by Ca$H
“With everything that I am, I will make them muthafuckaz bleed from the inside out,” he vowed as he stroked her leg.
A sharp intense pain hit Kiam's chest and weakness settled at the back of his knees. He steadied his legs and brought his hands to his face and wept silently as thoughts of Faydrah and their unborn ripped the lining of his heart. A sharp scream came from the hallway, jolting him out of his painful remembrance.
“No! No! No!” Ms. Combs cries were as loud as thunder.
Kiam turned and walked to the door and took a deep breath before opening it to face the music. Once he saw Ms. Combs on the floor being comforted by two nurses the heat left his body.
“Oh, God, please. Not my baby. Not my baby,” she yelled. Her cries chilled Kiam to the bone.
He looked over at the twins who were booted and suited; they had the look of evil and the smell of death and carnage oozing from their pores. JuJu stood next to Bayonna who was standing there in an oversized sweater hugging herself with tears in her eyes.
Kiam moved over to Ms. Combs and tried to help her from the floor. When she looked up and saw Kiam’s face she snapped. “Don’t you touch me!” She swung her arms trying to be free and in seconds she was on her feet and grabbing at Kiam’s clothes. “This is your fault. Her blood is on your hands!” She raged as she pummeled him with both fists.
Kiam absorbed her blows as he wrapped his arms around her and allowed her to release her pain. “Why my baby?” she cried against his chest.
Three security guards came from different directions posting up around the waiting room. “Mind y’all muthafuckin’ business,” Isaac barked, pulling his hood back. He was itching for a reason to act up.
JuJu gave him a stern eye. “Chill my nigga,” he cautioned. Then he turned to the toy cops with his hand held up and projected his voice in their direction. “Y’all muthafuckaz can stand down we got it under control.”
The rent-a-cops were in uniform to earn a paycheck not a burial plot. They sensed that the young niggas across from them didn't give a fuck either way so they piped down and relaxed their postures.
Bayonna covered her mouth and stomach at the same time. The pain in Ms. Combs’ cry was making her nauseous. She had killed many and danced to the pleas of mercy from the mouths of her victims, but this was different. Kiam’s despair was shared by everyone in the room and for the first time she knew exactly what death did to the survivors.
“Kiam, what are we going to do without her?” Ms. Combs incoherently sobbed, clinching his hoodie tightly in her fist.
“I don’t know, Ma,” he replied, but his thoughts contradicted those words.
I'm turning this city into a killing field.
Ms. Combs lifted her head from his chest and locked eyes with him. “I want to see my baby,” she said.
“No, Ma, you don't want to see her like that,” he pleaded.
“Take me to see my baby!” she demanded tearfully.
Kiam conceded reluctantly. He took her hand in his and led her inside the room that held Faydrah's body. Both of their steps were heavily weighed down by a grief that no amount of time would ever lessen.
When Ms. Combs saw what they had done to her only child she fell into Kiam's arms weeping. “Why would they do my baby like this? What kind of animal would do this to a pregnant woman, Kiam? My baby had never harmed anyone,” she wept uncontrollably.
“Let's go, Ma,” he whispered consolingly.
“No! Wait.” Her sobs were heart-wrenching.
Kiam allowed her cries to subside as he held her tightly. Ms. Combs wiped her face then stepped back to the head of the gurney and placed a kiss on Faydrah's lips. Her tears splashed onto her daughter's blood encrusted face. “Momma loves you baby,” Ms. Combs cried.
Kiam watched on with grief stronger than any emotion he had ever known. Ms. Combs raised up and turned to him with a coldness in her eyes as frigid as the subzero winds that blew in off Lake Erie. “You kill everything they love. Make them hurt more than we hurt.” Her shaky voice pleaded in a hushed but stern tone.
Kiam saw the seriousness in her eyes; it was as irreversible as her daughter's tragic demise. “I promise we won’t be the only ones mourning, Ma. I vow that on my soul and on the soul of my son,” Kiam uttered.
Ms. Combs grabbed his collar with both hands and shook him. “When you find the one that did this to my baby and my grandchild you make them suffer in the worst way. You hear me, Kiam?”
“Yes ma'am.”
When they emerged from the room Kiam stepped over to JuJu and the twins and issued a firm directive. “From now on ain’t nobody safe. If you think a muthafucka is a problem—kill ‘em, and when they get to heaven Jesus can explain it,” he ordered.
Beside JuJu, Bayonna swallowed her spit hard. She knew that Blood Money was a number one target and if she could not hide it from JuJu she would be on their list. Kiam was going to murder muthafuckaz and ask question later. It was time to disband Blood Money.
Kiam's eyes met hers and as if he could see her thoughts floating above her head, he gritted, “Where in the fuck is Lissha and Treebie?”
Bayonna couldn't answer because she was wondering the same gotdamn thing.
Chapter 3
The Alibi
Kiam turned and headed for the door and the others silently filed out behind as grief and unspoken suspicions choked off any words that were on anyone's lips.
Bayonna walked a few steps behind JuJu running the whole night's events through her mind. She knew one thing for sure and two things for certain, Kiam suspected that Lissha's and Treebie's unexplained whereabouts had something to do with Faydrah's murder. In his present state of mind he was unpredictable and even more dangerous than usual.
She looked at the twins who were on Kiam's heels itching to cause a bloodbath in revenge of Kiam's loss. JuJu was hard to read, even though his heart was hers, she knew that he was fiercely loyal to Kiam. The one thing she could not let happen was the murder of her bitches. There was a tacit agreement amongst the Blood Money crew—kill a nigga before they killed you.
JuJu was her boo but she would turn his insides out and his mans could get it too, for that matter, if they came for her bitches. Slowly she pulled her hand back from his and slowed her pace. JuJu turned slightly recognizing her hesitation to continue to the car. “What’s up?” he asked with a wrinkled brow and tight jaw.
“I’ma ride alone, if anybody can find them it’s me,” she said softly, trying to ease his suspicion.
JuJu paused for a minute, looking over her face trying to capture her angle. “Yeah, a’ight. But as soon as you connect with them bitches you hit me first.” He issued firm instructions.
“I got you.” She moved forward and placed a kiss on his lips.
JuJu kept a hard stance, he was on his murder shit and being loving was far from his mind.
“It's going to be okay, baby,” she assured him. The love in her voice calmed that beast in him momentarily.
“Be careful,” he warned as she hit the alarm to her car. He saw her inside then flipped back into beast mode.
Turning to the twins he ordered, “Isaac follow Kiam. Isaiah come with me.” Each man stepped to their position with murder at the front of their mental.
Kiam made sure that Ms. Combs could drive herself home in her present condition. “I'm okay. You go out and find the person that did that to my baby,” she replied stoically.
He hugged her and stood watching as she drove off. With the sleeve of his coat he wiped a lone tear that trickled from his eye. When Ms. Combs exited the lot Kiam walked to his whip with a single purpose that leaked from his pores.
Bayonna pulled out the parking lot, grabbed her cell and begin hitting numbers. Again no answer. She combed her mind trying to replay the puzzle of events that had just brought hell to all their door steps. As she disconnected from Treebie's voicemail a call came in from Lissha.
“Hello,” she answered in a rush.
“Yeah bitch, why
you blowing up my shit, don't that little boy keep you busy?” Lissha said.
“LiLi, we got trouble.”
“Maybe you have trouble but I'm good. I'm about to smoke some loud, drink some Ciroc, and get fucked up.”
“You better change those plans. Faydrah got killed and you're a suspect in Kiam's eyes. I hope you have a good alibi.”
“What?” Lissha's voice was full of surprise. “When did that happen?” she asked.
“A couple of hours ago.”
“Shit! That nigga about to go ham.” Lissha sat the Ciroc down on the table heavily as she conjured up a lie that would explain her absence at the time of Faydrah's murder.
**********
As Treebie pulled up to her house she noticed Bayonna’s car parked only feet away from her driveway. She slowed down and darted her eyes around the area. Seeing that Bayonna was alone Treebie pulled past her and parked. She grabbed her gun from the console, took off the safety and slipped it in her jacket pocket. When she exited the vehicle Bayonna hopped out and began moving quickly in her direction.
They met up at the edge of Treebie's front lawn. Bayonna pulled up the collar of her coat to combat the freezing cold; huge flakes of snow cascaded down from the sky. Treebie was only rocking a jacket, she seemed oblivious to the low temperatures and gusting wind. “What's with the serious face? And why are you parked out in front of my damn house like I'm in trouble or something?” asked Treebie, looking at Bayonna curiously.
“Because you might be if you can't explain where you've been?”
How could she know already? Treebie wondered.
“Excuse you?” She looked at Bayonna like she had grown another head. “Since when do I report to a muthafucka? I'm not that bitch. That dick that young boy giving you must have you confused.” She headed up the walkway with Bayonna closely behind her.
Inside the house Treebie stepped out of her shoes and hung her jacket up in the front closet. Bayonna rubbed her hands together and blew into them. “Damn. Bitch, turn the heat up in here it's freezing cold,” she complained.
“You can do a U-turn. You always trying to run what goes on in the next person's shit.” Treebie was so not in the mood for the bullshit. She had put in work today and still had tracks to cover.
“What's your problem?” Bayonna asked, walking across the room to the thermostat on the wall to crank the heat up.
“See that's why you need to keep your ass at home in your own shit,” said Treebie, taking a seat on the couch. Her mind was elsewhere.
Bayonna ignored her snide remark as she headed back across the room wearing a gloomy expression on her face. She sat down across from Treebie and spoke in a harried but hushed tone.
Treebie sat staring at Bayonna as the last words left her lips she had said a mouth full but all Treebie heard was “Faydrah is dead.”
“Hold the fuck up. What did you just say?” she asked.
“I said everything you think I said?” Bayonna replied. She had an accusatory expression on her face.
Treebie picked up on it immediately, “Bitch, you better lower your brow. If I would have killed Faydrah you would be mourning Kiam too. I would never leave that nigga alive to come for us.” She stood up and began pacing back and forth.
“Well that nigga coming and if we don’t have a sound story our ass gonna be lying right next to her,” Bayonna said, rubbing her hands together still trying to warm them.
“Did you get in contact with Lissha?” Treebie asked.
Before Bayonna could respond the doorbell rang.
Treebie froze in place looking over at Bayonna. Bayonna looked at the door as if it had blood seeping from the frame. Treebie moved to the closet and grabbed her piece from her coat just as Bayonna retrieved hers from the small of her back. Treebie moved to the door and Bayonna moved to the window. Silently, they both checked to see who was at the door uninvited; this was the wrong time to be dropping in on them. Treebie cautiously looked out the peep hole while Bayonna settled her eye through a small opening in the curtain.
“It’s Lissha,” Bayonna mouthed.
“She alone?” Treebie mouthed back.
Bayonna nodded then Treebie stepped back and slowly opened the door.
“Why y’all bitches acting all scary open the fucking door.” Lissha pushed through the small crack Treebie had provided. Lissha looked over at Bayonna who was standing firm with her gun at her side. “Bitch, why the fuck you standing over there looking like a damn Charlie’s Angel?” she said, moving to the couch.
“Lissha don’t play. This shit is serious,” Bayonna said, checking the window one more time then went back to her seat.
Treebie also looked out the peep hole then stood next to the couch staring down at Lissha and Bayonna. “She told you what happened to Faydrah?” Treebie asked while watching Lissha’s body language closely.
“Why you looking at me like that?” Lissha instantly caught feelings.
“Bitch, don’t play. Did you kill that girl?”
“Tree, you know me better than that. I didn’t like the bitch but I don’t roll like that. Shit, you didn't like the ho either. Where was yo ass?” She turned the heat back to Treebie’s corner.
“Don’t worry about where I was. Kiam is going to come for yo ass first.” Treebie gave her a swift wakeup call.
“He is fucked up right now. Neither one of you are safe.” Bayonna looked up from her seated position as she replayed the pain she saw on Kiam’s face. “We gotta cover y'all tracks right. I am not trying to bury another one of us.” Bayonna’s eyes rotated back and forth between Treebie and Lissha.
“Look, I was with Spank,” Lissha said, throwing her hands up in the air. “I just left him.”
Treebie's brow creased as she heard the lie leave Lissha’s lips. She started to blow her shit up but she needed more information before she pulled her card.
“Well, I was with JuJu so I’m good.” Bayonna also tossed an alibi on the table.
At the same time Bayonna and Lissha looked up at Treebie who was in deep thought. Treebie felt the heat coming from their direction and snapped out of her trance. “Bay, I already told you but I will repeat it for the bitch that was not here. I’m not sloppy. I would never take the body and leave the head,” Treebie spat, glaring down at them.
“This shit is fucked up,” Bayonna said. “We got this Blood Money trail and now we got Kiam and them on our ass tight.”
“I took care of the Blood Money thing.” Treebie’s voice cracked as she thought about Wa’leek’s dead body laying only thirty feet away.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Lissha questioned with her brow raised.
Treebie stood there for a minute; she took a deep breath, shook her head, and then said. “Come with me.”
Bayonna and Lissha rose to their feet and followed her to the bedroom. When Treebie opened the door and Lissha’s eyes rested on Wa’leek’s dead body she gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. “Tree, what did you do?” She looked at her with teary eyes.
“Who is that?” Bayonna asked, gape-mouthed.
“Tree. What the fuck?” Lissha continued to grill her girl.
“I had to, Lissha.”
“Why? Wah was one hundred.”
“He found everything, LiLi.” Treebie’s heart started to pound in her chest as Lissha’s reaction made her actions real.
“But Tree,” she looked bewildered, “that’s Wah.”
“Lissha I know,” she said as a little pain hit the back of her throat.
Lissha moved closer to the bed to get a better look. She shook her head in utter disbelief. If Treebie could murk her own husband nobody was untouchable to her.
“Who is that Treebie,” Bayonna repeated her unanswered question.
Treebie swallowed her spit. “It’s my husband, Bay.”
“Oh, shit. What happened?” Bayonna also moved in closer. Wa'leek's whole chest was opened up.
“I came home and he had found everything in the basemen
t’s cabinet: guns, masks and voice distorters. He knew everything,” Treebie said, looking over at Lissha.
“What we gonna do?” Lissha put the ball in Treebie’s court.
“We gotta do like Bayonna said tighten our shit up and get rid of the only thing that connects us to Blood Money.” She pointed at Wa’leek. “We gotta stay strong. We all we got,” Treebie said as they looked in her direction.
Lissha nodded her head up and down and Bayonna was stuck shaking hers from side to side.
“This shit is fucked up,” Bayonna said again as she realized that things were going to only get worse. Kiam was no fool and her girls apparently had more than she could imagine hiding behind their pretty smiles. “This is too fucking much. I need some fresh air.” She sighed heavily as she left out of the room.
Lissha and Treebie stood there silently. Finally Lissha threw her hands up and headed for the door too. Treebie reached out and snatched her by the arm, turning her around.
“Bitch, what is your problem?” asked Lissha. She looked down at Treebie's hand on her arm.
Treebie didn't flinch. When she removed her hand off of Lissha it was only to close the door. Then she stepped up in her girl's grill. “Bitch, come clean or I'ma get in that ass.”
Lissha put her hand up and tried to move Treebie back a step but she was planted in that spot. “Talk or fight, bitch,” spat Treebie.
“I don't have shit to say because I haven't did anything. And I'm not doing anymore fighting.” Lissha's hand went inside of her coat. “We can let these tools pop off if it's that serious.”
“Say that.” Treebie's hand went to the small of her back.
Over Treebie's shoulder Lissha caught a glimpse of Wa'leek's body on the bed with his chest turned inside out. That was one hundred percent proof that Treebie's gun didn't hesitate or discriminate.
Lissha was the one to blink. “What are you asking?” she asked, letting her hand fall to her side.
Treebie kept hers where it was, wrapped around the butt of her hammer. “So, you was with Spank, huh?” she set the trap.
Lissha unsuspectingly stepped right into it. “Yeah. I told you that already. If you don't believe me call him and ask him. Not that I owe you an explanation of my whereabouts.”
