by Nique Luarks
The Gangsta That Stole My Heart 3
Nique Luarks
Jessica Watkins Presents
Contents
1. Be careful who you love
2. Hurt happens to everybody
3. Wise Decisions
4. Round and round we go…
5. Your enemy won’t do you no harm
6. Everybody makes mistakes
7. Mindful…
8. Cold blooded
9. I’m with you…
10. We could be so in love
11. Willful ignorance is surrendering control
12. Two birds, one stone
13. No frauds…
14. Mvp
15. Just give me all of you…
16. Fearless
17. Put your heart in my hands
1
Be careful who you love
Chance
“Chance…”
My body jolted lightly.
“Chance!”
Suddenly, the scent of lavender filled my nostrils. My eyes fluttered open slowly to very blurry vision.
“I’m glad you’re up. I was getting worried.”
I closed my eyes and then reopened them, hoping to get a better view. When I swallowed it felt like a mixture of dirt and nails were sliding down my throat. And when I tried to lift my head, nausea washed over me, leaving me woozy.
“Relax.”
How could I? The last thing I remembered was Piper strangling me right before everything around me went black. Warm tears escaped from my eyes and slid down my cheeks rapidly. My chest heaved up and down as I tried to catch my breath, mentally steering myself away from a panic attack. Piper had tried to kill me.
Us…
My shaky hand touched my stomach. More tears streamed down my face. My baby bump was still there, but I wasn’t sure if Carlee was. Staring up at the ceiling, I silently prayed for her to show me a sign that she was all right. A kick, roll, jab, the hiccups, or something. Anything would suffice as reassurance that my baby was still alive.
I closed my eyes again.
“Here, drink this.” The voice sounded familiar. “You’re dehydrated.” What I’m sure was a straw brushed across my bottom lip gently.
Parting my lips, I welcomed the taste of cold, crisp water. It stung my throat at first, but after several sips, I felt a whole lot better and stronger too. This time when I opened my eyes and looked over, Rel was staring back at me. Fear took hold of my entire being, paralyzing me for a moment. He set the cup down on a nightstand and then crossed his arms against his chest.
“Rel?” Weakly, I protectively wrapped my arms around my stomach.
He smiled. “I saved you.”
I glanced quickly around the room. “W-where…where am I?”
“My father’s home. I brought you here after I saved your life, Chance. Piper could’ve killed you.” He ran the fingertip of his index finger along my cheek.
“Rel, I need to go home.” I sniffled. “My family is probably worried sick about me.” I’m sure True was ready to paint the city red. “I need to check on my baby, Rel. She hasn’t moved since I’ve been conscious.”
“Carlee is fine.” He smiled. “My older brother, Rhett, is a doctor. Remember I told you I wanted three boys? Well, I want them to be like me and my brothers. Rodrick is a lawyer, and Rhett is a medical doctor. He’s an OB/GYN as a matter of fact.”
I stared back at him. “You told me you only had sisters.”
He shrugged. “I guess I wasn’t completely honest.” Rel took a seat on the bed. “I don’t have any sisters. I actually have two brothers.”
I glared at him. “How can you have such deep feelings for me when I don’t know anything about you? You should be pursuing someone who likes you just as much as you like them.”
“You don’t like me?”
“No,” I stated flatly. I’d never genuinely hated anyone until now.
Rel chuckled. “You’re the hardest woman I’ve ever had to get through to.”
“You’re sick.”
“Rhett should be back in a little while just to make sure everything is okay. Are you hungry?”
Moisture lined the brims of my eye beds. “Rel, I need to go home. You have to take me to a real hospital.” I blinked. “I-I…I have to call my parents.” The tears I’d been trying to hold back slipped out. “P-please…please,” I cried. “Please let me use the phone. I won’t say anything to anyone. I just wanna go home, Rel,” I bawled, terrified.
This couldn’t be happening. It all seemed too surreal.
“Ssshhh…” Rel caressed my hair. “Stop crying, Chance. You’re safe. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
I whimpered pitifully. “Rel, why are you doing this?”
“Because I want you to know your worth. You deserve more than what True can offer you. I know all about the other baby mamas. You and Carlee don’t deserve that.”
When he touched my cheek, I moved my face away. “Don’t touch me.”
“Chance don’t act like that.” He tried rubbing my cheek again.
“I said don’t touch me!” I screamed. “Keep your fuckin’ hands off of me!” Fury washed over me.
“Why are you mad at me? Piper tried to kill you, but I saved you,” he repeated. “If it wasn’t for me—"
“If it wasn’t for you, Piper wouldn’t be dead. Your kids don’t have a mother!”
“Kids?” A confused expression graced his face. “What are you talking about?”
“Your kids… you killed their mother.”
“Chance, I don’t have any kids.”
“What?”
He laughed. “She told you she had kids?” Rel tossed his head back, clearly tickled. “If she did, they weren’t mine. I mean when we were engaged she had two or three miscarriages.”
I frowned.
“Look…” Rel waved my thoughts of Piper off. “What you and I have is special. Me, you, and Carlee can be—"
“Rel, this is crazy! Are you drunk?”
He shrugged nonchalantly. “Yeah, it may be a little crazy…”
Just as those words left his mouth, the door opened, and a man stepped in. His muscular six-foot frame stalked towards the bed I was lying in. “Good, she’s up.” He stared down at me.
He favored Rel a lot—same eyes and face structure. The stranger even had Rel’s dark chocolate complex. The resemblance was so uncanny that I had to look back and forth between each figure a few times. They were almost identical.
“I’m Rhett. My brother has told me so much about you.”
“I—"
“Shouldn’t she be getting some rest?” Rel briskly interrupted me.
Rhett nodded. “But like I told you when you first brought her here, she should be at a hospital, Rel.”
I glanced eagerly at Rhett. Despite the circumstance, he seemed to be sensible.
“She’ll get fluids quicker if she were to receive them through an IV.”
Suddenly, it hit me.
He doesn’t know.
Rhett clearly was clueless to what was going on. If he knew I was here against my will, I doubted he’d be trying to get me help.
Rel cleared his throat. “Don’t frighten her, Rhett.”
“Rhett,” I jumped in. “Can you please help me?”
He gave me a puzzled look.
“Let me speak to you outside.” Rel started for the door.
Rhett continued staring at me awkwardly.
“Rhett!” Rel called out.
“Please...” I pleaded.
“Is this my brother’s baby?” He ignored Rel, pointing at my stomach.
I shook my head no. “Is that what he—"
&nb
sp; “Baby, you’re tired. That fall must’ve really shaken you up” Rel retraced his steps. “Rhett, a word?”
Rhett’s eyes rolled over to his brother. “What’s going on, Rel?”
“He kidnapped me and killed Piper!” I blurted. “If you guys let me go, I promise not to say anything.”
Rhett’s eyes bucked. “What the fuck, Rel?!”
Rel sighed. “It’s more to the story than that.”
“No, it’s not.” My head swayed from side to side quickly. “I’m not carrying his baby. We are not together, I cried. “He killed Piper.” I repeated, still in disbelief.
Rel sucked his teeth and frowned. “You led me on!” he yelled angrily, pointing his finger at me.
“You haven’t changed! We’re getting you some help this time.” Rhett stormed towards the door. “Father and Rodrick can’t save you this go around. I’m calling the police!”
Rel ran after him and punched him in the back of his head. Rhett spun around and returned a blow. They began tussling, sending punches back and forth. Rel seemed as though he was getting the upper hand, but then Rhett tackled him to the floor. They continued wrestling, trying to get the best of one another.
Since neither set of eyes were on me, I used that opportunity to throw the covers off of my body and jumped out of the bed. I ran quickly to the en suite bathroom and shut the door behind me, making sure to secure the lock. My eyes roamed the area quickly and when they landed on the window, there was a loud bang on the door. When I jumped involuntary, so did Carlee. I rubbed my belly, making my way towards the window. When I looked out and saw how far I was up from the ground, fear kicked in.
I was trapped.
The banging continued.
Rushing to the medicine cabinet, I opened it to find anything that could help me in my time of despair. Toothpaste, pill bottles, and a few miscellaneous items stared back at me.
The door frame shook.
Squatting, I went into the cabinet underneath the sink. The only things there were cleaning supplies. I quickly snatched the Clorox Bleach spray. I then squeezed the handle to see if I needed to change the spray setting. Once I adjusted it to my liking, I faced the door and waited for whoever was on the other side to enter.
“Chance, let me in.”
It was Rel.
I looked back to the window, contemplating on taking that leap. But then Carlee kicked.
The door burst open and then Rel stormed in with an unhinged look on his face. He rushed in my direction and when he was a couple inches away, I sprayed him in the face with the chlorine mixture.
“Aaggghhh!” He rubbed his eyes frantically.
I unscrewed the cap quickly and tossed the fluid in his face, making sure to aim directly at his eyes again.
“Fuuuck!” he growled. “You…you fuckin’ bitch!” He tried to lunge at me with closed eyes.
I slipped as I dodged him. Catching my balance, I ran out of the bathroom.
“I can’t see!” he yelled.
I ignored his cries as I ran through the room towards the door. Rhett lay sprawled out on the floor, blood leaking from his head. I wanted to stop and help him, but I had to help Carlee and myself first.
True
“Has Chance called you yet?” Love asked on the other end of the phone.
“Nah.”
“True, it’s been almost a whole day.”
I leaned back in my chair. “Love, don’t call me no more today.”
“How else am I supposed to get updates for Granny? You haven’t checked in. We’re scared, True.”
I shook my head. After Drake told me Chance was missing, I called Chance’s people. Sonia reached out to Granny and the police right after. When I got to Chance’s shop, I went straight to her office to get the security tapes, but they were gone. I didn’t know where she was, and every time Love called it was a reminder that I was helpless.
I even went to her loft thinking, no, really hoping for some sign or clue. But there was nothing to aid my search for her and my baby.
“Okay, well, Granny wants you to call her ASAP.”
“A’ight.” I ended the call.
Closing my eyes, I rubbed my forehead. I’d never been this stressed. The knock on my office door made me frown.
“Come in.” I sat up straight.
Gino, Chance’s oldest brother, and Tyriq entered. Gino looked around the room and then faced me.
“So, this is what you doin’ while my sister is out there missing? Chillin’ in a fuckin’ bar?”
I stared at him.
“All them ties you got with the mob, you need to use them muthafuckas to find Chance.” His nostrils flared.
“On God.” Tyriq flexed.
Running my hands down my face slowly, I sighed. Any other day I would’ve reacted differently to the disrespect, but today I just didn’t have it in me. I needed to keep a clear mind.
“Yo, Gino, don’t come to my spot on no big-boy shit.” He and every last one of her brothers knew how I got down.
He grilled me. “You done got my sister in some shit, nigga. So, I’ma come at you however I feel.”
Unbothered, I grabbed the blunt out of the ashtray just as my office door burst open. Morgan barged in. “True, I think there’s something you need to know.” She stepped past Gino and his bodyguard.
I sparked the blunt. “What?”
“You might need to check that dude, Rel, out. I remember Chance telling me he was acting all weird and crazy.”
I frowned, listening intently.
“He’s been calling her nonstop, and then when they met up one day, he asked her to marry him. When she said no, he flipped; grabbing all on her and shit.” Her bloodshot eyes danced around me.
I took a long pull, put the blunt out, and then stood up. I suddenly remembered the conversation Chance and I had at her loft a couple months ago about how she had to call her pops when he was drunk and tried to invite himself to her crib. She seemed bothered when she talked about that nigga.
“Why the fuck didn’t you tell my mama this?” Gino asked. “And why the fuck did you wait until just now to say something?”
She mugged him. “Because I forgot.” Facing me again, she stepped further into the room. “True, we need to find Rel just to cross him off the list.”
I nodded.
“You should have come to family with this information, Morgan,” Tyriq spoke.
She rolled her eyes. “You niggas ain’t gon’ do shit.” Morgan pointed at me. “At least with True and them she has a real shot at being rescued.”
“Did she ever tell you where he lives?” I started for the door, calling Roman.
“I mean she sent me the location once a long time ago when they first started messing around. It was the first time she went to his house. I deleted those messages when we weren’t talking, but I know where he works.”
That statement was like music to my ears. I finally had a lead or at least I had something to ease my mind and make me feel like I was being proactive.
“Bet. Take me there.”
“We coming too,” Gino announced.
I shrugged. “I don’t care what you niggas do. But ya’ll gotta get the fuck out my office.”
“This is it,” Morgan said from the passenger’s side.
I parked my whip and looked at the tall downtown office building. It bothered me almost instantly that this nigga worked so close to where Chance lived.
“I’m not sure which floor, but this is the place.” Morgan unhooked her seatbelt. “What are you about to do?”
After cutting the ignition, I opened the door and hopped out.
“What this nigga do for a living?” Gino walked up on me just as I shut the door.
Even though we all were coming to the same place, they had made the trip in a different car. Tyriq suggested we all ride together, but I quickly nipped that shit in the bud.
“He’s an accountant,” Morgan answered his question.
I made my way toward
s the entrance with murder on my mind.
Entering through the fancy revolving door, I trekked to the receptionist’s desk with them following close behind me.
“Can I help you?” the white chick behind the desk asked, typing.
“What floor does Rel work on?”
She looked up at me, and then her blue eyes bounced back and forth between all of us.
“Rel?”
I faced Morgan. “Is that his real name?”
“No.” She shook her head. “His name is Relshon, but I don’t know his last name.”
I gave my attention back to the blonde-haired, blue-eyes chick. “What floor?”
“Umm…” She looked uncomfortable. “Do you have an appointment?”
“Yeah,” I lied.
She gave me a look like she didn’t believe me. “I’d have to call the department he works for to get permission before I give you any information,” she said curtly.
“That’s fine,” Morgan cut in just as I was about to snatch the dumb blonde over the desk by her hair.
We watched as she typed on her computer and then grabbed the phone. A few seconds went by before she placed it back on the base. “He’s not available right now.”
“Has he been in today?” Morgan leaned on the counter.
“I’m not sure. Would you like to leave your name and number? I’ll be sure to get your information to Mr. Bell as soon as possible.”
Bell…
I stepped away from the desk and headed back towards the entrance.
Once we got back outside, Morgan huffed in frustration. “Now what?”
2
Hurt happens to everybody
Chance
“Help me!” I yelled, banging on the front door of a house nearly five minutes down the road from Rel’s.
