The Trophy Wife

by Ashley

  Hova was still seated in his chair, his feet resting on the long conference table.

  Kalil slid the necklace across the table and placed the duffel bag in front of him. “I did what you asked me to. Here’s a portion of the money I owe you. You know I’m good for the rest. Just give me my daughter, and I swear you’ll see every single penny.”

  Hova smiled and looked down at his Presidential Rolex. “You made it in the nick of time.”

  “Where’s Jada?” Kalil asked through clenched teeth. He was trying to control his anger because he knew that he didn’t have room for error. One wrong move could mean the death of his daughter, and he was fighting desperately to keep her alive.

  “Jada? That’s your daughter’s name?” Hova stared intently at Kalil. “Tell me, Kalil, I’m very curious to know—it’s obvious that you love your child—why would you put her life in danger by fucking my wife? You had to know that your little secret would eventually come out. What is it you black motherfuckers say?” Hova snapped his fingers repeatedly as he tried to jog his memory. “All things done in the dark will eventually come to light. Yeah, that’s it.”

  Kalil didn’t feel the need to explain himself. “I just want my daughter. Let her go. Let London go. This is between us,” Kalil stated. “I made the choice to fuck with London. I should be the one to pay the consequences.”

  “This broke black motherfucker wants to call the shots.” Hova chuckled lightly. He sat up and folded his hands across the conference table.

  As silence filled the room, Quinn shifted in his stance from anticipation. He could feel his hands clamming up as he waited to see how the situation would play out.

  Peanut checked the time on his phone and noticed that it was almost time to get down to business. He knew what was supposed to go down but in his heart he couldn’t betray his mans like that. By going against the grain he knew that he would have to man up and come out blazing, but he couldn’t find it in him to be a part of Kalil’s setup.

  Lynch yelled from the basement, “Fuck you doing up there, nigga? It’s almost time. Hova gon’ be calling any minute!”

  Peanut nodded his head. He removed the .380 pistol from his waistline and ensured that it was loaded before he put it back in his pants. He walked down the steps, keeping his hand discreetly on his pistol for reassurance. He watched as Lynch pulled London to her feet, violently pulling her up by her hair as he made her stand in front of him.

  London found herself staring down the dark barrel of a gun as her tears flowed freely. She looked back at Jada, who was asleep against the wall.

  “You should’ve let me hit this pussy. Maybe it wouldn’t have had to come to this,” Lynch sneered as he pulled the hammer back on his gun.

  London closed her eyes and felt the tears burn her eyes. Not wanting to give Lynch the satisfaction of witnessing her tears, she inhaled deeply and prepared herself for the darkness to come. Her mind drifted to Kalil. She wanted him to be the last thing that she thought of before she was rocked into a forced sleep.

  Boom!

  “Aww!” London screamed as blood and brains from Lynch’s head splattered all over her face.

  “Ms. London!” Jada yelled.

  A hysterical London ran over to Jada and put her hands over the young child’s eyes.

  “Ms. London!”

  London looked up in horror at Peanut as he aimed. He put one more hollow in Lynch’s dead body just for the hell of it.

  She pulled Jada close. She was sure that they were next.

  Just as Peanut began to approach them a ringing phone interrupted his stride. The ringing was coming from Lynch’s pants pocket. He searched the dead body frantically, knowing that missing Hova’s call would raise a red flag.

  London eyed the body on the floor as blood began to creep her way. She nodded her head and then leaned into Jada and said, “Ssh. Everything is going to be okay.” She put her hand over Jada’s mouth and then kissed the top of her head.

  Peanut answered the phone. “Hello?”

  “Why did it take you so long to answer the phone?”

  “We had to find the damn phone,” Peanut explained. “This dumb nigga left the shit upstairs.”

  “It’s time,” Hova told him.

  “All you got to do is give me the go-ahead.”

  “Kill them both. I want Kalil to hear them die.”

  Boom! Boom!

  Screams erupted through the basement as the gunshots rang out. Once the loud noise ceased, Peanut disconnected the call, shaking his head from side to side in regret.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Peanut sped toward Club Heaven in heavy desperation. He knew that Kalil was in a bad predicament and was trying to get there before it was too late. He realized that he owed Kalil too much to not help him. I can’t even believe I was about to go through with it! I gotta help my mans, Peanut thought as he weaved in and out of traffic, trying to get there as soon as possible.

  Kalil had practically taught him how to become a man, and he finally came to his senses. He just hoped it wasn’t too late. He’d assured London and Jada that they would be okay and took them to his apartment as a safe haven. But London refused the offer and wanted to go with Peanut. Peanut didn’t have time to argue with her, and let them tag along as he raced to the club at 100 mph with two pistols in his lap. Now his only concern was to help Kalil. He knew that Hova was going to have him killed.

  Kalil cried like a baby as the men held him down while he was on his knees. He then looked over at Quinn’s lifeless body that laid in his own blood. Hova had ordered one of the disciples to kill Kalil’s cousin right before his eyes. He wanted Kalil to suffer in the worst way.

  “Quinn,” Kalil called out, hoping that his cousin would answer, but it was too late. He was gone. Kalil had heard the death of his baby girl because Hova had Peanut on speakerphone.

  “Jada, Jada, my baby girl, I’m sorry,” Kalil whispered as he bawled. Hova had brutally ordered the hit and he’d lost his daughter and his only true love, London. It was an out-of-body experience and Kalil’s world came crumbling down.

  Kalil was severely beaten. The disciples had a field day with him, at the discretion of Hova. The blood dripped from his mouth, and his left eye was swollen nearly shut. Two of the disciples restrained him as he used the last bit of energy he had trying to get to Hova, who nonchalantly sat at the edge of his desk smoking his cigar.

  “Jada! Jada!” he yelled at the top of his lungs as he thought about what had happened a half an hour earlier. Kalil was on his knees facing Hova.

  The twenty-minute beatdown he had just received didn’t add up to a fraction of the pain he’d felt when Hova said the words, “Kill them both.” He wanted to kill Hova with his bare hands so badly, but he couldn’t get to him. His disciples had beaten him so badly, he could barely move.

  One of the disciples held Kalil’s face up so that he was staring directly at Hova. Every time Hova looked at Kalil he grew angrier. The thought of his wife with another man was too much for him to bear.

  “Why! Why did you touch the forbidden fruit? I’m Hova! Now I’m going to reunite you with that bitch and your kid. What’s my name?” Hova screamed as he reached into his desk and pulled out a chrome .38 pistol. He pressed the gun to Kalil’s forehead.

  Kalil stared directly into Hova’s eyes, showing no sign of fear whatsoever. He was ready to die. He had nothing to live for anymore. He was ready to meet his maker. He tried to mumble something, but he was so beaten and exhausted, it barely came out.

  “What’s that?” Hova said, smiling. He knew that he had totally stripped Kalil’s manhood away from him. He wanted to hear Kalil call him Hova before he killed him. “Huh? What’s that?” Hova kneeled down to hear Kalil better.

  “Fuck you! See you in hell, mu’fucka!” Kali whispered weakly as he spat in Hova’s face.

  Outraged, Hova immediately wiped the bloody spit from his eyes. He couldn’t wait any longer, he pressed the gun to Kalil’s head.

&nb
sp; Boom!

  The sound of glass shattering startled Hova before he could kill Kalil. Dozens of bullets came flying through the glass. Everyone dropped to the floor and reached for their weapons as hollow-tips rained. The Moretti crew had come in the club, guns blazing. The sound of assault rifles and machine guns filled the air, and the club became an instant war zone.

  While the disciples returned fire, Kalil scuffled his way behind Hova’s desk for cover.

  “Stop them from coming up the stairs!” Hova commanded. He reloaded his clip and returned fire.

  Half of the disciples ran out of the office and headed down the wraparound stairs. Before they could even reach the bottom, the Italians loaded them up with bullets, dropping them one by one.

  Kalil peeked out and watched as all the disciples crowded around Hova, as if they were a human shield, and exchanged bullets with the Italians on the main floor of the club. Bullets flew for what seemed like forever.

  Kalil watched as they began to kill each other one by one. Bodies were getting filled with bullets and jerking left to right. Everyone in the room was on some real gangster shit. A roomful of Scarfaces, for real.

  The disciples were down to three members, and the Italians had two henchmen left. Hova bitched up and followed his disciples as they tried to shoot his boss out to safety. They then went on the main floor and traded shots with the remaining Italians.

  When the shooting finally stopped, Kalil came from under the desk. He looked down on the main floor and noticed that it was covered with dead bodies and blood. The sight was a gruesome one. No one was left standing. Kalil hadn’t seen so many dead bodies in his life. It looked more like a horror movie than a scene from real life.

  Peanut’s black Ford Expedition skidded into the club’s parking lot, nearly doing a doughnut. He threw the truck in park and gave London one of his guns. “If anyone comes to the car, shoot first and ask questions later.” He quickly hopped out of the car and headed into the building.

  London tried to ask, “But what if—” but Peanut had already exited the car. She looked at Jada and assured her that she was going to see her father very soon. All she could do was wait.

  Kalil crept down the stairs in search of Hova. He prayed that he wasn’t dead, because he wanted to kill him personally. Tears flowed down his cheek, and his limbs trembled as he frantically searched the room. He stepped over the dead bodies scattered across the dance floor. He couldn’t believe his eyes. The Italians and the disciples had managed to kill off each other.

  Kalil screamed, “Hova! Come out, you bitch-ass mu’fucka!” He stood in the middle of the room, his fist clenched. He knew Hova was hiding somewhere in the club, ’cause there was no sign of him. Kalil spotted a gun in one of the dead disciple’s hands. He grabbed it with one thing on his mind—avenging Jada and London’s death.

  Hova hid underneath the liquor bar, his gun gripped tight. He only had one bullet left and began to think about his next move. He quickly peeked at the dance floor and watched as Kalil picked up a gun from one of the dead bodies. “Fuck!” he whispered to himself. He knew that a shoot-out was out of the question, especially with one bullet.

  “Hova!”

  Hova knew that after what he did to Jada, Kalil wasn’t trying to talk. His hand began to shake uncontrollably. With all of his soldiers dead, he came to the realization that without the protection of his disciples, he was powerless.

  Peanut entered the club and walked into what looked like a graveyard, dead bodies piled up one on top of the other throughout the main floor, the smell of death in the air. He scanned the floor, hoping not to see Kalil’s body among the dead.

  “Come on, Kalil, where you at?” Peanut whispered to himself. He looked up to the second floor at Hova’s shattered office. Just as his eyes returned back to the main floor, he saw Kalil walking toward him, a weird glare in his eyes. Peanut instantly smiled and walked toward Kalil, throwing his hands up in relief. “Kalil, there you are. London and Jada are in—”

  Before he could even finish his sentence, Kalil raised his gun and shot a bullet into his arm, causing him to drop his gun.

  Kalil had spotted Peanut walking into the club and complete fury took over his body. Peanut had raised his hands and said something to him, but the only thing Kalil could hear was the two gunshots that rang through the speakerphone earlier.

  “Aghh!” Peanut yelled in agony as he hit the floor and grabbed his wounded arm. What the fuck is he doing? Peanut thought as the burning sensation emerged. He couldn’t understand why Kalil had bust at him.

  Kali walked over and hovered over him with his gun pointed directly at his head.

  “Kalil, what you doing, fam?”

  “I heard you. I fucking heard you kill my baby!” Kalil said, tears streaming down his face.

  Before Peanut could tell him that he didn’t kill them and that they were in the car, Kalil squeezed the trigger.

  Boom!

  One bullet through the forehead killed Peanut on contact. Kalil then emptied the entire clip into his body, filling him with holes. Letting off all the shots were like instant therapy for Kalil. He didn’t care anymore.

  After he found Hova, he promised himself he would reunite himself with Jada and London in death. “I used to have love for you, lil’ man. I hate you! I hate you! You took all that I had,” Kalil said, shooting round after round into Peanut’s lifeless body.

  Peanut’s eyes stared into space as Kalil stood over him still pulling the trigger although the gun was empty.

  Kalil thought about an infamous hood quote: They say if you die with your eyes open, you deserved it. He looked around knowing that Hova was somewhere in the large club. He kept his eyes on the door and knew that he hadn’t escaped. Now the only thing he had to do was find him.

  London began to get antsy as she heard the gunshots come from the inside of the club. “Oh my God,” she whispered as she put her hand over her mouth. She only could hope that the gunshots she’d heard weren’t for Kalil. At that point she didn’t know if he was dead or alive, and it was eating her up inside. She felt like it was all her fault. She knew that she was playing with fire by creeping around with him, but love blinded her judgment.

  “Jada, baby, let’s play a game. I want you to hide in the backseat until I get back, okay?”

  London said as she unskillfully picked up Peanut’s gun.

  “Okay, Miss London,” Jada said naively.

  London watched as Jada climbed over the seats and into the back. She didn’t know what she was about to do, but she knew she had to do something. She clenched the pistol and exited the truck. Hova is insane. I hope Kalil is okay. This bullshit is all my fault.

  Hova’s chest felt like he had a baboon on the inside trying to get out. His heart was beating so hard and fast, it was nearly unbearable. He had peeked over the bar and watched as Kalil emptied the whole clip into Peanut. If he could do that to his former protégé, Hova couldn’t even fathom what he was planning for him.

  He took out the clip and checked to see if he had any more bullets, as if he didn’t already know. Fuck! He knew he had two options: take Kalil out with one bullet, or hide like a bitch, hoping that Kalil wouldn’t find him. He had no idea that option three was getting ready to walk through the door.

  London frantically snatched open the entry door. She didn’t know what she planned on doing to help, but she knew that she couldn’t just sit in the car and do nothing while Kalil was inside fighting for his life.

  Nothing could have prepared her for the carnage that she witnessed when she entered the main room of the club. Her mouth dropped in astonishment, and her stomach turned at the sight of all the blood that covered the dance floor. There was one man still standing, and his gun was aimed at the body of Peanut.

  Oh my God, no. Peanut, she thought as she stood silent and motionless in the entryway. Her almond-shaped eyes widened in distress when she realized that the man standing before her was Kalil. “Kalil, what did you do?” she whispere
d loud enough for him to look her way.

  London’s voice was like sweet music to Kalil’s ears. He thought he’d never hear it again. “London?” He looked back at Peanut, who had been like a little brother to him for many years. “Fuck did I do?” Kalil knelt down beside Peanut. “I thought he killed you. I thought he killed my daughter,” Kalil tried to explain.

  “You didn’t know,” London said softly.

  Kalil was silent for a minute as he closed his eyes and said a quick prayer to God for Peanut’s soul.

  He stood to his feet, and just as he turned toward London, he saw Hova come out of the bar and approach her from behind.

  “London, watch out!” He tried to warn her, but his words were not quick enough. Hova was already positioned behind her with a pistol to her head.

  Kalil ran toward London, tripping over the dead bodies that lay scattered throughout the room. He tried to reach her, but Hova quickly halted him by aiming the gun in his direction.

  “You can be Superman if you want to. I guarantee these bullets won’t bounce off of you, though.” Hova knew that he only had one bullet for one person, but he figured that he had room to bluff, now that he had London’s life in his hands. The tables had quickly turned back in his favor. I’m in control, he thought to himself.

  London screamed, “Kalil!” as she reached for him.

  “You hear that, Kalil? The love of your life is calling for you.” Hova stared Kalil down with hatred. “Now put down the fucking gun, unless you want me to splatter her brains on the fucking floor.” He pressed the gun firmly against London’s head.

  “Aghh, Jake, please,” she begged. “I’ll do anything. Just please don’t hurt him.”

  It was at that moment that Kalil realized that London loved him in the exact same way that he did her. Her only worry was for his safety, and for that he would always love her, even in his death. He knew that if London was still alive then so was Jada. They would be fine as long as they had each other. She was the type of woman that he wanted to raise Jada. The type of woman that he wanted Jada to be when she grew up. He trusted her with his daughter’s life.