Silence of the Nine 2

by T. Styles

  “Yes. I told her you would be attending the dinner at her home. She said she’d have a car pick you up at around eight. Something about the location being off the grid and you wouldn’t find it without it. She also told me to tell you not to worry. That the driver will take you back home the moment you’re ready.”

  “Good. I will speak with you later.”

  When she ended that call, another came in from Antonius. “Hello.”

  “I have bad news,” he said. “Should it wait?”

  She sighed, wanting to say yes. “What is it?”

  “Shawna, Galileo’s baby mama, has been killed.” He paused. “And the little boy may have to go into the foster care system because he doesn’t have anywhere to go.”

  She fell back into the seat, partially defeated. “She did not have any parents?”

  “She had no one.” He paused. “I can have my daughter look after him for a little while until we figure out what to do.”

  “If you do not mind, that would be great. I need some time to think.” She paused. “And find Gene.”

  “Want me to take care of it when I do?”

  “No, just keep an eye on him but remain out of sight. I want him to think he is not a suspect, or that I do not even know about it.”

  She knew Galileo had everything to do with the murder and she had no respect for him. She had plans to handle him but now was not the time. At the moment, she had to see about her crazy cousin.

  When the car parked, Nine’s soldier opened the door and she rushed out to see what had Victory so angry she was losing her mind. Before she made it into her aunt’s home, she heard, “Hello, Nine Prophet! Aren’t you beautiful today!”

  When Nine looked up to see where the voice was coming from she saw her cousin Isabel standing on a rod outside of her bedroom window, four stories high. Her bare feet pressing against the iron as if she were walking a tightrope sideways. If she fell, she would surely slam down on the concrete outside of her house and morph into a bloody pulp. “Isn’t it a beautiful day?”

  Nine’s heart dropped as she witnessed the scene but she remained calm. At first, she thought Victory was exaggerating but now she knew everything she said was true. Isabel Prophet, at the moment, appeared delirious.

  Just…like…her.

  “Isabel, what are you doing up there?” Nine asked. “Are you feeling well?”

  “As well as I can be,” she yelled. “I’m trying to convince my mother that I can fly but she doesn’t believe me.” She extended her arms out along the sides of her body as if she were a plane. “Tell me something, cousin, do you?”

  Nine searched Isabel’s eyes. Isabel and Nine didn’t spend much time together but she felt they connected on a personal level. Even during the most extreme situation, she could feel it.

  Nine grinned and said, “Isabel, I believe you can do anything you want. So let me see you do it, cousin.” She paused. “Jump and I will be down here waiting,” she continued, calling her bluff.

  Isabel giggled.

  Finally, she met someone as crazy as she was.

  ****

  Nine walked into the sitting room, which was directly off of the living room in her mansion. She plopped down next to Isabel who was lying down on the sofa, having just gotten up from a nap. The room was decorated in expensive gold-trimmed furniture that was extremely comforting and peaceful.

  “How was your nap?” Nine asked. “I would have taken you to one of the other rooms but the moment you sat down on this sofa, you drifted off to sleep.”

  Isabel sat up straight and rubbed her head. “I was thinking about going to a room but the banging from the construction workers made my head rattle. So I stayed where I was. What are you building?”

  “Just some additions I need to make my home complete,” Nine responded.

  “How did you know I wouldn’t jump?”

  “I believe you would have. Before I got there. But the curiosity of my statement interested you. So you could not die until you found out why.”

  She giggled realizing she was on to her. “Is it true that grandfather hurt you?” Isabel asked staring at the walls. “That he made you have sex with him and then beat you for it?” She looked over at Nine, waiting for an answer.

  Would she be forthcoming or closed and stuffy as Alice made her appear to be?

  She exhaled. “It is partially true,” Nine said folding her legs on the top of the couch in a lotus position. “He did not make love to me during the beatings. It was not until after my freedom. Although he never told me, something about how he looked at me, as if he were looking through me, made me feel he wanted more from me. I fear he may have never given me my freedom if I did not give him my body. But it was my choice.”

  Isabel took a moment to observe the pictures in the room. They were all members of her family, even her cousins Lydia and Paige, Nine’s sisters, who were dead.

  Finally, her gaze settled on something that took her breath away. It was a portrait that sat on the wall boldly as if it were more important than the other photos. “Who is that?” She turned around and looked at Nine. “She looks like,” she focused on the picture again, “you.”

  “I only wish,” Nine said modestly. “Her name is Thandi and she was grandfather’s first wife,” she sighed. “She was the only woman he ever loved.”

  “More than grandmother?”

  “The love he had for Thandi did not come close to how he felt for grandmother,” Nine admitted.

  “So he loved you as deeply as he loved her,” Isabel responded.

  Nine smiled.

  “What happened in this house? Between you and Cousin Alice?”

  Nine sighed. “Some people are sexually aroused by controlling others. Alice is that kind of person. I do not even think it is a bad thing. How we are raised determines our personalities. But she is different. Evil. I never told anybody this, not even my husband, but she used to beat me and make me please her sexually. I never forgave her for how mean she was about it.”

  “And you let her live?”

  “Alice and I have our date with destiny planned,” Nine assured her. “She doesn’t know when. However, I do.”

  “I think you should be careful. Alice is capable of many things.”

  Nine giggled. “So am I.”

  Silence.

  “Enough of the others. What is going on with you, Isabel? Honestly?”

  “I don’t know,” she shrugged. “I mean…sometimes I feel together, and even hopeful about my mental stability. Like each day will be different than the last. Most times I worry though…mostly about what kind of angry I’ll be. Little angry or big angry,” she said opening her arms. “I also worry about hurting people. I never want to bring my wrath down on someone innocent.”

  Sounds like me, Nine thought.

  “My father used to rape me and allow other men to rape me too.” Isabel’s eyes widened as she stared into the room. “But after awhile, I decided that would stop. And every now and again, when I’m alone, flashes of those days come back. I will never let anyone rape me again though. I’m sure of that.”

  Nine understood what it meant to be used and she made mental notes to fire Blake’s ass from her team in the morning. Any man who would take advantage of his own daughter was not noble and she wanted him far away from her business. “How did you stop it?”

  “Easily,” she grinned. “I simply let the last man get good and comfortable inside of me. Where it’s nice and warm.” She raised her dress with one hand and rubbed her breast with the other. “And when he was about to get to that special place,” she stuffed her finger into her vagina, “then I pulled the knife from under my pillow and cut his dick off.” She looked over at Nine, removed her finger from her body and fixed her clothing. “See…it’s easy.” Her head lowered in shame. “Sorry, I’ve been known to go too far. Hope I didn’t offend you.”

  Nine was fascinated by her sexual deviancy. “Can you control your mind sometimes? Because when I am around you, y
ou always seem so collected. I would never know something was off with you.”

  “Yes. I can control myself quite well. If my feelings aren’t hurt.” She thought about her broken friendship with Alice, which sparked her recent episodes.

  “How?”

  “I just make myself cum.”

  With raised eyebrows, she asked, “And that works?”

  “Every time,” she grinned. “Are you going to put me away, Nine? Mama says I can’t live with her anymore, although I can come to visit. She said she doesn’t want me being responsible for doing something crazy and ruining your wine venture. She’s even given Alice my room. But now I don’t care if I ever go back.”

  “You are free to live here, with me. I have plenty of space.”

  Isabel was shocked. She never dreamed she’d be so close to the most powerful person in the family. “Thank you.” She looked into her eyes. “Do you think I’m crazy?”

  “If you are, it is because they made you that way.” She paused and touched her face. “They made us that way. But at least now, we have each other.”

  ****

  Nine sat in the backseat of a sedan that Bambi Kennedy commissioned to pick her and Leaf up for the important meeting. Although the Russian business initially was not a problem for the Prophets, conveniently for the Kennedys, now it was.

  Nine hoped she’d be okay at the meeting, as far as her sanity was concerned, but after she had a glass of wine earlier, mentally she was feeling off. Had it been a meeting of less importance, she would’ve rescheduled but she didn’t have that honor.

  Once Nine and Leaf arrived, they were taken to a door leading to a secluded luxury bunker. Although the Kennedys resided there at the moment, it wasn’t their real home. They were in hiding and had the property built to go underground during perilous times. Considering the beef with the Russians, the time was now.

  When the butler opened the door to the bunker, Nine nodded and smiled at him. The collar of her black fur coat stroked Nine’s high cheekbones and set off her gorgeous dark skin. The butler stepped back and allowed her inside where she was greeted by the stunning Bambi Kennedy.

  Upon first sight, Nine was taken aback by Bambi’s beauty. The long black dress she wore made way for her brown thigh and her hair sat on the top of her head in a sexy bun.

  She looked like anything other than a drug lord.

  When Nine glanced inside, she was also impressed at how beautiful the other Kennedy family members were. The Prophets and the Kennedys rarely made outside appearances so this was the first time they were meeting each other.

  Scarlett, wife to Camp Kennedy, had her red hair hanging over her shoulder and brushing against the straps of the black silk dress that she wore. Bradley Kennedy’s wife Denim’s dreads were pulled in a neat ponytail while Race, wife to Ramirez Kennedy, wore her hair in a sharp bob that hung at her jawbone.

  The fellas were equally attractive, dipped in designer business suits and casual gear.

  “Bambi, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” Nine said with a slight nod and smile.

  Bambi was impressed that Nine appeared to possess the qualities of a queen. “The pleasure is all mine,” Bambi said softly. “The circumstances aren’t the best but I’m glad you could make it.”

  “What better circumstance than war?” she winked.

  “You have a beautiful home,” Leaf said politely, walking behind Nine. He handed Bambi a bottle of Ace of Spades, even though she requested the guests bring only themselves, and Bambi thought the move was classy.

  “Thank you,” Bambi replied. “My sister will show you to your seats,” she responded as Denim approached with a smile.

  Nine and Leaf took their seats and waited as the other bosses trickled inside. They were Rasim and Snow Nami of the Nami family, and Carissa, Mercedes and Yvette, who were affectionately called Pitbulls in a Skirt. Also there was Lil C, Mercedes’ son, and lastly Kelsi who was born in the dope game and used to move coke with his mother Janet.

  With everyone present, Bambi swaggered over to the table. She was preparing to thank them for coming when a large woman walked out of the back of the house. She posted next to Nine and she could smell the alcohol stemming from her skin.

  Obviously drunk out of her mind, she said, “I’m sick of you bitches not inviting me to the party. With all these fine ass niggas in here.” She eyeballed Kelsi, Rasim, Leaf and Lil C. “I’m a part of this family too, you know?”

  She slithered her tongue into the cup and lapped at the wine while looking at Bambi through the bottom of the glass. It was obvious that she was trying to irritate her and she was doing a good job.

  Bambi was headed over toward her but Kevin got up and placed his palm on Bambi’s lower back. “I got her, baby.” He kissed her on the cheek and ushered her away.

  “Sorry for the distraction,” Bambi said addressing the group. “Let’s eat and then do as bosses do.”

  When dinner was over and cocktails were served, Nine decided to get right down to business. “Where is Mitch?” she asked referring to her drug connect. She leaned back in the chair with her legs crossed. “Shouldn’t he be present at this meeting?”

  “He should, but considering that security is high, we feel it best to keep him out of it,” Kevin responded.

  “Besides, we’re all grown,” Bambi joked. “We don’t need daddy.”

  “So you don’t trust us?” Leaf responded.

  “We’re in the dope business,” Bambi replied. “Where the motto is trust no one.”

  They all smiled.

  “And yet you invite us to your home anyway,” Nine winked at Bambi.

  “Trust is one thing,” Bambi explained. “Respect is another. Which you earned.”

  Nine nodded and winked again and Bambi liked her even more. They were each other’s woman crush.

  “Tell me something, what makes you think the Russians will try to take out our entire operation?” Kelsi questioned as he wiped his hand down his chin. “It seems a little ambitious.”

  “Because the hope is that if your operations are down, you won’t have money to cop coke from Mitch,” Denim said.

  “And if you don’t have money, Mitch isn’t eating the same way he has in the past and his profits will be down,” Bradley added. “So they’re trying to smoke Mitch out to force him to do business with them.”

  “But if they can’t get Mitch, why impact our businesses?” Yvette asked. “We don’t buy from the Russians.”

  “Because eventually the Russians hope to bully you into a business relationship with them, using whatever bullshit product they secure,” Kevin responded.

  While they began to talk, Nine started to feel loopy again. Suddenly black figures appeared to surround everyone and their bodies looked stretched like rubber bands. Remembering what Isabel said, she leaned over to Leaf and whispered, “Finger me.”

  He looked at her as if she was crazy…and at the moment, she was. “Now?” he asked through clenched teeth.

  “It’s my mind,” she said softly.

  Not knowing how a bout of delirium could be reduced by an orgasm, for the love of his wife, he was willing to try anything. So he snaked his hand under the table, beneath her dress and through the slickness of her warm pussy. To other guests it looked as if his hand was on her thigh but it was anywhere but.

  Slowly he stroked her clit and brought her attention to the pleasure, not the strange shapes of their bodies. The crazy thoughts didn’t disappear.

  Nine’s pussy was drenched and although the figures before her still looked weird, she went with it. She was embracing whatever crazy effect was taking over her mind in the moment. “Let us say the Russians do want war,” Nine said bringing everyone back to the meeting at hand. “And let us say they try to dismantle our operations if we refuse to use their coke. What is your plan?”

  Leaf started playing with her pussy a little too good, causing her to grip at the napkins in front of her.

  “Yeah, why we here?” Kels
i asked.

  “You’re here because the Russians have connected with other bosses,” Bambi said. “Together they are calling themselves the Russian Cartel and they command a big army. I was hoping that we could do the same. Combine our soldiers and fight back. Together, we are legion.”

  Nine smiled, realizing her comment was a play on her organization’s name.

  “And where’s Mitch again?” Rasim questioned.

  “We have him held up for his protection,” Bambi responded. “Once we deal with the Russian Cartel, then we’ll let him go. But don’t worry, while we have him in custody, business will still move as usual. Bricks are still being sold.”

  “And how does one deal with the Russian Cartel?” Snow asked.

  “We kill them,” Bambi responded.

  Silence.

  Nine smiled and said, “War is a necessary evil.”

  Bambi nodded, never getting enough of Nine. “Yes it is, friend.”

  “So when do you think they will make a move?” Nine asked.

  “One of their fiancés was murdered today. The order was given by us in response to the men they killed in our organizations. We also took out their best soldier. A man by the name of Larry. And I’m sure because of it, they’re angry and disabled.” Bambi paused. “I reason that they’ll make another move on your camps any day now.”

  “Well if they do,” Nine said with a smile on her face, “we will be ready.”

  “So are you all in?” Bambi looked around the table. “Because I need an answer tonight. Can I see a show of hands?”

  Believing his wife was okay at the moment, Leaf eased his fingers out of her wet pussy and wiped the excess juice on a dinner napkin. Thanks to her, his dick was rock hard and he wondered if it would go down in time.

  Starting with Nine Prophet, one by one, the bosses raised their hands. In the Kennedy family, Race was the first followed by everyone else.

  Bambi appeared relieved. “Thank you,” Bambi said to everyone. “As you know, I invited you all to stay here in the bunker tonight and I hope that you will take me up on my offer. In the event the war is extra bloody, you and your families are welcome to come here for protection. This place is off the grid to everyone, including the police.”