The Hearts of the Killers

by Niecy P

  “What’s up Parrain?” Mason approached Sincere. When he found out that our dad had children, he announced us as his Godchildren. Dad and Mom were okay with it. Sin had been making visits to us, with his son Truth. He used to come around a lot and hung with JoJo and Mason. When he made eighteen, he enlisted into the Navy like his father. They tried to stay in touch with him, but he was sent on a mission that stopped all contact with civilians. We haven’t heard from him in almost two years.

  “Ain’t nothing boy. How are you?” he asked while standing out of his chair. Sin held his hand out for Mason to take.

  “I’m good, Parrain,” Mason answered and moved out the way for me to greet Sin.

  “And how is the dark angel,” he called me by the nickname that he and my dad’s other seal brother came up with.

  “I am doing great Parrain,” I said. We all sat around the table and continued talking.

  “How is Truth doing? The last time I heard he was going under,” Mason asked. Sin looked at Pops, who had his hard mug in place. Mason looked between the two and stood to his feet.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “Truth had become like us when we were deep in the core. His reality is all fucked up. They are sending him home for a while because his whole team was demolished in Iran. He lost it and attacked his CO for sending his team on a suicide mission. They are putting him in a holding cell for two weeks, before sending him for a break. They don’t want to let him out because they know how valuable he is as a soldier,” Sin said.

  “Where is he now?” I asked.

  “He is on his way here,” Dad answered. “We are going to help him get back to himself.” He decided without talking to us. I didn’t mind helping others. But, we were not the ones to teach people not to kill. We already had a fucked up individual in Marley to control, and Dad was trying to give us another.

  “We got him,” Mason agreed like his ass was around all the time. I didn’t like this idea at all, and I wasn’t going to hold my tongue about it either.

  “Don’t we have a lot of other shit going on to add one more uncontrollable killer to the group.” I looked over at Mason. “You are talking about you got him, what about Marley?” I asked him.

  “I got Marley. Trust when I say, he is my priority. We are going to hang out after he gets out of school tomorrow,” he answered.

  “Mmm,” I said. They all looked at me with curiosity. The only one that knew of my relationship with Truth was my mother. And I knew that she didn’t tell my father or brother shit. That topic was off limits. Truth was going to need to answer some questions before anything could happen to us.

  “Madison,” Dad called out my name. “He needs us,” he told me. I looked at my Parrain, who was staring up at me. I sighed and nodded my head.

  “Thanks, dark angel. I appreciate this because Truth doesn’t need to be in New Orleans acting this way.” Sin got up, dapped Dad, and Mason off. “I’ll check in on him weekly.” He hugged Mom and me, then left. Mom came to the table and sat with us.

  “Did you get dirty?” she asked me. I shook my head and pointed at Mason.

  “He had all the fun,” I answered. Mason looked at me and smiled.

  “Madison, you killed six of them. I killed one,” he argued.

  “The one you killed was the big fish.” I shot back at him.

  “You mean to tell me that you didn’t get to talk to them and try to figure out why he did what he did?” Dad asked me.

  “No. Mason told me that he didn’t want to do all that talking. I let him have his way this time.” I smirked at him.

  “Well hopefully, there won’t be a next time,” Dad said and turned to face Mason. “You gotta do better, Mason. You are slacking up on your duties and causing the family problems.”

  “Dad, I’m sorry. Alright. I forgot about the meeting.” Mason was honest. Dad sat back in his chair and tried to calm his self down. Mom leaned forward and intervened.

  “Mason, how did you forget about the meeting?” She asked.

  “I went on a job in Brazil last night and didn’t come back in until three hours ago,” he answered.

  “What the fuck? I thought we told you not to take jobs without us knowing about them!” Dad yelled.

  “I know Dad, but being a part of the Elites is something that I always wanted to do. I am trying my hardest to sit at the table with the Stand, but I have a low tolerance for stupidity and ignorance. When they say the shit they say, I have to muster up everything within me to not kill everyone at the table, besides JoJo.” Mason admitted.

  “Mason you have to be there. You have to be in the know, son. You don’t want to take orders blindly as I did. I am not saying that JoJo is like his father, but you have a say in everything that is done at that table. We worked hard for that to happen. I’m not saying that you can’t do jobs with the Elites. But, your chair at the Stand is more important.” Dad told him. Mason looked like he understood where Dad was coming from. We had a clue about why he was so hard on Mason about this.

  We thought that the Stand was finished after the Davis crew took over. Uncle Jordan wanted to do more and built a different type of board. He opened up the Stand to all families around the country. At first, Dad and Uncle JJ was against it. They didn’t want to deal with the problems of the different egos and personalities of the other bosses. Uncle Jo laid out some ground rules and told the other families what the Stand would represent. Mutual l respect for one another, and gain access to pass shipment in each other’s territory. It had been working well for us throughout the years without any problems. Callum named the Elites as the enforcers for the Davis crew only. He wasn’t for all that drama.

  When Dad and our uncles retired, they named JoJo and Mason as the chairholders of the family. Uncle JJ was still on the scene every once and a while. He was close to retiring his self. JoJo was prepared, but Mason had been working with Callum and my cousins. I was bouncing from all the businesses, not knowing what I wanted to do yet. I was also working at my uncle's accountant firm in my spare time. Lately, I had been sitting on the board of the Stand while Mason did work for Callum.

  “I’ll do better Dad.” Mason finally answered him. Dad slapped him on his back and got up.

  “I know you will, son. Go and get some rest.” He told us both. Dad walked around the table and pulled Mom out of the chair.

  “Are you guys sleeping here tonight?” She asked.

  “Might as well,” I answered and reached for the bread that was in the middle of the table.

  “Yeah, Mom,” Mason answered.

  “Great. Pancakes in the morning,” she said and walked out of the kitchen with Dad.

  “I know you are happy that is over,” I told him. He nodded his head, but he had something else on his mind. I felt him thinking hard about whatever, and it was making my head hurt.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked him.

  “I worry about you,” he said. I was shocked to hear that.

  “Why?”

  “Because, you are on that soft shit, Maddie. I wish you knew what would happen to me if something happens to you. I will lose my fucking mind, sis.” He grunted and sat back in his seat. I didn’t want to talk about this anymore. The subject came up a lot, and I was not for it tonight. He saw it on my face and sat up. He reached out for my hand. When he did that, it was to make sure I didn’t walk off while he was talking. I looked at him, then at his hand. Mason’s eyes dared me not to grab it. I placed my hand in his and listened to what he had to say.

  “You are what you are Madison. You don’t have to portray yourself as anyone’s savior,” he told me. I shook my head and disagreed with him.

  “You know Kara and Trinity are good friends of mine. They are sweet and kind, nothing like their parents that our mother killed. I have to sit in their face knowing that shit. It kills me, Mace. I know that I am a killer. I’m reminded of that shit when I look in the mirror but is that it. Is that all I am. We have choices, Mace. We don’t have to wear
the face of a killer all the time.” I had to remind him.

  “In this game, you do Madison, and you know that,” he disagreed. I shook my head, but he held his hand up to keep me from interrupting him. “Hold up. Hold up. Tell me this. Do you think that you can go one day without killing anyone? Can you not think of killing someone in many ways while sitting in a quiet room? Because if you can, then you do have other choices. But, if you can’t Maddie, you will have to stop with all this other shit, before you get hurt. Our enemies don’t give a damn about your soul-searching expeditions. They are going to capitalize on every mistake you make. If I do this Stand shit, I won’t be able to be there for you when you go on the missions with the Elites. I need you to get your shit together, sis. Please,” he begged me. When I didn’t answer in time, he squeezed my hand to get my attention. I looked up at him, and his eyes were dark.

  “Yes, brudda,” I told him. Mason stared at me for the longest. I didn’t break eye contact with him. He saw that I was going to try my best to do what he asked. Mason raised my hand and kissed the ring that he gave me for Christmas. It wasn’t anything flashy. It was a gold ring that held our birthstone. I bought him a watch the same Christmas with our birthstone circling the face.

  “Gud,” he said and got up. I sat at the table for a while before getting up and going to bed.

  Three

  JoJo

  Uncle Jason called me to let me know that we were gaining someone else to the crew. I wasn’t hurting behind help, but I was okay with the extra hands. Truth was what his name was, the fucking truth. We hung out all the time when we were younger, and no one crossed us then. He had his father’s killer instinct like the rest of us. That was something that we had in common and related to.

  I was on my way to my parents’ house in the Davis’ town. Their home was two houses down from my Uncle Jason and Uncle JJ. After every meeting, Pops wanted me to come by and give him an update. Uncle Jason and Pops were supposed to be retired, but their asses couldn’t stay retired. Uncle Jason was at some meeting, sitting in the corner and watching over us. Pops was either on the phone or in the building. It pissed me off at times because it felt as if they didn’t trust us.

  I got to the house and heard Jeremiah talking or was it arguing with my Mom. I dropped my keys on the table that was by the front door and walked into the room. Dad wasn’t present. I figured that because Jeremiah would have been laying on the floor. I leaned against the doorway and waited for the right time to enter.

  “Come on Mom. I’m grown outchea. You can’t be bussing up in my room whenever you feel like it. You are tripping right now?” The nigga told her. I felt my hands tingling to get around the fool’s neck.

  “Jeremiah. I don’t want that shit in my house. Your father told you this already.” She explained to him.

  “Man, this is bullshit. I can’t smoke in my room. I can’t bring a bitch to fuck in my room. I can’t close my door to my room. And I have to be the only eighteen-year-old that has a fucking curfew,” he argued. His back was turned as I snuck up on him. My mother’s eyes went to mine, and she knew that nigga was about to get that issue.

  “JoJo, no!” she yelled out a few minutes too late. I wrapped my arm around his neck and squeezed. His hands went to mine and tried to pull them away from his neck.

  “Muthafucker, you lost your mind. Who the fuck do you think that you are talking to like that? You got the world fucked up, nigga. Tell me why I should let you live?” I said. I was ready to be the only child around that bitch because Jeremiah didn’t value his life. He knew how I felt about him disrespecting my mother. I checked his ass on that before, and he was still on that bullshit.

  “Let me go, JoJo,” Jeremiah choked out. My arm squeezed tighter around his neck. I didn’t want him talking. I wanted him to feel his life slipping. His struggles and punches on me became weaker as he tried to get loose. I pulled back and punched that nigga in the back of his head. Jeremiah went down, face first hitting the hardwood floors. I should have kicked his ass, but I wanted his ass up. My mom was screaming for us to stop, but I wasn’t going to let him get away with this shit.

  “Mama, get back!” I yelled at her as Jeremiah staggered to his feet. Once he turned around, I hit his ass twice in the gut and landed a quick right to his face. He fell again. My mom blocked me from finishing the ass whipping that was far from over.

  “That is enough JoJo,” she said with her hands up. My adrenaline was pumping. I paced the floor as she checked on his punk ass. Mom was checking his wounds while he was sitting on the floor.

  “Don’t baby his ass now, Ma. He doesn’t deserve that shit. He up in here trying to regulate shit when me or Pops not around. You should have gone across that nigga's head with that fucking lamp.” I told her.

  “Man fuck you, JoJo,” Jeremiah mumbled.

  “Nigga what,” I moved in to fuck him up some more. The front door opened with my Pops and uncles walking in behind him. Pops looked around the room and frowned.

  “What the fuck is going on in here?” he asked. Mama shook her head, not wanting me to tell Pops the truth. Fuck that.

  “He was up in here bossing up on Mama and shit,” I told him.

  “Oh really,” Pops said and folded his arms. He looked at Jeremiah on the floor and was ready to fuck him up. “Lilly move out the way,” he told her. Mama shook her head.

  “He already got a beating Jordan. Just let it go. Please,” she asked him.

  “I’m not going to ask you again Lilly,” Pops told her with no room for discussion. Mama's head dropped down, and she stood to her feet. She knew that Jeremiah was fucking up. The sad part about that was, unlike Mason and Marley, I hung out with Jeremiah. I was showing him the game and how the family business work. So, attention was something he didn’t need. When Mom was clear, Uncle JJ got closer and stood over him.

  “What’s your fucking problem, man?” he asked him.

  “Nothing,” he answered.

  “Oh nigga, you got a fucking problem,” Uncle Jason told him.

  “Nah Uncle,” he tried to answer.

  “Get yo fucking ass up when you address my brothers, nigga,” Pops calmly told him. The threat in his voice was chilling. Jeremiah stood up and wiped the blood from his nose.

  “I don’t have a problem, Unc,” he finished his answer. I was still pacing, hoping that Pops would tell me to finish the job. Uncle Jason got on the phone and made a call.

  “Come by Jordan,” he whispered and hung up the phone. Uncle JJ passed Jeremiah a towel to wipe his face. Pops and Uncle Jason started moving furniture around. I was confused as fuck to what was happening. Pops walked up to Mama and whispered something in her ear. Her head jerked back, and horror took over her face.

  “No, Jordan. You will not be doing this shit in my house. No!” she told him. Uncle Jason shrugged his shoulders.

  “We can take it outside if you want,” he added. Mama looked at him and frowned.

  “No, I don’t want that Jason. What type of shit are y’all on?” she asked Uncle Jason.

  “The same shit that Jeremiah is on to be up in here doing this reckless shit.” Uncle JJ said. The front door opened again. I turned to see who was our guest. Mason and Marley walked in with confused looks on their faces. That was the reason why Mama was about to have a fit. They were about to let Marley loose on his ass. Marley and Jeremiah were tight. But, Marley didn’t play that disrespectful shit. Jeremiah was lucky that I whipped his ass. If Marley were to do something like that to Aunt Joel, she would’ve killed him.

  “What’s up, Dad?” Marley asked while looking at Jeremiah.

  “Well, your cousin here thinks that it is cool to disrespect your Auntie,” Uncle Jason told him. Marley’s look went from confused to rage. His eyes went cold black in a matter of seconds. Mason took a step back and folded his arms. Mom tried to intervene, but Pops held her back.

  “Go upstairs, Lilly. I promise you that he will be alright,” he promised her. Mom shook her head.

&n
bsp; “He gotta learn Lilly,” Uncle JJ told her. She looked over at me, and I nodded my head. She glanced at Jeremiah one last time before going upstairs.

  “Go to work,” Mason told Marley after my mother was out the room.

  “Wid pleasure,” Marley said and approached Jeremiah. Jeremiah's hands went up to block the first punch that Marley swung. Marley kept swinging without getting tired. His blows got harder and quicker every time. Jeremiah's arms were red as fuck. He made a mistake and dropped his left arm from his face. Marley swung before he could recover it, and hit Jeremiah on the side of his face. The blow sounded off like broken glass. Marley and Jeremiah usually spare in the ring when I took them boxing. Marley would let Jeremiah swing on him for the thrill of it. But, this time he was for real. He wasn’t going to let up.

  Marley right hook connected again and had him falling to the floor for the third time tonight. Jeremiah got up quicker than he did with me because he knew that Marley was going to stomp his ass. Marley swung again, Jeremiah dodged it and swung his left. It connected, of course, but didn’t slow Marley down. Marley flashed a deadly smirk. He rushed Jeremiah and grabbed him by the neck. They were what and what in height, even with Marley being two years younger than Jeremiah. Marley lifted him and slammed him on the ground. He got on top of him and started wailing on him. Pops and my uncles watched on, but I promised my mother that I wasn’t going to let Marley kill him. When I thought that he had enough, I told Mason to get Marley.

  “Naw, I ain’t getting shit. Let him get that work.” Mason answered. Marley's hands were dropping on Jeremiah’s face like sledgehammers.

  “He had enough. Get your fucking brother, Mace.” I told him one last time.

  “I said no,” Mason stood from the wall. “What the fuck are you going to do about it?” I knew who Mason was, but I wasn’t intimidated at all. I stepped towards Marley and Mason took a step towards me. His eyes were dead and dark.

  “If you touch my brother,” Mason warned.