We unloaded the bags and went into the office. We dumped the bags out on the top of the desks. It kept piling up as pure amazement glossed over their eyes. We had pulled it off.
“Man, look at this money! I never saw this much money in real life.” Lucas’s eyes danced.
“Me either. You did not lie, Cian. Shit is real!” Joseph picked up a few stacks and smelled them.
We sat down and counted the stacks of money. This time we got five-point-five million. I put the money in the safe.
“We have single-handedly started a war in the city like no other.” I peeked out the window.
The sky was orange and purple. A deep sigh of relief escaped my lips. Glad to be alive and that Joseph was not hurt too badly. Soon the city would be in the grips of a three gang war. The police would not have a clue where to start. I had to find Blue and shake his ass down again. I didn’t need to kill him; he didn’t need to know that. I was sitting on 11.5 million dollars. I could get Zu the money he needed and clear him with his brothers. Me and my boys worked hard for this money. I was not about to hand that big of a chunk over to Zu. He was such a spoiled brat, and everything had always been handed to him. I’d give him something.
“We are geniuses. Nothing can stop us,” Lucas said with a roar.
“Hey, guys, the sun is almost up. There are a few cots in the back room you can sleep on. I know I’m tired as hell.” I patted them both on the shoulders.
“Me too, my brother.” Joseph grabbed his bags and went towards the back room.
Lucas followed suit. I sat behind the desk for a little bit longer. I picked up our mask and gloves and tossed them in the furnace outback. I locked the doors and went into the back room. I was met by both of them snoring like lawnmowers. I laid on my back in the last cot in the corner. With my gun at my side, I set my phone alarm on and dozed off to sleep.
Chapter 6
Cross Regrets
-Gio-
“Shit is mad tight, but you got to give me something,” Blue paced the floor.
“What the fuck, you think I been trying to do?” I said in his face.
We stood in my living room and argued.
“I know you said you would have the money weeks ago! I know them Africans will kill you and me if you don’t come up with the shit!” he spat at me.
“They the ones killed her! I saw my baby mama get put in a wall. How you think I feel knowing the shit should’ve been me? That shit is eating me up inside,” I pounded my chest.
“I’m sorry about Kari. She didn’t deserve to go out like that. Now you know they mean business. So guess who is next? Us- that’s the fuck who!” he paced again.
“Everybody sorry about Kari. Not as sorry as me. My kids lost their mother, and it’s my fault. How do you tell your kids some shit like that?” I threw my hands up in the air.
“You don’t tell them shit. You pay them and live your life. I want to live my life. I stuck my neck out for you on this shit. You said it was a straight deal!”
“It wasn’t as straight as I thought. It ain’t as much money as it should be,” I sat on the couch.
“What the fuck you mean, G? What in the fuck are you talking about?” He stared me down.
“The guy I was supposed to get the jewels too. He only paid me half the five million.”
“Ok, so? I don’t understand? Man, don’t say….”
“I gave him the whole thing. He said he would get me the other half once he got rid of them, but I ain’t heard from him.”
“You gave him the whole thing! No, no, no... you ain’t do that,” He paced the floor faster, “what in the fuck were you thinking? That is the dumbest shit ever!”
“You don’t think I know that shit? I thought... I mean, we kind of knew each other from the old neighborhood. I ain’t think he would cross me.”
“Goddamn, man! They are already after me. Them Africans are going to find us and kill us! My life is over! We’re going to die!”
Blue jumped on top of me and punched me in the face. We wrestled on my living room floor. He seriously fought me; I wanted him off me not to fight. I kicked him off, and he flew across the room and landed on the loveseat. I laid on the ground and caught my breath.
“I’m trying to get my kids and disappear. I suggest you try to disappear too,” I said through ragged breaths.
“I can’t disappear. So where the fuck imma go? Huh? Everybody, baby mama ain’t rich. So what the fuck?” he said through his uneven breaths.
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean? It ain’t like it’s my money. It’s my kids’ and Kae’s money. This move was supposed to be the break I needed,” I coughed and regained my composure.
“If he sees me on the street, he will probably kill me next time. So we gonna post up here and come up with a plan.” He sat up straight.
“What kind of plan are we going to come up with? I don’t have a five million dollar plan, and neither do you!”
“Man, you give me the two and a half mil. I’ll see if it can buy us some time. Where is it?”
It was my turn, and I paced the floor. I rubbed my hands together and thought hard about what to tell him.
“I don’t have the whole thing,” I said slowly.
“NIGGA! What!”
“I got bills and shit too, nigga. How much you think it costs to live here and pay my bills? I do have four kids,” I yelled back at him.
“It ain’t cost no two and a half mil to do that shit. And you ain’t even got yo kids,” he charged at me.
“I got two mil left,” I grumbled.
“I’m going to call Ci and see if he will take the bread. Put the shit in a bag. You better pray this shit works. I could fuck you up myself. Dumbass muthafucka,” He pushed past me, and he made his phone call.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fuck you too, nigga.”
In the basement, I loaded the money in an old army bag. When I came upstairs, he was still on the phone. It sounded like he was making good headway with Ci. Put the bag at his feet. In the kitchen, I poured myself a drink. Knocked it back and poured another. Took that one straight too. My chest swelled with heat, and I blew it out.
“I’m going to go meet him. Ci said he’d take the money, but I don’t know how much time it’ll buy us.” He walked into the kitchen.
“I don’t even know how I am going to come up with the rest of the money.” I poured him a drink.
He took it straight to the head. He shook his head as the liquor went down. “We’ll have to think of something. I’ll be back in a couple of hours. You think of some way to get the rest of this money.” He walked into the living room.
I was happy to get the time. He picked up the bag and walked out the door. Kari had a safe, and the kids knew the combination. I needed to get to my kids. I didn’t want to call her again, but I didn’t have a choice. She was the only link to my kids.
“Hey, uhh, Kae... how you been?” I said when the line picked up.
She didn’t say anything, but she was there breathing.
“I know we had our problems in the past. I just want to see my kids,” I said.
“They’re fine,” she said in a flat tone.
“I’d like to know that for myself. You know it’s not right to keep me from them,” I remained calm.
“You saying you don’t trust me?” she asked with an attitude.
“Awww, man, don’t do that. Don’t say shit like that. Can I talk to my kids?”
“Talking to you is wasting my time. I told you before, they are safe. If they want to talk to you, I’m sure they will let me know.”
Silence. It was like her to hang up in my face. Hell, she probably enjoyed the fuck out of it. I threw my phone on the bed in frustration. They could only be in a few places. They weren’t home. I’d been driving by to see if anyone was there, and it was always dark. Maybe she had them at Kari’s mama’s house. Ms. Glorianna don’t like me that much, but hell, she wouldn’t keep my kids from me. I headed that way. When I pulled up to Glorianna’s house
, a bunch of cars was in the horseshoe driveway. I rang the bell and stepped back. When it opened, her little sister, Mahogany, stood in the doorway. Soon her husband Sandoval was standing behind her. Both of them glared at me hard. I should’ve expected it.
“Hey, uh, Mahogany. How you doin’?”
“Fuck, you want?” She rolled her eyes.
“Damn, is that how you talk to your brother now?” I grabbed my chest.
“You ain’t my fucking brother! Now, what the fuck you want!?” She smacked her lips.
“That’s fucked up. I thought we were better than that?” I looked at them both.
“You got some nerves coming around here, man. You lucky!” Sandoval said his Cuban accent was strong.
“My man, you lucky. I ain’t even talkin’ to you right now. I’m talkin’ to Mo.”
“Yo, who the fuck you think you talkin’ to, boy!?” He tried to push past Mahogany.
She was doin’ her best to hold him back, but she wouldn’t be able to for long. I had my hand on my Glock 9.
“Get the fuck off my mama porch!” She used her body to push Sandoval back inside.
“Not ’til you go get my kids. Bring them out here right now!” I yelled back.
A few more people had come to the door by now. Chantall, her older sister, charged forward, pushed past them, and they spilled out of the door.
“You got to be out yo’ rabbit ass mind, boy! Even if they were here, we wouldn’t give them to you,” she yelled in my face.
“Yo, back up, Chan. They my kids, and you better go get them. I’m their daddy, and they belong with me!”
“I’ll beat yo’ ass myself. My sister is dead and been dead, and this the first time you show up talkin’ about yo’ kids. Get the fuck off my mama doorstep, nigga!” She kept coming forward.
“My kids in there, fuckin’ get them!” I pointed to the house and took a few steps back.
“Didn’t I tell yo’ dumb ass they are not here!” she spat back.
Her husband Marcus came and stepped between us and pushed her back towards the house.
“Where are they, then? If they ain’t here with you, where the fuck are my kids!”
“You don’t even know where your kids are! Some damn daddy you are! You a fucking joke, G. A real fuckin joke!” Mahogany shouted from the doorway.
“Shut the fuck up, Mahogany! I know y’all know where my kids are!”
Marcus walked over. He was a Georgia, cornbread-fed, 6’5, football player that towered over me, but I didn’t care.
“Dawg, yo kids ain’t here. So go on where you need to go now. Shit can get real ugly, and I don’t know how long I can keep her over there.” He patted me on the shoulder.
“I know they know….” I knocked his hand from my shoulder.
“Dawg, don’t do that. They don’t know. Believe me. I know what you feelin’. But you gotta move ’round though,” Marcus patted my chest and pushed me back.
“You don’t gotta do that fam, I’m leaving. I don’t give a fuck what you say; somebody over there knows where my kids are.” I pointed to the people standing there.
I burned rubber out of the driveway, headed straight to Kae’s mama house. I didn’t know why she would keep them there, but I was out of places they could be. When I pulled up, her house was lit up like someone was home. No cars, but I went up the driveway and parked. I rang the doorbell and waited.
“Can I help you?” A young woman answered the door.
“Hey, my name is Gio, and I was wondering if Kae is home?”
“There is no Kae here,” she said as she tried to close the door.
“If she comes by, would you give me a call?” I slipped my business card in her hand.
She closed the door on me. I drove around the highway thinking of how to get this money; this shit was crazy. I called my boy Drake. He was doing good business over in Emerald Pointe. He said he could get me a million in a couple of days. The smile across my face could outshine the sun. After this good news, I needed to smoke so I could think. When I got home, I rolled up, sat in the den, and tried to come up with a plan. The Tanzanites had me shook. They were bold and didn’t give a damn. They wanted to take me out at the banquet hall at Kari’s repass. I kept telling myself they were aiming for Blue, but I knew they were aiming for both of us.
We both barely made it out of the hall alive. I had laid low since. Kae was hiding my kids from me, and what was worse, none of them had called me. If I didn’t come up with this money, I’d end up like Kari. They proved they could touch anyone. I got a sick feeling in my stomach every time I thought of it. The day she went missing, I had given her Blue’s car to drop off for me. I had no idea they were even following Blue or me. Ci must be the one he got the jewels from. Someone knocked on my door, and I put the blunt out. I grabbed my nine in case. It was Blue. When I opened the door, he busted through.
“What happened to you, man?” I followed him into the kitchen.
“Don’t ask dumb questions,” He took a pack of frozen vegetables and put it to his face.
“I thought he was cool, and you got more time,” I said.
“I did get more time. That don’t mean he ain’t fuck me up for taking this long in the first damn place.” He sat at the kitchen table.
“My boy Drake is going to loan me a mil. He said he will have it in a couple of days.” I sat with him.
“That is good, but we still got a bunch more to go. I know one thing. The streets are hot right now.”
“What do you mean hot?”
“The Fangs, Windows, and Skulls are at war with each other. They all got robbed and think the others did it. It’s crazy out there,” he sighed.
“What in the fuck? The shit has already hit the fan. The whole world around us is going crazy,” I paced.
“They killing each other left and right. Bodies are dropping everywhere. We have to stay low,” He winced in pain.
“None of them don’t play about they shit. See, that is why I deal with big dudes. Them street niggas ain’t shit.” I sucked my teeth.
“You kiddin’ me, right? The big dude ran off with our shit. Some way you deal, nigga,” he said with an attitude.
“I been in this game a long time, and this the first time anything like this done happened to me. I ain’t never had to kill nobody to get the job done.”
“This ain’t back in the day no more, man! We ain’t pulling over for a payphone to answer a beeper. The niggas out here don’t care about nothing. They will kill their mama for the game now.”
“Don’t play me. I’m just saying….”
“What! What you saying, dumbass nigga!? You got our nuts in the chopper, and we might not make it. I ain’t never did no hoe shit like that to you!”
“I swear to God I ain’t do the shit on purpose. The sooner I can get Kae to tell me where my kids are, we will be straight.” I was hyped up.
“You out yo’ goddamn mind. Kae hates the skin you live in. Hell, the bitch hates me, and she don’t know me. She goin’ to find shit out one way or another.” He pointed his finger in my face.
“If she was going to kill me, she would have by now. If she knew more, I would know it.”
“You crazy as hell. She looks like she ain’t to be fucked with. The way she scoped at you at the funeral, she would kill you where you stood,” he said.
“She’s been like that; it’s how she is. I don’t know how Kari used to put up with the shit. I was glad when we moved out into our spot.”
“You mean her spot. Nigga, you act like I don’t know. The world may see you as a big playa. But I know you, nigga, and you a baby daddy with a rich ass baby mama. So don’t do the fake shit with me.” He brushed past me into the den.
As he walked past me, I pushed him the rest of the way in the den.
“Fuck you! I’m sick of yo’ shit about my baby mama. Why you so mad ’cause none your baby mamas ain’t shit?”
“Fuck my baby mamas! Nigga, you ain’t never deserved someone lik
e Kari. She deserved better than you!”
“So what, she needed a nigga like you? You think you a better man than me for my baby mama? Huh? My kids should be your kids?”
“Hell no, I ain’t never came at Kari like that ever. Witcho, stupid ass! I know you, nigga, and you ain’t shit! You lucked up; she loved you like she did. I don’t know who is crazier- her or you.” He plopped on the couch
“I loved Kari more than any other woman in my life. I did everything I could for her. I married her, and we were a family. You ain’t never had no family. You don’t know what that shit is like!”
“You loved her so fucking much, then why is she dead and not you!? You love your family so much; where the fuck are they, G!? Huh? Where they at? Where ya mama, ya sisters, and ya brothers? Who the fuck in here right now? That’s right, nigga, ain’t nobody here but me. I’m only here cause I ain’t tryin’ to die behind yo’ dumb ass.” The hate dripped off his words.
“So that’s what you fucking think? I thought you was my boy? I thought we were better than that.” I had been punched in the chest.
“See, that’s yo’ problem: when someone tells you some shit you don’t wanna hear, you go bitch up. Fuck that shit and fuck you. So soon as we get this money, you ain’t gotta worry about me for shit.” He turned the TV on and stared at the screen.
“Real fucked up. We got years, and you gonna be out like that? Well, it’s cool. I need real niggas on my team.” I climbed the stairs.
“Besides Kari, I was the realest nigga on your team,” he yelled up at me.
-Kae-
Mama’s assistant told me Gio came by the house looking for me. Mahogany and Chantell couldn’t wait to call me and tell me the ass he made of himself at Mama G’s home. Chan was always ready to throw hands first and talk later. When he left my house, I left and went to the office. Did my routine security check before I went downstairs to my office. Turned my computer on and grabbed a bottle of water. I sat at my desk and pulled up the security tapes from the banquet hall. Something caught my eye that I hadn’t noticed before at the wall of glass windows. When the unknown men came in, Blue, the guy with Gio, stood up and then sat back down. He leaned over and said something to Gio and started to seek an escape route. Everyone bowed their heads. Soon as the prayer began, Blue stood up again. The men stood up and started shooting. Gio and Blue ducked down at first, and then people started running and screaming. The shooters shot out the glass windows as Gio and Blue ran towards the kitchen exit. Security was fighting the sea of people. Gio and Blue ran out of a broken window at the last minute and disappeared around the corner. The shooters split up, and some headed towards the kitchen exit. Then Dallas ran after them, and I came into the frame. I stopped the tape and called Black.
Tears of an African violet Page 10