Page 6 of Almost Paradise

“Not quite that much. Come on. It’s shameful that you can’t drive. You’re twenty-four years old.”

“Don’t talk about my age.” She waves a fist in my face. I wrap my hands around it and pull her into me.

“What are you going to do about it?”

My cell phone vibrates, pulling me out of my memory, but I ignore it. Langley’s name flashes across the screen, and I have no need or desire to speak with my brother right now. He will have to wait because I can’t deal with his bullshit today.

I stare at another picture. He’s smiling in that one and waving at a little girl. He’s always so happy in every photo. He’s an angel.

He shouldn’t be at that place. Ms. Dot’s Daycare. What the hell is that? He should have a multilingual nanny at home who caters to his every whim. Not in this place where other children can wipe their noses on his sleeve.

There are more pictures of him outside the daycare playing. He spends most of his time in the jungle gym climbing and jumping.

Three years. I have a son, and I’ve lost three years of his life because his mother, a woman I once cared for, decided to keep him from me. I don’t know how she could do this. The Nia Nash that I spent a year with was anything but cruel. She was sweet and funny even though she had this hint of shyness. She loved to laugh, and she loved family. She was not the type of person who would keep a father from his son. She believed in family too much to do that.

But she also ended things with me in a text message.

End what? You weren’t anything. You were two people who had a physical relationship. You never told her you wanted more.

We weren’t kids. I didn’t have to ask her to be my girlfriend like we were thirteen years old and in the schoolyard. She should have known from the way I kissed and held her. From the way I made love to her almost every night. It should have been obvious. I spent every spare moment with her. The only time we weren’t together outside of work was when I had some stupid family obligation or had to travel, which I hated because it took me away from the only person I wanted to be with.

“Mr. Paradise.” Esther, my secretary and personal assistant, sticks her head in my office. “Mr. Mangus is here to see you.” I give her the okay, and she lets him in.

I gesture to the chair across from my desk. He undoes his jacket button and sits.

“She noticed me,” he says.

“That’s the least of her problems. What else have you found out?”

“She works from home Tuesdays and Fridays. She works until about four each day and goes to pick up the kid.”

“He has a name,” I tell him. “Use it.”

“Carter, sir.” He clears his throat. I don’t know how I feel about that name. Carter. My son should have a stronger name. I would have named him after my father. “She’s a Human Resources Manager at South Shore Hospital and has been for the last—”

“I know all of this, Mr. Mangus. It’s in here.” I lift the folder and drop it on my desk. “What I want to know is, is there another man raising my son? Did she leave me so she can let another man play daddy?” If that’s the case, I’m going to ruin two lives by the end of the week. That scenario has kept me up since I found out about him. The idea that Nia is so duplicitous that she’s passed off my son to someone else to raise has caused me nothing but sleepless nights.

“Not that I’ve found yet, Mr. Paradise.” He clears his throat again, and it irritates me. I hate nervous people. It makes me think they’re hiding something. “She lives in the home she grew up in with her brother and his two sons, ages six and eight. Her parents sold the house to them for ten dollars. Her brother is a widower, and they appear to be raising the kids together.”

That takes some of the edge off, but it doesn’t come close to cooling the inferno of anger inside of me. Her family is helping her raisemyson, but me and my family have been iced out. Fuck that. Fuck Nia Nash and everything she stands for. Fuck her and her entire family.

“Is she at home now?” When he nods, I say, “You may leave, but stay on her. I don’t care if she sees you. Let her. I don’t give a damn.” He visibly swallows and stands before exiting my office.

I pick up my phone and call my driver. “I need a car up front in five minutes. I’m driving myself.” I slam the phone down before I get any questions. I’m the boss around here now that my father is gone. I give the orders, and it will be a cold day in hell before anyone questions me.

Chapter 6

Nia

After a Zoom meeting with my manager, I decide to take a short break. I stretch and release some of the tension in my lower back. Since Ray is picking up Carter for me on his way home, I can run to the gym for a spin class in about an hour. It was one of the ways I dealt with ending things with Drake all those years ago. Exercise saved me until I started throwing up from morning sickness two months later.

“Ugh. Not now, girl.” I don’t know why he’s been on my mind so much for the past two weeks. I didn’t even think about him this much when I found out his father died, but lately, it’s like something’s changed. I’m not sure what it is, but I hope it will go away soon. That man is not going to take anything else from me, including time or thought.

I grab the salad I made for lunch and start picking at it when I hear a car door slam. That gets my attention. It’s close. Very close, and Ray would have called if he was coming home early. I’ve lived on this street and in this house almost all my life. I’m very aware of what goes on here. This has always been a quiet street, and the same families have lived here for as long as I can remember. The houses on either side of me are owned by retirees whose kids only visit on the weekends or holidays.

I tiptoe to the window and almost drop my bowl. There’s a sleek, black Mercedes parked in my driveway. I know who it belongs to. It might not be the same car, but it’s his.

“Is that a stick shift?” I ask, eyeing the expensive car. “Don’t you have a jalopy we can use?”

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