by Niecy P
“Well, what do you want to do? I already made plans to go to Jamaica. I found out from another source that Juice and his father set Beauty up to catch my attention. I don’t know what they have against us, but it really doesn’t matter. I am going to hand Juice over to Madison,” he said with a smile. We knew that was going to happen. Madison couldn’t wait to get permission to kill that nigga. Although, Truth probably was going to kill that nigga before Madison could see him.
“Have you told Truth, yet?” I asked him. Mason shook his head.
“Not yet. I want him to take care of Madison right now. I want to set something in motion to let these muthafuckers know that we are not the ones to play with,” Mason said. I was all for that, but there was one problem.
“And what about Beauty. You know that they are going to come for her,” I asked. Mason shook his head and looked back at the cabin.
“I know. But, if it wasn’t for her, we wouldn’t have known about any of this shit. She gave her brother up because she is feeling a nigga, JoJo. I can’t let them kill her,” Mason said.
“Understandable,” I said and pulled out my phone. I started sending Tylee and DJ the info on Nick and his sibling. We need to find out who the fuck they really are so that we can handle them accordingly. “I am going to call some of our generals and have a talk with each of them separately. I won’t tell them what I know, but for their sakes, somebody better tell me something,” I spoke, just as my phone began to ring. It was one of the men that got on at the same time Mason and I took over. I answered and placed him on speaker.
“Eddrin,” I answered.
“Yo, boss. How is the princess doing?” Eddrin asked.
“Not good. She still hasn’t woken up yet,” I told him, not knowing if he could be trusted.
“That’s fucked up, man. Let Mace know that I am ready whenever y’all find out who did that shit to her. For real,” he replied. “I know that you guys got a lot going on right now, but I wanted you guys to know that there is some fishy shit going on in South Philly. New faces showing up and somehow got access to shit that I know you or Mason didn’t authorize. I was going to take care of it, but you know how noisy I get,” Eddrin wasn’t lying. I told him to start running things by me before he did anything, and I am happy that I did. If those fools got the upper hand on Madison, I was sure that he would have got him, and the crew killed.
“Nah, you did right. Let me ask you this, though. Who have been hanging around these new people,” I asked.
“Tick and Cruz were down there last week. They came back acting all brand new and shit. Juice been missing. He hasn’t been showing up to his post or anywhere else since he told us about Madison gettin’ shot up,” Eddrin explained.
“Time the fuck out. No one knew about Madison getting hit,” Mason said.
“Oh, shit,” Eddrin said. “What you need me to do?” he asked ready for war.
“Nothing yet. We need to know how many people he tainted,” I said.
“Come on boss. Nobody ain’t fucking with Juice like that. He knows that we are loyal over here. Tick and Cruz fucked up because they don’t know how to work to get to the top. They saw the fast money and fell for it,” Eddrin said to us. I didn’t have a reason to think that he was lying to us. I looked at Mason, and he nodded his head.
“Don’t tell anyone that you talked to us. Shit is about to shake, and we are going to need to bounce back quickly to keep the business moving. You do what you are supposed to do. We are going to clean this shit up, but make sure you keep your distance from Tick and Cruz,” I said to Eddrin. Eddrin agreed with what was said and hung up the phone.
“Tick and Cruz bitches for that. We gave them niggas everything they wanted. Shit, we were putting Tick’s brothers through school. Them niggas ain’t never satisfied.” Mason spat out. We were both pissed.
“It’s cool, though. Them niggas better enjoy their last days on Earth. I’m going back to the city. Let me know when you are going to head out there to Jamaica,” I told Mason and dapped him off. I got in my car and called my brother. I knew that he was pissed off at me, but I needed him to stay put for a while.
“What,” Jeremiah answered.
“I know you mad, nigga. But I need you to listen to me and do what I tell you to do,” I said.
“I’m listening,” the nigga had an attitude. I ignored it and answered him anyway.
“Stay away from Tick and Cruz. If Juice tries to get in contact with you, let me know. We think that he had something to do with Madison getting shot.”
“Are you serious?” Jeremiah yelled over the phone.
“Yes. Just lay low for a minute. I don’t know if he has a plan, but I don’t want you to get caught up in any of this shit. Stay low, Jeremiah. No bullshit,” I warned him.
“Aight. Aight. I heard that Madison woke up. Do she remember anything.” He asked me.
“Nah, she doesn’t. I will talk more about it when I get to the house,” I told him and hung up the phone. I hoped his ass listened to what I said. I called my Pops and told him what happened. He wanted to get with our clients to reassure our business, while Mason and I took care of some shit. After what was about to happen, no one will ever fuck with the Davis crew again.
Two and a half hours later, I made it home to tell my father about what I found out. I walked in the house and T Glen was sitting at the kitchen table. Before going in there, I went upstairs.
“This muthafucker don’t listen,” I said and kicked his dresser over. I ran down the stairs and went into the kitchen.
“Oh, so when did yo fucking Mama tell you that it was okay to walk in a house with the elderly and not speak,” Nanna asked.
“Nanna, please. You will carve me alive if I call you or T Glen elderlies,” I kissed them both and then asked about Jeremiah. “Have you seen Jeremiah? I told him to stay home.”
“He went to the hospital to see Madison. Why, is everything alright?” T Glen asked. I nodded my head not wanting to rile them up. I went into the office and made a few calls. Pops got home later with Mom and Jeremiah. I was ready to curse his stupid ass out, but there were more important things that I needed to discuss.
“The meeting was a setup. Nick Costa didn’t want to do business was us. They wanted to get Jeremiah or the both of us alone, to kill us.” I told Pops. Pops’ head snapped over at Jeremiah and shook his head.
“Fuck!” Pops yelled, “Do you think that all of this is connected with what happened to Madison?”
“Yes. The information that Jeremiah had on them said that they were from Portugal. We don’t know what the connection is just yet, but Tylee and DJ are working on that for me. Other than that, we gotta find a way to get to them before they get to us,” I told him.
“That will be the easy part. They don’t know that we know about them. You also said that Juice and two others joined in with them. Is that correct?” Pops asked me. I nodded my head, and Pops leaned back in his seat. He was in thinking mode.
“Did you guys find out anything on the video?” Jeremiah asked us.
“We saw the faces of the niggas that shot at her right before she blew their faces off. There was a phone that Jason asked the young girl to retrieve,” Pops answered.
“That will take too long. We need to know that information right away,” I said.
“I can go down there and get it,” Jeremiah volunteered. Pops and I frowned at him.
“Hell no,” we both told him. Jeremiah shook his head and was ready to plead his case. Pops held up his hand and stopped him.
“They caught one of the deadliest assassins slipping. I will not send you out there to get killed,” Pops told him.
“Dad, I am not a baby. I can take care of myself. I want to buss back at them niggas that have my cousin laying in that bed all fucked up,” Jeremiah was fired up.
“There are other ways that you can help, and leaving the country ain’t one of them,” I told him. Jeremiah looked at the both of us with disgust and walked out of th
e room. I didn’t have time for his spoiled ass. I had other things to do.
“Can you keep his ass in the house until all this is over?” I asked my Pops and started walking to the door.
“JoJo, have a seat right quick.” Pops stopped me. I knew that he wanted to talk about the statement that I made when I walked out on him. I didn’t find anything wrong with what I said, so I hoped he didn’t think that I was going to apologize for that shit. I sat down anyway to hear him out.
“JJ told me that you asked Jason about what happened to us back then. I don’t understand why you didn’t come to me with it, but I knew that you were told the truth. I wasn’t like you, JoJo. The way you think and handle the business is the way your grandfather tried to get me to do. I was selfish and kept telling myself that it was for the family. But overall it was for me. It was what I wanted. It took an ass whipping from Jason and Joel for me to see that shit, but I got it. I tried to fix that shit so that it wouldn’t fall back on you. I see that it didn’t work, and I am sorry for that son. I didn’t want you to be looked at like that. Not like that,” he sounded remorseful. I knew that the way things went for him back then changed the way he looked at a lot of things and I was grateful for that.
“It’s cool, Pops,” was all I could say. He nodded his head and we got to work. I stayed around the house for a few days and asked Fallon to move in with me until the shit blew over. She was more than happy to have a few days off. She wanted to see Madison, but I knew that Madison wasn’t in her right state of mind. Mom picked that up and they started spending more time together.
I hooked up with Truth to meet up with Marquel and Malik for some equipment that I knew that we were going to use. They were in town because Lottie wanted to visit Madison. Kareem and Kyson rode with us to the Center to go back with them. Their mothers were worried about the shit that was going on and didn’t want their children to get hurt. Instead of arguing with them, Kymani and Kymel sent them home. We walked into the Center and saw the layout.
“What’s up fam?” Marquel greeted and dapped me off. Malik was uncovering the other two tables that held grenades and missiles.
“Man, where the fuck did you get this? I used that back in Afghanistan with my unit,” Truth asked while picking up a video guided missile.
“That was at the house when you came to visit before you came out here. I wanted to show it to you, but you were out of it,” Malik told him and revealed more military weapons for him. Truth ass was smiling like he was child at the toy store. Marquel handed me the bag of weapons that I ordered. I took some blades and extra shit of the table that I knew that Mason and Madison were going to love. Truth had made a bag for himself. He was looking at some other heavy shit when his phone rang. He walked outside to answer it.
“Do y’all need help?” Marquel asked. I shook my head and picked up the extra bag.
“We good. Smoke and Ghost are loose and behind them are the original Elites. You know that they fucked up,” I replied. Malik whistled and shook his head.
“What be in these niggas’ head when they fucking with y’all?” he asked.
“I don’t know, but shit is about to get real,” I said. We talked a little more before leaving. Truth was pacing back and forth on the phone. I loaded the truck up and jumped in the driver’s side. When he was finished with the call, he got in and slammed the door.
“Say, bruh. Don’t be slamming my shit like that, nigga,” I told him. Truth looked at me and opened the door to slam it again. I didn’t know how him and Madison was going to work out. She was going to kill that nigga for real. “What’s wrong with you?”
“I found out that my mother’s husband set that shit up with my unit being killed. The promotion that they were going to give me was the job he has now. The nigga didn’t want me with his shit, so he killed my fucking people. Hoe ass nigga,” Truth was breathing fire out of his nose. “I gotta go meet up with my CO tomorrow. That means I gotta leave tonight,” he finished. I knew that he didn’t want to leave Madison after everything that happened with her. But if he didn’t show up, they were going to charge him with murder. I told him that I was going to watch over her while he was gone. I dropped him off at Madison house and headed to the warehouse under Mason’s apartment to unload the hardware.
My phone began to ring while I was on the interstate. I answered it hoping that DJ had some news for me.
“What you got for me?” I asked.
“You need to come to my house, now,” DJ answered all seriously.
“On the way,” I told him and took the next exit. I didn’t know what to expect when I walked in DJ’s condo. Like Dex, he had computer screens everywhere. Security cameras on all of our properties were seen in some of the video feed. DJ had a long table in his living area with papers and folders on them. The screens on the left side of the wall had pictures of Nick and his siblings with another man above it. I didn’t recognize him, which made all that shit confusing. I looked over at DJ, and he was sitting in the chair with his face on the computer. My cousin Tylee walked in with her long button-down dress on with a small black vest and ankle boots.
“Hey JoJo,” her small voice said. I opened my arms out to my little cousin and picked her up. At the age of 19, she was attending Harvard University on a full scholarship. I hated bothering her because I knew that she was busy with her studies. She didn’t care. If we ever needed something, she would stop what she was doing and did whatever was told.
“Hey, you. How is school going?” I asked her.
“Pretty easy. You know us Davis’ can get through anything, including the classes at Harvard,” she joked but got serious. I looked at her and then back at DJ. Tylee looked as if she didn’t want to be the barrier of bad news.
“DJ, what’s up, man?” I asked him.
“We are waiting on one more person before I can explain this crazy shit to you. I was about to call Mason, but I thought that you wanted to hear this first,” he said. The front door opened up behind me, and Dexter walked in looking like a soccer dad.
“Damn, boy. You look more and more like your father,” he said and walked past me. Dexter looked up at the screen and shook his head, “Muthafucker.”
“Okay,” I dragged, waiting for them to get on with the shit.
“Nick Costa, real name is Nicholas Costa Domingo. His mother was from Portugal and he used her maiden name because his father’s name gave him no luck with opening businesses. Nicholas is from Mexico. His father’s family, the Domingos, used to sell girls to the U.S. Senators. When they didn’t pay, they sent some Seals to take him down — Uncle Jason’s Seal team. They caught him and sent him to jail where he died,” DJ explained. Dexter pointed to the man above Nick.
“That is Luis Domingo, the son of Nicholas Domingo. He came after Madison and Mason when they were kids. They fucked him up and buried him on their property in Virginia. Mason told him that he and Madison were going to live the life that his children could have. A one with a father. But because of his vengeance, his death will be the reason that his children will come after them. And when they did, they will be ready to send them to him. Well, I hope that they are ready,” Dexter said.
“Oh shit,” I copied Dexter.
“Exactly,” Dexter said.
“That is not the only problem. Tylee and I blocked out all the frequencies that were surrounding that phone call. We got a match on the voice that was on the other line,” DJ said and played the sound.
Ten
Beauty
Mason had been sticking close to me ever since I told him of my brother’s plan. I know that some of you were saying that I was stupid for ratting my brother out. I didn’t think that I was stupid for saving a man that saved me from a situation that my family put me in. I didn’t believe that shit. I wanted to ask why but there wasn’t a reason that would have been good enough for the decision they made. When Mason left, I called my mother to see if she knew about anything.
“Hello,” my mada answered sounding draine
d. I haven’t talked to anyone after I left the apartment with Mason. He threw away my phone and replaced it with a burner. Mason didn’t want anyone to know my location. I asked him why often, but he didn’t answer. He gave me a death stare that had me not asking any more questions. I sat down on one of the love seats that was sitting in front of the fire. I took a deep breath and answered my mada, knowing that I was about to get an earful.
“Hi mada,” I answered her.
“Beauty weh you? Yuh bredda an fada ave been looking all ova fi yuh. Yuh had wi worry sick,” Mada screamed over the phone.
“Fada dung here? Wen him did arrived?” I was surprised. My father didn’t leave the island for anything.
“Him come dung there looking fi yuh yuh haffi call dem now. Beauty yuh fada worry dat yuh inna danga. Di man dat save yuh now afta di fambly. Yuh need fi cum back home weh wi cya protect,” Mada ranted.
“Dem tell yuh wah mada? Wah mek wud him be afta di fambly,” I asked to see what they told her. I knew that Juice didn’t tell them the truth.
“Sup'm bout Juice nuh letting him ave yuh. Juice say dat di man feel disrespected an wa kill him an yuh fada,” she told me the story that Juice came up with. I shook my head and laughed.
“He is not like that Mada. He asked Juice if it was okay for us to date and Juice gave him the permission. Juice had lied to you both. He doesn’t want to kill them for that. Juice hired someone to kill his family. When he started digging some more, he found out that Juice and Fada set up the kidnapping to get the Elites attention. Fada wanted to destroy them for reasons that may go unknown,” I told her.
“Dat a lie. Yuh wi nuh tek di sides gainst yuh fambly!” she yelled again.
“Family,” I laughed, “You call that family. My bredda and fada put me in danger for their own personal gain, and you want me to side with them against my heart.”
“Yuh heart. Yuh serious yuh luv di man dat threatened death pan fambly,” she was shocked to hear.
“I would ask you to believe in what I say, but I already know that it is not possible,” I said. There was silence on the other end of the phone. “Mada,” I was reaching for a response. I heard her sigh before she spoke.