by Nicety
“I’m just telling you what I know, Yo. That’s the reason why she and I fell out and stopped talking for a while. I know she told you about that.” I said salivating heavily. “She had told me about that so I cut her ass off. No bullshit.
“What the fuck?” He roared as I saw him contemplating the very thought in his mind.
“Yep. That bitch was fucking my man. She was mad talking about she wasn’t getting shit at home and Cesar reminded her of what she was missing.” I added crossing my arms and pouting my lips.
“I can’t believe that. I just can’t cause…cause I’ll fucking kill him!” Yolo barked as he ran off the porch and down the stairs back to his car.
Hmm. My only hope was that he didn’t kill him before I got to see him gravel at my feet like a peasant begging for my forgiveness. Then maybe, once we were a family again, I could explain to him when we were fucking that I was the bitch who fucked up his life. Truly it was beyond funny to me.
**Lasha
Cesar had only been gone for a few hours and already I missed him. Even though I did, though, I was kind of grateful that he was out of my hair for a couple of days. I needed to be able to focus on the reasons that had me in this city in the first place. My brother was the sole link that I had to the inside job but because he went AWOL I haven’t been able to get any inside information on anything that was going on in the business of my mark. Not to mention, the disappearance of my brother was putting a strain on not only me but my family as well. I had to find that fool and fast, before someone else got to him first.
“Hi, I’m trying to locate a phone on my account that my friend claims she left in the back seat of a car that we rented.” I responded when the customer service lady asked me how she could help me.
“Okay I’d be more than willing to help you there. What’s the account holders name and the last four digits of the social?” She asked typing away at her keys in the background.
I delivered to her the information she desired effortlessly, as if it were my own information that I had memorized for years. She had no clue that my name was not Darcy Rodriguez. She placed me on hold while she checked the GPS tracking system trying to pinpoint where the phone was within a ten-mile radius. My fingernails picked at my teeth as I awaited her response, perspiring just a little in hopes that he had mistakenly left the feature on from the millions of times he needed directions on the road.
“Yes, Mrs. Rodriguez. I’m sorry about the wait. We have tracked your phone but I’m afraid you might not like the outcome of my findings.”
“Oh my gosh! What is it?” I prepared myself for the worst case scenario.
“Unfortunately, your phone appears to be within a ten mile radius of downtown Miami.” The lady paused for reaction. “If I’m not mistaken you are in Chicago. Correct?”
“Yes…yes ma’am that’s correct.” My heart dropped fifty stories below the ground when I heard the location.
First off, I couldn’t imagine how or even why my brother would be down there and secondly that was the exact same city Cesar had just touched down in. I didn’t want to get caught by him knowing I didn’t have any viable reason to be down there in the first place. But I couldn't let that reason alone stop me. I had to find my brother before someone else did and especially before Yolo did.
"Thank you for your help ma'am." I recited quickly hanging up before she could give her end of the call spiel.
Immediately I searched the Internet on my phone for the next flight out to Miami, $1200 was the only nonstop same day round trip ticket available last minute. Darcy Rodriguez booked it without hesitation then after I rushed to pull out her passport and other identification with a face that looked identical to mine on it. Everything was careful and neatly placed on the living room coffee table to ensure that I was leaving nothing imperative behind. I was thorough and swift but never careless. My plans were to get in and out of Miami before Cesar even knew I was down there. I was confident I could find my brother in a matter of hours asking the right questions to the right people. All I had to do was follow his drug addiction.
I stuffed everything in my small brown field bag and headed out hailing a cab once I made it to the streets. My car needed to stay in front of the building to keep up appearances and if all else failed and Cesar made it back home before I did, my excuse would be that I was coming from school and would be home shortly. What’s funny is that he never asked me what school I went to let alone asked if he could come up there and chill with me just to see what I did on a daily. It was all a lie. I only took the job at Home Depot for appearances as well. I never needed the money because of who my Papa was not to mention he made me and my brother trust fund babies.
Standing in line at the airport a few minutes later I realized that at twenty-three years old I had accomplished more in my lifetime than most other girls my age. I was damn proud of myself for it too. The only thing that I was the least bit ashamed of was deceiving my now fiancé. It wrecked my brain every time I looked into his face wanting, needing to tell him everything about me. I replayed the look that might come on his face once he found out over and over again. I knew he wouldn’t allow me to complete my job if I did and we would inevitably become enemies at some point. The thought of that kept me from telling him every time I tried. I…I just couldn’t. I just can’t.
Chapter 14-
**Cesar
We made it to the big ass condo that Yolo stored the girls in. Once we walked through the tall double front doors, Amy and Asia looked around like they had found heaven. They dropped their two garbage bags full of clothes and walked in ready to partake in their half of this paradise. I still felt like they were too young to be doing this shit but if they were ready to spread their legs, like Yolo said, they might as well get paid for it. The older girls greeted them like they were apart of the family and helped take their bags to their new rooms. I had no doubt that they were about to already be groomed for their first showcase, which C-Low, a nigga who was blacker than black but bigger than a beast, took care of when the boss wasn’t there.
“What’s up fool fool?” C-Low greeted me as I walked over checking out his shot glace of cognac.
“Shit, I can’t call it. Aye man, you don’t think it’s a little too early for that bat juice?”
“Aye bro. It’s never too early for bat juice. Ya feel me.” He replied giving me a playful jab to the chest.
The Cleaning Crew took turns opening the blinds revealing these big beautiful floor to ceiling windows that were even more beautiful than the ones at my new house. The sun shone through effortlessly giving every piece of furniture, leather and glass, it’s five minutes of fame. It resembled a large bachelor pad but I guess it was decorated to attract the male customers to its ambiance. The China marble countertop bar was looked just like the ones in the kitchen where I slurped up my breakfast, Lasha. Thinking about her put me back in the mind frame of needing to get the hell out of there quick enough to get home to her. Yolo said this shit would take a few days but hell these girls are all settled in and taken care of so now all I needed to do was handle this other business he was talking about and be gone.
Kay was busy with her lips hugged up to C-Low’s as they embraced each other and engaged in a little pill popping session. I turned my head not wanting to see all that shit wishing they had went and got a room for that shit as the other girls took a seat on the long ass half circled black leather couch in the middle of the room. They were pretending like they hadn’t even seen a bear maul Skeletor in the corner. But it was my first time seeing it, they were probably used to it.
“We’ve got a man out there looking for the nigga we’re supposed to dispose of. He’s been on it since last night so once we get the word, we’re on it.” Bellany said typing away into her phone.
“Yeah. So just sit tight, Mr. Cesar. Watch some tube or get a drink or something.” Cambria laughed as she kicked her shoes off and put her feet in Bellany’s lap.
“Shit, I’m just not trying
to be here forever. I’m trying to make it back to the city. But I’m good though.” I lied.
The irritation read like an open book on my face. If I had known that I was supposed to off somebody while I was down here I would’ve prepared myself mentally ahead of time. Truthfully, I hadn’t signed up for any of this shit and I felt like I was doing exactly what I said from jump I didn’t want to do and that was fall knee deep in this shit with Yo. He now had me leaving the city to handle business he needed to be handling and taking care of niggas he should have been taking care of.
Fucked up thing was, if I went down for this shit his ass would still be sitting pretty while I was locked up. I put my head down in my lap, wondering how the fuck could I get out of business with this nigga and still keep the money I earned and stacked. I’m only sticking with this nigga for a couple of more months and then I’m out this shit, for real. I’ve been seriously thinking about going back to school and making something of my life so I can settle down with my family in peace.
“Awe. You got a boo thang back there waiting on you, huh?” Cambria laughed again.
“Are you two kinds of crazy of something?” I asked annoyed by her childish question, eyeing her as her smile quickly faded off of her silly ass face.
I stared at her like I was about to stand up and smack the fuck out of her. She was lucky that I didn’t hit women who didn’t hit me but I wanted her to know that I hadn’t forgotten about the fact that she tried to punk me with her piece earlier in the car and now that I had one she better watch her ass. Her girls gonna fuck around and be cleaning her ass up off the floor for their next job if she kept fucking with me. Eight hours had past and after eating on pizza we had ordered when we first got here at 9am, I was beyond restless and impatient.
“We’re out!” Bellany said while her fingers moved fast as hell texting whomever she was texting back. “This might get a little messy though.”
“That’s what the fuck we live for though right?” Kay responded prying herself away from C-Low, clearing the spit from her mouth. “Fucking Cleaning Crew Bitches!”
“Mount up.” Cambria demanded coolly as the girls headed for the door before turning back towards me. “You ready, nigga?”
“Let’s go.” I grunted revealing the piece tucked into my jeans she had provided to me earlier.
“Handle ya business.” C-Low hollered out as we shut the door.
In the car, we rode with the radio off and the tinted windows up. It was good thing the air conditioning worked or else we would’ve burned up in that motherfucka. It felt like we were in some kind of old mobster movie the way we we’re riding in complete silence preparing ourselves for what we were on our way to do. Cambria took Bellany’s phone texting back their connect letting him know that we were about ten minutes away from the spot. I didn’t give a fuck about nothing else but getting back to the city. I could already see that even though coming to Miami would be very good for my pockets, it might not be so good for my health.
“We’re here.”Bellany said a few minutes later parking the car behind some garbage cans in a back alleyway.
“Kay, you and Bellany go to the side entrance. Me and Cesar are going through the back. Silent but deadly. Got it?” Cambria said passing out silencer additions to everybody as we screwed them into the front of our pieces. “Women and children too. Fuck everybody who’s in there, except Drake. We need him alive. Cesar, Yolo wants you to get out of him where his daddy is hiding.”
I nodded my head in agreement but inside I was really burned up by this last minute shit. All of this shit for Drake’s ass? That nigga ain’t shit, while we’re doing all this shit. Not to mention, she had eight hours to tell me that shit and yet she sat there sleeping and playing in her corroded ass pussy. It was too late to fight about it now though, so I brushed it off and exited the car with everyone else. It was still broad daylight outside and you could hear the sound of kids playing in the distance. I wasn’t for killing no motherfucking kids though. They could miss me with that shit.
We moved in silence through the backyard and up to the building. I could hear babies crying on the inside, I knew this shit would no doubt be as messy as Bellany had first stated. Standing closely next to Cambria with our backs to the wall, she raised her hand counting slowly to three before she picked the lock to the door in under a minute. We entered checking out the hallway and moving almost like cops on a drug sting.
She moved in front of me picking the back door lock counting again to three. It seemed like that’s how they all kept time in order to do things simultaneously cause once we were inside and began spraying motherfuckas I could here the same thing happening upstairs. Grandma was pretending to wash dishes but pulled out a long ass shot gun blazing through the back door missing us horribly as Cambria put one to her dome dropping her instantly. Moving through the rest of the house, we aired out two thick ass females and Cambria entered a room where there were baby cribs but luckily no babies. But I no longer heard any babies crying. It was getting fucked up in there and yet my bullets hadn’t murdered anyone yet. The rest of the apartment was empty and silent and then there was ringing.
“Come upstairs.” Bellany blurted loudly through the phone like she was out of breath.
“Aight. We on our way.” Cambria replied hanging up the phone and running back towards the back door.
“Are y’all cleaning this shit up?” I asked.
“Naw, this is a message.”
I followed her. When I passed the room with the chicks in it I saw that one of them was still alive only shot in her shoulder but pretending to be dead. I felt bad for her, bad enough to keep it moving and let her live. We skipped stairs and made it to the back door where Kay met us escorting us inside to where Bellany was. As we passed I had hoped that the babies’ crying that I heard was only on the TV but as we walked passed one of the rooms I saw them. They were stretched out on the floor next to an older woman with an AK-47 next to her who was seemingly trying to shield them from the onslaught of bullets. But they didn’t make it. They didn’t appear any older than six months to a year old as blood spewed from their tiny bodies. I almost threw up in my mouth as I developed a newfound hatred for the Cleaning Crew in an instant. They were beyond ruthless no matter if they were acting on the order of another or not. They were heartless.
“Here this motherfucka is right here.” Kay said as we walked into the living room watching as Bellany muffed him in the back of his head refusing to lower her gun from it.
“Bell, its cool, relax. He’s on his knees and his pitiful ass shotgun is out of his reach. I doubt he will be able to get to it before you plant one in the back of his head.” Cambria grinned as Bellany did as she was told.
“Drake, you know what we wanna know man. Just tell us what we wanna know and we’ll let you go.” I lied speaking in a solemn tone.
“Man, fuck you motherfucka!” He chattered as he spit blood on the floor next to my shoes.
“Com’ on playa. Now are you gonna make this shit easy or do we necessarily gotta do this shit the hard way?” I asked kicking him in the face.
He fell back holding his mouth as blood spewed into his hand. I hated to be spit at. It was the worst thing in the world someone could do to show disrespect to someone else.
“Just shoot me now motherfucka. You was gonna kill me that day you shot at me anyway and you want me to believe you ain’t gon’ fucking kill me?” He roared.
“Well see now you gotta ask yourself what’s better. Dying quickly and painless or dying slowly, watching each and every body part being ripped apart before you finally go into anaphylactic shock and pass out and even then you will still feel the pain until you bleed to death. Take your pick.” I smiled then winked walking over to a corner to await his decision.
In the corner of the room, faint singing could be heard. The room was so trashed with papers, chairs, and other furniture tossed about like World War III had just taken place so it was hard to pinpoint exactly what it was. Cambria
began following the sound to check it out. I think everyone in the room was hoping it wasn’t some sort of setup or bomb, especially me. But after bending over to search for the sound, she came up and turned around allowing us all to breathe a sigh of relief eyeing the cell phone in her hand. Drake looked up out of his good eye and moved towards her trying to snatch it out of her hand but failed miserably and paid for his little antic with a high-heeled kick to the neck.
Some sort of Mariachi Band type of tune busted through phone’s speakers as Cambria handed it to me as if I would answer the damn thing. I wasn’t about to answer it and I would be damned if I let him do so. He would only tip off whoever it was on the other end with information about him being in trouble in his own language. The phone went off and then immediately started back up prompting me to check it out to figure out how to cut the ringer down. The screen on the phone was bright as hell nearly blinding me as I gazed down at the Spanish writing scrolling across it. I didn’t know Spanish and I didn’t understand what was written but the phone number looked all too familiar. I blinked twice before studying it once more but once I read it back to myself over and over again, I knew there was no denying the number reading on his cell phone screen. It went off and came right back on again and again as confusion filled my face immensely.
“Wait a minute. What the fuck?” I huffed as my adrenaline rushed and rage filled my face.
**Mink
My face was filled with so much joy. After weeks of basically getting spat in my face, things were finally coming up roses. I was finally getting things my way even though I had to sacrifice someone just to get it. I don’t like to be fucked with. I don’t like to be crossed. Nobody cared enough about me not to let me fall so I my heart was cold to any and everybody. So whatever happened just happened, good riddance to everybody who fucked me over. I dialed Cash’s number just to see if he would pick up the phone as I plopped down on the bed focusing my eyes back on the game CJ was playing.