Mafia Love (Faithfully Yours)

Chapter 2

“I want my mommy, where is my mommy.” Reese sat up on the hospital bed with her knees to her chin, she wrapped her arms around her legs.

“Your mother is in the next room sweetie but we can’t let you see her until you have spoken to the nice police man and the social worker.” The nurse explained to her. Reese shook her head vigorously and hid her face, she was so confused, her mom had saved her from the man that almost hurt her but from the way these grownups were speaking in hushed tones they were acting like her mother had done something horribly wrong.

“I want my mommy, I want my mommy...” She said over and over again.

“Do you know the man that was in the house with you? did he hurt you?” Davis looked at the little girl, she didn’t look up at all. She just kept repeating that she wanted her mother. “I need you to tell me what happened Reese.” Still she kept her head down, Davis sighed and looked at his partner.

“We can’t prove any of the things that the neighbours said unless the child talks.” Levine said to Davis quietly. “And by the looks of it she isn’t going to. We can charge the lady with murder and take it from there.”

Even though Reese had her face hidden, she could hear everything the policemen said. She was so terrified, she had been coached by her mother and aunt Gill to never speak to policemen unless she had guardians with her but the police wanted to lock up her mom. “She was trying to save me I called out for mommy to get him off and she hit him to get him off.” She mumbled as she started to rock back and forth then she burst into fits of tears.

The door opened and a woman who looked to be in her early thirties in jeans and a formal brown blazer walked in, she had red hair with bangs and thick framed glasses.

“Hi, my name is Jenna Smith, I am the social worker. You are not supposed to question the child without my being present by the way, she is a minor. A family member will be here for the child tomorrow morning, I was contacted by her father. Tonight she will be sleeping in a group home for children. I’m guessing the mother will be booked?” She had a strict stern look on her face that seemed to relay that she took her job very seriously.

“Well Miss Smith it wasn’t so much questioning but rather trying to discern the child’s mental state.” Davis tried to cover up the fact that he had not followed protocol.

“Are you also a qualified psychologist officer…?” She asked dryly.

“It’s officer Davis…and no I am not Miss Smith. The mother will be booked while we conduct further investigations.” He answered, a little embarrassed to be caught in a situation like this.

The social worker walked towards the bed and took a seat by the chair. She changed her tone and spoke patiently to Reese.

Reese lifted her head as she spoke, her face was tear and snort stained. Jenna took out a few Kleenex tissues and offered them to the child. She took them and proceeded to wipe her face even though more tears ran down her face.

“Reese I am guessing that you feel very confused and frightened right now but everything will be okay. My name is Jenna and I’m here to help you okay?” She smiled empathetically at the child. Your father, Derek Hughes has given the consent for the police to question you in my presence, you have to talk to the nice policemen so that they can help.” She explained.

“I don’t have a daddy.” Reese stammered out slowly.

“You do, I spoke to your mother and she told me about him, he called and will be here in the morning.”

“Mommy didn’t mean to hurt the bad man, she just wanted him to stop hurting me.” Reese couldn’t help but cry again. Somehow the presence of this woman made her feel slightly better even though she was frightened.

“How did the bad man get in the house?” Davis asked her.

“I let him in, he knocked and I went to see who was at the door.”

“Where was your mother?” Question after question followed until Davis and Levine were satisfied with the information they had, they would have to question Leona again.

After they had left, Jenna pulled out clothes from a bag that she had brought with her, she gave them to Reese to dress in. The clothes looked a little baggy but they would have to do for now, she looked at the bruises on her arms, chest and thighs and for the first time since she got into the hospital room, her emotions began to waiver. It was difficult to work with children and not get affected by the things you saw happening to them on a daily basis.

Leona might have been trying to protect her child when she killed that man but it didn’t change the fact that she had put her own child in danger by bringing him to the house, Jenna didn’t know who the father of the child was but judging by the orders she had gotten from her superiors with very strict instructions, Derek Hughes was someone who had some sort of high influence which begged the question… why had his daughter never met him and why did he leave her to grow up in such conditions?

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(The next morning)

Reese looked up and saw a man walking towards her, he smiled sweetly at her. She was sitting by herself by one side of the playground at the group home as the other kids played and ran around in the playground. The man kind of looked familiar to her but a lot of men looked familiar to her as some of them were either friends of her mother’s or customers.

“Hey Reesey bear, I doubt that you will remember me but I am your uncle Caleb. Your father’s younger brother.” He squatted close to her so he was at least face to face with her.

Reese regarded him slowly with her head tilting slightly to the side.

“I was at the hospital when you were born and I used to visit you and your mom when you were younger. Your mom told me that you named the bear that I got you Mr grizzly.”

“Will you take me to see my mommy?” She looked at him with a frustrated frown on her innocent face. He was about to answer her when Gillian walked in behind him and ran to her.

“Reesey honey.” She put out her arms and knelt in front of her pulling her into her arms. Reese couldn’t help but start to cry, she was so relieved to see a face that she actually knew. “I am so sorry baby girl.”

Gillian comforted Reese as she shooshed her and rubbed her back gently.

Caleb got up and turned to speak to the social worker who had walked in with Gillian.

“Derek went to the holding cells to speak to Leona so he asked me to pick her up, Im sure he explained all this on the call.”

“Mr Hughes I don’t like the fact that everything about this case hasn’t been handled correctly, this child has already been through so much.” Jenna said sternly.

“I understand that Miss Smith but I assure you that we are all concerned about the same thing here and that’s the safety and well being of my niece, from here on I can promise you that she will be well taken care off.” He replied with so much authority but still remained polite that it made Jenna feel a little unsure of herself, especially when he smiled slightly at her.

It didn’t help that he was very good looking, Caleb Hughes was tall with dark chocolate skin, he was very well built that his dirty blue folded short sleeves denim shirt clung to his biceps, she couldn’t help but think of a younger Tyson Beckford when she looked at him. His hazel brown eyes and smile were very distracting, she found herself having to search for her train of thought because she kept thinking of how it would feel to trace her fingers on is beautiful dark skin.

“Yes, we haven’t gotten a chance to go to the house to pack her anything that she might need.” She scrambled for words to come out of her.

“Don’t worry about that, my brother will have it all taken care off Jenna, may I call you Jenna?.” He smiled at her and she found herself blushing. He knew the effect that he was having on her and was probably doing this on purpose.

“Yes you may, I guess everything is in order and you may leave.” She said quietly pursing her lips tightly to stop her from saying anything stupid in front of him.

“Thank you, you have been very helpful Jenna.” He turned to look at Gillian who was walking up to him with Reese’s hand in hers.

He cursed lowly under his breath as he looked at his niece, he wanted to kill Derek for neglecting Leona and his daughter to a point where Leona had to find dangerous alternative ways to make money to survive. He had tried over the years to secretly send Leona money but the moment Derek had found out about it he had put a stop to it.

Caleb’s heart lurched at the thought of what could have happened to Reese if he hadn’t threatened Derek and told him he would go against him to fetch the little girl himself and raise her as his own if Derek didn’t do anything about this.

They walked out to the car and Caleb opened the back passenger seat of his black Range Rover, Gillian made sure Reese was comfortable and put on her seatbelt for her before she shut the door and turned to sneer at Caleb who frowned at her.

“You and your brother ought to be ashamed of yourselves!” She hissed at him.

“Gillian just like you I’m standing on the outside trying to help.” He said quietly.

“Your brother is despicable! If Leona hadn’t shared with me the things you have done for her over the years I would think you are just like him. You waltz in to town in your fancy cars acting like this is all alright! Clearly you have money! Why is he treating Leona and his own child like this?” She wanted to yell but she couldn’t because she was worried Reese would be able to hear it.

“This is not my story to tell, I can promise you right now that I will do everything in my power to protect Reese.” He had a pained look in his eyes as he said this, he meant it with all his heart. He would never let her suffer ever again. Gillian searched his eyes, she believed him, she sighed and allowed for him to open the front passenger seat for her. She gave him the directions to the apartments so that they could get some of Reese’s things.

“Derek will have Leona’s things packed and moved into another apartment, as soon as she gets out she will move there.” He informed her.

She scoffed. “Isn’t that a little too late?”

Back at the precinct, Leona was put in one of the holding cells all by herself which had been an arrangement that Derek had organised. She was looking into the eyes of a man who had abandoned her with a small baby. A man that she used to love and still loved despite the hate that she held for him in her heart.

“You can glare at me all you want Leona but those are my conditions, I will take her and raise her and you stay away. You keep to this agreement and I arrange for you to get out of jail today with a clean record, I will send you money monthly for your needs.”

“She’s my daughter, you left us!” She got up from the cold seat and walked towards the barred cell door, Derek was standing casually on the other side with one hand in the pocket of his dark formal pants and the other on one of the bars.

“You knew that I wasn’t going to be able to stay with you, I was on the run and only stayed because at the time it was safe to hide here.” He said quietly.

“Then why did you make me fall for you and act like you would always look out for me? Why give me a baby knowing very well you weren’t staying?”

“I didn’t plan on any of that, it just happened. Look Leona I’m sorry for all that, I couldn’t take you with me because I was on the run and because… I was already married.” He hesitated as he said the last part. He watched her face pale and her eyes fill up with tears.

“Oh my God!” She tried to breathe in deeply so that she wouldn’t have another anxiety attack.

“And you are sorry? So what… you just used me…was it because I was young and gullible?”

He didn’t want to tell her what he had actually thought at that time, he had fallen in love with her. She was a beautiful street smart seventeen years old who had survived the streets all on her own, he was twenty three and already married with a two years old son by then. He was on the run after his entire g**g had been slaughtered by another g**g in a turf war in his home town.

“There’s no point in talking about the past Leona, If you choose to fight this you will have to get state assigned counsel and they won’t be able to get you out of these charges. If you don’t agree to this you still lose Reese anyway and you stay in jail. No judge will give her back to you after this and not to mention that I will make it very difficult for you to get her back.”

“f**k you Derek! Go to hell! I will do it because I don’t have a choice and I want her to have everything I can’t give her, you wouldn’t even be back here if Caleb hadn’t given me his emergency number to be able to contact him if I needed help.”

Derek kept the expressionless look on his face even though he wanted to pull Leona into his arms. He wanted to tell her that staying with her at the time would have brought her and Reese so much harm, that he had thought about leaving his wife for her but living on the run was no way to raise a child. He didn’t keep up communication with her or send money because he knew somehow it would be traced.

“My brother did that for his own interests. I do this and you stay away.” He reminded her.

He stopped Caleb from doing the same thing because they were both in the same line of work, the fact that she hadn’t been able to provide to a point where she had to sell herself hurt him to the core. It made him feel like the lowest of scum, he would take his daughter and raise her but he was caught between a rock and a hard place because he had been forced to tell Amanda about his infidelity all those years back and his wife had specified that they were to have no contact whatsoever with Leona if he was going to be bringing back his ‘w***e’s child’ to their marital home.

That’s how she had put it, he knew it was the only right thing to do to stop himself from running back to Leona at some point because he would always love her.

“Good! I will sort everything out.” He said to Leona. “You fighting me would be an utterly futile endeavour anyways.”

“Did you feel nothing for me at all?” The question caught him by surprise. He kept quiet for some time before he answered.

“Leona you are not the kind of woman a man like me needs, my line of work requires someone more refined.” He forced himself to sound arrogant and cold.

Tears ran down her cheeks and she sat back down, her knees going up to her chest. He watched her hide her face in her hands and sob but forced himself to walk away to deal with her release.

Derek got out of the precinct and crossed the street to where his brother’s car was parked. Caleb was standing outside the car by the drivers side speaking on the phone, Reese had fallen asleep in the back seat. He stood by her window and watched her sweet little face, she resembled his late mother. He could see the bruises on her wrists and arms which made his blood boil, if Leona hadn’t killed the bastard that had hurt his little girl he would have done it himself.

Caleb hung up his call and turned to look at his brother, they almost looked identical even though Derek was older by three years and Derek had his mother’s hazel eyes.

“She’s so precious isn’t she.” Caleb said. “She reminds me of momma.”

Derek sighed deeply and headed to the driver’s side of the car. “Stay away from Leona Caleb, I won’t warn you again.”

“She’s family! Why would I do that?” He sneered at his brother.

“You are going to put her in danger! The fact that Salvatore will now know about Reese doesn’t sit well with me.” He growled at his brother, closing the door to the drivers seat gently so that he didn’t wake his daughter up.

“It was bound to happen one way or another, look what almost happened to Reesey, at least now we can protect them properly. This is our job and we are good at it.” Caleb bargained with his brother.

“The two people I at least wanted to keep away from all that g**g life was Leona and Reese. Amanda chose this life from the get go.” He sighed.

“Don’t you think Leona would have chosen it too if it meant staying with you? You insinuate that there’s something going on between her and I but she still loves you!” Caleb couldn’t help but retort at his brother.

“Get in the f*****g car! We have to go.” He ignored his brother’s little rant as he grabbed the car keys and got into the drivers seat.

Reese stirred from her sleep when the car started moving. Derek watched her from the rear view mirror, he was startled by how her eyes looked just like Leona’s. She looked towards where Caleb sat then she seemed to relax, for some reason that annoyed Derek then she looked to where he sat and frowned.

Caleb noticed Derek watching her so he turned to look behind him.

“Hey Reesey bear, you’re awake. How about we stop somewhere and get you something to eat?”

“When can I see mommy?” She looked at her uncle who turned to look at the man driving.

Derek looked for a curb to park then turned around to face his daughter. She looked startled when she saw his face, he looked just like her uncle that she couldn’t help but look from side to side at the both of them.

“Hi Reese, I’m your father. From today on you will be staying with me, your mom went away and you won’t be seeing her for a while.” He didn’t smile or try to make her feel at ease as he said this, he maintained his straight poker face, his tone plain with no sympathy.

“The police took her to prison?” Reese asked, her little voice filled with distress and worry.

He regarded her words for a while before he answered. It would be easier to lie to her. She would stop asking for Leona if he lied to her.

“Yes, she’s going to be in there for years, she did something bad and needs to be in there.” He ignored his brothers shocked expression as he answered her question. He looked at her green eyes tear up. He wanted to cuss but he pursed his lips. Why did she have to look at him with Leona’s eyes.

“Don’t ask me about her again, all I need you to do is behave yourself, go to school and get good grades.” You will stay with me, my wife and your older brother. You will do everything you are told or else you will get sent back to the group home and trust me you don’t want to go back in there because they treat kids like shit.”

She began to cry but he cleared his throat which startled her. “And there will be none of that crying, wipe your tears. Life is tough, you have to be tougher.” He watched her attempt to wipe the tears from her face with the back of her hands and he handed her his pocket square.

“That’s enough Derek.” Caleb chastised him as he took the pocket squat from his hands and gave it to the little girl. Derek turned around and started the car again not really concerned that that was his first introduction to his daughter since he last saw her as a baby or that he had just frightened her for her first impression of him. He preferred for her to see him as the mean guy, this way maybe she would be too scared to misbehave and that would help her to survive Amanda.