Living for Love and Dying for Loyalty 3

by Mz. Lady P

  ****

  “This house is huge. I can’t believe you and Boogie have not moved in here,” Aja said as turned over the chicken she was frying.

  “Boogie refuses to step one foot inside of this house.”

  “Since we’re on the subject of your husband, what’s going on with ya’ll? Why are you living here and he’s living in the other house?”

  “It’s a long story and I don’t feel like telling it twice. As soon as the girls get here, I’ll tell you everything.”

  Trish, Niyah, and Nisa finally arrived. We sat around the dining room table eating fried chicken and spaghetti. The aura in the room was all off. I could tell I wasn’t the only one who had shit going on in my life.

  “I’m glad you guys came on such a short notice. I really need your help. I don’t know what I’m going to do.” I became so upset I was shaking.

  “What’s wrong?” Niyah asked as she got up from her seat and sat next to me.

  “Do you guys remember when I told everyone about being a drug mule for Lupe?”

  “Yeah, we remember.” Nisa said and all of the girls agree in unison.

  "I left out a very important piece of the puzzle. When I was rushed to the hospital and the drugs were removed I was informed that I was pregnant. I knew that I was pregnant by Boogie because I had never been with anyone else. I was too far along, so I couldn't get an abortion. I carried the baby full term. Once I gave birth to him I gave him up for adoption to a really good friend of mine. I couldn't tell Boogie about the baby. He would have made me come back to Chicago. I couldn't risk me or my son's life like that. Life has been going good for me. That was until Lupe showed her crazy ass up at my door. She has pictures of my son and says she wants ten million dollars in exchange for his life. I had no other choice but to come clean and tell Boogie the truth.

  As I told the girls what had happened, all I kept seeing in my head was my son and the look on Boogie’s face when I told him about our son. I was crying a river at this point.

  “What did Boogie say?” Nisa asked as she held my hand.

  “He told me to get the fuck out. I refused so he dragged me out. He was so angry with me. I never even got a chance to tell him about Lupe or that I’m pregnant.”

  “Awwww, I’m going to be an auntie,” Aja said and she started rubbing my stomach. All the girls did the same.

  “I need your help. We have to get rid of that bitch. I know how she operates. There is more to her being here in Chicago. She didn’t come all the way to Chicago to extort me. She has more money than she knows what to do with.”

  “She’s here because Carmen is dead,” Trish said as a devilish grin crept across her face.

  “Hold the fuck on! That bitch is dead and I didn’t get a chance to shoot the bitch first. Who killed her ass?” Nisa asked as she got up and banged on the table.

  “I did. Stacy, do you have any liquor around here?” Trish was acting as if she had not just dropped a damn bombshell on us.

  “There’s a wine cellar straight through the kitchen. I have never been down there. So I’m not sure if there is anything down there.”

  “Does Markese know that you did it?” Aja asked with a worried look on her face.

  “Yeah, he knows. That bitch Carmen is dead. Now we have to kill the bitch who gave birth to her. I’m sick and tired of people hurting this family. We’ve worked too hard to keep going through these changes. I’m killing any and everything that fucks with me, my family, and my husband.”

  Trish looked Nisa in her eyes as she put emphasis on the husband part. I hope Nisa caught on because I got the message. We all speculated at one time or another about the relationship between Nisa and Markese. I guess Trish has her suspicions as well. Trish walked out of the room and went to the wine cellar. The room was quiet as we all sat and tried to take in everything that had been said. Trish came back upstairs empty handed looking as if she had seen a ghost.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you?” I asked as she sat down at the table.

  “I think ya’ll need to go downstairs and look at what’s down there.”

  “I hope ya’ll ain’t got me in this house and it’s a damn dead body down there.” Niyah said as we all got up minus Trish and went downstairs. As soon as I entered the cellar, I felt as if I would pass out. There were kilos everywhere, Lined up neatly against the walls. I saw a door and opened it and there were more kilos. I had to take a seat on the steps to keep from fainting.

  “Oh my God. It’s snowing in this motherfucker!” Nisa said as she ran her hands all over the neatly wrapped kilos that were packaged in clear plastic. “Look, there’s an envelope with your name on it.” Nisa handed me the letter that was attached to one of the bricks. I slowly opened it and I began to read it.

  My Mija,

  If you’re reading this letter, you have found my hidden treasure. The enclosed map will show you where you can find the rest of my heroin, which you now own. My empire is now yours. I hope that you have got in contact with your brothers and their crew. They will know what to do with it all. I know there is nothing I can say or do that will change what happened to you. I hope in time you forgive me.

  Juan

  “What are you going to do with all this shit, Stacy?” Aja asked as she sat on the stairs next to me.

  “I guess I need to call our husbands. I wouldn’t know what to do with all this shit. I retired from the drug game a long ass time ago.”

  I handed the letter to them so that they could read it. I stood up and tried to call Boogie, but he hung up in my face. He made sure to tell me not to call his phone anymore. I had no other choice but to call Rahmeek and Hassan. It’s too much shit going on in my life right now.

  Chapter 26- Rahmeek

  It had been about a month since I saw my daughter, Brooklyn. The first couple of weeks after Karima was released she brought Brooklyn over on the weekends like clockwork. Lately, Karima has been MIA. I stopped showing up at Karima’s house unannounced, but since she is not answering the phone, I don’t have a choice. Some shit is not sitting right with me. Karima has no reason to keep Brooklyn away from me and Aja. My mother has even tried on several occasions to get in contact with her. Karima better hope my daughter is okay. I swear I’m going to put a bullet in her fucking head. If she values her life there won’t be a hair out of place on my daughter’s head.

  I scooped up Hassan to ride with me over to Karima’s crib. Once we arrived I let myself in with my key, but they weren’t there. The house was in good condition with the exception of previously smoked Black and Milds in the ashtray. Karima didn’t smoke shit but weed. That meant she probably was fucking with some nigga that did smoke them. She couldn’t keep any friends because she was too scandalous so they definitely didn’t belong to a woman.

  Hassan and I went back out to the car. Curiosity got the best of me and I decided to wait until Karima returned. I pulled out of the driveway and I parked a couple of doors down from her house. I made sure I parked so that I could see a clear view of the front of her house. I wasn’t sure how long we would have to wait so I fired up a blunt and got comfortable.

  “What’s up with you and Niyah?” I asked Hassan as I passed the blunt to him.

  “We’re good now. It was hell trying to get her to stay after the shit I said to her. I’m just glad she has finally realized that her brother is a damn user. Do you know that nigga was stealing from my fucking safe? Over fifty thousand gone. I wanted to beat the fuck out of Niyah for being so damn stupid. Once she realized the money was missing, she had to come clean. She told him about the safe. I know that’s her brother and all, but how could she be so fucking naive. I already told her to get her tears out of the way now because I’m going to kill him.”

  “We aren’t the only ones at his head. Word on the street is he’s been robbing Thug’s trap houses since his death. We already know Marlo won’t make it another month if Malik and Sarge are at his head. I just hope and pray we get to his ass before they do.”
/>
  Hassan and I continued to chop it up until I received a call from Stacy telling us that she needed us to get over to her house ASAP. I heard the urgency in her voice so I called Markese, Killa, and Boogie. I’m not sure what’s going on between him and Stacy, but it has him acting like a real bitch. I hated to leave before catching up with Karima, but I needed to go see what was going on with my sister.

  When I walked inside of the house, I didn’t know what to think. Every time these woman got together like this they had either done some shit they had no business doing or bullshit was on the horizon. “What the fuck have ya’ll done now?”

  “We haven’t done anything yet,” Nisa said as she walked over to Killa and kissed him.

  “I know that you’re wondering why I called you. There is something in the wine cellar that I need you to see. Before you go down there I need you to know that I had no idea about any of this shit,” Stacy said as she led the way to the wine cellar.

  “Why do I have a hard time believing that?” Boogie said as he pushed Stacy out of his way.

  We continued to follow her downstairs to the cellar. As soon as I stepped inside the wine cellar, I had to blink my eyes a couple of times to make sure my eyes weren’t deceiving me.

  “Are you sure you had no idea about this shit?” Boogie asked as he surveyed the kilos that were lined up around the room.

  “I promise you, we just found it today. I would never hide anything like this from any of you. I know how hard it has been without a connect. I’m down for whatever ya’ll decide to do.”

  “First things first, we need to move all this shit to our warehouse ASAP. I’ll go order a large moving truck. We can move the shit ourselves. We can all meet up and discuss if we’re back in the drug game or not. I also think it’s imperative that our wives join us in this meeting. It’s only right they have a say in this shit.”

  The rest of the crew agreed and we got to work counting the bricks so they could be transported to our warehouse. Stacy slipped a piece of paper in my hand. Once I read it, I knew we were back in the drug game.

  ****

  Everyone had finally arrived at the warehouse and we were all sitting around the conference table. I made sure we had liquor and plenty of blunts. We were all going to need it for the talk we were about to have. I observed everyone sitting around either drinking or smoking. The look on their faces told me that they were all in deep thought. I hated he aura in the room because our meetings have never been quiet. There was always someone who had something to say. In order for us to think about our next move, everyone needed to air their grievances with one another. I knew that I needed to be the one to break the silence.

  “So, Stacy what do you want to do with all these bricks?” Stacy fidgeted with her fingers not making eye contact with anyone.

  “I’m down for whatever the crew wants to do. That’s all of our shit. Plus, the letter that Juan left behind lets me know that there is more where that came from. What do you think, Boogie?”

  “Does it really matter what the fuck I think?” Boogie said as he knocked back a shot of Remy. I observed the girls all looking down not making eye contact with any of us. That let me know they knew what was going on between them.

  “What the fuck is going on with ya’ll?” Hassan asked as he took a long pull from the blunt.

  “Let me guess. You didn’t tell your brothers about their nephew?”

  Stacy looked at Boogie with so much contempt and hurt. He was trying his best to break her down.

  “I have been trying my best to stay out of this, but what the fuck does he mean by nephew?”

  I didn’t mean to upset Stacy. She was already very upset and crying. I was just getting more livid with all these subliminal messages.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you guys sooner. I have a nine-year-old son by Boogie. I gave him up for adoption because I feared for his life. When I passed out in the airport, I was four months pregnant, but I didn’t know until afterwards. I was on the run from Lupe. I couldn’t put his life in danger for my fuck-ups. At that time, I never ever thought I would see Boogie again. I have never regretted my decision because he is in good hands. A couple of days ago, Lupe Rodriquez came to our house and showed me pictures of him. She wants me to give her ten million dollars in exchange for his life. That same day I found out I was pregnant. Twelve weeks to be exact.”

  “Why the fuck you didn’t tell me all that shit?” Boogie said as he banged on the table with his fist. Stacy jumped from the booming sound of his voice. Tears fell from her ass soaking the table.

  “You were too busy dragging me out the house by my hair.”

  I had to clench my jaws tight and keep calm. I had never seen my sister so upset. That shit was killing me slowly and I could tell Hassan was also in his feelings. We couldn’t react because that’s not what Stacy wanted. They needed to get in private and work this shit out. In the meantime, we needed to focus on Lupe Rodriquez and what the hell we were going to do with all the bricks we had on deck.

  “If Lupe Rodriquez is here on bullshit that means Carmen is right with her,” Killa said as his jaws clenched.

  “Carmen is dead. I already offed her ass. Now we just need to focus on killing her psycho ass mother. I’m ready for whatever,” Trish said as she knocked back a shot of Patron and pulled her nine from the small of her back. It made the loudest noise as it banged against the table.

  We all were shocked at her nonchalant confession. We just looked at her as she fired up a blunt and knocked back shot after shot. I looked over at Markese and his facial expression let me know that Carmen really was dead. All he could do was shake his head and drink straight from the Remy bottle. Trish has been in rare form lately and Markese doesn’t know what to do about it.

  “I’m tired of sitting around shooting the breeze. Can we please put this plan together? I want to rid my life of all things that’s hindering our family’s growth. I know ya’ll mad I didn’t talk to ya’ll first, but I was tired of waiting around while that bitch destroyed us. Now her mother is here on some bullshit. Oh hell no! We need to off this old bitch immediately.”

  “I agree with Trish. She definitely has to go,” Nisa said and everyone agreed with her. I was getting ready to respond, but my cell phone rang. I looked at the screen and it read Karima. I quickly answered before she hung up.

  “Where the fuck is my daughter?”

  Karima was on the other end of the phone and I she sounded like she was crying.

  “Brooklyn got shot! Please Rah come to the County Hospital!” What Karima said had to resonate inside my brain. I just held the phone in shock.

  “Rahmeek! Rahmeek! Baby, what’s wrong?” Aja was yelling and shaking me out my trance.

  “We need to get to the hospital. Brooklyn got shot.” I rushed out of the warehouse with everyone behind me. As I drove to the hospital, all I could think about was my baby girl. Her first birthday is in two weeks and some wannabe gangsta shot her. I have never been the type of nigga who asked God for anything. At that very moment, I prayed and asked God to heal my daughter. Aja squeezed my hand so tight as we pulled up to the hospital parking lot. We found a park and ran towards the hospital entrance. The entire crew was not far behind us. I walked up to the nurses’ station to find out about Brooklyn’s status. Before I could get any words out Karima’s voice caught my attention. I looked around and saw her and Marlo talking to the police. I lost all of my cool and sanity when I heard him say that he was Brooklyn’s father. I was about to kill both of these motherfuckers.

  Chapter 27-Karima

  The first month or so of dealing with Marlo was pure bliss. We were having so much fun and enjoying ourselves. Once his gunshot wounds healed, all he wanted to do was run the streets and rob niggas. He was bringing home large sums of money splurging it on me and my daughter. Everything was going good until he persuaded me into setting up local drug dealers for him.

  At first I was dead set against it but eventually I gave in. Marlo was in m
y head and I couldn’t get him out. I loved the fact that he lived on the edge and had an I don’t give a fuck attitude. It felt good to finally have a man of my own. I was finally able to go out in public and show the world my new man. We were robbing niggas left and right without any fuckups. We were on some Bonnie and Clyde type of shit.

  In such a short time, Marlo managed to pull me in deep. The last thing that was on my mind was Rahmeek. I finally found someone to fill the void Rahmeek left in my heart. I knew if I told him about my new boyfriend, he would act a fool. Rahmeek wants to run every aspect of my life. I think that he forgets that he is Brooklyn’s father not mine. Since I was arrested, he thought that I was incompetent. His ass must have forgotten that I took care of my daughter before he even knew she existed. I just decided to keep Brooklyn away from him and Aja until I could figure out how to tell him about Marlo. The last thing I wanted to do was keep Brooklyn from her daddy. However, I knew that Rahmeek would take Brooklyn away from me if he knew I had her around another man.

  The shooting happened so fast. We were driving down State Street on our way to go shopping. We stopped at a light and a car stopped alongside us. I was trying to get a good look at the two men inside the car because they were staring. The man in the passenger seat rolled down the window. I was able to get a good look at him and remembered he was one of the guys I had tricked for Marlo to set up and rob him.

  Marlo was engrossed in watching the road he never even paid attention to the car next to us. The car was closer on my side. The driver pulled the gun out so fast that I didn’t have to react. He started shooting inside the car. As soon as the light changed, the car sped off. At first Brooklyn was crying from the noise thenall of a sudden she stopped. Marlo was now speeding down the sheet like a speed racer hitting other cars in the process.

  “Oh my God, Lo! They shot my baby! Hurry up and get us to the hospital!”