Touching the Heart of Ace novel Chapter 80

I should have known he was hiding something from me. But I thought he was retaliating for going behind his back to help that ghetto people.

I felt bad for calling them ghetto people but it was difficult to address them as anything else when they themselves addressed them as such.

The lady who came for me literally said that to me. 'Are you Davidson Truscott? We are the ghetto people."

I was in the shopping mall buying Robbie some mundane stuff which he kept on forgetting, with my bodyguards on tow. At least they had the decency to pretend like they did not know me; giving me a false sense of privacy. But there was nothing I could do to change my Robbie's mind, so I let them be. That and Uncle Fred threatened to personally babysit me.

Well, the bodyguards pretended not to know me until this slightly stout middle aged lady stood next to me with another young lady and a kid. Then the bodyguards were keenly listening and closing in.

Huff.

The first thing I noticed was the kid was around my Lia's age and was fascinated with the sweets on the aisle.

"Are you David Truscott?" The lady asked again when I did not answer.

"Yes?" Should I lie? The paparazzi were still around and I should be careful. If they could pretend to be pizza delivery boys to get pictures of Lia and I, and barge into our beach home what else were they capable of?

They did not care that Robbie smashed them bloody, or they were arrested for forced entry but they were happy that they could get two blurred images of my holding Lia. Lia and I were in the beach and those two came running for my baby. Thankfully Robbie saw them first or it would have been too traumatic. Well, it was... Lia and I never stepped outside to beach ever since.

"We have to help us. Please, Sir." The lady snatched my hand to her chest and the bodyguards freaking took the Taser out.

"Ma'am step back. Step back from him this instant..."

"Please. Sir, please. We have nowhere to go. Please." The lady started to cry and that set of the baby who was busily taking in the colours of sweets until then.

I told the bodyguards off. "Put that thing away; we have a child here. RIGHT NOW!"

I watched the young lady in her mid-twenties picking up her crying child and trying to sooth him.

They lowered the tasers but did not take them away and I almost popped my vein.

"Robert Brantley is taking our homes away. Please help us." The lady refused to let go of my hands and if anything she only clutched it harder. Tears dribbled down her eyes.

But instantly I knew what this was about. The Mayor had visited us a few weeks' back and Robbie and he signed a deal stating they were demolishing some old buildings and constructing living quarters for govt. employees and forces.

40% of the living space should be reserved for govt. workers and rest Robbie could rent out to public.

I knew the deal was signed. I was there.

And I did not meddle into his office affairs. I did not know how it worked and I had no interest in knowing.

"Ma'am I have no idea why you are telling me this. I am not..."

"Yes you know. Please, Sir... Please. We live there... please... don't... Please help us." The lady was holding my hand like this was the bottom of her life. "Robert Brantley will listen to you if you..."

"I have no idea where you heard that rumour from. I assure you that it is not true. He is his own man. But I have no say in his work or..."

"But you do. We know that we do. Please. We have children, young unwed mothers, sick people and old people and please... we have to evacuate in a week. Please."

She looked like she was going to drop to the floor and I felt bad.

"I have no idea how to help you. I was not lying when I said..."

"Please at least listen to what we have to say." The young mother said confidently looking at my eyes. She was able to calm her crying child amidst our conversation. "Legally our people own the place. Police might not help us given how rich and white you are but... we will fight... we will strike... So please listen to us. Don't make it difficult for both of us." How could women handle pain and be confident at the same time.

"That is it. Step back. You step back." One of the bodyguards came to her holding taser again.

"Stop!" I glared at him when I noticed the young boy's lips had started to wobble.

"Sir, she threatened you."

"Not me. Robert Brantley. She threatened him. And I am sure he can handle her just fine on his own."

"Sir, but we are to take you back to home on the first sign of trouble and this is..."

"Please, son, I am old and a chronic patient of hypertension. I just want to talk. I am not your mother but won't you at least listen to me? Please. Please remember your mother in your safe home. I don't have it... Not anymore. They will demolish it."

I gulped.

My mother never had to beg anyone for a home.

"Sir, please. Let us take you home." The bodyguard insisted and I saw another bodyguard reaching for mouth piece, no doubt to alert Robbie.

"Okay. You can take me home."

They all relaxed and let out a sigh of relief but the lady squeezed my hand harder and started crying earnestly.

"I told you Miss. Amber, rich white men are all the same. Let that bloody hand go and let us go home... if they are not dust yet." The young woman spat, glaring at me with tears leaving her face.

"I don't know how you managed to know that I will be here. Answer me truthfully." I demanded.

My Robbie was seriously afraid for my safety. I did not want to jeopardise his happiness because someone pulled 'mom' card on me. He was my family and I had a little baby to get back to.

But my eyes shifted to the now sleeping young boy on his mom's shoulders. What about him?

"We can't tell you that."

I nodded and took off the hand on my arm a bit forcefully.

"My mom would have told me the truth. But... you are not my mom and I am not your son."

I turned to leave after taking a final glance at the sweet boy who was sleeping with snot running to his mom's shoulders and dried tears on his cheeks.

At least a white baby girl and black baby boy had that in common; they sleep the same after a round of crying.

"We cannot take other's home to keep ours. We were desperate and sh... that person was only helping us. That person knows us. She volunteers at the soup kitchen. And sh... that per..."

"You already said she. Winny told you about me."

I shook my head. I trusted Winny. If she told them about me there must have some strong reason behind it.

The ladies looked at each other. "We thought her name was Windy."

"Oh, yes. Windy. My daughter calls her Winny. It stuck."

My eyes went to the sleeping child.

"She did not tell anything about your kid. We did not know. I did not bring my son to..."

"I did not say you were."

"Sir, let us go." The bodyguard stood between us and I hated that.

"In a second. Please step aside."

"But Sir."

I glared and he moved.

Good!

I was not a prisoner in probation.

The older lady was silently crying knowing I was not willing to help. I had to respect Robbie and his job. I had nothing to do with it. I could not just barge in to his office and...

I sighed taking the sweets the boy was staring at. It was cheap as dust but kids did not care about money unless you taught them to be a snob.

"Here" I extended the sweet to his mama. "He had been looking at it for a while."

"No, thank you."

"Take it. My daughter also likes the same sweet."

"My son does not know it is a sweet." I tried hard not to show my surprise but I was sure I failed. "What he does not know would not hurt him... yet."

"It is just a sweet."

"For you, Sir. I cannot afford it."

"Oh no. It is on me. Please take it. He had been..."

"Then what? He will know it is a sweet and he will like it. Then next time he will look expectantly at it and I won't..." Then her voice cracked and her face crumbled. For a moment I felt she was as old as the lady next to her. "Well, sweet is not what my son needs. I have to find a way to keep him out of the rain." Her face smoothened again but not her eyes. "Come on Miss Amber. We are standing in his way. That is enough reason to be tased."

She pointed accusing eyes towards the bodyguard. At least he had the decency to avert his eyes.

"I cannot talk to you here." I told them the truth. "I was not lying when I said I don't meddle into his professional affairs. But... if telling me is something you want to do, this is neither the place or time."

I asked them to meet me in three days in a nearby deli. I had to literally threaten the bodyguards to keep that bit away from Robbie. He would throw a tantrum that would put Little Lia to shame.

Such a baby!

I dragged the culprit as my bodyguard aka Winny and she sheepishly tried to slither out of the way... but I won.

The ladies were there already waiting outside along with the baby who was whining to his mom about something.

That warmed my heart. My Little Lia was just the same. There was something about seeing a baby clutching your knees and fighting you.

We got in and I ordered lunch for all of us. If they got nothing from this at least they could leave with a full stomach.

The ladies were really polite and said they would wait outside until I had my lunch. I was not going to do that but, they only obeyed when Winny insisted.

I had no idea how to make them believe that I could do nothing about it. They wanted me to stop the govt. from demolishing their homes. I could not do that. Hell, if they were lucky all I could do was may be postponing the inevitable for another week.

"We are black, we are ghetto. It is apparently a dangerous combination. Police refused to help us. They told us we should stop terrorising people and start living like citizens. We have no money, no education, no shelter or support, no police. Where would we go? How would we live like citizens? Of all the people living there I am the only one with the education and I drop out of college the first year. Please help us." The young mother's name was Naomi and her son was Tyrone.

Tyrone the little Terror. He took a spoon from the sauce and smacked the table twice with a giggle.

Miss. Amber took his 'toy' right before he could smack it once more.

"We have been living there for three decades. Our people own it..."

"Who are these 'your people'? Where are they?"

Naomi handed Tyrone to Miss Amber and took out some papers. "The building and the plot are owned by Triple K's. Technically they are our landlords. They were convicted once for auto theft and that is why police will not help us. But... we rent out the space from them. Government gave this plot to struggling black people back in 70s. That included my grandparents too. We had to sell our shares to Triple K but they let us stay there for rent."

She handed me the papers and I went through them quickly.

515 dollars a week as rent and the other papers were the documents that stated they had sold their share to Triple K's and were willing to stay there under rent.

"We are legally allowed to stay here."

I nodded. They were right.

The place was theirs. But why would the Mayor do something as slimy?

"What does Triple K's have to say about this matter?" I was curious. They had a solid evidence in their hands. If they could take this to court, then they would get the place back.

"Police will not hear it. We have no money left after rent and food, to hire a lawyer... we... we had been hoping Triple K would do something about it. They tried hard but... demolition begins next week. They had already thrown us out and barricaded the place. Please Mr. Truscott. Help. We have sick people and pregnant women... kids younger than Tyrone... Please..."

"There is next to nothing to do against Government plans unless we take it to court but even if we hire a lawyer now, I don't think that would do any good, this close to demolition date."

I heard a coo next to me and saw Tryon fascinated by my shiny cufflinks. He gave me toothy grin before poking on it.

"Ty, you can't touch white..."

"It is fine. Unless you are not okay with it." I said. "May I?" I gently picked up the kid, making him giggle and settled him on my thigh. He was truly an adorable terror. He was about to chew on the papers that were scattered in front to me.

"Let us horse ride."

I gently held his waist and bounced him on my knee. He cackled and started to slap my thigh to make it go faster.

"As I was saying, I am sorry, there is not much we could do at this point... but... I will talk to Robbie. Since this is illegal, I think I can make him withdraw the contract of building construction but about demolition... I could postpone it for a few weeks... I am sorry."

"We can't turn down any help at this point, son. We are desperate." Miss Amber wiped her eyes. "People are waiting for something. It has been raining for few days and..." She sniffled.

"Where are you guys staying at the moment?"

They looked at each other. "Parker road."

I knew the place but I did not know any motels or apartments there but I nodded anyways.

I handed them the original papers of their claims and asked them to bring me copies. But then I thought better of it and suggested to drop them off and get copies by myself.

What little money they had, they should not spend it on paper copies.

"You do realise Robert will kill me this time, David." Tristian opened the door to my car and I handed the now sleeping Tyron in my arms to his mother.

"We can walk Mr. Truscott. Your car looks nice."

"And you both look nicer. Get in." I closed the door and climbed on the passenger seat while Winny sat with the ladies in the back. I smiled seeing her properly situating Tyron on the car seat.

"If Robert asks I would say I know nothing about this. Okay?" Tristian started fretting again. "When you said I owe you, I did not think you would purposely put me in trouble. You are taking revenge, aren't you?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah you scaredy cat. Nick won't let him hurt you."

We made a quick stop to get copies before dropping the ladies at...

... the side of a road?

"What the!"

I did not mean to be that surprised.

"Robert will kill me. What are we doing here on this side of town? God! It stinks." Tristian whined.

"Well thank you gentlemen for taking us... home."

"How do you guys live here?" My voice sounded squeaky and snobbish even to my own ears.

There were plastic sheets thrown over poles and that was it. About fifty people somehow managed to cramp themselves in such a small... I had no idea what to call this living arrangement.

"People who had some savings already left. Others found spot in shelters. We were not welcome. We have diseases, kids, we are ghetto, we are... trouble."

Miss Amber started to cry again.

I had no idea what to say or do. I had no idea what...

When my brain was back online I was sitting next to Winnie, and Tristian was driving us back home.

Did I just leave them there?

I could not do that. It was raining yesterday and it would rain again.

There was a sewer next to the place they were staying and that was the smell. There were pregnant women... no... girls... among them.

Dear God!

"Turn the car."

I was surprised when Tristian did not ask me why or what. It was almost like he was waiting for me to say it just to go back to them.

Miss Amber was sitting on knees where I had dropped her, crying and Naomi was just standing there and watching all that with stoic face.

"Look Naomi..."

I started before I was even out of the car.

"Mr. Truscott?"

"Look..." Why was I out of breath? "I will try very hard to help but... but... you guys can't live here like this."

"We have no place to go. No money. Literally no money. I don't think you even understand what I am saying. We drink tap water over there." I cringed seeing the slimy mouldy green tap near the sewer. "None of us were able to hold on to a job."

"My brother owns a container zone. We have some scheduling issues this year and it will be closed for few more months. It has enough space to hold all of you. Some containers are converted to liveable space with clean water supply and toilets."

I panted.

They stared.

"That is better than living here... You told me already, it rains and you guys are living on tap water."

"We will have to turn the offer down." Naomi told me adamantly. "You and Robert are... friends. If we take this offer, we will not have a strong case in the court if you..."

We all heard a rumble of thunder.

"Naomi." Miss Amber squeezed her hand.

I could not leave them there, could I? I had to take them somewhere and I had to talk to Robbie before he found about this himself. Container zone was ideal.

"Promise this offer is not to betray us." Naomi begged without meeting my eyes.

"I promise. I do not know how much I can help with your home but this I can do. Come with me. It is safe and we have guards at night, so you will be safe there. Please come with me."

Naomi nodded and Miss Amber started crying again.

I dialled my phone. "Please send a delivery truck to Park Road... A big one... sure... it will do..." I saw Naomi talking to some girls who were clearly pregnant. "I also need an S.U.V. Yes, please... I want them here in not more than fifteen minutes."

Winny, Tristian and I helped them pack up whatever meagre things they had and waited patiently for our pick up.

"I am glad you called me." Tristian mumbled.

"I thought you did not want to die."

He smiled.

Our relationship had been better. Ironically we started it to annoy our men but we were in better terms. I decided to call him Tristian because it was a jab at him every time and also I hated correcting his names always.

It was his fault anyways.

I asked Winny to get in the S.U.V along with the pregnant ladies because I did not like the way the driver was looking at them; like they were scum and sluts. They weren't. I had no idea what had happened in their lives but I was not going to assume.

Naomi got in the delivery truck with everyone else and Miss Amber got back in the car with Tristian and I, along with Baby Tyron and all of his small friends.

Small babies were so carefree. They did not ask where were going but tried to kiss, bite and climb over each other. Thankfully Miss. Amber glared when they went too far and hurt each other.

I was mostly worried about them not in baby seats. But Tristian was driving so slowly that even tortoise could overtake us and I was happy.

I called Jason as soon as we reached the container zone and predictably he threw a fit.

He would get over it.

But...

What about Robbie?

Dear God!

What had I got myself into? Oh God.

He figured I wanted something even before dinner.

"What?" He asked.

"What what?" I asked and kissed him again.

"Angel what did you do?"

"Whaat? Nothing. Why are you asking stupid questions?" I climbed on his lap and fed him a piece of fried chicken.

"I thought you did not want me to eat fried chicken for dinner."

"Once in a while is okay..." I smiled and kissed his nose.

"God, you are trouble and you are trying to get me in trouble." He held me tight.

"I have no idea what you are talking about." I shrugged and showered him with all my love. I giggled when Daddy picked me up and dropped me on the dining table. "Later. Have dinner."

So I had done everything to keep my man in good mood.

Now only I could broach the topic and make him understand that we did not need this project and...

"No."

I wasn't done talking.

"Please Daddy, listen to me. That is their home. What we are going to do is illegal. It is their property. They have proof."

"No."

"Come on!"

"You stay away from such people. You have no idea what they are capable of and I don't want you to be associated with them. Hear me?"

I glared as he walked to the bathroom. "You can glare all you want; you stay away from this."

"I won't. They have proof and we will lose the case." He laughed and I hated how condescending the voice was. Like I did not know how the world worked.

Well he was right but that did not mean we had to do something wrong and very illegal.

"You are precious. Now, come on, Love, let me clean you up."

"I will clean myself. Don't touch me." I stomped by foot and hurried to the bathroom.

A loud painful smack fell on butt and I shrieked.

"So juicy and jiggly. Fuck!"

It was not!

What the hell!

I did not have a jiggly butt. Did I? Did I?

Ugggh... not important.

"Daddy please, they have no home."

Robbie froze and I was feeling nervous.

"How do you know, Angel?"

"Huh?"

"How do you know they have no home. Did they meet you? Fuck! When?"

I gulped.

Oh shit...

"Nooo... no... no... just you know... I was telling you... in the sense... that..."

"It does not matter. I will handle it. You don't worry your pretty head about that."

"Fine." I nodded and dropped the topic for the time being.

But the hell broke loose when he caught me sneaking into his office in the middle of night.

"Why do you always disobey me?!"

"Because you don't listen to me!" I shouted back.

"You don't know those people. You have no..."

"Well surprise! I do! And I am going to help them." I crossed my hands over my chest and man! Robbie, was he angry?

"Oh you know them? You know them! Then come with me, I want to know if you will help them after knowing the crimes they had done. Want to help them!!!" He dragged me back to his office but stopped, right as he reached his computer.

I pouted and stood next to him like a scolded child.

I felt him hugging me and then a kiss fell on my cheek. "I cannot do that you. You are my baby. I cannot... why do you want to help them so bad?"

"Because that is the right thing to do. Especially after knowing that it is their property."

He snorted and shook his head.

He hugged me tight and my feet left the floor. "Let go, you bastard. I told them that I will help and I want to help."

"So you did meet them."

I nodded to his neck and he sighed. He sat on his office chair and pulled me to his lap.

"Tell me everything."

I did.

"They have all the papers and they will take it to court." I quickly went to our bedroom, took the copies and gave them to Robbie before sitting back on his lap. "See..."

Robbie looked like he wanted to squish me hard, wrap me in bubbles and keep me tucked away from all the evil in the world. So I whined and thumbed his chest. "Daddy please..."

"I don't want to break your heart."

"You won't."

"If you cry over this, I am going to be very mad." He glared and I promised I would not cry no matter what.

A little white lie could never hurt anyone.

"Fine!"

He huffed, placed me to another chair and gave me some documents to look over... which made no sense.

The land was actually govt. property and the buildings were constructed illegally. The Mayor wanted to clean up the town and do everything right.

"Why would Naomi and Miss Amber lie to me?"

"They did not." Robbie sighed. "Angel, it is just... this kind of stuff is not for you. There is nothing we can do."

"At least tell me why they lied to me."

"Again they did not. The people who had been 'renting' the place lied to them. They don't own the place."

My mouth dropped open.

"Why would they do that? They had been paying 500 dollars every week for god knows how many years."

I quickly shuffled through the papers and it clearly said that the govt. had been sending eviction notice for past five years.

"It is not just that. The area is a bit shady with drug traffic, prostitution, you name it. But the big push happened because a girl who happened to be a friend of Mayor's daughter was harassed while she was on the way to college. Mayor had to do something about it."

I closed Robbie's file and went back to our bedroom. Robbie lied next to me and kissed my shoulder.

"This is why I hate when you poke your nose in where it does not belong. You get sad and then I get sad."

I turned around and hugged him tight. "Take me there tomorrow?"

"Angel... why are you..."

"Please Daddy. I just want to see if there is something we could do."

"Sleep now."

I hugged him tighter and then fell asleep.

I annoyed him endlessly until he took me there and I was shocked how dirty the whole place was.

The walls literally were cardboard sheets. There was nothing in these rooms that warranted 100 dollar rent much less the obscene amount they were paying.

And honestly even after knowing Naomi and Tyron would not have a home anymore, I hoped that this place was turned to dust. The construction was flimsy and it would topple over someone in a strong wind. There were water leakages over electric circuits and I was worried about our safety, after only being here for twenty minutes.

There was nothing we could do.

I went to the container zone with heavy heart and Naomi being the intelligent woman she was, knew right away that I did not bring good news.

I wished it was all I could say.

I had come with ten bodyguards surrounding me and she inferred that Robert Brantley knew about the situation. The bastard calling me every five minutes was also a dead giveaway.

I told her the truth and I did not blame her for not believing me. But when I handed her the official papers and eviction notices she had no other option.

"I am sorry."

"No you are not. You are happy that we don't stand a chance in the court." She stormed off trying very hard not to cry.

What could I do?

The demolition happened and that was it.

But... I gave them a home.