Lie

Chapter 1

Antoinette Green was tickled by the warmth of the sun's rays. They danced across her uncovered leg and traced her skin while she slept comfortably, sprawled out across the satin sheets of her bed. Nothing felt better than this. What could anyone want more than cool sheets and sunny rays hitting their skin? It created the perfect sleeping temperature that was not too hot but too cold. While some may think that nothing could ruin this moment; not the repeated screams of a car horn or the pedestrians cursing each other out over a cup of coffee, there was one thing that could put a wrench in the heavenly atmosphere. That was, a phone and it ruined this moment for Antoinette.

"What in God's-" Startled by her blaring wind chime ringtone, Antoinette rubbed her eyes just as the phone went silent.

One missed call: 'UNKNOWN.'

Like most, she ignored the call and swiped away the notification. She had a meeting with her pillow and she desired to finish it. But just as she was about to lay her head down, it rang again.

"Oh for fuck sake!" She growled as she picked up the phone. With one deep breath, she answered the phone, "Hello?"

"Is this Miss Antoinette Green?"

"Oh-um- yeah, who is this?" Antoinette was not a morning person. She made sure that her life started after 11 am especially since she used the hours of the night to do what she needed to do. It wasn't like she went clubbing or anything like that, it's just she didn't want to deal with people like that. Though that was the irony of her life. She dealt with people daily because of her small business.

"Please hold while I connect you."

"Hold on, just a-" she was caught off guard by a click followed by the smooth jazz that played for a quick second.

She looked over at the clock on her bedside. It read 10:45 AM. Antoinette was frustrated. Though some may disagree, this was just too much for 10:45 in the morning. She had fifteen more beautiful minutes of sleep before her daily alarm rang so why couldn't God let it wait until then?

She began to contemplate hanging up but before she could finish her thought, a smooth, and calming voice rang through the phone, "Hello, is this Ms. Green?"

"Who's asking?"

"My name is Charles Diamond, I own the-"

The second he said that she threw her face in the pillow and let out a large sigh. Not another money-hungry demon.

There was no reason for anyone who was this high up in the world to be calling her out of the blue. Men and some women like Charles Diamond only wanted one thing from Antoinette Green; money.

"I'm aware of who you are. How did you get this number? " She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and silently yawned.

There was something beautiful about Antoinette Green in the morning. Well, that's if you looked hard enough. She was what some call a natural beauty, at least after she tamed her unruly curls. She didn't know how they got like this every night. She always made sure to tie it up and put in a bonnet. But somehow, she managed to lose her sleeping cap during the night. This meant that all the hair she beautifully braided back had either unbraided itself or was filled with frizzes.

"I'm sorry to disturb you so early in the morning Ms. Green, but it seems as if I have a problem here," he paused. Antoinette could hear the faint sound of paper being moved around and shuffled, "-a Mr. Michael Green, your father, and his finances."

The more he spoke, the more it felt silk running across her skin. His voice was soft and calm. It was like listening to a melody. She had never heard a voice like his before; though she might have appreciated it more if he hadn't called her this early in the morning about this repetitive problem her father faced. Her father, Michael, or as some called Mike, had a problem with money. It affected her family's life as early as memory served her. The only thing that kept her family afloat was their cafe and the only reason the family's cafe remained open was that it was in Antoinette's name. Antoinette was lucky though, the cafe did well and provided the means to pay her parents' bills and her own. But because of this, whenever her father took a "loan" to gamble, he made her his co-signer to many without consent.