had printed and framed before stepping down.
Diana couldn’t say she was sad, because she had moved aside for Morgan to take her place, but that just left Diana wondering where her place was now. She’d come back for Boogie. Seeing him alive and well had done something good for her heart. He would recover fully. However, what about the next time something happened to one of them? She wouldn’t be able to drop everything and come running every time. The whole point of her leaving Morgan in charge was so that she could finally move to her own beat. Except she didn’t know what her own beat sounded like. Not outside the business of the five families.
Diana sighed as she picked up the handset of the orange rotary phone on the desk and dialed a number. She’d been trying to get in contact with Christina since she’d been back. After learning the gruesome events of what happened in her backyard, Diana wanted to check on her friend. Daniella had been Christina’s only daughter, and Diana couldn’t imagine losing a child in such a way, especially at the hands of someone like Louisa. There was a time when family killing family was rare, but lately it had been one of the most common things. But what Louisa had done was in cold blood. Diana pressed the phone to her ear and hoped Christina would answer.
“Hello?”
“Christina?” Diana sat up in her seat when she heard the voice.
“No, this is Rosaline,” the Alverezes’ housekeeper said.
“Oh. Is Christina around? Can you tell her it’s Diana?”
There was a slight pause. Diana could swear she heard someone whispering on the other end of the phone. When Rosaline finally came back to the line, she cleared her throat.
“Mrs. Alverez has stepped out for the afternoon. I can take a note.”
Diana opened her mouth to tell Rosaline that she knew the woman was lying, but then she thought better of it. What good would it have done? If Christina didn’t want to be bothered after experiencing two great losses, then she shouldn’t be bothered. Diana would respect it.
“Tell her . . . tell her she’s not alone,” Diana said and hung up the phone.
Knock! Knock! Seconds after the knock on her door, it opened. She thought it would be Morgan coming to check on her, but it wasn’t. Caesar was the one to poke his head inside of the office.
“I thought I would find you here. Mind if I come in?” he asked.
“No, go ahead.” She signaled to the seat across from the desk she was seated at.
Caesar walked in and sat down in the pink chair across from her. He got comfortable and adjusted the suit to his tie. Looking around, he wore a small smile on his face. “I really like what you’ve done with the place,” he said.
“Now you know just like I do that I didn’t have a damn thing to do with this office! Morgan has the place looking like an Austin Powers movie,” Diana groaned. “But she’s so proud of it, so I just leave it alone.”
“Ahh, parenthood. You gotta love it,” Caesar chuckled.
Diana waited patiently for him to get to the point. She knew he wasn’t there to check out the new office digs. The moment he sat down, she expected him to go running off at the mouth, but he didn’t. Instead, he watched her watching him.
“If I knew I was so interesting, I would sit in front of a mirror all day,” Diana said, finally breaking the ice. “Did you need anything, Caesar?”
“No, just came to check on you.”
“On me?”
“Of course. You are one of my oldest friends. And I know these last few days haven’t been easy on any of us.”
“You’re right about that. But I’m fine. Boogie’s the one you need to be worried about.”
“He’s doing fine. Better now that they have Amber back.”
“Oh, my God! They found her?”
“They got her home,” he confirmed, and Diana let out a sigh of relief.
“Oh, that makes me so happy. I’ll have to let Morgan know. How?”
“Bentley caught up to the biological father, Adam, and got her back.”
“I can’t believe that boy didn’t call me and tell me.”
“I’m sure he would have gotten around to it. He has his hands a little full right now with resting and . . .”
“And what?” Diana asked, noticing how he’d let his voice trail off.
“Notice I didn’t say that Bentley killed Adam, because he didn’t. He brought him to Boogie so he could have his fun with him.”
“Oh.” Diana suddenly understood and then groaned. “He should have just killed the son of a bitch and been done with it. Boogie needs to rest.”
“Torturing Adam will help him get his strength back up.”
“And that’s exactly why you aren’t a doctor.” She shook her head.
“I wouldn’t have wanted to be that. I’m too good at what I do. Speaking of that, there’s something else I came here to discuss with you.”
“Does it have anything to do with Louisa?”
“Yes, how did you know?”
“Just a wild guess.”
Diana would have loved nothing more than to sink her claws into Louisa, but she had disappeared in the wind. Diana knew she would turn up one way or another. Something told her that she was still in the city, waiting to attack again.
“Zo called me the other day. He said she wants to meet with him.”
“If he goes, I’m going to go with him!”
“No, trust me, we have it all handled,” Caesar said, and Diana raised her eyebrow.
“And what does that mean exactly?”
“That you just need to focus on whatever you need to focus on.”
“Easier said than done, Caesar. How did he sound. Zo, I mean?”
“Let’s just say he’s had one hell of a summer so far. He and Boogie both. What happened to Daniella is such a shame. A true tragedy that shouldn’t have happened.”
“Just watch him, Caesar. You know what happened with Boogie when he first went through what Zo is feeling now.”
“Trust me, I remember. And that’s why this meeting with Louisa is so important. The best way to kill a cancer is to pull it out by the root so it doesn’t spread.”
The hand that feeds receives loyalty in return.