Moth to a Flame
Ashley Antoinette
www.urbanbooks.net
All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Phase 1
Prologue
Chapter One - Na, na, na, diva is a female version of a hustla of a hustla, of a, of a hustla
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Phase 2 - Five Years Later
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Phase 3
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Epilogue - One Year Later
Other Novels by Ashley and JaQuavis
Copyright Page
Dedication
I dedicate this book to my husband. A love so great did not exist until God made us. I appreciate all that you do and all that you are. I love riding shotgun with you in all that we do ... We knew what it was before anyone else and we are taking this thing all the way to the top. The book game will never be the same.
Acknowledgments
Of course I would like to thank God for all of His blessings. I have been through so many things in my lifetime, and some things I did not always understand, but every experience has taught me a valuable lesson. There was a reason why I encountered every storm. Both the good and bad times gave me the motivation I needed to become a great author. I thank Him for giving me the talent to convey my story to the world.
I’d like to acknowledge my co-author and partner, JaQuavis. The world isn’t ready for our true story yet, but it is definitely one for the books. I could not have done this with anyone else but you.
To my mother and father, Jacqueline and Yul. I love you both with all of my heart. Y’all did quite a job when you made me, lol... . No, but seriously, I could not ask for better parents. I am so lucky to have both of you and I thank you for all of the sacrifices you have made for me. To my siblings, Mario, Syd, Yul, and Yulanai, I love you guys ... I know you are all on your way to doing great things. I believe in you all because each of you has always believed in me. To Grandma Symullia Neely, I love you unconditionally and forever. You are the greatest woman I have ever known. To Grandma Annette Snell, I am nothing but a younger version of you. I love you for always supporting me and teaching me how to be a woman. I still have to hear some of your stories because you have lived quite a life and I know you have some good ones to tell. To my Papa, Leslie Neely, you are gone but never forgotten in my heart. To my Great Aunt Pat, I love you. Now you are the one who really reads my books and shows me your undying support. I am so glad that you enjoy what I do and am so grateful to have you in my corner. To my cousin Raven, you know I love you. You are my inspiration and you teach me so many things. I’m glad that I have you to keep my head on straight, remain humble, and to remind me what the word “family” really means. To my Auntie Monya, you are the most generous person I know. I love you very much. To my stepmom, Tammy, I have always admired you and wanted to be just like you. I love you always. Thank you for being here for me and being such a good person in my life. I send love out to all of my family: Amber, Courtney, Jazzy Phe, India, Uncle Sam, Stevie, Chandra, B.J., Wayne, Kiara, Cammy, Jada, Joy, Amir, Zykia, Zannie, Tori, Auntie Lana, Auntie Bubbles, Auntie Lyri-ca, Auntie Darnesha, Quan, Markise, Aunt Lisa, Margo, and all of the rest of y’all (there are too many to keep naming) but trust me I didn’t forget you guys. To my entire family ... I love you ... this is getting way to long so I’m wrapping this section up.
To Carl Weber, you are family and I have all the love in the world for you and the entire Urban Books family. Here we are five years later!! Who would’ve thought that time would bring us this far? I appreciate you for believing in me and my work. You put the money up from the beginning and saw the potential before I had even proven myself. You have watched my talent grow and have supported me from the time I signed my first publishing deal at seventeen. I look forward to doing bigger and better things in the future.
To Tazzy2Bossye aka Tammy Freeman ... I had to put your government name in here after all that you’ve done to help me with Moth to a Flame. I really appreciate your support and input on my sophomore novel. You have a remarkable talent. There are not many people who can analyze a book the way you do, and I have to say that this one is for you. Readers like you help me perfect my craft.
To Denard, Edd McNair, Brenda Owen, and the entire Urban Books family ... thank you all for your constant support.
To Natalie Weber aka Nat, thank you for putting up with the many e-mails. I appreciate you for all you do for us and all of the hard work you put in on our behalf. You’re the best.
To my girls: Ashley Mustafaa, Tamia Tolbert, Tiffany Deloney, Char Lynn Midock, Donecia “Rudy” Conner, Shonda Gaylord, Sharonda Bowman, Keisha Ervin, and one of my newest friends, Christine Love ... I appreciate you ladies always. You guys are my truest and dearest friends and I love you. Thank you for always being there.
To my heart, Saquarius “Shay Shay” Holland. You are so grown now that you make me feel old. I love u! Hey, Tee-Tee ... I know you thought I forgot you, but I didn’t. I love you too. Thank you for being here. I’m so glad we are close and I appreciate you so much.
To my cousin, Shenita Hill, and all of her girls behind the wall who support and read our books . . . Shameka Baker, Sharon Brown, Ms. Coretta Scott King, and all the rest of my fans in the Huron Valley Women’s Complex, thank you for your support.
To my editor, Maria, it’s always a pleasure to work with you. Thank you once again for doing such a great job.
To the hottest graphic designers in the game, Davida Baldwin, from Odd Ball Dsgns and Tony Trischler, from T3 Promotions. I thank you both for your hard work and hot creations when it comes to our covers. You guys always bring you’re A-game when it comes to our cover designs and we really appreciate you for summing up our stories in one hot package to be presented to the world.
To my biggest fan, Valnavia Brown ... thank you, hon. I told you I wouldn’t forget you. You’re the best.
To Perry White, a sixteen-year-old young man who was lost to the streets way too soon. R.I.P.
Last, but certainly not least, to all of the book clubs, book stores, street vendors, and libraries who support the Ashley & JaQuavis and Ashley Antoinette books. I thank y’all for keeping me hot in the game and spreading the word about my books. Coast2Coast, Paper Dolls, Detroit Public Library, Genesee District Library, Thisis-formypeople, OOSA, and all of the rest....
Wow! Now that all of that is out of the way, here we go for another round of solo novels, and I’m up to the plate for the second time. The Ashley & JaQuavis books groomed me for this. They prepared me to step out on my own and present this Ashley Antoinette classic to our loyal readers. So many people have contributed to my career so far, and you all are my blessing. I appreciate every single person who picks up my books and every single fan who reaches out to me through e-mails. I do this for you and I thank you for sticking with me from the very beginning. It is because of you that I am so passionate about my work, and because of you that I have been blessed with so much success. So, as I let my pen bleed to give you another stor
y, sit back, relax, and rock with me as I present to you my sophomore novel ... Moth to a Flame.
Always Love,
Ashley Antoinette
Phase 1
Prologue
Raven sped through the city streets with her best friend, Nikki, in the passenger seat. She kept checking her rearview mirror to make sure no one was following her.
“I have to get out of here before he wakes up and finds out I’m gone,” she said desperately as she made her way across town, trying to get to Mizan’s last trap house. Robbing him blind had been her only option. She had nowhere to go and she had no choice but to leave. He grew more violent as each day passed and she could not take it anymore. She had been forced to take the money and get out of Dodge. If she hadn’t, he would have eventually killed her. So far she had $100,000 in her possession, but she had one more stop to make. She had collected from all of Mizan’s stash spots except for this last one. Although this dope spot was out of her way on the other side of town, she knew she could not skip it. This spot usually made more money than the rest of them combined, so there was no way that she was leaving town without hitting that safe. After everything he had put her through, she felt like she deserved every cent she was taking. With every tear he had caused her to shed, she had earned it. This was her reparation.
When she finally pulled up to the small yellow house on the city’s north side, she turned to Nikki. “I’ll be right back. If I’m not out in ten minutes, you pull off.” She looked in the backseat at her newborn baby boy who was sleeping soundly. “If anything goes wrong, you take him to the bridge at Mott Park. Ethic will be waiting. He’ll take care of him,” Raven said urgently. She lowered her head and pulled a pink envelope out of her purse. “If something happens to me, make sure Ethic gets this.”
Nikki shook her head and then hugged her friend. “Give it to him yourself. Nothing is going to happen, Rae. Just hurry up so you can get out of here.” Nikki stated.
Raven nodded, hopped out of the car, and ran inside the trap house. Mizan’s workers were not surprised to see her. She was the only person besides Mizan who came by regularly. The first and the fifteenth were the days that she collected the profit, Mizan had made from the streets, only this time she didn’t plan on turning them in. She was going to use the money to take her life back. She was purchasing her freedom on Mizan’s dime. Because of him, she had lost everything, and now it was payback time. All the black eyes he had given her, all the bruises she had been forced to cover up, all the lies he had told ... they were all about to come back on him. She was determined to deliver his karma to him personally. By robbing him blind she was going to give him the ultimate “fuck you.” and knock him off the throne he had stolen from her father. She was going to take him for everything he had and disappear into the night.
Her hands trembled as she avoided eye contact with Mizan’s workers. She watched the money machine as it counted the bills, making a rhythm in her head. The money symbolized her emancipation; all she had to do was make it out of the last stash house and she would be home free. Her foot tapped anxiously against the carpeted floor as she waited impatiently. She turned to look out the window and saw that the coast was still clear.
Hurry the fuck up, she thought eagerly as she tried to remain cool on the outside. Fear pumped through her veins like blood as the last stack was loaded into the machine.
“$135,000,” the worker reported as he began to put the money inside a duffel bag. Once she added that to the money she already had in the car she would be almost a quarter of a million dollars richer. That was enough for her to start her life over in a new city. I can become a new person, she thought. He’ll never find me. Raven helped the dude load the cash into the bag, and then grabbed it out of his hands before rushing out of the house.
She popped the trunk and threw it inside before getting into the car. She pulled out of the driveway so fast that she left burnt rubber on the pavement.
“How much is it?”
“Almost a quarter mill in total,” Raven said as tears came to her eyes. She gripped her abdomen tightly, feeling sick to her stomach. She was still recuperating from her hard labor, and the pain of moving was making it hard for her to escape, but she had to keep pushing. The pain would be much greater if she stayed with Mizan, and the memories of all of the fucked-up things he had done to her kept her pushing forward. “I can finally get away, Nik. I can use this money to hide out and get away from all of this madness,” she whispered as her soul cried.
Her father’s face flashed in her mind as she thought of everything that she had been through. Mizan had tried his hardest to break her and she had almost let him. By forgiving him repeatedly she had sent the message that it was acceptable for him to hurt her, but today was her day. Today her entire life was about to change.
“You know you can’t come back this time,” Nikki said, worried. She knew Raven like the back of her hand. She had attempted to leave Mizan before, but she always came back. Like a moth to a flame, Raven was drawn to Mizan. It was something that no one could ever understand. “You can’t let him say he’s sorry and you go running home. You have to leave him for good, Raven. If you don’t, he is going to kill you.”
“I know ... I’m not going back to him. I swear on everything I love that it’s over. I can’t take this anymore. He’s taken everything away from me and he has hurt everyone I love,” she whispered as she reached over and squeezed Nikki’s hand. “I’m so sorry, Nik ... I’m sorry for everything.”
“Girl, none of that matters. Let the past be just that—the past. Leave all the bullshit behind. You are getting out now and that’s all that counts, Nikki replied.
“I finally have something to fight for.” Raven looked back at her sleeping infant. “I just want to keep my baby safe.”
Nikki smiled and rubbed her friend’s hair gently. “We’re going to get you out of here. We’re almost there.”
As Raven headed toward Mott Park she remembered the day she first met Mizan. She had been so young and naïve to trust him. Now she was caught in his deadly web of deceit, and the closer she got to leaving him the more afraid she became. It would be so much easier for her to stay with him and go with the flow, but she was tired of being his punching bag. She was exhausted from fighting day in and day out. A part of her wanted to turn around and go back home, but as she drove she reminded herself of all the pain he had caused. This is what kept her pushing forward, and kept her foot on the gas. As she made her final escape she thought about her life, reflecting on the very first time she had met Mizan—the man who ruined her life.
Chapter One
Na, na, na, diva is a female version of a hustla of a hustla, of a, of a hustla
“Bitch, why are we bumping this old-ass shit?” Nikki shouted, trying to be heard over the loud subwoofers that vibrated her seat as she bobbed her head to the beat.
“Because ain’t no better way to announce me, babes. ’Im a, a diva I’m a, I’m a, a diva,’” Raven responded with playful arrogance as she whipped her shiny, brand new Lexus Coupe down Clio Road, one of the hottest strips in the entire city. It was the day of the annual Memorial Day celebration, and everybody who was anybody was out riding the strip as they waited for the festivities to begin. Heads turned as everyone tried to catch sight of the infamous Raven Atkins. The lyrics to the song may have been old, but as the local hustlers stopped in their tracks to catch a glimpse of the light-skinned beauty, Raven knew that the words rang true. Around the city of Flint, Michigan, Beyoncé didn’t have shit on her. She was hood royalty, the daughter of Benjamin Atkins—the most notorious kingpin the city had seen thus far—and she wore her title well. Her Coach kicks, tight skinny jeans, and casual, white baby tee were simple, but the curves of her voluptuous five feet seven inches frame transformed simple into chic. Niggas were thirsty as they tried to get at her, spitting whack game, each hoping that he would be the lucky one she chose. She was so fly that even the bitches couldn’t hate on her; they wanted
to, but all they could do was stop and stare while thinking, she put her shit together so right. She wasn’t the type of chick who bought knockoffs or rocked hundred-dollar weaves done by ten-dollar beauticians, and she definitely wasn’t the chick who wore a nice hook-up but accessorized her shit all wrong. No, Raven Atkins was a top-notch bitch with top-notch shit, and when she stepped out, not a hair on her head was out of place. She had gotten it from her mama, learning to be a lady from the best who had ever done it. At only seventeen, Raven knew her position and she played it like little ghetto girls played Double Dutch. She was the princess of the city and just in case anyone didn’t know it, she had it tattooed on her wrist and engraved on the plush leather headrests of her car.
“How did you get your dad to let you out the house?” Nikki asked as she pulled down her visor and applied lip gloss.
“He thinks I’m staying the night at your place. You think Auntie Gena will mind?” she asked, turning to her best friend with a concerned look on her face. The last thing she needed was to get caught in a lie by her father. He was extra strict with her, and if he had any idea that she was in the inner city, there would be hell to pay.
“Girl, please ... it’s nothing. You know my mama ain’t tripping, Nikki replied as she stepped out of the car. “You drinking?” she asked as she headed into the liquor store.
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