The Baker And The Queen Pin

Chapter 30: An Omission of Truth

~~~Booker

The twins' birthday was coming up in a few short days and because the business had slowed down considerably, I had pretty much shut down everything. The police had to wait on COVID cases, too. That meant it gave me time to cover up anything I needed to. This also meant that I had a few other things to talk about. My first thought was Keisha. I knew from the tone of her voice that she wanted to talk. I didn't want to waste time, talking to her but I knew if I didn't, she could easily disrupt mine and Booker's lives.

Booker was always going out of his way to keep me and the kids satisfied. He went out of his way to love us and to get every type of help he could. Plus with everything slowing up, I was spending more time with him. Other than taking care of a few pieces of business here and there, I was for the most part a rich fiancé, living with her boyfriend. I look at the apartment that is so clearly placed in the ghetto, it was everything that I didn't like about being in the ghetto. As much as I enjoyed doing business with all types of people, I never could imagine living in a part of the city that willingly robbed people, hurt people, and almost always caused chaos. Of course, I understood things such as people being hurt but people robbing, killing, and dragging each other down was something that always troubled me.

It meant that you would rather die than see other people succeed. It also meant that you were willing to do whatever was necessary to survive. It is an excellent trait to have but not one that you should have when it comes to trying to escape certain situations. It's a trait that puts everyone at risk in my honest opinion. People who stab people in the back are almost always capable of committing more egregious atrocities to their own families. That was another reason why I could never get behind the mentality to betray other people, you must be willing to kill your own family, something I've seen people do time and time again.

'So, what are you gonna do with her?' I hear my father interrupting my thoughts. The fact that he met Booker and the fact that my father had no problems getting to me let me know he was here to stay for a while. I had options but I didn't want to use them just yet. "I'm going to do nothing with her but talk," I say to him. He then laughs and says, 'You're going to talk to a woman who would willingly use her children to steal? Did you go soft?' I look at him, offended, and say, "If I was so soft, I wouldn't have been able to take everything from you, Mr. Smirnoff,"

He smiles and says, 'You wish.' My father was 6'5" and was clearly taller than Booker. His steely grey eyes and his pale skin reminded me how much I hated resembling him, how I had the same pale skin. "What do you want, father?" I ask him. 'I came to check on my negligent daughter,' "Negligent?" I say, "This is what you forced me to do. You forced me to take and you forced me to kill a man I loved just to prove that I was loyal to a family that had no problems with killing my mother,"

He raised his hand to hit me and I didn't flinch as I caught it. He was an old man who thought his height and size could work me down but he was in my car and he sent Gregor to go work at the bakery when I needed Gregor today. I composed myself as I say, "You raise your hand at me?" 'And you'll kill me?' he said with a stern and uncaring looking on his face. I then said, "No father, I won't just kill you. I'm not you. As much as you would love to join mother in hell, you get to spend the rest of your miserable life, living on the little bit of money I give you. Now, why are you here?"

'I'm here because I'm dying,' My eye twitches, this dying old bastard came all the way here because he was dying when he could have died by himself, not telling me this. 'I know it may seem sudden to tell you this and I know you don't really care, but there's a chance I could live. I just need surgery and it will help me,' I start laughing hysterically as he looks at me as he says, 'What's so funny, Maria?'

"What's funny," I say to him, "What's funny is that you think I'm going to hand you a cent. What's funny is that after all the years of torment, abuse, and sexual assault that you believe deserve money, you son-of-a-bitch," 'I don't deserve to get a second chance?' he says to me. "No, you fucking pervert. You took advantage of my mother and then you took advantage of me," 'I loved you and your mother,' "So you molest your daughter? You preyed on my mother, a young fucking immigrant? She didn't even know how to be a woman yet and you preyed on her, you 36-year-old pervert," 'Shut your mouth, you stupid little girl'