Caught Up (Indigo Vibe) by Deatri King-Bey Read Free Book Online Page B

their alone time came to mind. At the time she felt like he was trying to get rid of her, but now she realized he was correct. She’d enjoyed her times with Anna and prayed someday she could enjoy her time with her mother.
    * * *
    Thoughts of Ernesto’s impending doom had Harriet giddy. She’d been waiting years for this moment and could barely contain her excitement. Showered, perfumed, and dressed in her normal designer attire, she strutted into his Miami office as if she owned the place.
    Ernesto pointed the remote control at the wall across from him. It was tiled with flat screen televisions, each playing a different news channel. “What do you want?” He lowered the volume on the one he’d been listening to.
    Afraid of heights, she stood in the center of his office. His back wall was floor to ceiling windows. Even though she was at least ten paces away, she felt as if she’d fall. Lightheaded, she lowered herself into one of the leather armchairs in front of his desk. The only reason she selected her high-rise condo was because it was the most expensive; thus in her opinion, the best.
    As a child, she’d had nothing but the abuse of perverted men because her no good father only stuck around long enough to get Harriet’s mother pregnant twice. Her mother had to beg men for money to keep food on the table, clothes on their backs and a roof over their heads. Harriet had fought her entire life to be on top. And now, thanks to her visit with David, she’d be rich and Ernesto would fall. He’d fall for all of the men who had used her mother. He’d fall for every man who had tipped into her room while her mother was passed out drunk in the living room. He’d fall for taking her daughter from her. He’d fall.
    He shoved his suit sleeve up slightly and checked his Rolex. “Already 2:30. Of course, you’re drunk.”
    “I haven’t had a drink all day,” she snapped. “I’m here to apologize for my behavior the other night.” She drew in several deep breaths, then went over to the wet bar, sure to avoid the lovely fifteen-story view.
    “You should be apologizing to Rosa and Anna, not me. Now what do you really want? If it’s money, forget it. I give you more than enough.”
    She poured herself a cola, wishing it were brandy. With Ernesto out of the way, Rosa would need a sober mother. “Why must we always fight?” Memories of some of their better times brought a lazy smile to her face. “We were so good together in the bedroom. Why couldn’t we take it elsewhere?”
    “I’m not sleeping with a drunk.”
    * * *
    “Hello, Mrs. Walker.” Rosa liked Ernesto’s assistant. The middle-aged woman always had a genuine smile and funny stories about her family to share.
    “Well hello there, stranger. You’re early. It’s only 2:53.” She waved Rosa fully into the front office.
    “Want me to leave and come back?”
    Mrs. Walker giggled. “You sound like your father. I hear you had a birthday.”
    “I’m thirty years old. All grown up,” she said with pride.
    The assistant’s clear blue eyes opened wide in feigned surprise. “The big three-O? Congratulations!”
    Rosa tilted her head graciously. “Thank you.” She headed for the large wood doors across from Mrs. Walker’s desk.
    “Two things before you go back. First, Ernesto wants you to apply the new patch to the network.”
    Rosa plopped her hands on her hips. “I hired a perfectly good system administrator to do these things. It’s just an upgrade, not a big deal.”
    “Talk to your father. You know how he is.”
    “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’ll install it from his office.”
    Ernesto barely allowed anyone to touch his networks besides Rosa. She blamed herself. Her time in college as a hacker had him paranoid. She laughed at herself, thinking she’d shown him things no “normal human” should see. At the time, he hadn’t found her hacking funny and made her find legal outlets for her abilities.
    A few years ago, she’d linked the