“I ain’t selling the rights to my fucking music!” I barked, and he just shrugged as he locked up his briefcase and followed Greezy and Joaquin out.
After weighing the options of robbing a bank or selling my house and cars, I got up and left the suite. I rode the elevator down, and when I stepped off, I dialed my lawyer, Theo.
“Oh, Mr. Hampton, I was just about to call you. What did you need?”
“I need to talk with you about something. I’m gon’ meet you at your office in about an hour, okay?”
“Actually, that’s perfect. I’ll be here.”
“Aight.”
I didn’t know what his ass had to talk to me about really, because I’d settled the shit with Nadine when I gave her damn daddy a hefty ass check. That shit pissed me off just thinking about it, but I guess her ass deserved it. Little bitch.
I got to Theo’s office about thirty minutes later, and when I made my way up, I had to sit in the waiting area for a little bit since he was on some call of his. I was hoping he was about to tell me that Nadine’s people had settled everything out of nowhere or something like that. I mean, what the fuck else could I be here for?
“Sorry about that, Mr. Hampton, busy day. Come on back.” Theo peeked out of his office and waved me to the back. “Go ahead and have a seat so we can talk.” He sat behind his desk and scooted closer to it.
“Nah, I have to talk first. Look, these venues I was to perform at are suing my record label for this amount.” I showed him the paper and put my finger where the 7 million was.
Theo bucked his eyes and lifted the paper to get a better look.
“Wow, okay, so yeah, you just tell me how you want to pay this I guess, and I will meet up with this Jacob guy to get it squared away.”
“Aight. I’m gon’ have to sell my second home and all of my cars to pay that. I only have a little bit of that shit in actual cash, and I don’t wanna use that because I’ll be flat broke.”
“Understood.”
“Aight, so what did you have to tell me?”
“Mr. Hampton, I wanted to give you some options to take on this Parrish case. Now—”
“Wait, what options? That shit is done with.”
Frowning in confusion, Theo replied, “No, it’s not done with. The case is moving forward and trial is in two weeks. I—”
“No! That muthafucka, her fucking daddy, broke into my house and had me write him a check for two million to settle out of court!”
“Mr. Hampton, please tell me you didn’t do that. And if you did, please tell me you have proof of the money going from you to the Parrish’s.”
“He took the duplicate, but the money was taken from my account, I saw it!”
“Okay, log into your bank here.” Theo typed on his computer, and then handed me the keyboard. I went to the site, logged in, then went to show him where the money had been taken. “Hmm, it looks like it was put into an untraceable account, so I would have your accountant look into that one, Mr. Hampton. But I can tell you now, that it doesn’t look good.”
“An untraceable account? How the fuck is that even possible?”
“I have no idea. Either Mr. Parrish was some kind of kingpin back in the day or a mobster of some sort, or he’s just really smart.”
Fuck. I remembered people saying that nigga Switch was the man, and I’m assuming they meant he was like Pablo Escobar or something. The shit made sense now.
“So now what? Huh?”
“As I said before, trial is in two weeks, however, it’s not looking good. I think we need to settle out of court, officially, and go on about our lives, Mr. Hampton.”
“Settle? For how much?”
“They want 5 million dollars.”
I started laughing hard as hell, making Theo squint his eyes.
“There is no fucking way I am paying 5 million dollars. I won’t even have enough when I’m done selling my shit to pay these venues.”
“It’s either that or go to trial. But I can promise you that if we go, you will lose, and you will go to prison for a minimum of twenty years, Mr. Hampton; a minimum.”
“How! I didn’t even do shit!”
Theo gave me a look that said, ‘are you joking?’ which made me suck my teeth.
“You physically assaulted Nadine, put her in a coma, and then caused her to have a heart attack when you knocked her breathing tube out of its machine. She has nurses who are willing to back her story, and so far, ten women have come forward saying you’ve abused them as well, before or after sexual encounters.”
“They’re just some fucking groupies!”
“It doesn’t matter, Mr. Hampton. The evidence against you is overwhelming at this point, and it is best to settle or you’ll go to jail. The judge is a woman too, so after hearing these statements of your pattern of abuse, she will not show mercy. You may have had a chance if this was a first offense, but it’s not. I also wished you had have told me that you’d abused women in the past, I could have maybe found some way to prevent this.”
“I don’t even know how they found this shit out.”
“Their really good lawyer went digging, and whenever you go digging, you find things. And they found these women, who then stated that you abused them, and most of them happened in hotels that had the camera footage of these women leaving with battered faces. They even canvassed your neighborhood, and two of your neighbors admitted to seeing you choke your child’s mother in the driveway, during the time she was pregnant.”
Had I known this shit would come back to bite me like this, I would have for sure kept my hands to my fucking self. It wasn’t like I liked to hit women, just when they pissed me off, I reacted.
“Wow.”
“Then Tick, your old bodyguard, was the nail in the coffin.”
“That muthafucka. Wait, can’t we plead not guilty by reason of insanity? I’m bipolar and I have the medication and doctor’s records to prove it!”
Exhaling heavily, Theo replied, “The problem with that, Mr. Hampton, is that you’re not insane. An insane person is someone who cannot detect the difference between right and wrong, someone who feels what they’ve done is no biggie, and a person who can honestly say that while they were committing a crime, they had no idea it was a bad thing.” He sighed and pushed his hair back. “An insane person would not be panicking the way you are now, because they’ve done nothing wrong in their eyes. Plus, to plead insanity, you’d have to convince a therapist you’re crazy, and I’m sure they’d just interview the therapist you have now, who would deny such.”
“I mean, we could make it seem like my sickness convinced me, can’t we?”
“How? By saying you were so depressed those days that you beat up a couple women? And mentioning your cocaine habit as a source is not smart either.”
“Fuck!” I shouted, knowing the shit sounded stupid as fuck.
“Mr. Hampton, your condition in particular makes you really, really sad some days, which the judge would know. The majority of people with bipolar II live pretty normal lives; the judge knows that as well.” He pushed his hair back again. “So what do you want to do? We can pay this money and you move on with your freedom. Or, you can fight this thing and hope for the best. It’s your choice. I will do my best to get you off if we go to trial, but we’d have a better chance at sailing in a boat with a hole in it.”
“Let’s just settle.”
***
Later that night …
After I left Theo’s office, I hit up my assistant to let her know to start putting my houses and cars on the market. I wasn’t sure where the hell I was gonna live, but I was sure I could move back in with my mama or maybe MG. I then hit my accountant so we could see where I’d be financially after all this.
I’d been at the bar since 4 p.m. in the afternoon, just drinking as much as I wanted to. I almost snorted some cocaine, but one, I didn’t have any, and two, my dealer wasn’t fucking with me. I wasn’t fucking with him either after he came for Bia, but tha
t was my fault for dodging him knowing I had the money. And lastly, my nose was still healing from my second nose job from Ricky snapping my nose, so snorting something sounded painful anyway.
I dragged my feet up my stairs, in disbelief that this house and my other house would no longer be mine soon.
When I got to the top, I looked at the bedroom door that belonged to my son’s room and just stared. I knew what I was supposed to feel and supposed to act like as a father, but I couldn’t. I didn’t want a kid, and that was the honest to God truth. It just wasn’t the right damn time for me, and the wrong woman.
You would think I had a horrible father, but I had a great one. I didn’t even know the nigga was ‘sick’ until I got ‘sick’ in my late teens. My pops was bipolar I with bouts of schizophrenia, so he was way worse off. But he kept his shit under control, at least in front of me. I didn’t see him wild out until my mom told him she wanted a divorce, and I guess he just let go after that. But I was thankful that I didn’t have what he had, because he definitely fit the insane bill when he was off his medication, unlike me, who just got sad randomly.
“Aye, Lacie, you up?” I walked into the bedroom. I wanted to talk to her ass, see if she could support us until I figured some shit out. “Lacie,” I slurred and rocked her body. “Aye, get yo’ ass up,” I said, turning the lamp on.
She was lying on her back, still as hell. Placing my fingers under her nose, I didn’t feel anything. I then checked her pulse, and it was at that point I realized her ass was dead.
I hurriedly pulled my phone out and dialed 911, to let them know I had a dead body in my fucking bed. After telling me they were on their way, I called my mama to come through because I was losing my shit. I was a little scared because I didn’t know how the fuck Lacie had ended up dead in my crib, and secondly, I was really assed out in the money department without her.
When I heard sirens, I rushed down the stairs and just as I opened the front door, the police and ambulance were pulling up. I let them in and directed them to where Lacie was, and they confirmed she was dead.
“Anyone else in the house?” the EMT asked as he put Lacie on the stretcher. Just as I was about to answer, my son’s cries poured through the baby monitor.
Now who the fuck was gon’ take care of his ass?
“Umm, nah, just me and my kid.”
“Okay. Do you have any idea of what happened to her?” They started rushing her out of the room so I followed.
I knew this was Greezy’s doing, and I was sure when it came down to it, the police would be pointing the finger at me. Not to mention, I was left to be a single damn father. It was like he waited for the perfect time. Shit seemed to only get worse for a nigga.
“Nah, I don’t know,” I lied.
“Hey, I just need to ask you some questions then. Detective Gio Grant.” A guy stopped me from following the EMTs and reached to shake my hand.
“Sure, no problem.”
“Quick question, have you been drinking?”
Fuck. I knew this was only the damn beginning.
Chapter Nine: Kattlyn
MG had been texting me a lot, and I can’t say I didn’t like it. Of course I only responded with short texts because I wanted him to know I was serious when I said to pick a damn side. He was not about to be dating me, while still letting Isla get to him. I understood she did things that pissed him off, but once he started fucking bitches to get back at her, I knew we had a problem. So until he could be a man and let me know what the deal was, I was not sending him any signals that said I was still loving on him, even though I was.
“Okay, Kattlyn, I just need you to sign quite a few documents for me so that we can go ahead and file this. After we’re done, you should be getting your Visa in about a week.” My lawyer Robert smiled and pushed a stack of papers towards me.
“Damn, all of this?”
“Yep. It’s just acknowledging a few things to make sure you’re eligible, which we know you are. Also, your signature states that you agree to abide by certain American laws.”
“Right. Okay.”
I began signing what felt like my life away, on every single page in the stack after scanning it. It wasn’t like I had a choice anyway. I either needed to sign or take my ass back to Cuba, and the latter wasn’t happening. I needed to be here; not only for myself, but for the baby I was growing in my belly. Plus, I had gotten this far, getting interviewed and a bunch of other shit, so this was nothing. I just wished my parents were here to see this.
I finished with the papers, and Robert gave me some more information before leaving. All I remembered was that I’d be getting my Visa soon unless something went wrong, which was unlikely at this stage. Knowing that I would no longer be looking over my shoulder, and that I would no longer be scared to drive because I didn’t want to get pulled over, had me at ease.
After leaving Robert’s office, I went to my school because I had to drop off some homework in my teacher’s mailbox. When done, I stopped by the small store on campus because like always, I needed a snack at random times. When I got onto the chip aisle, I saw Nolan, so I brushed my fingers across his fresh fade, and grinned when he looked my way.
“You always playing.” He smirked and pulled me into him. I felt his dick on my leg, and suddenly, the moment got serious. “My bad.” He let me go.
“It’s cool. What are you still doing here?” I asked.
“Had a meeting with my counselor, and this late slot was all she had left. Why you here?”
“Had to drop off that assignment to Professor Hater.” I rolled my eyes and Nolan chuckled.
“She’s nice as hell to me.”
“Yeah, because she wants to sleep with you. She doesn’t want to sleep with me, so I’m at a disadvantage.”
“Yeah, well she’s tripping for not wanting to smash yo’ fine ass.” He licked his lips and then placed the chips he wanted on the counter. He then snatched the ones I’d picked and placed them there too.
“Don’t think buying my chips will get you some pussy. I told you I still want my ex-boyfriend.” I smirked.
“I can’t be nice? And if I wanted some pussy, I know how to get it. And buying chips ain’t the way, at least not for a woman like you.” He peeled off cash and handed it to the cashier, before giving me my bag.
“Glad you know. Thank you, and see you Monday.” I grabbed my chips and started out the door.
“Aight, and stop bringing that nigga up, I get jealous!” Nolan yelled out with a smile, and I just gave him one back with the shake of my head.
The ride home was smooth because I was tearing them chips up and grooving to some Cuban tunes. Today had been a great day, and all I needed was some head and some dick, and I’d be set.
When I pulled into the driveway of Draylah’s old home, I noticed a car pulled up behind me. I slowly put the gearshift into park, and then turned the car off to see who the fuck would be pulling in. I knew all of MG’s cars, so this was not him. My heart dropped to my ankles when a big, bald, burly nigga climbed out of the driver’s side. He was the same dude that beat Flow’s ass that night, and I was 100% sure he was Bull. I’d been doing well dodging his ass, because I was always extra careful. But I guess I wasn’t tonight, and now he knew where I lived.
Deciding to try my luck, I hopped out the car quickly and darted towards the door, hoping to get inside before him.
“Come here, bitch!” he growled, snatching me up by my hair so roughly that I thought it would come out of my scalp. “Yeah, I let yo’ ass get comfortable.” He laughed loudly, sounding just like the man who talked on Michael Jackson’s Thriller song.
“Please! Please! I’ll do whatever you want!” I moved about, trying to pry his large rough hands from my scalp.
WHAM!
He dropped me and backhanded me so crucially that my body slammed into the front door.
“You’ve done the unthinkable, bitch, and now it’s over for yo’ ass!” Bull gritted down at me, eyes dark like I assu
med the devil’s were.
“Wait, wait—”
WHAM!
Bull yanked me up by my hair and delivered a powerful punch to my stomach. I tried to fight back, but his slap from earlier was more like a damn punch and I was dazed. I screamed and cried, but no one around gave a fuck obviously as this man fucked me up.
CRASH!
Suddenly the beating stopped, and Bull’s grip on my hair loosened as he stumbled. When he did, I saw MG behind him, wearing an angry expression after having hit Bull over the head with one of the potted plants.
CRASH!
MG dropped another on Bull, causing him to stumble and fall to the floor. When Bull fell, it was obvious he was dead. I guess he and his brother had weak heads or something.
“Umm,” I sniffled, dabbing blood from my lip. “I think he’s dead, Micah.”
“Fuck!” MG shouted. “Open the fucking door!” he ordered and after fumbling with my keys a bit, I got it open. “Shit, this nigga is heavy as fuck,” he grunted after trying to pull Bull inside to no avail. “What the fuck am I gon’ do?” MG panicked, staring down at Bull. “I just fucking killed somebody.” He turned to face me. “Who is this nigga?”
“My pimp’s brother,” I whispered.
“Who?”
“My old pimp, Kraze, that’s his brother, he … remember when I said I got away? Well he was back to … to avenge what I’d done.” I looked down as I spoke.
“Oh my gosh, Kattlyn.” MG stepped into the house, dialing. Whoever he called answered, and then he talked to them about needing help. It sounded like it was Ricky but I wasn’t too sure.
“I’m sorry,” I cried when MG hung up. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I was just so stuck on getting away from everything. And when I met you, you gave me a break from it all. And I knew if I told you what I’d been doing and what I’d done, you wouldn’t want anything to do with me. You’re a good guy, and guys like you don’t like girls like me.” I sobbed violently as MG just stood there staring at me.
“Listen.” He brought me into his chest. “You robbed me and I still fucked with you. Guess how many times I’ve been robbed by a female?”
She Got It Bad for a Heartless Gangsta Page 26
