Sweet Giselle

by Karen Williams

Genres: African American Urban; African American Women's Fiction

Synopsis

Giselle thinks she has the perfect life. Her fine and sexy husband, Giovanni, is obsessed with his perfect wife and gives her whatever her heart desires. Giselle thinks her husband can do no wrong. What she doesn’t know is that his lucrative adult film company is not as legit as it seems, and Giovanni’s seedy dealings put his precious wife in danger.

Giselle is kidnapped by a vicious drug dealer named Bryce, who is hell bent on revenge after his sister comes up missing and he believes Giovanni is responsible. Bryce takes the thing he knows Giovanni treasures most. He plans to torture Giselle, but instead he finds himself falling in love with her. He reveals the truth about Giovanni and the news pushes her right into Bryce’s arms.

Giovanni wages a war against Bryce and anyone close to him, leaving several dead bodies in his wake. Now that he has his wife back, Giovanni thinks things can return to the way they were. Giselle, however, can’t get Bryce out of her system, and continues to see him behind Giovanni’s back. As the war between these two men heats up again, Giselle has to decide if being with the man she loves is worth risking her life.

Release date: April 24, 2012

Publisher: Urban Books

Print pages: 288

Sample

February 13, 2011 ...

I let the clips out of my sandy-colored hair so it swirled around me and down my back in luxurious curls. I could not get Crystal, my stylist, to do my hair tonight, so I got it done the night before and wrapped it up. She’d said something about her schedule being booked because it was so close to Valentine’s Day. My baby had told me that he would hire a stylist to come to our home, but I wasn’t parting with Crystal for any reason, because no one could do a weave like her or whatever I wanted, for that matter. But since my husband had paid for me to get hair implants a few years ago, I no longer wore weaves. And my hair now hung as far down as my lower back. I stared at myself in the mirror. I admired my beauty. My perfect brown skin. Skin that was kissed by the sun. I was so golden. Yes, golden.

I giggled to myself as my eyes passed over my Bambi-shaped brown eyes, my lips, which were the size of Angelina Jolie’s. I had a set of dimples, which my brother also had. My teeth were straight and white, thanks to my hubby. Truthfully, there was nothing wrong with my teeth before, except for my gap, but my husband was a perfectionist. Plus, he had the dough, so why not be perfect? Now, my body was another thing. I had the plumpness in all the right places. Size thirty-four C breasts, with rich, dark nipples. My waist was small. My hips spanned, and my butt was round. My body was toned, thanks to hitting the gym my husband Giovanni had made for me in our lavish mansion. I had also gotten lipo on my inner thighs. My plastic surgeon was at my disposal. Giovanni always said, “Anything for my sweet Giselle.” Then, whenever he said it, he gave me a look like he wanted to fuck my brains out, and I loved that shit! I loved, loved, loved my husband.

Tonight he was taking me somewhere special for our four-year anniversary.

I couldn’t wait to put on the three-carat earrings and matching tennis bracelet Giovanni had bought for me. He had laid them on the nightstand, with a note that read, “This is just the beginning.” I knew that as Giovanni’s wife, I lived a life that most women fantasized about. My baby was rich, handsome, and affluent. We hung out with doctors, lawyers, celebrities, and self-made millionaires. It seemed like my baby knew everyone. Once a week my husband went to the shooting range with the Westwood chief of police, and the chief would often come over for dinner with his wife, Vanna. One summer we vacationed with them in Puerto Vallarta. I knew no man was as special and as loved as my husband.

I put my La Perla bra and matching thong on, the whole time admiring my body in the mirror. Some of the changes my husband had suggested, such as the hair implants, and the lipo on my thighs. Before him I had never worn thongs or gotten a Brazilian wax, but he insisted that I do these things. It was like he wanted to make me into the woman of his dreams in every way. Physically, mentally, and sexually. He always took time out of his busy schedule to tell me and show me how desirable I was to him. He made me feel super special. Womanly. It was truly amazing what had transpired in these last five years... .

2006, The beginning ...

I had just graduated from Carson High School and was looking forward to enjoying my summer before I went off to college. I wasn’t tripping on going to a big college or out of state like some of my friends. I was cool going to Cal State, Dominguez Hills. I mean, I lived right across the street from it, in Stevenson’s Village. It would be silly to go anywhere else. Plus, I loved my family and didn’t want to be too far from my seventeen-year-old brother, Brandon. Yes, seventeen! There was only a year difference between us. I was born in January, and he was born that following year, in October. I guess my daddy did not follow that six-week rule after my mother gave birth.

I knew I needed to make sure my brother stayed on track because my parents were always working. My mother and father worked at the oil refinery that was located in Carson, California. While my father had been there as long as I could remember, my mother stayed home until my brother and I were the legal age to stay home alone. Then she joined my father at the refinery. When my mother was home, she ran a tight ship. Everything was on a strict schedule. And she kept my brother and me in line, seriously. The tight ship she ran allowed our home to stay in order even when she went back to the workforce, because she had our asses seriously trained. Our homework was always done, the house was kept clean, and we never tried to run amok, no matter if my parents were home or out. They could take a trip to India and could rest assured we would handle our business. Within the first year of my mother working, we were able to purchase a house in Stevenson’s Village, whereas before we stayed in some apartments by the South Bay Mall.

Although I loved both my parents to death, I didn’t really have a super close relationship with them, but I had a lot of respect and love for both of them. The reason why I didn’t feel close to them was that they were gone pretty much the majority of the day. I knew their absence at home wasn’t because they didn’t care or were selfish parents, totally uninvolved in their kids’ lives. It was because they worked long hours to provide a foundation for us now, and for our future. And when they were home, they both preached about the importance of having a foundation. One thing about my mother and father was that they never turned making money down. My father could have a high-as-hell fever, but no matter what, he went to work and would work overtime if they offered it to him. My mother was the same. She went in for overtime on her birthday. Even as they got older, their work ethic never changed. So I knew I had to go to college. It was not an option for me. So did my brother. I told my brother time and time again, “As soon as you hit eighteen, you will bring your ass over to where I am.”

He would always laugh and say, “Okay, Gissy. Whatever.” That had been my nickname since he was one. He couldn’t say “Giselle,” so he would say “Gissy,” and it stuck until he could pronounce my name properly. Sometimes he went back to calling me Gissy. Now he was my booski! I loved my brother to death. He was my closest friend, and no matter what I would always take care of him. He looked like he could be my twin. That was another thing we could thank our parents for: our good looks.

My mother, Alana, was super pretty and my daddy, Toby, was super handsome. I took my father’s coloring and sandy hair, while my facial features came from my mother, along with her nice, tight body. My brother had the exact coloring and facial features as me, but with a sharper jawline, which he got from my father. The shape of my brother’s face was long, like my father’s, while I had my mother’s oval-shaped face. We both had gaps in our teeth, which came from our pops. Brandon said all the girls called his gap sexy. I never agreed. He was six-three, with a muscular build. I never gave him compliments, because I didn’t want his looks to go to his head and I didn’t want him to think that all he needed was his looks to succeed in life.

I was always told I was beautiful, but I didn’t want to rely on my looks to get by in life. I personally believed that once you did, you started selling your soul, and well, looks lasted for only so long, so after that what did you have? I refused to be in my fifties, expecting men to pay me for sex, like my friend Lexi, who was equally pretty and had been stripping since we were in high school so she could keep up with the Joneses. For the past six months, she had been answering sex ads on Craigslist for money. I had told her time and time again that there was more to life than selling her body. I’d asked her, “Aren’t you afraid of catching something?” and “What would your mom think?” even though the majority of the time alcohol had her mother out of touch with reality. But her answer to any of my questions or my judgment was to put her hand in my face and say that she didn’t wanna hear that shit.

Lexi had been my best friend since elementary. She lived right across from me. Lexi’s mother and her mother’s sister and two brothers never quite left the nest. Instead of doing what normal people did, like going to college, getting a good job, getting married, and having kids; they passed on the college, the job aspect, the getting married part, and instead had kids and lived off their parents. Matter of fact, Lexi’s aunt Mona was working on her fourth baby. All while her three uncles moved their baby mamas in, with their kids in tow. And while Lexi’s mother had only one kid, Lexi, she was drunk the majority of the time, and Lexi had pretty much been raised by her grandparents. But since her mother spent all her extra money on liquor, and her grandparents were retired and living on a fixed income, they could not afford the things that Lexi desired. So, she claimed, she did what she had to do. She would sometimes try to get me to answer ads or even post one.

“Come on, Giselle. Stop being goody fucking two-shoes. A lot of girls post or respond to ads for sex on Craigslist.”

Not this girl, I thought. Not now. Not ever!

But then I learned at an early age in life to never say never. Who knew that eventually I would have to do the same thing that Lexi did?

My father was diagnosed with cancer during my first semester. When the cancer in my dad’s body spread and he could no longer work, my mother started missing work left and right, partly due to caring for my daddy and partly due to being severely depressed about my dad being so sick. Their were days when she couldn’t bring herself to get out of bed. I had no choice but to ask for a refund of my college tuition and give it to my mother to help with bills. I would watch people rushing to class and wish that I was one of them. I felt a duel of emotions. Anger, sadness, and disappointment. I was sad that my father was dying and I was pissed that I couldn’t go to college. For the longest time it was all I had wanted and I had worked hard for the opportunity. I wanted to be able to finally have independence and pick my own classes, to be able to hang out, join a sorority, and go to parties, wearing new, cute clothes. And now I was missing it. But I told myself that this would not be a permanent thing. That got rid of the anger and disappointment. But the sadness stayed, because I knew the situation with my father would not get better, only worse, until it resulted in death. I knew this not because I was negative, but because this was what the doctor said.

A few months into the semester of school, my father passed. I felt like in that moment when I lost my father, I lost my mother, too. Because now she never had the strength to get out of her bed. And she lost her job because of it. And then ... we were in danger of losing our foundation. Our home. Month after month, we were missing our mortgage payments. We went begging to my grandparents. First, we went to my mother’s parents. My mother’s father was only a janitor, but he managed to give us about seven hundred to help. Then we called her mother, who had relocated to Georgia, and since remarried. After dealing with her dodging my brother and me for damn near a month, I managed to get her by calling on Lexi’s phone. She answered only because she didn’t recognize the number. She promised to send one grand and to call my mother. She did neither. My mother had always said that her mother was a bitch. I agreed. To know your only daughter had lost her husband and you didn’t even bother to see how she was doing? What the hell? Then we tried my dad’s mother. His dad had died seven years back, so she was our only hope. But she couldn’t help us. She had used the last of her savings to bury our father and was living on Social Security in a retirement home. Still, she mailed us a check for eighty bucks, which came in handy. Both my brother and I got jobs to help, but it didn’t help much. Minimum wage was not enough to cover all the bills. We were at risk of foreclosure. I mean, we became three months behind on our mortgage. I really wished that what my brother and I were making was enough to cover it, but it wasn’t. We were really in hard times, and I had no idea what to do about it. When that question, what was I going to do? popped into my head, I always got nervous. So I kept busy to keep any questions out. Oneway or another they always crept back in.

“You know what you need to do.” Lexi said one day.

I stared at her as she stared intently at her cell phone. She was on the Craigslist Web site, looking for a “date.” I was lying across her bed in the crammed room she shared with four of her female cousins, ages thirteen, eleven, ten, and six. There were three more kids, who were all boys. They slept in the living room so all the parents had their privacy. The youngest, Trinity, opened the door and stepped inside.

She was too cute with her hair French braided, with blue and white beads on the end. Her hair was always braided to the side of her face to cover up a huge birthmark. Despite it, she was adorable and was going to be a very beautiful woman one day. I wished they showed her how to embrace her birthmark as a part of what made her unique. Not as something that took away from her beauty.

She smiled at me shyly, revealing her front snaggle-teeth. “Hi, Giselle,” she said breathlessly.

I waved and said, “Hi, Trinity.”

Lexi yelled, “Get the fuck out, ugly cuz.”

Trinity jumped at Lexi’s yelling. Her face then looked super sad, and she rushed out of the room.

I gave Lexi a sharp look. “You didn’t have to speak to her that way.”

“Giselle! Look at this.” She passed her phone to me, and I glanced at the text on the screen of her phone.

Before I could respond, Lexi snatched the phone back. “Shit, I’m about to reply to this shit right now!” She started pressing the keys on her phone madly.

“Don’t be stupid, Lexi. You know damn well no one is going to pay you three thousand dollars to model.”

She twisted her head in a circular motion, continuing to press keys. “I don’t give a damn what they paying me three thousand dollars to do. Long as I ain’t fucking no dog or donkey, I’m good!”

I burst out laughing at her stupidity.

She continued as if she didn’t hear my laughter. “You want me to sign you up, too?” she asked as she continued pressing the keys on her phone.

I was silent at first. But to myself, I had to admit that the opportunity to make three thousand dollars was tempting. That was a lot of money, and although we owed much more on our house, the amount of money they were offering would help greatly. But I had to be real with myself. The offer did not sound like it was for modeling clothes or shoes. It sounded like nudity to me.

“Girl, you got obligations. The first one is that house. Remember, you’re supposed to be going to college right now. Do you really think that your mom is going to snap out of the funk she’s in, Giselle?” Lexi asked.

“Would you if you lost the love of your life?” I snapped angrily. I didn’t like how she had referenced my mother. She was going through a lot. To tell the truth, my compassion for my mother was wearing thin with all the stress I was going through, but no one else had the right to speak about her.

She looked like she regretted the comment she made. “I’m sorry, girl. I didn’t mean to say anything that would hurt your feelings.”

My face softened at her apology. “It’s okay.”

“I know this is hard for you. Working at Big Burger, when you’re supposed to be at college, going to pep rallies, checking out all the cuties and shit. I know it still hurts that your daddy is gone. But this is an opportunity to make your situation better. Three thousand dollars is a lot of money for working only a day. And it said that there is opportunity to make more money. Maybe you can pay your house mortgage down some and make more money to put toward college tuition and books.”

Big Burger was a local burger joint that was actually on the same street as CSUDH. The manager gave me a job there working full-time as a cashier, while Brandon worked farther up the street, at M & Ms Soul Food, as a part-time busboy. It was hard for me, though. Working there and seeing all the college students coming in to buy food. I always got a sick feeling being there and always felt depressed. I was supposed to be in college and stopping in Big Burger for food, just like them.

I bit my bottom lip before asking, “What do you think they will have us do?”

“Take some naked pictures maybe. I mean, it says modeling.” She studied me before saying, “But I’m sure there are going to be a lot of girls showing up there, so I doubt they have to put a gun to anybody’s head, let alone force us to do what we don’t want to do.”

“True.” I sighed. “I need some extra cash, Lexi, but I don’t want to sell my soul. What do I do?”

“Girl, you not going to sell your soul. That will always be intact. You just giving a little bitty piece of yourself away. But eventually, you are going to do that, anyway. At least this way, you’re getting something out of it. Come with me, and let’s scope it out. In the end, if we’re not cool with it, we can bounce.”

That was easy for her to say. Her cherry had been exhausted long ago and she had paraded naked in front of a lot of men. I, however, was still a virgin and had never been naked in front of anything other than a mirror or my doctor. I was saving mine for that special guy, should he ever come along. And really, I promised my daddy I would wait until I was married. So the thought of posing for nude pictures was repulsive to me. Because no matter how the ad sounded, I knew it had something to do with nudity. But in the end I knew my family had fallen on desperate times. Without our house, none of us had a foundation. I took a deep breath before saying, “Go ahead and put me down, too.” Although a voice in my head was shouting, No! No! I ignored it and gave her a nervous smile. But the thought of this had my stomach doing flip-flops. I bit my bottom lip, uneasy.

She gave me a sly look. “Girl, I already did.”

I shoved her playfully. But inside, I was still feeling uneasy about this quick decision I had made, and I was severely doubting that it was a good one. Nothing that easy could possibly be good or simple.

“Giselle? Giselle? You know you hear me calling you, girl.” Brandon was knocking on my door.

I was hiding underneath my covers in my bed.

When I didn’t respond, he barged in my room. “Don’t you hear Lexi outside, honking for you?”

“Yeah. Don’t go out there,” I snapped. “Ignore her.”

“What?” He pulled the covers off my face. “What are you doing now, crazy girl?”

“Stop!” I swatted his hands away and pulled the covers back over my face.

He laughed.

“And it’s none of your business, Brandon. Get out! If she comes to the door, tell her I’m not here.”

I had chickened out at the last minute on going with Lexi to that job that we both saw advertised on Craigslist. As much as I’d tried to talk myself into doing it, I just couldn’t bring myself to. I was young, but I went by instinct. And my instinct said that that ad was bad news. I was working my ass to full capacity at work. I even worked overtime on the weekends. I didn’t feel too bothered by it. Because even if I was off work, it was not like I had money to go out and do anything, anyway. I would put my two checks together and put them toward our house note. But I was always several hundred dollars short and was still trying to catch up. I tried not to look a. . .