The Last Kings 2
C.N. Phillips
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
The Last Kings 2
Acknowledgments
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Deep:
Urban Books, LLC
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The Last Kings 2 Copyright © 2017 C.N. Phillips
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ISBN: 978-1-6228-6772-1
First Trade Paperback Printing January 2017
This is a work of fiction. Any references or similarities to actual events, real people, living or dead, or to real locales are intended to give the novel a sense of reality. Any similarity in other names, characters, places, and incidents is entirely coincidental.
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The Last Kings 2
C.N. Phillips
Acknowledgments
To Ryiann. My beautiful baby girl. I have loved you since the first time I heard your heartbeat. I knew I was bringing you into a world with nothing to offer you, so now it’s my duty to give you the world. You have the purest soul and are the most beautiful person that I know. The happiness you bring to my life is all that a mother could ever ask for, and to you I give all thanks. You are and have always been my greatest motivation, and every book I write will be dedicated to you. No matter what I do, you always end my days with your beautiful smile, even when you’re mad at me. That only comes from that unconditional, real love. Your loyalty is unmatched. If you learn anything from me being your mother, I want it to be to follow your dreams. Never be afraid to go after what you believe in, because your dreams are the things that nobody can take from you. I love you always and forever, Tink!
To A Marie. You have been more than just a cousin to me, you are the Marley to my Mike. The Yin to my Yang. The sugar to my iced tea—okay, okay I’ll stop dragging it! Ha! But seriously, I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t pick up the phone and call you. Or if you weren’t in my life for that matter! You are truly my rock. Whenever I was close to hitting rock bottom you never let my feet touch the ground, and that is exactly what a Day One is supposed to do. We have always been there to support and love each other, and I know we are going far. Everyone deserves that one person in their corner who never left, and for me it’s you. That is why you are my daughter’s Godmom. Thank you . . . for everything!
To Ja’Von, where do I start? Oh, yeah, best fraaannnnn! Oh my goodness, I feel like I’ve known you my whole life. I know we get on each other’s backs like sisters, but we have each other’s backs like them too. We coparent together and I love that our daughters get to grow up together like sisters too. We go through the same things, which is awesome, because that means we always will have each other to lean on. We cry together (because we’re both soft thugs), but it feels good to be able to talk to you about everything. We talk about our kids and our futures often. You told me to put in your acknowledgment, “Make sure you tell them that I’m single, I’m a freak, and I like dark-skinned men.” LOL! You are so crazy, but such a beautiful person inside and out. You have a kind heart and would never let anyone you care about go without, and for that you deserve the world. Love you best friend!
Last but most definitely not least: to you all, the readers! If it weren’t for you, this dream . . . this vision of mine wouldn’t be able to be made possible. Thank you all so much for supporting me and allowing me to share my thoughts and my words with you. Thank you for welcoming the crazy worlds that are inside of my head into yours. I hope that you enjoy all of my past, present, and future work whenever you pick up something I created. You are all absolutely amazing! Now, without further ado, I would like to present you the follow up to my freshman novel, The Last Kings. Enjoy!
Prologue
Don Rivera sat in the living room of his mansion in Azua, Dominican Republic watching the flames dance inside of his fire place. In his hand he held a glass of scotch, and his thoughts consumed him. As the leader of the Dominican Cartel, one would assume that he had everything he wanted, but he knew something was absent from his life. He yearned for the family he once had, but his selfishness led him to choose the world of money and drugs over the ones he was supposed to love unconditionally. He thought about the woman he decided to make his wife years and years ago. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on. She was the only thing in the world to ever make him feel whole, and the only one that he gave his heart to. He met her when he went to the states. Any other time he wouldn’t have paid any attention to a woman of her stature. She was raised in the hood and it showed in her demeanor, but her feistiness intrigued him. She refused to respect him just because he pulled up in a designer suit and a foreign vehicle. She wasn’t impressed by the big suitcase of money he brought to the bando. She was the only one never intimidated by his presence. To her, he was just another man with money trying to buy the world. The drug game was nothing new to her, she knew what he was about, and despite his affiliation, she wasn’t enthralled. Nor did she fear him, and that fascinated him. Once his business venture was over he stayed behind, determined to woo her and make her fall in love with him. It didn’t happen overnight, and he had to put in major work to just get her attention. However, eventually she did fall in love with him, and she allowed him to sweep her off of her feet. She had nothing going for her there, so it didn’t take much to talk her into leaving the country with him afterward.
They were happy together for years, or so Don thought. After their second child, Don began to see her grow weary of the life that he had made for her. The eyes don’t lie, and no matter what he did, it seemed that he could not bring the life back into hers. When traveling on business ventures he would be gone days and sometimes weeks at a time. He and the kids were all she had, and she tried to get him to see that all she wanted was some of his time. Like the time he spared when he was trying to sweep her off of her feet. He understood where she was coming from, yet he still tried to reason with her. His family ran the Dominican Cartel, so when his father died, naturally he had to take over. His family was very powerful and had a reach that wrapped around the world; it was something that he wouldn’t be able to give up . . . something that he wasn’t willing to give up. That was why he tried to make her a part of it, thinking that would be enough for her. She told him on more than one occasion that he had more than enough money to get out of the game and live a normal life with her and the kids. Yet he would steer her mind away from those thoughts with the lavish gifts he would bestow her with.
Eventually the gifts weren’t enough, and the em
pty promises he gave her fell on deaf ears. She needed more and what he was giving was just material. She thought unconditional love came naturally when it came to family, but it was apparent that their definitions of it weren’t matching up. He loved his family with all of his life, but at the end of the day he loved making money more.
The day she left, his heart broke, but knew he would never be able to give her what she needed. Bringing her into this life had been selfish of him. He was a very selfish man. He had wanted her so bad he never thought about the fact that he would never be able to give her 100 percent of himself. She left him a note that he to this day kept in the dresser beside his bed.
Don,
You are my heart. When I met you I swear I could not see past you, but now I see it is only because I didn’t want to. I have tried to make this work, even through all of my unhappiness, but I cannot live in a house without love any longer. The money and lavish life mean nothing if I have to fake a smile in my own home. I am taking the kids. They deserve to live a normal life. Don’t look for me, and don’t worry about us. I have always been able to manage on my own, even before I met you. I love you Don, don’t ever forget that. But it is time that I move on. Good-bye.
His family was very knowledgeable and it wasn’t long before he found out her whereabouts. Don respected her wishes and kept his distance. He loved them, but his stupidity and his focus on things that shouldn’t have come first clouded his judgment. If he could do it all over again he would have picked his family. He was never complete after she left, but he filled her absence with new women and money. Years went by and he had aged with resentment within himself and guilt. He kept tabs on his children but never reached out to have a relationship. He thought of everything that he had lost because of the life that he had chosen to live. The world of money and drugs were the only two things he ever knew, he didn’t know how to be happy outside of it. Eventually it took a toll on him, and he realized that he didn’t want to live the rest of his life alone, without the love of his life. There were many women who had replaced her spot in his bed, but never in his heart. He took a break from his work and decided to make a trip to the States to find her. To his dismay, he found that he was too late for his love and his children. He learned that the love of his life was dead, and so was his only son. His daughter was so strung out on drugs that there was no saving her. No amount of rehabilitation would help her.
He couldn’t help but to blame himself, as he knew it was his fault. It was punishment for his selfishness. If only he had given her what she needed, she would still be alive. If only he had listened to her pleas for his undivided attention and love, she would have never left. With him, no harm would ever have come to his family. He had not been there to protect them. He had not been there to guide his children. He wasn’t there to treat his daughter like a princess, therefore she accepted being treated like a servant at the hands of the drug of her choice. Before he went back to his country with a heavy heart to continue business as usual he decided to stop at Amore, an Italian restaurant that he was familiar with. What he found there was more than good food. There, not only did he regain his hope . . . he was given a second chance.
Chapter 1
They say the hardest things about life are the painful memories, and I have to say that I agree. I remember lying in my own blood on my old bedroom floor, gasping for air. The battle for life or death had complete control of my mind and body as they played a game of tug of war with my soul. I lay beside my grandmother’s cold body and was prepared to join her in the afterlife, but still, a part of me wasn’t ready to go just yet. However, if it was my time, I refused to repent, because I regretted nothing that I had done in my life. I was just going to accept death as it was. The pain that I felt was unbearable, and I clenched my eyes shut hoping that it would numb itself. The bullet embedded in my stomach made me choke on my own blood, and I was barely able to force air into my lungs.
Khiron and Mocha had left me to die alone cold and in the dark. Khiron, bitter and lost, had single handedly taken everything I’d worked for, loved, and created. I made one mistake, and that mistake was trusting Mocha. Like Ray said, all your niggas ain’t loyal. Still, her double cross was one that I wouldn’t have seen if it had stared me directly in the face. Just as I began to succumb to my fate I felt a searing pain in my stomach. It felt as if someone was cutting a hole in my body, because that’s exactly what was happening. I heard a pleading, distant voice calling my name over and over.
“Stay with me, Say,” a hazy voice called from a distance. “Stay with me, mama.”
My vision wasn’t very clear, but opening my eyes, I was able to make out Adrianna’s tear stricken face. Her hands were covered in blood as she set a sharp knife to the side and inserted a straw into the small hole she’d made in my lung.
“It’s okay, mama,” she whispered in my ear, cradling my head in her arms. “Help is on the way. I’m not going to let you die in here. Just hold on, Say. Hold on.”
Something overcame me . . . it felt like relief. I tried to offer up a weak smile, but I don’t know if it ever showed on my face, because the next thing I knew I had blacked out.
One month later, I awoke in a hospital bed. My body felt weak and I had tubes connected to it. My throat instinctively made swallowing motions, and it registered to me that I had a tube down my throat too. I used all of the strength that I could muster to pull the uncomfortable thing out and toss it to the side. Devynn was the first person I saw. Her usually curly afro was neatly combed, wrapped in an African hair scarf. She sat up straight, smiling, once she saw that my eyes were open. The smile quickly faded once she heard the first words out of my mouth.
“Where is Ray?” My voice was raspy because it hadn’t been used in a while. It was barely audible.
Devynn seemed to stumble over her words, trying to tell me something that just wouldn’t come out. She looked at me with eyes full of sadness before finally just shaking her head. I was confused at what was going on around me. I just wanted to see my cousin.
“Adrianna?” Devynn said with a slight plea in her tone.
At that moment I took notice of somebody sitting beside me to my right. My neck was stiff, but I summoned the energy to turn my head to face her.
“Where’s Ray?” I asked again. “I want to see him.”
Adrianna looked no different, except there was sadness in her eyes. Tears welled in them and slowly began to fall
“He won’t be coming, Say,” Adrianna didn’t sugar coat it. “He’s dead.”
Suddenly it all hit me like a ton of bricks. I lay there as the past slowly came back to me. I remembered Grandma Rae’s dead body, the video, Khiron . . . Mocha. She betrayed me. She turned me, her best friend, in for a man that clearly didn’t give a damn about her. He killed my cousin. They both killed my cousin. In a split second, my screams filled the hospital as I cursed the world. I wanted to know why I wasn’t allowed to die too. Without Grandma Rae and Ray I had nothing left to live for. I tried to tear out the needles in my body and jump out of bed, but I failed miserably. I was weak, and at that moment death seemed so sweet. I cursed Adrianna and Devynn for saving me and told them they should have just left me in Grandma Rae’s house. Yet, the two of them were there with me the entire time. They held me tightly and we all cried on each other’s shoulders. When the nurses heard the commotion and told them to leave, they stayed planted by my side. I realized then, in my sorry state, that those two women were all I had left from my previous life. They were my only family. The two of them visited me every day until I was able to start my physical therapy, and even then they were there throughout it all. The next five months consisted of nothing but working hard to get back to my regular physical state and reevaluating my life. I didn’t know where I wanted to go from there. I was alive, which is something I was grateful for, but what did I want to do with the rest of my life?
I was flown to Miami as soon as I was stable enough to be moved. Dev and Adrianna didn’t want
word of my survival to hit the streets. They knew Khiron would be skeptical if a body didn’t turn up, so they held a funeral service for me. Except it wasn’t me in the casket. It was really the corpse of a nameless prostitute no one would miss. Money talks, and Devynn paid a plastic surgeon to operate on the dead girl’s face and make her resemble me as closely as possible. I was dead to my city; the city that had once showed me so much love. The businesses were sold so that Khiron could not profit from them, and ones that had pledged loyalty to The Last Kings were silent. I understood though—with their bosses dead to them, a dollar was only a dollar. Still, it pained me to know what was going on, because Khiron wasn’t a boss. He was just a man that lucked up at the right time. He talked like the man, but he didn’t move like him. He would never be Ray.
It took a while for her to finally be able to finally speak about it, but Adrianna told me the the gruesome details of Ray’s death. No matter what bad Ray did in this world, he did a ton more good, he didn’t deserve to die painfully like that. There would have been more honor in him dying by a bullet, but of course Khiron couldn’t let him have that. He wanted to demean him. The thought of Ray not being able to have a proper burial due to what the acid had done was almost too much for my heart to bear. Ray had always been my rock and protector; with him gone so was a piece of my soul. My heart was black and a part of me was chipped away. Every day was a work in progress, but I grew stronger with each sunrise. After six months of being in the hospital I was finally allowed to go home, except I didn’t have one of those anymore. I ended up moving into the three-bedroom condo Devynn and Adrianna had purchased. The two of them tried to make me feel as comfortable as possible, but it still took a few months after my release to get accustomed to life in Miami. I drove a 2015 red Chevy Cruz, nothing too flashy so that I would not draw attention to myself. We had enough money to sit on for a while, so working was something that we didn’t have to do at that point in time. However, we all were used to a certain type of lifestyle, and those needs wouldn’t lay dormant forever. I was a hustler, and although I was a female, I was a king. No matter how I tried to evade it, no other life would suit me. Ever.
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