Queen of Miami

by M?ta Smith

“Oh look, the queen of Miami finally woke up,” Rebeca says sarcastically.

  “What are you going to do to me?” I ask Mikhail.

  “After I get the information that I need, I’m going to end your life,” he says. “I don’t want to do it, but you leave me no choice.”

  “You won’t get away with this,” I tell him.

  “Oh yes I will,” Mikhail replies. “But I won’t get over it. I’ll miss you.”

  “You can’t just kill me. You’ll be an automatic suspect. You’re my business partner and my boyfriend. The police will come straight to you first.”

  “We own the police,” Rebeca says.

  “You don’t own shit,” I say to her.

  “Let’s not have this get uglier,” Mikhail says. “Bobbi, Rebeca has figured out a way to keep things moving at Babylon without you. She’s found another front. One who will remain loyal and who won’t ask questions. One who won’t betray me.”

  “Mikhail, I’ve never betrayed you,” I say.

  “How I wish that were true,” he replies. “I want to believe you. But I can’t take that chance. There have been too many breeches with people that I’ve trusted,” he says.

  “But I love you. I’m not like Misty,” I say.

  “Misty was in love with me too. She wanted me to leave you and be with her. That could never happen. She knew that our relationship was purely business. I never had those kinds of feelings for her. She threatened to reveal secrets to my enemies if I didn’t leave you. She even threatened to go to the police. And I couldn’t have that, so she had to die,” Mikhail says.

  “I didn’t like that bitch anyway,” I tell Mikhail. “And I’m telling you that I don’t know anything I could tell. If you can’t believe that I wouldn’t betray you, can you at least believe that I wouldn’t do anything to put Babylon in jeopardy? I can’t do it without you. I need you. Why would I hurt you?”

  “Yes, you say that, but I’m not sure if it is true.”

  “I swear, Mikhail.”

  “Even so,” Mikhail says, “Amara was a snitch. Not only that, she was a traitor. She was given a simple task to fulfill: to befriend you. She was supposed to get you to feel comfortable and to trust me. She turned on me and told you things you didn’t need to know. Then she tried to work with the authorities. How do I know you weren’t working with her?”

  “I thought Amara was my friend,” I say. “I had no idea what she was doing. I wasn’t involved.”

  My head is reeling from the information. Amara was playing me? Amara was playing everyone! I shake my head in disbelief. They’re just trying to confuse me. Amara was my friend. She just got caught up. They forced her hand. If Amara wasn’t my real friend, she wouldn’t have tried to warn me. She would have totally sold me out. But that doesn’t matter anymore. Mikhail thinks I’m a threat.

  “I know that she’s the one who told you about Misty’s role in my business. She gave the police information, and in exchange she thought they could protect her. She signed affidavits,” Mikhail says. He shoves some papers in my face. Rebeca is behind him, loving every minute of my torture. I can’t decide who I hate more, her or Mikhail.

  “I know she told you to leave me. I know she told you that she was going to disappear. That’s why she called you. She thought she could enter a witness protection program. But we have eyes everywhere. How do you think we got those papers?” Mikhail says.

  “Mikhail, I don’t care what you’re doing. I just want out. I won’t say a thing to anyone, I swear. Keep the club. You’ll never have to hear from me again. You know you can believe me. I’ve never lied to you.”

  “I wish I could believe you. But I have proof that you are a liar. You’ve shown that you can’t be trusted.”

  “You can trust me,” I say to Mikhail. “How have I shown otherwise?”

  “I told you long ago you were a horrible liar. I can always tell when you’re not telling the truth. Like when you told me that you weren’t pregnant,” he says.

  “What?” I ask in shock.

  “There’s no need to lie and say that you weren’t. I told you that I would kill you if you aborted my child and I meant it. I couldn’t do it before now, but I wanted to. I had to wait until the time was right. And to be honest, I wanted to give you a second chance. You don’t realize that I spared you.”

  “Mikhail, I wasn’t pregnant,” I lie.

  “Bobbi, I know you had an abortion. I had you followed,” Mikhail reveals. “You were acting suspiciously that morning. It was nothing to have someone tail you. You were crafty, I’ll give you that, but not crafty enough. Someone was always watching you, Bobbi.”

  “I—I,” I stammer.

  “I couldn’t have it any other way, sweet angel. It was for your protection. I would have never been able to forgive myself if something happened to you.”

  “Let me explain,” I beg.

  “Shh,” Mikhail says, putting his fingers to my lips. “There’s nothing to explain. It breaks my heart to have to do this, Bobbi, but I know that I can’t trust you.”

  “I’m sorry,” I say.

  “If you had had my child, I would have spared you, even considering your other acts of betrayal. None of this would be happening to you. Now you have to trade my child’s life with your own.”

  “I didn’t mean to lie to you,” I say.

  “Yes, you did. You never cared about me. You only wanted to get ahead. I have always known that you were an opportunist. That was what people said about you. But I wouldn’t hear of it. I was so blinded by my feelings for you. Like a fool, I thought that you would grow to love me. I knew that I could make you happier than that deadbeat boyfriend of yours,” he says.

  “I don’t understand,” I say through a flood of tears. “What boyfriend?”

  “The gambler. Your boyfriend Kevin,” Mikhail says.

  “Kaos?” I gasp.

  “Yes, that boyfriend. You think his fall off the motorcycle was an accident?”

  “What are you saying?” I ask. I feel as if I’m about to vomit.

  “Your boyfriend liked to play cards, but he got in over his head. He didn’t know when to quit. He was good, so when he came to me for money, I obliged. I’d played with him several times, and he seemed like a good guy. I thought he’d be a man of his word. But he was a degenerate. He couldn’t keep up the payments. And when I put the heat on him, he balked. He thought that because I was rich that I could afford to wait. He had no principles.”

  “No,” I say. “That’s a lie.” I knew that Kaos had a poker game that he went to, but I had no idea that Kaos was in so deep. This couldn’t be true.

  “It’s the truth, Bobbi. I had Dimitri follow him. I learned and studied his every move. And I looked for the thing he would miss the most in life so I could take it away from him. That was you. I was going to kill you to send him a message, but you were so beautiful that I spared you. I fell for you the moment I laid eyes on you. I knew that you would be of better use alive. So in order to settle his debt, he had to die. I will give him credit. He was a good rider. He put up a good chase. But ultimately there was no escape from my men. He didn’t fall off that motorcycle. My men forced him off the road. And they say he died with your name on his lips.”

  The officials said Kaos was speeding and hit a slippery patch of road or a small object, skidded twenty feet or so, and hit the wall of an overpass. I cried for days just thinking about how much pain he went through before he died. People tried to comfort me by telling me that the head injury probably killed him instantly, but he was wearing a helmet, and I believed he may have had a shot if he hadn’t hit a wall of steel and concrete.

  “You’re lying,” I say.

  “No,” Mikhail says. “No lies. I gave you time to grieve. I watched you. I admired your ambition. You had fire. I wanted you. You were a sexy piece of ass, and I knew that one day under the right circumstances, I’d have you.”

  “You planned all this?” I ask him.

  “Oh yes, for
years. It was very well planned. I just never thought I would have to kill you. I thought I could tame you. Why, I’ve known just about every move you’ve made since your boyfriend’s little accident. It’s amazing how things fell into place. I like to think of it as providence.”

  “Fuck you,” I spit.

  “One thing I can’t stand about you, Bobbi, is that you have such a limited vocabulary,” Mikhail tells me. “A limited vocabulary is proof of a limited mind.”

  “Fuck you,” I say again. “Why?” I ask him. “Why me?”

  “Why not?” he asks me. “You were beautiful, and you were easy. You were hungry. I fed you. You came back for more. It was simple.”

  “I have to admit that I was so jealous at first,” Rebeca pipes in. “When Mikhail told me that he wanted to fuck some little black bitch, I was livid. I still don’t see what’s so special about you. I never knew why Mikhail was willing to go through so much to have you. Do you know that he had the original owner of Babylon killed so that he could buy it?”

  “I thought he died of an overdose,” I say. “But now I see that’s just your preferred method of killing people.”

  “It is so easy to pull off in Miami. Everyone is on drugs,” Mikhail says.

  “I knew you were trash from the first time I saw you. I knew it would be a matter of time before Mikhail realized it too,” Rebeca says.

  “Arrgh!” I scream in frustration as I struggle to free myself from the duct tape that is wrapped around my wrists. I can’t sit there any longer and just await my fate. I am boiling with anger and refuse to die like a sitting duck. Mikhail had my friend and my fiancé killed and those deeds were not going to go unpunished. I will fight until my last breath to avenge their murders and try to prevent mine; unfortunately, my last breath seems too near.

  “Stop struggling. It will all be over soon,” Mikhail says. “I promise you. And because I love you, I’m going to make sure that your death is as quick and as painless as possible.”

  “Fuck you,” I shout.

  “Oh, but I’ve grown so bored of fucking you,” he says coldly. “That’s why I’ve been fucking Rebeca here. She is loyal. She doesn’t lie.”

  It has always amazed me how Mikhail can go from hot to cold. It used to turn me on, but now it just scares me. He’s liable to snap at any time. “You’re a bastard,” I tell him. “The two of you deserve each other.”

  “Much like you and your cop boyfriend deserve each other,” Mikhail replies.

  “Cop boyfriend?” I ask. “You’re making a mistake, Mikhail,” I say.

  “Dimitri,” Mikhail shouts. “Bring in our little piggy.”

  “Bobbi?” I hear Q’s voice call out to me. There are footsteps on the cinder floor, and I strain my neck to see him. When he comes into view I can’t believe my eyes. His face is bloody and swollen so bad that he’s barely recognizable.

  “Oh my God! What happened to you?” I ask. “What did they do to you?”

  “Bobbi, I’m sorry,” he says through his puffy lips, a line of drool mixed with blood hanging from them.

  “Are you okay?” I ask. “What have you done to him?” I ask Dimitri. Dimitri says nothing; he just looks at me as if I am the scum of the earth.

  “Isn’t this a touching reunion?” Mikhail asks. “Too bad it will be short-lived.”

  “I didn’t tell you the whole truth on Christmas,” Q says to me. “I’m sorry. You have to believe me.”

  “Shut up! No one told you to speak,” Dimitri barks, and kicks Q to the floor next to me. We sit next to each other on the pile of rags, bound and bloodied.

  “You thought you were so slick,” Mikhail says. “But you couldn’t fool me, Bobbi. I told you when we first met that I have ways of finding things out.”

  My first instinct is to deny everything.

  “It isn’t what you think,” I say.

  “Lying bitch!” Dimitri says, and kicks me in the ribcage. I cough and spit up blood.

  “That’s enough, Dimitri,” Mikhail says. “I promised her it would be quick and painless.” Mikhail kneels down beside me and strokes my hair. “You’re such a beautiful girl. I don’t know why you couldn’t just play the game,” he says. “Why couldn’t you be satisfied with showing up at the club and looking pretty? I handed you a life women would kill for!”

  “Mikhail, nothing happened between us,” I say. “We’re just friends. Mikhail, you’re mistaken. Q, tell him he’s mistaken. He thinks you’re a cop.”

  “You mean you haven’t told her?” Mikhail asks. “My, Bobbi, aren’t you the naïve one? First you get used by Amara, we certainly used you to our advantage, and then you get used by this pig?”

  “What are they talking about?” I ask Q.

  “I’m sorry, baby,” he says. “You’ve got to believe that I wasn’t using you.”

  “You’re a cop?” I ask him.

  “Yes,” he says with a nod.

  My heart sinks to the pit of my stomach. “You told me you worked for Mikhail. You said you would protect me,” I say before I realize I’m saying way too much.

  “What did he tell you?” Mikhail asks me.

  I look from Mikhail to Dimitri to Rebeca to Q. I realize that the only person I can trust in this room is me. Everyone here has lied to me. I say nothing.

  “I would strongly advise you to tell me what you know,” Mikhail warns. “Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”

  I still don’t say anything.

  “Do you know what I believe?” Mikhail asks me. “I believe that you knew that he was a cop all along,” he says.

  “I didn’t. I swear,” I tell him.

  Mikhail walks over to me and clasps his hands around my neck. His strong hands squeeze my neck like a python. I struggle and gasp for breath, choking and sputtering.

  “Let her go, motherfucker,” Q says to Mikhail.

  “Fine, I will,” Mikhail tells Q. He lets go of my neck and my body goes as limp as an overcooked noodle. Mikhail moves from me to Q, and starts to strangle him. Q doesn’t make any choking sounds as he squirms beneath him. His eyes are cold as steel as he glowers at Mikhail. I know he has to be struggling for breath and I am so afraid for him. Q may have lied to me, but I don’t want to see him die right before my eyes.

  “Better talk, Bobbi,” Mikhail tells me. “Or your boyfriend here is going to die. Do you want his blood on your hands?”

  I know that Mikhail is probably going to kill Q no matter what I say. But I can’t just sit there and not attempt to save him.

  “He said you were laundering money. He told me he’d help me get out of our relationship and that he’d protect me. I didn’t know he was a cop. I swear. I didn’t tell him anything. He did all the talking. He told me he was a drug dealer who worked for you,” I blurt out quickly.

  “That is what he pretended to be,” Mikhail says, letting go of Q’s neck. “He infiltrated our organization via another rat that we have since disposed of. He’s good too. He’s been working with us for a few years now. He brought us a lot of money. We never knew that we had a snake in our midst.”

  I look at Q in disbelief. “How could you?” I ask him. “You used me.”

  “Bobbi, I wasn’t using you,” Q says softly.

  “Everything you say is a lie. I bet you didn’t even know my Kaos, did you?” Q hangs his head.

  “Bobbi, I’ve been undercover for three years. I was against involving you like this. And I didn’t want to play with your feelings, but I couldn’t figure out another way to get close to you. I was against involving you in the first place. That’s why I tried to keep the wall up between us, but I couldn’t. But I promise you that what I feel for you is real.”

  “You two shut up,” Dimitri says and delivers kicks to both of us. I yell out in pain.

  “Oh, baby, are you okay?” Q asks me.

  “Do I fucking look okay?” I screech. Dimitri looks as if he’s going to attack us again, but Mikhail prevents this simply by holding his hand up.

&n
bsp; “Dimitri, that’s enough,” Mikhail tells him. Dimitri looks disappointed but backs off, choosing instead to punch a wall. Plaster flies everywhere and his hand is bloody, but he doesn’t flinch. He just looks at us and licks his own blood. This motherfucker is crazy!

  Mikhail’s cell phone rings and he begins to speak into it, turning his back on us. But Rebeca keeps an eagle eye on us. After a few minutes on the phone, Mikhail disconnects the call and he and Dimitri go back and forth in Russian. Their tone is angry but I have no idea what they are saying. I wish I’d been able to pick up at least a little of the language, then I’d have an inkling as to what was going on around me. At least maybe then I wouldn’t feel like the biggest fool in the world.

  I’ve slept with the enemy. Both of them. Mikhail had my beloved Kaos murdered, and Q is a fed who was using me. Even Amara got over on me. And now it appears that I’m going to die. Well, I can’t let it end like this. I size up my surroundings and look around the room for any possible escape route. A getaway seems impossible. My hands and feet are bound, as are Q’s, and I’m outnumbered and outgunned. There are no windows. The door is made of iron or steel. And each of my captors is certifiably criminally insane.

  The only advantage I have is that now I realize exactly where I am. Mikhail hasn’t taken me to some out of the way, unknown location. He’s taken me to a storage area of Babylon, where we keep all the empty boxes and crates from deliveries and where we keep lots of miscellaneous junk. It makes sense that he wouldn’t move me far because when he pistol-whipped me, there was still plenty of staff around. The pile of rags I’m sitting on isn’t a pile of rags, but old and dirty tablecloths and linens from the club.

  Mikhail and Dimitri are still bickering back and forth and Rebeca is glaring at us, practically licking her chops in anticipation of our deaths.

  “Bobbi,” Q whispers through gritted teeth. “Bobbi, I love you.”

  My head snaps around as fast as that chick from The Exorcist. I look in his eyes, which are nearly swollen shut, and I know that he’s telling the truth. He has no reason to lie now anyway. The end is inevitable.

  “I love you and I need you to trust me,” Q says in a hushed tone. “We’re gonna make it out of here.”