by Tya Marie
“Speak,” Peace said, plopping down on his favorite armchair, a brown leather recliner we watched television in some nights. “There’s no secrets between me and my nigga.”
“I showed up to the hospital and there was the mother of his child. They’re back together. She made me leave before I could find out his condition.”
Burna sipped his Gatorade, silent though his eyes said everything that needed to be said. He knew I was up to something. His hand crept closer and closer to the gun poking out of his waistband. I hopped out of my seat, making a beeline for the fridge. I fixed myself a glass of water with ice and three lemon wedges. Burna’s hand disappeared underneath the throw pillow next to him. I pretended not to notice, instead focusing on sipping my drink.
“Sounds like he found someone else to pick up where you left off. Niggas like him will always have a bitch in the wings waiting to condone their behavior. You ready to fuck with me for real this time, or you need to be disappointed once again before you see how down I am for you?” Peace asked, twiddling his thumbs.
I nodded. “I’m ready to give us a fair shot. I’m sorry for doubting you.”
“Good, now come here…show me how much you miss me…” Peace said, opening his arms wide.
I sauntered over to him, sipping on my water, ignoring the hole Burna was burning into the side of my face. Peace uncrossed his legs, spreading them to accommodate me. I sat right on his dick, resting my head on his shoulder. From Burna’s vantage point, if he wanted to kill me he had to take out his best friend too. Peace placed one hand on my waist as the other crept up my arm, attempting to remove my glass from my hand. I brought it to my face before he could get a good grip on it.
“Where did you go after you left the hospital?” Peace asked, playing with a strand of my hair. “It’s been hours, Kelsey.”
I took a gulp of water. “Driving around. Crying. Trying to muster up the courage to come up here with egg on my face.” I noticed the bandage on Peace’s hand. “Baby, what happened to your hand?”
He brought it up to my face. From the corner of my eye I could see his other hand digging into the side of the armchair, searching for the lever to recline it. “I injured it last night while I was out handling business. Why don’t you give it a kiss?”
I took Peace’s hand into my own, holding it tight and planting a gentle kiss on the bandage, and throwing my glass of water at Burna as the couch reclined, giving him the perfect opportunity to shoot me. The ice cold water stunned Burna, giving me a split second to reach my hand into my coat, firing off a single shot as Peace’s hand clamped over my face. I drove my elbow back, stunning him with a blow to the nose. His other hand snaked around mine, forcing my gun to the floor. Burna aimed, ready to point when the front door busted off the hinges. Burna turned his gun on Terry, squeezing off two shots, barely missing my bodyguard by inches. Terry dove behind the kitchen island, reappearing and hitting Burna with two shots to the chest. He crumpled to the floor.
“Little Lady,” Terry called out, using the codename the guards referred to me by during transport. “Take a bow!”
“I can’t!” I screamed; there was no way I could drop to the floor without Peace shooting me with my own gun.
Terry came up for a split second. He was calculating his moves. Peace grabbed me by the waist and flung himself off of the recliner, causing it to flip over. He grabbed my hand, aiming for the chandelier hanging over the kitchen island, shooting it out with my hand. Darkness enveloped the apartment. I threw my head back, knocking Peace in the face. In retaliation, he squeezed my hand so hard I felt the bones in my fingers crack and pop. Blinding pain jolted through my hand and up my arm. He grabbed the gun from me, placing it under my chin.
“You come any closer, Terry, and I’ll blow her fucking brains out!” Peace shouted.
“I’m sure people have already heard the shots, Peace! Let her go! Run while I’m willing to not put a bullet in your head!” Terry barked.
Peace dug the gun into my throat, whispering in my ear, “This ain’t over. The next time I see you, it’s on sight.”
“Not if I don’t see you first,” I shot back.
The gun was removed from my throat. Peace kept it drawn as he climbed to his feet. Terry stood there with his gun trained on Peace, moving with every step he took toward the door. Peace was so caught up in making sure Terry didn’t see him that he was too late to spot Nicole, who appeared in the doorway. She clipped him with one to the head, one to the neck, shooting the gun out of his hand as a single shot went out, missing Terry by inches. Stunned, Peace charged at her, his steps impeded by the rest of the clip she unloaded into him. He fell to her feet, his chest heaving once, twice, and going still. I jumped to my feet, running to Nicole.
“I thought I told you to wait for me,” Nicole said, holding her arms wide.
Another shot rang through the apartment. My neck snapped to Burna, who sat up to get one more shot off. Terry hit him with one more shot between the eyes. I let out a shaky laugh, the sound dying in my throat at the sight of blood blossoming on Nicole’s white T-shirt. She stared down at the wound and back at me, smiling to keep me calm.
“No!” I screamed as she dropped to her knees. I caught her, cradling her in my arms.
Terry called 911, requesting an ambulance and the police. Nicole took my hand in hers, kissing it with bloody lips. Her eyes fluttered shut, opening with difficulty.
“Nicole…” I cried, rocking her in my arms. “Please, Nicole, I need you to stay with me…”
“Don’t cry, Kelsey. It’s okay. I’m not in pain,” Nicole choked out. She reached a hand up to touch my face. “You want to know what my biggest fear has always been? Dying alone and unloved. I don’t have to experience either one.”
“Terry, we need to move her!”
“No, the bullet is too close to my heart. You’ll speed up the inevitable. Stop crying; I need you to be strong for Normani and your father. They’re going to need you.” Nicole took a strangled breath.
I hugged her. “No they won’t because you’re not going to die! No! Stop acting like it! I won’t let you die! This is all my fault!”
“No, it’s not. This is my job. I promised you I would always have your back, and I did. I don’t regret a…thing…” Nicole went limp in my arms.
Grief took over. I don’t remember the ambulance arriving or Terry prying Nicole’s body from my arms. All I could recall was a pain I’d never felt before, so blinding I woke up in a hospital room hooked up to IV’s. Confusion set in, and I wanted to know what I was doing in the hospital. Then I remembered and the grief struck me again. A solitary sniff joined mine. Daddy sat in the corner of the room, staring out the window.
“Daddy…” I cried, breaking down at him breaking down.
He rose from his chair, taking awkward steps toward me, barely clearing the edge of my hospital bed. “Kelsey…”
“I’m sorry,” I said through the tears. “ I should’ve waited for her. I shouldn’t have went up there myself trying to be big and bad. If I wouldn’t have been so stupid, she would still be here…”
Daddy took my hand into his. “Nicole is in surgery. The paramedics were able to stabilize her after you passed out. Lucky for her, Harlem Hospital is the best for gunshot wounds.”
I deflated at the news, allowing it to soak in. “Is she going to be okay?”
“The chances are slim, but we’re all praying for a positive outcome.” He gave my hand a squeeze. “Why didn’t you tell me you were messing around with Peace?”
“I knew you wouldn’t approve.”
“Damn right I wouldn’t have. I could’ve told you about the bodies he’s dropped for fun, the sinister shit he does to get what he wants, the trail of dead lovers he’s left behind. Sentena is a drop in a much larger bucket. You were playing with poison, and you should feel lucky that you had the means to escape him.”
“If he was so bad, why agree to working with him?”
“Because I’m l
ooking for a job well done. Those people aren’t my friends, and they don’t want to be. We have a mutual understanding. Outside of that boardroom we all lead different lives, none of which intermingle. You should have known better, but you didn’t, which is why it hurts so much to give you this news,” my father said, his hand going limp. “Kelsey, for the safety of the rest of the , you’re fired. You will no longer have access to the boardroom, warehouses, all of the shipment dates have been scrambled. I’m sorry, baby girl, but it’s for the best.”
I couldn’t believe he was dropping this news on me. “Who…Who’s going to run everything?”
“Me.”
“You aren’t physically fit to run anything! What about your—”
“Parkinson’s? It was a misdiagnosis. As it turns out, some of my other extracurricular activities caused me to develop Parkinsonism. I was inhaling too much mercury due to not wearing a proper mask while working. The ventilation in my warehouse wasn’t the best either. I’ve been taking medication to reverse the effects. I haven’t made the announcement yet, but I will at this week’s meeting.”
I nodded. “Good.”
“I’m going to check on Normani—she’s downstairs in the waiting area—while you get some more rest. Will you be good without me for a few minutes?” I nodded. He kissed me on the forehead. “I love you, Kelsey. You did good, baby girl. I couldn’t be any prouder of you, you hear?”
“Yeah,” I said, holding back tears. I mustered up the courage to speak my mind as he reached the doorway. “Daddy?”
Daddy turned around. “Yes?”
“How do you do it? This job will drive you to drink.”
He shook his head, shaking with sad laughter. “You do drink. I also had someone to live for, who I made a promise to return to every night. You’re the reason why I was able to hold on all these years.”
With those words, he was gone. I picked up the little cardboard box of tissues on the counter beside me, grabbing half the box and crying into them. After months of being the boss, making mistakes, being kidnapped, robbed, used, abused, it was over. Tears of joy came after the tears of sadness. I looked up to see a blurry outline of a nurse, fiddling with my IV.
“You look like you need a little more sedation,” she said through her mask.
I shook my head. “No, I don’t; these are tears of joy. There’s no need for any more sedation.”
“Yes, there is. How else will I get you out of here?” she replied, her eyes narrowing as she shot a hefty dose of sedative into my IV.
“Get me out of where?” I went to snatch the IV out of my arm, stopped by her hand clamping over mine. She pulled the mask down, showing me the rest of her face. “Drea?”
Drea shot me an apologetic look, the outline of her growing darker as the sedative took effect. “Sorry, Kelsey, it’s nothing personal.”
__________
I woke up to the smell of cigar smoke and laughter carrying over the O’Jays playing overhead. My hair covered my face, giving me the opportunity to figure out where I was and what I was doing here. My neck ached at every slight movement; I had been tied here for a while. Pool balls collided on the far side of the room. I was in a pool hall. The laughter quieted, giving way to conversation.
“How much drugs you give her, Drea?” a gruff voice asked. “You probably killed the bitch before I got the chance to.”
Amos.
“I…I did what you told me to do, Daddy,” Drea said, her tone meek. “It’s only been a couple hours; she should be waking up any time now. I’ll check on her.”
Soft footsteps padded across the linoleum floor. I snapped my eyes shut as a waft of her perfume tickled my nose. Two of her fingers touched the side of my neck, feeling my pulse. My eyes started twitching, and I knew she was getting ready to out me to her father. Taking my face into her hands, she continued her examination of me. I fought to control my breathing.
In a voice barely above a whisper, she said, “Trust me. I got this.” Her hands moved from my face. She said to her father, “She’s awake.”
“Good,” Amos said, clapping his hands together. “Now the party can begin.”
Party? I lifted my head, shaking it from side to side to move my hair from my face. The laughter I heard didn’t match the men occupying the pool hall. At least twenty of them stood lined up from one side of the pool hall to the other. Amos sat in the center, LaKeith sitting beside him, a smile on his face. He nudged his head to the left of me. Tied to a chair, growling beside me, was Bull. Blood covered his face, leaking from a gash covering his forehead. His right eye was swollen shut, the left one trained on me, glinting with hate. I looked at Drea, who took a seat beside her father, her expression apologetic. Amos caught it from the corner of his eyes and I had to wonder if he knew I was awake all along.
“Why you looking at her like that for?” Amos snapped. “This little bitch has been fucking your boyfriend behind your back for months. He thought changing cars would do something. Too bad for him I got eyes everywhere. They were living in some little love nest over in Bushwick, laid up every night while you struggled to take care of a colicky baby. And you over here showing sympathy to her?”
Drea bit her lower lip. “He wasn’t my boyfriend, Daddy. I already told you it was a plot to get out of North Carolina. Bull and I were fucking on the low—”
“I DON’T WANT TO HEAR IT!” Amos boomed, pointing a quivering finger at Bull. “What is the name on your son’s birth certificate?”
Her eyes fell to her lap. “William Evans.”
“Then that’s who his father is and I don’t wanna hear shit different. You know I got a special hate in my heart for homewreckers like these two. She’s made a fool out of me twice and that two-faced sonofabitch more times than I can count.” Amos sat back in his seat, his eyes flickering between the two of us. “Back home in Raleigh I like to put on productions. They’re legendary. Bestiality. Necrophilia. Knife play. Making people suffer makes my dick hard. Tonight, I decided I would do something a little different. What you think, Keith?”
LaKeith removed the toothpick perched between his lips, his eyes trained on me. “I’m in the mood for Fight Club.”
Amos laughed, prompting snickers from his entourage. “You think this little lady can handle big old Bull? I may not like the sneaky punk, but he’d wipe the floor with her.”
“She’s fast though; sometimes I used to watch her go on her daily runs. She might be able to tire him out,” LaKeith countered. “I got five stacks on Kelsey.”
“I got ten on Bull. Drea, you want in on this action?” Drea remained silent. He slapped her across the face, knocking her out of her chair. “Keep on fucking with me and watch…your mother is still young enough to bear me more children.”
Drea climbed onto her chair, sitting with her hands crossed over her lap. A bright red mark covered the right side of her face. I never thought I would ever find sympathy in my heart for Drea. Amos clapped his hands twice. The men who were lined up surrounded us, brandishing their guns and pointing them at Bull and me.
“These are the rules to the game: you will fight to the death. Whoever wins gets to walk away, free and clear,” Amos said taking a puff of his cigar. “Do we have a deal?”
I would need a miracle in order to survive in the ring with Bull. “Fine, I don’t care. Let’s get this over with.”
“LaKeith, you a punk ass nigga,” Bull spat. “I made you what the fuck you are today, and you gon’ turn on me like this? This was your plan from the beginning, for Quill to take over in Brooklyn with Drea, and when he was done building it we would run shit together! I sacrificed my blood for you and you set me up! Amos, I would never steal from you! I don’t know where that money came from but it wasn’t me!”
“That was your own fault for turning on your brother. To be honest, Quill is a member of the Winthrop family; yeah, he fucked around on Drea, but he also stepped up to the plate to be a father to her son,” LaKeith countered, taking a deep pull of his blunt.
“In this family, it’s blood before everything. We can forgive infidelity—men aren’t supposed to be in monogamous relationships—what we can’t forgive is bitch nigga behavior. You watching your brother take care of your son was a bitch nigga move. Legacy’s blood would’ve protected you from our wrath, but even I know not all blood makes you family. Untie them.”
Two of the gunmen lowered theirs, each approaching us from behind. How was I supposed to defend myself against the angry Bull? The answer was that I wasn’t supposed to. Amos might’ve had numbers, but every last one of his men lacked speed. The rope had barely went slack when Bull reached his hand up, grabbing the gun off the man untying me. He got off two shots, hitting Amos square in the chest, throwing himself into the gunmen standing behind him. He rolled over, using one as cover to make a break for the door. It swung open, a barrage of bullets taking out Bull and his human shield. I threw myself to the floor, in time to watch the rest of the events unfold.
Drea had barely landed on the floor when a hail fire of bullets erupted. Liquor bottles from behind the bar exploded, sending shards of glass flying through the air. Amos’ men retreated, hiding behind the pool table, bar, and anywhere else there was cover. LaKeith, the only one in the group wearing a bulletproof vest, hid behind the chair Amos’ bullet-ridden body was slumped in. He fired a few shots at the door, hoping to clip someone. In retaliation, they fired three back, each one knocking out the lights.
“Daddy?” I breathed.
Urban and Koi Mackenzie entered the pool hall dressed in all black, guns drawn, faces furious. Amos’ team made the fatal mistake of emptying their clips and were tasked with evading death in the middle of a reload. LaKeith poked his head out a sliver, not even enough to focus his eyes in the darkness, and was hit with a single bullet in the forehead.
“Amos and LaKeith are dead,” Daddy shouted to the remaining team members. “That leaves Drea in charge. You got two options: you can come out and surrender your weapons, return home with your life intact, or you can stay where the fuck you are and die.”
