by Jahquel J
*
Tone opened his eyes which were filled with crust. He yawned and tried to stretch his arms but they were numb. He started to panic but calmed down when he saw a familiar face, Kim. Tone eyes told what he wanted to know. Kim pulled a chair and sat down next to the bed. She ran her hands across Tone’s bandaged hand and gently unwrapped the wound to a hand without any fingers. She lifted it for Tone to see. If possible, his eyes looked like they popped out his head. Tears soon followed flooding Tone’s vision, the only thing he had left.
“You hurt a lot of people, babe. I know that and you know that. Karma is always a bitch. Your karma came back and bit you in the ass. Call me Karma because I am coming back to bite them in the ass,” Kim kissed her husband.
Tone’s expression softened. Kim played both parts well. After over ten years of marriage she would never leave her husband. No matter how many times Tone hit or disrespected her, she would always be there for him. Tone sent her on a mission and she let her feelings overcloud her main reason for being there. She stepped out the room to make a quick call and went back to making her rounds.
Chapter Nineteen
The man sat looking out the window of his car as another car sped down the block to his apartment. He had closed a very lucrative deal that made him happy. Somehow he couldn’t shake the feel of something being wrong. He knew it had to be his knuckle headed brother; he always had his pressure up worrying about him. Before he could get himself in a frenzy thinking about his brother, his phone rang. He answered on the third ring.
“Talk to me,” He answered.
“Hey, bro. I didn’t want to be the one to inform you but your brother is in bad condition,” Kim informed the man.
“What do you mean? I just spoke to him the other day.”
“Victor, it’s bad. Do something quick and get him out of here before that lunatic comes back and finishes the job,” Kim pleaded on the other line.
“I'm on it, Kimbree,” Victor ensured her. He was the only man who called her by her real name.
Victor was Tone’s older brother. He was older than him by four years. Four long years. Like Kim, he had always been in the shadows making sure his baby brother was always taken care of. When Tone brought Moses on a couple years ago, Victor and Moses became closer than he and Tone. However, when it came to family, it was ‘blood is thicker than water’. Victor dialed a number and waited for them to answer.
“Tone is in trouble. Track the GPS that is in his pacemaker and get someone there to get him out of there. Make sure no one sees you come and go out. Call Kim and I’m sure she will help with getting him out,” Victor demanded and hung up his phone. He knew his men would complete the job. He scrolled his call log for Moses’s number. When he found it he hit the call icon and waited for him to answer. Moses answered just as Victor was about to hang up.
“Yo, Vick,” Moses greeted.
“Ain’t much on this side. What’s going on with you?” Victor wanted to feel out Moses.
“Oh, okay. I need you to do me a favor. If possible, I need someone who works in a morgue,” Moses hinted.
“Who you trying to put in the morgue?” Victor heart started to pump.
“Ya’ brother bitch,” Moses laughed and hung up the phone.
Mezzie, being on top of things, listened in to the wire tap she had on Tone a couple of days ago and that was when Mezzie found out they were brothers…same mother and same father. Moses felt betrayed that his right hand, Victor, wouldn’t tell him that the man responsible for all the horrific things going on in his life was his brother.
Chapter Twenty
Kim paced the floor of her office occasionally peeking out the window. She was waiting on a call so Victor’s men could have Tone moved before Lace and Moses came back. Kim sat down and started to fiddle with her wedding ring. She never took it off. Kim got an alert on her phone and ran the bedroom to turn off the surveillance cameras. After she finished disarming the surveillance, she ran down to the door to let the men in. Two burly men walked in and looked to Kim for instruction.
“Upstairs, wing on the left. First room,” Kim instructed.
“No problem, Kim,” The first man responded.
The men ran upstairs and came down in twenty minutes holding Tone. Kim had taken his IV out prior to them men coming.
“Kim, we’re out. Come by Victors when you’re done and be safe.”
Kim kissed Tone’s cold lips and closed the door behind them. She ran back and flicked the system back on. Little did she know, the system had an emergency battery so it recorded up to two hours after being shut off.
*
“What the fuck you mean you fell asleep!” Lace and Moses yelled at the same time.
“I was tired and I went to close my eyes for a little bit. I didn’t know he was gone until you came and woke me,” Kim lied.
“How the fuck does a highly sedated man just walk out of here? Something not adding the fuck up, Kim,” Moses exclaimed. Kim looked worried and Moses caught the look before she could fix her face.
“Moses, I know as much as you know. I was sleep maybe if you had good security systems, he would still be here,” Kim slipped and said. She wished she didn’t say anything that had to do with the surveillance systems.
“Yo, Lace. Where is your surveillance?”
“In the next room. Open the drawer and press the top button,” Lace told Moses. Kim had to stall them. If Moses and Lace saw her on the screen, she was for sure going to die in that room. She witnessed what happened to her husband.
“W-what do we need to look at those for? Y’all don’t trust me? I’ve been busting my ass day in and day out for this crooked ass business and y’all can’t just trust my word?” Kim stuttered.
“Nah, we can’t. If you really cared, you would want to see the footage too.” Moses turned and left the room. Kim ran to the closet and put her phone in her bag and left the room. Lace sat on the bed looking zoned out. Kim walked out the wing and ran down the stairs. She was just about to open the front door when she felt a hand touch her shoulder.
“Where you going?” Epiphany asked.
“Umm, I’m just going to the house in Brooklyn. I can’t stand the sight of either of them,” Kim lied, once again.
“I don’t think that’s where ya going,” Epiphany fiddled with her gun.
“Of course, that’s where I am going. Where else would I be going?”
“To be by your husband’s side. After all, you did smuggle him out of here and thought no one saw you. But I did.”
“Mind your business and I’ll be back afterwards,” Kim insisted. Before Kim could turn around Epiphany pulled out a gun and put it to Kim’s pretty blonde head.
“Get the fuck upstairs and hurry up. If you take too long, I’m gonna shoot at your ankles,” Epiphany said through gritted teeth. Epiphany and Kim went back into the bedroom where Tone and Moses now sat waiting for Kim.
Kim didn’t know Epiphany was in the living room taking a nap, when she heard Kim talking. Being nosy, she crept around the stairs in time to see Kim kiss Tone as two men carried him out the house. Lace winked at Epiphany. That was his down ass bitch.
“Kim, Kim, Kim. I thought I knew you better than that. Mezzie usually would pick up on shady shit but you even had her fooled. But not my Piffy. You didn’t think it would get back to me that you were being a sneaky bitch. For what? I treated you well,” Lace said, full of pain. He couldn’t lie and say he didn’t love Kim. He’d thought she was the perfect woman. Nonetheless he knew just as much as anyone else; she was the perfect woman for Tone. What woman would put her life on the line for a no good ass man like Tone?
“Do whatever the fuck you want. I won’t tell you where he is and just as you know Victor won’t let shit happen to me or him,” Kim spat back.
“That’s funny because they came and got Tone but didn’t take you. As I remember, the last words he said to you was be safe,” Moses chuckled. Kim looked down and played with her hands.
“We gonna keep her alive. Tone is in too bad a condition to know something happened to his wife. We fall back and wait it out. What you doing about this place? You know Victor has connects with Feds and it’s only a matter of time before they come busting in this bitch,” Moses reminded Lace.
“I already got that handled. Epiphany the only one here besides us,” Lace informed Moses.
“Nigga, don’t you still have Jamal, Charles and Tyrisha upstairs?”
“Yeah…And?”
*
Moses and Lace hopped in one car while Epiphany and Kim hopped in the next. Lace opened the gates and drove down the block with Epiphany following closely behind them. As soon as both cars made a right at the stop sign the house exploded, the explosion was so big it set off car alarms and any cars parked outside of the gates were totaled.
“I see now,” Moses smirked. Lace continued onto the highway with Epiphany keeping up with him. Moses said a silent prayer for Tyrisha.
“Off to Miami now?” Lace asked.
“Let’s do this,” Moses sat back and enjoyed the ride.
Chapter Twenty-One
Tiffany rushed around the house looking for everything she needed for work. She was tired, cranky and moody. She had been feeling like crap for the past couple of weeks. She knew she was pregnant but she thought if she convinced herself she wasn’t it would go away. She also didn’t want to deal with anything that had to do with a baby since she had been helping raising MJ along with Madison.
She fought with herself everyday with the fact that Tyrisha was gone and wasn’t coming back. She had personally seen her coffin lowered into the ground six months ago and it bugged her every day that maybe she should have been a better friend. Maybe she should have been on her side with the whole Mezzie situation. Maybe she should have been more compassionate about Tyrisha’s feelings in the whole thing, she had gotten over it but maybe Tyrisha still had a few demons to deal with before she was able to truly able to finally accept Mezzie and Reshawn’s relationship.
Tiffany knew no matter how much she could have sympathized with her best friend; there wasn’t any reason for Tyrisha to get so sneaky and conniving. To go back to the same man who almost killed her and Madison was just beyond too much for Tiffany to handle. Half the time she tried to block out her memories she shared with Tyrisha by creating new ones with her son, in honor of her.
Tiffany continued to run around her house like a chicken with its head cut off looking for her car keys.
Where are these damn keys? She thought as she ran back into her room.
She found them sitting next to the unopened pregnancy test. She was supposed to take it last night but ended up coming home and cuddling with her book. She grabbed the keys and rushed out the door. Once she made it to her car she remembered what she was supposed to do. She hopped out the car and entered the house again. She grabbed a bag with lunch and went down to her basement before leaving.
She unlocked the door and threw the paper bag at Kim who sat on the bed watching TV.
“It’s chicken and broccoli from last night. I’ll be home late but I’ll bring you something home,” Tiffany told Kim. Kim picked up the bag and put it on the kitchen counter in the studio apartment Tiffany had in her basement.
“Okay, no problem. Do you think I can sit out and enjoy some sun tomorrow?” Kim begged. She lived for her moments outside.
“I’m off work so I guess so I’ll do your food shopping this weekend. But until then I’ll bring your food like we been doing,” Tiffany said and turned and left.
Tiffany got back in her car for the second time and cranked the car up and left. She turned up K. Michelle’s “A Mother’s Love” as she thought about her life.
Moses summoned everyone to move back to Miami. He said since Tone was hurt he wouldn’t retaliate until he was hopefully alive and well. Moses decided he didn’t want to kill Kim until Tone was well and knew what was going on. Kim lived in the studio apartment in Tiffany’s house; she couldn’t leave and stayed lock down there for sometimes three days if Tiffany didn’t feel like being bothered. Tiffany grocery shopped for her and did her laundry and supplied her with everything she needed.
Tiffany pulled into her parking spot and killed the engine. She stepped out and hurried into the building to avoid getting her white pants suit wet from the rain. She bypassed the security desk straight into the elevator. She pressed the eleventh floor and enjoyed the elevator music on the way to her floor. Once the elevator landed on her floor the door opened. She smiled at the big sign on the hallway wall: Tiffany’s Mitchell’s Styling Consultations.
It took a lot of hard work and tears but now she was finally in a place where she could take care of her and Madison without the money she stole from Reshawn, though that money was long gone. Tiffany had basically built up her own clientele along with some of Tyrisha’s clients that she now had. Some of Tyrisha’s faithful clients walked. Tiffany didn’t blame them.
She stepped out the elevator and strutted into the office with the newest Valentino pumps on her feet. She opened the glass door with her name also on it and closed it behind herself. Nina, the office assistant sat behind her desk typing away so fast she didn’t notice Tiffany walk in.
“Good Morning, Nina,” Tiffany spoke up.
“O-oh I didn’t see you Ms. Mitchell…Good morning I have your tea in the office already and your morning appointment should be coming in any minute,” Nina stuttered and got up to gather Tiffany’s papers for the day.
“Don’t drive ya ’self-crazy, Nina. When you get everything together just bring them to me. I saw you were busy before I walked in, so continue that and get to my stuff when you’re done.” Tiffany turned and walked in the direction of her office. Nina continued on with her Facebook beef she was involved in moments before Tiffany walked in.
*
Before Tiffany knew, it was time for her to leave work and go home. She knew Marquise would be there already with Madison already fed and bathed. The two officially moved in together when they got back to Miami. MJ only stayed at the house when Moses was out of town or just needed sometime. Tiffany got in her car and pulled her visor down to block the sun as she cruised down the block on her way home.
Tiffany pulled into her garage and secured her car. She entered through the side door and kicked her heels off and picked them up. With her shoes, purse and some clothes options for a potential client, her hands were swamped with items. Marquise was sitting on the couch with a beer, but when he saw Tiffany struggling he ran to help relive her arms from the many things she was carrying. Tiffany gave him a peck on the cheek and sat down the dresses on the arm of the couch.
“How was your day, baby?,” Tiffany asked as she sat on the bar stool. Marquise had already grabbed a wine glass and plate to fix Tiffany’s food and drink.
“It was good. One of the twins stopped by today...Red or white?” Marquise referred to the wine he was holding.
“I’ll take some white. I just had my teeth bleached last week.” Tiffany giggled as Marquise poured her a cup.
“Take a couple sips and then take that pregnancy test near your side of the bed,” Marquise ordered as he looked into Tiffany’s eyes.
Shit! She said in her head.
After dinner, Tiffany slowly walked into her bedroom to take the test. She didn’t want to take it though her full bladder said otherwise. She grabbed the box and ripped it open. She sat on the toilet and opened her legs. She stuck the stick under her and peed. After she finished, she sat the test down and pulled her pants up. She washed her hands and fixed her hair in the mirror. Once she finished the test was ready to read. She sat on the toilet and read the results to the test.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Moses sat on the edge of the pool with his feet kicking in and out of the pool. His Versace shades protected his eyes from the hot smoldering sun that was beating down on his dark skin. He kicked
his feet a couple more times and got up and walked into the house where Reshawn and Mezzie sat at the kitchen table sharing an ice cream cone.
“Get a damn room,” Moses joked around. Mezzie looked at him and started laughing while Reshawn stole extra licks of the chocolate ice cream.
“We will, soon as our house sells and we close on this next one,” Reshawn reminded Moses.
“Oh, yeah. How could I forget?”
Mezzie, Reshawn and the two kids moved in Moses’s house after their house got infested with termites. The problem could easily be taken care of with the right exterminators but Reshawn wanted something a little bigger. Their current house was a two bedroom house with hardly any room for Mezzie and the kids. Reshawn was making more money so he saw it as the perfect opportunity to upgrade.
“Lace called me a couple days ago about Tone’s condition,” Moses stated. Mezzie’s ears perked up with the mention of his name.
“How is he doing? And what are you going to do with his wife? She been at Tiffany’s house and I ain’t really feeling her having her there with Madison there.”
“He’s much better, in fact, I hear he’s making a slow comeback and guess where?”
“Where,” Mezzie questioned.
“Miami.”
“Where at? We can off his shit right now. He has to go, Tyrisha went and so does he,” Reshawn sneered. Mezzie noticed the face Moses made and wondered what that was about.
“You right, I heard Victor returned back home but that doesn’t mean his presence isn’t known. I’ve seen him kill someone over Skype so him being in another country doesn’t matter,” Moses warned.
“Alright, so let us know some moves and we can get that shit going,” Reshawn cracked his knuckles.
“I’ll keep you guys posted.” Moses left the room after saying them final words.
Moses walked into his office and closed the door behind him. He picked up the phone and dialed Quinton’s number. Quinton opened up another real estate office and was doing well for himself. He was engaged to a woman he met. One who Moses was dying to meet.