No Honor Amongst Thieves

by Brick

  Then I ended with, “You’re one stupid motherfuck—”

  Before I could finish, his fist slammed in my mouth. The force of it was so strong that it whipped my head to the side. Rolling my shoulders, I used that moment to roll forward and tackle Othello Lanfair to the ground. It was my turn to get some blows in. We scrapped. We went at it, one-on-one, like two mighty bucks, coming off the ground to ram each other against the hood of his car and the surrounding cars behind us.

  When I squared up, I sent a strong upper cut against the old man and ducked down to ram my other fist in his side. The sound of his harsh grunt was my joy. But it was when he brought his fists down my head that I knew this old man wasn’t half stepping. Using my training, I swiped my foot out to trip him up and make him stumble back onto the ground.

  Dropping over him, I slammed my elbow into the old man’s face, relishing at the spittle and blood that covered his face.

  But see, when I felt myself in that zone, I heard, “Stop! Marcel, please . . .”

  “Fuck, Sabrina,” I shouted back and pushed up off of her father. “I told you not to step in my business again.”

  Pissed off, I almost whipped my head around to go off on her, for yet again, letting her father get the better of us, for being okay with this nigga putting his hands on me now and trying to kill me. But I chose to focus on kicking his ass instead.

  Quickly, pushing up, I stomped him and hazily looked around at his goons who watched silently with their hands folded in front of them.

  “Did you not hear him, huh? Danny was your brother, Brina, and this fuck boy must not have given a fuck about him lusting after you.”

  Slamming my foot down on his neck, I watched this dude try to push my foot off him as I spoke. “See, Mr. Lanfair, before I put that bullet in his skull, that nigga had the nerve to have Sabrina choked up and seconds away from snapping her throat. All . . . for . . . loving . . . me.”

  Spitting blood, I went to punch this idiot again, but someone quickly pulled me off of him, and I struggled. “Come the fuck on . . . This is how you fight? Dirty? No fairness in this shit, huh?”

  Othello leaned on his arm and worked to push himself up. He pulled off his jacket, tossed it to one of his men, rolled up the sleeves of his white button-down and worked his tie loose.

  “There’s no honor amongst thieves, boy. If you don’t know that shit, then you’re not really from the street, know what I mean, son?” Othello gave a quick swipe of his nose, then smirked, hitting me with his Staten Island accent.

  His condescending manner had me laughing my ass off. I was waiting for him to hit me, straight expecting it. But when he pulled out a blade and motioned for his goons to hold my hand out, I stopped my laughing and watched him with intent.

  The span of my hand was spread out. I tried to yank it back, but it was no point. Mr. Lanfair had it in his hand, and he twirled the blade between his fingers with seething satisfaction.

  “I’m going to take you apart, boy, bit by bit, and show your gutter trash ass what street life is really about,” he said with pride.

  “Daddy,” Sabrina shouted and ran toward us.

  “Get the hell back, Sabrina Ophelia. I told you he was beneath you, but you never listened to me. You chose to dilute our family and breed a child just like him, and you expect me to be down for that? Fuck that shit. He almost got you killed, and then he killed my wife and Danny. I’m going to take him down, and it’s beyond time,” her father shouted, pointing his knife.

  Mouth dropping into a frown, I dropped my head to scope a way to get loose. It was then that I glanced up at him and tilted my head. “But I’m not from the streets.”

  “And he didn’t kill Kat. I did,” Sabrina cried next to me.

  “No,” Othello said as if he hadn’t heard his daughter. “You don’t have it in you, and I saw him leaving my community just as I was driving in. I get to my house, see Kat and Danny dead. I know it was him,” he growled low.

  Sabrina shook her head. “No. As you can see, I was in the truck with him. Look at me! Look at the bruises, Daddy. It was me—”

  It was then that she surprised me. From what I could see from my peripheral, Sabrina had pulled out her gun and pointed it directly at her father. His shock was satisfying.

  He stood there with a gaze of confusion and hurt in his eyes, and when he looked down, I knew in my heart that Lyric was behind her watching him. I turned to see and saw her giving him a mean face while holding her doll. Everything was put in perspective for me, and I didn’t want this.

  “Baby . . . Take Lyric back to the car,” I said softly. “Let me take my Karma and be done with it.”

  “I can’t. You didn’t do anything wrong. Kat . . . she . . . She attacked me, Daddy. She told me that she had sent those men to the house to kill me,” she explained.

  “Why are you lying to me like this? You’re doing this for this bastard? I’m over it,” he spat. “First off, daughter, Kat wouldn’t plan something like that. She wasn’t smart enough to do something so arrogantly stupid just to hurt me. She wasn’t ruthless like that. Second, I can’t believe that she had the resources to do anything like that. I won’t believe it.”

  The edge of the knife was seconds from slicing my fingers, but it was the gun going off near Othello’s foot that stopped it. Both of Othello’s men shifted their hold on me, and this allowed me to push free, slam my elbow in one’s neck, then take his gun. Popping off two rounds, Humpty fell to his knees, then fell forward dead from several bullets in his head and body.

  I turned to point the gun at his other goon. I thought about letting him live, but nigga really annoyed the fuck outta of me, so I squeezed, and I watched him fall backward. It was then that I exhaled, quickly turned to check on Lyric, and was relieved that she had her ears covered and Sabrina held her hand over our daughter’s eyes while still pointing the gun.

  Limping back, I weakly kneeled down and picked up Lyric.

  “Baby girl, I’m here,” I whispered.

  “Da-dee,” she said holding me tightly.

  I held her to my heart and looked over her head at her grandfather. “Tell him all, Sabrina, and make sure you fucking listen, old man.”

  She glanced at me, then slowly approached, still pointing her gun. “I killed her, and then Marcel saved me from Danny.”

  Tilting her head to the side, she ran her hand over her neck to show him the bruises. Even through her beautiful dark skin, you could see swelling there. If her father had a heart for his daughter, the sight should have pissed him off, as it was pissing me off.

  “He said he loved me, that I was supposed to be with him, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t be attracted to someone like him and now . . . Now finding out that he was my brother, I praise God that he didn’t take it even further like he planned. I believe if Marcel hadn’t shown up, Danny would have raped me.” Sabrina licked her lips, then wiped at her eyes.

  The reality that his world was tearing up around him was evident on Othello’s face. He dropped his knife, shook his head, and began talking with his hands in a mixture of disbelief and irritation. “Danny . . . Danny was a good boy. He loved you like a sister, and he’d never do something so foul like that. He wanted nothing but to protect you. Marcel did that to you.”

  Sabrina shook her head and balled a fist at her side. “Marcel is nothing like you. He doesn’t believe in treating the people he loves like animals or property, and Kat? You destroyed Kat so that she made it her mission to find whatever means possible to hurt who you loved like you hurt her. She wanted to kill me to hurt you.

  “Don’t you see how your anger has hurt everyone around us? You talk about no honor amongst thieves; well . . . I have to say the same on my end. I’d kill Kat all over again for trying to kill me and almost killing my daughter over you beating her and, in turn, killing her unborn babies too many times, Daddy,” she shakenly said. “I’d let Marcel pump a thousand bullets into Danny if that meant keeping him off me. And . . . I love you so muc
h and tried my best to see the good in you, but if anyone is going to protect my family from you . . . It has to be me.”

  Then like that, Sabrina pointed her gun at her stunned father, and I turned my back on them both to walk to the car, shielding Lyric from what might go down. See, I was a family man, and right now, this was family business between Sabrina and her father. If she chose not to kill him . . .

  Her gun going off made Lyric jump in my hold, and I put my final thoughts to rest.

  Epilogue

  Marcel

  Killing and mayhem were not what my wife was about. Already, what she fell into was affecting the safety of her world, so I had to do what I always promised her. Protect her, this time from herself. Taking the gun from her shaking hand, I turned to look her in her bloodshot eyes, then reached up to wipe her tears away. She understood what she needed to do, so she said nothing as she walked back to the car and climbed in, silently closing the door.

  I stood there watching the crestfallen face of a man who knew that he had lost everything. The hole of a bullet next to his feet . . . Proof that Sabrina had come very close to killing him. I wasn’t sure if the mental synaptic connections in his brain were finally telling him that it was all because of his rage and methods of pushing off his power on others, but I really didn’t care. What I cared about was behind me, and keeping them safe was a high priority.

  Therefore, I took several strides up to him. He threw up a hand to tell the rest of his men to keep back, and we stood face-to-face.

  In a low, even tone, I rolled my shoulders and kept the gun at my side pointed downward as I spoke. “Two things can go down right now, Mr. Lanfair.”

  The proud and mighty Othello Lanfair slipped his knife in his pocket, then began rolling the sleeves of his shirt down while looking away from me.

  “And what is that, boy?” he asked sarcastically. “Because, clearly, my daughter is lost. She tried to kill me, but she couldn’t do it. So you’re going to pull the trigger next? Huh?”

  With the snap of my wrist, I pressed the end of my Glock against his bowed head and sighed. “I mean, shit, fuck, yeah. However, for the sake of my wife, and standing here a father myself, I’m going to let you know some shit about me that maybe you’ll finally understand.”

  I moved that gun, stepped closer, and then snatched him by the face as I leaned in to speak against his ear. “At any time and any place, I can, and may, kill you. . . .” Mr. Lanfair tried to pull back, but the energy and strength in me were back, so I had the back of that nigga’s neck on lock as I schooled him on some things. “Shhh . . . Don’t get brass balls now, nigga. I need you to listen and understand this. See, the rumors you’ve heard about me in the shadows are deeper than what you computed me to be. I’m not some thug who has a knack for killing.”

  Patting his cheek, I chuckled low. “Nah, this shit runs deeper than that. See, your wife Kat slightly understood it, which is why she sent killers after my wife in hopes that they would kill me as well. But what you two didn’t get, and I never intended for you to understand, is this . . . as sanctioned by the United Streets of America, Good ol’Merca, I have the authority to be kind and let you go, toy with you, and lock you up for some sick-ass shit . . . or take my time and kill you slowly.”

  “What?” Othello hissed out, trying to pull away.

  He got ready to say something else, but I quickly intercepted. “This is no joke. You’re about credentials, correct? Well, you got them, but you missed the final piece. I can kill you however I want and be allowed to, considering what you just tried to do to me here. I want you to know that.”

  Patting my hand on his back, I leaned back and gave a tight smile. “So as you sit alone, in your fucked-up mansion, realizing that you don’t have that woman you loved to beat to death. Or that loyal son of yours who was lusting after his own sister because you couldn’t be man enough to tell him the truth, also start thinking about me. Marcel.”

  Othello’s eyes were already wild with pain from Sabrina’s act of defiance, but now that nice little light of understanding was also settling within his mind, and it had me stepping back while speaking low. “Pops Lanfair, I thank you for the gift that is Sabrina. I really do. I will do for her what you couldn’t and wouldn’t. You never have to worry about me putting hands on her or verbally abusing her. My DNA doesn’t make me that way. This simple, college-educated thug, chef, and killer will make sure she has the world. But you . . . You, sir, now have the chance to worry about other things. Such as wondering if that spoon of Grape Nuts or Shredded Wheat an old-ass dude like yourself enjoys eating, has a funny taste because the milk is sour and not because I poisoned it.”

  “Or . . .” I said as if we were on a game show, and I was the host, “think about the next time you’re walking out of town hall, and you are suddenly surrounded by too many people, that when someone brushes you, it’s not me, hitting you with a lethal dose of something to give you a stroke. Or the next time you hear a gun go off, it ain’t me. These things, and more, could be yours—if the price is right! And you never forget who the fuck I am, and don’t you ever come for Sabrina, my child, or me. Ever. Do you understand me now? You have officially been ‘X’ed. Sorry for your losses, but they had it coming.”

  I watched that old man’s mouth drop even more as he tried to formulate words that were not “Fuck you” or something else. I glanced around at the faces of his team and made a mental note.

  “You and your people be blessed, Mr. Lanfair. This life ain’t easy, but Karma has a way to deal with disloyal niggas like yourself. I’ll be watching.” Then I climbed in my car, and we rode off.

  I got my family out of there and back to the apartment so we could clean up. Time was of the essence. We needed to get clearance and get out of the country as quickly as we could. Until things calmed down and until Leo handled The Family situation, I needed to make sure Lyric and Sabrina were safe, by any means necessary.

  Going into hiding wasn’t something I really wanted to do, but I knew that to keep my family safe and give them a sense of peace, it was something that I had to do. Sabrina had lost so much, and I wanted to do my best to rectify it as smoothly as possible. I mean, everything I did over the years of having her in my life was for her. Loving her off the bat wasn’t something I expected to feel when I first saw her, but being the grown man I am now, I easily recognized that that’s what happened.

  Now we had a family, and it was time to focus on bringing stability to that foundation. This was the next chapter in our lives, and it could only get more interesting.

  “Next flight Delta 215 DC to Victoria Falls . . .”

  “Mr. Charles Raymond, we welcome you and your family to Delta Airlines. Considering your special class, you all may board early,” a smiling attendant with box braids pulled up into a bun waved a hand toward the gates.

  Senior Giulio had people everywhere. I’d always appreciated it, but even more so now.

  Sliding my arm around Sabrina’s waist, I felt her drop her head against my chest and sigh as we headed to the gate. “Thank you for loving me and staying true to your word. I love you so much, and I’m sorry for causing us to leave like this.”

  Kissing her temple, I let her go so that she could walk in front of me as I held Lyric on my side. “Like I said, it wasn’t your fault. You did what you had to, to protect our family, and now it’s my turn.”

  “Da-dee! Are we going to see the giraffes?” Lyric’s bubbly voice said, interrupting me.

  She played with the back of my collar and looked around with curious wonder.

  “Yes, baby,” I said with a smile in my voice and glancing at Sabrina.

  We finally made it to our first-class seats. I did a quick check, then sat down next to Sabrina, who had been silent.

  “Baby,” I started but was stopped by her soft lips.

  Tongues entwining, I took the power of that kiss and turned it back on her with a nibble on her bottom lip.

  “No more lies,” she said, pu
lling back.

  Studying her gaze, I gave her a reassuring nod. “No more lies, baby. You know it all, and no more you stepping in the line of danger.”

  “I can’t promise that,” she said with a chuckle. “I’ll do whatever to protect us.”

  Sabrina’s pops said there is no honor amongst thieves, but I knew that was a lie. If everyone around you was untrustworthy, then whose fault was that? Yours. There was always honor if your family is based on loyalty and love.

  It was also there if you kept your head in the game and were smart about shit. Because all those snakes trying to harm you would be killed by you and your family once they slithered into your garden. That was what protection is, and that was what true solidarity was. I learned it the hard way, and so did my wife. However, because of us, those lessons would go on with our daughter, and I was proud to know already that she would be okay in this life if she ever truly understood our story.

  The End