The condo they were now in was his primary location, where he stayed the most, where he kept his most prized possessions.
So why didn’t she just take the money while he was gone? Because he kept a lock on the safe, which was bolted down and he was the only person who knew the combination.
“Your ride is downstairs!” Leon called out.
Bella took one quick look in the mirror. Thank God he didn’t hit her in the face. She didn’t know how she would be able to cover that up. Bella walked right by Leon without saying a word.
When she stepped outside she was surprised to see a Mercedes limo parked in front. There was no way this could be her ride. Leon simply didn’t know this caliber of a person. So she looked down the street while wondering where her ride was.
“Bella?” the man from the car called out.
Oh shit, this must be my ride. Bella looked around to see if anyone was watching. They were. It seemed like the whole neighborhood was watching and wondering what the hell was this whore doing getting in that car. When did she become high-class?
When Bella stepped into the car, she didn’t know it would be the last time she saw Leon.
“Welcome, I’m Black,” the man that sat in the back introduced himself.
“I’m Bella,” she told him as she took him in with her eyes.
As it turned out, Black wasn’t like any other customer she’d been with. He was older, distinguished, and his whole vibe was one of sophistication.
She thought they were going straight to a hotel but instead Black took her to see her first play. Bella felt like she was in a fairy tale and afterward they went out to dinner. Black was a gentleman the whole time they were together. Bella wondered why the hell he had to pay for pussy.
Later when she asked him, he told her, “Because there is no work involved. I can leave town and do what I want with no ties and no commitment. Plus, I’m not a young man.”
Bella was surprised to learn that he was in his fifties. There was something about Black that made her feel comfortable, like she could relax and didn’t have to put on a show. She actually found herself laughing a time or two, something she never did when she was with a john. When he asked her about her past, she told him about her being a foster child and running away. That was something she never told anyone, especially a john.
That night as Bella was getting undressed she tried to hide the bruises Leon inflicted upon her but Black saw them and asked, “What happened?”
Bella was straight up and told him the truth.
“You’re not going back there,” he informed her.
Bella started laughing.
“What’s so funny?” he asked.
Bella sat on the bed next to him and said, “This ain’t some Pretty Woman, come-and-save-the-damsel-in-distress shit. You and I both know the circumstances in which we met, we both know I’m a whore, and that I sell my body for money.” She waited on him to say something back but he just sat there with a smirk on his face.
Bella stood up to leave. “What? You want to be my pimp now. Is that it?”
Black blocked her path. “You need to calm down and let me speak. Yes, I know the circumstances in which we met, but Bella, there’s something about you, I don’t know what it is, but you’re special.”
Bella rolled her eyes. She’d heard this shit from Leon when they first met.
Black smirked. “I see you rolling your eyes and that’s okay, but I mean every word I’m saying. I’m not a pimp nor do I want to be one. I’m in town twice a month on business for three or four days at a time and I’d like company. I’d like to not have to go around looking for someone, I’d like to have someone waiting on me. Maybe you could be the one.”
Bella sat on the bed and searched his face, she wanted him to be on the up-and-up, to not be pulling her leg. Could this be it? Could this be just what she needed to get out from under Leon, a sugar daddy?
Bella stayed the night and the next morning she told Black that she would like to be the one that waits for him when he returns. “But you need to understand that Leon isn’t going to just let me go like that. It’s not going to be that easy.”
“Who said you had to go back there? You don’t have to, I’ll handle Leon.” Black walked over to a suitcase that was in the corner and pulled out a set of keys. “I have an apartment I rarely use.” He threw the keys at her. “Here, take them, my driver will take you there when you’re ready to go.”
This shit doesn’t just happen. Bella was in shock. She looked at Black and held back her tears. Please let this be real, please let this be real.
Bella took him up on his offer, but not after telling him that in the next day or two there were a few things she needed to wrap up.
Belle spent the majority of the day with Black, who took her shopping. Later when he had to go take care of some business, he told his driver to take her wherever she wanted to go.
That night around 11:30, Bella caught a taxi to the condo. Bella let herself in the apartment and was grabbing items such as her undergarments and jewelry.
At twelve on the dot, Bella heard a knock on the door. She knew without asking that it was Ramsey and Rock. She opened the door to let them in.
“So, you’ve moved up in the world, huh?” Ramey asked when he walked in.
“What are you talking about?”
“The vehicle that picked you up.”
“All right, so tell us about this money,” Rock interrupted.
Bella looked at Ramsey; she didn’t really care for Rock. It was common knowledge he would do anything for money and dog anyone out to get it.
When she and Ramsey were seeing one another, she asked him why were they boys. “He’s evil,” she told him.
“He may be evil to some people, but we’ve grown up together, we’ve always had one another’s back, he would never stab mine and I would never stab his.”
Bella didn’t say a word because she didn’t put anything past anyone.
“Listen,” Bella told Ramsey, “I’m leaving this area and this lifestyle alone.”
“That what you called us up here to tell us?” Rock asked. He turned to walk out the door. “Come on, man, let’s go, I don’t have time for this bullshit.”
Ramsey grabbed his arm to stop him. “Hold up, man, she’s not done yet.” Ramsey looked at Bella. “Are you?”
Bella walked over to the sofa and sat down. “No, I’m not.” Bella took a deep breath and looked from one to the other. “I have a proposition but it must never leave this room, never and that’s whether you agree to do it or not.”
“Well, what the fuck is it?” Rock wanted to know, he was in a hurry. There was money to be made and he felt like time was passing him by fucking around with Bella.
“Promise me, give me your bonded word it won’t leave this room.”
“My word is my bond,” Ramsey said.
Rock just stood there until Ramsey shot him a look.
“Damn, man, my word is bond as well.”
“All right then, Leon keeps a safe here and I want you two to rob it, we’ll split the profit three ways.”
“How much are we talking about?” Rock wanted to know.
“We’re talking over ten thousand dollars.”
“Man, please,” Rock waved her away. “That’s only three apiece, it ain’t worth it.”
“She’s talking about ten thousand apiece,” Ramsey told him without taking his eyes of Bella. “That is what you’re saying, right?”
“Yes it is,” she told him.
“The safe here now?” Ramsey wanted to know.
“Yes, in the back room.” She knew what was coming next.
“Well, why don’t we just go get it right now?” Rock wanted to know.
“If it was that easy, do you think I’d be asking you two to help me? It’s bolted to the floor and Leon has the one and only key to the lock, he carries it around with him and of course, only he knows the combination.”
Ramsey and Rock took this
in.
“All right, so what’s the plan?” Rock wanted to know.
Bella went on to explain how she wanted them to give Leon a beat down, get the information they needed to open the safe, and that they would meet up afterward.
That was her biggest fear, them meeting up afterward. What if they decided to betray her and keep the money to themselves? That could happen, she wasn’t trying to convince herself otherwise. All she could do was trust the situation and hope for the best.
She wanted to believe that Ramsey would do the right thing because of their past.
They made a plan to do it within the next day or two. Bella told Ramsey Leon’s schedule. She also gave him the number to her beeper, the one Black gave her.
“Here’s where you can reach me when it’s done.”
Ramsey and Rock said their good-byes but once Rock was out the door, Bella called Ramsey back.
“I really need this money, Ramsey, please don’t disappoint me.”
Ramsey knew that Bella was really asking him not to steal from her. “I’ve got your back.”
Three days went by and Bella still hadn’t heard a word from either of them. She was starting to suspect Ramsey of lying to her. She didn’t want to go back to the neighborhood because she knew by now that Leon was looking for her.
After six days, she couldn’t take it anymore, Bella had to know what the hell was going on. She put on a sweat suit with a hoodie, called a cab, and tried to go into the neighborhood incognito.
She had the taxi driver ride her around until she saw someone she recognized. “Pull over, pull over.”
It was Willow, a young girl that ran errands for the neighborhood drug dealers.
With the hood on her head, Bella approached her. “Willow?”
When Willow saw who it was she said, “Oh my God, girl, where the hell have you been, everyone’s been looking for you.”
“Who is everyone?”
“The neighborhood, the police.”
“The police?” Bella went into panic mode. Please don’t tell me Ramsey and Rock got caught and turned my name in.
“Girl, don’t you know Leon was killed?”
“Killed?” This is not what Bella wanted. “Killed?”
“Killed?” Bella couldn’t stop repeating herself. She was afraid to ask but she had to know. “Does anyone know who did it?”
Willow shook her head, “Nah, but—”
Bella didn’t give her a chance to finish her sentence. “I’ve got to go.”
“Wait!” Willow called out as Bella sprinted to the taxi.
“Please just take me back where you picked me up,” she told the driver while in tears.
“What’s wrong sister, is everything all right?”
“Does everything look all right?” she snapped.
“Damn, I was just being concerned.”
Bella apologized. How could she tell this complete stranger that she may have had another man killed?
Maybe that explained why she hadn’t heard from Ramsey and Rock, their asses were probably hiding out.
“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” Bella said under her breath. When she arrived at the apartment Black had her staying in, she paid the driver, went inside, and broke down.
She shed tears of frustration, anger, disappointment and yes, even sadness.
Although Leon mistreated her more than half the time, he took care of her the other half and if she was honest with herself, a part of her loved him.
She wished she could turn that part of her off but it wasn’t that simple.
“What the hell did y’all do? What went wrong?” Bella yelled at the walls.
Just when Bella was feeling an anxiety attack coming on her pager went off. She took it off her hip and looked at the number.
The only people that had the number were Black and Ramsey. The number that showed up on the beeper did not look familiar, it could be either of them. In her panicked state, Bella thought to herself, “It could even be the police.”
She did not want to call the number back. What if it was the police?
Bella started pacing back and forth when her pager went off again, this time with 911 at the end of the number.
Shit! Shit! Shit! What was she going to do?
“Fuck it!” Bella screamed and picked up the phone. She dialed the number and it was answered on the first ring.
“Bella?”
It was Ramsey.
“What happened? Leon’s dead! Where’s the—?”
Ramsey cut her off. “Where can we meet?
Bella didn’t answer. What if he was setting her up?
“Bella, where can we meet?”
“Tell me this, Ramsey, did you do it?”
Bella could hear Ramsey take a deep breath. “Would you believe me if I told you no?”
“Yes,” Bella lied, “I would.”
She could hear Ramsey breathe a sigh of relief.
“I have your portion of the money, let’s meet.”
Bella wanted so bad to believe him, she had to believe him. She told him where to meet her.
When Bella thought back to that day, she still wondered if Ramsey was honest with her or not. He told her that they whipped Leon’s ass, they got him to tell them the combination, and when they left him he was still alive. Ramsey swore to her neither he nor Rock killed Leon but it was no secret Rock was a killer.
Ruthless was his middle name. He gave Bella her share of the money, telling her, “I’ll see you when I see you.”
Bella continued to let Black take care of her and during that time, she saved just about every penny he gave her. She went back to school and got her high school diploma and then onto college. Black supported her every choice.
It was in college when she developed an interest in philosophy and religion, it was also what sent her on a quest for God.
Bella started attending various churches and Bible studies.
Black noticed the changes in her. He also knew it was time to let her go and grow. Plus, he found another woman, one that wasn’t motivated to change.
To this day, Bella still thought about Black and how if he had not come into her life when he did, her life just might have been over. She was thankful for him and for a while they kept in touch. Black was more than a john to Bella, he was her guardian angel.
CHAPTER EIGHT
FAITH
Dear Journal,
Enough is enough, when he comes home I’m going tell him that I’m ready for a divorce. I just hope I can say it with conviction. How he’s going to react? I have no idea but however he does, I’m just going to have to deal with it.
I’m tired of being a doormat, I’m tired of having sex with someone just because they think it’s my duty. It’s not even like it’s that pleasurable and even though it’s far and few in between, I no longer want to.
I’m in my thirties for goodness sake, and you’d think that with all I’ve been through, I would know better.
I do know better, it’s just been hard to do better.
Your friend in need, Faith
Another hang up. Faith was tired of this shit. It’d been going on for so long now, too damn long and she was getting tired of the games, of pretending like things were okay between them, tired of accepting the fact that he had mistresses.
She was his wife, damn it! It was either time to work it out or move on. Who was she kidding? There would be no moving on. The truth about their situation was there was nothing left to work on. The, I love you so much, I don’t know what I’d do without you, feeling was gone. The “I can’t live without you” had turned into “I’m grateful to you, love.” That is not the type of love that kept a marriage together.
Faith refused to let Raheem walk all over her anymore. She refused to let him think he could see other women and that it was okay.
It amazed her the way some men seriously thought they could do whatever they wanted to and however they want to as long as they were paying the bills.
The night of
Susan’s party, listening to Timothy’s friend, Malik, showed Faith that this crazy way of thinking didn’t only pertain to her household, that it was going on in a number of homes as well. Homes where the wives were treated as doormats, homes where they dealt with it because the men were financially well-off. Homes where outward appearances represented something different than what was actually going on, homes where the money was plentiful but the love was not.
The funny thing was when she’d counseled women that were in abusive relationships, women stayed in spite of what they were going through. She would try to convince them otherwise, she would try to talk them into leaving. “You don’t have to live like that!” she’d tell them, but she was living the same way but under different circumstances.
Faith believed that she was getting too old for games, she wanted to be loved and cherished, not treated like a piece of property. She didn’t want to feel like she was owned or like she owed anyone. She didn’t want to feel like she had to love someone because they helped her survive.
Faith finally beat her addiction and it had been years since she’d used. Put those years clean with years of use and you’d get a woman that still had inner struggles and inner demons. She wanted to rid herself of her personal demons; she needed to in order to continue helping others rid themselves of theirs.
On and off of cocaine for months at a time, a year off here and a year off there and a few binges in between had taken its toll on her physically, spiritually, and mentally. Each time she returned to her habit, it had gotten worse. She attended meetings on and off, following a step here and a step there but never ready to surrender.
It was that surrender word Faith couldn’t get past. Surrender to Faith meant giving her life up for someone else to run. She wasn’t ready to do that.
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