Rich Girl Problems Read online

  The Ex Factor

  Millionaire Wives Club

  Published by Kensington Publishing Corp.

  RICH Girl PROBLEMS

  A Millionaire Wives Club Novel

  Tu-Shonda L. Whitaker

  KENSINGTON PUBLISHING CORP.

  www.kensingtonbooks.com

  All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  CHAPTER 1 - BRIDGET

  CHAPTER 2 - VERA

  CHAPTER 3 - BRIDGET

  CHAPTER 4 - VERA

  CHAPTER 5 - JAISE

  CHAPTER 6 - JOURNEE

  CHAPTER 7 - CHAUNCI

  CHAPTER 8 - MILAN

  CHAPTER 9 - JOURNEE

  CHAPTER 10 - VERA

  CHAPTER 11 - MILAN

  CHAPTER 12 - CHAUNCI

  CHAPTER 13 - VERA

  CHAPTER 14 - CHAUNCI

  CHAPTER 15 - JAISE

  CHAPTER 16 - JOURNEE

  CHAPTER 17 - MILAN

  CHAPTER 18 - JOURNEE

  CHAPTER 19 - VERA

  CHAPTER 20 - MILAN

  CHAPTER 21 - CHAUNCI

  CHAPTER 22 - JAISE

  CHAPTER 23 - MILAN

  CHAPTER 24 - CHAUNCI

  CHAPTER 25 - BRIDGET

  CHAPTER 26 - JAISE

  CHAPTER 27 - CHAUNCI

  CHAPTER 28 - JOURNEE

  CHAPTER 29 - CHAUNCI

  CHAPTER 30 - BRIDGET

  CHAPTER 31 - CHAUNCI

  CHAPTER 32 - BRIDGET

  CHAPTER 33 - JAISE

  CHAPTER 34 - JOURNEE

  CHAPTER 35 - VERA

  CHAPTER 36 - JAISE

  CHAPTER 37 - MILAN

  CHAPTER 38 - CHAUNCI

  CHAPTER 39 - VERA

  CHAPTER 40 - JOURNEE

  CHAPTER 41 - MILAN

  CHAPTER 42 - VERA

  CHAPTER 43 - BRIDGET

  CHAPTER 44 - MILAN

  CHAPTER 45 - CHAUNCI

  CHAPTER 46 - VERA

  CHAPTER 47 - CHAUNCI

  CHAPTER 48 - JOURNEE

  CHAPTER 49 - BRIDGET

  A READING GROUP GUIDE

  Discussion Questions

  Teaser chapter

  Copyright Page

  To Cairo, who always answered the phone and stayed up

  with me—no matter the time—until I got it right! May

  God continue to bless you, may all of your dreams come

  true, and may your steps continue to align and lead

  you to greatness!

  Acknowledgments

  First and foremost I thank God for all of His many blessings!

  To my husband and my children: You are truly the loves of my life! I do it all for you and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

  To my parents: Thank you for always having my back and for being my number one cheerleaders. There’s no way I could do any of it without you.

  To my family and friends: Your love and support is endless and I thank you for that.

  To my agent, Sara Camilli: Thank you for being the best that any author could ever ask for!

  To Selena James and Dafina Books: I thank you for all that you do, for I may have written the manuscript, but together we made this book! The best is truly yet to come!

  And saving the best for last, the readers, the bookstores, social media friends, librarians, and libraries: I am humbled by your continued support of my work. Many of you have been there from the beginning, and eleven years later you’re still here and I thank you for that. You all are truly a blessing to me. Please e-mail me at [email protected], follow me on Twitter @tushonda, instagram tushondalwhitaker, or Facebook at Facebook.com/tushonda.whitaker. Oh, and if you love reality TV as much as I do, then join my Trashee Tea Time Facebook page.

  Best always,

  Tu-Shonda

  You’ve been misled.

  Karma isn’t a bitch.

  Reality TV is . . .

  CHAPTER 1

  BRIDGET

  Season Three

  Hmm . . . Seems it’s that time of the year again for us peons to all sip our beer and dream it’s champagne, finger our glass pearls and pretend they’re the sea’s offspring. Why? Because the rich bitches of Millionaire Wives Club are baaaaack! And if we are to be anything like America’s top rated reality show, then we’d better get it together.

  Oh, wait. I didn’t introduce myself. I’m the executive producer and show’s creator, Bridget Palmer, once known as Sister Mary Frances. Long story.

  But more to the point, and just so you understand my role, I’m the shopkeeper.

  The shot caller.

  The true baller.

  And these slores keep me loaded, locked, and stocked. I have four homes. A penthouse suite in the Trump Tower of midtown Manhattan. Another in Holmby Hills, California. An Aspen ski resort, and a five bedroom flat in the Seventh District of Paris, France, of course.

  I have a fleet of antique cars.

  Two Picassos.

  And several bank accounts, all courtesy of these conniving whores—who want us all to think they are June Cleaver-esque mothers, stellar wives, philanthropists, and the empresses of goodness.

  Bull. Shit.

  I’ll tell you what they are.

  A bunch of frauds.

  Jedi mind tricks.

  The messiest slores I’ve ever met.

  All with a bunch of fuckin’ problems they manufacture for themselves. And as soon as the press gets wind of their untimely disgrace . . . what do they do? They race to their publicists and assistants to hide their pending divorces, midnight brawls, summer flings, pesky skeletons, unexpected firings, drunk and druggy children, mothers in rehab, and any other inconvenience that has muddied their red bottoms and dared to fuck up the faux lives they have worked so hard to make us to believe.

  And why are they in such a hurry to do this?

  Because for the last two seasons, these girls have fallen victim to the curse of reality TV, sold their souls to the devil, and sucked his dick during commercial break.

  Take Milan. She wanted desperately to play the part of the angelic, sweet and sensitive, stand-by-her-man kind of woman who’d been wronged by love. When all she was, was a shifty bitch who’d spent all of her junkie ex-husband’s money and left him broke, busted, and disgusted. Then she turned to Kendu, a conveniently wealthy football star who was also her costar Evan’s husband. Let’s not leave that out. Poor, sick, and twisted Evan, who, after learning of Kendu’s affair with Milan, killed herself. Leaving Kendu free to not only marry Milan but also to happily raise Evan’s daughter with Milan as if she were their own.

  Now Chaunci, I’ll give her some credit. Her mission was to be authentic. Real, as she liked to call it. Real as in the single mother and self-made editor-in-chief of her own Vogue-esque magazines and publishing company, who always spoke her mind. That kind of real. Yet what the cameras revealed was that this bitch was a real gnome. And underneath that frozen smile was a cold, unemotional, unforgiving, unable to commit, I-don’t-know-my-daddy, catfightin’ drama queen.

  And Jaise, better known as Madame Bourgeois, would’ve never dreamed of auditioning to be an emotional bag lady. She had too many diamonds for that, spoke flawless French, was too cultured, and could point out prized antiques with her eyes closed too damn well to be deemed an emotional wrecking ball. But that’s exactly who she was. A whiny trick who was dying to have a man. Got one. Married him. Yet failed miserably at being his wife. And that son of hers . . . Sweet baby Jesus. He was an oversexed and irresponsible maniac who made babies with every goddamn hood rat who came his way.

  Then there was Vera. The oncologis
t’s wife who tried her best to be the girl next door. But there was this tiny little problem with being cultivated in the projects. Yet Vera prided herself on being in control. So pulling out Vaseline and giving speeches on how she didn’t bring knives to gunfights, and how she could carry a razor blade in her mouth, pressed against her cheek, and cut a bitch down in two seconds flat was never supposed to be revealed on TV. Being a reality TV star—for Vera—was never about being a reality TV star. It was truly about having a season-long infomercial for her tri-state full-service spa and hair care salons. Nonetheless, with her “darling I-ain’t-the-one personality,” discovering her husband had a son she didn’t know about, and subsequently filing for divorce on national TV . . . well . . . that just made her famous for the very thing she didn’t want to be famous for. And now she was the quintessence of what every talentless little girl wanted to be: a reality TV star.

  If only this could be as sweet as it was meant to be. As sweet as the first time someone said he was a fan and nervously asked for their autographs. As fabulous as the exquisite designer gowns, rare jewels, and platinum clutches they worked the red carpet in.

  The epitome of rich bitch candy.

  But.

  The reality TV gods either had fucked up or were fucked up. And since the gods had delivered on this cast’s prayer of lights, camera, and action, the cast had no choice but to deal with what they’d prayed for.

  I smiled as I stood behind the velvet rope and stanchions, among the screaming fans and hungry paparazzi, watching a single limo arrive at the gates of Manhattan’s Metropolitan Club for the network’s season premier party.

  The limo driver opened the back door. A single stiletto stepped out, followed by another, and immediately a series of camera flashes sizzled through the air like electrified kisses as reporters vied for prime position.

  The limo driver closed the door and there was only Milan standing there. I turned to one of my most trusted cameramen, Carl, and said, “Where are the rest?”

  “I don’t know. No one’s heard from them.”

  I pulled in a deep breath, eased it through the side of my lips, and cast an intense gaze over Milan, as she smiled and made love to the cameras. “Carl. Put that fame whore back in her car. Then you are to find the others, and I mean it!” I flipped my crimson-colored hair behind my golden shoulders, shook off the pricks of stress, and said to myself, “No worries, Bridget. We’ll find them.”

  CHAPTER 2

  VERA

  Action!

  The swoop train of Vera’s black rhinestone-studded Louis Vuitton gown swayed in the autumn breeze as she quickly clicked her Eternal Borgezie Diamond Stilettos out of her Fifth Avenue apartment building and over to her black Phantom, where her driver awaited her. “Good evening, Mrs. Bennett.” He smiled as she glided into the backseat and he closed the door behind her.

  “Good evening, Richard,” Vera said as she melted into the soft leather and stared out the window.

  Half of my shit? Mine?

  Vera sank into vision of Taj sitting across from her and her attorney at the arbitrator’s table earlier today, while his cocky lawyer argued that Taj was entitled to half of her millions—millions that she’d broken her back to make. She’d slaved in the kitchen creating hair products while simultaneously building and branding three tri-state full-service spa and hair care salons, brick by brick.

  “We feel this is only fair,” Taj’s attorney had said, causing Vera to peer at them, cross her thick mahogany thighs, and be convinced that Taj was ridiculously stupid, in spite of his years of medical training. Specialized oncology studies. Researching cancer cures. Uncovering how to love her. How to make her scream his name and call him Daddy in the wee hours of the morning. Be her best friend. Her only child’s father. Know her favorite foods. Favorite color. Deepest secrets. What made her cry, laugh, and think. In spite of all of this if that highfalutin’ Negro—who sat there in his gray pinstripe and handmade William Fioravanti suit, looking finer than black china—thought for one minute that she would let him pimp-slap her by snatching half of her shit then he had to be the dumbest motherfucker alive.

  Fuck. That.

  And she couldn’t bear another thought that told her to calm down and think this whole situation through. As far as Vera was concerned those were the same thoughts that kept her up most of the night and caused her to run her hands across Taj’s cold and empty side of the bed, stroke between her thighs, and cry while moaning his name and mourning his absence.

  “Richard, I need to make one stop before we pick up Jaise.”

  “Where to?”

  “Five-fifty-five Park Avenue.”

  The evening midtown traffic whipped past Vera in streaks of blurred colors as Richard swayed in and out of the congestion of the traffic and within minutes, was parked in front of the building where Taj lived. Taj had owned this apartment since before they met, and after they married, he’d rented it out. He had moved back in a year ago, shortly after they’d separated.

  “I’ll only be a minute,” Vera said, as she eased out of the backseat and into the building. She nodded at the doorman, flashed a smile and waved the electronic key at security before catching the elevator to the penthouse suite.

  The elevator doors opened and let her off in Taj’s foyer. Vera’s heart raced like a ’57 Chevy and felt due to break through her chest cavity at any moment. She took in a deep breath and walked into the living room. Her eyes bounced from the fifty-inch plasma television on the wall, to the custom made glass case that housed Taj’s collection of signed baseballs, to the original and signed Malik Whitaker paintings on the wall. Tears filled her eyes as she spotted a framed picture of her and Taj on the fireplace mantel.

  You’d better not fuckin’ cry!

  You’ve loved this motherfucker for eleven years and he’s reduced your relationship to half of yo’ shit? You’d better not shed a tear.

  Fuck. Him.

  “Taj!” Vera called. “Taj, I need to speak to you right now!” She stormed into the kitchen.

  Nothing.

  The bathroom.

  He was nowhere to be found.

  “Where the fuck are you?” She hurried into his empty bedroom. Stopped and sniffed. “Imperial Majesty. Two dabs.”

  Tears beat against the back of her eyes. “You have lost your fuckin’ mind! Here I am feeling hurt and unsure so I come here to talk to you, and this is what I get? Some bitch’s perfume running through here! Now I see clearly, motherfucker. Not only are you snatchin’ my fuckin’ bag, but you’ve also been up in here fuckin’ some bitch!” She spun on her heels. Her eyes scanned the room in a whirlwind. “And this bitch has the audacity to wear the same perfume as I do!”

  Vera’s six-inch pencil heels beat against the bamboo floor like angry wind chimes as she rushed into the living room, placed her platinum clutch on an end table, and walked over to the fireplace. She grabbed the remote off the mantel and turned the fireplace on. Red, orange, and yellow embers sparked and sparkled over the logs. A growing fire ensued.

  She reached for Taj’s gleaming gold-tipped baseball bat that hung on the wall, took it down, and tapped the tip against her right palm. “So you want half of my shit because you want to lie around, fuck some trick, and have me finance it! Did you really think I’d let you pimp me and that I’d let the shit go down quietly?” Vera reared the bat back and struck the center of Taj’s glass case, sending a downpour of glass and baseballs to the floor. “Always collectin’ some shit! Is that what I was? Is that what our child was? Part of your fuckin’ collection?!” Vera yanked each ball from the floor and hurled them one by one into the fireplace. The fire crackled and hissed as it opened up and welcomed the balls in.

  “Here I’ve been loving you!” She walked over to his collection of jazz albums. “And you took the love I have for you, laid it on the bed between you and some ho, and together y’all trying to screw me?! Oh, hell no!”

  She sailed his albums like Frisbees into the fireplace.
Immediately, they warped, melted, and married the flames. “You think you can just spit on my feelings, motherfucker!” Tears streamed. “And I gave you everything. Every fuckin’ thing!” She knocked his paintings off the wall. “All of me! My time. My love. My emotions. My secrets.” She flung her tears into the air. “When we got married, I wrapped up all of me and left it at the fuckin’ altar. I became one with you. With yo’ ass. But that wasn’t good enough for you. And to top the shit off, you expect me to accept some son you just found out about! How the fuck am I supposed to do that, Taj?! When I haven’t even gotten over the death of our son! I don’t want a replacement! . . . Oh my God! That’s who you’re fuckin’ . . . that little bastard’s mother?! Dion?!” Vera hesitated and a vision of Dion riding Taj’s dick, Vera’s favorite position, pillaged her mind. And no matter how she tried to shake the thought, the vision wouldn’t let her go and forced her to stand there and in her mind’s eye see Dion screaming Taj’s name while he demanded to know his favorite thing: “Whose dick is this?”

  The vision faded.

  More tears streamed as Vera took Taj’s collection of baseball cards and sent them to a charred grave.

  “So I see, you just take everything that I’ve given you and present yourself as a full package to some dog-ass trick! I don’t think so!” Vera ran over to Taj’s tower of hip-hop CDs, took position, pulled the bat back, and aimed for a home run. “Hell no!” She shed more tears and wiped the sweat that had gathered on her forehead. “I promise you, you gon’ learn today about fucking with me!” She picked up the bat and hammered his CD player.

  Sweat rained down her temples and her eyes swelled as she raced into the kitchen, grabbed a knife, and returned to the living room.

  She slashed the brown leather sofa with hard and heavy strikes. “Here I thought we were best fuckin’ friends. You were my man! My husband! And now there’s some new bitch on the horizon?!” She moved over to the chaise lounge, lunged, and landed the knife deeply into the leather, freeing bursting bubbles of white foam. “You were supposed to be my man, motherfucker! Whether we were together or not! You didn’t have the right to run off and fuck some slut! How could you do that shit to me, Taj?! Me? Vera? Really? For some side pussy? For money?!”