“Well, I just want to make sure you are okay. That is why I set up a nice bubble bath and nice dinner for you back at the house.” Darius said as he held her hand.
Simone made a hissing sound as she sucked air through her teeth. “Baby, I’m sorry. I already promised Neal I would go with him back to his house. We wanted to look at some albums of some of the fun times we’ve had with Peaches.”
“Oh, okay.” Darius was hesitant in his tone. “Are you sure you’re okay? You looked like you were on the phone before you came to the car. Who was that?”
“Oh, that was just Roxanne giving me her condolences.”
“Mmm.” Darius looked over a Big J for a brief moment. “Okay, well, you do whatever you need to do to feel better. Do you need me to pick you up later?”
“No, I’ll make sure she gets home safe.” Neal quickly answered.
Darius and Big J stared at the both of them for a moment. “Okay. Just call me if you need me.” Darius kissed Simone as she went to get out of the car.
“I sure will.” She feigned a smile as she stepped out and shut the limo door behind her. She and Neal stood and watched the limo drive away and jumped in Neal’s car as soon as it was out of sight.
Big J and Darius arrived at the Casino and saw that Carmine and some of his henchmen were standing outside.
“Oh shit.” Darius said with annoyance. “What the hell does he want?”
“No idea.” Big J stepped out of the limo ahead of Darius.
“Carmine!” Darius smiled. “To what do I owe this unexpected visit?”
Carmine patted Darius on the back. “I just wanted to come by and say hello to my friend. We are friends aren’t we, Darius?”
They walked inside the casino.
“Of course we are. Why do you ask?”
“Well, that’s a good question.” Carmine chuckled. “You know, I’ve been in this business a long time and I have a lot of contacts. So imagine my confusion when one of them informed me that you were ordering all the ingredients that make up my formula to Hybrid.”
“Imagine that!” Darius laughed.
“I know! That is why I came right over so you could clear that up. I just knew it wasn’t true because I haven’t even given you the formula yet.” Carmine put his hands behind his back and leaned in waiting for Darius’s answer.
Darius patted Carmine on the shoulder. “Don’t worry C. I know what it looks like…”
Carmine’s smile slowly dropped. “Yeah, because it looks like you’re trying to steal my shit and we both know that would never happen. See, because I’ve never been real good at sharing.”
Darius licked his lips as he chuckled quietly. “Know this. If I wanted your shit, I would have it,” curling one side of his mouth into a half smile. “You just need to trust me, C.”
Carmine laughed as he took a step closer to Darius. “Trust is overrated. Just don’t try to fuck me over. It wouldn’t be a good idea.”
“Look Carmine.” Darius scoffed. “Didn’t I give you my formula? Wouldn’t it be just as easy for you to take mine? Let’s be real here. Now, are we done here? I have a grand opening in a few days to attend to.”
Carmine just stood and stared at Darius for a moment, until bursting into laughter. “You know what? You’re right. I trust you, man. I just lost it for a moment there.”
They all laughed as Carmine ad Darius shook hands.
“I’ll see you at the grand opening, then?” Darius asked with a smile.
“Of course! Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Carmine smiled as he turned and left the casino.
“He is going to be so pissed when he find out we edged him out.” Big J laughed.
“Man, I’m not worried about Carmine. Now that I got the formula, the streets are mine. I’m unstoppable man! The fucking DEA can’t even figure my shit out.”
“I’m just saying maybe we should be careful, we’ve never dealt with these mob jokers before.” Big J said in a fear tinged voice.
“Damn man, you bitching up on me?”
“Never that! I’m just saying. I’m not trying to be part of no Godfather reenactments.”
“Trust me, man.” Darius said in a very self pleased tone. “I got this.”
Chapter 18
Neal barely knocked three times before the door was flung open by Detective Rice. “Glad you made it. Come on in.” He stepped back to allow them inside.
“Detective, I hate to be rude, but I want to get right to this proof that Darius was behind my sister’s death.” Simone removed her coat and sat down on the couch.
“I understand.” He sat down beside her and handed her a stack of photocopies.
“What is all this?” She slowly flipped through the papers.
Well, Ms. Carmichael, you are about to marry a very dangerous man.”
“How so?”
“Your fiancé is on the brink of becoming the largest distributor of Hybrid in the country.”
“What’s Hybrid?” Neal asked.
“Hybrid is a lethal mix of cocaine and LSD, which causes almost an immediate and very difficult to beat addiction.”
“Oh my God, how do you know he’s in on this?” Simone was horrified.
“Actually, it was supposed to be him and Ganja.” Brenda interrupted. “A lot of people don’t know that Ganja graduated from MIT with a degree in Chemical Science.”
“Get out!” Neal exclaimed. “I know mom was pissed at all that money going to waste on a rap record.”
“I’m sure she wasn’t happy, but nevertheless, Ganja created a formula for a shielding agent that was undetectable by law enforcement. Now, they had talked about using the casino as a front to peddle drugs like marijuana and cocaine through the city and eventually the country, but they wanted something different, they wanted Hybrid.”
Simone just sat in silence. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“Honey, are you okay?” Neal touched her hand.
She just nodded and gestured for Brenda to continue.
“Well, the only way to get to Hybrid was by the people that produce it exclusively, the Esposito Family.”
Simone’s stomach dropped. “Esposito?”
“You’ve heard of them?” Brenda asked.
“She’s more than heard of them.” Detective Rice interjected.
”What is he talking about Simone?” Neal asked.
“Trent was an Esposito.”
“What?” Brenda and Neal said almost in unison.
“He worked very hard at keeping his family ties a secret because he didn’t want anything to do with that life anymore.”
“That’s the connection.” Brenda put her hand over her mouth.
“What?” Simone inquired.
“They needed Trent.”
Detective Rice opened his eyes wide as he leaned back on the couch. “Fuck.”
“What?” Simone yelled.
“The Esposito family is a very exclusive clan. They rarely deal outside the family. You either have to be in the family or be really close with one of them to gain access. Trent was D-Smooth’s and Ganja’s way in.”
“I found a picture of Darius with Carmine Esposito buried in his drawer. How would Trent be his key in? From what he told me, he didn’t leave on best of terms.”
“It doesn’t matter; all Darius needed was a way to contact them and that was Trent.” Brenda rushed over and pulled out a photo of Olivia Ackers.
“This is that slut that killed Trent! What the hell does she have to do with any of this?”
“She was Ganja’s girlfriend.” Detective Rice gently tapped the photo in Simone’s hand.
“His girlfriend? Why would she be in the club kissing Trent then?”
“It was set up.” Brenda replied.
“Set up?”
“Trent wasn’t willing to help D-Smooth by contacting his family, so D-Smooth began to cause upsets in his life. He had caused Trent to lose a role in a movie...”
“Oh my God.” Simone
interrupted. “Trent told me he just changed his mind. I thought that was strange.”
Brenda nodded. “Oh, that’s not all; he found a way to give him IRS trouble, and lastly relationship trouble.”
Neal looked over at Simone with utter shock on his face. “This is unreal.”
Simone’s eyes began to well up as the realization that Trent was trying to tell her about all of this before he died. “Why didn’t I listen to him? He was trying to tell me.”
Neal moved over on the couch beside her and put his arm around her. “It’s not your fault.”
“So, what did she just lose it and kill Trent? Why would she do that?”
“She didn’t.” Detective Rice added.
Simone sat and stared at him for a second as an even more terrifying realization fell on her. “Oh my….Darius killed Trent?” She could feel her heart fall into her stomach.
“We believe so.” Brenda said as she looked down at the floor. “We think that he killed Olivia because he found out she was still helping Ganja try to get the money he owed him, so he killed her and used her to cover up Trent’s murder.”
Simone covered her face, weeping, and laid her head down on Neal’s chest. “This is all really detailed information, how did you find all this out?”
Detective Rice looked at Brenda with a raised eyebrow. “Well, tell them!”
Brenda took a deep breath as her eyes began to well up with tears. “Your sister told me.”
“My sister?” Simone sat up and wiped her eyes. “Peaches gave you this info?”
“Yes, she called the night before she died and bought the box over.”
Simone smiled. “Where did she get all this?”
“She went to see Ganja and his sister gave it to her, but there is more to this, isn’t there?” Detective Rice said as he looked at Brenda angrily.
“Oh no. Do you think Darius found out about her having it?” Neal asked.
Brenda swallowed hard as she prepared to speak. “I know he found out, because I was the one that told him.”
“What! You bitch! You ratted out my sister?”
Brenda couldn’t hold back the flood of tears. “Please understand that I never meant for any of this…”
Before she could finish her sentence Simone jumped up from the couch and open-hand slapped her almost spinning her all the way around. “You stupid bitch, you got my sister killed!” She grabbed her by her hair and was about to beat her ass, but Neal grabbed her in time.
“Simone, please listen to me.” Brenda said through tears of pain from her stinging face.
“Don’t you even speak her name, you treacherous bitch!” Neal shouted. “You want to tell me why she isn’t under arrest?” He asked Detective Rice.
“Trust me, I was close, but we need her to get this bastard. He doesn’t know that we know about any of this.” He looked over at Brenda. “Or does he?”
“No!” Brenda shouted still holding her stinging red face.
Struggling free from Neal, her brown eyes blazing with rage, Simone stepped up to Brenda causing her to flinch. “Just answer this, why? What made you think that the man that had already killed two people wouldn’t kill another one? What was the reason for you doing this? It couldn’t have been money because by the looks of this place, you have plenty, so what was it?”
“My father.” Brenda said with a trembling voice.
“You’re father?”
“Yes, Congressman Randall Frey. D-Smooth has some very incriminating evidence against him and he was threatening to make it public if I didn’t do what he told me to.”
“Well, is he safe now?” Simone was seething with anger. “Is daddy safe now that my sister is dead? You bitch!”
“I don’t know. He just told me that he’s done with me when he says so.”
“Well, I guess all that’s left really is for you to get on your knees, if you weren’t already there.” Neal scoffed.
“I would never…” Brenda said horrified.
“Okay, okay.” Detective Rice interrupted. “Trust me, I agree with you whole heartedly that she is a liar, but we need her if we are going to make this bastard pay.”
“We don’t need her. She’s done enough already. The only place I want to see her ass is in jail!” Simone shouted.
“You know what, that may be just where I’ll end up anyway. So why not let me start to try to make this right and help you give Darius what he deserves?”
“The only thing that could make this right is my sister walking through that door.” Simone sobbed angrily.
“I understand that and you will never know how sorry and remorseful I will always be knowing that I contributed to her death, but this is our chance to get Peaches and everyone else Darius has hurt justice.”
“Unfortunately, she’s right.” Said Detective Rice. “She’s on the inside. He still thinks he has her under his thumb and we can use that. Besides, I have a serious bombshell.” He reached in his pocket and handed Simone a folded sheet of paper.
Simone unfolded it and her mouth dropped open. Neal laughed hysterically as he looked over Simone’s shoulder at what was on the paper.
“Are you serious?” Simone was in utter shock.
“As a heart attack.” Detective Rice smirked.
“We are so in.” Neal wiped a tear from his eye. Simone was in too; she was just speechless at the moment.
Chapter 19
The next morning, Brenda stormed into her father’s Capital Hill office.
“Hello sweetie! Where’s the fire?” He said startled by her surprise entrance.
She pushed him off as he leaned in to hug and kiss her.
”What’s wrong?”
“Dad, I have held this back for a long time because of its creepiness, but mostly out of utter embarrassment…”
“What’s going on, honey? What’s wrong?” Congressman Frey asked out of real concern for his clearly upset daughter.
“Daddy, you have a problem that’s causing me problems. Big problems.”
“What are you…”
“Wait, let me finish!” She interrupted. “I know about the girls…the young girls.”
His face looked like a dear in headlights. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He turned and walked back behind his desk.
“You know full well, what I’m talking about! I know you have an affinity for young teenage girls, black girls being your favorite.”
He just stood looking down at his desk in shame. “I can’t believe he actually told you.”
Brenda looked confused for a moment. “Who told me? Who are you talking about?”
Congressman Frey looked up quickly realizing that Darius hadn’t said anything to her about any of this. “Oh my God.”
“Answer me daddy!” She walked over to him and turned him towards her. “I have known this since I was in college; but who do you think told me?”
“Shit!” He sat down in his chair. “Honey, your dad is an idiot.”
“What are you talking about?”
“About a year or so ago, I was approached by someone who had an interesting business proposal, of course, with my being a greedy bastard, I jumped right on the chance to possibly make millions.”
“Who was this person and what was this proposal?”
“His name is Darius Barnes.”
Brenda felt her knees get weak. “What?”
“He came to me and made the whole thing sound so damn good, I slid right in; the biggest mistake of my life.”
“Make that both of us.” Brenda put her face in her hands.
“What are you talking about?”
“Daddy, our dysfunction has given this jerk a way to use us so he could get rich.”
Congressman Frey stood up from his chair. “What are you talking about?”
“For the past year I have been forced into helping him keep his ass clean or he was going to reveal your sick fetish to the public and cause our family even more embarrassment.”
�
�What? Honey, I…” He reached out to hug her only to be pushed away.
“Don’t touch me! Here I am covering your ass again, and you were working with him the whole time?”
Diamond Lives, Platinum Lies Page 13
