Free ATONEMENT by S. W. Frank

to her eyes then looked around again, fearful someone lurked in the shadows.
    Nico however would hear their movements. He was not concerned with anything other than w hat she was about to tell him, “What did you almost do Selange?”
    “ A month ago I went to a clinic, I got there and I couldn’t do it. No matter what the consequences I c a n’t terminate my unborn bab y. I won’t do it!”
    “ That isn’t what I meant.” He was talking about whether she decided to tell Alfonzo about the ir affair and the possibility he may be the father or whether she plan ned to eliminate his role altogether ? Eventually, she ’d begin to show .  
    Selange confessed her torment . The weight of deception extremely heavy and breathing the truth seemed light as air. Her carefully guarded secret came crashing at her feet. S he could conceal the truth about the affair, have the child , live this uncertainty, let Alfonzo believe what any husband would reasonably assume , but what if the child turned out to be Nico’s and Alfonzo found out, what then?
    She felt tortured and f rightened by the unknown . It was like being c aught in a web of deception and not being able to escape . She never wanted to crush her husband, he deserved far better than a lying, adulterous wife. Depressed by it all she simply wanted to dis solve and not think anymore .
    Nico hadn’t said anything more. The woman was a mess, apparently she hadn’t considered much of anything that night. He told her to leave and she failed to heed his advice. He gave her what she asked for and then she wanted more. Greedy seductress!
    If th e child turned out to be his then following a demand to stay away or engage in pretense wasn’t an order he’d obey . Or could he? He hadn’t thought either, it seemed . This changed everything , didn’t it?
     
     
     
     
                                 CHAPTER SIX
     
     
     
     
    Alfonzo walked leisurely out the deli, gulping the liquefied dark roast coffee beans . The brew was void of sugar and the high caloric creams f ound in t hose over-priced coffee chains . He needed loads of the stuff to get through the day. He didn’t sleep at all last night. Once he got off the phone with Selange s leep dodged him . He felt antsy an d on edge . There was a sort of hyper sensitivity at the follicles of his skin. It occurred frequently and s ometimes the intensity varied from low to strong. This one was a ten on the human Richter scale .
    The body’s intuitiveness is remarkable. There are sensors that pick-up minute things in the environment, about people, detects danger and sometimes the receiver doesn’t listen to it. Alfonzo always listened , even when he didn’t know exactly which direction the potential threat came from . He guessed it was easier for some to ignore, they didn’t have to live their lives on edge every hour of the day, but Alfonzo had no such luxury. He was a man with enemies, quietly waiting for the chance to put him six feet under. He learned that lesson the hard way!
    This morning he had to get to the construction site b efore the inspectors despite his fatigue. He skipped breakfast to get an early start and made a quick stop to the office to grab some documents then came here to the deli for a large espresso. Vincent wa lked at his side as usual, his hulking frame keeping pace with the younger man’s lethargic gait .
    Alfonzo loved Puerto Rico . He loved the scenery with its g orgeous greenery and lively tropical plants . It was a nice backdrop for a man with a hectic and precarious life . New York only hardened him like cement . The place wasn’t conducive for raising kids. The people were self-absorbed, stressed to death and working to pay exorbitant living costs. Shit, if crime didn’t kill you, stressing over bills certainly would. Then , there were the annoyances of incompetent government . Potholes , rabid traffic agents shoving parking tickets at you like crack fiends looking