The Circle of Betrayal

The Circle of Betrayal

“Calvin, what are you doing here? I thought I told you I never wanted to see you again!”

 “Denise chill, I am not here to cause any problems, I am here on business.”

Calvin was a lawyer and traveled frequently. He was originally from Delaware but 40% of his meetings were in Philadelphia.

A sigh of relief left Denise’s body. “Can I get an iced cappuccino please?”

The Starbucks employee turned and started to make Denise’s cappuccino.

“How have things been?”

“Why do you care?” Denise blurted.

“Believe it or not I actually do care.”

“I find that hard to believe.”

“Here you go ma’am, 1 iced cappuccino.”

“Thank you!”

Denise looked at Calvin, cut her eyes and stormed out of Starbucks.

She looked back to see if Calvin was following her, but he was still standing at the counter placing an order.

“I’ll have what she had.”

“Sure 1 iced cappuccino coming right up.”

Denise continued to walk swiftly until she reached her job. Denise was a Manager at The Bank of America in Philadelphia.

“Good morning Denise, are you ok, you look like you’ve seen a ghost?”

“I have.” Denise reached for a glass of water and drank it as she tried to calm herself down.

“Is everything ok?”

“Yes, I just saw an old friend from school.”

Denise took her glass of water into her office, closed the door and locked it.

“I can’t believe Calvin is here in Philadelphia.” “What am I going to do?” “I can’t let this man ruin my life.”

Knock knock!

Denise hopped up from her desk and fixed her yellow pantsuit before opening the door.

“Yes, Carol, how can I help you?”

“Good morning Denise, your 9:15 meeting is here.”

“Meeting?”

“Yes, did you forget?”

“Um, no, I remembered.” “Can you get the clients some coffee or water and let them know that I will be out in 5 minutes.”

“Yes, Denise. Will do.”

Denise closed the door and locked it again.

“Dammit, how did I forget this meeting?”

Denise gathered all her documents and prepared for her meeting. Denise slowly opened the door with a bunch of papers and files in her hand. She did a quick look over of the clients in the room until she landed on Calvin. Denise’s heart began to beat fast. “This can’t be happening, not today.”

Calvin looked directly at Denise and gave her a conceited smile.

Denise nonchalantly rolled her eyes and then proceeded to head the meeting.

After the meeting Denise went back to her office, but before she had a chance to close it, Calvin and entered right behind her.

“What do you want now?”

“Denise, we need to talk.”

“There is nothing to talk about, Calvin.”

“Oh yes, we have 25 years to catch up on.”

Denise peeped out to see if anyone was in the hall way listening to their conversation. She closed the door quietly and locked it.

“Now you want to be in your daughter’s life after you left us high and dry when you got me pregnant at 15.”

“We were young Denise, we were 15 and plus you wasn’t no angel. You were sleeping with my friend behind my back.” “Why would you do that?” “Why would he do that to me?

“You know back then Omar was a bit jealous of you and he wanted everything you had, including me.”

“You still haven’t answered why you did that to me.”

“I don’t know.” Denise looked away not making eye contact with Calvin.

“You can’t even look me in my eyes because you know you did wrong.”

“Danielle is your daughter, you should have been there for her. I can understand if our relationship was over, but you could have been there for her.”

“Yes, Denise, I understand that now.”

“I think I want to get to know her now.”

“Whoa buddy, we agreed that you would stay away forever.”

“Omar has done a good job raising her thus far.”

“I know we agreed that I would stay away but I need to know my daughter.”

“You cannot do this to me, Calvin.”

Denise got up from her desk and began to pace up and down her 10x10 office.

“You can’t keep me away from my daughter, Denise.”

“I think you should leave Calvin.”

“This will not be the last you see of me.”

Denise slammed the door once he left her office.

“Hello Carol, can you reschedule all of my meetings that were for today.” “I am taking the rest of the day off.”

“But, you just got here.”

“I know, and I am leaving.”

Denise put on her black oversized Chanel shades and left the building.

              A year had passed, and Calvin still had not met his daughter, Danielle.

His yearly business trip with Bank of America in Philadelphia was in a few days and he was determined to locate his daughter.

Calvin thought about what he would say when he first met his daughter, her reaction, would she hate him after all these years. All these thoughts clouded Calvin’s mind during his 1hour drive. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he never stopped to pick up breakfast.

Calvin pulled up to the Rittenhouse Hotel in Philadelphia and parked his Porsche in a designated spot.

Calvin was a regular there, so he did receive special treatment at times.

“Good day Mr. Francis, your room is all ready for you.”

“Hi Sophia. Thank you. Good to see you again.”

“Welcome back.”

Calvin got on the elevator to head to his room to gather his thoughts.

Calvin ordered room service that night and ran through multiple scenarios of how this was going to go down.

The next morning Calvin was up at 6am, anxious to start his day, he showered quickly and headed out in his Porsche. He decided to go to the same Starbucks as he did last year when he ran into Denise.

Calvin sat at the front table watching everyone come in the door. He got the same iced cappuccino as he did last year and patiently waited.

“Sir, if you are occupying a table, you have to buy something.”

“I just drank a cappuccino.”

“Yes, you did, but you finished that cappuccino 30 minutes ago.”

“Fine then, can I get some blueberry pancakes and bacon and oh another cappuccino.”

Calvin continued to sit and wait patiently with his eyes peeled to the door.

After eating his breakfast and no appearance of his daughter, Calvin decided to head to his first seminar, which was back at his hotel.

Over the next few days, Calvin ensured the exact same routine by going to Starbucks, ordering breakfast and waiting.

It was now Thursday, and it was the last full day before heading back home to Delaware. Calvin did not have any meetings or seminars scheduled for today. It was a free day to do whatever he wanted, so he decided to get up a little later than usual. Calvin slept in until 10am this morning. He groggily climbed out of bed and headed for the bathroom to clean up.

“Sir, you are late this morning,” the Starbucks employee teased.

“I’m here on business and I have a free day.”

“Where are you from?”

Before Calvin could reply, a familiar face stood beside him.

He turned his back to the young lady and reached for his wallet.

He pulled out a newspaper clipping that he had kept of her from 10 years ago when she was in high school playing volleyball for her school and won the championship. He looked at the picture and then back at the girl who was standing beside him. He looked once more at the picture. “It’s her,” he thought to himself. He put the picture back in his wallet and turned back to face the Starbucks employee.

“Hello Sir, are you going to place an order?”

“No, the young lady can go.”

The young lady thanked him and stepped forward to place her order.

“She looks just like me,” he thought to himself. Same complexion, same hair, same face structure, same everything.

“Can I get an iced cappuccino to go.”

“Wow, she drinks the same thing as her mother.”

“Sure, one iced cappuccino coming right up.”

“Nice weather today, isn’t it?” Calvin asked nervously.

“Yeah, sure,” the young lady replied dryly.” “Thanks again for letting me go ahead of you.”

“No worries.”

“That will be $4.50,” the employee stated.

“Let me pay for your cappuccino.”

“No, that is ok. I got it.”

“Please let me pay, I insist.”

“Ok, then, thank you again.”

The young lady grabbed her cappuccino and walked out of the shop.

Calvin looked down at the counter and noticed she had left her wallet on the counter. He began to run and yell after her, but she was nowhere in sight. He slipped her wallet in his pocket while nobody was looking. He ordered some breakfast, an iced cappuccino, hopped in his Porsche and headed back to his hotel room. He pulled out the wallet and looked at her driver’s license to find the address. He looked at his watch and it was only 12pm. It was still early. Calvin had the rest of the day to relax and think of a plan to get to meet his daughter. Calvin kicked off his shoes and ordered some room service.

              2277 Greene Street, Chestnut Hill. Calvin punched in the address on his GPS. “Heading to route I-76 W and Lincoln Drive,” the GPS system broadcasted. It was now 7pm and Calvin was ready to meet his daughter. 30 minutes later Calvin arrived at his destination. The neighborhood was historically unique with Victorian Townhouses, leafy streets and was known to hold the Harry Potter Festival each year in October.

“That’s the house right there.” Calvin thought as he looked at the address that was punched into the GPS system. He noticed a lady at the kitchen window. As he was able to focus in a little bit more to get a clearer picture, he noticed that it was Denise at the window. Denise was inside her townhouse washing the dishes as a car horn startled her. Denise looked up from the dishes and looked through the window. “Who is that outside tooting?” she thought to herself. Calvin flashed the lights. Denise grabbed the kitchen towel to dry her hands and hesitantly made her way outside. As she got closer to the car she realized it was Calvin.

“Are you crazy Calvin?” “Why are you outside of my home?” Denise whispered.

“Get in the car!”

Denise looked back at her home to see if anyone was outside at reluctantly got in.

“Where are we going?”

“For a drive.”

Calvin started his Porsche and drove off.

“I ran into our daughter today.” “I want to meet her.”

“How do you know it was her?”

Calvin reached into his wallet to pull out the picture he had of his daughter.

He handed the newspaper clipping to Denise.

She was shocked.

“You had this picture in your wallet after all these years?”

“Yes, I have. That’s how I knew it was her.”

“How did you know where I lived?”

Calvin reached into his glove compartment, grabbed Danielle’s wallet and handed it to Denise.

“She left her wallet at Starbucks after I paid for her cappuccino.”

“You paid for her cappuccino?”

“Yes, after all these years, that is the least I can do.”

Denise glimpsed over at Calvin. She could tell that he was very emotional about this topic.

“I am leaving tomorrow morning and going back to Delaware. I would like to meet my daughter before I leave.”

“I am sorry Calvin, that cannot happen.”

“Why not?”

“Revealing this secret would crush Danielle’s heart. She would probably stop speaking to me if she knew that the man that took care of her for the last 25 years is not her biological dad. Omar would divorce me one time. I cannot lose it all.”

“You should have thought about that before you lied to a man and told him the baby was his knowing full well it wasn’t.”

“Yes, I should have been honest, but like you said, we were young.”

“I don’t know why I should have to sacrifice my feelings just to make sure your little world stays perfect.”

With tears rolling down her eyes, Denise pleaded with Calvin to leave the situation alone.

They were now back on Greene Street and the car had been quiet for about 5 minutes now.

Once Calvin pulled up to the curb, with tears streaming down her face, Denise looked at the house to see if anyone was outside.

“You can get out now.” Calvin was visibly upset, and Denise did not know if this was the ending of her perfect world.

Denise opened the car door and got out. She leaned on the car door, looked at Calvin with pleading eyes and whispered, “Can you please keep our secret?"