by C. J. Hudson
“Have a seat. I’ll be right back.”
Warren plopped down on the couch as Darnell made his way up the stairs. Warren listened closely. As soon as he was convinced that Darnell was out of earshot, he pulled out his cell phone and made a call.
“Hey, partner. Listen, I’m over at McCord’s house now. I’m about to make the bust.”
“What? What the hell do you mean you’re about to make the bust? That isn’t supposed to go down yet. Why in the fuck are you always trying to play super cop?”
“Look, I know when it’s supposed to go down. But an opportunity presented itself, and I had to take it. I know what the fuck I’m doing. Just get ready to say hello to your new captain. McCord’s coming. I have to go.”
Warren quickly went to the recorder function of his cell phone and pressed record. Since he wasn’t wearing a wire, it was the only thing he could do to get something on tape. He prayed to God that the prosecutor would be able to use it. Darnell came down the steps carrying a black duffle bag. As the two men exchanged bags, Darnell’s cell phone went off. He looked at the message for a few seconds and smirked.
“Everything okay?”
“Yep. It’s all good,” Darnell said as he placed the bag down at Warren’s feet. Warren was still looking at his phone when he bent down to pick it up. The cop never saw it coming as Darnell kneed him in the nose.
Blood shot from his nostrils and splattered on the carpet. The pain was so intense that Warren nearly blacked out. Once his vision cleared, his eyes bulged at the sight of a .45-caliber pistol pointed at his head. “What the fuck, man?”
“That’s what the fuck I’m wondering, muthafucka,” Darnell yelled. “I let you into my inner circle, and you’re a fuckin’ cop?”
“Man, I don’t know who told you that bullshit, but I am not the fucking police.”
“Oh, so now you’re gonna insult me by lying to my face?” Darnell asked as he cocked the hammer.
“Wait a minute, man! You’ve got this shit all wrong.” Warren started to panic. He had no idea how Darnell had found out he was a cop, but if he didn’t somehow convince him that he wasn’t, it would most definitely be his last day on earth.
Darnell looked down at the man and shook his head. He knew for a fact that Warren was lying. “You’re not a cop, huh?”
“Fuck, no!”
Darnell slowly placed the barrel of the gun to Warren’s temple. “You sure?” he asked.
“You damn right, I’m sure.”
Darnell took a step back and sighed. For ten hard seconds, he merely stared at Warren.
“Sunny, come out of that closet.”
Slowly, the closet door opened, and his daughter stepped out. The sight of her nearly caused Warren to shit on himself. If he didn’t know it a few seconds ago, he surely knew it now. He was fucked—Royally. Desperately, he tried to engage his brain and figure a way out of this mess.
“Darnell, man, I swear to God—”
“Muthafucka, shut yo’ white ass up! I went against some of my closest associates and sold dope to yo’ ass, and this is the thanks I get? This is the way you repay me, muthafucka? Sunny, play the fucking recording.”
Sunny pulled out her cell phone and pressed the play function.
“Look, I know when it’s supposed to go down. But an opportunity presented itself, and I had to take it. I know what the fuck I’m doing. Just get ready to say hello to your new captain. McCord’s coming. I have to go.”
Warren’s pale skin turned ghostly white. Although he knew that it was a long shot, the only chance he had to make it out of this predicament alive was to go for his gun. As fast as he could, he reached behind his back and pulled out a .380 Smith & Wesson automatic. He was nowhere near fast enough. Before he could even get it pulled around, Darnell put a sizzling hot hollow point into his right knee. Warren screamed in pain. He was still clutching his gun, but that lasted all of five seconds as Darnell shot him in the shoulder. The bullet’s impact caused Warren’s back to slam against the floor, which, in turn, caused the gun to fly from his hand.
Darnell turned his head and looked at his daughter. There was a frozen look on her face. She was truly shocked by the violence that her father had just displayed.
“Sunny, you okay?”
Her father’s voice snapped her back from the land of the shocked. However, she was still unable to talk. All she could do was silently nod.
“Thank you, baby,” he said, hugging his daughter. Darnell then took out his cell phone and went to the camera mode. When he pulled up what he was searching for, he turned the camera to his daughter.
“Who the fuck is this nigga?” he asked, showing her a video of Jamaal walking through his garage. Sunny’s mouth fell open. She was sure that she’d disabled the surveillance system.
“I asked you a question, Vanessa. Who the hell is this muthafucka?”
Sunny’s mouth suddenly became very dry. She didn’t know what to say or how to say it. She knew that her father wasn’t an idiot. She didn’t want to lie to him, but she didn’t want to admit guilt either. In some ways, she felt she was in more trouble than Warren.
“He . . . He’s just a friend, Daddy.”
“So, what the fuck was he doing in my house?”
While waiting on her answer, Darnell casually strolled over to Warren, who was struggling to get to his gun. His hand had almost reached it when Darnell’s Tims came crashing down on his hand. The sound of bones crunching resonated throughout the basement. Darnell then picked up Warren’s gun and shot him in the other knee with it. The pain was so intense that Warren could no longer scream. Darnell placed the police officer’s gun on the table, walked back over to his daughter, and got in her personal space.
“Little girl, did you actually think that I would give you the ability to disable every alarm in the house? I should kick your fucking ass for even thinking that I’m that damn stupid. But you know what? You wanna be grown? I’m gonna give you some grown shit to do.” Darnell grabbed his daughter’s hand and led her over to the fallen officer.
“You see this muthafucka here? He came here today to bust my ass. He would like nothing more than to see me rot in jail for the rest of my life, but that shit ain’t happening. This cracka is about to cash in a one-way ticket to hell, and you’re gonna send him there.”
A look of confusion overtook Sunny. She replayed her father’s words in her young mind and figured she must have misunderstood. “I . . . I don’t understand.”
Darnell smiled at her. In his warped mind, there was only one way to punish her for trying to be grown. And that was to make her do something that no father should ever ask his daughter to do.
“Let me ask you a question, honey. Do you like all the nice things I buy for you? Do you like living in this nice house and riding around in the nice cars I own? What about all the designer clothes that I buy for you? Are you ready to give all of that up? You’re 20, and I was thinking about buying you a car as a surprise birthday present.”
Darnell then pointed at Warren, who was now drifting in and out of consciousness.
“This piece of shit right here was gonna take it all away from us. He was going to try to put me in jail for the rest of my life.”
“But I still don’t understand, Dad. Don’t you have one of the best lawyers in the world? Whatever happens, can’t he get you off?”
Darnell stroked her cheek softly. A slight smile creased his lips as he looked into her innocent eyes. She had no idea that her innocence was about to be taken from her forever.
“Baby, you have so much to learn. Just because you have a good lawyer doesn’t mean you can get out of every situation. Sometimes, you have to take matters into your own hands. Now is one of those times.”
He looked at the stunned expression on her face and wondered about what he was doing. Even though he’d built quite the empire over the years and was thoroughly enjoying his success, Darnell looked forward to the day he could retire from the game. He didn’t want all h
is hard work to go by the wayside, so he decided years ago that Sunny would be the one to carry the torch. Gently, he placed his gun in her trembling hand.
“Shoot him,” he said, staring down at the fallen cop.
“Wh . . . What?” she asked, thinking that she’d heard her father wrong.
“You heard what I said. Shoot his ass.”
Sunny stared into her father’s eyes and saw a cold hardness that she’d never witnessed before. It frightened her. She glanced down at the bleeding policeman and pointed the gun at him. Her hand was shaking so badly that her father was afraid that she would drop the pistol.
“I’m sorry, Dad. I just can’t.”
Darnell smiled and nodded his head. He wasn’t surprised that his little girl would hesitate to do such a heinous act. After all, he was the gangster of the family. She was just a 20-year-old trying to find her way. He did wonder, however, how much she knew about his drug dealings. He smiled at his daughter just before sneering down at the fallen officer. After staring down at him for a few seconds, Darnell turned his cold, hard eyes on his daughter.
“You say you can’t, but I say you will.” Darnell walked over to the recliner he usually sat in, stuck his hand into one of the cushions, and pulled out a .38 revolver. With a menacing look on his face, he walked back over to where his daughter was standing and pointed it at her head. Sunny’s head snapped around. Her eyes grew twice their normal size as she stared into the barrel.
“Someone in here is gonna die today. You need to decide if it’s gonna be him . . . or you.”
“Da . . . Daddy . . . wh . . . wh . . . What are you saying?”
“I think I just said it. Five.”
“Huh? Daddy, what are you doing?”
“You’re a smart young woman. I’m sure you can figure it out. Four.”
“Oh my God, Daddy, please, tell me!” Tears were now streaming down her face.
“Self-preservation is the first law of nature. Three.”
“Daddy, please, you can’t be serious!”
“Yes, sweetheart, I’m very serious. Please don’t pretend like you don’t know where we get all this money from.”
When Sunny’s eyes dropped, Darnell’s suspicions were confirmed. His daughter knew exactly what he did to acquire his riches.
“And I’m pretty sure that you’ve heard of some of the unspeakable things that I’ve done to people who’ve crossed me. Am I right?”
“Yes, Daddy,” Sunny said softly.
“So, you’re okay with me selling drugs and killing people for us to maintain this lifestyle . . . as long as you don’t have to get your hands dirty, right?”
Sunny slowly raised her head and looked into her father’s eyes. She’d never really thought of it that way. Of course, she wanted to maintain her current lifestyle, but murder?
“That’s what I thought. Two.”
Darnell pulled the hammer back on the .38. “Decide, Sunny. It’s either you or him. Who’s gonna live?”
Sunny’s hand trembled as she raised the gun and pointed it at Warren. She glanced at her father and gauged the seriousness in his eyes. Would he do it? Would he really shoot her? His own daughter? His own flesh and blood? Did she want to find out? She tried to read him, but it was no use. With fear in her heart, she lifted the gun and aimed it at the now-unconscious officer. She hesitated for a few seconds, and it seemed to make her father angry.
“Pull the fuckin’ trigger,” he screamed.
Sunny jumped as Darnell’s voice boomed out. Out of fear of her father more than anything else, Sunny pulled the trigger. The bullet entered Warren’s eye socket, causing his body to jump involuntarily. A pool of blood quickly spread beneath his head. Sunny’s arm dropped to her side. She covered her face with one hand.
“Why, Daddy? Why did you make me do that?”
Darnell’s cold eyes softened as he walked up to his daughter and wrapped his arms around her. He gently took the gun out of her hand and placed it on the table. He kissed her forehead and prepared himself to tell her the real reason he’d forced her to pull the trigger. Despite his grown-people-do-grown-up-things speech, Darnell had what he felt was a legitimate reason for her to kill Detective Warren. After allowing her to cry on his shoulder for a full minute, he placed his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes.
“Sunny, you’re 20 years old, so I feel that it’s time we talked. I was going to do this after your party, but what happened today has sped up my timetable.” Darnell grabbed Sunny’s hand and led her over to the couch. He was about to begin speaking but frowned when he noticed that she was staring at the dead officer.
“Hey. Look at me. Fuck that dead-ass cracka.”
Sunny was shocked. She’d suspected that her father could be a hard man when provoked, but she’d never witnessed it firsthand.
“So . . . Sorry, Daddy,” she said, flinching from the sound of his voice.
“Vanessa, for the last eleven years, I’ve always tried to be there for you and give you the very best that life has to offer. Am I doing it the right way? Some would say no, but I disagree. In my opinion, parents have to do what they think is in their child’s best interest. Now, I’m sure that the asshole lying over there on the floor felt that he was doing what was best for his family. But there was just one problem with that. What he thought was best for his family could’ve potentially hurt mine. I wasn’t about to let that shit happen.”
Darnell paused for a few seconds to make sure that he still had her attention. Then he continued.
“My point is that self-preservation is the first law of nature. Never, and I mean never, love anyone more than you love yourself. If it ever comes down to it being them or you, you make damn sure that it’s them. Now, you asked me why I made you do this. I didn’t. You chose to do that.”
“But—”
Darnell held up a finger to silence her. “I know what you’re about to say. I said that I would shoot you if you didn’t shoot him, right?”
Her tears drying, Sunny nodded her head.
“Well, first of all,” he said as he picked up the revolver and showed it to her, “this gun doesn’t have any bullets in it. I was never going to shoot you, baby. I’d never do anything to hurt you. I was just testing you.”
“But why?” she asked, relieved now that her father told her that his threat was a hoax.
“Because I’m grooming you to take over for me one day.”
Sunny’s mouth fell open. All this time, she’d believed that her father had sent her to a private school when she was younger to get a better education so that she wouldn’t have to live a life of crime like him. But, in reality, he wanted her to one day fill his shoes.
“But I thought you sent me to the private school to—”
“I sent you to the private school so I wouldn’t have to blow up a damn public school because some wannabe thug nigga was fuckin’ with my daughter. In the hood, there’s always some hood nigga tryin’a make a name for himself. Sending you to a private school, I didn’t have to worry about that so much.”
Darnell’s declaration of wanting Sunny to take over his drug empire had her head spinning. It was a lot for anyone, let alone a 20-year-old trying to find herself.
“Wow, this is a lot to think about,” she said.
“No, it isn’t. There’s nothing to think about. The bottom line is this. Do you want to have a boss or be the boss?”
Sunny pondered her father’s words as he took out his cell phone and walked to the other side of the room. She strained her ears, trying to hear what was being said, but he talked too low for her to do so. When he came back across the room, he had a half smile on his face.
“I’ve got some good news and some bad news. I’m pretty sure that this has been a traumatic experience for you, so I’m going to let you miss a couple of days of school.”
“Fo’ real, Daddy? Thanks.”
“Don’t get too damn happy. Remember, I said good news and bad news.”
“Uh . .
. Okay. What’s the bad news?”
“The bad news is that I’m going to have new carpet put down and have this basement cleaned and the walls painted.”
The fuck that got to do with me? Sunny wondered.
“And since I don’t want you around while the work is being done, you’re gonna stay at Turiq’s.”
Sunny’s face instantly seized into a frown. The last place she wanted was to be cooped in a house with Tariq’s bitch of a daughter Jazmine.
“What? Daddy, I don’t wanna be stuck in a house wit’ that bitch!”
“Hey, watch your damn mouth,” Darnell scolded her. He wasn’t naïve. He was well aware that his precious daughter used profanity and probably did much worse when she wasn’t in his presence. But as long as he could see or hear her, she was going to show him the proper respect.
“Sorry, Daddy.”
“All right. And that’s just too damn bad that you don’t wanna be in the same house with her. Consider it part of your punishment for sneaking that bastard into my house. The only reason I don’t end his miserable-ass life is that you saved me hundreds of thousands of dollars in lawyer fees and buying off a fuckin’ judge. Now, go pack.”
“Yes, sir.”
While Darnell was talking, Sunny was plotting. She was literally seconds from getting her cherry popped, and her father fucked it up. Still, she was grateful that her father was letting her off the hook.
“Thank you for letting Jamaal slide.”
Darnell’s eyes tightened. His lips curled into a wicked sneer. “I said I wasn’t gonna kill him. I never said anything about letting him slide.”
Sunny immediately began to worry. She didn’t know what her father was going to do. But she knew that it wasn’t going to be pretty.
Chapter 4
Jazmine checked the time on her cell phone and saw that she had about ten minutes until her father doubled back to check on her. It was something he’d done ever since he’d caught her sneaking out of the house to go to a party. He would leave, tell her that he would be gone a few hours, and then burst back into the house, trying to catch her up to no good. But there was one thing that her father hadn’t counted on. His own predictability. As a matter of fact, Turiq had gotten so predictable, Jazmine could set her watch by it. Normally, she would sneak a young man into the house or just sit back and get faded, but tonight, she had different plans.