Opulent ~Rafael Solano

Chapter 9

Eva's Pov

Just when I said I was done with drama.

Petra is now making a custody play for the baby. Can't this woman just leave all of us alone, at this point I'm willing to pay her.

I'm in Raf's suite with Jane and Raf as they talk about the Petra situation.

"Wait what are you talking about." Raf asks. I think he knows what she said. He just doesn't like Michael.

"Zaz's murder is still unsolved and officially, Petra is still a person of interest. I can work as an informant and gather information for the ongoing investigation." Jane says. Honestly not a bad idea if we don't get her admitting to wanting money we can still get something about her to hold over her.

"So what, you're gonna wear a wire when you talk to her?" He says.

"Yes, official police business. And  Michael can." Jane cuts herself off noticing the look on Raf's face. "And you can listen in and record everything. If I can get her on tape admitting she will drop the custody claim for the right price, we can get this thrown out for good." Jane explains.

"I just- I don't know if we should involve Michael. The guy's got it out for me." Raf says

"He's just trying to help." Jane tries to make him understand

"It's a little naive." Raf says and I take that as a sign to get out of there and let them resolve it.

I walk into our staff quarters to find my brother. I take the house keys from him and leave to pick up my niece from play school.

"Aunt Eva." She yells excited and runs to me as I get down to pick her up.

"Hey munchkin." I smile and say "you are just getting more and more beautiful." I say and take her home. Over the course of the next few hours we did each others hair and played dress up and ate ice cream while I taught her a little Spanish. My brother comes back and we talk before I go home.

The next day Jane is sitting at lunch with Petra. "Thanks for meeting me." Jane starts.

"I was thrilled you reached out. I really think we can solve this in a civil way." Petra says

"Do you want to order food, or..." Jane trails off

"No thank you." Petra says. The recording plays over as I thank Michael for letting us listen in. Michael asks weird questions in a tone I have heard so familiarly with my brother. He's interrogating Raf without his knowledge.

"So what is it you're looking for?" Jane asks

"In terms of visitation?" Petra asks. Oh how much I want to strangle her.

"No not in terms of visitation. Look I can talk to Rafael. I can convince him to give you whatever you want. If not me I can convince Eva. He'll listen to her." Jane says as Rafael and I make eye contact.

"Well that's fantastic. Because what I really want is this baby." She says making me, Raf and I have a very strong feeling Jane is very pissed off.

"Well that's not gonna happen, but I can assure you that the baby is going to be just fine... with me." Jane says no longer having that calmness in her voice as before

"Are you sure you can learn to love a child that you never even wanted?" Her voice just makes me want to punch her more. I drone her out until I hear the story she tells about her childhood.

"My father was trapped behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War. When I was a baby he sent me and my mother off to West Germany. He was meant to follow. For 5 years I waited for him. But he couldn't get out. And he died one week— one week before the Wall fell. I'll never forget that feeling. Losing someone. Never getting the chance to know them. That's why I'm fighting for this baby." She says.

I make eye contact with Rafael, him thinking what I am. We rush out of the room as Michael looks at us. In a few minutes Jane finds us. Raf is calling his private detective.

"Hey why'd you guys leave." She asks

"Remember when Petra was talking about her Father and the Berlin Wall." She nods, "Did it seem like she was lying?" I ask.

"No. That was the one moment I thought she was telling the truth." She says

"Yeah, us too. So we came here to check some facts." I say turning back to the laptop.

"What facts?" Jane asks

"The Iron Curtain divided Europe into two separate areas from 1945 until the Berlin Wall fell in November of 1989." I say

"Why am I getting a history lesson?" Jane asks

"Because Petra said her father died one week before the Berlin will fell. But according to everything she ever told me and her passport, Petra was born in December of 1989. So either she can miraculously recall events from before she was born..." I trail off knowing she got it.

"Or she's not who she says she is." Jane says. As Rafael walked back in.

We are prepping the ballroom for the Paloma awards after party. We heard about about the storm coming but nothing has ever happened on these warnings only rain.

After the award show is over I tell Jane to find Rafael and confront Petra as I greet the guests.

After the award show was over and I saw Jane's grandma drunk. The storm was starting so we ended the party when I saw an ambulance and Jane rushing out with her grandmother on a stretcher.