Dynasty

by Dutch

  The woman’s smile disappeared. “I’m afraid not. Shantelle’s been in prison since she was twenty years old. She’s been gone 19 years this May,” she informed him.

  “Where is she locked up?”

  “Troy, North Carolina.”

  He was familiar with the prison. It used to be a man’s facility until the explosion of the female inmate population converted it over.

  “I know where that’s at.”

  “May I ask who you are? Shantelle doesn’t get many people coming to check on her.

  Vee smiled as he stood up.

  “I’m… I’m an old friend,” he replied to his grandmother, not wanting to reveal himself yet.

  As he drove away, he felt relieved to know that his mother hadn’t abandoned him out of her own free will, and he was anxious to meet her. He was so caught up in his destination; he didn’t even realize he was being followed.

  Hawk Bill drove behind him in an old raggedy pickup truck. In his lap was his trusty .38. He picked up the phone and called Ty. When he got an answer, he blurted out, “Youngblood! We got ‘em!”

  Chapter 17

  “Nigguh, you got these bitches feelin’ so comfortable they think they can call my goddamn house now!” Gloria based on Guy as he sat on the couch watching Monday night football and playing with a 2 year old Kev.

  “Glo, what you talkin’ about now?” Guy asked in a bored tone. He had been through this a thousand times, but he knew he had his chicks in check. They knew not to call the crib.

  Gloria stormed over and turned off the TV. “You know what I’m talkin’ about! Nigguh, you ain’t shit! You do what you want in them streets but no bitch gonna be callin’ my house!” she fumed.

  Guy was getting too blatant with his shit. He used to try to be discreet, but even then Gloria knew. She knew how nigguhs in the game got down, and she had been raised to believe that’s how men did. But now, Guy wouldn’t even bother to come home for two or three days or, he’d come home reeking of another woman’s perfume and body scent. When they went out, she could tell just by the way a woman looked at Guy if he was fucking her or not. She wanted her marriage with all her heart because she truly loved Guy. Now that they had a child, she wanted Kev to have a family, but Debra’s call was too much.

  Seeing his mother upset made Kev start crying. “Now look what you did,” Guy huffed, “you happy now?”

  “What I did?? You betta check yo’ hoes nigguh, or I’m a show you what I did!” she spat as she stormed out.

  “Who was it?!” Guy call after her.

  “Some bitch named Debra!”

  Guy drove across town heated. It wasn’t so much that Debra had called as it was the fact she had done something he told her not to. Guy was truly feeling Debra, but no woman in his life had the right to break his rules, so he went to her crib with the intent of breaking his foot off in her ass.

  He got to the swanky little condo style apartment he had Debra in. They had just built them out by the mall, complete with tennis courts and swimming pools. He hadn’t been fucking with Debra long, but she played her position well, up until then.

  Guy rang the bell and banged on the door. “Bitch, open this mufuc—” he began, but when she opened it his heart dropped.

  Debra’s beautiful face was marred by a swollen right eye. It was turning purple. Her lip was busted as well.

  “What the fuck happened?” Guy gasped, his anger towards her replaced with sympathy.

  She fell into his arms, “It was Brah! He said he was goin’ to kill me!” Debra sobbed.

  Guy took her inside and shut the door. “Where the fuck is he???” was all Guy wanted to know. The nigguh was as good as dead!

  “No, Guy, don’t! Please don’t! It’s my problem, not yours!” she cried.

  He grabbed her gently by both shoulders. “Of course it’s my problem, baby. You’re my woman,” he crooned softly.

  “You… you don’t understand, Guy! Please, just go and I’ma be—”

  “What you mean go? You want this nigguh or somethin’?” Guy asked angrily.

  “I’m pregnant, Guy! I’m pregnant with his child!” she blurted out before the sobs made her slide down the wall to the floor.

  Pregnant? Guys mind echoed. The thought of Brah fucking his chick made him sick. Pregnant?

  “I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t have called but I didn’t know… know what to do. He hurt me, Guy. He hurt me bad and he said he’d kill me and you if I didn’t leave you alone,” she informed him.

  “How the fuck a dead nigguh gonna kill me?” he huffed. “I can’t believe you was still fuckin’ wit’ this clown!”

  “I know I fucked up, Guy, okay?! I wasn’t thinkin’… I got… confused,” she admitted. “I love you, Guy, I swear I do, but I ain’t gonna be no fool! You gotta wife, a family. What do I have?! I don’t just want to be a nigguh’s whore for the rest of my life,” she explained.

  She did love Guy, but she wanted to keep her options open if and when Guy got bored with her. She wasn’t going to get left out to dry. She had Brah wrapped around her finger, so she kept him on the side, just in case.

  Guy understood her logic and his pride subsided.

  “I know you don’t want me no more, but I just wanted you to know what Brah said about you so you wouldn’t be in the blind,” she told him.

  Guy sighed, kneeling down beside her. He gently took her hand away from her face. “You ain’t my whore, sweetness. Believe me. You are my woman.”

  “Do you love me, Guy?”

  “Huh?”

  She looked into his eyes. “Do… you… love… me,” she repeated.

  “Yeah, Debra, I do,” he admitted.

  She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tight. “I love you, baby! I do! I just needed to hear you say it! I’m sorry, baby, I am. I’ll-I’ll get an abortion and—”

  Guy jerked out her embrace quickly. “Hell no! That’s out of the question! I ain’t fuckin’ wit’ no woman that curse her womb like that.”

  “But, Guy, it’s Brah’s,” she reminded him.

  “I don’t give a fuck whose it is! You ain’t havin’ no abortion. We’ll get through this together, I promise,” he vowed.

  What he said touched Debra’s heart like no man ever had and her respect for him grew a thousand percent. She had toyed with the idea of telling him it was his child, but she knew the truth was only a paternity test away, and she knew for a fact it was Brah’s. But seeing that he was willing to raise another man’s seed, made her heart leap.

  “Now come on,” he said, helping her to her feet, “we goin’ to the hospital and get you checked out. Then after that, I got a run to make.”

  Chapter 18

  The twins, Ty and Tito sat around the small but plush suite at the Hampton Inn Hotel in Wilson. Ty sipped his drink as he listened to Tito talk. He thought about the words of wisdom Guy had dropped on him, and he could clearly see Tito was looking for a partner to strengthen his own points of weakness. He was reaching in too many directions. His plan was shrewd but the Bell family was definitely losing the powerful street presence they used to have in the 80’s and 90’s.

  “So tell me, Fam… what you think? I know back in Aruba you felt my vision,” Tito reminded him.

  Ty sipped his cognac. “And I still do, Tito. A Simmons-Bell partnership could push a lot of nigguhs to the side.”

  “That’s what it is then, so we got a deal?” Tito inquired.

  “We can… we just need a few minor changes,” Ty told him.

  “Changes?” Tito echoed, one eyebrow raised, sensing there’d be nothing minor about it.

  Ty sat his drink down and leaned forward. “Our percentage,” he stated simply. “Instead of fifty-fifty, I’d be willing to do, say twenty percent but I want a twenty percent stake in Gotham Moon Records.”

  Tito downed his drink. Gotham Moon was half owned by the Bell family and had most of the hottest young artists on it. It served as the perfect front to launder money as we
ll as generating millions on its own.

  “Fam, you askin’ me to give you clean money for dirty money.”

  “Which is why I’m only askin’ twenty percent,” Ty shot right back. “Look, Tito, the bottom line is you’re looking to expand because the New York market has been steadily shrinking since the 90’s. On top of that, you’re askin’ us to allow you access to our political and other connections across the south. Forgive me if I come off hypocritical, but the crack game got a whole lot more bad press than the heroin game. Now for us to go to bat for you when the time comes, I need something concrete for our risk,” Ty explained.

  “I can do fifteen,” Tito offered.

  “You can do what you want, Tito,” Ty smiled, “but I’m only asking twenty.”

  Tito poured himself three fingers of cognac. “That’s the best I can do,” Tito shrugged.

  “Come on, Fam, we’re talkin’ millions! The areas we can offer will make that twenty look like peanuts. Don’t let five percent stop that,” Ty reasoned.

  Tito just sipped his drink without responding. Ty got up and hugged both Asia and Brooklyn. “I wanna thank y’all for holdin’ me down.”

  “Anytime, Cuzzo.”

  “That’s what family is for.”

  Ty extended his hand to Tito and he shook it. “Don’t be a stranger, Cuz. Maybe one day we’ll see eye to eye.”

  Ty tried to pull his hand away, but Tito held it then begrudgingly said, “Twenty percent.”

  Ty smiled and reaffirmed his grip. “Let’s make it happen then.”

  Ty walked out content with the outcome, but Tito wasn’t. He knew Ty sensed his weak position and had taken advantage of it, swooping in like a vulture and taking a chunk out of his cash cow. Tito was a competitor and he loved the art of the deal, so he hated to lose in a negotiation, especially to a country-ass nigguh. He felt that it wouldn’t be long before his family would be back on top then he would see Ty again, this time on his terms.

  “This is Ty… leave it.” Beep!

  “Shit!” Hawk Bill cursed, hearing Ty’s voicemail. He tried again but got the same results. He felt that Ty wouldn’t answer because he didn’t recognize the number. Hawk couldn’t text him because he didn’t know how. He threw the phone in the passenger seat and said, “Fuck it! I’ll do this nigguh myself!”

  He had been coming to see his mother when he saw Vee coming out with the attendant. He remembered Vee’s face from when he was Ty’s right hand man, and he knew he was the one that killed Kev. He was in the position to have caught Vee slipping getting in the car, but Hawk Bill had his own dilemma… what the hell was he doing at his mother’s house?

  Killing him on the spot wouldn’t help, because if Vee knew where she rested, who else knew? The young nigguh would die, but not before he told Hawk what was going on. So Hawk followed him for miles. Hawk Bill was in no hurry because he was a patient man. He had once laid in a man’s bushes eight hours before gunning the man down on his porch, so driving for miles was a piece of cake for Hawk Bill.

  As Vee drove deeper into the country, he wondered where he was going? Maybe he was leading him to where he rested his head. Hawk Bill didn’t know, but he intended on finding out. Hawk Bill saw the sign for Troy Correctional Institute and followed Vee as he made a right into the facility. Hawk Bill had been here several times to see his sister Shantelle.

  Vee parked and headed inside. Hawk Bill definitely wasn’t about to get at him in a prison parking lot so he picked up his crossword puzzle and waited.

  Guy Simmons is his father? The words weighed heavily on his mind. Vee walked out of the visitation in a daze. The whole visit had been an epiphany, a moment of clarity. From the moment his mother walked into the room and he saw himself in feminine form.

  She embraced him tightly, and after a moment he allowed himself to embrace her back. She had been taken away from him, she hadn’t abandoned him. She told him about her former life, before her incarceration, and he told her about the beef with Ty. He felt comfortable talking to her, not because she was his mother, but because he was just like her in his ways.

  “Now all I gotta do is deal with is Ty because that nigguh Kev dead,” he had explained.

  “Dead?” she echoed. “Little Kev is dead?”

  Vee chuckled. “Shantelle, he wasn’t little Kev no more. The muhfucka wanted it, so I gave it to him,” Vee replied nonchalantly.

  He was totally confused by his mother’s sudden outburst of tears. Her vow never to speak to Guy again or tell him he had another son seemed so immature at that point, especially since Vee had just told her he had killed his own brother!

  “What’s the matter?” Vee asked.

  That’s when his mother filled in all the blanks she had left out in her earlier autobiography. How she was messing with Guy when she was sixteen and how he was her supplier as well. She also told him that one of the charges she was doing time for was really Guy’s.

  “I-I was young, Victor. I loved Guy Simmons with all my heart, but after seeing him wit’ that… woman, after I done took a charge behind her shit, broke my heart in a thousand pieces. I wanted to hurt him back, take something he loved and I decided it would be my pregnancy. You.” She looked up at Vee. She thought she’d gotten over the pain Guy had caused her, but nineteen years later it still felt fresh and vivid as if it had happened yesterday.

  “Shantelle… what you tryin’ to say?” Vee pressed her, even though the answer was already on the table.

  “Guy Simmons… is your father, Victor,” she told him as she continued to weep.

  Vee sat back in the chair. His mind was blown. He had lost a child and gained a mother, lost a love and found a father. “My father?” was all he could say.

  “Visitation is now over. Will all guests please prepare to exit,” the C.O. announced loudly.

  Shantelle and Vee stood up faced each other.

  “Don’t do anything, Victor, please. Don’t mess with Ty. I’m going to write Guy as soon as I get back to the dorm… no, no! I’ll call my brother Hawk Bill. Just don’t do anything until we talk again, okay?” Shantelle begged.

  “I won’t.”

  “Promise me, Victor.”

  “I promise.”

  Shantelle caressed his face. He was no longer the child she had left. He was a man now. She pulled him to her and embraced him tightly. “I love you, Victor.”

  “I-umm-okay,” Vee stammered, not knowing how to respond to a woman’s love he hardly knew. But before he walked out he called to her. “Shantelle.”

  She looked up.

  “I love you, too.”

  She smiled and blew him a kiss.

  As Vee drove he tried to make sense of a life that had become totally topsy-turvy. He didn’t know what to expect next, nor was he aware of what was behind him—Hawk Bill.

  Vee pulled into a local McDonald’s. He hadn’t eaten in over twenty-four hours and he was famished. He parked and went inside. Hawk Bill pulled in behind him then entered the restaurant as well.

  “Welcome to McDonald’s. May I take your order?” the pretty doe-eyed brown skin girl chimed as Vee walked to the counter.

  “Yeah, just... anything… a burger or somethin’,” Vee mumbled, too preoccupied with his own thoughts.

  “Excuse me, sir?” she inquired, eyeing Vee like he was candy.

  “A burger, yo. Whopper or whatever.”

  She giggled. “This is McDonald’s, sir. But don’t worry.” She winked. “I got you.”

  She could tell Vee was preoccupied. She hooked him up with two Big Macs, two fries, a order of McNuggets and her number.

  “How much?” Vee asked.

  “I’ll tell you when you call me,” she flirted.

  Vee smiled and pocketed the number. He took his order to the back of the restaurant and sat down. Then it hit him. He had killed his own brother. He could see Kev’s face as the first shot entered his mouth and the sick satisfaction he had gotten from seeing the back of his head explode.

  Ve
e pushed his food away, his ravaging hunger having suddenly disappeared. He imagined what it would’ve been like to grow up with Kev and Ty, if he had grown up a Simmons. Everything handed to you on a silver platter. No grind, no struggle and now what would happen? Just because he was Guy’s son, that didn’t change the fact that he had killed Guy’s other son, the one he had raised, knew, loved and buried. What if he was destined to kill his own family with his own hands? That would truly be a sick trick if God played that card, but what did God have to do with it? He had made a deal with Darkness, with black magic, so he was already cursed.

  “Nigguh, you move and you’re dead.”

  He heard the harsh whisper a second before the short stocky man sat across from him in the booth, concealing a revolver under a newspaper while resting it on the table. He had caught Vee totally slipping. He had taken off his vest and slid the gun under the seat before he went in the prison. Then after coming out, he had been so preoccupied that he hadn’t geared back up. Staring at the gun, he felt naked and exposed.

  Hawk Bill quickly assessed the young dude. He had seen many a man die, and most had showed some kind of initial reaction of fear or surprise. Even if they were able to regroup, Hawk Bill had already peeped it. With Vee, there was none of that. No fear, no surprise, just recognition.

  “Killers don’t talk,” Vee said calmly, looking Hawk Bill in the eyes.

  “Oh, you one of them tough lil’ nigguhs, huh? Let’s see how tough you is when I put this lead in you,” Hawk Bill growled.

  Vee leered across the table. “Do you?”

  Hawk Bill saw there was no fear in the youngen, so intimidating him wasn’t an option. He tried the direct approach.

  “What the fuck was you doin’ at my mama house, nigguh? Answer and I might let you live!”

  “Who?” Vee asked. He didn’t know which of his heinous crimes had finally caught up with him. But if he was to die he at least wanted to know why.