Deatri King-Bey
Excerpt Caught Up
According to reports, Caldwell was embezzling money from his company for David Martín.
Rosa had told Samson that he was wrong for considering Ernesto guilty by association; now
here she was telling herself the same thing. She sighed and went inside.
Too tired to change into nightclothes, she chose to sleep in her full slip. She turned on the
lamp and reached into her nightstand for her journal, but it
wasn’t there. She’d forgotten that she’d packed it away and needed to start a new one.
She frowned at the drawer. Some of the items were out of place. She always kept her extra
pencils on top of the notepad. One of the pencils was off to the side. And the Post-its were
in the top center instead of the bottom center.
She snatched the cordless phone up so quickly the numbers almost didn’t follow. She
punched in the digits, then waited.
“What’s wrong, Rosa?” Ernesto asked, his voice filled with concern and sleep. “It’s almost
midnight.”
She marched out of her room toward the kitchen. “You’ve been snooping in my room,
haven’t you?” She rounded the corner into the kitchen and headed straight for the
basement door. She’d caught him reading her journal when she was a teen, but she couldn’
t do anything about it. She yanked the basement door open.
“Calm down.”
“I’m not calming down, Daddy!” She flicked on the lights as she stomped down the steps.
“You have no right to invade my privacy.”
“I’m your father and worried about you, that’s all the rights I need.”
She slapped on the light as she entered the storage room. The cement floor was so cold it
stung her bare feet, but she didn’t care. “About what? That I’ll find more of your dirty little
secrets? I told you to tell me everything. Have you told it all?” Phone propped between her
ear and shoulder, she pulled out the bin with her journals. The lid clattered against the wall
as she threw it.
“Leave the past in the past. I’ve changed.”
She took the keepsake box that contained her journals out. “I believe you’ve changed. But
you sneaking around my home makes you look guilty. If you’re not guilty, stop acting like it.”
She put her most recent journal on the floor, then returned the keepsake box to the bin.
“You’re right, baby. I apologize.”
She began dragging all of the storage containers to the center of the room. Each had an
itemized list of its contents.
“I was looking for your journal. You’ve always been so open with me, but since you found
out about David…” he trailed off. “I’m sorry I’ve shaken your faith in me, but I’m worried
about you. You’re still my child. You won’t tell me what’s on your mind. I can’t help if I don’t
know what’s wrong.”
She stuffed her most recent journal in with her college memorabilia items. “If you want to
help me, cooperate with the DEA.” She pushed the bin into a corner of the storage room,
then began stacking and replacing the other containers around it.
His voice rose in defense. “Don’t you think I want to cooperate? This goes against
everything I am, but I have to protect you.”
“Protect me? From what? The only one snooping around is you. No one’s after me. I don’t
know anything, and your cooperating with the DEA won’t change that.” She continued
arranging the storage units.
“You don’t know the drug world. I do. I’m not worried about the DEA. I have to protect you
the only way I can.”
She pushed the final bin into place. “What’s going on? Why are you so worried about the
drug world?”
“Because now they’ll think I’m actually David’s partner. The only way to get at me is through
you. And you won’t even let me hire security for you.”
“Then, let’s work with the DEA. Set up a sting. Samson will help us.”
“No, Rosa! Why do you think the DEA never made the connection between David and me?
David has agents in every agency to ensure the connection was never made. David isn’t
the only one with agents on his payroll. If one of the crooked agents found out I was
cooperating with the DEA…” he trailed off. “I won’t jeopardize you.”
She turned off the light in the storage room, then went into the basement and lay on the
carpeted floor. She hadn’t furnished the basement, so it was empty. “You’re killing me,
Daddy.”
“I know this is hard for you, but I can’t involve the DEA.”
She couldn’t dispute his point that David had agents in his pocket, but Samson wasn’t one
of them. “Please talk to Samson. He can help.”
“No, Rosa. This is my decision to make. Are you with me or not?”
She blew out an exasperated breath. “Yes. I’m with you.”
Mother, Wife, Author
