by Brick
“Get these fucking cuffs off me,” Uncle spat. “Out of all the people in the fucking world, you, Luciano? And then to be in her presence, to be the cause of another loss of life for her? For me? I’m going to murder this motherfucker.” Uncle Snap was damn near foaming at the mouth as he tried to get past Cory, who had to pull him back.
Javon said, “I need everybody to pipe the fuck down. Absolan, you can’t have Luci. That’s my family’s kill. You were okay with keeping his secret because, hey, King was just another nigger who had to be put down, right? But as soon as Luci wanted his son, who’s half black, to have his seat, then all hell broke loose, huh? Y’all some funny ma’fuckers. You feel me? My family needs that pound of flesh.”
Javon paced, rubbing the back of his head. “So let me make you a deal. You take the cuffs off Lucky and Snap. Call off your people. Because this shit is basically over. We can all walk away from this free and clear.”
Absolan shook his head.
Javon stopped pacing. “I’m not going to offer this deal again, especially since your son and your men tried to kill me and the rest of my family in that club.”
Fabian said, “I came to rescue my father. I assumed that you were batting for Luci since I saw you with Lucky. My father was in that club, bound and gagged in that basement.”
“I foolishly assumed that Lucky had been in on this,” Absolan spat.
I didn’t know if Lucky was crying or if it was the rain, but he was visibly shaken up. His face was bloodred as he stared ahead, with hatred in his eyes. He inhaled and exhaled heavily.
“Y’all got me out here looking stupid as fuck in front of my faction,” he yelled. “All because you thought I wanted something I never even once dreamed of fucking having. Why do you think I took a seat at the table of the Syndicate after meeting with Javon? I paved my own fucking way, and I’ll continue to do so. Ask Uncle Luci what I ever asked from him in this fucking game. Nothing. Not a motherfucking thing. Anything he’s given to me is because he wanted to,” he yelled at Absolan. He turned to the guards and shouted, “Get these fucking cuffs off me.”
I kind of got what Lucky was saying. This whole time we had been thinking one thing, when it was another. I had literally wrecked my mind by searching and putting clues together, trying to figure shit out. I’d left my daughter and niece in the care of an assassin just so I could come and help my husband, because I’d thought someone had put a target on his back, and the whole time we’d been fighting another man’s war. We’d been unintentionally helping another man to hide his secrets. We’d been played.
I looked to my husband, who, surprisingly, looked less than amused but not angry in the least.
“Absolan, man to man, leader to leader, you know that by rights of war, Luciano belongs to me. And if you really want to get serious, I got the right and the manpower to take out you and your men right now.”
As soon as Javon said that, Absolan’s men cocked and aimed their weapons. Nighthawk stepped forward and whispered something in Javon’s ear. Javon gave something that was supposed to be a smile, but it was anything but friendly.
“I am not amused, but I am losing my fucking patience,” Javon said coolly while watching Absolan. He raised his hand. As soon as he did, headlights lit up the road and the foothills. There were so many lights, it looked like daylight.
“Now, my lovely activated a panic button when she called in all members of the Syndicate,” Javon revealed. “As you know, my hands stretch far and wide. Over the past year, with all the business moves made, I’ve made a lot of... let’s say, friends. You’re surrounded, and I don’t think you want this fight anymore. Now, again, walk away.”
What Javon had proposed seemed reasonable, but Absolan was old, and his pride had been wounded. There was such a thing as a fool, and then there was an old fool. I prayed Absolan would be neither. I watched as the old priest lifted his chin. He still had a hold on Deedee’s arm. Her sobs weren’t as loud as they had been.
“Okay,” Absolan finally said to Javon. “On one condition.”
“I’m not really in the mood to negotiate at this point,” Javon said.
“Just one small thing.”
“Speak.”
“Once we leave, you will hold no ill will toward my son or Cavriel’s grandson. They fought only to avenge Cavriel and to find me. We don’t want a war with the Syndicate,” Absolan said.
“I have a better deal. You and your men leave now, and we can all meet at a later date to discuss this. Until then, you have my word that no war will be with the Commission.”
There was something unspoken in Javon’s words. Maybe no one else picked up on it, but I did. I studied my husband the way a woman would when she knew there was something that was not being said.
Chapter 30
Claudette
The summer of ’85 . . .
That drive home had to be the longest one I’d ever taken. My heart was in my stomach. My head wouldn’t stop spinning, and my soul was bleeding. During that drive, there were times when I wanted Snap to pull over and let my tears fall. My spirit was screaming at me that Kingston wasn’t on this earth anymore. My emotions were crashing against my mind like a wave of oppression, and the tightness of my heart wouldn’t go away, especially with the sound of Toya’s tears against her mother, Betsy’s chest. They sat in the back, heading to their new life.
I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. That was why Snap was driving for me. Deedee flittered only once in my mind. I hadn’t wanted to collect her ignorant, traitorous ass, but I planned to ship her off promptly to Luciano’s. After that, I would be done with her. I knew that I’d never understand her, or why she was how she was, or why she loved to hurt me. My only hope was in my faith in God and karma. I prayed she remembered that even during those times I hated her, I was loyal to her.
Once we made it to Atlanta and Snap dropped Toya and Betsy off at Ms. Dutchess’s house and Deedee at my place, we sped off as quickly as we could. As soon as we pulled into downtown Jonesboro, I knew something was wrong. My gut had been right.
“Lawd Jesus,” I whispered when I saw the carnage.
Before Snap could even stop the car, I jumped out. King’s office and the surrounding area were up in flames. Lord knew, I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t do nothing. My legs got weak. I hadn’t felt pain like that in all my life. I couldn’t feel him. Couldn’t feel my heart beat in sync with his.
“King,” I yelled in the middle of the turmoil. “King!”
Sirens blared in the distance. People came running from wherever they’d been hiding. Snap or somebody tried to grab me, but I shoved him off of me as I ran toward King’s burning office.
“My Kingston,” I cried. “No, no, no. Lord, Jesus, no. Baby!”
I hadn’t been there for him. He’d died alone. He had always been afraid of dying alone. My hands balled into fists. I let out a cry that would have probably stilled the night had I been in the jungle. Sweat and tears pooled down my face. My whole body went cold with shivers.
I was so far gone that I didn’t even notice when Snap ran into the burning office. My world spun and then tilted. It wasn’t until I saw Snap dragging a body out of the office that reality set in. Snap coughed like his lungs were on fire. My heart was on fire. I kneeled down to the body that I knew was husband . . . Kingston.
I was so weak that I fell flat on my ass while pulling his body haphazardly onto my lap. He was hot, and his clothes had been scorched, so they looked like they’d been burned into his skin. I could tell where bullets had entered his upper torso. The skin on his face had been so scorched, his eyes were melted shut. Kingston looked like one of those mummies in National Geographic, but charred. The image shattered my heart.
Oh, dear God in heaven, why would you do this to me? my soul cried. Why? Why?
As durable as I was as a queen pin, nothing had prepared me for the sight of King the way he was. My man had been tough. He’d been so strong. In my eyes, he could take on anything, and he had. He done
some bad things, but he’d done so much good to counter them. What would I do? What would the kids do? What about the Syndicate? What about me? How would I fucking go on now that he was gone?
I didn’t want to. I couldn’t imagine going a day or night when he wasn’t by my side. Why did he send me away? Did he know his time had come? “My fucking God, why did you do this to me?” I yelled.
I didn’t even realize I’d yelled that aloud. Most the whole town was out there looking at me, and I didn’t give a damn. I gazed up through my tears to see Snap sitting across from me. The young man looked the way I felt. King had been the only father he’d known. Same could be said for so many of the kids.
“They killed all of ’em,” Snap said, voice cracking. “They all in there. They all dead.”
They’d taken him out. They’d taken out the young men he’d made his sons. A rage filled me like one I’d never felt before. I thought I took leave of my senses. Somewhere in the back of my mind, the sane me took a seat. As I sat there rocking back and forth, cradling the body of the only man I’d ever loved, I felt the break in my mental well-being. My life was forever altered by the murder of my King. Someone would pay. People would pay . . . and they would pay with their lives.
Chapter 31
Lucky
The cuffs had come off me and Snap. Absolan took his son and his men, and he left the premises. It was just us family now. Just us, our demons, and unanswered questions. Javon and I stood face-to-face, man-to-man. I had no qualms about what had to be done. There had been so many secrets for so long. I didn’t know the man I’d assumed was my uncle for years. I had to stop kidding myself, though. The rumors had been rampant. So somewhere in the back of my mind, I had known he was my father. I just hadn’t wanted to accept it for some reason.
The rain had let up, and the wind whipped around us. I wanted to talk. Wanted to say so much, but nothing came out. Nothing. The McPhearsons and Snap, especially Snap, were owed their pound of flesh. Those were the rules of the game. I turned to look at my mother and my sister, who were doing all they could to help a dead man. I lowered my head and pressed my lips tightly together. I turned to Snap and gave him a bitter smile.
Regardless of what the old man had done, it was still a tough pill to swallow, knowing he would be executed. But to an honorable leader, that was a rule of war. To the victor went the spoils. There was really no victor and no war—just old skeletons that had finally fallen out of the closet.
Snap’s expression was set in stone. He had a Desert Eagle clutched in his hand. I knew there would be no talking to him, no asking him to just let the old man die of old age and his wounds. I trudged up the steps to where my mother, sister, and father were. I signaled for Jules and Mary to follow me.
My mother looked up at me, questions in her eyes. “What?” she asked.
“Come on, Ma,” I said, my voice having no emotion.
“No,” she whined. “What are you . . . What do you mean, come on?”
“Ma, you know what has to happen. Don’t do this.”
The old man coughed. Blood coated his lips as he looked up at us from the chair with hooded eyes.
My mother had a look of panic in her eyes. “You can’t just let them kill him,” she fussed, eyes wide.
“Take her out,” I told Jules and Mary as Giana wrapped herself around our father’s waist.
“Lucky,” my mother yelled as Jules and Mary escorted her out. Jules had to use all his strength to hold her. “Lucky, he’s your father!” she cried.
I looked down at my sister. “Giana.”
“No,” she said. “They have to kill me too.”
“Giana,” my father said, “you . . . you have to go.”
As soon as he said that, Giana cried harder.
“Take her,” he ordered me.
With ease, I grabbed Giana around her waist. I carried her, kicking and screaming, as Snap walked past me into the house. My soul was burdened....
Chapter 32
Javon
It was always amazing the shit one could find out if one dug deep enough. Coming into New York, I’d assumed that one of our allies and fellow Syndicate members was in trouble. In the end, I’d found out so much more. Envy was a powerful drug, and the more I had read King’s journal and compared it to Mama’s, the more I had found that some things just didn’t fucking add up.
Initially, it looked as if Absolan had been the culprit, but that shit was too obvious. I’d learned in life that if it was too obvious, then one needed to take a second look. I mean, don’t get a nigga wrong. Sometimes it was the obvious; however, in this case, not so much.
I shook my head, trying to keep my wits about me as much as I could. With Shanelle by my side, I was barely conscious. I wondered if she could pick up on that shit, so I looked to see if she was looking at me. Sure enough, the woman I’d married had her eyes square on me.
“Swear to God, I’m kicking your fucking ass,” she spat low, so only she and I could hear.
“Couldn’t see a doctor. Too much shit was going on. Way too much shit. I’m cool, though,” I lied.
“You’re lying, and I know you are.”
“Where’s my daughter?” I asked to divert shit.
“With her fairy godmother.”
I quirked an eyebrow. “And my niece?”
“The same place Honor is.”
I nodded, then turned my attention back to the house, where Lucky was dragging Giana out. He tossed his sister into a car with his mother. I watched Uncle Snap walk up the stairs. Luciano looked up at him. The light from the house was dim, but with the cars lighting up the area, we could see well.
Uncle Snap said, “For years you betrayed her trust, knowing you’d been the one to cause her the greatest pain she’d ever known.”
“I regretted it,” Luci croaked out. He sounded older than he had before.
“He trusted you. You were his brother, and you killed him. The Cain to his Abel.”
Luci said nothing. His face was a mask of fading life and was devoid of emotion. I could have been wrong, but I didn’t believe that nigga had no fucking regrets about what he’d done. He was the cold case for being pathological, and it sickened me. Frankly, it reminded me of Melissa, and it made my jaw clench from constrained hurt and anger. Luci sat straight up, as much as he could.
Snap moved a few feet across from Luci. We couldn’t see him from where we were standing, but we saw and heard when he emptied the gun into the Old Italian. Fate was a cruel bitch.
The rest of the Syndicate and I pulled back after that. There was nothing more to be done. All grievances had finally been brought out into the open and made right on both ends, though I knew the sins of our family in this world might not ever be done. That just made me stay up on game and not relax my resolve. Also, it reminded me never, ever to believe that trust could be maintained with Lucky’s sister, and definitely not with his piece of work of a mother.
We left Lucky standing over his mother and sister after his men dragged his father’s body from the house and laid it in the yard. Just like Mama had described in her journal how she had held King during his death, Deedee sat cradling Luciano’s head in her lap. Her face was wet with her pain. Maybe now she knew what pain was. Maybe now she’d understand all the pain she’d caused her sister.
* * *
After we left those Amish farm hills, we headed back to the hotel where Shanelle had left Ms. Lily, Honor, and Justice. I hugged Ms. Lily. She seemed so small under my weight and smelled of whiskey. I smiled when her accent came through as she greeted me.
“Good grief, Javon. You smell like you been wrestling with hogs,” she fussed. “Don’t touch my babies until you wash.”
I chuckled. “I just need to look at her for a minute, is all.”
There she was, staring up at me. Everyone claimed she looked like me. I thought she looked like her mother. I wanted to pick her up but knew I couldn’t. Behind me, Shanelle had opened the door to let Jojo in. He and I had t
o talk. That ruthless aggression he had displayed earlier was new. I mean, he’d shown it once before, when he got locked up over a year ago, but this seemed different.
I went to shower. My head was spinning. Eyes burned. I was so out of it that the fact that I had a bullet wound on my leg had all but escaped a nigga’s mind, until I saw the heavy stream of blood leaking from my leg and going down the drain. This whole fucking shit had drained me to the point where I wanted to rethink my decision to take on this fucking lifestyle.
I looked up when Shanelle walked into the bathroom. I didn’t really feel like talking. Because she knew me, she knew that. Baby just got naked and stepped her pretty ass into the shower with me. I stood against the wall and let her wash me from head to toe. She was careful with me because of all the injuries.
Once she was done, I held her close to me and kissed her like I never would again. Learning all this new shit about Mama and King had been rough, but what stood out to me the most, what a lot of hood novels and movies didn’t tell or show, was that it was possible for a drug dealer—a kingpin, a bad man—to love one woman and one woman only.
That nigga King was the epitome of that. He had found a true queen in Mama and had treated her as such. The nigga was a fucking alpha who had no problem with marrying an alpha woman. Shit, reading King’s words about Mama made a nigga want to step his game up with Shanelle. Shit made me take a look at myself and examine my thought process.
There was a time when I felt Shanelle needed to focus on bringing more women in so she could run that part of things, but shit, King had allowed Mama to sit at the table right next to him. And because of that, he’d been able to secure his faction in a way that nobody else could. I took note of that shit.
“I’m going to call in Inez so she can patch you up. She was working on Cory and Uncle Snap. She should be ready for you now,” Shanelle said once we had stepped from the shower. “Ms. Lily went to Jojo and Navy’s room to help Jojo get Justice ready for bed.”