Belle

by Treasure Hernandez

  “Hello?”

  “Gene just went up to his office. Now is the time,” Kidd’s voice said on the other end.

  “Okay. I’m going now.”

  “Remember the plan. Stick to it.”

  “All right. I got it.”

  “And, Belle?”

  “Yes?”

  “Be careful.”

  “I will. I’ll call you when the deed is done,” Belle said and disconnected the phone.

  She checked herself one last time in the mirror before leaving the dressing room. The first stop she made was at the bar for a bottle of champagne, a corkscrew, and two glasses. She kept a pleasant smile on her face as she maneuvered her way through the heavy crowd of men. They all seemed to be having the time of their lives. Belle wondered what they would do with themselves when the Bliss Lounge ceased to exist. Maybe they would find a new club to go to, or maybe their need for a place like that would die with the lounge. There was only one way to see.

  Belle’s heart almost thumped out of her chest when she got to the golden office door. She’d been around Gene many times before, but now that she knew he was the man who killed her parents, it was different. At a time like that she wished she had one of Drip’s magical pills to take the edge off. Belle counted to five twice before she mustered up the courage to put her fist to the door.

  Knock! Knock!

  “Who is that?”

  “Me. Lady Beauty,” she said.

  Within seconds the door swung open wide, and Gene stood there wearing a big smile. “You must have read my mind. I was just about to send for you,” he said and moved out of the way so she could enter.

  “You know what they say about great minds,” she said and stepped past him.

  He shut the door behind her, and she couldn’t help but feel like a zebra locked inside a room with a tiger. Placing his hands on the small of her back, Gene leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. The place where his lips touched her skin seemed like it started to crawl, and she tried her best to hold the smile on her face. What she really wanted to do was gag.

  “What’s this you have here?” he asked, looking at her hands.

  Suddenly she remembered the champagne she brought. “Just a little something for the two of us to enjoy,” she said to him. “Do you mind if I pour it for us?”

  “No, be my guest,” he said and let her go over to a table he had at the side of his office.

  She set the glasses down gently before opening the bottle of bubbly. After she poured the drinks, she used her peripheral vision to make sure he could not see what she was doing, and then she quietly unzipped her fanny pack. From it, she pulled out a small ketamine pill to drop in one of the glasses.

  “I’m glad you came up here,” Gene’s voice said from right behind her, startling her into dropping the pill in one of the glasses.

  She couldn’t tell which glass the pill went in because of the bubbles, and she began to panic. Gene grabbed one of the glasses without waiting for Belle to hand it to him. With a shaky hand, she picked up the remaining glass and faced him. She couldn’t believe that had just happened. All she could do was hope that the glass he had chosen was the one with the drug in it.

  “And why is that?” she asked, trying to buy herself some time.

  “I wanted to discuss something with you, something important.”

  “And that is?”

  “You.”

  “Me?” she said and faked a giggle. “What about me?”

  “I would be lying to you, Lady Beauty, if I said seeing all of those men ogling over you didn’t do something nasty to my spirit. I almost hate it.”

  “Oh?”

  “See, I’ve never felt an infatuation like this before. It’s something that I’m not used to.”

  “That’s hard to believe, being that you’re surrounded by so many pretty women at all times.”

  “Yet none of them are as breathtaking as you,” he said to her. “Which is why I have to fire you.”

  “Fire me? But why?”

  “Because I need you for a far bigger title. Lady Beauty, I want you to be my wife.”

  “Your wife?” Belle exclaimed a little louder than she wanted to.

  “I know it’s sudden, and you might feel that you don’t know me at all. But I assure you that I will keep you very happy. You’ll have everything you need and more. And the best part is that you’ll never have to work another day in your life.”

  Belle truly couldn’t believe the nerve of him. He was even worse than she believed. He had robbed her of everything that had given her happiness yet stood before her claiming that he could make her happy. It took about all of her self-control to not grab the bottle of champagne and crash it on his temple. However, her smile dropped, and there was no way of getting it back on her face. She just stood there, staring incredulously up at him.

  “Well, uh, I . . . I’m flattered,” she forced out.

  “Then what do you say?” he asked her and pulled a small box from his pocket. “Will you do me the honor of becoming the most important lady in my life?”

  He opened it and flashed the biggest diamond Belle had ever seen in her life. It was so beautiful, something that Gene was incapable of being or deserving. How dare he? Still, Belle needed to buy herself some time. Kidd said that if he didn’t hear from her within fifteen minutes of her being alone with Gene, he was going to come get her. Her thoughts were going a mile a minute in her brain, but she knew there was only one thing to do.

  “Yes,” she said.

  “Yes?” he asked. Even he was shocked by her answer.

  “Yes,” she repeated. “Of course I’ll marry you, Gene. You’ve done so much for me and have been so kind to me. If this will ease your mind, then so be it.”

  He took her hand in his and slid the big rock on her finger. It was a perfect fit, and even she had to admit how good it looked on her delicate hand. He raised his glass in the air, and she did the same.

  “To new beginnings. May our worlds collide in more ways than just one!” he said, looking her dead in the eyes. “Drink!”

  His word came out as a demand, and Belle was the ant caught under the magnifying glass. He downed his drink, and if she didn’t, he would know something was up. She prayed that his cup was the one with the pill in it, and she took a big gulp of her drink. After she swallowed, he took the glass from her and set both down by the champagne bottle.

  “Now,” he said, running a finger down her collarbone, “how about we make things more official?”

  As his finger dropped to her breasts, Belle started to feel herself get lightheaded.

  Shit. I drank the wrong glass! she thought, but she was growing too woozy to panic. The pill worked fast, and its effects were strong even though she hadn’t drunk all of the liquid. She suddenly lost her balance in her tall stilettos and fell into Gene, giving him the notion that she wanted him.

  “Oh, you’re the aggressive type I see,” he said and lifted her up. His hand rubbed against her bare vagina lips. “No panties. I like it. Let’s have some fun, shall we?”

  * * *

  Kidd stood at the bottom of the staircase that led up to Gene’s office, waiting impatiently for word from Belle. He’d relieved the security guard who had been watching the staircase and took his place. It had been almost ten minutes, and he still didn’t have a call or text from her. He wondered what the hell was going on up there.

  “What are you doing?” Aria’s voice said as she came from out of nowhere.

  “What does it look like I’m doin’?” he snapped. He noticed that she had a bottle of vodka in her hand.

  “What happened to Larry?” she asked, speaking about the previous security guard.

  “I told him I would take over for him for a little while. I’m waiting for Gene anyways.”

  “Liar,” Aria said. “I saw Belle go up there not too long ago. That’s who you’re really waiting for.”

  “Why does it matter to you?”

  “Because if yo
u are waiting for her, you’re too late.” Her words alarmed him at first, but then she continued. “Whatever you hoped could be between you is no more. Gene plans on marrying her. That bastard.”

  “He plans on doing what?”

  “He plans on making Belle his wife,” she said and took a drink straight from the bottle. “After everything I’ve done for him. And he wants to marry a bitch we found on the street.”

  “Aria, you’re drunk,” Kidd said, noticing the slur in her speech. “Go back with the other girls.”

  “Fuck that,” Aria said. “Those motherfuckers are going to hear from me!”

  Kidd didn’t have time to grab her before she shot up the stairs. He ran after her, but she was moving so fast in her stilettos that he kept grabbing air.

  “Gene!” she yelled. “Gene! You slimy motherfucker!”

  When she got to the golden door, she opened the door and pushed it wide. Kidd was right on her heels, but he stopped in his tracks once he saw what was going on in the office. Gene had knocked everything off of his desk and was positioning himself to sexually penetrate a barely conscious Belle.

  “Ay, man, what the fuck?” Kidd said. “First you kill her family, and now you rape her?”

  “What are you doing in here? Where’s Larry?” Gene asked, buttoning his pants back up.

  “Get the fuck away from her,” Kidd barked and pulled his gun out. “If you so much as touch her, I’ll blow your head from your shoulders.”

  “I can touch my fiancée if I please,” Gene said simply and didn’t budge. “Now get out of my office.”

  “Fiancée!” Aria exclaimed. When she saw the ring on Belle’s finger, she launched the bottle of vodka at Gene. It missed his head by a few centimeters. “After everything I’ve done for you?”

  In a dash, she was on Gene like white on rice, hitting him with closed fists wherever they would land. Her screams were those of a broken-hearted woman, and the liquor in her system only amplified her emotions. Aria was getting him so good that he had cowered over. She was in the middle of another punch attack when the shots rang out.

  Bang! Bang! Bang!

  “Uh,” she groaned in pain and stumbled back, holding her stomach.

  Blood was seeping through her fingers, and there was a look of shock on her face. While she was busy trying to beat some sense into him, she hadn’t even seen that he’d bent down to get the gun taped under his desktop.

  “You shot me. Why?” she asked, coughing up more blood.

  “Every bitch is replaceable,” Gene said to her as she dropped to the ground. “Even you.”

  “Aria,” Belle whispered from on top of the desk and reached for her, but it was too late for her friend.

  Gene turned his gun to Belle and averted his eyes to his nephew. “Drop that gun, little nigga,” he said. “I know she’s your soft spot. By the time you can let one off at me, I’d have already put two in her skull.”

  Kidd hesitated, but when Gene cocked his gun, Kidd dropped his weapon. But that didn’t mean his mouth didn’t work.

  “I know what you did to my mother,” Kidd spat. “I know you set her up to take the fall for you.”

  “I knew letting you talk to that bitch was a bad idea.”

  “Damn, you really don’t give a fuck about women. Not even your own sister. You had me hatin’ my own mother!”

  “What can I say? You do what you have to do in business.” Gene shrugged. Kidd started toward him, but Gene wagged a finger. “Ah, ah, ah. Stop it or she dies.”

  “You aren’t gon’ kill her,” Kidd said.

  “And what makes you so sure of that?”

  “Because you still need her, don’t you? That’s why you want to marry her. You can’t kill her.”

  “All right, you called my bluff,” Gene said and pointed the gun at him. “I can’t kill her, you’re right. If you knew that, it was dumb of you to drop your gun and leave yourself defenseless. Because I can kill you.”

  “You could. But you won’t. Because you’ll be dead before you can even squeeze the trigger.”

  “And who’s going to kill me?” Gene laughed scornfully. “You?”

  “Nah. Somebody else deserves your soul more than me.”

  On Kidd’s last word, Aria lifted up and aimed the gun that Kidd had dropped next to her at Gene’s head. She tugged the trigger one time and sent a bullet right through the middle of Gene’s forehead. The power of the shot snapped his head back, and his eyes were wide open, frozen in shock. Aria had used to rest of her energy to send him to hell, and his body falling to the floor was the last thing she saw before she too left the land of the living.

  Kidd left his gun in her hand, knowing that the police would need it as evidence when he called and reported the double homicide. He stepped over Aria’s body and scooped Belle up in his arms. She was going in and out of consciousness. He kissed her forehead as he carried her out of the office and out of that lounge. He swore to himself that she would never step foot in that place again.

  * * *

  Beep. Beep.

  The distant yet constant sound of the beeping was what brought Belle to open her eyes. They fluttered slightly, and she tried to make sense of her surroundings. She was in some sort of bed, which wasn’t the most comfortable, she might add. And that annoying beeping, where was it coming from?

  “Welcome back,” a familiar voice said.

  Whipping her head, she smiled when she saw Kidd’s face not too far from her. He looked restless, like he’d been up all night.

  “Where am I?”

  “The hospital,” he told her. “Apparently you slipped yourself a date-rape drug.”

  “Oh, my God,” she said weakly. “I messed up. The pill slipped, and I didn’t know which glass it went in.”

  “It’s all right. Everything worked out.”

  “Is it . . . is it over?”

  “Yes,” Kidd said. “How much do you remember after you drank from the wrong glass?”

  “I remember . . .” Belle said and tried to force her memories back. “I remember you coming in. But you weren’t alone. You were with . . . Oh, my God. Aria. Is she—”

  “Dead? Yes.”

  “No.” Belle shook her head violently and tried to hold back the tears. “No.”

  “Hey,” Kidd said and grabbed her hand. “It’s all right.”

  She nodded and swallowed the large lump in her throat. She wished that the vision she had of Aria getting shot by Gene was just a nightmare. But it wasn’t. Aria had fallen victim to the life that had saved her, like so many others before her. It wrenched Belle’s heart terribly. Was living even worth it after dealing with so much loss?

  “I can’t believe how much my life has spiraled in such a short amount of time. I don’t have any family left.”

  “You have me,” Kidd said. “I’m your family now. And I ain’t goin’ nowhere no time soon.”

  “Promise?”

  “Word as bond.”

  “So, what now?”

  “Now we move on with our lives. They found Gene’s and Aria’s bodies this mornin’. The police are rulin’ it as a domestic dispute between lovers.”

  “It’s the truth.”

  “Yeah. He deserved it. . . .” Kidd’s voice trailed off.

  “What about the Bliss Lounge?”

  “I haven’t decided what I’m gon’ do with it yet. I’ll figure it out in due time. But first, there’s something else I need to do.”

  Kidd kissed Belle’s knuckles as she gazed at him. He truly did believe that fate had brought them together. He didn’t know why or what the future held in store for him. What he did know was that wherever he was supposed to be, he was sure it was with her. Belle. The beauty to his beast.

  Epilogue

  Bzzz!

  The sound of the prison door buzzing was one that Gia would not miss. Words couldn’t express how happy she was to be saying goodbye to the terrible place she had called home for the past ten years. She’d had faith that her son wo
uld do it, and he did. He had not only defeated Gene but also turned the Bliss Lounge into a regular gentlemen’s club called the Rose Room. That way, all of the girls there would still be employed. There were no more contracts, and no more blood would be spilled, not as much anyway.

  She had hated having to put on him the burden of taking out the trash, but there was nobody else who could have handled an evil man like Gene. After all, Kidd learned everything he knew from his uncle. The world being rid of a man like Gene Hightower had been the icing on the cake for Gia, but her son did her one better.

  When Gene died, Kidd used a few of his files to blackmail the governor and prosecutor on Gia’s case. Whatever he had on them was enough for them to file a motion to release Gia immediately. When she found out, she dropped down to her knees and cried tears of joy. She thought that she’d spend the rest of her days trapped by those jail walls.

  On her way out, she was given a bag filled with the things she’d come in with. In it were some clothes that didn’t fit, some shoes she didn’t want, a hair clip, and a locket. The only thing she removed from the bag was the locket. Inside it was a picture of her son’s sweet face when he was just 8 years old. It was her favorite picture of him because he had a snaggletooth. She smiled when she saw it and kissed it before placing it around her neck.

  “You’re a free woman, Gia,” the female guard said to her as they walked her to the doors she would be exiting through. “How does it feel?”

  “What do you mean, how does it feel?” Gia asked with a joyous laugh. “I’m free!”

  “Just don’t do anything that will land you back here.”

  “Trust me, I won’t,” Gia said. “I missed out on so much time with my son. All I want to do is make up for lost time.”

  “Sounds like a good plan,” the guard said and opened one of the double doors for her. “This is where I say goodbye and good luck!”

  The bright sun hit Gia in the face, and she welcomed it. She walked out of the door and through the prison gates feeling like a whole new woman. Once she was in the parking lot, she used her hand as a visor and searched around for a familiar face. Kidd said that he would be there to pick her up. She hoped that he didn’t forget about her.