The Family Business 4

by Carl Weber

  Ruby

  48

  Blake had been avoiding me ever since I’d asked him to find out if Vinnie was behind my brother’s death. I got the feeling that it was more by design than coincidence, and I was starting to get pissed and a little worried. Most times, he was the one who stayed close to the house, keeping an eye on Vincent and me, but I hadn’t seen him in days, and that wasn’t a good sign for any of Vinnie’s men. Thankfully, my heart jumped for joy when I looked out the kitchen window and saw his jeep pulling up.

  “It’s been four days since me seen ya. Where ya been? Vincent has been asking for ya.” I ran and buried my head into his chest the second he walked into the house. I may have used Vincent as an excuse, but I’m sure he knew I was worried about him from the strength of my hug. I was confused, scared, and overwhelmed at the same time. When we separated after a few moments, I took a step back and said, “I don’ know why, but me thought you was dead.”

  “No, girl. I’m alive. I’ve been lookin’ into some tings,” he said hesitantly, taking a glass and filling it with water.

  “Well, did you find anyting?”

  His eyes softened. In that moment, I saw how much he had aged since the first time we met. He was only fifteen years older than I was, but he seemed much older now. His hair was grayer, and there were worry lines on his face. “Blake, did you?”

  He took a sip of water then placed the glass down, looking around the corner as if he expected someone to be there. “I tink so, but we can’t talk here. Your husband has ears everywhere.”

  “Why don’t we take Vincent for a walk?” I suggested.

  “Dat’s a good idea,” he said.

  The front door suddenly opened, startling both of us, as Vinnie and his men came rushing inside. I quickly wiped my face and recomposed myself, not wanting Vinnie to see my tears.

  “Ruby!” I heard him call up the stairs. He had run past the kitchen so fast he didn’t even see Blake and me. “Ruby!”

  “I’m right here, Vinnie,” I yelled.

  He ran into the kitchen, his face flushed and perspiration pouring from his forehead. “What’s wrong? What happened?” I asked.

  “They’re after us. They came to the office looking for me. They shot the entire fucking place up. Ten of my men are dead.” He was panting as he paced around the kitchen.

  “Who? The Duncans? I told you not to trust de uncle!” I felt myself beginning to panic. My life was going from bad to worse. I was married to one killer while on the run from another, who also happened to be the father of my child.

  “No, not the fucking Duncans. The Chinese!” he snapped.

  “Chinese? But why? Why would dey be after us?” I became even more confused and nervous as I waited for his answer. Now, not only were we running from the Duncans, but Asians as well. It was becoming too much for me.

  “I don’t know.” He shook his head and slumped into a chair. “What did you do?” I asked. The way Blake had been acting before, I was quite sure he was going to deliver some bad news to me about the true facts of my brother’s death, so now I couldn’t put much faith in anything Vinnie said. Who knew what was the truth anymore?

  “What do you mean, what did I do? I didn’t do nothin’.”

  “Lies! Why do you keep telling me lies?” I stared at him angrily until he relented.

  “Okay, okay, it probably has something to do with the containers,” Vinnie replied.

  “What containers?”

  “The containers we got the dope from. They belonged to some Chinese dudes. I just don’t know how they found out it was us. I thought I covered my tracks pretty well.”

  “Well, evidently you didn’t.” I was starting to think that, whether he killed my brother or not, maybe it was time to separate myself from Vinnie.

  “Dat explains de groceries. Now it all makes sense,” one of Vinnie’s men mumbled. I suddenly remembered what he was taking about.

  I gasped. “The man making the food delivery.”

  “What the fuck are y’all talking about? What food delivery? What man?” Vinnie demanded to know.

  “Dere was a Chinese man here earlier. I went to de door and he said he was delivering food for de man wit’ de yellow car. I took it and brought it to Miss Ruby,” Jasper explained.

  “And nobody thought to question this man who just gave you free groceries?” Vinnie shouted.

  “No, we thought you had dem delivered,” I replied.

  “Fuck! They know where I live?” He got up and began pacing nervously again.

  Blake said, “Perhaps we should leave, boss. Dis place is not safe for your wife and child.”

  “You’re right.” Vinnie turned toward me. “Go get Vincent and let’s get outta here.”

  I hated everything about this situation. I hated that we were in danger, I hated that we needed to leave again, and I also hated the idea of going anywhere with Vinnie until I learned the truth about Randy’s death. “I need time to pack. I can’t keep leaving tings behind on a moment’s notice, Vinnie,” I stated.

  “We can always buy new things, Ruby, but we can’t buy a new us,” Vinnie told me, speaking softly. I glanced at Blake, and he nodded his agreement.

  “Can we go back to Negril?” I suggested.

  “No, dat’s not possible,” Blake insisted. “De Chinese are all over de place. People will talk, especially when dey tryin’ to feed dey families.”

  “What are we gon’ to do?” I asked.

  “We are going to get the fuck outta here like I said.” Vinnie sounded more forceful now. “Now go get Vincent and meet us at the jeep.”

  I turned and looked at Blake, who gave me a slight nod, and I rushed upstairs to once again grab my son and a few bare essentials.

  By the time I went outside, Vinnie was behind the wheel of one car, and Blake was behind him in the jeep. I was torn between which car to get into. Hesitantly, I climbed into the back seat of the vehicle my husband was driving, and we took off. We had barely made it to the corner when two cars sped past us, filled with Asian men.

  “Good thing we left that Lamborghini,” Vinnie said as gunshots rang out behind us.

  “Mommy!” Vincent cried out. “Where we going?”

  “I don’t know, baby. Let me ask your father.” I pulled him down low in the seat, held him tight, and began praying. I knew that the bullets had been meant for us, and we had barely escaped death.

  When I felt that we were safe and out of the range of danger, I sat up. I looked at Vinnie in the rearview mirror and said, “Where are we going?”

  “I don’t know yet, but we’re getting the hell out of Jamaica.”

  London

  49

  I don’t know what was more shocking: the fact that Aunt Donna was dead, or that it was Uncle Larry who had killed her. Once we received word of her death, we immediately flew home to be with my family for a few days. None of us could argue that Jun’s people were better equipped to find Vinnie and Ruby than we were. After all, he did have an invisible army at his disposal.

  When Orlando, Daryl, and I arrived at the airport, Vegas was there waiting. We were just about to get into the car when Harris pulled up behind us.

  “I see your Prince Charming has arrived,” Orlando commented.

  I rolled my eyes at him and briefly thought about pretending I didn’t see Harris, but I knew there was no way he would allow that to happen. Instead, I grabbed my purse, which was on the back seat beside Daryl, and said, “I’ll get the rest of my luggage from the house.”

  Our eyes met briefly, and he shrugged before looking away. I knew in that instant that we were back to reality, and my heart sank. I didn’t want to leave, not without at least talking about our situation, but now wasn’t the time or the place, and he didn’t seem interested in saying much to me.

  “Welcome home,” Harris greeted me when I walked over to the Infinity SUV that he had given me last year as a birthday gift. Of course, he drove it more than I did.

  “Thanks,” I
said, giving him a brief hug.

  “Where are your bags?”

  “In the other car. I’ll get them later. We’re all going to the same place, aren’t we? You know you didn’t have to come and get me, Harris. I’m sure you knew Vegas was coming.”

  “What kind of husband do you think I am?” he said sarcastically, almost daring me to give him an honest answer.

  Instead, I asked, “Where are the girls?”

  “They’re home.” He opened the door for me to get in. “They’re excited to see their mommy, of course.”

  “I’m excited to see them too.”

  “Well, you certainly don’t seem too thrilled to see me,” he commented as he got in and started the car.

  I didn’t respond to his comment because I was focused on the back of Daryl’s head in the back of the other car as Vegas pulled off in front of us. As the distance between us widened, I couldn’t help but wish I was in that car too.

  “London? Hello?”

  “Huh?” I realized Harris had been talking to me, but I hadn’t heard anything he said.

  “What’s going on with you?” he asked with a frown.

  “Nothing. I’m just thinking about Aunt Donna. Have they made any arrangements yet?” I tried to get Daryl out of my head.

  “No. Well, Sasha has decided to take care of everything. It’s going to be a closed casket funeral. Larry messed up her face pretty bad,” Harris said.

  “That’s horrible. I can’t believe that he killed her,” I told him. “This is crazy.”

  “Kind of makes me glad I’m just the son-in-law,” Harris replied with the usual selfishness and lack of compassion I’d learned to expect from him.

  We spent the remainder of the drive home listening to the radio. As soon as I got to the house and walked in the door, my daughters came running.

  “Mommyyyyyyy!” Mariah screamed. Maria toddled behind her as best she could. I knelt and grabbed them, holding them close to me.

  “I missed you both so much.”

  “We missed you too. Even Jordan missed you, Mommy,” Mariah announced.

  I looked up and saw my nephew standing in the doorway of the kitchen with a big smile on his face, and I beckoned for him to come. He ran over and hugged me just as tightly as my own children had. One thing was for certain: I was glad to be home.

  “I’ll go get the rest of your things,” Harris said.

  “No need. I already got them out and took them upstairs. They’re waiting by your bedroom door,” Daryl said as he walked down the stairs into the foyer.

  “Thank you.” I glanced over at him, hoping his eyes would meet mine, but he didn’t even look at me.

  “We appreciate that, Daryl. Oh, and I appreciate you looking out for my wife while you were in Jamaica.” Harris placed his arm around my shoulder, and I could see Daryl grimace slightly.

  “Just doing my job.” Daryl picked up his travel bag and headed for the front door. “Tell Vegas I’ll give him a call later.”

  “You’re leaving?” I asked.

  “Yeah. There’s nothing around here for me,” he said and walked out. He might as well have carried my heart in his pocket, because Lord knows I wanted to run behind him.

  LC

  50

  I sat on the back patio of our home with my oldest sons, nursing the snifter of eighty-year-old Scotch and trying to comprehend everything that was happening. The past twenty-four hours had been a whirlwind of emotion, and the shock of Donna’s death was taking its toll on me. No doubt, she had been a pain in my ass for most of my adult life, but she had been my first love, my ex-fiancée, and technically was the mother of my first born. I’d never admit it to Chippy, but I did care for her in my own way. Now, she was gone, her life taken by a man who I had watched turn into a monster right before my eyes. He was the same monster who had nearly taken my life and was on a mission to destroy everything I had worked so hard to build. I felt anger, grief, and most of all, I felt helpless.

  “So, no word from anyone? No one has seen hide nor hair of Larry or the boys?” I asked Vegas.

  “Not a peep. We had one guy say he thought he saw one of the boys in Staten Island, but that was a false alarm.” Vegas sipped his drink. “We’ve got folks looking up and down the East Coast.”

  “I can’t believe I let this happen.” I looked down at the ground.

  “This isn’t your fault, Pop. No one expected Uncle Larry to do something like this to Aunt Donna,” Junior told me. “She was a civilian.”

  “He doesn’t know what a civilian is anymore. You’re either for or against him,” I tried to explain angrily. “His intention wasn’t to kill her anyway; his intention was to recruit her against us.”

  “What makes you say that?” Orlando asked.

  “Because not only did he serve her favorite wine, but he cooked duck to go along with it. He was trying to wine and dine her to be on his side, and she didn’t give him the answer he was looking for, so he killed her.”

  “You know, that makes sense,” Vegas replied. “The table was set for four, and dinner hadn’t even been served.”

  “Dammit, this is all my fault. If he was locked away, none of this would be happening. Lou told me to let them take his ass to jail and throw away the key, but I couldn’t let them do that. He was my brother, and I felt like what he needed was help, not to be caged up like some wild animal.” Tears began to form, and I closed my eyes to stop them from falling. The anger inside of me grew, and I held the glass so tight that it broke in my hand.

  “Pop!” Junior jumped up and took the broken pieces from me.

  I opened my eyes and stared at the brown liquor running down my arm. “Lee, Frankie B, Donna, all those people at the transportation hub: they’re all dead because of—”

  “You’ve gotta calm down, Pop. The last thing we need is for you to get your blood pressure up and end up back in the hospital. Listen to me. We’re going to find Uncle Larry, I promise you.” Vegas looked me straight in the eye.

  “When, Vegas? Is it gonna be before he murders someone else? Who’s next? You, Paris, Nevada?” I snapped.

  “Pop, we’re going to stop him. I don’t care if I have to go on a one-man mission myself and hunt this son of a bitch down.” Orlando put his hand on my shoulder.

  I shook my head. “You have a son to find. You, Daryl, and London concentrate on that and find my grandson.”

  “If he’s still on that island, with Jun’s help we’ll find him, Pop,” Orlando reassured me.

  “I know you will, but that’s no comfort to me until he’s found. With Larry and Vinnie now in cahoots and sharing notes, there’s no telling how much damage they can do until they’re caught.”

  “You want me to lean on Jamaica John a little more before I leave?” Orlando asked. “He might know where Vinnie is.”

  “That might not be such a bad idea, but wait until after the funeral. We are all gonna need to be here for Sasha.” I stood up. “Once Donna is laid to rest, I want you all to take the kid gloves off. Use every contact and favor we have to find Larry, the boys, and Vinnie. I want this over by the end of the week.”

  London

  51

  Although Aunt Donna wasn’t what you would call a close family member, her death had affected all of us. The entire household was quiet and somber; even the kids seemed to be toned down, and that wasn’t easy with my nephew Jordan around. We tried to make small talk during dinner, but there was no denying the tension. I hadn’t seen Sasha yet. If I was so upset by this turn of events, I couldn’t begin to imagine how she felt.

  As soon as the kids had cleared their plates, I gathered them, and we went upstairs to our living quarters, where I bathed them and put them in bed. After they were settled, I took a long, hot bath myself and changed into a pair of satin pajamas.

  I stepped onto the balcony of our bedroom to enjoy the night air. I could hear voices in the distance and walked closer to the rail to see who it was. I peered over and saw Vegas, Orlando, Junior,
and my father near the pool area, talking and smoking cigars. I secretly wished Daryl might be with them, but now I knew he really had gone home. I could only hope that there was a chance I would see him in the morning.

  I walked back into the bedroom just as Harris walked in, taking off his tie and smiling seductively. Oh God, no. He was giving me the “I want sex” smile. I had no desire whatsoever to be near him, but I knew that there was no way I would be able to get out of having sex, especially after being away from home for the past two weeks. It was my first night back, and I knew he was going to expect me to give him some.

  “I’m going to take a shower. I’ll see you in a few minutes,” he said, raising his eyebrows to send me what he thought was a sexy message.

  “Okay,” I replied, smoothing my hands down the front of my silk pajama top.

  He undressed then went into the bathroom, and I climbed into bed, turned on the TV, and started flipping channels. I hadn’t even realized I drifted off to sleep until I felt him climb into bed beside me.

  “I’m so glad you’re home, honey,” he whispered as he touched my thighs.

  “Yeah, it’s good to be home, even for a few days.” I sighed.

  He froze and leaned up on one arm, staring at me. “What the hell do you mean, for a few days?”

  “Harris, we only came home for the funeral. We still have to go back and find my nephew.” Thank you, Lord, this might just be my out. A good fight was the perfect reason not to have sex. “Vinnie Dash has—”

  Harris’s voice took on the angry tone I was so accustomed to hearing. “You’ve lost your damn mind, London. You’re not going anywhere. You’re staying your ass home where you’re safe. You think I’m gonna let you continue this wild goose chase for Vinnie Dash? You don’t even know where he is. He’s in the wind. When they raided his house, he and Ruby were already gone.”

  “And they have my nephew, so we’re going to find them,” I insisted.

  He blinked and paused for a second, probably surprised by my defiance. I didn’t often buck his authority because usually, it was easier to just give in.