Bold Decisions

Chapter 1

         The Omega Psi Phi brand on Russell's back flexed as he drew his dress shirt onto his body. Resonating the fact that he was going back to New York to be with his family, I realized that out of four years I still hadn't met these people. Time and time again I told myself that I wasn't going to trip over it, but they needed him too much. Every other month they were having some sort of get together and he didn't want me to go. How was I supposed to feel about it all? Fed up is what I was.

This chocolate specimen of a man— muscle bound and successful— was spotted by my best friend Victoria in a jewelry store and the woman inside told her, for a hefty fee, that he bought a ring. Not just any kind of ring. He bought a fourteen karat diamond ring and had it engraved with "Forever, my love". Tonight I sneaked a peek at his Blackberry and saw that he had something scheduled in code for this coming Friday night and I only guessed that it was for me. It was the only reason I spread my lips into a smile while he pulled up his slacks and buckled his belt.

"I'll call you once I make it to my gate," he said, and leaned down to peck my lips. "I love you, Connie."

I licked my lips to taste him once more before he vanished into the cold night air and out of Virginia for the weekend. "I love you too, Russ."

Once Friday came I hadn't realized that Russell had only called me an amount of four times during the week and we only conversed for a matter of no more than five minutes per conversation. I chucked it up to him being busy with the boxer he took as a client who had a sexual assault charge to be slapped onto his desk. His work wasn't easy but he got the job done and he had a success rate of ninety-eight percent. My baby was the best.

Tonight I had candles lit in the foyer of my condo and along the tub in my master bedroom. I had gone to my beautician and had her do something special with my hair since I was so used to wearing it in up-dos with bangs. Tonight it was curly and falling around my shoulders. My silk nightie cost me almost four hundred dollars but it was worth it. When he broke out that box after ogling my shape in it he was going to have his world rocked.

Time started to pass me by and he was late. Russell was never late. I poured myself some champagne and downed the glass quicker than I thought I had and poured another, then another. I had gotten so paranoid that I checked my call logs and saw that I'd rang his number over twelve times already and decided to call the police on the matter. Unfortunately there was nothing they could do about his disappearance since he hadn't been missing for more than forty-eight hours. I didn't have any numbers for his colleagues so all I could do was pace. The thought of going over to his home ran across my mind but I didn't want to leave and he'd showed up.

At 2 AM I received a text from his number saying that he would talk to me later, and that was all. I squeezed my phone in my hand and shut my eyes tight to fight the feeling of betrayal. Russell always met me at my home on a Friday night at seven. There was no excuse. He hadn't said anything about entertaining clients or working late. He hadn't mentioned going out of town this weekend so I hadn't known what the problem was.

The next day I tried to call him but I ended up listening to his voicemail. I rang Victoria and had her tell me that I wasn't going crazy and that he loved me, he just had business to tend to. But knowing her she advised me to go over to his place and see what the issue could've been. She suspected another woman.

When we arrived at his home in Richmond he wasn't there. Even his gate code was changed. That wasn't like him at all.

After three weeks of sulking and being denied into his office building, I was told that he took a vacation and no one was allowed to release the information on his whereabouts. Victoria and I had gone to the extent of waiting in the parking garage of his job one day and waited for him to pull out of it so that we could follow him. She dropped me off in front of the gate before it could close and I shimmied into it and walked up the driveway to his estate. I was desperate for answers.

I knocked on the door with a heavy heart and waited for him to answer after a few times of me ringing the doorbell. Once he came to the door he had wide and confused eyes as if he hadn't known who I was.

"Baby who's at the door?" a woman called in the distance.

Finally he closed his mouth as I squint my eyes and he had a quick lie for the both of us. "Uh, it's nothing baby! Just some business I need to tend to!" he yelled over his shoulder, then stepped outside through the small space he allowed between the door and the pane. "Connie, what are you doing here? This is my home."

"Don't you think I know that?" I breathlessly hissed at him. "What's going on, Russell? Who in the hell is she? Why have you been avoiding me?"

He quickly closed the door and placed his hands onto my shoulders to get me to calm down. That bastard looked me dead in the eyes and said, "Connie what we had was very special, I assure you—"

"Don't give me that Russ!" I moved his hands off of my shoulders and stepped closer to him, only for him to step back as if I were someone trying to hurt him. "Give it to me straight. Was that ring for me?"

"It was for my fiancée Amber."

"Who the fuck is Amber?"

"Lower your voice."

"Where did she come from, Russell?"

"Look, things are a bit complicated. I promise I'll explain it all once—"

"Once what? Once you've married her? I've given you four years of my life!"

"Four long, beautiful and unforgettable years."

We'd grown quiet for quite some time while he symbolically pushed his knife deeper into my ribcage. He tapped his thumb on his chin and slowly shook his head. "Connie, I need you to leave. What we had was nice but I've moved on to better. I upgraded and that's all you need to know."

"That's all I need to know?"

"Leave before I call the police." With that he stepped back into the house and slammed the door in my face like I was nothing and no one.

All I could remember was my heart sinking into my chest and the sound of Victoria honking the horn rang my ears. I don't even remember how long I had been standing out there on that porch but it was long enough for the police to arrive and take me away in handcuffs, and tell me that I had been trespassing.

After that I was a shitty wreck. I had fallen so deep into a depression that I attempted to slice my own wrist at work and the CEO's wife, who just so happen to be in the building, found me in my office sprawled out across my desk.

I'll never forget waking up in the hospital and seeing a ruby red Jimmy Choo shoe swaying back and forth over a crossed leg. That old white woman looked at me and thumped her e-cigarette, leaned forward and said, "I can save your job for you, honey, but you need to do something for me. You need to get help."

Shit I was the best thing that had ever happened to the company in a decade with how sales interests shot through the roof with my commercial pitching. Of course Claudia Marks wouldn't want to let me go. She and I mingled a few times at dinner parties and company gatherings, so she already had a feel for me. It was either that or the money.

The most interesting thing about her visit was that she picked up her purse and made her way over to my bed and said, "That was a passionate attempt at suicide. You need to remember that man was made to run, not run away from. Sweetie you're a woman. You're stronger than that. We don't get rid of ourselves. We get even."