I came up with an idea that quickly. I knew there were very few things that were more important to Sidney than his own life. “I have an idea, but it will have to be well thought out. You will have to do it quick and swift,” I told Warren.
“I’m listening,” he said. I started talking and there was silence on the other end of the phone. I began to lay out a plan with Warren that would save my own ass. Just like that, I was scheming right along with Warren.
10
Betrayal
I paced inside the house waiting for Warren’s call. I had told him all he needed to know to go through with the plan, but he was insisting that I go with him. When he said that, my mind started to race because Sidney had one of his boys outside the house. I asked Ricco to run and pick me up some takeout; he was hesitant, and asked me not to tell Sidney, but he went. As soon as his ass pulled out of our circular driveway I was right behind him.
Warren picked me up around the corner from my estate. It was a crazy feeling knowing that Warren knew where I rested my head every night. He knew everything. I was shaking like a leaf in a windstorm when I got into the car with him. I didn’t know if he was going to beat me up again or something even worse this time. I slid into the seat and didn’t dare look over at Warren. We were alone in the car, but I’m sure he wasn’t alone altogether. I was sure he had his dudes hiding out somewhere ready to pounce.
“Dayum, G-money, I ain’t mean to bruise that pretty face like that,” Warren said, his voice sly and sarcastic.
The nerve of this bastard! I stared straight ahead without a word. We didn’t need to be friendly. I was just going to try to get this shit resolved. Warren reached over and ran his hand gently over my cheek. I jumped and my heart started thumping fiercely against my chest bone. I was so scared and paranoid, not to mention my body still throbbed from what Warren and Ace had done to me.
“Please, Warren,” I murmured, moving my head so that my face was far from his touch. I didn’t want any physical contact with him.
“Shhh, I’m not going to hurt you anymore,” Warren said softly. It was like he was crazy. One minute he was trying to damn near kill me, now he wanted to be all nice? I didn’t trust his ass one bit. Back when we were together I would’ve never believed that he would ever put his hands on me the way he did the other day.
“You gotta feel where I’m coming from. I was left behind the walls, dead and stinking, and you stole from me . . . on the real, I wanted to murk you as soon as I saw you, but I couldn’t,” he continued.
As hard as I tried to fight off the feeling, I started to feel fuzzy inside when he spoke. Although he had hurt me, something inside of me still felt for Warren. No matter what, I guess he would always occupy a part of my heart as my first real love. I wanted to believe that he was angry when he’d put his hands on me. That he would’ve never really wanted to hurt me like that. It didn’t matter anyway, he had already done it. I was wearing the scars to show it too.
“I’m sorry, Warren. I didn’t mean it, but I was scared and left with no one and nothing when the feds got us. They told me that you were blaming me for everything . . . I saw you on video,” I was finally able to explain. I was still too scared to look at him.
Warren reached over and grabbed me. “Aggh, please!” I screamed. I just knew another beating was coming.
“G-money . . . G-money . . . c’mon, I’m not going to hurt you. I would’ve never blamed you for anything. You don’t know about the feds and their video tricks? That was all game, baby girl,” Warren said, pulling my head toward his. I stopped resisting for just a second. Warren pulled my face into his. I was shocked. He kissed me so deeply that I could barely breathe. I couldn’t even fight him off if I wanted to and I didn’t even try. Although I was deathly afraid, it felt so good to feel Warren’s tongue in my mouth again. Tears drained out of the sides of my bruised eyes. I was conflicted as hell. On the one hand, I hated him because everything that was wrong in my life was because of him. But I knew then that I still loved that man no matter what. It was all for nothing, though. We were about to do some shit that would never allow us to be together again.
Finally, I pulled away from him. “Damn, G-money . . . we could’ve been so good together,” Warren lamented with finality. He pulled his car away from the curb and we both rode to do the deed in eerie silence.
I immediately noticed that there was a black SUV following us. It wasn’t a surprise. I surmised that it was the same SUV that had been parked at the Tides stadium the night I was set up and assaulted. I can’t say seeing that vehicle didn’t make my insides curl in on themselves.
“So where we going?” Warren asked. I’d been so lost in thought he startled me. I blinked a few times and was back on course with what we were doing.
“She’s usually at school at this time. Tidewater Community College,” I said, my voice quivering. “She has a red Honda Z sports car. Her plates say daddy’s little girl.” I knew this was the ultimate betrayal, but what choice did I have?
“Her daddy is rich and she goes to community college?” Warren asked skeptically. He sounded as if he was trying to smooth the tension between us in the car. I just shrugged. The less conversation we had the better for me.
“It’s all just like I said. The time, the place, and the same pattern every day,” I whispered. I wasn’t trying to be Warren’s friend and chitchat about the girl I was about to turn into a victim. After all, she was my stepdaughter.
“A’ight. And you sure daddy ain’t gon’ call five-o to get his baby back? I’m not about to play no bullshit . . . I will murk you, her, and him and move the fuck on,” Warren said. That was the Warren I expected to hear. It was like his mood had gone from day to night. I guess he was back to hating my guts.
“I’m sure,” I said, my voice unsteady. I wasn’t sure of shit. Sidney was a businessman, not a gangster, so there was a high probability he might call the cops or even the fucking FBI. I was saying a silent prayer that Sidney didn’t try any funny business once he received the ransom demand. I was also praying that God spared my ass for this foul shit I was doing.
I watched the whole shit unfold after I pointed Arianna out to Warren. I had to admit, Warren’s boys were like pros. It all happened so fast. I watched from a distance as one of Ace’s boys slyly put a gun to Arianna’s back, whispered in her ear not to scream, made her get into her own car and he got in the passenger seat. The last thing I said to Warren was, “Remember, she’s just a kid. Her father will pay the ransom, so don’t hurt her.” He looked at me with fire flashing in his evil eyes. “I guess that’s your job now. Convince daddy to play by the rules and the girl goes home. Play games and everybody goes to hell together,” Warren replied before he put me out of his car.
Sidney’s first call came forty-five minutes after I did the deed with Warren. I had been dropped back to my car before the call came in. I picked up my cell phone with shaky hands. I closed my eyes and asked God to forgive me for everything I was doing.
“Hello? Hey, baby,” I said with a phony voice. I could hear the nerves in my own words, but I don’t think Sidney did. I had to pull the phone away from my ear because Sidney was yelling so loud. A cold feeling came over me like I had been pushed into an icy river. My bottom lip trembled. I knew I was going to hell for this.
“Gigi! Gigi!” he was screaming. I closed my eyes. I didn’t realize I had been holding my breath. I felt fucking awful inside.
“Gigi . . . I need you to go into my safe at home!” Sidney sounded frantic and like he was crying. This shit was real, but I still pinched myself to make sure I wasn’t having a nightmare.
“Sidney . . . why are you yelling? What is going on?” I asked, acting stupid.
“Gigi!” Sidney cried out again. “Listen to me!!”
“What?! Tell me what is going on! Stop calling my name and tell me what’s going on!” I yelled back. I needed to let my fear and frustration out, so this was the perfect cover.
“Somebody has Arianna!
Somebody snatched her! They said if I don’t give them four million dollars, she dies! They said if I go to the police, they will send me her body in a suitcase,” Sidney sobbed. He was coming completely undone. I felt my stomach drop. I closed my eyes and for just that minute, although I hated his kids, I felt kind of bad that this was all my doing. All to save my own ass from Warren.
“Oh, my God, Sidney! I think we should go to the police!” I yelped real phony-like. I only said that because I knew that would be the logical thing to say if I weren’t down with the kidnapping. Any normal stepmother would say call the cops.
“No! Absolutely not! I will give them every dime I have to save my daughter’s life!” Sidney screamed at me. That kind of made me feel bad. He really was a good person.
“Okay. Okay. Whatever you think is best,” I quickly agreed, relieved that he wasn’t going to mess up the plan by involving the police. I knew he was smarter than that.
“Calm down and tell me the safe combination,” I told him. Sidney had never trusted me enough before now to give me the combination to the safe that held his money. I was thinking good for his ass for not trusting me, but I kept my smart remarks to myself. Who knew this would be the circumstances it took to get into that damn big money safe. I had often wondered just how much money Sidney kept inside of the safe. I guess I was about to find out. Sidney rattled off the numbers and I punched them in on the safe’s digital lock pad. It didn’t work the first time.
“Are you sure you gave me the right numbers?” I asked. I heard Sidney breathe hard into the phone. “Honey, calm down and think first,” I told him. He rattled off another number combination. I punched those in and the little red light finally turned green on the safe. I turned the heavy metal knob and heard the lock give with a click. It was finally open. I pulled back the door to reveal the contents. My eyes lit up like a kid at Christmas when I pulled back that door and saw all of the cash Sidney had inside. I felt flush being exposed to that money. Money was the root of all evil, and trust me, all kinds of evil thoughts were running through my head at that moment.
“This muthafucka is truly fucking rich,” I mouthed silently. I grabbed a few of the stacks of cash out of the safe, held them up to my nose, and inhaled deeply. The smell of the money was intoxicating to say the least. It was the smell of freedom. I was in a stupor. I felt nostalgic holding that money. It was like old times again when I had my own money. I forgot I was even on the phone with Sidney, that’s how lost I was in the idea of that money in my hands.
“Gigi . . . there should be about five hundred thousand in those stacks there,” Sidney said, interrupting my daze. I blinked at the sound of his voice. The amount of money in my hand didn’t help keep my nerves at bay either.
“You sure? There seems to be less,” I lied as I rushed around the closet secreting a few stacks of cash inside three of my handbags. It was foul, I know, but so was all the other shit I’ve had to do over the years to survive. I figured that the cash, along with the few remaining diamonds, should secure my escape after all of this shit with Warren blew over. I wasn’t stupid enough to think that after this shit I could just continue to live my life as Mrs. Sidney Costner, happy wife. Plus, my mother was a wreck these days. Especially after she found out that I had also been assaulted. She was swearing to God that someone was going to kill us. I had told her to go stay with her best friend from church way out in the country, so I wasn’t worried about her at that minute, but I knew I would have to make a plan for her as well.
Things had gone from real good to real bad within a matter of days. I started realizing that Warren had always been right at the helm of everything that had ever gone bad in my life. When I walked out of college, it was because of Warren. The first time I got pregnant and had an abortion, it was by Warren. The first time I stayed out overnight without calling my mother, it was with Warren. And the biggest failure was getting arrested by the fucking feds because of some shit Warren had told me to do. Now, I was perpetrating the worst form of betrayal you could ever think of and why . . . because of Warren. Warren was a fucking bad omen in my life. Even now that there was a very strong possibility he was going to get his money for the diamonds back and then some, I still had a feeling that Warren was going to try some funny business even after he got his fucking money to pay the Africans. He seemed to have to cover for his actions, so him killing me and my mother wasn’t that far from my thoughts.
“Gigi, look again. I can’t remember taking anything out of there. I always kept the same amount in there just in case I ever need it for the business and can’t get to the bank,” Sidney said. I let out a long, exasperated breath.
“I don’t have time to count all of this money. I’m just saying it doesn’t seem like the amount you said,” I replied, annoyed.
“Okay, whatever it is . . . just put it in a bag and meet me at the dealership. Tell Ricco to bring you. They want the money by midnight or else they’ll do something bad to Arianna. I have to call my accountant and try to get my hands on some more money or else my baby girl will be dead by morning,” Sidney said nervously.
“Okay, I’ll be right there,” I said. I grabbed one of his big travel duffel bags and stacked the money inside. There was something overwhelmingly powerful about picking up a duffel bag filled with stacks of cash. So much so that I felt dizzy at first. God knows I wanted to take the fucking money, go get my mother, and get the fuck out of dodge. I could just leave and let Sidney and Warren hash out their problems. If Warren murdered Arianna as a result, oh well, I never liked her anyway. I could take the money and do better than I did with the proceeds of the diamonds. Yeah, that’s what I’d do . . . take that fucking money and disappear, but this time to some place in another country. Fuck it!
All of that was on my mind and I was really close to going through with it, but I thought better of it. Being the most wanted woman in America wasn’t on my list of life accomplishments. I guess I also had a little more heart than to just completely fuck Sidney over after all he’d done for me. Besides, I didn’t want to be on the run the rest of my life. Those years I spent watching my back all of the time after I ran from DC was stressful enough. Funny thing was, as soon as I eased up with watching my back, Warren found me. Life was crazy like that, I guess.
11
Diamonds Are Forever
I walked downstairs with the bag of money clutched tightly in my hand. This was supposed to be a foolproof plan. We’d get as much money from Sidney as possible to get the Africans off our backs; then Warren would leave me the fuck alone forever. I could only pray it would go that smoothly.
“Ricco, I need a ride to the lot,” I told Sidney’s bodyguard who’d been outside of my house. He eyed me up and down, his eyes finally landing on the duffel bag. I shot him a look that said, “Don’t even fucking ask.” We rode in silence all the way there. I knew we had a tail and I think Ricco knew too.
When Ricco and I arrived at the dealership, I turned to him and told him, “Sidney said you can leave without coming inside.” Ricco had that same suspicious look on his face. I guess that’s what made him a good bodyguard, but I wasn’t up for that shit today. Whether it was guilt written all over me or not, I didn’t feel like having his beady-ass disapproving eye on me.
“Mrs. Costner, are you sure everything is all right?” Ricco asked. I was taken aback by his question. Couldn’t believe he had the balls to come out with it.
“Everything is fine. I told you this already,” I snapped at him. “Oh, and I won’t tell Sidney anything about you leaving me to go get food earlier if you don’t,” I followed up. I knew that would chill him and make him back off. Ricco knew he wasn’t supposed to leave me under any circumstances. I was sure he didn’t want Sidney to know that shit. Ricco nodded. Of course, he called Sidney to verify that he was no longer needed before he pulled away from the dealership. Yes, he was that loyal.
I rushed inside where I found Sidney in the entire place alone. He was in his office pacing like a mad man.
He wore the pain and stress on his face like a mask. I tried my best to look just as stressed so he would think I was feeling his pain. He turned around and stopped for a minute when I walked in. His face softened just a bit. I guess my presence made him feel somewhat better. It made me feel worse. I was wrestling between self-satisfaction and guilt. I had done the most fucked-up thing to a man who had been nothing but good to me from day one. On the other hand, it was a means to an end.
“Gigi . . . I can’t believe someone would do this to me. To my family. My fucking kid? I help everyone in the community. . . . I am nothing but good to these thugs that come in here flaunting their drug money.... I can’t believe this is happening to me,” he said sadly, grabbing me in a tight embrace.
I tried not to feel bad, but I was actually dying inside. I held on to Sidney just as tightly as he held me. I prayed silently that this shit would be over very soon. Arianna would be returned to Sidney, Warren would have his money, and I could sneak away in the thick of the night with the remaining diamonds and some of Sidney’s cash. That’s how I envisioned everything going.
“I’m so sorry, Sidney. I’m so sorry,” I said softly. I meant that in more than one way. “So what did they say?” I asked as I eyed all of the cash Sidney had stacked on his desk.
Sidney pulled away from me. He rushed over to the desk and picked something up. “Look at this,” Sidney instructed as he turned his laptop around so I could see the screen. More fucking videos! I stared at the screen, unable to look away, but wishing I could.
“Daddy!!!! Daddy!!! Please come get me!! Help me, Daddy!” Arianna screamed at the top of her lungs. Her hands and feet were bound with silver duct tape and there was a black bag over her head. Her screams were slightly muffled by the bag, but her words seemed to be amplified and crystal clear. There were guns pointed at either side of her head. Her captors didn’t say anything; I guess the scene spoke volumes. Just as abruptly as it had started, it had ended. The screen went black, but I kept staring at it. Although it was black now, the image of Arianna was still showing clearly in my eyes. I didn’t even realize that I had placed my hand over my mouth. I guess planning something like that and actually seeing it live and in living color was totally different. I can’t front, that video had taken my breath away. Only a really coldhearted person wouldn’t have been chilled by that shit. I knew I was a lot of things, but a person devoid of feelings I was not. Sidney’s kids had treated me like shit the handful of times I’d seen them, especially Arianna, but seeing her all bound up, screaming for her life, and scared to death like that sent chills down my spine. Knowing that it was all my doing made me want to fucking faint. What if Warren kills her anyway? What if he takes the money, then kills her, me, and Sidney just to send a message? What if he’s already killed my mother? My mind raced crazy. Maybe this wasn’t the most well-thought-out fucking plan after all. I had left Warren in the prime position to be the one calling the shots.
Most Wanted Page 8
