Hood Tales, Volume 1

by C. N. Phillips

  “I told you already, Dorian, I don’t know where the money is. Dumphy never told me.”

  Speaking just that one sentence seemed to take so much out of her. She hadn’t eaten or had any water since the day she was taken. Her body trembled violently, and she clenched her eyes shut again when she saw him walk toward her in the dimly lit basement. He grabbed her by the chin and tightly squeezed the swelling that was already there. Lay Lay winced, but she did not cry out. She didn’t have the energy, and she had started to welcome to pain.

  “Dumphy was in your house every day, and the way he liked to run his mouth, there is no way that he didn’t tell you.”

  “I told you all of the places that I think that he would put it. I just don’t know any more. Dumphy . . .” Lay Lay hung her head and inhaled deeply. She paused for a second, and before speaking in a whisper, thought about everything Dumphy put her through. “Dumphy wasn’t a good man to me. He could have twenty dollars while I had five, but still he’d take my five dollars. He took and took from me. My mistake was letting him. Yeah, I should have left him a long time ago. I was so scared of the thought of being alone that I didn’t realize that I was already alone. I don’t know where the money is. He was a selfish man. But, please”—that time the tears and sobs came as Lay Lay felt every word that came off of her tongue—“please don’t let them come in here and hurt me anymore. I’m a good woman. The only person in this world I’ve hurt is the child who would give me the clothes off her back behind a man who has put me in the position to lose my life. Please don’t let them hurt me anymore!”

  Dorian let Lay Lay’s chin go, but he did not stand up. He looked at the woman before him and took in the sight. In that moment, he did not view her as his enemy, but as a human being. He had not physically caused her pain, but the boys who were sent in to intimidate her had done damage. Her arms and legs had bruises on them that would take months to heal, and her jaw was probably broken from when Preston punched her in the face.

  He remembered when they first pulled up to her home, how she was kicking Dumphy out, and he sighed. There was no woman on earth who would endure that much pain for a man she didn’t even want anymore. She would have told him anything he wanted to know by now. The only reason she wouldn’t have told was if she didn’t know. He was sure that he’d taken many innocent lives in his time in the dope game, but hurting her was something he suddenly had no more desire to do.

  He reached for his pocket, and Lay Lay jumped hard, but all he pulled out was a handkerchief from the pocket of his two-button suit. With it, he dotted the areas just under her eyes where the tears had hit.

  “What are you doing?” she asked weakly.

  “Absorbing the pain that I have caused you,” he told her and pulled a set of keys from the same pocket. “Can you walk?”

  “I don’t know. I haven’t tried. Are you going to kill me now? Since I don’t know anything? If you do, please tell my daughter that I love her. And that I’m sorry.”

  “How about you tell her yourself?” Dorian freed her wrists and took notice of the cuts in her flesh caused by the tightness of the metal. Gently he placed an arm under her neck and another under her knees. “After you get some medical attention.”

  Epilogue

  The day of the masquerade ball finally came, and Glizzy sat watching everyone around him have a good time. The entire building was packed, and the DJ was playing everyone’s favorite songs back to back. It would go down as the party of the century. Too bad Glizzy wouldn’t see it as such. He was dressed in all white from head to toe and even had a blinged-out diamond grill in his mouth and a gold crown on his head. Still, it didn’t change the fact that the throne next to him was empty.

  He still couldn’t believe that Ava had up and vanished like that. That was something that he definitely did not see coming, and although he tried to cheer himself up, he could not get her out of his mind. He tried to search for her, but all of her social media sites had been taken down. It was like she had been erased from earth, and if you didn’t know her prior, her existence . . . didn’t exist. He didn’t understand what had happened. What other reason, besides the fact that she was his Cinderella, did she have for coming to work in his home? It had to have been because she wanted him to find out who she really was. He didn’t understand, but maybe it wasn’t for him to understand. All he knew was that he loved her, and even though she had broken his heart, he hoped she was safe and happy, wherever she was.

  In the midst of the party, King Dex was on the floor mingling with some heavy hitters. They had flown all the way from Detroit, and he decided why not partake in the festivities. He was in the middle of talking business when he caught his son milling around at his own event. He watched Glizzy for a moment, the younger version of himself. He always wanted his son to do what he wanted to do. He didn’t have to follow in his dad’s footsteps if he didn’t want to, but, of course, he did, and King Dex let him. While Glizzy was under his wing, King Dex realized his son was a better man than he ever was, and if groomed correctly, he would be a better man than he ever could be. As Glizzy was his only child, his prince, King Dex might have spoiled him a little too much, especially in the absence of his mother, but he thought he did a pretty stand-up job raising him into a man.

  Seeing Glizzy with such a long face did something to King Dex’s spirit, and he excused himself so he could make his way over to the front of the ballroom. When he approached Glizzy, he placed his hand on Glizzy’s shoulder and squeezed once gently.

  “Son, why do I feel like you aren’t enjoying yourself? Isn’t this what you wanted?”

  Glizzy shrugged his shoulders and fixed his diamond cuff links. “I guess.”

  King Dex, who wore an all-gold Armani suit, took a step back and put his hands in his pockets. He studied his son for a second and then chuckled to himself. “You aren’t still upset about that cleaner running off, are you?”

  “Why do you think that? I ain’t stressing over no female.”

  “Good. I’m sure she was just another bitch, like the rest of them,” King Dex said, laying the bait.

  “She ain’t no bitch,” Glizzy snapped, and when he caught himself, he shook his head. “My bad, Pop.”

  “Talk to me, son,” King Dex said. “Tell me how you feel. It’s okay for grown men to have feelings.”

  “You don’t.”

  “And what makes you think that?”

  “I’ve seen you put a bullet in a man’s throat in front of his daughter and tell her to clean it up.”

  “I did that?” King Dex said, trying to remember.

  “See?” Glizzy shook his head yet again. “You wouldn’t understand how I feel, and I ain’t gon’ let you clown me, either.”

  “Touché,” King Dex said. “But just because I won’t understand doesn’t mean you should bottle it in. You’ve been moping around for a few days now, checking that phone whenever it vibrates, like the world depends on it. I may not know much about feelings, but I know when somebody is in love. You fell in love with that cleaning girl, didn’t you?”

  “She was more than that, Pop, but the way you go through women you wouldn’t understand what one girl can mean to a man.”

  “I guess you are right.” King Dex shrugged his shoulders. “I just hate to see you down like this. Not because I think it will affect your work ethic, but I don’t want it to ruin how you view love, like your mother did for me.”

  “Pop.”

  “I’m serious. I know that’s your mother, but she was a piece of work. She ruined love for me forever, and I will never let another woman get that close to me again because of her. Granted, you are my son, and I fashioned you in my image, but I want you to be a better man than I ever could be. You are already a better man than me.”

  “Thanks, Pop,” Glizzy said. “I appreciate you for everything that you’ve done for me. And I thank you for throwing me this party, but saying all of that doesn’t change the fact that she isn’t here. Maybe you’re right. Maybe s
he’s just like the rest. I think I’ma head out early.”

  “No, son. You’re going to miss the best part. I guess it was rude of me to call her just a cleaner.” King Dex smiled mysteriously at Glizzy. “Especially when she is a real-life Cinderella.”

  At that moment, the music cut, and everyone turned to the entrance of the ballroom. At the top of the spiral staircase stood a beautiful woman wearing the most beautiful ballroom gown. The gown was a blue so light that it almost looked white. Her hair was pulled back, and her lips were a bright cherry red. Although the masquerade mask covered her face, Glizzy would recognize her eyes anywhere now. She was aided by none other than his housekeeper, Whitney, and another woman he’d never seen before. The smile on his face said it all.

  “Cinderella,” he said in a low voice, and King Dex gave a hearty laugh.

  “Go on and get your happy ending, son,” he said, accepting the hug Glizzy gave him.

  As he watched his son run up the stairs and scoop the woman he loved in his arms, King Dex knew he made the right choice. He would never tell his son the tale of how he spared Ava’s life for trying to take his. Most people viewed kingpins as ruthless and coldhearted, which was true. They could be that way to their enemies; but, even though she was ready to put a bullet in his skull, he could never view her as his enemy.

  He had realized as she sat kneeling and praying that it was he who had become her enemy. He couldn’t find it in his heart to kill the woman his son loved, nor could he kill her when he knew the only reason she was in that position was because she thought her mother was dead. So, instead of killing her that night, he set the gun down and embraced her the way he would have embraced a daughter if he had one. He told her that her mother’s life had been spared as well, and he took her to the hospital.

  Smiling to himself, he made his way through the crowd and back over to his guest of honor.

  “She’s pretty,” a woman’s voice said to him. “Who is she?”

  “The girl who snuck into my room to kill me a few nights ago,” King Dex said with a smile.

  The woman’s eyebrow shot up in humor, but King Dex stared at Ava in the distance. He had to admit, he liked her. He liked her a lot. He watched as his son and Ava were joined by three other young women and two boys, and he smiled to himself, recognizing them instantly.

  “That, my dear Sadie, is a story for another time. Come.” He held his arm out to the head of the Last Kings, the biggest underground drug cartel in the States, so she could grab it. “Let us go get some drinks and talk real business. Now, what was this you were telling me about?”

  Before they walked away, King Dex turned back to look at Ava in the distance. She was looking back at him as well, and she placed a simple kiss on her fingers and then put her fingers to her chest. He shot her a fond smile and nodded his head before turning his head back to Sadie.

  “Expansion,” she said. “And a new drug.”

  That piqued his interest.

  “I’m listening.”

  The End

  Robin the Hood

  Chapter 1

  “Flip that couch!”

  The voice barked with so much authority that all of the masked figures in the large living room jumped into action. The sounds of a family whimpering in a corner were hardly audible over the burglars ransacking the home. The Simpsons had been trying to have a nice, quiet dinner when they heard the knock on the door that would change their lives forever. Demetrius Simpson had opened the door not knowing that the masked figures on his doorstep were grim reapers coming to collect his soul. All of the bad business he had been doing in the streets of Omaha had finally caught up to him. He thought that by moving out west to a neighborhood where there weren’t many blacks, he was saving himself. However, there was no nosey neighbor or gate that could stop what was coming for him.

  “Please,” he begged as his wife and children clung to him in the corner of their living room, “take whatever you want and leave. I have money upstairs in a safe!”

  He wanted to get them away from his thousand-dollar couches. There was, in fact, $50,000 upstairs in the safe in his bedroom closet that they could have if they wanted it. One of the masked men stopped and approached Demetrius. Kneeling until he was at eye level with him, the masked man studied his sweaty face.

  “Hmm,” the deep voice grunted. He watched Demetrius cringe when the others pulled the pillows from the couch, and he saw even more beads of sweat form when they flipped open their switchblades. “Wait, y’all!”

  “Man, what? We have a job to do!” one of the masked figures holding a switchblade said. His voice was slightly higher pitched, and he was the shortest of them all. His build was small, but it was always the little ones that you had to look out for. He had a crazed look in his bloodshot eyes, and they shifted from Demetrius to the man in front of him.

  “Chill, bro,” the one in front of Demetrius said. “He was just about to give me the combination to the safe upstairs.” He turned back to Demetrius. “Now, you were saying?”

  “Fifty-eight, twenty-four,” Demetrius stammered and then rambled off the rest of the combination. “The master bedroom is straight down the hall off of the stairs.”

  The masked man in front of him nodded his head and then put a gun to the youngest of the two boys hanging on to their dad.

  “If you’re lying to me, I will kill him first.” He stood up and nodded his head to the family. “Make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid. I don’t know which one of y’all left the rope and the tape behind, but I just want you to know how stupid you are.”

  With that he grabbed one of the bags they’d brought in and left, beginning his travels throughout the luxurious two-story house. His gloved hands were wrapped around the M16 rifle he had aimed and ready to unload if need be.

  For the past ten years, Justin Hood had been a hired hitman, and he knew to always expect the unexpected. As he walked, he couldn’t help but admire the home. It was at least 2,000 square feet, and if he could guess how much it was worth, he would say at least half a million dollars. In a state other than Nebraska, it would probably be worth triple that amount. If the money in the real estate business came in as fast as his current profession, he could definitely see himself wearing a suit, tie, and big, cheesy smile.

  When he found the stairwell, he followed Demetrius’s directions to the bedroom. Once in the spacious room, Justin shook his head. The man was living like a king off the heads of kids. The California king looked small in the room, and Justin made a mental note to hit the large walk-in closet before they left. On the soft, plush beige carpet, at the foot of the bed, was the fur of a lion, and on the walls were all types of tribal décor.

  “This motherfucka really came up off that lick,” Justin said out loud to himself as he made his way to the safe in the far corner of the room. “I hope he enjoyed all this shit while it lasted.”

  See, five years ago, Demetrius was just a soldier making runs for his boss, Arrik. Although he made good money, it would never be enough for a greedy man such as himself. He wanted more, and that hunger led him to do the faultiest thing he’d ever done: rob the hand that fed him. What Demetrius did to the young goons manning their posts in Arrik’s trap house had been a gruesome massacre, mainly because they never saw the betrayal coming. Demetrius had always been someone they looked up to. They opened the doors to him because he was a trusted figure. One of the young men Demetrius murdered was Arrik’s nephew and, if what he had done was already unforgivable, that kill crossed him over into the bad lands. Demetrius had gotten away with the souls of some of Arrik’s most loyal, and $300,000 worth of his best heroin and coke.

  Arrik chose not to retaliate in haste, and he allowed Demetrius to relish his lifestyle for months in his city. It had gotten to the point where the streets were calling him the next up for king, but Arrik had something else up his sleeve. He wanted to make sure that when he exacted his revenge, he would get triple what was stolen from him. When the time was right, he soug
ht out the ones the streets called Shadow People. But, to him they were marauders: people who always got the deed done.

  The job offered an amount of money that Justin would be a fool to pass up: $100,000 split five ways to get rid of the roach on Arrik’s wall. Justin grinned to himself when he cracked open the safe and mentally added another $10,000 each to his team’s earnings. Arrik had no clue about the fifty stacks in the safe, and what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. Justin would bring him only what he asked for, nothing more and nothing less. He looked at it as a small fee for a service well done. Plus, he planned to split it equally with his whole team. After he loaded all of the money in the bag, he headed back downstairs.

  “Yo, boss!” the same man with the high-pitched voice called when Justin entered the living room. “We found the coke! I guess that’s why he ain’t want us going near his couches.” The couches had been cut open, and in front of his colleagues were at least fifty bricks.

  Justin nodded his approval and pointed at the duffle bags on the floor. “Bag all that shit up, and then take whatever else it is in here that you want. You have ten minutes.”

  His team was so thorough they were done in five. One of Justin’s rules for his team of bandits was to only take what could be carried. They never left a hit until every deed was done. He didn’t want to risk going back and forth and being seen by the wrong set of eyes.

  He’d gone back upstairs and stuffed into the last available duffle bag two Armani suits, a pair of Louboutins, three Rolex watches, and two pairs of gold cuff links. When they were ready to exit, Demetrius was still cowering in the corner with his family, watching them leave the house one by one. Justin made like he was about to leave as well, and behind him, he heard a cry of relief. Maybe they thought that the worst had been done but, if so, they were sadly mistaken.