by Iris Bolling
Cannon wondered about the nerve of this man. He was willing to bet the bank Isaac Singleton killed this woman or had someone do it. For the last week Cannon had been beating himself up for letting his guard down. They made the mistake of thinking they had Isaac contained. They were wrong. He thought back to that day and wished like hell he had stayed in Virginia rather than flying back to Atlanta. He might have been able to prevent this from happening. He thought his days of working with Isaac Singleton were over and he could return to his investigations firm, continuing his life of working with attorneys such as Vernon, assisting in criminal investigations. Instead here he was still working undercover as this man's flunky while he continued to attempt to ruin the Brooks family. With this last one, in which Cannon was sure Isaac was involved, he may have finally accomplished what he was seeking. With an arrest, court case and possible conviction, Vernon Brooks’ moral character would be questioned. Isaac would have all the ammunition he needed to turn over to his father's attorneys to keep Vernon from collecting his portion of the estate. One down and one to go. Then they would have to prove Bobby’s paternity in order to collect his portion of the estate. Without the signed will by Estelle Singleton, Bobby would be cut out of the will as well. That was Cannon's whole purpose in being involved with Singleton at all. He made a promise to his aunt before she died that he planned on keeping. If that meant he had to continue to be the sidekick to this asshole of a man, that's what he would do.
"You realize you're sitting in the family section," Cannon stated from where he stood behind the man.
"I am family," Isaac laughed.
Cannon watched as Genesis Morgan and a few Secret Service agents walked towards them. "You're about to find out just how much they think of that statement." Cannon stepped away from the seats.
Genesis came to stand in front of Isaac. "Mr. Singleton, we're going to ask you to move to another location."
Isaac looked at the seat next to him, stood then sat in the next seat.
Genesis, dressed in a black pants suit, white-collar shirt and heels, looked up at one of the agents standing next to her. "He is hilarious." She removed her sunshades, bent down and whispered loudly in Isaac's ear. "Mr. Singleton, I would love to do nothing more than take your ass and throw you down into that hole where you belong. However, this is a funeral and I am trying to be dignified. Now I am going to ask you one more time. Move your ass from the family seats or I will move it for you."
Cannon looked up as the hearse pulled through the gate at the opening of the cemetery. "Mr. Singleton, the family is arriving."
Isaac looked back over his shoulder, saw the vehicles driving towards them. He turned back, crossed his legs and said, "So they are."
One of the agents looked at Genesis. "Would you like us to move him?"
Genesis looked up and saw Naverone getting out of the family car, walking as if she was on a mission towards them. "No. He's about to wish he had moved on his own." Genesis stepped aside as Naverone approached. "How are you doing, boss?"
In her dress, spiked heels, and shades, Naverone nodded to Genesis as she walked by. When she reached Isaac, she grabbed him by the collar, threw him to the ground, put her knee in his chest and pulled her weapon. She placed it to the side of his head. "Give me a reason." She released the safety. "Would you like to die today, Singleton?"
Genesis held her hands up when she saw the other agents pull out weapons. She stood in front of her boss blocking their aim. "We have this. I promise she's not going to kill him—not today. Right, Naverone? We are not going to kill him today," she pleaded.
"We are going to get up," Naverone said as she bent closer to his ear. "You are going to take your ass to the other side of these grounds and act like you have some dignity. Don't mess with me today, Mr. Singleton, you will not like the outcome."
Isaac heaved as the pressure from her knee pushing into his chest intensified. He hadn't even seen her coming that's how fast the woman moved. Isaac nodded his head in understanding.
Naverone stood and put her gun away. As she walked away from the man she said, "Don't make me regret not killing you."
The agents watched as she walked back to the car. “Damn, we need her working for us."
Genesis watched as Cannon helped Isaac off the ground. “Keep your man in check or we will."
Cannon wanted to laugh at the expression on Isaac’s face. But he knew he could not, instead he helped the man brush him off then for his own sake, moved him away from the family’s seats.
A pissed Isaac pushed Cannon’s hands away. “Why the hell didn’t you stop her?"
"Man, she was on you before I could move."
"What the hell do I pay you for?"
"To do a lot of stupid shit," Cannon said under his breath. "Stay here, Mr. Singleton." Cannon walked over to Genesis.
"Don't you dare laugh," she said to him.
"I'm trying hard as hell not to." They watched as the doors to the family car opened. "Try not to make me look too bad."
"Keep him contained and we'll be good."
"Stare hard at my back as I walk away."
"You got it." Genesis gave Isaac a look over her shoulder, then gave Cannon's back the stare of death.
Naverone whispered in Vernon's ear. "Singleton is here."
Vernon smiled. "You smell good."
Naverone’s eyes bore into his as they stood there under the cover of sunshades. "You know I'm here with you."
"I can feel you."
The two stood there, not touching, only feeling the sensations of wanting to touch. But they both knew they couldn't.
"I see you are still taking men out with that move of yours." Jason Whitfield walked around the vehicle to help Taylor out of the car.
Vernon smiled. "He's impressed with your moves." He pulled his shades off. "Some am I." He took Taylor's hand and walked toward the seats.
Naverone stood there wondering just how long she was going to be able to keep her hands off of Vernon Brooks. She inhaled, turned and followed the family to the site.
Standing in what he considered a respectable distance from the family, Isaac looked around at the faces. Some were known to him, others not so much. But two of them caught his attention, Avery and Gwendolyn Brooks. Loving couple, he thought to himself as the two held hands walking to their seats. He watched as Avery held the chair for Gwendolyn to sit. She smiled up at him as a thank you. Isaac smirked. “Isn’t that sweet.” Gwen was the woman that he impregnated when they were in high school. His parents didn't want the burden of a baby to ruin his life so he was sent away to college and never saw Gwen again and certainly not the baby, until close to two years ago, almost forty years later. Now he believed that his parents did the right thing but at the time he’d rebelled. To learn years later that the friend of hers he couldn't stand, Avery Brooks took his place in her life only fueled the fire to destroy them even more. Of course it wasn’t his main purpose. His main purpose was to ensure his inheritance remained 100% his. The amendment his father put in his will ordering his attorneys to find the child Isaac had fathered and share half of the estate with that child would never happen if Isaac had his way. And make no mistake about it, Isaac was going to prevail. Vernon Brooks may be his son, but he had no intention of sharing any portion of his inheritance with him or anyone else.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Singleton."
Isaac looked up to see a tall, well-built, attractive man standing less than 5 feet in front of him. He recognized the man immediately. He cringed inside. What in the hell is he doing here? Went through Isaac's mind.
"Do I know you?" he testily asked.
Bobby S. Kennedy took a step closer to Isaac. “You should. I believe you tried to run me down with your car last week."
"What reason would I have to do such an outrageous thing?"
Bobby looked over Isaac’s shoulder into the eyes of his cousin, Cannon. He smiled with the knowledge that Isaac had no idea just how close the enemy was to him. But that would rem
ain their secret. A few weeks ago he was almost hit by a car. At first he thought it was just an accident that was prevented by Genesis Morgan. When his sister Ericka and his cousin Cannon told him about his heritage it did not faze him one way or another. He was doing well with his business, he had just reconnected with a high school sweetheart and life was good. Then Ericka told him of her suspicion that Isaac may have killed their mother. He wasn't a vengeful man. Bobby decided to let God handle Isaac. It wasn't until Vernon Brooks told him about the business and how thousands of employees at Singleton Enterprises were about to lose their pensions and their jobs because of Isaac, that he became interested in the madness of the wills. Here was a man with everything in life, yet he was still trying to take from others. Bobby did not care about the inheritance but he did care about people losing their livelihoods. That was when he decided he had to do his part to stop Isaac Singleton.
"Oh, I would think that you would have a few billion-dollar reasons to." Bobby took a step and leaned in close to Isaac's ear. “See, I've recently discovered that I am your half-brother."
"You will never live long enough to see a dime of it," Isaac seethed.
"Greed is a powerful motivator, Mr. Singleton." Bobby turned to walk away then stopped and looked back over his shoulder. "So is revenge." He smiled then walked back to where his girlfriend Patrice stood waiting.
"Did he just threaten me?"
"I believe he did," Cannon said then looked away.
"His ass is on the list," Isaac said as he watched the crowds of people gather around the site where the coffin had been placed. He waited until everyone was in position, then moved to an area where he knew he would be in Vernon's direct line of sight. He stood there with his legs braced apart and his arms folded across his chest. Pain in his shoulder from the bullet wound still throbbed, but he was willing to go through the pain just to get under Vernon's skin.
The Brooks family sat beside the gravesite as the minister said a few words. Through his sunshades Vernon glared back at Isaac. In that moment, he knew Isaac had killed Connie. The question eating away at him now was why? Lord knows there were times when he wanted to kill Connie himself. Like the time when she allowed that rapper to assault Taylor at the video shoot. He would never forgive her for that. Just like he wanted to kill her when he found out she was sleeping with Isaac. He didn't care if she slept with other men. That was never an issue for him. But to sleep with the man who had targeted his family was unforgivable. Even if that man was his biological father.
"Daddy." Taylor took his hand. "Don't let Mr. Singleton get to you."
Vernon brought his daughter’s hand up to his lips and kissed it. "I'm good," he said, never taking his eyes off Isaac.
The minister brought the graveside service to an end. Family members stood and placed single roses on Connie's coffin. As the rest of the family began to make their way back to the car, Vernon stood there with a single red rose still in his hand.
"Daddy, are you coming?" Taylor asked.
"You go with the family, honey, I'll be there in a minute."
"Daddy?"
"Jason, take her back to the car."
"Sir, I can have someone take her. I can stay and have your back," Jason said as he stared at the man who was staring at the family.
Vernon turned and looked up at the young man. “I appreciate that. But I got this. You take care of Taylor."
"James." Ashley, his wife, patted him on the shoulder. “Stay with your brother. And I'm not bailing either one of you out of jail tonight."
James kissed his wife gently on the lips. "We will be along in a minute." Ashley stared at him for a long moment before releasing his arm and walking away. As she looked back, she motioned to the Secret Service agents guarding her husband to stay with him.
Naverone stood a few feet behind Vernon and James. "Genesis, get the family back in the car. Keep the media away from Taylor and Jason."
Genesis nodded then followed the crowd back to the cars.
Bobby turned back to look as he walked away. It seemed as if a standoff was about to take place. He did not know Vernon all that well, but he respected the man and liked him a hell of a lot more than he liked Isaac. His newfound family was something he’d wanted for the ages. "Patrice, I'll meet you at the car." She kept walking. He walked a little ways back. Stopped a good distance behind Vernon and took the same stance as Isaac.
Vernon waited. He knew the arrogant ass would come to him. "James, give me a little space."
"I'll be five feet behind you, no further." James stepped back.
Isaac began clapping his hands in a mocking way. "Good act, son. You have people believing you are mourning the life of your wife." He walked to the other side of the casket. "Here we are with your dead wife between us."
"The woman you killed."
Isaac leaned across the casket and whispered so no one else could hear. "Casualty of war." He grinned. He held his hand out. “Hey, the way I see it I did you a favor. Now you can be with your little lady friend. I must say that's a nice piece of ass you got there. Who knows? Once you are behind bars I might take a piece of that. After all we're father and son. What's a little ass between us?"
Vernon looked back over his shoulder at Naverone. "You might want to be careful with that one. She'll cut your balls off and feed them to you while wearing a smile." He smirked adjusting the gloves on his hands. "You killed Connie to frame me." Vernon stood with his legs braced apart and his hands clasped down in front of him. "Your plan won't work. Beating you is going to be a pain in my ass, but I know what will make me feel better."
"What would that be?"
Vernon reached across the coffin knocking it down off of the rail and grabbed Isaac. He punched him three consecutive times in the nose drawing blood. He quickly released him, causing him to fall into the hole on top of the casket. Vernon picked up a single red rose that had fallen to the ground and dropped it down on top of them. He looked down and said, "Don't fuck with me." He then turned and walked away. It all happened so fast, James never had a chance to reach Vernon before he grabbed Isaac.
As he walked by James, he pulled off his gloves and gave them to Naverone. "Have this tested against Bobby's. It should prove they are brothers."
Bobby was still standing a few feet away from him as he walked up the hill to the car. "You have a little bit of street in you, don't you?"
"We do what we have to. Now go claim your inheritance."
They all heard Isaac yelling to Cannon to get him out of the damn hole. James looked back to see the maintenance crew helping.
Once he was out, Isaac yelled, "You are going to jail, Brooks. I'm going to see to it that you go to jail for the rest of your life. Don't fuck with you? What in the hell do you think I've been doing for the last six months? And I'm just getting started. I'm going to take down you and everybody in your family before it's over with. You hear me talking to you, Brooks. I will take down every last one of you."
"Sounds as if he is threatening you, Vernon. Does he have anything on you that can hurt us if this goes to trial?"
"I have no idea. Connie may have told him anything. But he does know something that can help us."
James and Vernon stopped as the driver opened the back door to the limo for them to get inside. "What is that?"
"He knows who killed Connie."
"Who?"
"He did. Now all we have to do is prove it."
Naverone was standing at the passenger door as they spoke. "The first officers on the scene found some blood outside the back door. I think the shot fired hit the person that was in the house. If that was Isaac he should have a bullet wound somewhere on his body."
"That's why they did not find the second bullet," James commented.
"That's right," Naverone agreed.
"The question now is how do we prove it," Vernon asked.
"We can use the blood from these gloves to test against the samples collected at the scene."
James nodded
as Naverone spoke. "I'll put in a motion to get a sample of the collection."
"If he was hit, somebody had to remove the bullet," Naverone summarized.
"Let's get back with the family," James said as he got inside the car.
"I'll start a search on hospitals in the area to see if they treated anyone for a gunshot wound that night."
Vernon smiled. "My queen in shining armor."
"Get inside the car." Naverone smiled and got into the front seat. They had something to go on, she thought as the car pulled away from the burial site.
Chapter Six
After everything she had put him through, she was surprised to see him. Taylor smiled as people gave their condolences, but her eyes were on Jason. He was standing on the veranda with Ty and his wife Kiki. The number of people in the gardens had dwindled down to under a hundred now. It was mostly family and close friends who were invited back to the house. It was late October and the days were still warm while the nights had become a little chilly. It had to be after five because the air was changing and the sun was about to set.
She was ready for this day to be over with, but they still had guests. Her mother taught her to never disappoint guests or fans or the media or anyone she deemed to be important. She didn't have that anymore. Her mother was no longer there to tell her to sit up straight, what to wear, how to fix her hair. Nothing. Was she ready for her mother to be gone? She was ready for some freedom. She had gone as far as to apply for law school to get away from her mother's constant scheming against her father by using her. The magnitude of the things her mother had done would surprise even her father. The under the table deals with the radio stations. The endorsement deals that were off the books. Her mom’s objective was simple. Use her daughter's talent to pocket enough money to leave her husband and still live the comfortable lifestyle that he had provided. As much as she loved performing on stage, the last two years had been unbearable. But she still loved her mother and she wasn't ready for her to be gone forever.
Her thoughts must have shown on her face. Jason was at her side before the tears began to flow again.