Stories and Poems

The Owner of My Soul Vol 1: Chapter VII and Chapter VIII

CHAPTER VII

THE HIT




I came home carrying Tierra in my arms. She was sleep on my shoulder. I took her clothes off and put her pajamas on. I tucked her in and gave her a kiss.
“I kept my promise, sweetie. It’s goin to be you and me for now on.”
I kissed her again and turned her light off. I went into my room and stared at the ceiling. I looked ova at my alarm clock. It was 2 am. My phone rang which made me wanna cry cuz I was so half way sleep.
“Yea.” I answered.
“Kenny, it’s Sydney. I didn’t wake you did I?” She asked.
“Nah, you’re good. What it is?”
“I can’t sleep. I was wonderin if you can join me in a walk at Mid-Town Park.”
“Yea, I’ll be there.”
“Thanks.” She hung up.
I put my shoes back on and left. I got in the car and drove to MTP. I saw her sitting on a bench.
“May I join you?”
“Please.” I sat down next to her.
“How you holdin up?” I asked.
“I was goin to ask you the same thing.”
“I am what I am.”
“Yea.” She looked up at the sky and saw a full moon.  “It’s beautiful.” I looked up.
“Yea.”
“Life is funny. I neva thought I’d find myself in situations like the ones I’ve been in.”
“I know what ya sayin. I’m 22 years old and already have a divorce on my hands.”
“Don’t you see any type of good in that?”
“I learned a lot.” I looked up at the stars. “I guess I could safely say that I wouldn’t trade in my last 5 years for anything. I think it made me a better person, a better lover, a better man, and very knowledgeable. Monique was the love of my life. Now she’s just a figment of my imagination.”
“So are you goin back to your old ways completely?”
“I think so.”
“Kenny, you’re a great man. You’re goin to make a woman happier than you made Monique. She is really hurting because she’s realizing what she had and misses it.”
“Yea, you’re prolly right. I look at Latoya and Chris, Dre and Yvonne, Beyon…”
“Nah, they divorced two days afta you blacked out.”
“What?”
“Yep. She didn’t get a dime and he won custody of Karla.”
“Latoya was his lawyer?”
“You know dis.”
“I must have missed quite a bit.” I looked across the street and saw a man getting head from a prostitute. It made me smile.
“How’d you get your reputation? When I was hea, the only reputation you had was beatin niggaz down that messed wit me. How’d you establish your sex rep?”
“I’on know exactly. When I was 12, I started messin wit dis 17 yr old.” I thought about it. “As a matta fact that was not too long afta you left.”
“Hol up, how da hell did you pull a 17 yr old?”
“Game baby.”
“Whateva. Anyway, please, proceed.”
“I smoothed her into comin through, and smoothed her into havin sex. The day I lost my virginity…..to a teenager. I was already sexually active before that.” I started smiling. “I only lasted two hours. It was the best hours of her life. This girl was no virgin. When I was done, she had a serious limp. Lasted for bout 2 weeks. It got around the entire high school the next day and made its way through middle school. Girls either believe it or didn’t. Those that didn’t, I made believers out of them. Those that did, well, had proof too. Next thing you know, I’m known for my sexual fulfillment.”
“How big were you at that age?”
“9.”
“Seriously?”
“Yea. I find it shocking myself.”
“What about now?”
“I may have been zoned out, but I know you saw me naked. You tell me.”
“Honestly, I didn’t pay attention. I tried to respect your privacy.”
“Well, I’m not tellin ya. Not yet.” I told her.
“That’s fine. So how many people have you had sex wit?”
“A lot. Remember, I was a porno star for a few months. In 3 months, I made 19 movies. I’m the best.”
“You’re too much.”
“That I am.”
“Not including your porno career, how many?”
“Iight, let me count….1…2……..3…..4…5…6…768 different girls. Most likely more than that.”
“Are you serious? Dat’s too many.”
“I agree. I mean, I’ve traveled to a lot of places. I had some here, LA, New Orleans, Miami, Houston, D.C, Paris, Cairo, Tokyo, Moscow, London, Hong Kong, Seoul, Sydney…” I smiled as I said that. She did too. “I’ve been to so many places, I had a lot of different women. All at the tender age of 22.”
“Be honest wit me. Have you cheated on Monique more than you admitted?”
“Well, I was ova seas on tour last year, and we got into a big fight about somethin. She called me a name that I didn’t appreciate so I hung up on her and found the finest 3 ladies in the hotel. Didn’t take me long, but afta I found them, I did what I had to do. I felt better and was able to talk to Monique again.”
“What did she say?” She asked. I whispered it into her ear. “That’s mean.”
“Ya know.”
“Was that the only time?”
“Nah, there’s 3 otha times. I mean, I wouldn’t cheat if she’d act right. I’m glad I did though.”
“I’m a virgin compared to you.” She stated.
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve had sex with 4 different men my whole life. I can’t say I’m anywhere as experienced as you. Anyway, the fourth guy I’ve been with had more goin for him. He seemed a lot more determined to be someone and to do things.” She started to smile. “I remember this one time I told him about you and the things we used to do. He got so jealous of our relationship. I found it the cutest thing. He always bet against you, which was stupid, but he did. I mean he just hated you with a passion.” She swayed her hair back as the wind started to blow. “I guess you can say I kinda pushed him away when I brought you up.”
“Sorry.” I started to laugh, as did she.
“We used to get in so many fights though.”
“About what?”
“The dumbest things imaginable. We got into an argument about fruit one time. I mean he became insecure, intolerable, and just an all around ass hole.”
“Why are you tellin me this?”
“I’m not perfect, but I try to be. I’m neva like anyone else, I’m just me. What is it about me that no one likes?” She started to cry.
“Come on, Sid, you have a lot goin for yourself.”
“I haven’t had a decent man since the break up. It’s like no one wants me. No one cares about me.”
“Where is all this comin from?” I asked.
“It’s been bottled inside me for a long time. I…” She cried into her hands. I hugged her and tried to calm her down.
“Listen to me. There is someone out there for you. One day, he will meet you and sweep you off your feet. You have a lot goin for yourself. You’re smart, gorgeous, sexy, funny, and one of the best dressers I’ve seen since I last looked in the mirror.” She laughed. “A lot of people care about you. Especially me.” She looked up at me. I looked into her beautiful eyes. I’m not sure who initiated it, but the next thing that happened, we were kissing. We were kissing for a good lil minute. Then I guess she realized what she was doin.
“I’m sorry, I have to go.” She got up and walked away. I didn’t have a clue what just happened. I tried to figure it out as I walked to my car. Did I just kiss my best friend or did she just kiss me? I got in the car and drove home.
When I got in my room, before I lied down, I heard a knock at my door. I opened it and saw Sydney looking at me.
“I can’t run away from my fears.” She stated.
“What fears?”
“The fear of you rejecting me.”
“Huh?” She came in and closed the door. She started to kiss me. I kissed her back.
“Kenny, I came back for one reason and one reason only. I didn’t want to be away from you anymore. I had a chip on my shoulder that wouldn’t go away. My thoughts and prayers have been answered. I’ve been in denial for a long time, but I’m accepting it now.”
Sydney, what are you sayin to me?”
“I love you, Kenny. I was scared to admit it, but that’s why I came back. I need you.” Tears came down her face. “I need you.”
I wiped her tears and kissed her. I then carried her to the bedroom as I was kissing her. I lied her down and made love to her, killing the demon that awakened in my soul.

The next morning, I woke up and Sydney was gone. Tierra came in my room and lied in the bed with me.
“Daddy, can we go to the park today? JET and Damion are goin.”
“Yea, we can go.” She had a smile from ear to ear. “What time were they goin?”
“At 3.”
“Iight.” I heard a knock at the door. “You wanna get that?” Tierra looked at me.
“Not really.”
“Fair enough.” I got up and answered the door. “What’s goin on, playa?” Will came in and gave me dap.
“Shit. What’s poppin, pimp?”
“Ain’t nuttin but a thang.” He sat on the couch and I sat in my chair. “So what brings you up hea?”
“Somethin strange happened last night.”
“You’re tellin me.” I said, thinking bout my night.
“I’m still tryin to figure it out.” He continued.
“Me too.”
“Aye, one story at a time.”
“My bad.”
“Me and Candace went to a concert last night... jazz concert to be specific. We then came back here to talk. We started talkin and next thing I know, she’s on top of me ridin me.”
As he said that, I looked at him as if I was surprised. It didn’t feel surprising, more unbelievable than that.
“Funny. Sydney called me last night to meet her in the park. We sat on the bench and started talkin. She then poured her heart out to me. I calmed her down the best I could, next thing I know I’m lockin lips wit her. She notices it befo me and stops. I came back here and befo I can even get undressed, she appears at my door. Next thing I know, she tells me how she feels about me and we ended up between the sheets.”
“Now that’s crazy.” Will commented.
“By the way, what did you and Beyonce get a divorce over?” He pulled his phone out and showed me a video.
“The bad part was that Karla was in the otha room.”
“What day was this? Where were you?”
“This was the day you and I went to West Cleveland for a party, a couple months ago. Remember when I left for like an hour? This is why.”
“Damn, B, sorry to hear that.”
“I ain’t stressing it. I went through my lil period just like you. You didn’t notice because it was when you went out on that business trip to Rome. I had Karla stay with Ma and just zoned out fo like a week. Chris and Dre helped me just like I helped you.” He started laughin. “I ended up just like you did. I had sex wit girls left and right.”
“Damn, we’re too much alike.” I said. I looked at my phone and back at Will. “So what we gon do?”
“Tell em how we feel.”
“How do we feel?” I asked him.
“We gotta figure that out.” We both lied back and thought about it.
“Interesting.”
“Very.” I then heard a knock on my door. I looked at my monitor.
Sydney.” I said, slightly overjoyed.
“I guess I better go.” We got up. I opened the door. “Hey Sydney.” Will said as he was walkin out. “You look good.”
“Thanks, Will.” She said.
“Aye, B, you goin to the park wit Karla, ri?” I asked him.
“Fa sho, bout 1500.”
“It’s on. I’ll see you den.”
“It’s on.” He got on the elevator and headed back to his floor.
“Please, come in.” I told Sydney. She came in, folded her arms across her chest and looked at me.
“Kenny, I don’t know how to say this, so I’m just goin to say it. Last night, things really got out of hand. I let my emotions get the best of me.”
“What are you sayin? Are you havin regrets? Is er’thang you said a lie?” I asked.
“No, I’m more than happy bout how things turned out. It was the absolute best experience of my life. Everything I told you is the truth. The thing is I don’t think you share the same feelings…….do you?” I stood there and thought about it. I wanted to tell her the truth.
“I’m sorry, I can’t say I do.” She didn’t cry, but her eyes watered up real good like.
“I don’t want our relationship to change.”
“Me neither.” I agreed.
“I have to go.” She walked to the door and left. I stood there, confused. I heard Tierra call for me. I went to my room to attend to her.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“I got lonely.” She said.
“I’m sorry, lil bit.” I sat on the bed. “Whatcha watchin?”
“Last Samurai.”
“Good choice.” I lied down and watched the movie with her. She got up and lied down on my chest. The one person I can count on not to leave me. “Netta? Promise me somethin.”
“Anything.”
“No matta what, when you grow up and marry some guy that treats you good…….you won’t forget about me.”
“Promise.”
“That’s my girl.”
“I plan on returnin the favor.”
“Whatcha talkin bout?”
“When I grow up and you get old, I’ll take care of you. If my husband has a problem wit it, then he’s gone.” I laughed.
“You sound like Sydney.”
“Who’s Sydney?”
“You met her at the hospital that one day. I grew up wit her. She’s my best friend.”
“Daddy, I don’t mean to be all in yo business, but I think y’all may be more.”
“Is that right? You’re 4 yrs old, how would you know that?”
“I don’t know. You’re my 22 yr old father. How would I know that?”
“I guess my talents rubbed off on you.”
“Are you in love with her?”
“Nooooo!!!!”
“Really?” She looked up at me and made a funny face.
“Maybe. I don’t know.” I replied.
“Are you goin to tell her?”
“I told her no when she asked cuz I didn’t want to endanger her.”
“Huh?”
“Listen to me good. Somethin is bout to happen real soon. I’mma have to pull you out of school for a while.”
“Am I in danger?” She asked.
“I neva lied to you so I’m not goin to start now. You may be in danger.” I looked at my watch. “Don’t worry, I won’t leave you alone.”
“I feel safe.” She lied her head back down.
“You are safe. I won’t let anyone hurt you.”
I believed completely that someone was goin to try and hurt me. Someone hired by Mr. Williams since I hurt his daughter, he might try to hurt mine. His wish may have come true, but he wanted more than just us to divorce. He wanted her to take my life from under me. If she won, she’d have 50% of everything I own. SJ Enterprise is broken 50/50 between Dad and Uncle Tevin. Johnson Corp. is broken down 50-25-25. Dad owns 50%, Ma and myself own 25%. This would mean that if Monique was to get half of everything, she would have 12.5% of my ownership, giving the 12.5% of Johnson Corp.’s value and a say in everything. I have reason to believe that Mr. Williams was goin for that the entire time. Since that failed, he’s goin to plan B. He betta not try anything stupid. Until I know it’s safe, Tierra will stay under my watch and Sydney can’t be anywhere near me.
At 1500, I took Tierra to the park like I promised. The boys and Karla were also there. Chris, Dre, Will, and myself watched them as we sat down and drank.
“You remember those feelings I used to get?” I asked Will.
“How can I forget? Those feelings are why we’re still alive.”
“True.” I paused for a moment. “They’re startin to come back.”
“How so?”
“I think Mr. Williams may plan on a way to hurt me.”
“I was thinking that too. We did kinda hurt his daughters. I already pulled Karla outta school. I figured she’ll stay wit me til this thang blows ova.”
“I always said we think alike.” I looked around and noticed a man eyeing my daughter. He noticed me lookin and slowly walked away. I had my hand on my glock ready to pull as he walked away.
“This can get hostile real quick.” Will looked and saw no one.
“Look,” Chris came in, “y’all need to relax. Basketball season is comin up, so y’all need to concentrate on that.
“Point taken.” Will said.
“I peeped the schedule out.” Dre said. “Guess who y’all play, first?”
San Antonio.” I replied. “Championship rematch.”
“Did y’all check the polls?” Chris asked. We shook our heads. “A poll was taken on who would be the next champion. Cincinnati was first.”
“Y’all were fourth behind San Antonio and Pittsburg.” Dre added. I looked at Will and we smiled.
“I love the NBA.” I proclaimed.
“How’s yo game lookin?” Dre asked.
“Not too good, but I’ll handle.” I replied.
“What’s not too good?”
“If I take 100 shots from behind the arc, 95 will drop.”
“And you say that’s not good?”
“Not for me. My whole career I’ve been a 99.8% shooter from anywhere.” I finished my beer and grabbed anotha. “Don’t strut, fellas, I’ll be ready.”
“As shall I.” Will added. We continued watching the kids as they had the time of their lives.
“Brings back memories.” Chris commented.
“No doubt.” I agreed. “I remember we used to have ice fights.”
“Awww yeah,” Will remembered, “we used to shoot ice outta guns. I had that big ass rocket launcher and capped Dre in the back.” We all laughed. “He had that big ass bruise on his back fo like 3 weeks.” We were dyin laughin.
“I remember,” I began, “when Chris poked his head around the corner and I shot him in the eye. Dat shit was black fo like 2 weeks.” We were crackin up.
“Good times. I remember when we had that wrestling ring and used to act like the WWE. We had the entire neighborhood participate, made belts and er’thang.” Chris reminisced.
“I remember that classic Tag Team Championship match.” Will said.
“The best match ever.” I added.
“I think it was on TV.” Dre said. “We had the belts.”
“And we won them.” Will stated. “Man was that fun, painful and bloody.”
“Sho nuff.” We sat there reminiscin. We did so much growin up. I looked at the kids and was glad they will also have life-long friends like us.
It was three afta 8 when we walked in the room. We had gone to McDonald’s first and were bout to watch I, Robot. We sat on the couch and ate. I was halfway paying attention to the movie and concerned about the surroundings. At about 1 am, Tierra was sleep. I lied her down in her bed, tucked her in and went to my room. I lied down and stared at the ceiling. The light from outside lit my room. That’s when I saw a figure pass by. I saw anotha shadow pass by the door. I grabbed two glocks from under my pillow. I loaded em as quietly as possible and snuck to the door. I slowly opened the door and looked at Tierra’s room. Her door was open. I looked at my watch…..it’s only been 20 minutes since I lied her down so I knew she wasn’t awake. I went into the hallway and snuck to Tierra’s door. I looked into her room and saw the man that was in the park. He was putting a silencer on his gun. My human “spidey sense” went off and I rolled into the bathroom. Anotha guy came from my guest room. I looked at my security monitor and noticed two guys were waiting outside my door. I looked at my security status and noticed it was deactivated. Somethin didn’t add up. I looked at the rest of my cameras and saw two otha guys. That is six all together. I listened to the two in Tierra’s room as they discussed what they were goin to do.
“I don’t remember. Did he say kill her or take her?”
“I think it was kill.”
“Couldn’t be. He wouldn’t want us to kill his own granddaughter.” When I heard that, it echoed in my head like somethin out of a movie. I had to think of somethin. “Best thing to do is take her. If he wants her dead, we’ll kill her there. If not, at least he won’t kill us for killing her.”
“Good point.”
As they grabbed her blanket, I made my move. I ran in and hit the first person I came to. He hit the ground. I then hit the next person. I did it so quick, neitha saw it comin. I grabbed his gun, leaned out the room and shot the two runnin towards me. I headed to the living room and saw the otha two. One had a chain and the otha had a bat. They surrounded me, circling, ready to strike at any moment. The one with the bat (which I’ll now refer to as batboy and the otha one as chain boy) attacked first. He swung at my head; I ducked, he swung again and again; I dodged with normal quickness and stuck him in the jaw. Chain boy came up behind me and hit me with his fist wrapped with his chain. Batboy got up and hit me in the leg. I fell to my knee. He hit my back and chain boy hit me in the chest. I was on my face. I then heard chain boy take the chain off his hand. He swung it; I moved just in time. I did a leg sweep on chain boy; he hit the ground next to me; I kicked him in the face twice. I then stood up, kicked batboy in the jaw four times; made him drop his bat and beat him wit it. Chain boy came up to me and started choking me with his chain. I had my fingers in between the chain and my neck just enough to breathe a tad but not long.
I then heard a scream. The guys in there must have woken up. Tierra was in trouble, I didn’t have much time. I grabbed the bat wit my feet and hit chain boy with it. He let go just enough for me to lift him off the ground and flip him over my head. I snapped his neck as he tried to get up. Batboy started to get up. I picked the gun up and shot him in the head. I ran into Tierra’s room. She was putting up a good fight. Both men were scratched up pretty good. I tried to shoot em, but the gun was out of ammo (what type of person does a kidnapping with half a clip). They threw Tierra on the bed and came up to me. I ducked from the first punch thrown at me and kicked the otha guy. I put one guy in a headlock and snapped his neck. The one remaining looked scared for his life. Just not scared enough cuz he still chose to attack. Before he got a chance to swing, I hit him 4 times. He fell to the ground. I grabbed him by the throat, held him in the air, and slammed him against the wall.
“Tell your boss the next time he wants to pull somethin like this, have him do it himself.” I dropped him, put my foot to his head, pulled his arm and snapped his neck. 6 intruders; 6 dead. Tierra ran to me, crying. “You ok?” I asked her. She nodded. “Iight, come on.” I picked her up and heard sirens. I went to the door and opened the mansion front door. “Fifth floor gentlemen.” I told them through the intercom. When they came to my floor, I opened my door.
“Are you ok, Mr. Johnson?” The female officer asked me.
“Fine.” They came in and looked around.
“What happened?”
“I was bout to go to sleep, they came in tryin to take my daughter and I did what I had to do.” I sat on the couch as medical personal tended to my wounds.
“Do you have any idea who did this?”
“Mr. James Williams. He’s my ex-wife’s father.”
“Did you actually hear his name?”
“Nah, not exactly. One of the guys referred to him as Tierra’s grandfather. That leaves two possibilities, but my father wouldn’t dream of doin somethin like this.”
“Do you know how they got in?”
“Right through the front door. They turned my security system off.”
“How do they know how to do that?”
“From my ex.”
“Is she part of this too?”
“I DON’T KNOW!!! Someone just tried to kidnap my daughter! Instead of askin me questions, do somethin about it!”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Johnson, but I can’t do anything if there’s no evidence.”
“I’ll give you my security discs. Just get these bodies out my house and do your job!”
“Fair enough.”
She got up and did what I told her to do. I got the security discs from 0100-0130. When they left, it was about 230. Tierra was safely in my arms. She didn’t say a word. I turned the TV on in my room.
“Fa now until wheneva, I am not letting you out my sight.” I told her. “You’re sleepin in here til I deem necessary.” I lied her down in my bed. She lied on the pillow and watched TV. I went into the bathroom and washed my hands. My phone started ringing. “Answer that, Netta.” She grabbed the phone.
“Hello?” She answered.
“Tierra, this is your Uncle Will.”
“Hey Uncle Will.”
“Are you ok?”
“Yes. Daddy saved me.”
“Is he available?”
“I’on know, let me see.” She looked at me, “Daddy, are you available?”
“Yea, give me a minute.” I replied.
“He needs a minute.” She told Will.
“That’s coo. Whatcha doin?”
“Watchin Fresh Prince.”
“Good show.” I came and got the phone.
“Thank you, baby.” I said to Tierra. “What it is, Will?”
“What da hell happened?”
“Monique’s father hired some guys to kidnap Tierra.”
“How many?”
“6.”
“Damn. Chris and Dre aren’t home, Latoya and Yvonne went out somewhere with JET and Damion. I heard a lot of noise, checked my security monitor and saw you getting jumped by dem niggaz.”
“Well, thanks fo yo help.”
“Nah, pimp, it ain’t even like dat. Day hit me up too, B.”
“Say huh?”
“I was headin up and I heard Karla scream. I came out my room and got kicked in the jaw, banked wit brass knuckles and busted wit a nightstick.”
“How many?”
“5.”
“Is that why 911 came?”
“Yea, I needed em to take some bodies out my crib.”
“Is Karla iight?”
“Yea, she coo. Luckily I didn’t leave right away. I think their plan was to hit one afta the otha so when one of us help the otha, that would leave one child available. They thought I left already, so Karla was goin to be the lucky one. They noticed I was still hea so they ganged up on me.”
“Looks like we payin Mr. Williams a visit in the morning.”
“First thang.”
“What bothers me is why would Mo and Beyonce give them our security codes?”
“We’ll ask when we see them.” Will said. “I’m goin up dare at about 11.”
“Bet, I’ll be dare.”
“It’s on den.”
“Holla.” I hung up and lied down wit Tierra. “You iight?”
“Yes.”
“At least you put up a good fight.”
“I tried doin er’thang you taught me, but I couldn’t handle both of em.”
“You did good, baby girl. You took long enough for me to get to you.”
“I wanna learn how to fight like you.”
“Trust me, you will.”
As I lied there, I started thinking bout Sydney. I didn’t like the fact I lied to her, but I had to protect her. I looked at Tierra and noticed she was sleep. I smiled and kissed her forehead. I grabbed the remote to my security system and changed my codes. I lied next to her and wrapped my arm around her. The only way anyone was getting to her was under my dead body.

17 October 2107

The next morning, Tierra and I met up with Will and Karla at Mr. Williams’ crib. We got out the car and walked to the door.
“Element of surprise or casual?” I asked.
“Lil bit of both.” Will said. We rang the doorbell. Monique answered.
“Will, Kenny, what a surprise.” She had a big smile on her face. “Hey, sweetie.” She said as she gave Tierra a hug. “I’ve missed you.”
“I miss you too, Mommy.” Tierra replied.
“How’s my lil girl?”
“Fine.”
“That’s good.” She kissed Tierra again.
“Where’s your father?” I asked.
“In the office, why?”
“We need to speak to him.” Will replied.
“Come in.” We walked in. “Have a seat.” As we sat down, I looked at her stomach. It was still flat.
“Where’s the baby?” I asked.
“I got an abortion the same day the divorce finalized.”
“My bad, I did kinda kill the father.” I joked.
“Yes, you did.” She looked away from me and then back. “May I talk to you?”
“I’m here to talk to your father. I have nothin to discuss with you.”
“Me first, then I’ll get him.” I looked at Will.
“Go see what she wants, nigga, so we can do dis. I’ll watch the girls.” He said. I sighed and got up. We went upstairs to her room. She closed and locked her door.
“Kenny, I know that our marriage is ova, but that doesn’t mean you can’t allow me to see my daughter.” She began.
“You’re right. I’m sorry. Listen, when things calm down a bit, I’ll set things up wit you.”
“When what calms down?”
“I can’t explain right now, but if ya stick around, you’ll know soon enough.”
“Is that why you’re tryin to see my father?”
“Yep. I have reason to believe he’s the key.” I turned around and was bout to walk out.
“Kenny, wait.” I turned around. “That’s not the only reason I want to see you.”
“What’s on yo mind?”
“I’ve had two months to think about this. I want to start ova with you. Before you say anything, let me explain what happened. Yes, I did say I was pregnant, I did know it wasn’t yours, but I didn’t plan on keeping it.”
“Say huh?”
“I was goin to get an abortion days after….I think I had an appointment set up for that Thursday. I told you I was pregnant to make sure you wouldn’t leave me. When I had the abortion, I was goin to tell you I had a miscarriage to bring us closer.” I rose my eyebrow. “Understand that I was goin to do anything to make sure you didn’t leave me. ANYTHING!!! Yea, my plan backfired, and it got me here. I’ll neva be able to stop lovin you, missing you, or wanting you. I want us to start over….try at least a relationship again.” I looked and smiled.
“You are somethin else.” I started walkin towards her, still smiling. “You were goin to do all that just to keep me. You were goin to play wit my emotions like a toy.” I stopped smiling. “Your term is up with me. We are finished; done; through; nonexistent; extinct; and last but not least…….finished. The only time I wanna talk to you is pertaining to Tierra. Otha than that, I don’t want to know you exist.” I turned around and started to walk out again.
“Kenny?” She called. I stopped. “Please do me this last favor.”
“What?” I turned around and noticed she was naked.
“Please, for old time sake.” She lied on her back and spread her legs. I shook my head and sighed.
“You’re pathetic.” I slowly started walking towards her. “The thought of entering you makes my dick shrivel. I’m at a point where I can only imagine what you may have.” I was inches away from her. I leaned over her, standing between her legs, staring directly in her eyes. “We’re done. You had my dick for the last time. Enjoy your future ones.”
With that, I got up and immediately left. 
Downstairs, Will was educating Karla and Tierra.
“The one thing you got to remember is to NEVA point it at someone if you can’t see yourself killin that person.” He had a gun in hand. He was teaching the fundamentals.
“Have you ever shot someone before?” Tierra asked.
“More than I can say.”
“Have you been shot before?” Karla asked.
“More than I can say.”
“Does it hurt?”
“More than I can say.”
“Do you feel bad about shootin people?” Tierra asked.
“Not if they deserve it.”
“Do they?”
“Yep.” As he was talkin, Beyonce came downstairs.
“WILL!!! What are you doin? You don’t need to be showin her that.” She said.
“Don’t worry bout us, we got this.” Mr. Williams finally showed himself as he came out the kitchen.
“Ah my former son-in-law. How’s it goin? Did you have a good night?” He asked. Will stood up, still holdin his gun.
“Fabulous. Yourself?”
“Couldn’t sleep, been thinking bout too many things.” He approached Will a lil more, but didn’t get too close. “What brings you here?”
“I’m glad you ask.” I said as I came downstairs.
“Kenny, you’ve come too.”
“Of course, afta all, I’m involved as well.” I looked at Will and saw the gun. “Aye, dawg, put that up befo you actually use it.”
“Good idea.” He put it up without taking his eyes off Mr. Williams.
“Looks like y’all have some things on y’all mind, so let’s step into my office.”
“Nah, we’re good.” Will said.
“Ok, Beyonce and Monique can take the girls.”
“Nah, they’re good.” I said. “We no longer trust you, so we’re goin to have this convo here and now.”
“That’s fine, what’s on yo mind?”
“What are you goin to accomplish kidnapping our daughters?” Will asked. Mr. Williams laughed.
“Excuse me?”
“Did he stutter? We know you had somethin to do wit it.” I stated.
“You’ve honestly lost yo mind.”
“Did we?” We stared him down.
“I think it’s time for y’all to leave.” Beyonce opened the door.
“That’s coo.” I said. “But ya know what, just in case, here’s a lil somethin for ya.” Will gave him a gut check as I stuck him in the jaw.
“Try dat shit again, nigga, and you really gon catch one.” Will said. He picked up Karla, I picked up Tierra. Mr. Williams was on the ground coughin. We walked out the house and to the car. “Now what?”
“We wait. He’s not goin to wait long befo tryin again.”
We got in our cars and headed home. We went up to the gym to shoot around. Basketball season is next month, so we had to get in shape. Tierra and Karla shot around wit us.
“I’m thinking bout callin Sydney and tellin her the truth.” I stated.
“I feel ya. I thought about callin Candace myself.” Will replied.
“I’m callin her tonight.”
“Daddy?” Tierra called.
“Yes, princess.”
“You said you were goin to Da Zone to get some more games.”
“Damn, you’re right. Iight, let’s go now.” I looked at Will. “Stayin or goin?”
“Goin.”
We stopped and went back to the rides. I drove to Da Zone. I held Tierra’s hand as we went to the game section.
“Find what you want.” I told her. She picked out 8 games, 6 computer games. “While we’re here, let’s go grocery shopping.”
“May I go bathroom first?” She asked.
“Yea.”
We walked into the Family bathroom. She went into a stall. I used a urinal, but kept a close eye on the stall. I finished, washed my hands and continued to wait. As I waited, 6 guys came in. I looked at em and knew they were packin. I immediately thought out my action. 6 grown ass men in a Family bathroom is a dead giveaway. I heard Tierra flush. I acted normal. She came out the stall. I picked her up to help her wash her hands.
“This is the cleanest public bathroom I’ve seen.” She stated.
“I do own the place, I make sure of it.” I set her down and got her some paper towels. “Ready?”
“Uh-huh.”
I was bout to take her hand and in an instant, I whipped my gun out, shot the first guy comin at me. I shot two more before being disarmed. One of the guys was as big as Dre. He had me in a headlock. The otha two alternated turns hitting me in the stomach. I refused to be beaten, especially in front of my daughter. I kicked them both in the stomach and rammed the big guy into the wall. I stepped on one guy’s throat and kicked the side of his head as hard as I could…..dead. I took out my knife and stabbed anotha guy. Then I heard a gunshot. I turned around and saw the big guy with a bullet in his head. He had a gun in hand. I turned and saw Tierra holding my gun. Shocked, I slowly approached Tierra, tryin not to startle her.
“Netta?” I called. “Princess?” She was out of it.
Her breathing was deep. I approached her and took the gun from her. She hugged me instantly, crying.
“It’s okay, baby girl. Let’s go.” I said, trying to calm her.
I picked her up, grabbed our bag, and went straight to the store office.
“Mr. Johnson, we weren’t expectin to see you today.” The store manager said.
“I wasn’t planning on comin. Look, I have a situation in the front store Family bathroom. There are 6 dead men in their.
“DEAD!!!” He yelled.
“Keep your voice down.”
“Sorry, sir, do you want me to call security to find the perps?”
“No need. I’m the one that killed them.”
“What?”
“Out of self defense. I need you to bump security up in this place. Around the clock. Do whateva it takes. I don’t care how much it costs.”
“Yes, sir, I’ll do it right away.”
“Call the police and let em know so they can get the bodies out the bathroom. I locked it now, so no one can get in.”
“Is there anything I shouldn’t tell em?”
“Tell em er’thang I told you. They’ll believe you.”
“Yes, sir, I’m on it.”
“Good man, I know I can count on you.”
I left the office, grabbed a shopping cart, put Tierra in it, and started shopping. I still needed to get groceries, so I wasn’t gon let dis stop me. I called Will to see where he’s at. No one answered. I waited til he called back. I looked at Tierra.
“You ok?”
“Am I goin to hell?” She asked. “I don’t want to go to hell.”
“No, you’re not goin to hell. You did what you had to do. You saved my life.”
“But I killed him.”
“Better him than us. If you didn’t, he would have killed me and then you. My whole thing is how’d you do it?”
“I don’t know. I saw the man, saw what he had in his hand and knew what he was goin to do. Then I blacked out.”
“Sometimes I forget how old you are.” I said. I couldn’t help but notice how troubled she looked.
“Daddy, I’m scared.”
“So am I, princess.”
“You can’t be scared. You’re not scared of anything.”
“I’m scared of very few thangs. All pertaining to you.”
“Like what?”
“Losing you, someone hurting you, or you getting hurt period. The biggest one of all is you hating me.”
“I can neva hate you.”
“That may be, but I’m still scared that it may happen.”
“It won’t Daddy. I promise.” She hugged me.
“I tell ya what, after we done hea, I’ll take you to your favorite restaurant. Sound good?” She nodded, still hugging me. She then saw somethin and stopped huggin me.
“I want that.” She pointed.
I looked at what she was pointing at. It was ice cream. I grabbed it since we finished shopping and went in line. That’s when I saw Will right in front of me.
“Aye, B, I tried hittin you up.” I said.
“Yea, I heard my phone rang, but I was too busy protectin my baby.” He replied.
“Told you day’ll try again.”
“I had Karla kick one of em right in da shlong……with the point of her shoe. He was bleeding like hell.”
“Well, I’d like to thank you for your gun lesson.”
“Why?”
“Tierra saved my life. Dis nigga da size of Dre was bout to straight blast my ass and out of nowhere, Tierra tips dis nigga in da fore.”
“I may have taught da funs, but she’s a natural shooter.”
“Runs in da fam.”
We paid for our stuff, headed back to da rides and went home. It was about 3 when we got back. I lied down fo a lil bit while Tierra played her new games.
“Are you goin to sleep, Daddy?” She asked me.
“Lil nap, why, wassup?”
“I’m scared someone will try to get me.”
“Don’t worry, da doors are locked, security system on, and I’m here. You know better than anyone that I’m a light sleeper.”
“True.”
“If you don’t feel safe, I’ll come closer to you.” I rolled ova, had her lean back against me as I wrapped my arm around her. “Better?”
“Yep.”
She continued playing. I fell asleep. She woke me up two hours later when she got up to go to the bathroom. I stayed awake til she came back then went back to sleep. She woke me up again two hours later.
“What’s wrong, Netta?” I asked, half sleep.
“I’m hungry. It’s 7:22.”
“Iight, let’s go.” I stretched and sat up. I went to the bathroom and washed up. That nap felt real good. I finished up and met Tierra at the door.
We got to C-Town Grill at 2000. We got a table and looked at the menu.
“Whatcha havin?” I asked Tierra.
“I want the same thing you want.”
“Iight, whateva you don’t finish, you can take, iight?” She nodded. “What drink do you want?”
“May I have a pop?”
“Yea.”
“I’ll take a……Pepsi Twist.”
“So shall I.”
“May I take your order sir?” This cute ass waitress said.
“Yea, we’ll both have a Big Steak platter.” I replied.
“Drinks?”
“Two Pepsi Twists.”
“Ok, I’ll be right back.”
“Thank you.”
As she turned around, I peeped her ass out. Nice! I then saw Sydney walkin wit some dude.
“Tierra, wait here for a minute. If anyone makes an attempt, whistle. Do you know how?” I asked.
“No, but I brought a whistle.” She said, showing me her whistle. I smiled.
“That’s my girl.” I got up and approached Sydney. “Sid, where you been? I’ve been tryin to reach you.”
“Busy.” She looked at the guy she was wit. “I’d like to introduce my date. Alvin, this is Kenny, Kenny, this is Alvin.”
“Kenny, nice to meet you. Sydney has told me a lot about you.” He offered his hand.
“Wish I could say the same.” I shook his hand. He tried to squeeze the hell outta mine, but I showed him out. He then let go.
Sydney tells me y’all grew up together.” He said.
“Best friends.”
“Sorry to step between y’all, but I can’t resist this sexy woman.” He smiled and kissed Sydney on the cheek. “So, who are you here with?”
“The cutest, funniest, most adorable girl I’ve ever met.”
“I’m sure not more than Sydney.”
“Guaranteed.” I claimed.
“Well, let’s meet her.”
“You’re not worthy.”
“She must be hideous.” That pissed me off. I walked up to him and stared him in the eyes.
“If you ever in your life insult my daughter again….I will cut yo balls off and feed em to ya, patna….got me?” I stared him down.
“Gentlemen, please, Kenny, may I talk to you.” She pulled me to the side and I didn’t stop eyeing Alvin. “What’s wrong wit you?”
“I don’t trust him.”
“You neva trusted anyone I dated.”
“And to this day I haven’t been wrong. I got you out of a lot of shit.”
“I thank you for that, but now is different. I’m older and wiser.”
“I look at you and can tell you’re not happy with him.”
I looked where Alvin was and noticed he wasn’t there no mo. I looked towards Tierra and saw her still by herself. I switched places with Sydney so I could see my daughter without turning.
“Sorry, I need to keep an eye on Tierra. Please, continue.”
“Let me get this straight, you don’t love me, yet you don’t want me to date otha people? What sense does that make?”
“It’s not like that.”
“Whateva. I’m goin back to my date. Have a good night.”
Sydney.” She kept walkin back to her table.
I sighed and walked back to my table. Tierra was reading and drinking her Pepsi.
“Here you are, sir.” The waitress brought our food as I was sitting. “If you need ANYTHING, let me know.”
“Thanks.” I looked at Tierra. “Wanna lead the prayer?” She nodded. We held hands as she led the prayer. I was so proud of her as she said it beautifully. We began eating. “So, what are you reading?”
“This book you got me.”
“Is it good?”
“Yea, it’s funny.”
“Can you understand all the words?”
“Most.” She tried cutting her steak.
“Want me to do that for you?”
“I wanna be independent.” I laughed.
“You’re four years old, you don’t have to worry bout that fo a while.”
“True.” She handed me her plate. I cut her steak into strips.
“A1?”
“A1.” I poured some A1 sauce on it and gave her back the plate. I watched her as she put a piece in her mouth. “It’s good.”
“It’s a $20 steak, it should be good.” I joked.
“Daddy, am I spoiled?”
“Rotten.”
“How so?”
“Anything you want, you pretty much get.”
“I wanted a car, you haven’t gotten that for me.”
“Cuz by the time you’re 14 and licensed, there will be a different car you want.”
“What about a new computer?”
“What’s wrong with yo current one?”
“Nothin. I just wanna know if I can have a new one.”
“If you want.”
“Can I have a gun?”
“Yep.”
“Seriously?”
“Yep, I can give you this one.” As I grabbed the one on my hip.
“Nah, that’s ok.” I smiled.
“You may be spoiled, but you don’t act it; mainly since you’ve been growing up with Karla, JET and Damion.”
“I suppose.”
“Do you think you’re spoiled?” I asked her.
“Yes.”
“At least you’re honest.”
I finished eating just as my phone started ringing.
“What it is, what it be like?” I answered.
“Aye, B, I have a situation that I need your help on.” KJ said.
“Where you at?”
“I’m at yo crib. Will let me in. Me and Terrell is hea and it’s an emergency.”
“I’m at dinner wit my baby.”
“I understand that, but it is extremely important. Please, it deals with my fiancĂ©e.” I kinda froze up. What’s goin on wit Giovanni? “Please Kenny.”
“Iight, pimp, I’ll be dare in a minute.” I told him.
“Just to let ya know, Yvonne and Toya ain’t hea, so you may have to take Tierra to Ma.”
“Good idea.” I thought about it. “Damn, I forgot, Ma’s at work and Dad is in Detroit.” I looked around and made a quick decision. “Sydney is hea, I’ll have her watch her.”
“Bet, I’ll see ya when you get hea.”
“It’s on.” I hung up. “Hol up, baby girl.” I told Tierra. I called Sydney. “Sid, you still hea in the restaurant?” I asked as she answered.
“Yea, what do you want?”
“I have an emergency I have to deal with. KJ needs my help, so I was wondering if you can watch Tierra for me.”
“Yea, I can do that. For how long?”
“It may be a minute. I’ll pick her up from your place as soon as I can.”
“That’s fine.”
“Thanks, I owe you one.”
“Yes, you do. I’m at Section 3 table 9.”
“I’m on my way.”
“See ya in a minute.”
“It’s on.” I hung up wit her. “Sorry, Netta, I have to go.”
“Is somethin wrong?” She asked.
“Your Uncle KJ needs a lil assistance so I’m going to go help him. It may get a lil dangerous, so I’m goin to leave you with Sydney. Is that ok with you?”
“Yes.”
She picked up her plate and drink. I grabbed her jacket. We walked to Sydney’s table. She and Alvin seemed a lil close. I didn’t have time to hate.
“Thanks, Sid.” I kissed her cheek. “Be good, Tierra. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” I gave Tierra a hug and kiss. “Love you.”
“Love you too.”
I rushed out and got into my car. I drove straight to the crib. KJ, Terrell, Will, Chris, and Dre were in the main living room.
“So what’s goin on?” I asked.
“I’m not goin to beat around a bush.” KJ began. “Last night, my fiancĂ©e was kidnapped.”
“Say word?”
“This morning, Terrell’s fiancĂ©e was kidnapped.”
“How the hell….”
“Now the question is who took em?” Terrell said. “Will said that it may have been Mr. Williams.”
“I put my inheritance on it.” I agreed.
“But why? What does he want with her?” KJ asked.
“Has Giovanni told you anything about him?” I asked.
“He tried to blackmail her. She didn’t go into great detail.” He replied.
“Iight, best thing to do is start with Mr. Williams.” Terrell suggested.
“Tried that. He won’t talk.” Will stated. I sat on the couch and thought about it.
“What do we know?” I asked.
“They’ve come in flocks of 5 against me twice tryin to take Karla.” Will said.
“6 twice tryin to take Tierra.” I said.
“Vanni last night.” KJ added.
“Jasmine this morning.” Terrell added.
“Last attempt made was about 1 at Da Zone.” Will stated. We thought about it. “What exactly do they want; they being Mo, Beyonce and Mr. Williams?”
“What do our fiancĂ©es have to do with this?” Terrell asked.
“Maybe it’s a game of revenge.” Chris suggested. Then it hit me.
“SHIT!!! It’s a setup.” I jumped up. “Will, where’s Karla?”
“I left her with Candace. I ran into her earlier and asked her to watch her for me.”
“Look, Giovanni and Jasmine are bait…..reasons for us to be separated from our daughter. Being separated, that enhanced the chance of succeeding this time around. We were being watched from the get-go.” I grabbed my keys. “KJ, Chris, y’all wit me. We have to go to Sydney’s. Will….”
“I’m wit ya, kid. Rell and Dre are wit me.” Will stated.
I led the trio to Sydney’s. I ran into her apartment. Her door was wide open. A fight definitely took place. I walked in and noticed two dead bodies and Sydney. I rushed to her and knelt down.
“Good, she’s still breathing.” I said to KJ and Chris.
“She looks like she’s been chloroformed.” Chris suggested.
“I think so.” I agreed. I tried to wake her. She looked up at me.
“Kenny.” She slowly said.
“I’m here.” I picked her up and took her to her room. I lied her down on her bed, grabbed a wet washcloth, and wiped her face. “Are you ok?”
“No, you were right about Alvin.”
“What happened?”
“Tierra and I were watching TV….gettin to know each otha. That’s when he showed his true colors. 5 guys came into my house. As you can see, I was able to kill two of em. Alvin came up behind me and chloroformed me as the otha ones grabbed her.”
“Damn it.”
“I’m sorry, Kenny. I shoulda believed you.”
“This was unavoidable. I shoulda kept her wit me.”
“What are we goin to do?”
“Before we do anything, there’s somethin I need to get off my chest.”
“What’s on yo mind?”
“I owe you an apology.”
“For what?”
“Getting you involved. I’ve been tryin to avoid that since this started. I also want to apologize for lyin to you. I told you the feelings weren’t mutual.”
“What are you tellin me?”
Sydney, you mean so much to me. I care about you more than I can say. I couldn’t stop thinking bout you ever since you came back.” I took her hand into mine. “I love you.” Her eyes watered up as she smiled.
“I love you too.” She kissed me just as KJ and Chris came to the door. KJ cleared his throat to get our attention. We stopped kissing and looked at him.
“Sorry, big brotha, but we need to get goin.” He stated.
“You’re right.” I said. “I’ll be out there in a minute.” They went back to the living room. “I have to go.”
“I know.”
“I’mma take you to my house so you’ll be safe.”
“I’m goin wit you.” She declared.
“No, I don’t….”
“Kenny, don’t even try it. You know I’m more than capable of handling any situation thrown my way.” I sighed and smiled.
“Bonnie and Clyde.”
“Always ridin high.” She said, smiling.
“Iight.” We stood up and headed into the living room. “Let’s go. We have to do some thinking.”
“No need.” Sydney claimed. “They went to a warehouse on W 180th street.”
“How do you know that?” KJ asked.
“Just before I went out afta Alvin chloroformed me, I over heard their conversation. Alvin was asked by one of the otha guys what they were goin to do with Tierra. He told him they were takin her to the Old Site Warehouse with Giovanni and Jasmine. That’s where James was paying them.”
“Damn I love you.” I kissed her and took her hand. “L’eggo.” We rushed to the car. I called Will to let him know. “Aye, B, go down to da Old Site Warehouse on W 180th.”
“Iight. Is yo car loaded?”
“Aren’t all my rides loaded?” I asked him.
“My bad, dumb question.”
“Very much so. I’ll be at the warehouse in 5.”
“It’s on.” I hung up and gave Chris a key.
“Load us up.” I told him.
He pulled down the backseat to expose the trunk. He unlocked the truck floor and opened it to expose the 45 weapons I had under the trunk floor. He grabbed and loaded as many guns as he could.
When we got to the warehouse, we scoped the place out to see how many people were there. I had infrared goggles on and counted the bodies.
“Looks like 15.” I claimed.
I grabbed my two favorite guns: solid gold AMVs with the grim reaper engraved on the handle. I then saw Will parked on the corner of the Warehouse. We got out the car, met up wit Will, and leaned up against the warehouse.
“What’s our move?” Will asked.
“Let’s make a call first.” I pulled my phone out. I called Monique. “Hey, where you at ri now?” I asked her.
“I’m at my father’s house. Why?”
“Is your father there?”
“No.”
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know. What’s goin on?”
“You really have no idea what’s goin on?”
“None.” I put my hand over the phone and looked at Will.
“She really has no idea. I don’t think the girls are involved.” I told him. I got back on the phone. “Look, your father has been making attempts to kidnap our daughter.”
“What? That’s upsurd.”
“No, it’s very much true. Since you’re very close by, I need you to come down to the warehouse. It’s down the street from where you are.”
“I’m on my way.” She hung up.
“Let’s wait.” 2 minutes later, Monique and Beyonce showed up. “Damn, I didn’t think they were that close.” I told Will. They ran to us and crouched down along side of us.
“What’s goin on?” Beyonce whispered.
“They’re being held inside.” Will told em. “We want y’all to go in there and talk to em. Find out what the hell they’re tryin to accomplish.” They nodded. They got up and slowly walked to the entrance.
“Quick question.” Dre said. “What does this accomplish?”
“We’re curious.” I told him. “Now come on, let’s get a good seat.”
I looked up and saw the emergency ladder. I jumped up and grabbed it. I climbed up and went through the second floor door. Everyone else followed. We crouched down and listened in on everything. There were 15 guys just as I counted. Tierra, Karla, Giovanni, and Jasmine were tied up on a chair.
“I told you, all you had to do was destroy their reputation.” He yelled at Giovanni and Jasmine. “Yet, you failed to do that. Your so called conscience got in the way.”
He slapped both of them. Will held down Terrell and I held down KJ before they had a chance to even show emotion. Monique and Beyonce made their appearance.
“Daddy, what’s goin on?” Monique demanded.
“Monique…Beyonce….what are y’all doin here?” He asked.
“Why are our daughters tied up to a chair and in this warehouse?” Beyonce asked. “Why did you kidnap them?”
“I did this for you…..the both of you. Kenny and Will took the happiness away from you.”
“What are you talkin bout?”
“Those good for nuttin bastards took my daughters’ happiness. They don’t deserve to be around their own.”
“You’re not making any sense.” Monique said.
“Damn it, girl, use your brain. From the start, Kenny and Will didn’t deserve y’all. They were goin to do y’all wrong. I proved it by using these two.” He pointed to Giovanni and Jasmine.
“You blackmailed us.” Giovanni yelled.
“Shut up.” He told her. “Robert was the man for you. That boy had the brain to run the country.”
“Please, Robert was a kiss ass. He sucked up to you on an everyday basis.” Monique told him.
“That may be so, but he loved you. He treated you right.”
“Daddy, Robert and I were through. He cheated on me, remember?”
“But he was a reformed man when I brought him back. I know you still loved him. You proved that when you did what you did.”
“I neva regretted somethin so much.”
“That may be, but it still worked.”
“So, it’s true. You did set us up. You were behind the entire thing.”
“Well, I told you that I didn’t want you with him any more.”
“What’s THIS goin to prove though?”
“This is phase 1 of 2. Tierra and Karla are goin to be in your possession.”
“Will and Kenny won’t allow this. They both will be lookin for em.”
“For now, but not for long.”
“What are you talkin bout?” Beyonce said.
“Will and Kenny wouldn’t let their daughters be alone long enough to pull this off, so we had to kidnap them. They can’t witness the death of their fathers. I may be an evil person, but I’m not cruel.” They both gasped.
“You’re goin to kill Will and Kenny?” Beyonce asked.
“Yep. At midnight tonight, I will wage an attack on them. My men will show no mercy and waste no time. You don’t have to be onboard, but your daughter will be in your possession.”
“That may be, but they will hate you.” Monique said.
“Not necessarily. Tierra and Karla have been blindfolded and can’t hear anything while listening to music through headphones. They won’t know it’s me at all.” He walked away from them and up to Alvin. “If it wasn’t for you, I couldn’t have done this.”
“No problem, sir. All though I do wish I could have boned Sydney first.”
“I can arrange that.” They both laughed. I looked at Will.
“I think we have enough info. Shall we dance?” I asked him.
“I do believe this is my song.” Will said. “Chris, you know what to do.”
“I’m on it.” He pulled out his sniper rifle and aimed it at Mr. Williams. They saw the red dot on his forehead. Mr. Williams raised his hands.
“So you want to kill us.” Will said. We jumped down and walked towards em, not holding anything. “Here’s your chance.” All his men pulled guns out and pointed em at us.
“NO!” He yelled. “What do you want?”
“How much is your life worth to you?” I asked. I pulled out one of my guns and put it to his head. “How much is your life worth to you?”
“Please, don’t kill me. I did this for my daughter. As a father, you know you’d do anything to make your daughter happy.” I cocked it back. He started whining and crying. “Please.” I went in my pocket and pulled out a dog treat.
“Have a biscuit since you want to be a bitch.” I stuck it in his mouth and put my gun down. I looked at Sydney. She approached Alvin.
“So you wanted to hit this. Here’s your chance.”
She started teasing him, showing him cleavage. She started to lift his shirt and caress his body. He smiled and leaned in to kiss her. She pulled her gun out and shot him in the head. She turned towards Mr. Williams and threw her gun at him. He caught it and then dropped it.
“Congratulations, you just killed Alvin.” Will stated.
“See,” I began, “we know how to set people up too. Your first mistake was kidnapping, now it’s murder.”
I looked around and saw a man comin behind Will with a gun in hand. I pulled mine out and shot him in the head. It triggered the rest of Mr. Williams’ men to open fire on us. We started hiding behind the machines in the building. I looked to see where Sydney was. She was close by and unharmed. I slid a gun to her.
“Looks like this is goin to get a lil ugly.” Will yelled to me. I nodded and smiled. I looked up towards Chris and Dre to see why they ain’t sniped anybody. They were in a fistfight with a couple of people. They must have just got here because they weren’t part of the original 15.
“Well, time to get dirty.” I yelled back to Will.
I popped around the corner and started blastin. I took out three of his men. Will took out four otha ones. Sydney took out 3, and Candace took out 2. Everyone was out of ammo, leaving 1 for a regular fistfight. He swung at me; I ducked; Will kicked him in the jaw; Candace punched him in the jaw; Sydney kicked him in the jaw; then I snapped his neck. I approached the kidnapped girls and started untying them. Tierra gave me a big hug. I held her in my arms and just wanted to cry (I didn’t though just for the record). KJ and Terrell reunited with their fiancĂ©es. The cops finally showed up and arrested Mr. Williams.
“Before you go,” Will began, “we have one question to ask you.”
“How’d you get our security codes?” I asked him.
“Monique and Beyonce inadvertedly told me by giving me a hint.” He replied. “You used your wedding date.” He smiled. I stuck him in the jaw and Will gave him a gut check.
“Felt like dĂ©jĂ  vu, didn’t it?” I stated. The cops took him away. I picked Tierra up. She lied her head down on my shoulder. I looked at Monique. “To be honest, I thought you were part of this from the beginning.”
“No, neva. I may badly want to be with my daughter, but not that bad.”
“Call me tomorrow. We can arrange everything.” She nodded. I turned around and left.


CHAPTER VIII

AN ACT OF REVENGE




We got home and went up to my floor. I lied Tierra down in her bed. I felt good about leaving her alone in her room especially since we got Mr. Williams arrested. Sydney and I went out to the balcony. It was a full moon and clear sky.
“Crazy night.” She said. I smiled.
“I’ve seen worse.” I replied.
“How long are you allowing me to stay here?”
“However long you want.” I looked into Sydney’s eyes and smiled. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life.”
“As have I.”
“The worse mistake I could ever make was to let you go.”
“Kenny, being gone from you for 10 years was the absolute worse thing I’ve ever been through. I hated not being able to have fun with you like the old days.”
“Yea….we had some good times.”
“But we had a few bad ones too.” She added.
“I don’t remember any.” I claimed.
“Oh really?”
“Yea, really.” I said.
“What about that situation that occurred wit Quenton?”
“What about that situation that occurred wit Quenton?” I asked right back.
“You knew I liked him and I wanted to date him.”
“So.”
“You did all you could to make me hate him; like you didn’t want him to be with me.”
“True.”
“When I found out, we got into that big argument.”
“That led to practical jokes.”
“But you took it too far when you spread that rumor about me.”
 “Damn, forgot about dat.” I said. “I’m glad you didn’t hold a grudge for long.”
“Me too, but I, for one, learned a lot about you afta that.”
“Like what?”
“How you can be so self-centered, conceited, manipulative, and two-faced all at the same time.”
“Is that right? Well, I learned somethin bout you as well.”
“Like what?”
“You can be stubborn, difficult, triflin, and a real bitch.”
“Oh really?” She kinda took offense to that. “So I’m a bitch now?”
“You could be.” She stared at me and then turned her back to me. “But those qualities are why I made up wit you.”
“Say what?”
“I’d rather be on the spectator side than the receiving end. It made me feel more comfortable knowing anyone that got in yo face would be on day face.” She turned around.
“All your qualities kept me at ease every day when boys would hit on me.”
“Yea, well, you were well developed for an 11 year old.”
“You were too.” We smiled at each other. “So, are things comin to this,” she said softly and seductively, as she walked slowly towards me, “our relationship from best friends to lovers.”
“I know no reason why not.”  I replied also softly and seductively, as I walked towards her slowly.
“I wish I could say how long I’ve been wanting this.”
“I wish I can say how long I’ve been in denial.” We stopped as we stood right in front of each other.
“Everything feels so right.” She stopped smiling and looked ready for me to kiss her, but she kinda noticed somethin about me. “Why is your eye twitchin?”
“I’on know.” I thought about it and pulled out my gun and ran into Tierra’s room. She was sound asleep and no one was in there. I grabbed her coat and woke her up. “Netta, we have to go. Put this on.” She quickly woke up and put on her coat.
“What’s goin on?” Sydney asked me.
“Go in my closet. You’ll see a security vault. Enter your birthday day-month-year and load up er’thang in that black bag.” She nodded and ran into my room. I helped Tierra into some pants and picked her up. Sydney met up wit me in the living room. She had a big duffle bag of weapons.
“I’mma take a wild guess and say you sense somethin.”
“You have no idea. Call your sista and see if she’s here.” I went into my house control panel and turned off the lights to the entire perimeter.
“She’s downstairs.”
“Call Will, Dre…..nevamind.” I used the intercom system. “Aye, B, dis Kenny. This is an emergency message. Arm yourself and proceed to evacuate the crib. Evacuate NOW!!!” I turned off my intercom and proceeded to the kitchen.
“What are you doin?”
“Taking out my important valuables.” I informed her.
I opened anotha security vault and put all my important documents, emergency cash, and more weapons into a big duffle bag.
“Let’s go.” I directed.
As we proceeded to the door, it began. Bullets drilled the house as an attack staged against us began. I covered Sydney as she covered Tierra. The guns stopped for reloading purposes.
“Cha’mon. We’ll have to take the stairs.” I suggested.
She picked up Tierra. I had both duffel bags. We ran to the stairs and then down them. We stopped on Will’s floor. He was comin out his room as guns went off again, destroying the house even more. I low crawled to Will.
“Loaded?” I asked him.
“Always.” I low crawled to Sydney and Tierra.
“Go downstairs and wait for me. The password is “U AND I 4 LIFE”. It’s a bomb shelter, so you’ll be safe.” I kissed her and then Tierra. “We’ll be down soon.”
She nodded and went downstairs. There was anotha pause. Karla and Candace followed Sydney. Will and I went into his room and crouched against the wall by the balcony doors.
“Let’s see how many we’re dealin wit.” I looked at the security monitors for the entire perimeter. “Do a quick explosive search.” I suggested to Will.
“Way ahead of ya. There’s 20 all together.”
“Damn.” I looked to see where Chris and Dre were. “Chris and Dre are in the living room. All the girls and kids are in the shelter.”
“How many we’re dealin wit?” Will asked.
“A lot. I don’t have a clean count because they’re scattered.”
“Well just take em out; as many as possible.”
We stood up, opened the balcony door, crouched down, and started shooting between the balcony pillars. We were able to kill 5 before they started shooting again. Then I saw a man with a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.
“Shit!!!” We jumped up and dove into the house as he blew up the balcony. “These niggaz are serious.”
“We must of pissed someone off pretty badly.” I looked in my bag and grabbed a grenade. I threw it and blew up two of em.
“We better run.”
We got up and ran out the room. Another rocket came through, blowing a hole in the floor. We fell through and ended up on Chris’s floor. Coughing and wheezing, we moved some debris off us and pressed on. That’s when the house warning came on:

“Destruction Alert! Explosive Material Detected. 5 Minutes To Evacuate!”

“I’m glad that 5 mins exploding warning was installed. Yet you said we wouldn’t need it.” Will stated.
“Ya know.” They started shooting again. I could hear Chris and Dre return fire. “Iight, we got less than 5 to get out. We can’t take the elevator.”
“Good thing we’re at least on the second floor.” I looked up and noticed a grenade fall down, pin off.
“SHIT!!!” I grabbed the grenade and threw it with immediate quickness. It blew up in Damion’s room.
“We better go.” Will suggested.
“Right behind you.” We got up and were bout to go into the hallway, but as I poked my head out, I immediately backed up as I was shot at.
“They really tryin to get us.” Will stated. I loaded anotha clip in my AMV.
“They gon fail.” I peeped around the corner and started shooting. Will had my back and we both were killin em as we got to the stairs. I had my handheld infrared house scanner to see who was still in the house. “Chris and Dre are with everyone else.”
“Who’s inside?”
“10 people in the stairwell.” We heard footsteps comin up and down. “There they go.” I replied.
“You take top, I take bottom.” Will suggested.
“Bet.”
I went up stairs and started shooting. I stood on the first flight by the first floor door. One guy came from first floor and hit my arm wit a bat. I dropped my gun and held my arm. He swung with the bat. I ducked and kicked his leg, popping his kneecap out. I grabbed his bat and hit him in the head as hard as I could. I smashed his head into a thousand pieces, breaking the bat in the process. I picked my gun up and ran downstairs. Will was standing in front of what used to be the shelter entrance.
“They sealed the shelter.” I looked at my watch.
“Nah, that’s a house defense to ensure safety. We have less than a minute.”
We went back upstairs to the first floor. We hid by the door because guys were still in the house, but started to leave. We ran to the closet and grabbed coats, then ran into the kitchen. I unlocked the walk-in freezer. We got in, sealed it and huddled in the middle. As time expired, the house blew up. A metal beam broke through the roof of the freezer, cutting both of us pretty badly. We waited til it was quiet before trying to leave. I tried opening the freezer, but couldn’t. It was being blocked by debris.
“Slight problem?” Will asked.
“Just a slight.”
“Any C4 in yo bag?”
“Yea, but it won’t do no good. This thing is solid. Nothin can blow it up; outside or in.”
“Damn, I guess we’re chillin til the othas move that debris out the way.” We looked around and saw the metal beam sticking out the roof. We pulled it all the way through. The hole wasn’t big enough to climb through, but it was big enough to put C4 through. “Hopefully my aim is good enough.”
“What’s the plan?”
“Well, I’mma throw this C4 through that hole and hopefully get it to the front door.”
“Worth a try.”
He threw a C4 through the hole. We stepped back from the door. I detonated it. I tried to open the door. Missed. He tried again. I detonated that one. This time I was able to open the door. The house was completely destroyed. Well, most of the house. Some parts were still intact. We walked around and noticed some people we killed. I looked at one of em for any markings. He had a tattoo on the back of his neck.
“Recognize this?” I asked Will.
“Nah, that’s a new one to me.” He replied. He looked at anotha guy. “This one has a different one.”
“Weird.”
We heard a noise, pulled out our guns, and pointed towards the direction it came from. It was everyone else.
“Thank god y’all are ok.” Latoya said.
“Fine.” We replied. Tierra and Karla ran to us.
“Any of you recognize these?” I asked. We showed the tats.
Alvin had that one.” Sydney said, pointing to the guy I was referring to. Yvonne looked at them both. I looked at her and knew she knew.
“Yvonne, do you recognize any of these?” I asked her.
“Yes.” Dre looked at her.
“Who are they? More importantly, what beef do they have wit us?”
“2 years before I met Andre, I was dating this guy from this gang called Showdown. We were in a fairly serious relationship, but I always knew that things weren’t goin to last. I began coming scared that he was goin to hurt me, so I left him. That’s when I moved here. I’m not goin to say that he’s been lookin for me all this time, but I wouldn’t be surprised.”
“What about this guy?” I said, referring to the one I checked.
“Not too long afta I left, my cousin joined that gang. He then told me that they united with Showdown. Alvin was one of the ones that helped that merger occur.”
“What beef….” I stopped myself. “Alvin. Mr. Williams prolly gave away information.”
“Looks like we have some shit to handle.” Chris stated.
“That may not be a good idea.” Yvonne claimed. “You don’t want to start anything wit these guys. All the members of Showdown are former prisoners that have criminal files with murder, assault, and rape. Their leader was arrested for the Cunningham massacre.” She looked at the otha guy. “My cousin told me bout their gang. They have almost the same rap. The bad part is that both are deep beyond yo imagination.”
“How so?” Will asked.
“The person that started it all was a billionaire, making his money from drugs. It was always past on through the generations. Each one was getting crueler, richer and popular. All the people they recruit get paid. That’s why they do what they do. For them to do this, someone paid them at least 8 figures. We’re talkin bout guys in their 30s or, in some cases, 50s that are lookin to kill us.”
“How many we’re lookin at?”
“695 nationwide.”
Cleveland alone?”
“113.” She took a deep breath. “Doing this will cause all their members to come here.”
“We’ll be doin society a favor.” Will stated.
“At least the garage is untouched.” Sydney said.
“Put out an emergency page to the click. Tell em to meet us at Dad’s house.” I told Dre. “Let’s head ova there so we can get out the cold.” I grabbed my duffel bags and led everyone to the garage. As we were walkin, Sydney noticed the big gash on my back.
“Baby?” She called me.
“Huh?”
“You’re cut pretty badly.”
“What?”
“You have a big cut on your back.”
“Really?”
“You don’t feel that?” She touched it. I yelled in pain.
“SON OF A BITCH!!!! Now I do!” Before getting in the car, she tightly wrapped my shirt around it. It hurt like hell. Sydney helped Tierra in her seat and I opened the door for her. I closed it, got on my side, and led the four-car-pack to Dad’s. We pulled up in the courtyard. We got out the car and went up to the door. I rang the doorbell. Ma answered.
“What happened? She asked, worried.
“We were evicted, may we stay here?” I asked her.
“Please, come in.” We walked in and sat on the couch. Well, they sat down, Will and I lied down on our stomachs to get our backs treated. Sydney tended to me and Candace to Will. “Now, what happened?” Ma asked me.
“Our house was destroyed.” I replied.
“By who?”
“This gang collaboration of Showdown and Killa Bomb.”
“Showdown?” She repeated.
“Yea, you heard of em?”
“That’s why your father was arrested a month before you were born.”
“What?”
“He and Tevin took out their founder and his son.”
“Why?”
“Your father’s ex-girlfriend was pregnant with his child. He broke up wit her by mutual agreements, but they both wanted the baby. One night, her ex-fiancĂ© busted in on them together and he killed her right in front of him. As you can easily see, her ex was the founder of Showdown. Kevin was determined to kill him.”
“How was Dad involved?” Will asked.
“Tevin was with his sister. They were walkin in the park and Showdown jumped them. Well, jumped him. He was forced to watch his sista get raped by five men.” She teared up. “Tara was neva the same. When she came to the hospital, she was a complete wreck. Tara and I were good friends.”
“Were?” Will said.
“A week before you were born, Tara killed herself.” We gasped. “Shot herself in the mouth with a sawed off. Of course, Kevin and Tevin were bout to stage a war. It took a couple months to find them, but they did manage. They killed half the Cleveland crew and shot the founder in the thigh before sticking a bomb up his ass. His son didn’t get it as bad. He was shot in the chest and then beheaded. Cops arrested Kevin and Tevin at the scene of the crime with blood on their hands.”
“How they get out?” I asked.
“I got em out.” Latoya said. “I remember when that happened. I got my main recognition from that case. There was so much rock hard evidence that they did it, it was hard to win. I managed to do it though.”
“That’s why there’s no case that Kevin and Tevin will go through without Latoya as their lawyer.” Ma stated. We sat in silence for a few moments.
“So what are we goin to do?” Will asked. “We have no home; our insurance forms are buried under the house.”
“Not necessarily. I was able to empty my vault. I have all our important paperwork including insurance.” I told em.
“How much are we entitled to” Chris asked.
“Since the policy is through SJ Insurance, we have the option of having a new house rebuilt or $6.5 trillion.” I said.
“If we rebuild,” Dre began, “what’s our budget?”
“$6.5 trillion.” I replied. “I think we should rebuild.”
“Yea, that’s a good idea.” Latoya agreed. “We could have everything state-of-the-art.”
“More rooms.” Chris added.
“Bigger gym.” Will suggested.
“Sounds good.” I agreed.
“Now that y’all covered that, where are y’all movin to?” Ma asked.
“What’s on the market?”
“Well,” Ma began, “your father and uncle were ok’d to expand SJ Lane and tear down some abandoned buildings.”
“Where at?” I asked.
“Bout 3 miles west of Smith manor is the end of SJ Lane at the SJ Lane/South Zone Rd. intersection. If you keep straight instead of turning onto South Zone, you’ll be on Coral Ave. No one lived on Coral Ave. for a long time since those were low class houses. Since most of Metro Cleveland, about 85%, is upper middle and high class, no one lives there now. So, Kevin and Tevin want to use that area. Since y’all are in need of space, he can give it to y’all.”
“How much space we talkin?” Latoya asked.
“About 220,900 acres. For y’all that is.” Ma replied.
“How long will it take?” Yvonne asked.
“I say around two months at the most. Kevin and Tevin can have them work around the clock, rotating shifts. Y’all may be able to move in by late next month.”
“Works.” I said.
“Until then, I can give y’all the guest rooms.”
“I’mma go to my parents’ crib.” Will said. “Dre, you, Yvonne and JET are more than welcome to come.”
“Definitely.” Yvonne agreed. “I really wouldn’t mind seein Daddy.”
“It’s on. We’ll head out that way. Hit me up in da morning and let me know what ya come up wit.” Will told me. I gave him dap.
“I got you. If anything rises, I’ll hit up.” I assured him. They left and headed to Smith Manor.
“Kenny, your room is still intact if you want it.”
“No doubt.” I said.
“As is yours, Toya. Sydney, the room you used to stay in is still available too.”
“No thank you. I feel that Kenny’s arms are the safest place for me.” She smiled at me. I looked at Ma and noticed the twinkle in her eyes.
“Well, I’ll see y’all in the morning. Your father should be here in a few if you want to wait on him.”
“I may. I’m not sure yet.” I looked at Tierra. She was on the couch sleep. “I’ll put her to bed first.”
“You do that.” Ma came up to me and kissed me. “Night sweetie.”
“Night Ma. Thanks for everything.”
“You don’t have to thank me. I’m here for you at all times and for whateva.” She kissed me again then gave Sydney, Latoya and Chris a hug goodnight. She kissed her granddaughter and grandson before going up to her room.
“So what’s the plan?” Chris asked me.
“Simple. They want a war, they got one.” I replied.
“Are you serious?” Latoya asked.
Neva been so serious in my life.”
“How do you expect to do this?” Chris asked.
“We gon get as many people as possible. I’m talkin bout da entire click: Trey, Troy, Frost, G-Money, Oak-Dogg, O-J, Odie, New York, Killa T, Blaze, Rico, Cold Blood, KJ, Terrell, Dad, Uncle Tevin, Big Mike, Lil Ray, Quart, Slick Rick, Tommy Guy, 9, Dozen, Dime, Dub, Half Page, Pinky, Gold, Fang, Dre, you, Will, and myself.”
“Hol up, y’all ain’t doin shit wit out me.” Latoya said.
“Me neither. I’m sure Candace and Yvonne also want in.” Sydney proclaimed.
“Iight, fine. Eitha way, we’ll have at least 35 people. We find out where day hangin out at and deal wit em. Just like we always do except mo people to exterminate.”
“Cold murder?”
“Most likely. Unless we burn em.”
“Think we have a chance?” Chris asked.
“There’s always a chance.” I told him. “Just a very unlikely chance.”
“So what exactly is the plan?” Latoya asked.
“We try to find out as much as possible through our connections.” I replied. “By the next couple days, we’ll be prepared to hit.”
“How long you think it’s goin to be before they find out we’re alive?” Sydney asked.
“Let’s see?” I turned on the TV.

“In breaking news, the Big Pimp Manor, home of; Cleveland Browns’ stars Andre Thompson and Christopher Lopez; Cleveland Cavaliers’ stars and worldwide stars William Smith and Kenneth Johnson; along with Channel 9 News’ own Yvonne Thompson; #1 worldwide lawyer Latoya Johnson-Lopez; and their children was destroyed today by explosives set around the house. Evidence shows that a definite shootout occurred. 12 men were killed in and around the house by gun shot wounds, but the bodies of the residents have not been recovered yet. Most likely they were home, but they may have escaped in time. This deadly assassination attempt may either be an act of terrorism, or an act of hatred. We go live to the Cleveland President at the Black Crib.”
“City of Cleveland. It has come to my attention that Cleveland’s own heroes, role models, and children, were attacked around 2 am. We don’t know if they’re dead or alive, but we do know that investigators will not rest until these men are brought to justice. 40 years ago, we here in this fine city of Cleveland dreamed of being where we are today. We owe all of our prosperity to Kevin Johnson and Tevin Smith for making Cleveland what it is now. Population well over 3 billion, utilities flourishing, and poverty is almost wiped out. We are at the top of almost every list. The one list we’re not at the top of is crime because of SJ Enterprise. If an act of random violence or terrorism was aimed at the sons of Cleveland, it has become a personal duty for the entire city to help bring these men to justice. Not long ago, I received a call from Kevin Johnson and Tevin Smith and they’re offering $10 million to anyone who knows about gangs that go by the name of Showdown and Killa Bomb. If so, call the number flashing on your screen. No jokes, both men are goin to pay anyone with helpful information. Until anotha point in time, take care Cleveland and good night.”
 I turned off the TV.
“We have very lil time before they find out where we’re at.” I stated.
“Daddy wasted no time.” Latoya said.
“Let’s just handle this in the morning.” Chris suggested. “We need to end this night.”
“Good point.” I agreed. I picked up Tierra. “See y’all in the morning.” Sydney followed me to my old room. Everything was just how I left it. I lied Tierra down in the bed.
“Crazy night, huh?” Sydney said, smiling.
“Basically.” I agreed.
“I can’t really say I’m sleepy.”
“Me neither.” I sat on the couch and took a deep breath.
“Are you really prepared to go to war?”
“I’m always prepared.” I looked at her. “Thanks for stickin by me.”
“Always.”
“I plan on makin sure that they realize how big of a mistake they made messin wit us.”
“That’s what you do best.” I looked away at my hands. “Kenny, how ready are you to take the next step in our relationship?”
“I’ve been ready for 10 years. Just do me this one favor.”
“Anything.”
“Let’s not bring up marriage for a long time.”

“That’s fine.” We started kissing. I ended my night makin love to Sydney.

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