“I’m sorry, baby. All I wanted was you. Not money, not a home, not even kids. Just you.” She looked at the knife on the floor. “Funny how you had them send me to the psych ward and they thought I was crazy.” She laughed. “Well, they were right. I’m crazy for you, baby. And, now that you’re gone, there’s no point for me to live without you,” she said as she reached over and grabbed the knife. She took a deep breath and sliced her wrists lengthwise. Izzy started bleeding out and she fell over. She landed right in between Laura and Shawn. She turned her head toward Laura.
“Laura, I know it wasn’t your fault that he chose you, but he’s . . . I’m getting tired,” she said as everything started to go dark. “Fuck you, bitch.”
Chapter 13
Cee Cee saw her marks as they made their way toward the address Vinny had given her. The way the man and woman scurried down the block, whipping their heads around like two paranoid schizophrenics, Cee Cee knew right away that they were fiends on the move and most likely high or chasing their next high.
Vinny had told Cee Cee that the dude, Pito, and his girlfriend, Linda, had stolen three kilos of cocaine from a drug kingpin named Preme. Preme had contracted Vinny to either get the drugs they’d stolen from him or to take care of the thieving couple. Vinny told Cee Cee she would get half of what the contract was worth if she carried out the job, but that he needed pictures as proof. She figured a double hit would net her at least forty stacks. She wasn’t stupid; she knew how well kingpins paid for these types of revenge hits.
Cee Cee pulled her hood over her head and spread her fingers into the black leather gloves she had retrieved from her back pocket. She counted down in her head and, just as the fiends made it to their building door, Cee Cee made her move.
Pito jumped when he noticed Cee Cee standing right in front of him. “Damn, ma, you scared me,” Pito huffed. It was like Cee Cee had just materialized out of the walls. Cee Cee smirked at him. He had no idea.
“Excuse me. Ladies first.” Pito smiled at her, holding the door open so that his girlfriend and Cee Cee could enter.
She nodded her thanks. Oh, a thief with manners, Cee Cee said to herself.
Linda tapped on the elevator button, bouncing on her legs like she had to pee. Cee Cee took a good look at her and could tell Linda probably was a real beauty before the drugs had ravaged her skin, hair, teeth, and curves. Pito looked terrible too but, unlike his girlfriend, his clothes were neat, clean, and all high-end labels. His hair cut was sharp and he wore a gold pinky ring on his left hand. Cee Cee stood back and watched the pair. They both were jonesing bad for the drugs, but Linda showed the worst signs of needing a hit.
“Keep the fuck still,” Pito cursed at Linda. “You making me fucking nervous. You look like a fucking crazy person moving all around like you got ants in your pants. Gotdamn!”
“Shut the fuck up! Don’t tell me what to do, Pito. Shit, I’m fucked up right now. My nerves are fucked up and it’s all because of you. Be a real man for a change and stop depending on me,” Linda snapped, rubbing her arms and sniffling back the invisible snot she felt was coming out of her nose.
“Yeah, a’ight, bitch. You don’t be making moves like I do. You sick right now because you don’t listen,” Pito shot back.
“No, you don’t listen, motherfucker. I always get us right, even if I have to sell my ass. Bitch-ass nigga,” Linda retorted, rolling her neck and getting close to Pito’s face.
“Oh, you feeling real brave right now ’cause it’s somebody else here right now. You just fucking wait ’til we get there,” Pito threatened.
The elevator door opened, a welcome distraction from their back-and-forth bickering. Again, Pito allowed Cee Cee and Linda inside first. The shouting back and forth continued and took Pito’s and Linda’s attention off of Cee Cee.
Cee Cee went straight to the back wall of the small project elevator. She slid her hand to the gun Vinny had given her. Her stomach did flips and her chest moved up and down like she’d just finished running: a mixture of nerves, adrenaline, and anticipation. Pito and Linda stood close to the door with their backs to Cee Cee. Pito went to the corner opposite the elevator buttons and Linda stood right in front of the buttons, still dancing like she had a painfully full bladder.
Cee Cee watched Linda press the number nine button about fifteen times.
“You think if you press that shit a hundred times the elevator going to move any faster?” Pito snapped. “That fucking sound is really getting to me, so stop!”
“Shut the fuck up, Pito. For real, I’m in no mood for your shit. Acting like a bitch ass all the time,” Linda barked back.
Cee Cee took a deep breath, curled her hand around her Glock with the silencer already screwed on, and eased it out. The couple was so engrossed in their argument that they never saw what was coming. Cee Cee slowly lifted her head and raised her arm at the same time. “Yo,” she said, “Preme sent me for you. Where are the drugs?”
Linda and Pito both looked at her with fear written all over their faces.
“We didn’t take nothing, I swear,” Linda blurted out.
“Look, I don’t know what the story is, and I don’t give two shits about what the truth is. I came to collect three kilos. Now either you have it, or you don’t.”
“What are you gonna do if we don’t have it?” Pito challenged her.
“I ain’t gonna do shit,” Cee Cee responded. “But my girl Lucy’s gonna fuck you up.”
“Who’s Lucy?” he asked.
“This is Lucy.” Cee Cee rushed the words out. She raised her gun swiftly and tugged back on the trigger. Pito threw his hands up, but it was too late. He took two bullets to his right temple and his body deflated to the floor like a balloon with the air let out of it. Linda let out an ear-shattering scream, turning toward Cee Cee with horror etched on her face.
“Please! No!” Linda screamed. She stumbled backward into the elevator’s buttons, and the alarm sounded.
“Fuck!” Cee Cee huffed. Her hands shook so badly her gun wavered unsteadily in front of her. She tugged back on the trigger unsteadily, and the gun reared up in her hand. One bullet hit Linda in the cheek and the other in the forehead, causing her body to do an awkward pirouette and fall forward, blocking the elevator door. Cee Cee was covered with sweat; and the strong, raw meat odor of the blood almost made her throw up. Except for when she and Tiana blew up Dr. Syed’s car, this was her first real kill.
She quickly rushed over and pressed the alarm button again to stop the ringing. Cee Cee pressed all of the elevator buttons, trying to get it moving again. She quickly took out the phone Vinny had given her, snapped a blurry picture of her victims, and started pulling the elevator doors open with her bare hands. Cee Cee gained strength she didn’t know she had. The door opened enough for her to get her hands through and pull it wide enough for her to fit through.
The elevator was wedged between two floors when Cee Cee finally got the heavy door to open. She climbed over Linda’s body and squeezed through the small opening between the elevator shaft and the ninth floor.
Cee Cee didn’t realize she had blood all over the bottom of her boots, and her hoodie had blood splatter all over it from when she shot Pito. She scrambled up from the hallway floor and rushed to the door leading to the exit stairs. When she made it down to the sixth floor, Cee Cee heard distant screams coming from above.
Fuck! Already?
She knew the screams meant someone had found the bodies that fast. She started taking the stairs down two at a time with her heart threatening to bolt from her chest. Before she exited on the first floor, she shrugged out of her hoodie and tossed it into the first floor incinerator shoot. The oversized T-shirt she wore underneath was still enough to conceal her weapon.
Cee Cee swallowed hard and took a deep breath before she exited the building. Then she calmly walked out of the building, forgetting about the blood on the bottom of her boots. She didn’t realize that, with every step, she was leaving bloody footpri
nts.
As she made her way down the block, she could hear the wail of police sirens in the distance. Cee Cee sucked in a deep breath and hailed a cab. Nothing could beat the high she felt after committing the murders. Now she understood how her father felt when he did it, Cee Cee said to herself as she settled into the back of the cab. She felt like she could get used to this life, especially if the pay was right.
* * *
“Damn, you wasn’t playing.” Vinny smirked when Cee Cee showed him the cell phone picture of Pito and Linda slumped in the elevator. Marie sucked her teeth and stormed out of the room, garnering a sharp glare from Cee Cee.
“Well, here’s a few dollars for your troubles,” Vinny said, pushing a small stack across the table in Cee Cee’s direction.
Cee Cee’s eyebrows shot up into arches. “What the fuck is that?” she asked incredulously. “I can tell from just looking at it that that’s not half of what you got for that job. Hell no!”
“I never said what you were going to get. We never discussed a price tag. You didn’t want to sit by my side. You didn’t want to be a part of my crew. So you get what I feel like giving you,” Vinny said evilly. “You get the independent person pay,” he taunted.
Cee Cee’s head began spinning, and she felt heat rising from her feet into her chest. She cut Vinny a look that could’ve sliced the Hope Diamond in half. “Give me the full stacks you owe me,” she said through her teeth.
“I don’t owe you a motherfucking thing. You’re a little girl with nothing, so take what I’m giving you and be fucking happy. Like you said, you don’t need me. So now you go find a place to live and a man to fuck. This business is no place for little dumb girls who think they’re tough,” Vinny replied dismissively, twirling his toothpick between his gold teeth.
His words cracked the shell of Cee Cee’s already fragile composure. “Nah. Give me what the fuck you owe me!” Cee Cee barked, her face flushed red as she rushed for Vinny. A wall of bodies quickly blocked her movement.
“Get the fuck out of here before you bite off more than you can chew,” he snarled. “I don’t have to give you shit! That’s eighty-five hundred, half of what I got for the job. Take it or leave it. I don’t give a flying fuck!”
Cee Cee made a move to her waistband but, before she could pull her gun, four of Vinny’s security goons put hands on her.
Vinny started laughing. “What? You were going to shoot me with your little gun right here in my own house? Shit, that’s not even your fucking gun to begin with. But I’ll tell you what. I’m gonna let you keep it. Consider it a gift from me.”
Cee Cee looked at him with daggers for eyes. If looks could kill, Vinny would have been dead right then.
“You think you’re tough, don’t you? If Louis taught you how to be smart then you better know who not to fuck with,” Vinny said.
Cee Cee’s jaw rocked feverishly and her chest heaved. The pressure from Vinny’s goons clamping down on her arm became painful. “Get the fuck off me!” she yelled, wrestling her arms away. She snatched the stack of cash from the table and squinted at Vinny.
“You got this one for damn near free, but don’t count me out of this game. You will pay me everything that you owe me. Everything,” Cee Cee spat.
“Get the fuck out of here. You’re just like that little weak bitch father of yours, always thinking people will be loyal and honest.” Vinny waved her off.
Cee Cee started for him again, but she was quickly hoisted into the air.
“I had enough of your ass,” Vinny said as she was dropped and fell to the floor. “Hold her down,” he instructed one of his guys. While one of the guys held her arms above her head, he straddled her and put a pillow over her face. Cee Cee kicked and shook her head back and forth to try to catch her breath, but Vinny was holding the pillow over her face and had all his weight on it. When her body finally went completely limp, he removed the pillow to see Cee Cee’s lifeless facial expression.
“And this is the way the fucking game is played,” he said as he leaned in to speak into Cee Cee’s ear as if she were still alive to hear what he was saying. “There’s no honor among killers. Shit, I’d kill your mother for the right price,” Vinny said, followed by a sinister laugh.
His security knew he was a crazy guy, but they never thought he’d go so far as to kill his own wife’s daughter. They all exchanged glances with each other but not a single one of them said a word.
“Get her out of here and make sure her mother doesn’t see or find out about this,” he said as he walked out of the room without bothering to look back.
Chapter 14
Drake dropped Tiana off at the apartment he got for her and he sped off. Instead of going inside, though, Tiana decided she needed to pay a certain someone a much-needed visit.
Tiana called a taxi and gave the driver the address to her destination. When she arrived, Tiana paid the driver and stepped out onto the cold, hard concrete. Tiana walked across a parking lot and then went onto a sidewalk. The familiar surroundings gave her ease and comfort. After being in her old house and seeing how run-down and abandoned it was, Tiana had an overwhelming need to feel connected to family.
Tiana used her fists to pound on the familiar door like the police were chasing her. She touched the gun she had stuffed in her waist to reassure herself that she had protection if she needed it. When no one came to the door, Tiana let out a long sigh and lifted the doorknocker. She pounded three times and waited.
“What?” someone barked from the other side of the door.
Tiana shook her head a little bit and smiled. It was true what they said about Puerto Ricans: old, young, fat, skinny, tall, or short, everybody was always damn angry. “Madrina. It’s Tiana,” she announced.
She could hear her godmother’s hearty laugh as she clicked the fifty locks she had on her door. “Ahijada!” Mama Hilda said lovingly, pulling Tiana close for a tight squeeze against her ample bosom. “I missed you. Let me look at you,” Mama Hilda sang, spinning Tiana around.
Tiana examined her godmother just as closely. She still had those beautiful round eyes and that creamy beige skin, but Mama Hilda was starting to look old. Tiana immediately noticed the half-moon laugh lines edging each side of Mama Hilda’s mouth, the wrinkles branching from the corners of each of her eyes, and loose skin dangling under her neck like a turkey wattle. Mama Hilda still smelled like White Diamonds perfume just like Tiana remembered.
“I missed you too, Madrina. So much shit has happened since Papi died,” Tiana lamented. “Everything is all messed up now,” she said as she walked farther into the familiar house, making herself at home right away.
Mama Hilda was her father’s right hand for all of the years he had been the top hitter in the streets. Mama Hilda held her own in the game and, legend had it, she was more ruthless than Griselda Blanco. Drake had told Tiana that Mama Hilda was the only one of her father’s people who didn’t go over to Lobo’s new crew after her father’s death. Mama Hilda stayed loyal to Marquez even after his death and she kept true to the Los Asesinos, but it hadn’t been easy. There had been a few attempts on her life since Marquez’s death. The other crews had also tried to shut her out, but she always managed to survive. People knew that Mama Hilda kept her AK-47 close at all times and she still had a few connections she could call in if there was an emergency.
“So what’s up, goddaughter? Your stepmother locked you away and never told me where. I found out from Drake and when I went to go see you they said your doctor had put on a strict no-visitor’s allowed policy. That bitch was always miserable and I always had a feeling she was a dirty snake. I never liked her. She was trash from the day I first laid eyes on her, and I told Marquez how I felt. He was so in love with that skank. The only good thing that ever came from that puta was how happy your dad seemed to be after he got with her. I never understood what he saw in her but it was nice to see him smiling and happy again. You made him happy and he loved you with all his heart, but his smile was never
the same since your mother died. When Giselle came around, he was smiling and starting to act like his old self again. But look what she turned out to be. A goddamned sneaky bitch,” Mama Hilda said with disgust. “I don’t care what nobody says, she had something to do with your father’s murder. And now she’s lying up with that Angel guy. Rumor has it he’s from Los Diablos. She is a fucking traitor as far as I am concerned. I don’t trust either of them,” Mama Hilda said with feeling.
“Yeah, that bitch tried to ruin me by having me put in there. But you know me, Madrina. I get knocked down, but I don’t stay down. I’m out. I’m alive and I need to get myself together again. I’m back for good this time, Madrina. I want to try to get Los Asesinos going again. I want to keep my father’s name alive,” Tiana replied. “I got some people to take care of in order to do it, and I need to be smart about it. I need money to move and more equipment. I came to ask you for work. Anything.”
“Oh, ahijada, I’ve been shut out since Marquez’s murder. These fucks won’t let me get in on anything. All I can get is little enforcer jobs. You know, a beating here, a threat there. Scaring and threatening people from time to time. Nothing big. I haven’t had any big paydays. Shit, I miss getting blood on my hands, trust me,” Mama Hilda admitted.
Tiana’s shoulders slumped in disappointment. She thought at least Mama Hilda could help her.
“I tell you what,” Mama Hilda said, shaking her head up and down like she was thinking hard. “Anything I hear about through the pipeline, I will let you know. Maybe if you start getting to their marks before they can, they will see their business drying up and come crawling. It will send them a message. I will keep my ear to the streets so we can fuck their heads up,” Mama Hilda said, flashing her famous wide-toothed grin.
“Thanks, Madrina. I love you and I’ll be waiting,” Tiana replied.
“What? Leaving already?” Mama Hilda asked disappointedly.
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