Imagined Love by Diamond Drake Read Free Book Online

girls that can’t wait to see you again, little lady. So gone upstairs and say hi ‘cause I know they ain’t sleep,” Cicely laughed then planted a kiss on Jade’s forehead.
    “Sorry,” Willa said sheepishly, as a barrage of high pitched squeals came from the girls’ bedroom. “They’ll never go to sleep now. I’m so sorry.”
    “Uh, uh, don’t even worry about that. I have to threaten them kids with bodily harm every night to make they butts go to sleep. Jade being here ain’t causing no problem so don’t give it another thought. I’m just happy you came here. From the look of your neck I’m guessing that fool lost his mind again,” Cicely said, as she went to the kitchen to make two cups of Folgers.
    The two of them sat in the living room sipping coffee and talking late into the night. From the moment Cicely handed her those wet paper towels in the office, Willa sensed they would become friends. And it seemed as if they were on their way to doing just that . . . or so she thought.
     

4
Chapter Four
    Although Miles had been arrested the night before, Willa had no way of knowing how long he’d actually be detained, if at all. A man beating his wife wasn’t exactly a high priority for the local police department. If Jade hadn’t screamed hysterically to the 911 operator that her mom was being killed they may not have come at all. The performance Willa put on for the boys in blue, however, made it so they had to arrest Miles!
    When one of the officers asked for a statement, Willa lied. Miles’s gun had fallen to the floor after he rammed her into the refrigerator but she said he held it to her head and would have shot her if they hadn’t arrived. She sobbed and trembled uncontrollably as she described her and Jade’s horrifying ordeal which was made worse by the fact that she was pregnant. Miles knew with certainty he was going to jail as he watched his wife give an Oscar worthy performance that nearly had the two officers in tears. He kept his mouth shut knowing any protest he made would only give credibility to Willa’s story.
    If his freedom hadn’t been in jeopardy Miles probably would have laughed, or at the very least applauded the way his soon-to-be ex-wife manipulated the situation to her advantage. What nearly brought him to tears, though, was the realization that Willa was willing to do anything to be free of him. And it was then, standing handcuffed in his kitchen, that Miles accepted the painful truth that his marriage was over.
     
    The next morning, after dropping the kids off at school, Willa brought Cicely to her house to help gather the rest of Jade’s things. It turned out to be a huge mistake. From the moment they walked in Cicely began begging! At first her requests were outlandish—asking for the new washer and dryer or the queen sized bedroom set in the guest room. Once she realized she wouldn’t be getting those things, however, Cicely lowered her expectations and began asking for dishes and other household goods.
    “What’s wrong, girl?” she asked, noticing the disgusted look on Willa’s face. “Ooh, you probably need to eat something, huh? That baby’s hungry, girl. You wanna grab some breakfast? I haven’t been to The Big Wheel in I don’t know how long.”
    “Nah, I gotta go to work.”
    Willa barely spoke on the ride back to Cicely’s. When they got inside she collected the things Jade had left behind and hurried out of the house with no intentions of returning. Cicely wasn’t a friend, she was an opportunist and Willa didn’t have time for that. She had enough people in her life trying to use her.
    Twenty minutes later, after taking the I-65& 30 Venture, Willa arrived at the Twin Towers in Merrillville, Indiana. The seven floors of both the north and south buildings housed everything from employment and travel agencies to restaurants and day spas. Provincial Life Insurance was on the third floor of the north building in Suite 316. Before going upstairs