Page 40 of Quasim III: King Inferno

“Am I not here? Did I not get us reservations for one of the most exclusive restaurants in the city? The complaints never end with you… always something I’m not doing.”

He briefly paused before looking at an incoming text message that had popped up on his screen. “Is that her?”

“Who?”

“You know exactly who I am talking about. The one that got the trip out the country… I know you didn’t go away on business, Rich.”

He put his phone down on the table and went back to eating his now cooled pasta. His head and attention were on his phone this entire date, and he had the nerve to pretend like I couldn’t be upset. This woman wasn’t even here, and she was getting all the attention that should have been reserved for me.

“Soo, Papi invited us up to the family home in the Catskills this weekend… I told him we would love to come.”

Rich nearly snapped his neck when the words fell out of my mouth. “Why the fuck would you tell him that, Lucia? You know all the shit that is on my desk and how much I have going on… I cannot go.”

I slowly reached across the table and rubbed his free hand. His hand flinched as if he wanted to snatch it away from me. “I know you have things to do, but going away for a weekend isn’t going to kill you. I’m sure the new ADA can step in if anything needs to be done.”

“Nah.”

“I cannot wait for us to spend some time together up there… it’s beautiful and we both need the escape,” I went on, ignoring his one syllable refusal.

“You heard me, Lucia?”

“Papi has been very stressed with his new trial that he has going on… he just really needs family and friends around. I mean, I can go alone, and I may mention how my husbandis busy sleeping around with everyone, and he happens to be the head of a criminal motorcycle club… or the fact that he tampered with a few cases that got some very dangerous people off… Papi follows the law to the ground and hates when someone straddles the fence.” My father was just as involved in things as I was, but Rich didn’t know that. Papi was far removed, and that was because he was a federal judge.

“He would be really fucking hurt if he knew the shit his daughter was into.” Rich replied through gritted teeth, as he snatched his hand away from me.

I shrugged and smiled. “I’ve never tampered with a big case… you have, Rich. Me and you both know what case you tampered with, and why he’s in prison.”

He allowed his phone to drop from his hands, as he casually leaned back. “This going to be our life, Lucia? You reminding me why we’re married in the first place? Always tossing that shit in my face like yo low self esteem ass ain’t trap me because you ran through all the detectives in your station? How they only wanna use you for fun, never to be the wife… what about that mental health leave you had to take after you fucked and fell in love with your married partner? I married you because I had no other choice… don’t mistake that for love because this dick is for everybody… including the bitch I took out the country.”

“Sorry.”

I had nothing to say after the way he read me like I was some random desperate woman on the street, and not his wife that he was supposed to grow to love. What did these other women have that I didn’t have? I was independent, smart, and I loved really hard. I showed this man so much love that it should have been illegal with the way I cherished him.

All I had been met with was disrespect and reminding me why we were married in the first place. He told me to my facethat he would never give me his children, then turned around and went on to give a fucking egg donor his child.

His phone rang and he aggressively snatched it from the table and went to take the call privately. Since I had already soured his mood, I decided to allow him the moment alone. We both needed a moment to settle our emotions. A tear escaped down my cheek and I quickly wiped it away, trying to keep up appearances. From the way he snatched that phone up and left me, wandering eyes looked at our table.

It may have started as blackmail, but I was in love with Rich and would do anything to keep that man.

Anything.

“Lucia, are you even listening? My new rookie partner waved her hand in front of my face, while staring down at the phone that was ringing on my desk.

When my captain came and introduced this proper pageant queen as my new partner, I wanted to spit in his face. How could anyone expect her to investigate when she would be too worried about her hair.

I was judging her before getting to know her, and I knew it was rooted in jealousy. For a while, I had been the only woman in this precinct, so I was overprotective of my guys. This new younger woman walking in here with her beautiful flawless face, thick New York accent and a body that caused for distraction worried me.

Snatching the phone from the receiver, I put it to my ear while side eyeing her. “Parker.”

“Detective Parker, I know the last time we sat down, I was preoccupied, so my apologies for that. You understand how demanding things can be at times.,” DA Fern chuckled into the phone, making light conversation like we spoke frequently.

“Yea… yes, I know exactly how that could be.”

She paused. “Exactly. I’m actually close by your precinct and can use a hot dog for lunch… how about we take a quick walk in the park and discuss whatever that was on your mind. You have my full attention this afternoon.”

Bitch was smart and purposely caught me off guard. I never expected to hear from her, not since King Inferno was murdered. How was she even back to work or conducting business like she hadn’t buried her brother-in-law.

“Um, well, I have?—”

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