Page 9 of Mafia Kings & Wedding Rings

I’m glad she was able to do so because my heart was doing the fool.

She was as captivating as I remembered; in that natural, homegrown, country girl way.

It was a switch from all the designer shit I remember she used to be dipped in every day.

Even then she kept it hood. She didn’t pretend to be something she wasn’t.

Her father made sure to keep her in all the latest, and Emerald rocked that shit like a bitch right off the catwalk.

“Why?” Jordan’s expression balled into sheer confusion.

“Because I need the money.” Emerald crossed one leg over the other and rested both hands on top of her knees before her eyes drifted to the ground.

“I didn’t even know you were back in Oak Bluffs. Your family was one of the wealthiest in this town, so why would you possibly need money?”

“Because my father lost everything, which means so did I. So here I am.”

“Oh my God. I had no idea,” Jordan empathized.

“Can we skip past all this? Maybe get to the reason we’re all gathered here. How do you feel about that, Ivo?” Emerald’s attention landed on me, but I was too busy processing her presence.

“Well, we kind of already know you. The files Dr. Steinholt gave us didn’t provide names, just analytics.

I see that you are in good health, you don’t smoke, rarely drink, all of your preliminary bloodwork and other panels came back great.

It also says you have a child?” Jordan peered up expectantly.

“Yeah. Jury lives in Oregon with her father though. He has custody of her. I’m back here in Oak Bluffs. It’s just me and Sapphire.”

“Your little brother?” I asked, finally able to find my voice while my brows dipped in a frown.

“That’s right. My parents are gone. My father committed suicide a few weeks after we lost everything, and my mother decided she deserved better in life and ran off chasing her next meal ticket. I was granted custody of Sapphire.”

“Wow. I’m so sorry to hear that,” Jordan countered.

Emerald was holding it together, but even after all this time, I knew her.

There was something broken behind her stare, and she was pushing through the best way she could.

The urge to be the one to help her hit me like a load of bricks.

Underneath the self-assured shield, there was the same sixteen-year-old girl I used to kick it with.

Most people assumed she was fake and superficial, but I knew better.

I bonded with the girl who loved poetry and reading.

She was always thinking about the world and asking questions.

Who Emerald was with me was someone she didn’t share with the rest of the world.

“Hey, you know me, I’m taking it day by day and trying not to let it completely cripple me.

Sapphire’s good. He’s smart, and he’s very athletic.

He’s the star point guard on his basketball team at school.

I have high hopes and big dreams for him.

We make it work. He’s determined to get drafted so he can take care of me.

In the meantime, I can sacrifice myself for nine months to do that for him.

For us… and give you two a baby.” She paused and laughed a little before shaking her head.

“I guess I lost touch over the years when I went off to college. I started a whole new life and left a lot of people behind. This is probably my karma for that.”

“Listen, I never held that against you,” Jordan chimed in.

Emerald’s sharp, slanted orbs shifted to me like she was waiting for me to cosign that statement, but I couldn’t.

I didn’t share the same sentiment. I, in fact, did hold it against her.

A nigga might have been in the friend zone, but I thought we were better than a few scattered post cards over the years.

Now hearing she also had a child with another man, shit had me tight, and I didn’t want that exposed to her or Jordan.

“I think this is great what you’re doing. You are actually perfect for this if you think about it.” Jordan smiled and turned to me. “Right, babe?”

Before I could answer, I got a notification on my phone and went to pull it out.

Checking the screen, I saw that it was Brick hitting me up again.

He wanted to make sure I was showing up to the meeting in the next hour or so.

Since we were wrapping up here, I decided I would stick to lunch with Jordan and then head right over.

“Who is it now?” Jordan rolled her eyes and turned to Emerald to complain. “Him and this phone. I swear. He’s a workaholic.”

“It’s Brick. Just making sure I’m available for this meeting.”

“This is important too, Ivo,” my wife reminded me.

“I know.” My shoulders slumped, and I tucked my phone back into my pocket. “And… I’m with whatever you are. If you want to use Emerald, I’m good with that.” I really wasn’t.

It wasn’t that I was against it, I just caught a glimpse of a red flag to all the ways this could go wrong.

At the same time, the thought of her carrying my seed left me less burdened than when we walked through those doors this morning.

A nigga would be lucky as hell for a woman like Emerald to birth his child.

I knew this was going to be my baby with Jordan, but Emerald would be the biological mother too.

It was wild the way life had come in this odd circle.

“I think we should do it!” Jordan clapped her hands happily. “Just think, we can get reacquainted, reminisce on old times. We used to have fun together in high school, and I’d love to hear about what you’re doing now and see Sapphire. You would be making our dream come true too.”

Emerald probably walked in expecting one thing, but when she sat down, it was obvious the last two people on the planet she expected to run into were me and Jordan.

There was some obvious hesitance, and she tapped her fingers against her hand in her lap while her gaze volleyed from me to Jordan more than once.

I was familiar with that gesture. She was unsure.

“If you both are on the same page with it, then we can let Dr. Steinholt know. She mentioned I would start the implantation and everything immediately.”

“Yes! Let’s do it!” Jordan couldn’t conceal her excitement if she tried. “This is all a sign. I know it.”

I wasn’t so sure about all that, but this is where we were.

After conversing with the doctor, the three of us ended up on the elevator together, heading down to the lobby.

Jordan hadn’t stopped talking since seeing Emerald; meanwhile, she was a bit closed off and timid.

The elevator doors swung open, and I let the women get off ahead of me.

Jordan sifted through her purse while Emerald fell in stride beside her to the double entrance doors.

“You have to give me your number so that we can be in touch. I want to be there for you for everything. If you need anything, call me. I’ll send Ivo’s number too. If you can’t reach me, call him.” She dug out her iPhone and tapped at her screen a few times.

“We don’t have to do that right now,” Emerald voiced.

“Girl, please. You are not going through this alone. We want to be there for you, right babe?” Jordan glanced toward me, and Emerald’s gaze slowly followed.

“Yeah. Of course.” I nodded and glanced at my watch. “Jay, we gotta go if you still trying to do lunch. I gotta get to the office.”

“Fine.” She rolled her eyes but finished getting all of Emerald’s information. “It was good to see you, Em. I guess we’ll see you soon.” Jordan stepped forward and embraced her, which threw Emerald off.

“Yeah. Soon.” She nodded.

Jordan moved faster than me. She had an extra pep in her step and everything.

This morning, she seemed so discouraged, but seeing Emerald had changed all that.

In a lot of ways, it had changed for me too, and this surrogacy shit didn’t seem so bad.

My concern was my self-control. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt Jordan, but there was an immediate pull to Emerald the minute she walked into that interview room.