by Ashley
“I have some money. We can leave.”
Kalil wanted nothing more than to leave this city with London and his daughter by his side, but he couldn’t go from one hood to the next hood. He wanted to be able to provide a better life for London.
London saw the look of doubt that crossed his face. “Please, Kalil, I can’t do this without you. I need you in my life.”
Kalil nodded his head. “Okay.”
“Okay?” London asked in surprise.
“We can leave town, but you got to let me get my money up. I’ve got something set up with my man from D.C. I got to deliver these bricks.” He saw the skeptical look that crossed her face. “I promise you, one run and I’m out the game for good,” he whispered as he caressed her cheek. “I love you. I need you behind me. I swear, we’ll blow town tomorrow night, a’ight?”
“Okay.” London grabbed his hand and kissed it gently, holding onto him as if she would never see him again. “Promise me that everything will be all right. Promise that you will come back to me.”
“I promise, London.” Kalil grabbed one of her hands and placed it on the left side of his chest. He then pressed his hand against her heart and finished: “We gon’ be all right. No man will ever put his hands on you again. I’ma take care of you, and you never have to worry about me putting my hands on you. I’m a man and I’m gon’ treat you like my queen. You the only woman that has been able to get inside here.” Kalil thumped his chest, referring to his heart.
“You’re the only man that I’ve ever loved,” London whispered as she stared intensely at the one man she’d given her heart to.
“Then that’s all that matters. As long as I’m in your heart and you are in mine, our love won’t die. I need you to trust me on this. Let me go make this money, and tomorrow we’re ghost.”
London nodded her head and kissed Kalil passionately. She knew at that exact moment that Kalil was truly the man that she’d been praying to meet. She didn’t care that she hadn’t known him that long. She knew that their love was real, and even if she died tomorrow, just the fact that she was loved by him today was enough for her to die a happy woman.
Kalil sat on the couch in silence, his daughter’s head resting in his lap and London’s head resting on his shoulder. He gripped her hand as he thought about what he was willing to risk for the pursuit of money. He knew that he needed to make it happen for his family.
His phone rang loudly, interrupting their intimate moment. He stared at London as he answered, “Hello?”
“It’s me, homeboy. I’m outside,” June stated.
Kalil flipped his phone down and headed for the door. There was no turning back now.
Hova sat in the back of his Cadillac and waited patiently as he smoked his Cuban cigar, his car parked inconspicuously up the block as he waited for London to emerge from the apartment building. This bitch wants to hide in this mu’fucka. She thinks she gon’ get away from me. I own her.
Hova immediately sat up in his seat when he saw a white Lexus pull up in front of the apartment building. He then noticed Kalil come out of the building toting the duffel bags full of cocaine. He figured that Kalil was going to handle his business and was prepared to let him do his thing until he saw London come out of the building behind him.
“Be careful,” London stated as she hugged Kalil tightly. “Make sure you come back to me, Kalil. I love you more than anything in this world.”
A tear fell from her eyes, and he wiped it away. “I love you too,” Kalil replied. “Go upstairs and lock the doors. Quinn is cool with it. Just take care of Jada and get some rest. I’ll be back before you know it.” He hugged her tightly, kissed her forehead, and smacked her ass lightly.
Kalil watched her walk back into the apartment building. He had no idea that he was crossing the very man that had put him on. London, the woman that Kalil loved, was Hova’s wife and he didn’t even know it.
“Dammmn! He baggin’ your bitch?” the backseat disciple asked in disbelief as he stared out of the tinted window.
The words were too much for Hova to bear, and before he could stop himself he had fired two hollow-tip bullets through the side of his disciple’s head.
The disciple in the front seat turned around and almost vomited from the gruesome scene. Brain matter was splattered all over the back-passenger window. Afraid that he’d be next, he remained silent as Hova’s heavy, erratic breathing filled the car.
Hova’s chrome 9 mm with the silencer smoked as he stared at the corpse before him. “Don’t you ever disrespect me! Ever!” he shouted in rage as he fired two more shots into the already dead young man.
Murderous intentions became Hova’s focus as he watched London and Kalil. The disrespect that he felt when he saw the way his wife looked at Kalil was enough to drive him insane. He didn’t give a damn why she chose to cheat. London was his property, and Kalil had trespassed.
“Handle that,” Hova said to his disciple sitting in the front seat.
“How you want me to approach it?”
Hova reached in the front seat and smacked his disciple upside his head. “Murder the mu’fucka! Fuck you mean, how I want you to approach it?” he yelled out in anger.
“I’m just saying . . . that’s your wife, B.”
He responded without hesitation. “Get rid of that bitch too. Get me out of here,” he said, and he leaned low in his seat as the car pulled away.
Chapter Eleven
June pushed his whip down I-95 as the bass from his speakers caused the whole car to vibrate.
Kalil was uneasy, knowing that he was on probation and riding around with thirty bricks of cocaine in the trunk. He looked over at June and noticed that he looked edgy. June kept on checking the mirrors and was real jittery and he was sweating profusely, even though the AC was blasting on high.
“You good, fam?” Kalil checked the rearview mirror for cops.
June checked the rearview mirror again. “Y-yeah, I’m good. What you keep on checking the mirrors for, son?” he asked nervously.
“Nigga, because we riding dirty. Fuck you mean?” Kalil shook his head and focused on the road ahead. He was getting an ill feeling from June. June seemed to be nervous, like it was his first time flipping birds. This nigga is an amateur. Look at him, over there sweating bullets.
Just as Kalil finished his thought, June reached into his glove compartment and pulled out a small baggy full of cocaine. He emptied a small pile between his index finger and thumb as he tried to steer the vehicle.
Kalil watched as June took a hit of the blow. “Fall back, nigga! What you doing?”
“I’m trying to calm myself, man. Damn! Chill out. Let me do me.” June glared at Kalil.
Kalil didn’t want to get into the drama, so he just remained silent and thought about the money he was about to make. If it was any other time, Kalil would’ve got at his ass for getting “flip-lip.” But at that moment Kalil was in his hustler mode and wasn’t trying to rock the boat.
“Just be easy on that shit. I don’t rock with that shit. I like to stay focused while handling business, nah mean?” Kalil thought about Jada and London, the only two people he needed for his own happiness.
June took a sudden right turn, getting off at a rest area. He recklessly steered the vehicle to the detour.
Kalil sat up and frowned. “Fuck you doing?”
“I got to piss, son. I have been holding my shit for the last hour.” June pulled into the vacant parking lot.
“Hurry up, fam. We shouldn’t be making any unnecessary stops,” Kalil stated in an aggravated tone as he watched June exit the car and jog to the restroom. Kalil was getting tired of June’s erratic behavior and instantly regretted doing business with the fool. I knew I shouldn’t have fucked with this cat. He ain’t good business. Kalil closed his eyes and threw his head back in the seat.
Whack! The butt of June’s pistol went across Kalil’s temple.
Kalil saw stars, and his vision was slightly blurred. He hadn’t
noticed that June had crept around to the passenger side and snuck up on him.
June pointed the pistol at Kalil. “Get the fuck out of the car!” he yelled as he wiped his running nose.
Kalil was completely taken off guard. “What the fuck are you doing?” he asked as he tried to regain his blurred vision.
June opened Kalil’s door and pulled him out of the car.
Kalil fell to his knees and finally staggered to his feet. “June! What’s yo’ problem, son?” He put both of his hands in front of him. Kalil couldn’t believe what was happening. His head ached from the unanticipated blow from the gun and blood trickled from his forehead.
“Shut the fuck up! Get on your knees.” June waved his pistol wildly at Kalil and wiped his nose again.
“Yo, man, this ain’t the way to be, fam. Just take the bricks, man.”
“I’m playin’ fo’ keeps, fam. I gotta get mine! You always used to brag about how you was the man. Now I’m about to be the man, son. Say good night!” June cocked back the hammer on the gun.
“Wait! June—”
Boom, boom, boom, boom! June let off four bullets directly into Kalil’s chest, jerking his body left to right. The hollow-tip bullets left Kalil lying motionless in the middle of the parking lot.
Thoughts of Jada ran through Kalil’s mind as the bullets hit him one by one, leaving him facing the sky with his eyes closed.
June then jumped in his car, leaving Kalil slumped in the lot. He was on his way back home with a truckful of opportunity.
Quinn watched as June’s car whipped out of the lot. He had been tailing them for the whole trip, but June had shook him off a couple miles back. His suspicions about June wouldn’t let him leave his cousin without backup. Quinn looked more closely and realized that June was in the car by himself, and he immediately grew nervous.
He sped his car into the lot and saw his cousin lying motionless in the middle of the parking lot. “Kalil!” Quinn yelled at the top of his lungs. His eyes began to water and his hands shook uncontrollably. He sped over to Kalil, jumped out of the car, and ran to his side. He stood over his cousin’s body and his legs got weak.
Just as he was about to drop to his knees, Kalil twitched.
“Kalil! Where you hit?” Quinn asked, since no blood was visible.
Kalil wheezed for air as he opened his eyes and stared at his best friend and cousin.
Quinn dropped to his knees and began to feel on Kalil to see where the wound was located, but to no avail. He couldn’t find it. He grabbed Kalil’s chest and felt a bulletproof vest. He ripped open Kalil’s shirt and exposed the vest with four bullets lodged in it.
“I’m good, I’m good. It just knocked the breath out of me.” Kalil slowly sat up, wincing in pain, immediately grateful for his cousin’s suspicions.
In Kalil’s day, he always put on a vest for protection, and his intuition told him to strap one on for this trip. His decision was lifesaving. “He got away?” Kalil asked in a raspy voice, still trying to catch his breath.
“Yeah, he got away. Not for long, though.” Quinn helped Kalil into his car. He wanted to go after June, but he knew it would be pointless since June was long gone by now.
“Fuck!” Kalil yelled as he came to the realization that June had gotten off with thirty kilos of cocaine. To make matters worse, he still owed Hova money for the consignment.
Quinn looked over at Kalil, who dropped his head into his palms. “What? What?”
Kalil whispered, “Hova,” as he shook his head from side to side.
Quinn already knew what Kalil meant as the name came out of his mouth. To owe Hova was to start making funeral arrangements for yourself. Kalil’s world had changed course in a matter of minutes. What looked to be the beginning of a dream started to seem more like the start of a nightmare.
“Fuck, man!” Kalil cursed himself for ever trusting June. He was so close to getting out of the game for good, but this one event had put him in the hole for more than a quarter million.
Quinn was speechless. He didn’t know exactly what to say. I told his ass about that D.C. nigga. I told him. Quinn looked down at Kalil. He could tell by the look on Kalil’s face that he was messed up in the head right now.
Quickly doing the math in his head, he figured that Kalil owed Hova $360,000 and he knew that Hova would want every single penny. He knew it wasn’t the time for “I told you so.”
“So what you want to do? Whatever we got to do, let’s make it happen, son. You know I’m with you, no matter what. If we need to get at this nigga June we can get to it. If we got to settle this with Hova we can get at him too. Just say the word,” Quinn stated, even though he knew that going against Hova was a guaranteed death sentence.
“I don’t even know, Quinn,” Kalil said as he removed the bulletproof vest. “I don’t know. I just need some time to get my head together.”
“You need to fall back for a day or two. We can’t go back to the apartment. Once Hov don’t hear from you, he gon’ know what’s up, and that’s the first place he gon’ look. As a matter of fact, we need to get Jada and ol’ girl out of there too.”
Kalil knew that Quinn was right. He had to keep his daughter and London safe. He pulled out his cell and dialed Quinn’s house.
London picked up on the first ring. “Hello?” she answered.
“London, it’s me, Kalil.”
“Is everything all right?”
Kalil paused and closed his eyes at the sound of her voice. He loved the woman on the other end of the phone. She was his other half and he had to take care of her.
“Kalil? You’re scaring me. Are you okay?” she asked after a lengthy silence.
“I’m good, ma. Everything’s good. I need you to do me a favor.”
“Anything.”
“Take Jada and go to the hotel that I took you to on Lexington Avenue. Stay there until you hear from me. This business is going to take a couple days,” he said in an assertive tone. He didn’t want her to be worried about him, so he didn’t tell her the full story.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked, her voice full of concern.
“I’m okay, I promise, but do what I told you and take care of Jada for me.” Kalil hung up the phone before she could respond. He had to get her out of his mind. He couldn’t focus on London and Hova at the same time. She was a beautiful distraction to have, but at the moment he needed to be about his paper.
London rushed to the couch, where Jada rested, and shook her gently. “Jada,” she whispered in the child’s ear. She gazed lovingly at Kalil’s daughter and secretly wished that she was her mother. She knew that Kalil loved his little girl tremendously and she vowed that if anything ever happened to him, she would take care of Jada as if she were her own.
“Jada, it’s time to get up, sweetheart,” she said.
Jada squirmed and rubbed her eyes. “Ms. London,” she asked as she blinked repeatedly to get the sleep out of her eyes, “where’s my daddy?”
“He had to go out for a while. He’ll be back in a day or so, but until then it’s just us girls.” Even though London was worried about Kalil, she didn’t want to make Jada think that anything was wrong. “I have an idea. You want to go to a hotel and have a sleepover?”
“Ohh yeah!” Jada exclaimed in excitement. She sat up instantly. “Is there a pool? Can I swim too?”
“You sure can. Come on, let’s get up and get dressed, so we can hurry up and leave.” London smiled.
London helped Jada dress. She couldn’t stop her hands from shaking, she was so nervous. She knew that as soon as she escaped New York, everything would be better. She would be able to calm down and move on to a better life with Kalil. She just had to make it to that point.
She helped Jada slip on her clothes and grabbed their bags. “Come on, sweetie.” London held out her hand for Jada, and they headed out to the hotel.
“Yo, son, there she is!” Lynch tapped Peanut, who had nodded off in the passenger seat of the tinted Mo
nte Carlo.
Hova had plans for his cheating wife. Her disloyalty was unacceptable and because of it he knew that he had to get rid of her. She knew too much about him and his business and could no longer be trusted. So he put two of his most loyal disciples on London. Hova was sure that there would be no hesitation when it came to them handling her. There was no way that he could let her live. On top of that, his ego was bruised and he had to give her what she had coming to her—death.
Peanut sat up in his chair and noticed London as she walked out of the apartment building with bags in one hand. She seemed to be in a rush and was practically dragging a little girl along with her. He watched as she loaded the bags into her car and safely buckled the little girl inside.
“Yeah, she about to get hers.” Lynch pulled out an automatic AR-15 that was sure to put London to sleep.
Peanut peered closer and noticed the little girl’s face. Oh shit, that’s little Jada, he thought to himself. He didn’t know why Kalil’s daughter was with Hova’s wife, but he knew that he couldn’t allow Lynch to pull the trigger. “Hova ain’t say nothing about no little girl.”
“Ain’t nothing personal. Lil’ mama just in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Lynch replied as he loaded the weapon.
“Yo, hold up on that shit. You know how Hov is. We got to follow his instructions to the T,” Peanut argued, trying to stall for time. He couldn’t just sit back and watch Lynch murder Kalil’s daughter.
If it wasn’t for Kalil bringing him up in the game, Peanut knew that he wouldn’t be the man he was today. What the fuck is she doing with Hova’s wife? he thought to himself. “He ain’t say anything about killing no kids. I mean, you can go ahead and do what you feel, but you know if you do it incorrectly, it’s gon’ be your ass on the chopping block,” Peanut said, playing mental chess with the seasoned killer in front of him. He knew that if he made it seem like Hova would be upset then Lynch might back down.
Lynch stuck his head out the window and eyed London. “Damn, it ain’t nothing worse than having an itch you can’t scratch. Right now my trigger finger is itching, nah mean? Call Hova and see what he want us to do.”
