Diamond Lives, Platinum Lies Read online

  Simone sighed loudly. “Fine, but he pays his own bill.”

  “Of course. Thank you so much ma’am.” He motioned for the staff at the front to let him inside.

  He entered the restaurant with at least twenty people in tow. Groupies were screaming for him to give them hugs and autographs as he entered. Simone wasn’t at all impressed with his grand entrance. “He seems a little self absorbed to me.”

  Peaches laughed out loud. “This coming from the woman that has at least eight hundred pair’s of shoes and six cars?”

  “See, that’s why you don’t have a man, you talk too much.” Simone laughed.

  “No, I don’t have a man because I’m too much woman.”

  Neal laughed. “Yeah, you gonna be too much of everything if you keep scarfing down those pancakes like that.”

  They all laughed.

  Darius smiled as he swaggered over to their table. “Good morning ladies.”

  Simone looked up at him unimpressed. He was fine, but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing it. He stood about six-three, fit, broad shoulders, sexy lips, deep brown eyes, milky chocolate skin and a smile that would melt all the butter in the restaurant.

  “Good morning.” They all said in unison. Peaches and Simone looked at Neal.

  “Whatever.” He chuckled.

  “Simone, I just wanted to come over and say hello and to thank you for allowing me to dine with you this morning. How are you doing?”

  Simone smiled. “That was sweet of you. You’re welcome, and I’m doing fine.”

  “Okay, well, if I can do anything for you, and I do mean anything. I will be over at that table over there. You promise you’ll let me know?”

  Simone blushed slightly. “I promise.”

  “Great.” He touched her shoulder as he went and sat at a table across the room with his entourage.

  “Giiiirrrrllll! That brother is a big scoop of chocolate and I would love to take a lick!” Neal said as he took a sip of his water.

  “Like he would want you.” Peaches said jokingly.

  “You never know.” Neal laughed.

  “Even if he is fine, and he is; I’m just not ready for that right now.” Simone took a sip of her coffee.

  “We understand, sweetie.” Neal touched her hand.

  “Whatever.” Peaches said as she took a bite of scrambled eggs. “Nobody said you had to love him. Just get a little bit to take the edge off.”

  “You are so nasty.” Simone laughed. “I’ll be back.” She got up from the table and headed towards the ladies room. She could feel Darius’s eyes on her as she crossed the room, so she smiled and walked just a little bit slower.

  As she was exiting the bathroom, she was startled by Trent leaning against the wall. “What the hell are you doing here, Trent?”

  “Simone, we really need to talk…”

  Simone pulled her hand away as he tried to hold it. “Talk about what? The fact that you are a two-timing jackass or a man-ho?”

  Trent took a few steps closer to her, causing her to back up against the wall. “Look, like I said, it wasn’t what you thought. There is a lot going on and I need to tell you…”

  “Not this time. I’m tired of your shit Trent.” She walked around him and started to head down the hall.

  He grabbed her arm and spun her around. “Simone, I love you. You know I don’t beg, but will you please go with me somewhere where we can talk alone?”

  “Are you serious?” Simone chuckled and jerked her arm away. “I gotta go.” She began.to walk away when he forcefully grabbed her arm again.

  “Get the hell off me!”

  “Simone please.” She saw the desperation in his eyes, but was unfazed by it. She had seen this all before and was determined not to fall for it again.

  “Look, you are going to listen to me. Let’s go talk about this in private.” Trent grabbed her arm and began to drag her towards the back doors.

  “I think you best let her go.” Darius said as he entered the hallway.

  “Mind your damn business.” Trent said as he pushed the exit bar on the back door dragging a struggling Simone with him.

  Darius quickly grabbed Simone’s other arm, preventing Trent from leaving with her. “I believe the lady told you to let her go. Now, we don’t want to get no shit started in here and mess up that pretty face of yours, do we?”

  Trent stood for a moment staring in Darius’s eyes, released Simone’s arm and walked away.

  Darius pulled Simone back inside. “Are you alright?”

  She was visibly shaken. “I’ll be okay. Thank you for your help.”

  He gently moved her chin to see her neck. “No bruising.”

  “Good.” A tear rolled down her cheek as she pulled out her compact from her purse. “Thank you again.”

  “It was no problem. I was not going to let that fool hurt you.” He said with a bright smile.

  She looked up into his eyes and felt a sense of calm and sincerity. All she could do was smile as she hugged him. “Oh, I’m sure he wasn’t going to hurt me, but I’ve never seen him this way. Thank you again.”

  “Well, you can ever be too careful. I know if I lost a fine sister like you I’d be a little crazed too. Why don’t you let me buy you lunch?” He asked as she walked around him to head back to her table.

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Oh, okay. Well, you have a good day, okay?” He said with a disappointed tone in his voice.

  “But you can buy me dinner.” She said with a playful smile.

  “That was cute.” He laughed. “How about I pick you up at your hotel around seven?”

  “How’d you know I was at the hotel...you know what? Nevermind. The paparazzi has been camped out there since I checked in. So, I’ll be there. Thanks again.” She smiled as she walked back over to her table.

  He stood in the hallway opening and watched her ass as she walked back to her table. “Damn.”

  Trent sat down in his car and slammed the door almost breaking the window. “This cannot be happening to me! I have to get her to listen to me.” Just as he turned the car on his phone rang. He looked at the caller ID and sighed as he answered. “Hello?”

  “Now, was that smart?”

  “What the hell do you want Darius?”

  “Look, I’m going to ignore what you just did because you are obviously delirious with grief. I mean, I would be too if I lost a sexy woman like that. Did you see the ass on her? Oh, my fault…of course you have.”

  “Shut the hell up! You keep you hands off her!”

  Darius laughed out loud. “Is it even possible for it to be even more luscious in person? I bet you used to sit her on your lap and…”

  “Fuck you.” Trent interrupted. “You better stay away from her or I swear…”

  Darius laughed. “What?”

  “She has nothing to do with this, just leave her out of it.”

  “Hmm…we’ll see. We have a dinner date tonight. We’ll see what happens.”

  “I swear, if you hurt even one strand of hair on her head, I’ll…”

  “Aww…come one. I wouldn’t do that. Unless you don’t plan on showing up to our meeting or are planning to try to double cross me or something. You wouldn’t be doing any of that would you? If so, then I’m not responsible for what may happen…”

  “FINE!” Trent interrupted. “I’ll be there. Just leave her alone.”

  “Good boy. See you in my office.”

  “You want to meet now?”

  Darius chuckled. “You have an hour. Be there.”

  Chapter 3

  Trent arrived at Darius’s office in an hour as he was told. He hated bowing down to an asshole like Darius, but he had to protect Simone. He had done so much to hurt her; he couldn’t let her get mixed up in this.

  He watched as the floor numbers changed while he rode the elevator up to the penthouse level of the building as “Close to You” by the Carpenters played softly in the background. He hated what he
was about to do; what he was being forced to do. He thought he had done a good job distancing himself from his former life but here it was biting him in the ass once again. He hated his former life as a mob hit man and successor to the Esposito Family. His father was notorious hit man to the mob, Gianni Esposito. He was ruthless, he didn’t care who he killed.

  He remembered hearing stories of his father single handedly taking out a room full of their “enemies”. He didn’t really care about any of it. He just knew him as his dad; the one that would come home and no matter what time it was, would come into his room and read him stories. Until that one night he didn’t come back. His mom just told him that his dad met with an unfortunate accident. His Uncle Renaldo stepped in and became his surrogate after his father died. He started to train him, “in the ways of the family”. All this attention would anger Renaldo’s son who was Trent’s cousin, Carmine. Renaldo would often tell Carmine that he was irresponsible and a disgrace to the family because he was a loose cannon. Carmine never understood why his father loved Trent so much more than him. Frankly, Trent didn’t either, until he overheard his aunt and uncle arguing over how Renaldo treated him and Carmine. He heard his aunt call him Renaldo’s bastard. He was broken and angry over the fact that the man he loved had lied to him and was not his father. His uncle Renaldo told him after being confronted about it by Trent saying, “It was the best thing to do. I didn’t want to disrupt your family.” He was angry for years, and it came out in his “work”. He became just as ruthless as the man he thought was his father had been and eventually became his uncle’s premier hit man. Carmine was obviously infuriated by all of this.

  In the Esposito family loyalty is everything. With this principal in mind, Carmine knew that the only way to really get Trent out of his way was to make his father think that Trent had betrayed him. So, for weeks leading up to Trent’s twenty-first birthday, Carmine had one of the family accountants cipher off small amounts of money from his father and place them in an account they created in Trent’s name. At Trent’s party and in front of Renaldo, Carmine used this fraudulent evidence to condemn Trent. Renaldo was in disbelief and questioned Trent about the accusations. Trent denied it, but could not fight against the damning evidence from Carmine. Renaldo disowned Trent and told him that if he ever came near him or his family again, he would be killed. Trent left, hurt that Renaldo would believe the lies put on him and went in search for a new life for himself.

  He stepped off the elevator and walked down to the black marble doors at the end of the hallway. He knocked a few times before he walked inside.

  “Well, nice of you to come by Trent.” Darius said as he took a sip of his Hennessy Ellipse.

  “Whatever, you can save the pleasantries and get to the point.” Trent sat down in the soft leather chair in front of the large mahogany desk.

  “Oh, now, now, there’s no reason for us to be rude to one another.”

  “Look, I’m here, so stop the bullshit! Let’s get this over with so I can get you out of my life!”

  “Well, if that’s what you want.” Darius slid the phone over to him.

  “I don’t know how this is going to go. I haven’t talked to my Uncle Renaldo in years. We separated on bad terms.”

  Darius smiled and chuckled slightly while sipping his Cognac. “Oh, you mean, you stealing money from him and him telling you he’d kill you if he ever saw you again? Look, I really don’t care about your family issues. You are the only real way for me to get to him, so get to dialing.” Big J, Darius’s best friend, right hand man and bodyguard, stood right beside Trent, towering over him like a skyscraper.

  “That’s not…What makes you think they’ll talk to you? That is our…Their cardinal rule. No outsiders.”

  Darius looked him in his eyes. “Dial.”

  Trent looked up at Big J and swallowed hard as he reached for the phone and dialed. “Ciao, Rosa, it’s me Salvatore.” Trent tried to say quietly, so that Darius didn’t hear him.

  “Salvatore!” Big J and Darius laughed out loud. “That sounds like salad dressing!”

  “Would you like some Salvatore on your salad ma’am?” Big J pretended to serve a dish to Darius.

  Trent just shot them an evil stare as they slapped hands laughing.

  “Sweetheart, oh my God, how have you been?”

  “I’ve been fine, Aunt Rosa. Is Uncle Renaldo around?” Trent said in a hurried tone.

  “No, sweetie.”

  “Okay, well where is he? It is really important that I speak with him.”

  “Honey, he died six months ago.” Aunt Rosa sighed.

  “What? How come I wasn’t told?”

  “No one could get in touch with you, Salvatore.”

  “Now how is that? He just didn’t want you to get in touch with me, did he?”

  “I always hated the way the two of you ended. Both of you are and were so stubborn and bull-headed. Money is never worth all this.” You could clearly hear the quiver in her voice.

  “It wasn’t the money; it was that he didn’t trust…Look, I don’t want to get into it. Just tell me he didn’t leave Carmine in charge.”

  The phone was silent for a moment. “Love, you weren’t here, so there was no one else. Besides, Carmine has been doing a good job. He is a good boy if you give him the chance.”

  “Oh my God.” Trent whispered to himself. “He’s not a “good boy”. He’s crazy! Aunt Rosa, can I talk to him please?”

  “Sure honey. Hold on.”

  Darius stood up from behind the desk and walked over beside Trent.

  “Who is this?” Said the male voice over the phone.

  “Carmine, this is Salvatore.”

  “What the fuck do you want? You have some balls calling here!”

  “Look, I need a favor.”

  Carmine laughed out loud. “You need a favor? I wouldn’t pull a staple out of your ass, let alone do you a fucking favor.”

  “Look Carmine, this is very important. We are still blood.”

  “Oh, are we? Does blood steal from blood? That’s what you did to my father you rat bastard! My father trusted you, even putting you above me. What do you do? You steal from him!”

  “Carmine, we both know you set that shit up.”

  Carmine laughed out loud. “I set it up? I’m gonna give you the chance to get off our phone before I come and hunt your ass down and kill you like the dog you are.”

  ”I don’t have time for this Carmine!” Trent shouted. “I need you to talk to someone for me. He has a business proposal for you”

  “What now, I’m supposed to do you a favor? Bullshit!”

  Trent looked up at Darius standing over him and just handed him the phone. “Carmine, my man, how are you?” Darius said with enthusiasm cutting off Carmine’s ranting.

  “Who the hell are you?”

  “My name is Darius, but I’m also known to the world as D-Smooth.”

  “Oh yeah, the rapper. What do you want with me that was so important you had this asshole call us?”

  “I have very good business proposition for you, which would be better explained if we could meet in person.”

  Carmine scoffed. “Look, I don’t have time for this shit and I don’t have time to talk to wannabe gangstas. Find someone else’s time to waste.”

  “Look, if I can guarantee that you could make more money than you’ve ever seen, control this city and possibly be at the top of the game, would you consider a meeting then?”

  “I’m intrigued. I tell you what. If you do this for me, I’ll meet with you…”

  Darius smirked as Carmine told him what he wanted. “Agreed. That’s not a hard task at all.” Darius laughed. “Yes, I look forward to meeting with you soon.” He hung the phone up and patted Trent on the shoulder. “Well, Trent my man, you did what I asked. Thank you.”

  “So. You’ll leave me alone now?”

  “I sure will.” He signaled to Big J as he adjusted his tie in the mirror by the door and grabbed his coat. “How
ever, I do have a date to get to.”

  Trent turned in his chair. “A date? You’re still going to go out with Simone?”

  “Of course. I can’t stand her up. That would be rude. Don’t worry. She is completely safe with me.”

  “Like a rabbit in a snake pit! You said you would leave her alone if I did what you asked.”

  “Don’t worry Trent. After tonight you won’t have to deal with me again, I promise.” He walked over and patted Trent on the face and smirked at the henchman in the room as he and Big J headed out the doors.