Chapter 19 #2
“Please respect the fucking dead.” She glared at him.
“Careful.” Lennox slid to the edge of his leather seat, glaring at La’Nova.
“I’m very careful, Lennox. I’m at your mercy. You’re acting as if I’m here to kill you… I came all the way from California to warn you about Luca.” Pain gripped her chest as numbness infused her body.
Lennox’s smile thinned, his fingers froze mid tap.
“Go on.” He waved his hand casually.
“Luca wanted to marry me—”
“Bullshit!” He swiftly cut her off in disbelief.
“She’s telling the truth, honey.” A soft candid voice sounded off from behind La’Nova.
A voice that she was familiar with. Lucille.
Her stilettos clicked against the marble floor with purpose. Seductively, she strutted past La’Nova, her expensive floral perfume took over the room. Lennox stood with his jaw set tight; he leaned his hands against his desk as he watched Lucille approach him.
His eyes gazed at her matte, red stained lips, down to her the tight pencil skirt hugging her slim, thick frame.
“Bitch, you done played enough tricks.” Lennox gritted out.
Lucille made sure to stop at the edge of his desk. She knew how short tempered he was.
“I decided to let this particular trick play out, Lenny. I never seen my Luca Bear so smitten.” She tilted her head slightly to the side, licking her lips.
“I think everybody deserves love, even you and I… It’s just sad that we couldn’t experience it until Dontrell was dead, which was against my wishes till this day. ” Lucille’s eyes met La’Nova’s.
A glimpse of sadness shone in her eyes for a second. Lennox didn’t catch the look, but La’Nova did.
“The day he got out of jail, Luca was determined to find out who killed Donnie. He stepped in my office demanding answers, ready to cut me out of his life because I refused to provide him with answers. It crushed me, but then La’Nova barged in…
” She pointed her finger in La’Nova’s direction sharply.
“She barged in, and the room shifted then bended to the both of them. I saw love at first sight in Luca’s eyes.
Their shared pain and grief pulled them together.
I saw La’Nova fighting it until he touched her scar.
” Lucille’s eyes glossed over. “The moment he touched her scar, I witnessed her soften. Before Luca left out of my office he claimed her. Said that she would be his wife. He even stole my breath away by whispering the words since she doesn’t understand sign language. ”
Lucille smiled brightly through the tears that blurred her vision. Despite her disloyalty to Luca, he was still her pride and joy. Lucille got to play both sides selfishly and had no shame about it. She never meant to fall in love at all. Lucille never knew how to love from the beginning.
Love had never been part of the bargain.
Survival was. She was used to smiling when she didn’t want to.
Touching when she felt nothing. Letting men believe they owned pieces of her while she quietly buried herself deeper inside her own bones.
Eventually, Lucille learned how to split herself in two.
Her body worked and her soul watched from somewhere high and unreachable.
Until she met Lennox. He secretly came into her storm and offered shelter.
When he pulled her out of filth for the first time, he acted as a jacket put on her shoulders in the cold.
A young frail beauty that he molded into a selfish monster.
Someone put in place to take back what his father deemed him unfit for.
Her first error was mistaking his possession for her as protection.
He told her of all the things she deserved if she opened her legs up to his brother.
He spoke the words with so much conviction that she actually believed it.
Lennox became her oxygen that she’d do anything to keep breathing in.
She ignored all the negatives, even how his grip on her tightened whenever he spoke about loyalty to him.
He placed her in the ghetto as a trap to reel Dontrell in. Lennox was positive that his brother would see what he saw in her at a young age. Lucille went on to believe that Lennox saved her when he simply repositioned her.
He moved her from one cage to another, just luxury bars and softer sheets.
And then there was Dontrell Bonetti. He didn’t storm in like Lennox.
and he didn’t promise her shit. She noticed right away how her Donnie didn’t look at her like a project to conquer.
He gave her a chance to be his equal, to have a voice and not shut her up when he felt like she was stepping out of a woman’s place.
Dontrell asked Lucille questions no one had ever asked. Not about what she could do or who she belonged to. But about what she liked, what scared her. Dontrell asked Lucille about her dreams, then took action to make sure they came true.
Her soul that she kept up high away from everyone, lowered for Dontrell. He captured her soul, and she willingly gave it to him. He touched her like she was sacred. He separated her from her circumstances before.
So to Lucille, the first brother loved the idea of rescuing her only to use her as a weapon of destruction of his brother’s demise. The second brother actually loved her, and that difference cut her open. She hated herself for loving them both. She carried the guilt like a second skin.
There was so much guilt that she tried her hardest to bury. Guilt for still wanting the man who manipulated her. Guilt for feeling safe and in love with the brother that she was sent to destroy. Guilt for the nights she cried because she didn’t know which version of herself was the real her.
The truth was brutal until the illusion collapsed.
She accepted her disposition then forced herself cold and selfish.
She still remembered the cold shift. When she embraced the power of what each brother gave her, Lucille accepted fate.
Dontrell’s death hurt her, but at the same time…
she had reassurance by Lennox still being alive.
The Bonetti brothers made Lucille, without either one of them she felt she would be powerless.
She swayed at her deep thoughts, until Lennox slapped them out of her.
“Now is not the time to freeze up, bitch,” Lennox coldly voiced.
He slapped Lucille so hard, blood immediately trickled out of her nose.
“I let you get away with a lot, the first thing is giving my second born away to a family that didn’t deserve him!” He gritted out, pacing back and forth angrily.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if you placed him in Luca’s life on purpose! Now he’s a fucking capo of the Bonetti Mafia, not knowing he could kill Luca and become the Don which would place me back in fucking Cali!”
“Lenny,” Lucille whimpered; her knees felt weak like she would fall to the ground at any moment. “You agreed to give Royal up once he was born! You made a promise to your best friend out of debt! I never wanted to give my son away!” She cried out.
La’Nova’s bottom lip fell open. She quickly closed it as she continued to witness Lucille fall apart. Skeletons were falling out both of their closets. La’Nova hated that she stood as a witness to it.
Lennox swiftly kicked Lucille in the stomach.
She flew then slid across the floor until her back hit the wall.
His size eleven foot should have caused pain from the amount of force he placed into the kick.
Lucille had been embracing pain for a long time.
Lennox’s violence toward her did nothing to soothe the ache of him bringing up Roy.
Images of Roy flashed to the forefront of Lucille’s mind.
Even as a newborn, he was happy. The only thing that comforted her in giving him away was him having a fair chance to live a normal life, unlike Kentrell and Luca.
She hid her pregnancy from Dontrell. It wasn’t an easy task but with Lennox’s help they made it happen.
“I told you to bring the lil nigga to me! I could’ve had Ronald and his wife killed, fuck a friendship!” He paced back and forth with murder on his mind.
He pointed his index finger accusingly in her direction. Her tears didn’t move him; they only fed his demented ego. Lennox had a soft spot for Lucille, but not soft enough to spare her from his fist or feet.
“Now bitch.” He ran one hand through his short, dried curls to reground himself.
“You been here for the past couple of weeks heartbroken behind that retarded nigga Luca. You been protecting that little muted nigga for quite some time now. You didn’t care to mention the part about him falling in love with this big greasy neck bitch? ”
“Don’t you call my Luca Bear retarded, he—”
In a flash, Lennox damn near flew in Lucille’s direction.
His huge hand wrapped around her throat as he effortlessly lifted her from the floor.
La’Nova’s heart thumped hard in her chest as his men stepped closer to her side.
She eyed the rest of Lennox’s men. They all looked on with blank expressions on their faces like this was the norm for them.
And that it was. They’ve seen their boss do worse for less.
“I’m sorry Lenny baby,” Lucille struggled to get the words out.
There was no doubt in her mind that Lennox would kill her without thinking twice. She wasn’t afraid of death, Lucille waited on it on multiple occasions. She made a vow before she left the world, she’d make things right with Luca, so her conscience could be at peace while in hell.
“The way he looked at her,” Lucille choked off her own words, struggling to breathe with Lennox hand tightening around her throat. “I never seen that look in his eyes. Luca deserved whatever piece of relief and happiness he could get.” She rolled her eyes weakly over to La’Nova.
Based off the welled tears in La’Nova’s eyes that she rapidly blinked away, Lucille knew that La’Nova and Luca would find their way back to one another once all the smoke cleared. She also knew the moment La’Nova showed up in Vegas meant that she was here to end Lennox’s life.
“You don’t get to decide what the fuck that nigga needs.” Lennox’s nose scrunched in revulsion.
“He’s going to kill Kentrell.” La’Nova blurted out.
She ignored Lucille’s look of despair and cautiously took a step forward. Those five words captured Lennox. He released his hold on Lucille and stood up straight.
“I came here because I have no choice. Me and Kentrell made a deal to get the millions that Dontrell had stashed away somewhere along with the mafia’s playbook.
It would have set the both of y’all up for life.
He promised me my freedom and half of the money.
With Luca killing my Kentrell.” La’Nova gulped down painfully.
She was disgusted with the reality of the deal she made with Kentrell years ago. She was even more disgusted with claiming Kentrell’s ass as his.
“If Kentrell dies, I’ll have no one.” She forced her tears out to make herself seem believable.
“I need him, Lennox. I have no family, no money. I came to warn you, hoping that you’ll give me a job to make some money. Maybe you can send some men to warn Kentrell because he hasn’t answered the phone.” La’Nova continued to sell herself as the wheels in Lennox’s mind turned.
The sad truth was that Lennox didn’t give a fuck about Kentrell either.
The only thing that La’Nova mentioned that got his attention was The Bonetti Mafia playbook.
He hadn’t heard about the book since his father disowned him.
He wondered how his son Kentrell even knew about it.
That book held the keys to all of the mafia’s deeply rooted connects.
It held passcodes to safes and banks stashed around the states and even out the country.
The playbook was priceless, it would secure generations upon generations. Lennox immediately became determined to get his deadly fingers on it.
“Lenny baby, that bitch is lying!” Lucille panicked.
She knew about the playbook and had been secretly trying to get her hands on it first.
“I’m not!” La’Nova snapped.
“Kentrell told me all about it! We’ve been going in circles trying to find it. He even made me promise not to ever mention it. I have no choice now with Luca threatening to kill my fucking man.” She frowned.
Lennox’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. He formed a new outlook on La’Nova right away and had been convinced of her loyalty to Kentrell.
“This big bitch knows something about fucking loyalty.” He boosted to no one in particular.
“I’ll send some men, but my son is smart.” He smirked evilly, thinking of who he’d kill first once he got the playbook. “He text me hours ago telling me he planned to lay low,” Lennox smoothly lied.
His hardened glare fleeted from Lucille to La’Nova.
“You came to the right place. We can get him to help us locate that fucking book. Once I get that bitch, you’ll have your freedom and millions to go with it.” He smirked sinisterly.
“Take this bitch to the dungeon.” He nodded his head at Lucille. “And this thick piece right here…” He nudged his head in La’Nova’s direction.
“Take her to my royal prison and search her big neck ass thoroughly. I want her clean, feed her good… You still like crab legs and watermelon?” Lennox smile widened.
La’Nova swallowed down the bile that rose in her throat and nodded her head inattentively.
“Good.” Lennox licked his lips. “Get her some king crab legs, butter dip, and fresh watermelon.”