by C. J. Hudson
“Aaaah, ain’t that a shame. Her daddy gone bye-bye,” Justin said, snickering. Damon and his men all laughed out loud. He then made his way over to Darnell and leaned down to face him.
“Did you really think that you were just gonna hand an entire empire over to your daughter and ride off into the sunset, and I was gonna be okay with that? Are you fucking crazy?”
Damon then slapped Darnell in the mouth so hard that blood flew from it.
“It’s time to end this shit,” he said, taking out his cell phone. A sudden thought occurred to him as he was setting the timer for the C-4. “Hey, where the fuck is Dani?”
“How the fuck should we know? Ain’t she your bitch?” Sunny said.
Damon smirked. The fact that Sunny knew about him and Dani told him that she was probably dead. Since it wasn’t a great loss to him, Damon simply chose to shrug his shoulders and keep it moving.
“Whatever,” he said, setting the timer. “Since I did make a lot of money with you, I’m gonna allow you to have twenty more minutes with your daughter before y’all go boom. Let’s go, boys.”
With that, Damon led his crew up the steps. He instructed Justin to put Turiq in the trunk of his car. After it was done, Damon reached into his pocket and took out cash to pay Justin and Kenne for their services and sent them on their way. Normally, he wouldn’t want to be anywhere around a crime scene, but this one, he couldn’t resist. He was going to watch Darnell go up in flames, and he was going to enjoy it.
He looked at his cell phone and saw that Darnell had only three minutes left to live. With a satisfactory smile, he pulled out a cigar and lit it. Then he pulled out two more and passed them to Eric and Moon. Five minutes earlier, he’d texted Slab and Paul and told them to come around the front so they could celebrate the takeover, but so far, they hadn’t arrived. When there was only one minute remaining, they all jumped in the car and moved to a safer distance. They had just parked and got back out of the car when a loud boom echoed through the air. A fiery glow filled the sky. Damon smiled triumphantly. He only had one more piece of business to take care of, and then his takeover would be complete. He opened the doors to the van and had Eric pull Turiq out. After standing him up, Damon took the tape off his mouth.
“Man, what the fuck?” Turiq asked. “This shit wasn’t part of the plan.”
Damon shrugged. “Sometimes, you have to improvise, my nigga.”
“Yeah, whatever. Is it done? Is that nigga and his daughter dead?”
“Dead as a fucking doorknob.”
Turiq smiled and nodded his head. Moon and Eric looked at each other, confused. They had no idea what was going on. From the second Darnell approached Turiq with the idea of Sunny taking over his drug business, Turiq began plotting. Despite appearances, Turiq had always had designs on being the next king. If Darnell wanted to step down and ride off into the sunset, Turiq was fine with it. But there was no way that he was going to put in all that work for all those years and play second fiddle to the man just to have to do the same thing with his spoiled-ass daughter. And to top it off, he wanted his own daughter to be second to him. It turned his stomach to even think about it. So, during a routine money drop by Damon, Turiq sold him on the idea that if they got rid of Darnell, they could both run the city as equal partners. The one thing he hadn’t counted on, though, was that a snake, by any other name, was still a snake.
“Good shit.”
An awkward silence filled the air as Damon and Turiq stared at each other.
“Well? The fuck you waiting on? Untie me, nigga,” Turiq said.
Damon just smiled. “Well, you see, there’s a little problem with that.”
“What? Nigga, what the fuck are you trying to pull?”
“Nothing. I just think it’s time to renegotiate.”
“Renegotiate? The fuck are you talking about? Nigga, if you don’t fuckin’ take this rope off of me, I’ll––”
“What? Nigga, what the fuck you gon’ do?”
Turiq glared at Damon.
“That’s what the fuck I thought. Now, like I said, we need to change the terms of this little agreement. I think that I should be the––”
Turiq’s loud laughter drowned out the remainder of Damon’s sentence.
“You hear something funny, nigga?”
“Nah, I hear something hilarious, nigga. If you think I’m gonna let you pull some shit like this, you may as well shoot me now.”
A sinister grin appeared on Damon’s face as he slowly nodded his head. “So be it then, nigga.” Damon reached into his waistband and pulled out his gun. “And don’t worry about ya’ daughter. You’ll see her soon enough.”
“What? Muthafucka, you killed my daughter?”
Forgetting that he was tied up, Turiq tried to make a move toward Damon and fell flat on his face. Damon and Eric nearly split their sides laughing. Moon merely shook his head. He reached, grabbed Turiq by the back of his collar, and snatched him to his knees. Tears were streaming down his face. He’d made the cardinal sin of trusting a snake, and now it was going to cost him everything he held dear.
“Any last words, nigga?”
“Yeah, fuck you!”
“Nah, nigga, fuck you,” Damon said, cocking the hammer on his pistol. A satisfied sneer creased his lips as he pointed his gun. Before he could pull the trigger, however, Moon intervened.
“Hold up, man. You need to let me handle this shit. If you were serious about the position you want me to play, you need to let me prove it by putting a couple of hot ones in this piece of shit.”
Damon thought about it for a second. As bad as he wanted to blow Turiq’s brains out, he told himself that Moon had a point.
“Okay, my nigga. I’m gonna let you push this nigga’s shit back. Do ya’ thug thizzle,” Damon said, tucking his gun back into his waist.
Turiq closed his eyes as he felt the cold steel press against the back of his skull. A few seconds later, he felt a hot breath touch his ear.
“This ain’t personal, dawg. It’s just business,” Moon said.
Turiq braced himself when he heard the hammer on Moon’s gun cock. Three shots echoed through the air, and once again . . . The Reaper had come calling.
Chapter 33
Rita looked at her watch and saw that it was now almost 9:45. She was going to give Damon another fifteen minutes before she left. She didn’t want to appear thirsty, so she made the decision not to call him. Of course, she would rather have her legs in the air with Damon pounding her sweet spot, but there was only so long she was going to sit there and wait. She’d spoken to Janine earlier and told her that she was coming by later, so not to leave the house. That way, she could wait on Damon without having to worry about Janine showing up. It wasn’t that Rita didn’t feel like shit for betraying her friend like she was doing. It’s just that getting a piece of that good dick, combined with Damon telling her about the half a grand he was willing to give to Janine, had her feeling scandalous. Rita had no idea what Damon had asked Janine to do, and she didn’t give a damn. In her mind, half a grand was a good chunk of change, and she might not come across this opportunity again. She was about to bite the bullet and call him anyway when her cell phone buzzed in her hand.
“Hello?”
“Girl, where the hell are you? I thought you said that you had something to talk to me about,” Janine stated.
“Yeah, I do. I’m on my way now.”
“Cool. Have you left the house yet?”
“Yeah.”
“Cool. You know what, though? I really don’t feel like sitting in this house. Meet me at the bar. I’ll be waiting in the parking lot.”
“Uh . . . okay. I’ll see you there.”
Rita sighed and started her car. As bad as she wanted to wait on Damon, she didn’t want to run the risk of Janine finding out that she was sleeping with him. Ten minutes later, Rita was pulling into the bar’s parking lot. She cut her engine, but before she could get out, Janine had got out of her vehicle and was making her way to
the passenger’s side. She was carrying a bottle of wine in one hand and a couple of glasses in the other. After Rita unlocked the door, Janine climbed into the seat.
“What’s up, girl?”
“Uh . . . not much. Why the hell are we sitting in this car?”
“I just thought we could drink a few glasses before we go in and get broke. Plus, I need someone to vent to for a minute.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Girl, I think I’m gonna stop fucking with Damon.”
“For real?” Rita asked. She was already making plans to slide into Janine’s time slot.
“Yeah, girl. I’m just tired of that nigga fucking me over. He and that bitch Dani can have each other.”
After handing a glass to Rita, Janine reached into her pocket and pulled out a corkscrew. She quickly opened the bottle and poured them both half a glass.
“Here’s to friendship,” Janine said, raising her glass for a toast. Rita instantly felt like shit. In a moment of extreme guilt, she wondered if she should tell Janine about her and Damon.
“To friendship,” Rita said with a quivering voice. After tapping glasses, the two women lifted their glass and took a sip. For the next ten minutes, they shot the shit and downed half the bottle. Rita was just about to take another sip when Janine took it there.
“Rita, why were you sitting in front of Damon’s house tonight?”
The question damn near caused Rita to spit out her wine. “Huh? What the hell are you talking about?”
“You know what the fuck I’m talking about.”
“Janine, your ass is tripping. I wasn’t over at Damon’s house.”
Janine’s eyes narrowed into slits. She was crushed that her friend would play her like that. Even though she and Damon were no longer a couple, the fact that they were at one time should have made him off-limits to Rita. Shaking her head, she reached underneath the passenger’s seat and removed the device that she’d placed there when they were together earlier in the week. Janine was hoping that she was wrong. She was hoping that it was just a figment of her imagination. But the starry look in Rita’s eyes whenever Damon was even mentioned told a different story. So instead of keeping tabs on Damon, she decided to keep tabs on Rita.
“What’s this?” Rita asked when Janine placed the tracker in her hand.
“What the fuck do you think it is?”
Rita’s stomach tightened up. When she first saw it in Janine’s glove compartment, she assumed that Janine purchased it to keep tabs on Damon, but she was wrong—dead wrong. Janine looked past Rita and out of the driver’s side window.
“I guess my former man is checking up on us, huh?”
When Rita turned and looked out of the window, all she saw were the other cars parked in the lot. Only then did she realize that she’d been duped. Before she could turn back around, Janine plunged the corkscrew she had used to open the wine bottle deep into Rita’s neck. Blood spurted out of her neck and onto the seat. Rita gurgled and choked as she reached for her throat. It took less than fifteen seconds for her to bleed out and her head to fall forward onto the steering wheel. A single tear ran down Janine’s cheek as she stared at Rita. Rita’s lack of loyalty hurt her ten times more than Damon’s did. Damon was a dog, so she pretty much expected him to behave like one. But Rita was her girl. In her mind, they were close enough to be sisters. In the end, however, she was the only one of them who thought that way.
Epilogue
It was barely seven o’clock in the morning when Moon walked down the stairs and headed for the kitchen. Without hesitation, he reached on top of the refrigerator for the bottle of Cîroc. After taking it down, Moon walked to the first unoccupied seat and plopped down in it. He unscrewed the cap and took a swig. The last twenty-four hours had been quite traumatic for him, so the eyes that were now staring upon him would just have to forgive him for partaking of the devil’s juice so early in the morning. Moon had been hit with a barrage of questions, but all he wanted to do was rest, with the promise that he would reveal all the next morning. Now, the following day was here. It was time for him to spill the tea on what had really transpired. Moon went to take another swig, but someone snatched the bottle from his hand before he could complete the task.
“Enough stalling, young man. I think it’s time that you told us what the fuck is going on,” Darnell bellowed.
Moon looked around at the faces who would have been considered enemies just twenty-four short hours ago. Darnell was seated next to him. Although he was grateful that Moon had saved him, his daughter, and her friends’ lives, he still wanted to know what the hell was going on. Sunny was seated next to her father, while Lard and Duck were sitting directly across from him. Jazmine had asked to be dropped off at home so she could wait for her father. Butter also had been dropped off at home.
Moon took a deep breath and began. He started from when Damon had first started talking about overthrowing Darnell and his regime. He quickly moved to the part where Damon had hired a couple of goons to help him with his plan. He told them about how he’d slipped a knife into Sunny’s back pocket, which enabled her to cut the ropes and free everyone else. That part they already knew because Sunny had told them. However, Darnell was stunned when Moon revealed to him that Damon and Turiq had plotted to kill him and become equal partners. He and Turiq had been partners for years, and it hurt him deeply that his friend could betray him that way.
“Continue,” he told Moon after the shock wore off.
“Well, after I put one in Damon’s head, I shot the nigga that was with him. I think his name was Eric, and I think it was his uncle. After that, I had to take care of that snake-ass nigga Turiq.”
“So, you killed my friend?”
“Friend? You call that nigga a friend?” Moon asked, his face twisted.
Darnell rubbed his chin. Taking a deep breath, he simply shook his head. Moon had a point. There was no way a friend would plot on him the way Turiq did.
“Daddy, does Jazmine have to know what kind of traitor her father was?” Sunny asked.
“No, she doesn’t. She also doesn’t have to know who killed him.”
After a brief hesitation, Sunny brought up the thing that had been on everyone’s mind for the last twelve hours.
“I still don’t understand why you helped us,” Sunny said.
“Yes, young man, the one thing that you haven’t told me is why. Why in the hell would you help us? I have to assume that since you were one of Damon’s top soldiers, he was paying you well. So, help me understand this shit. What’s your angle?”
“I don’t have an angle.”
“Don’t bullshit me. No one puts their life on the line for nothing. No one takes money out of their own pocket.”
“True, but some things are more important than money.”
“Oh yeah? Like what?”
Moon stared at Darnell for a few seconds before reaching into his back pocket and taking out an old, wrinkled photograph. After handing it to Darnell, Moon crossed his arms and waited for a reaction. Darnell’s mouth dropped open as he slowly raised his head and stared at Moon.
“Where the hell did you get this picture?”
“My mother gave it to me.”
“What’s going on here, Dad?” Sunny asked.
“Be quiet, Sunny. Young man, I’m going to ask you one more time, and I want the fucking truth. Who gave you this picture?”
“Like I told you the first time, my mother gave it to me.”
The two men glared at each other for what seemed like forever before Darnell broke the silence.
“What’s your mother’s name?”
“Debra.”
Upon hearing his ex’s name, Darnell fell back down in his seat. He looked at the picture again and then back up at Moon.
“Look, young man. You do realize that I’m not your father, right?”
“My mother told me that you never gave her a chance to tell you that you were going to be a father. Hell, she just now revealed
to me that the man I grew up around wasn’t my real father, so I guess both of us have been deceived.”
“So, let me get this straight. I’m just supposed to take your word for this?”
“We can get a DNA test if you want to. But I saw the look in my mom’s eyes when she told me, and there wasn’t a hint of deceit in them. Look, I was just as shocked when I heard it as you are now, but it is what it is. And if the last twenty-four hours have shown me anything, it’s that you can’t trust anybody except family.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Sunny asked.
Moon smiled as he looked at his sister. He felt bad for putting that bruise on her face, but he had to make it look like he was Damon’s accomplice. “That means, sister, that if our father still wants to get out of the game, his business will be well in hand with his daughter and son running the show together. So, what do you say, Pop? How about it, sis? Let’s do this shit.”
Darnell slowly walked up to Moon and pulled him into a tight hug. After releasing him, Darnell looked directly into his eyes. “Look, this is a lot to process, and I hope this doesn’t offend you, but I’m going to have to verify this information. If what you say turns out to be true, then I would be proud to include you in the family business, provided Sunny doesn’t have a problem with it.”
All eyes turned to Sunny. After thinking about it for a few seconds, she walked up to Moon and looked him in the eye.
“As long as you remember one thing . . . I run the show. Welcome to the family, bro,” she said, wrapping one arm around Moon and the other around her father.
Coming Soon . . .
RICO 2: Sunny’s Reign!