The Fighter's Block (24 page)

What the hell happened?

“Jaime,” he said quickly when she answered the phone.

“Van?”

“Yeah it’s Van. I, uh… Where’s Dani?”

“Dani? What do you mean?”

“I came home from work and all of her stuff was gone. What’s going on?”

“I-
I don’t know,” she said,
suddenly
worried. “She never said anything about moving out. When did you talk to her last?”

“Yesterday evening. She was just about to watch a movie before she went to bed.”

“What time was that?”

“Uh…must have been around six I think.”

Jaime sighed. “I think I talked to her after you did. She, uh… Oh,
God
…”

“What? What’s going on? You’re scaring me.”

“She thought she found your sister.”

Van didn’t know what to say. It was the last thing he expected to hear.

“She wanted me to go with her to see if it checked out but I couldn’t. But she told me she was going to wait until you got home today, Van. Jesus, now you have me freaking out!”

“Just-
what do yo
u
mean she thinks she found my sister? She tracked
down
an address and was going to see if it really was her?”

Jaime was hesitant, but she ended up telling Van everything that Dani had been trying to do to find Leah. Van had no idea, and even though one part of him wished she had told him, the rest of him just loved her even more for it.

“Okay, so where can I look for her?” Van finally asked.

“I don’t know. Let me call my family members and then I’ll call you back. Oh God, wait a minute…”

“What?”

“Quincy!”

Van was silent for a few seconds and then
asked
, “What about Quincy?”

“He knocked on the door when I was talking to Dani.”

“Last night?”

“Yes. But I didn’t talk to her after that.”

He thought for a moment and said, “Okay, you talk to your family, I’ll talk to Q. Call me back.”

Jaime agreed, and as soon as they hung up, they each made a phone call. Van dialed Quincy at the same time he walked down the hall to his apartment. He didn’t answer the phone or answer the door, so Van called Cody first, and then Paulie. Neither of them had seen him since the day before.
He had no luck at the Divehouse either, and instead of going crazy in his own empty apartment, Van got in his truck in search of both Dani and Quincy.

He got a phone call from Jaime twenty minutes later. He was hopeful at first, but her news wasn’t any better than his. However, she still couldn’t get a hold of her parents, and even though it was a long shot, it was still a possibility.

“Have you talked to her boss yet?” Jaime asked.

Van hadn’t even thought of that
and he
became
optimistic
again. He agreed to call Dani’s work, but since he was only a few
miles
away, he decided to just stop by instead. It was almost seven and he was sure the business was closed, but then he remembered Dani saying there was a design team that came to work later than everyone, and left later at the end of the day.

He was lucky when he caught a couple of them leaving the building just as he arrived. He introduced who he was and one of the guys said, “As far as I know she called in sick today,” and then he got in his car.

“Yeah, I just know she wasn’t
here
today,” the other guy said, and he too got in his car.

Van climbed into his truck, still frustrated. He now knew she hadn’t come to work, but that bothered him even more. It explained why she had time to clear her things out, but it didn’t explain why or where she went.

He tried calling her again, but this time his message was more submissive. “Dani, I’m so sorry for whatever happened, okay? If I did something
wrong
, I’m so sorry. You don’t have to explain anything right now, but can you please, please, please just let me know you’re okay. Even just a text message and I won’t ask any questions. Please, Dani. I lov
e you and I’m worried about you…
”

Dani did get that message and it made her cry, just like the others. She didn’t know what to do, and she just sat in her car until she decided it was time to face her parents. It was her only option, and even though she was already
as low as she could get in life, she knew she was about to go lower.

Thomas, the doorman at her parents’ apartment building, hardly recognized her. It was definitely Danielle Martin, but he hadn’t seen her in almost
two
year
s
. She looked different; still beautiful, but with simple clothes on and less makeup. He wanted to express his excitement for seeing her again, but he could tell that something was wrong. Her eyes were red and puffy and he knew she’d been crying.

“They’re still in Penthouse O
ne, right?” she kind of joked with a smile
on her way by
.

“Yes,” he smiled
back
.

She nodded and stood in front of the elevator. As a second thought, she took the stairwell instead. Thomas raised his eyebrows, surprised that she was willing to take on eighteen flights of stairs. But Dani was so used to taking the stairs to Van’s apartment she felt she could manage just fine.

By the time she made it to the top she was breathing heavier, but it had been a decent workout. Her legs were tired, but she welcomed the fatigue to add to her miserable state.

The door to P
ent
house O
ne opened as soon as she came into the hallway. Simone Martin stood there and stared at her daughter, shocked by what she saw. But s
he didn’t say anything just yet
and waited for Danielle to speak first.

“Hi Mom,” she said, passing her at the door and entering the apartment. It looked the same as ever—posh and pristine with magnificent pieces of artwork
dazzling the surfaces
.
Everything was arranged to compliment, dominate, or blend in
—j
ust
like it was supposed to.

Simone followed her daughter in and watched her set a
bag
on the floor by the couch. “Are you hungry?” she asked her.

Dani was surprised that was the first thing out of her mouth. Being that their whole history together comprised of arguments about food.

“
Yes
, actually I am,” she admitted.

Simone nodded her head and made a phone call. Dani wasn’t surprised that her mom chose the food for her, but she was surprised there was a variety of choices that didn’t consist of just greens.

“Is D
ad home?” she asked when her mom hung up.

“Yes, he is. He’s on the phone in the office.” She paused for a second and added, “He’s looking forward to seeing you.”

Dani nodded. She didn’t doubt that to be true, but it would only be a matter of time before they got into an argument about something or other.

“Good, you’re here,”
Dominic
said as he came out of the office. There was an awkward silence for a few seconds until he cleared his throat and said, “Danielle, I won’t bombard you with questions, but eventually I would like to know why you’ve decided to finally speak to us.”

She was almost grateful for the temporary pass, but she decided to just get it over with when she said, “I’m broke, I have no place to live, and I’m without option
s right now. Thank you
for the consideration, but I’d really just like to get down to it. I need help, and I’d like to know what I can do to get it.”

Dominic
was surprised with the full disclosure, but he motioned for the thr
ee of them to have a seat in the living room
. After they were settled he said, “You’re broke because of Simon?”

Dani held her tongue for a
moment
, tempted to spout off her true feelings about that particular subject. She was broke because her parents refused to help their son
, but she had also been screwed out of all the money she’d earned before she’d turned eighteen. They weren’t pleased with her dec
ision to quit modeling
, so the money was withheld. Dani had no idea if they still had that large sum of money or not, but she never asked
.

“I’m out of money because I’ve chosen to help my
family
, yes,
”
she finally answered.

He knew her
choice of words was
meant to be cutting yet respectful at the same time, so
Dominic
didn’t argue her reasoning. “And you lost your apartment?”

She took a slow breath. “Yes, for the same reason.”

“But that was months ago. Where have you been living?”

“With…” At first she
was going to say “with a friend,”
but she didn’t feel that partial truths would get her anywhere. “I was living with Brian for two months and then we broke up. A, uh, friend took me in after that, but I just packed up all of my stuff from there. What I had there is now in my car. The rest of my stuff is still at Jaime’s.”

Her dad slightly nodded his head before asking, “And that friend was another boyfriend, correct?”

She sighed to herself
, especially because of the familiar way her father always made her feel so cheap in the subtlest ways. But she
replied, “Yes, we became pretty close. But I, uh, just can’t drag him into my life anymore.”

“You mean everything with Brian?”

“Yes,” she
answered
, unsurprised that they knew about it. But she could hardly think about him without wanting to scream her lungs out. She wished him dead.

“From what I know about Brian is that you had to get a restraining order,”
Dominic
said
sternly
. “Has it gotten worse? Has he still been harassing you?”

She wasn’t about to get
into details
so she just said, “Yes, it’s gotten wor
se. He threatened me last night.
”

Her parents looked at each other but didn’t say anything.

“Look,” Dani said. “I’m here because you’re my parents, and I need your help. Fontaine is never around, Simon has enough troubles, and I think Jaime and Steve are having a rough time again. I need money, or a job, or whatever it is you can help me out with. Or if you could help Simon out, that would be a huge burden lifted off my shoulders as well.”

“Fontaine found him a few jobs,” Simone informed her.

“Really? Where?”

“In L
A. I
believe
he flies out tomorrow for a
few
week
s
.”

Dani was very happy to hear that. The last she heard was that they would consider him. She was glad they must have liked his portfolio.

“And what about you?” Simone asked her. “Are you willing to get back
to work
?”

Dani
knew sh
e meant the modeling industry. S
he
didn’t answer at first because her initial response was no.
There was no way she wanted to get back in the industry.
But it would be the quickest way to make some money, and right now she needed something in her bank account so she could find a place to live. “Yes, I’d like some work. But I do have a job in Edison. I’d prefer something that’s weekend only.”

Simone was pleased to hear that
her youngest daughter had the desire to work for her again
, but she didn’t want to admit it
. She so badly wanted
Danielle to return to modeling
and her wishes for that to happen again just might come true. “There’s one condition,” she had to add.

“I’m not losing twenty pounds,” Dani said angrily.

Simone didn’t respond at first, and then said, “Ten. If you can lose ten, I can work with that.”

Dani almost scoffed, but she was actually surprised that it was only ten. But it was going to take a
couple of
weeks before she could make that kind of goal, and she need
ed
money sooner than that. “Is there anything I can do before then?” she asked.

Simone considered it, but really there wasn’t.
At least, nothing big like she wanted for her daughter.
She knew of another agency that would take Danielle that weekend, but there was no way Simone Martin was going to let her daughter be photographed without certain terms discussed.

“Let me see your arms,” she told Dani.

Dani sighed and took off her sweater. She noticed the bruising on her right arm just as her mo
m did. Dani had forgotten all about it
and she wasn’t surprised when Simone said, “Well, formals are out of the question.”