by Kia
She looked at me like she wanted to wring my neck. Neiman was cowering under Glory.
“They grimy, Ali. You shoulda left them in jail,” she said as tears fell from her eyes.
“Divine, it’s okay,” Milo said.
Then suddenly Divine reached into Ali’s lap and grabbed his gun.
“Whoa,” everyone said in unison.
“Put it down, Divine,” Ali said as he stood up, but Divine backed away.
“Give it here,” Milo said as she neared Divine, but Divine slapped her hands away.
“Sit the fuck down! Both of you!” Divine was now pointing the gun at Ali and Milo.
“Fine,” Milo said.
Ali looked at Divine and stood there.
“I’m sick of these bitches!”
“Listen—”
“No, fuck that! Y’all gonna listen to me now! You ain’t ever dealt with family like this! And Neiman, you ain’t gonna be satisfied until I send you to Nyssa!”
“You leave my sister out of this.”
“Mothafuck your sister, and I dare you speak again!” Divine yelled as she reached on the table and splashed wine all in Neiman’s face.
“Ah, come on, Divine,” Glory said.
“Shut… the fuck… up! Everybody shut up! Next person to speak get shot in the head, and I want you to try me!”
“Divine, I know you’re upset, but this isn’t the way out, baby. They ain’t even worth it,” Ali said.
Nigga, fuck you, I thought, but I kept it to myself.
“Why are you protecting them, Ali? Huh?” Divine asked as tears rolled down her face.
“It’s family. Your family.”
“Fuck family!”
“Just hear them out, Divine,” Lu Lu said.
“I ain’t hearing shit. This meeting hella stupid,” she said as she walked over to me. Everyone held their breath as she neared me. “I want Slick dead tonight. Or I’m killing you myself. And I put that on my soul, you bum bitch,” she said as she kneeled beside me and rubbed the head of the gun across my face.
“That’s fair,” Milo said as she cut her eyes at me.
I wanted to spit on her stripping ass but Divine had this loaded gun right at my temple.
“If you kill him, they won’t have a case on us,” Neiman pleaded.
“That’s true. And if you don’t kill him, the feds will come at y’all hard and turn you guys against each other,” Ali said.
I just couldn’t find it in me to kill Slick.
“I… I can’t,” I admitted.
Wam!
Divine took the butt of the gun and clocked me in my head so hard that I fell out of my chair. No one helped me up. Not even Lu Lu.
“Why you can’t?” Lu Lu asked.
“You know why,” I said. Lu Lu knew that I loved Slick.
He looked at me and then darted his eyes to Divine. And then back to me. Finally, he grabbed his keys and stood. “Good luck on everything, Malina. I’m out,” he said as he pushed his chair back and walked out.
Glory, Kipp and Milo looked down at me and shook their heads. “You’re really going to let this come between our family?” Neiman asked with tears running down her face.
“Says the bitch that was sucking AJ’s dick,” I said as I grabbed my face.
Divine was still standing over me. I was scared that if I stood up, she would knock me back down. So I chilled there… on the floor.
“Malina, come on, man,” Glory said. “This will benefit you too.”
“Slick ain’t no snitch.”
“His name is on the papers. Clear as day,” Ali responded, sitting back down and drinking his wine like he wishes he’d never met us.
“Get up,” Divine said as she pulled me up. “Call him.” She snatched my phone out of my purse.
“What?”
“Call him and see where he is! I know he’s close! And I know you know that,” she said as she placed the phone in my hands.
“I ca—”
Pop!
She shot the gun into the air. Everyone gasped, but didn’t move. “Next time, I won’t miss.”
“Okay, just calm down,” I said as I called him and put it on speaker.
“Yo.”
“Where are you?” I asked.
“Still in Miami at the same hotel. What happened?”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“You’re out.” He sounded disappointed.
“I was bonded out.”
“By who? Them get money niggas in South Beach?” he asked. He had to be referring to Glory and Lu Lu.
“You know it,” I said, trying to fake laugh.
“Thought you were so in love. Fuck you calling me for?”
“I miss you. You know I can’t stay away from you too long,” I said.
“Yeah? Well pull up so we can finish what we started,” he said before we disconnected the phone.
Divine grabbed her purse. “Come on, Milo,” she said.
“Where y’all going?” Neiman asked.
“With Malina to make sure she do what the fuck I asked her to do.”
“I’m coming too. I’ll just drive a different car and stay behind y’all,” Ali said as he stood up.
“Yeah, me too. Me, Neiman and Kipp will ride with Ali,” Glory said as he stood up and let out Neiman’s chair.
“Are you serious? All of us? Y’all gonna get me killed,” I said.
“No, we won’t. Like Ali said, they will pull in after you go inside. Milo and I will be in the back seat. Let’s go.”
***
I stood outside the door with tears threatening to fall. This was the worst situation to be put in. I turned around and looked at my tinted windows, knowing Milo and Divine were watching my every move. Finally, I took a deep breath and knocked on the room door. Deep down, I didn’t want him to answer the door. But he did. So now I was fucked.
“Come in,” he said.
“Hey,” I said in a low voice as I walked in and shut the door.
“Surprise,” Slick said when I turned back around.
“What fuck?” I asked in shock as I looked at my tied up mother.
“You thought you were gonna kill me, right?”
“Slick, why is my mother here?” I asked.
“She been here ever since she found out you were in jail. She wanted to come make things right with you, but she fucked up when she asked me to pick her up from the airport.” He laughed. My mother was tied up and crying.
“I didn’t come to kill you.”
“Lies. I know you saw my name on them papers.”
“Why? Why did you do it?”
“You know… I wasn’t gonna do it at first. You know? I ain’t no bitch. But when I found out that you were in cahoots with a nigga that killed my brother, I had to do it.” He was smiling at me with a gun pointed at my mother.
“But why Neiman too?” I asked.
“Because, fuck her. That’s why.”
I shook my head. “Why you didn’t do the same thing to Divine? Why just us? You made it seem like we made them trips alone,” I said as I felt a lump building up in my throat.
I know why he ain’t give her up. He loved her, and I could tell by the way his frown wiped away when I said her name. “Divine got knocked too?”
“Yes, Slick. What did you think would happen?” I asked. I started to get mad all over again at how he showed so much compassion for her. But why? She didn’t do a damned thing for him but leave him.
“Fuck,” he hissed as he pushed my mother’s head out the way.
“I love you, Malina,” my mother said, but I wasn’t tryna hear it.
Fuck her. Just because he had her tied up didn’t mean shit. This was the same bitch that pulled the trigger when she thought it was loaded.
“You love me?” I asked in a sarcastic tone. “If this is what you have to hold over my head, then get ready to die,” I said.
I pointed my weapon at him.
“So, you can kill me?” H
e asked in laughter.
“Sure can.”
“Do it. Come on, Malina. You don’t have the balls. You love a nigga and you know it,” he said as he laughed uncontrollably.
Pop!
“Ahhh!” My mother screamed, and I almost shot her too, but I didn’t.
“What the f…” His words faded once he looked down and saw that I had shot him in the chest.
“Malina, no!” My mother was steadily yelling.
I walked to stand over him. Once standing over him, I pulled the trigger again. But this time, I shot him right in the head. Twice.
Pop pop!
“Now who do you love?”
Epilogue
Milo
Six months later…
The fall was rolling in and the weather was starting to feel a lot like Halloween. Leaves were now turning yellow, leaving the trees naked as they fell.
“Thank you so much, Milo,” one of my customers said to me before they drove off the lot in their new Porsche. Her name was Pamela, a blonde haired, blue eyed ex porn star who married a millionaire.
“Hope to do business with you again soon,” I said as I tapped the hood and watched her drive off.
“Look at you,” I heard a voice say. I turned around and saw that it was Divine standing there with her Gucci shades on, high heels and white fur coat.
“You’re late,” I said as I laughed and we walked inside the building.
“I had to handle some business,” she said on the walk to my desk.
“Like what?”
“Ali is in Ghana, so I had to meet with his accountants today.” She sat down.
“Why don’t y’all just get married?”
“We’re engaged, and that’s enough for right now. He doesn’t even have time to be a fiancé. So he damned sure can’t be a husband.”
“Where is PJ?” I asked.
“In Dallas. His grandfather has custody of him now. It was for the best,” she said, putting her head down.
“Told y’all I would’ve kept him.”
“His papa wanted him, so hey…”
“I understand. But hey, how’s Malina and Neiman?”
She rolled her eyes. “Neiman and Glory moved to New Orleans. Malina is still here in Miami with Lu Lu.”
“Y’all still ain’t talked?” I asked.
“I talk to Neiman every day. Malina, I talk to her sometimes. There is still some unresolved issues, but we will work past it. I’m just happy we got them feds out of our life, and I’m out the game. I wake up feeling so good.” She smiled like she was finally free.
“I like this life better too. You know? No drama. No kidnapping. No lies. No back stabbing. No waking up watching our backs.”
“Exactly. Ali even told me that I could partner with him on some of his family business further down the line. Not now. He says we need a little more chemistry before he opens that door.”
“Can you blame him?” I asked.
“Not really.” She was now looking in her compact mirror and fixing her makeup. She was acting real high maintenance right now, but she deserved all of her happiness.
“You happy?” I asked.
“As I’ve ever been.”
“That’s what’s up.”
“Talked to Kipp?”
I rolled my eyes. “Nope. Fuck him. I will never talk to him again. Ever. I got a new nigga, and he got way more money. A rich ass white man that’s fine as hell.”
She laughed. “So you fancy, huh?”
“Nah. Just a dirty south diva.”
The End
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A woman’s Love comes straight from her heart, a man’s Loyalty comes from the pit of his soul and together that’s one of the most powerful combinations on earth but in a world full of jealousy and hate it proves to be somewhat impossible.
Trina is a natural born hustler, who will do anything to see her family win. When her husband is brutally murdered she did the only thing she knew how to do and that was to survive. She steps in as the head of the family business and with her kids by her side the Shaw family is headed for excellency. The only thing that’s missing in her world is companionship, although half of her heart was buried with Trav she feels like she’s ready to step back out into the love scene. The only thing standing in her way is the love and respect she has for her kids, what would they think about her moving on and how would they about who she has decided to move on with?
Stone was the oldest of the Shaw clan and a natural born leader. He took pride in being his brother’s keeper and protecting his sister with his life. Stone didn’t really deal with the love thing after being burnt by his ex. He vowed to never give his heart to another woman, that is until he set his sights on the naturally beautiful Starr and they connect in a way that neither has ever felt before. When Stone’s loyalty to what he is trying to build with Starr is tested and leaves him with a decision that may cause Starr to never give them a real chance, will he do whats and be the man he is trying to convince Starr he is or will be fall back into the trenches of his doggish ways?
Slick was the brains of the operation; he could get you any kind of information that you needed straight from his cellphone. He made sure to keep the family on their toes and enemies at arm’s length. When the dead end relationship with his current girlfriend Kimmie proves to be more than he is willing to deal with, he up and leaves just in time to run into the gorgeous Paige. Too bad Kimmie has a secret that could very well put the whole family in danger and ruin any chances that he may have at happiness.
Chaos is the baby boy and adopted by Trina and Trav when he was 12 years old, he was subject to things that no young boy his age should ever have to go through. His troubled past keeps him from loving anyone who is not family, including his long time situationship with the sexy Megan who would give anything to be a permanent fixture in his life. Too bad the only thing Chaos can do for Megan is keep her satisfied in the bedroom anything else is completely out of the question. Tired of waiting for Chaos, Megan attempts to move on with her life but secrets and drama push these two right back into each other’s arms, but can Chaos be what Megan needs in her life?
Baby is the baby of the bunch and is treated as such but don’t underestimate her she is just as ruthless as the rest of the family. Not even 21 yet she had no thoughts of settling down. Although her feelings for Blaze are very strong, she is still not ready to give her all to no one. Baby uses her beauty to get anything she wants but what happens when she involves herself with a married man and the wife is willing to fight for her marriage?
Let’s take a trip into the world of the Shaw’s and see just how far they are willing to go to find love and loyalty.
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Love is defined as the action and sacrifice of making sure that your companion is taken care of. To Syncerity Watkins, AKA Syn, holding down the love of your life is something that a real woman does. If Miko needed her to move a kilo or two, she had him. If he needed her to off a few cats to show that no form of disrespect would be tolerated, it was no problem. She’d just tell him to point them out.
That was the kind of devout love and dedication that Syncerity has for Miko. They’re Atlanta’s own hood power couple. Some would describe them as untouchable, and there was not a damn thing that could destroy the empire they’d built as long as their love survived. At least that was the dream that comfortably put her to sleep at night for many years. Finally understanding the reality of things, Syn eventually comes to terms with the fact that some people use the delusion of love to manipulate. After that revel
ation she vows to never be anybody’s fool again. Not even Miko’s.