MAFIALOGY

THE CONFRONTATION

"Go hide in the storage room! Quickly!!" Alice said as Joan moved briskly to the storage room with Willow. By the time Greg made it into the cafe, Alice was behind the counter already

"Hey Greg" She greeted as she struggled to hide her nervousness. She didn't have enough time to practice her acting skills, Joan depended on her so she had to do her best.

"Alice, have you seen Joan? Greg asked as he looked around the cafe

"Joan? I haven't seen her since the last time she came here. I was wondering why she hadn't come around. Is she okay?" Alice needed to play as dumb as possible to fool Greg.

"You really haven't seen her?" He asked again still looking

"Did something happen to her? Can't you reach her?"

"I guess she just needed some time alone" Greg said trying to hide his agitation

"Maybe?"

"Thanks Alice. Uhm, please let me know if you see her"

"Sure" Alice finally let out a sigh of relief as she watched Greg leave. She rushed quickly to the storage where Joan and Willow was hiding

"As he left?" Joan whispered

"Yes, he's gone. You should leave now, he might come back"

"Are you sure he bought the lie. He's a really smart guy"

"Not as smart as me" Alice said as she rolled her eyes

"Thank you so much Alice. I don't know what I would have done without you"

"Hey, we are friends okay? What are friends for. Take my phone, call the cafe line when you get there. I don't want to be worried"

"Okay I will."

Alice held the storage door for Joan. Willow was now awake, Joan held her hand she made way out to the cafe. The wind chime at the entrance of the cafe jingled, a person came in.

"You are welcome" Alice said as she walked back to the counter. Willow let go of Joan's hand as she ran to the entrance, she bumped into the man that just came in

"Hey, are you okay?" The man said as he lifted Willow up. "Try not to run around okay?"  He said with a smile as he gently touched her cheeks

"I'm sorry sir" Joan apologized to the man with her face down on Willow as she adjusted her cloth.

"It's okay" I said as I lifted my head up and there she was. Like a dream, there was Joan standing right in front of me. I still couldn't believe it was her. I called her name to confirm it was really her

"Joan?" She lifted her face up to look at me. It was really her, she was as shocked as I was.
"Ke...ke...Kelvin?" She stuttered
"It's really you Joan. Where have you been? I looked for you everywhere"
Willow tapped Joan gently on her hand
"Mommy, I want to pee" she said with a low voice
"Mommy?" I looked at Joan with surprise
"Let's go baby" Joan grabbed Willow as she ran out of the cafe, I ran after her swiftly only to lost her at the end of the alley. I couldn't find her anywhere, of course there was no way I could find her here, she schooled here for years, she knew everywhere like the back of her hand. But one thing was sure, she had been around. How did Greg not find her? Did Greg really look for her like he claimed?

"Greg, meet me at the club" I said over the phone as I got into my car. So many thoughts ran through my mind as I drove to the club. Greg was waiting already in my office when I got there.

"You called for me boss"

"I need you to find Joan"

"Find Joan? But I already did. I can't seem to find her anywhere no matter how hard I look"

"Really? Are you sure you couldn't find her?"

"Yes boss. I don't know how she could hide herself so well like that"

"Did you look for her at the cafe?"

"Cafe?" Greg said with a look of panic on his face .
"Wh..what cafe?" He stuttered

"The cafe close to her school" I replied

"Oh that? The cafe was a dead end. I couldn't even get any information there. I don't think she's been there for a long while now"

"Really? That's surprising"

"Surprising?"

"The fact that you couldn't find any information on Joan at the same cafe I saw her today"

"You saw Joan at the cafe? But Alice told me.." Greg paused after realizing he had let the cat out of the bag

"Alice did what? Who's Alice? Let me guess, the barista? What have you been up to Greg? Did you really know where Joan was all this while? Did you intentionally hide her from me? No there's no way you would do that. So just explain the situation to me"

Greg knew there was no point lying at this time. Sooner or later, Kelvin was going to find out the truth. The only option he had left was to be confrontational about the truth.

"It's the truth, I knew where she was. In fact I never lost her from the first day, I hid her from you cause you couldn't protect her"
I couldn't believe what I was hearing from Greg. It felt like someone pierced my heart with a sharp stone, it hurt more than when Joan disappeared. Never for once would I have imagined Greg was lying to me.

"I believed every single word from you Greg. Even when I had reasons not to I still chose to but you did what? You hid Joan from me? When you know perfectly well how much she means to me. You know how much I've suffered all these years in guilt and regret and you had her kept somewhere?" I said as I grabbed him by the collar, my eyes was blood shot, I breathed heavily as I was full of rage from the betrayal

"You are not the only one who cares about her. I've protected her all these years when you couldn't. I made her happy, I gave her more than what you could ever give her. You don't deserve her"
I landed a punch on Greg's face as his words pierced my heart more
"I don't deserve her? So you think you do?"
"At least I didn't kill her best friend" Greg said as he spat blood from his mouth, his face was bruised from the punch. I clasped my hand in more anger
"Don't think you will ever have a chance with her because you saw her. She doesn't feel anything for you anymore, she loathes you just like she did when you killed her friend. And when I hid her from you, she begged me to, she begged me to make sure you never appeared in front of her again. We are both happy together, she doesn't need you anymore. You shouldn't get your hopes up just because you saw her. I'm sure you saw her with a child, that's Willow, my daughter."

"You...your what?"

"You heard me Kelvin, she's my daughter! So stay away from us!!" Greg said as he walked out of my office

My legs felt numb as I quickly held on to table beside me. Greg betrayed me, Joan had a baby with him. I didn't know which one was more hurtful. As much as I tried to fight it, tears rolled down my face as I struggled to breath. I threw everything on my table away in annoyance as I screamed in painful anger. It was finally over.