AllFreeNovel
Share Us
When the cab pulled up to 16 East 84thStreet, I got out and stared at the five-story brick building. It felt good to be home.
“Here’s your luggage, ma’am,” the cab driver spoke.
“Thank you.” I smiled as I reached into my purse and paid him along with a generous tip.
I rolled my suitcase behind me as I climbed on the elevator and took it up to my apartment on the fifth floor. Inserting the key into the lock, I pushed open the door and turned on the light switch in the hallway. Brown boxes were scattered all over the floor waiting to be unpacked. I had only been in my new place for three nights before I left for Seattle.
I moved from Chicago to Manhattan to be closer to my dad. When I was a little girl, we moved around a lot, never staying in one place more than six months to less than a year at a time. I never had any friends because we never stuck around long enough for me to make any connections with anyone. When I was eighteen, we moved to Chicago. My dad said that it could possibly be a permanent place for us, and if the job he was going to do in New York panned out, we could stay, and I could go to college. But he got involved with the wrong people and it ended up costing him twenty years at Rikers Island.
I threw my carry-on bag on the bed and started unpacking it. Pulling Gabriel’s watch from the pocket of my cardigan, I held it in my hand and thought of him. A feeling swept over me and thoughts about our encounter in the bathroom sent shivers down my spine. In fact, it wasn’t just thoughts about what happened, it was thoughts about him in general. Shaking my head, I snapped back into reality and finished unpacking my luggage. I couldn’t think about him. I didn’t want to think about him. I had other things to do. Business. It was now always about the business. I had six rules I lived by.
Know your mark.
Listen and never look bored.
Never reveal your true self.
Never stay in one place too long.
Exit as smoothly as you entered.
Never fall in love.
Everything I did, I did alone. I didn’t trust anyone. How could I when I couldn’t even trust myself? This wasn’t going to be my life. Just long enough until I paid off his debt. I visited my dad once a month, no matter where I was. It was important to me and to him. He was all I had left in this world. I lived out of hotels most of the time and some of the time I rented an apartment week to week, depending on how long I was going to be in one place.
I had been lying to him for the past six years. He believed I had been living in Chicago working as a waitress in an upscale restaurant and paying my way through college taking part time classes. If he knew the truth, he’d be disappointed, and he was the last person I wanted to disappoint.
* * *
One Month Later
Iplaced the long burgundy-colored wig with the loose curls on my head and secured it in place. After popping the emerald green contacts into my eyes, I dressed in a low cut, short black sleeveless dress and slipped my feet into a pair of Jimmy Choo peep toe black heels with red bottoms. Grabbing my red evening bag from the dresser, I hailed a cab over to The Plaza Hotel where Samuel Coldwater was picking me up. He believed I was staying there until I found a permanent place to live. I waited inside and watched out the lobby doors for his limo to pull up to the curb. Once I saw him climb out, I met him on the sidewalk.
“Amy, you look simply stunning.” He smiled as he took hold of my hand and brought it up to his lips.
“So do you, darling,” I spoke as he helped me into the car.
“I was going to come up and get you. You didn’t have to wait in the lobby.”
“I was ready earlier than planned, so I thought I’d save you the trip up.” I smiled.
We were on our way to the Champagne & Diamonds Winter Gala at the Mandarin Oriental that his company, Coldwater Enterprises, was hosting. It was a charity event for the support and development of a women’s center for specialty care. It was to be named the Celeste Coldwater Center after his wife, who passed away over a year ago.
“I want to give you something.” He smiled as he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small blue box from Tiffany.
“Samuel, you shouldn’t have.”
“Just open it, darling.”
I untied the white ribbon and opened the box. Reaching inside, I pulled out a velvet blue ring box and slowly lifted the lid.
“Samuel. Oh my god. It’s beautiful.”
He took the white gold, round-cut pink diamond—encased with smaller pink diamonds—ring out of the box and placed it on my right ring finger.
“It looks gorgeous on you, Amy.” He brought my hand to his lips.
“Samuel, I can’t accept this. It’s too much. We haven’t known each other that long.” Tears sprang to my eyes. On command tears that I had mastered over the years. The same tears I used to use on my father when it suited the situation.
