Chapter 48

After Candyce stormed off I spent the rest of the day catching up with my lil' one. After talking to her it's clear that I'm the only muthafucka that should be mad 'round here. I don't understand how the fuck they let Paryis slip so far in the cracks that CPS had to get involved. Hearing her talk about that shit had me hot but I buried it down for later. After all she went through I figured she could use some one-on-one time.

I did my best to keep a smile on my face while we made up for lost time. We started with a tea party. That shit was more Candyce speed, but I sucked it up since nobody was around. Only Paryis could have me talking to stuffed animals and eating desserts she made in her EasyBake oven. Still, I could only put up with that shit for so long. We ended up on the couch watching movies not too long after.

It took two movies to wear her out but now she finally asleep. It's perfect timing too 'cause I gotta head out soon. Keezy just sent word that the first step in our plan went without a hitch.

I gotta pat myself ona back for that one.

If it wasn't for me getting as close to Angel as I did, hitting him would be damn near impossible. Fortunately, I was around long enough to learn his weakness. Like me, his weakness is family. I learned this two years ago when I went to re-up at his house. He had his entire family staying with him which was unusual. In that first year I worked with him, I never saw anybody around except his bodyguards and a few bitches every now and then. It was like overnight this nigga had changed his principles. At first I thought he trusted me but Angel wasn't that stupid. He told me he only had them staying with him temporarily while he handled some business.

I knew what that meant. That meant he was doing shit he had no business doing. He was making enemies and he was worried his family was gon' get caught in the crossfire. He didn't go into detail and I didn't ask him to. It didn't have nun' to do with me and it didn't stop our busines so I ain't care. I chopped it up as Spanish beef and didn't think twice about it.

He kept me away from his family while I was there. We exchanged work in his office. We was almost done when his nephew came running in asking if he could hang out with his friends. Jefe said no. The lil' nigga had to be a teenager but he started whining like a lil' kid. He started saying how Angel kept saying it was too dangerous to leave the house and living with him was starting to feel like a prison. Angel told him he didn't know what prison felt like and ran him out the room.

When he was gone, Angel apologized for the disturbance. He told me his nephew was usually a good kid, but he didn't like to be kept inside all day. He started telling me how athletic he was and how good he was at soccer. I couldn't give two fucks 'bout the lil' nigga kicking a ball around a field, but I listened anyway. It wasn't often that Jefe opened up to me like that. After a year, I still didn't know that much about him and I was looking for a weak spot any chance I got. Listening to him talk about his nephew gave me that chance.

On my way out, Angel showed me a picture of his nephew on a soccer field. He started bragging about how many goals he scored during his school championship game. All I remembered about that conversation was the name of the school I saw on his nephew's jersey. I stored it in my mind for safekeeping. I just hoped the lil' nigga didn't graduate before the information came in handy.

That was two years ago, and according to his school's website Angel's nephew is now a senior in high school. I only know this 'cause he brought his team to another championship this year, this time as team captain. His face was plastered all over the school's website.

Since school is out for Christmas break, I had to improvise. I couldn't just snatch the kid from school, so I sent his name to some people I know. Usually Cam would handle shit like this, but now I gotta do everything myself.

A hit came back from a woman named Latoya that work in the DMV. Apparently lil' Felipe's all grown up now. He got his license this year. After promising to send a couple thousand her way, Toya gave me the address on the license. Luckily for me, the nigga wasn't smart enough to use his uncle's address.

Now Keezy and the rest of the hitters is stationed outside Felipe's house waiting on my signal. I send a quick text telling them to go with their move then I put my phone in my pocket. I pick Paryis up from the couch and carry her upstairs to her room. I crack the door on my way out. Then I head down the hall to my room.

Yuri's sitting on the bed when I open the door. She got her head all in her phone so she don't pay me no mind as I walk in. I let her do her thing since I'm on a time-limit anyway. I strip down to my boxers then I put on all-black everything: jeans, hoodie, shoes, the whole nine.

After I'm done I walk over to Yuri. I don't know if I'ma make it back tonight so I wanna' give her sum'n to remember me by. I don't have time to do what I wanna' do so I just lean in to kiss her lips, but Ri pulls back. I stand up straight.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

She looks me up and down.

"Going somewhere?" She asks.

"Yeah. I got some shit to take care of. I be back later," I say.

Yuri sits her phone in her lap.

"Can it wait? I want to talk to you," She says.

I smack my teeth and sigh. Here she go with this shit. I swear this chick got the worst timing.

"You had all day to talk to me, Ri. If you put it off this long, I think it can wait a lil' longer," I say.

"I was waiting to get a moment alone with you. I didn't wanna' take you away from yo' sister," Ri says.

"Well, we can talk when I get back. I don't have time right now," I say.

I kiss her cheek before she can start protesting. As I'm walking away, she speaks up behind me.

"I can't promise I'ma be here when you get back if we don't talk about this now," She says.

I turn around with my eyebrows furrowed.

"Where that came from?" I ask.

Ri folds her arms over her chest.

"We need to talk about what your sister said," She says.

"Who? Candyce?" I ask.

"That would be the one," She says.

"Candyce said a lot of shit. You gon' have to be more specific," I say.

"That shit she said about you being on the run from the Feds? Is it true?" Ri asks.

I hang my head. Now I see why it was a bad idea to bring Ri along on my first day back to the city. She done seen and heard a lot more than she should've. Candyce airing out all our dirty laundry ain't how I wanted to introduce her to my life.

"Look, Ri. Can we talk about this later?" I ask.

Yuri stands up.

"It's a simple question. Yes or no?" She asks.

I run a hand down my face.

"This shit anything but simple," I mumble.

"What was that?" She asks.

"Does it make a difference if it's true or not? We here now," I say.

Yuri scoffs.

"Yes it makes a difference. I didn't come all this way to be lied to, Ace. If you been lying to me this whole time then I need to know, especially if I aided and abetted a fugitive," She says.

I bite my tongue like I'm in an interrogation room. Yuri sighs and walks over to me. She puts her hands on both sides of my face.

"I just want the truth, Ace. I just uprooted my entire life for you. The least you could do is keep it real with me," She says.

I look away from her. If I tell her the truth she prolly gon' leave anyway.

Fuck it, I think.

I might as well get it over with.

"Yeah it's true," I say.

Yuri lets go of my face. Her mouth drops open as she backs away.

I try to pull her back.

"Hear me out, Ri--" I start to say, but she turns on me with a menacing look on her face.

"So you have been lying to me this whole time?!" She yells.

"Woah, keep yo' voice down aight? My sister sleep right down the hall," I say.

"Keep my voice down for what?! She probably knows too! Everybody seems to know but me!" She says.

Ri takes a couple deep breaths. Hopefully it's to calm herself down.

Instead she gets louder.

"You said you were laying low 'cause there was somebody in your circle you couldn't trust!" She says.

"I didn't lie about that. I just didn't tell you the whole story," I say.

Ri rolls her eyes. She starts pacing the room.

"I can't believe this. How can I be so fucking stupid?!" She yells.

All this yelling she doing starting to piss me off. It's only a matter of time before Paryis or Mama come in here to see what's going on.

"The fuck you still yelling for?" I ask.

"You made me commit a crime without my consent and now you want me to be quiet? You are something else, nigga," Ri laughs.

"You said you wanted to talk so calm the fuck down and let's talk," I say.

Yuri shakes her head. She turns her lips up with a smile.

"I'm smarter than this. How the fuck did I let you drag me into this? I'm a criminal justice major for God's sakes," She says.

"I ain't mean to drag you into shit. It just happened, aight? I just needed a place to lay low that was out the city. You was the first person I thought of. To be honest, I ain't even think you was gon' agree," I say.

Ri stops pacing.

"Oh, so it's my fault?" She asks.

"No. I 'preciate you letting me stay there. I'd probably be in jail right now if it wasn't for you. I'm just tryna say I'm sorry that I had to bring you into this," I say.

"You didn't have to bring me into anything, Ace. You chose to!"

"It's not like I had another choice," I say.

"No, I didn't have a choice. You took that away from me by lying to me," She says.

I open my arms.

"What the fuck was I supposed to do, Yuri?" I ask.

"You could've just turned yourself in!" Ri says.

I scoff.

"Like that was gon' happen," I say.

"You are so selfish. You don't think about anybody but yourself! Maybe if you did your brother would still be alive," Ri says.

I turn my face up.

"What the fuck you just said?" I ask.

"I heard what your sister said. She said it's your fault Jonah got killed. He didn't die from a stray bullet like you told me. He died in the police raid when they were looking for you," She says.

My heart starts pounding. This the last thing I need to hear right now.

I ball my fists up by my sides.

"I suggest you stop talkin 'bout shit you don't know about," I say.

Ri glances at my hands.

"Or what? You gon' hit me?"

"I don't got time for this shit," I whisper under my breath.

I turn and walk away.

"You can only run away for so long before you're forced to face the consequences of your actions. I won't be here when that time comes," Ri says behind me.

I smack my teeth.

"You ain't gotta be. I was good before you came. I'll be good after you leave," I say.

"If you feel that way then why the hell did you bring me out here?!" Ri says.

"I don't know. But I wish I didn't," I say.

I leave that hanging in the air as I pull the door open. I don't see Ri's reaction but I hear it. I'm halfway down the steps when I hear her crying and sniffling. A part of me wanna' go back up there and apologize, but a bigger part of me knows I shouldn't.

There's a reason I never tried to have a serious relationship before Ri. My life ain't meant to be lived for two people. I put my life and freedom on the line everyday providing for my family. This ain't no situation to bring someone into.

I've gotten in the habit of lying to everybody I care about. I do what I have to so they don't have to worry about me.

As much as I want Ri to stay, it's probably best if she don't. I can't promise I'll never lie to her again and what's a relationship without trust?

One thing is clear as I leave the house. That bubble Ri and I been living in for the last six months has officially popped.

At The Loft I get off on the top floor. The elevator doors open to reveal the same unfinished room we used to bring Gecko in. The last time I was in this room it set off a domino effect that led me to spend 6 months away from my family. It's safe to say I'm more conscious of what I do in this room now.

Gecko might as well be this new nigga's saving grace 'cause I'll be damned if I catch another body up here again. Besides, killing this nigga ain't part of the plan.

"Felipe, long time no see. You remember me?" I ask as I walk up.

Felipe, Angel's nephew, stares at me with wet eyes. He look so scared I almost wanna' tell the nigga he ain't gon' die, but I try not to make promises I can't keep.

"You prolly don't remember me. The first and last time we met was two years ago," I say.

The hitters are spaced out around the room. Mad Max hands me a pair of black leather gloves. I put them on as I approach the chair Felipe is tied to.

He starts crying harder when I squat in front of him.

I look around the room.

"What's that shit my mama used to say? Keep crying and I'ma give yo' ass sum'n to cry for," I say.

A low chuckle travels around the room. I smirk as I look at Felipe again. Suddenly I have his full attention. I pat his knee.

"Relax, nigga. We just goin' go on a lil' trip to visit yo' uncle. He dying to see you," I say.

Felipe pleads with his eyes since he can't talk through the duct tape.

I stand up.

"Put him in the truck," I say.

Rondo pulls his gun out. He aims it at Felipe while Tony unties him.

I start walking to the elevator. Keezy falls into step beside me.

"Everything set?" I ask.

"Yeah. We loaded all the guns in the truck while we was waiting for you," Keezy says.

"My bad. I got caught up in some shit. First day back and all," I say.

We step on the elevator.

"Candyce throw yo' ass a surprise party?" He asks.

"Yeah right," I say.

Keezy chuckles as the elevator takes us down.

"Munch show up?" I ask.

Keezy nods.

"You know I ain't believe him when he said you told him to meet us here. A trapper going on a mission with the hitters? It sounded like the start of a bad joke," He says.

"Yeah, well desperate times call for desperate measures," I say.

The elevator doors open. I get off while Keezy rides it down to the lobby. I walk down the hall until I see the familiar face I saw earlier.

I point to him as I walk up.

"Remind me of yo' name again," I say.

"It's Calvin," He says.

"Calvin. Right. I ain't get a chance to meet you earlier," I say.

I dap him up.

"I just wanted to holla at you right quick. I don't know if Caesar broke down the importance of yo' role, but you ain't just standing guard outside this door. You my eyes and ears before anybody cross the seal of that door. Nothing or nobody should get past you. Feel me?" I say.

Calvin nods.

"Fasho," He says.

"And he told you that we don't demote niggas once they make it to this stage, right? Y'all niggas see too much. Y'all know too much. So if y'all can't cut it, I gotta get rid of y'all. Understand?" I ask.

Calvin nods again. I pat his shoulder.

"Aight, we good then. Welcome to The Loft," I say.

I open the room door. It's dark inside but I recognize the silhouettes in the room. Daz is still laid out on the couch with an IV machine beeping next to him. He's still not awake. Munch is sitting on the couch across from him staring at him silently.

I walk over to him and take a seat. We dap up.

"How he doing?" I ask, nodding at Daz.

"Same shit. Doc said he should be awake in a day or two. Then we can move him," Munch says.

"Let him take his time. We got more than one room we can use. Don't move him unless he ready," I say.

Munch nods.

"Wassup with tonight though? You still need me?" He asks.

"Yeah if you still fucking with it," I say.

"Hell yeah. I just didn't know what to make of them niggas telling me to wait here. I feel like I got rejected by the cool kids," He says.

I chuckle.

"They had something else I needed them to take care of. I can explain what we doing on the way out whenever you ready," I say.

Munch stands up.

"I'm all ears, nigga," He says.

...

The back of the van is hot with anticipation. I look around at my niggas. All eyes are locked on me. Everybody waiting on me to make the next move.

We parked around the corner from Angel's house. Mad Max is in the driver's seat. He wanted to be in on the action, but I couldn't risk it. I haven't seen him in the field yet, and now ain't the time for trial and error. I need to do this with niggas I ain't gotta think twice about. Niggas I know can watch out for themselves and the person next to 'em. I don't know if Mad Max is ready yet so he stuck being the getaway driver tonight.

That mean it's only seven of us going in tonight so we need to eliminate as many guards as we can before we start shooting.

The plan is simple. I send a picture of Felipe to Angel with an address, a time, and a ransom amount. The goal ain't to meet up with him. The goal is to make him send his guards away to reduce the number of people protecting him at the house. And if I know Angel like I think I do, he won't just send guards to the ransom location. He's also gon' send guards to his sister's house to check on Felipe's mom and sister.

He won't leave himself unprotected so we'll still have to shoot our way inside, but at least this way we'll actually have a chance. I don't know about the rest of these niggas, but I'm actually tryna make it home tonight.

I look around at Keezy, Munch, Rondo, Cutta, Tony & Bee. Felipe is sitting next to me, handcuffed to the gate separating Mad Max from the rest of us.

"Everyboody know what they supposed to do?" I ask.

"Yeah. We make it back home by any means necessary," Keezy says.

Cutta hands me the flip phone they used earlier to take a picture of Felipe. I get Angel's number out of Felipe's phone. Then I dial Angel's number on the flip phone and send him the picture of Felipe along with the message about where to meet.

Within seconds Felipe's phone starts ringing. I decline the call and turn his phone off.

"I guess he got the message. Get ready," I say.

Everybody starts cocking they guns. We all got two Uzi's and a Glock-9 tucked in our jeans. I pocket an extra clip for both guns just in case.

The flip-phone starts ringing while we loading up. I let it ring until Angel gives up.

"Aye, heads up," Mad Max says.

We all stop what we doing.

"Wassup, Max?" I ask.

Mad Max slouches in his seat.