21. Four #2
I stepped further into the room and stepped over the body.
I knew who it was, one of Robert’s men. I hadn’t seen him in years, but I would never forget his face.
He was one of the niggas that would come and feed us when Robert was out.
He thought it was funny to set our food outside the cage, just out of reach, and pee on it before kicking it into our cages.
“He works for Robert,” I said, sitting in the chair in front of his body. I rested my feet on his half-open skull. I would never be able to get the brain matter off my shoes, but I didn’t care. I would replace the shoes. Uncle Bradon nodded. “What’s he doing here, lying here dead?”
“He brought me those,” Uncle Bradon answered, pointing to a folder on the table next to the chair I was sitting in. I picked it up, opened it, and read the papers.
“He’s serious?” I asked, handing the papers to Nine.
“Yeah,” Uncle Bradon replied.
“This can’t be legitimate,” Nine said as he flipped through the papers. “We have to get the lawyers to look at this. There is no way that it’s right.”
“I already did,” Uncle Bradon chuckled, then pointed to the corner of his office. I looked over my shoulder to see his lawyer’s body. I hadn’t noticed him until now. “Apparently, he was working with Robert.”
“So you are no longer the majority stakeholder?” Nine asked. “What does that mean?”
“Robert is back in charge,” he answered, then wiped his hand over his mouth.
“How is he the majority holder?” I asked, looking between the two of them. I stayed as far away from Strong Pharmaceuticals as I could. I didn’t care about my stake, and the only thing that did come to me I reinvested, doubled, and used to open the company I shared with Nine.
“Denzel’s death,” he answered. “Apparently my siblings had a closed-door meeting, a few of them in fact.” He looked at us, and for the first time I saw how tired my uncle was.
He’d been fixing his siblings' shit for so long.
Not only personally but also professionally.
“They buried him and his punk ass wife handed over his stakes to Robert.”
“That wouldn’t have been enough to overvote you though,” Nine said.
“Catherine handed over her stakes,” Uncle Bradon said. Catherine was Zero’s mama. “As of nine pm, I am no longer in charge of SP.”
“Fuck!” Nine said, then threw the papers. “That was our only in to knowing what Robert was or wasn’t doing.”
“Which never led to shit,” I chuckled. I moved my feet and readjusted in my seat. “Uncle, I know you are pissed right now, but what’s the next move? What do you plan to do?”
“Kill the niggas that thought I was playing games with them,” he answered as he stood.
“Robert thinks I don’t know who he plans to put in charge, but I do.
” He shrugged, then walked around his desk to get his jacket.
“I let him think he was in charge. He likes to play games, so I’m about to show him how to do it properly. ”
***
“Last house on the left,” I told Uncle Bradon. He pulled his car over, got out, went to the truck, and opened it. I got out just as he closed the trunk and walked around the car with a gas can. “Unc?”
“Robert was always a selfish nigga,” he said, shaking his head.
He walked across the lawn, pouring gas as he went.
“When we were kids, he wanted everything someone else had. Our daddy told him he could have it if he took it. No matter who it was.” He threw the gas can and walked to the car that was parked in the driveway.
He smashed the driver's side window and reached into the car to open the door. “That wasn’t something you told to a nigga like Robert. He felt entitled to everything after that.”
“Is this nigga giving us a backstory after all these years?” I asked, even though it was just me out here, and Uncle Bradon was lost in his own little world. We’d been burning down building after building. House after house. And he didn’t look like he was stopping any time soon.
Uncle Bradon popped the gas cap and got out of the car. “Four, that shit he had you doing? He was made to do the same shit. All of us were.” He slammed the door closed. “I knew shit wasn’t right, but I couldn’t prove it.”
“I understand,” I told him because I did. Looking back at it, I realized that Robert perfected covering his abuse because it was another form of control. He controlled and manipulated everything and everyone around him because he fed off the power it gave him.
“Nah, I don’t think you do,” he said, shaking his head.
“I do, Unc, and I don’t blame you for not knowing.”
“But I should have!” He yelled, looking at me. “I should’ve known because that cold ass look in your eyes is a reflection of mine.” I’d seen Uncle Bradon mad before, but nothing like this. This was a different type of hatred in his eyes. I’d seen it in my own as a kid.
“That nigga wasn’t the only monster,” he said, then pulled a towel and lighter from his pocket.
He stuffed the towel into the car's gas nozzle and lit it. He walked away from the car and went to the front door of the house. Uncle Bradon kicked the door in, not giving a fuck who was in the house, and walked through the house as if he owned it. I heard yelling, then gunshots. A minute later, he came out, blood splattered across his face and clothes. “Most niggas will vow to make the city bleed. I don’t want blood; this shit is messy.” He pointed to his clothes.
“I want to see it burn.” He flicked his lighter and dropped it in the grass where he’d poured the gas, then stood there.
The sound of police sirens echoed through the air, but Uncle Bradon didn’t give a fuck.
He wanted niggas to know who’d set damn near six blocks on fire so they would know who was coming for them.
***
“I’m not asking you to do that,” Uncle Bradon said, shaking his head.
We’d been working nonstop to try and figure out exactly what was going on.
Everything led back to the same thing; Robert had won.
We needed an inside man now, someone who could figure out what the hell was going on and give everybody a heads up.
“You aren’t asking shit,” I told him as I looked out of the window.
“I’m telling you what’s going to happen.
I’ll reach out, make a little noise, and Robert will show his face.
” No one had seen or spoken to Robert in years.
His going underground wasn’t surprising; it was expected.
Denzel’s death gave him the way back he needed, and he took it. “I’m telling you what I’m going to do.”
“Four…”
“There isn’t another way,” I told him.
“I can figure something else out,” Uncle Bradon told us. I looked over at Kenbral, who had the same surprised look I did. “I can't ask you to go work for that nigga.” He gave us a sad smile and shook his head. “You ain’t stepping back into that shit.”
“I can do it,” I told him. “Even if it’s for a little while.”
He looked at me, then to Kenbral and Gentle and leaned back in his seat.
“You’re scared of the dark,” he said, pointing to me.
“At your grown-ass age, you sleep with a nightlight.” He pointed at Trey.
“You are afraid of water. You can't shower for longer than seven minutes, and you never take baths or go near open water.” He pointed at Gentle. “You can't –“
“We know our shortcomings,” I said before he could start up on Gentle. “We don’t need you to remind us.”
“It ain’t shortcomings; it's trauma from years of abuse at the hands of your fathers.”
“They aren’t our fathers,” I corrected him. “They are two niggas who found joy in abusing us. That ain’t a father.”
“And they know your weaknesses,” he replied. “Robert knows how to get into your head and stay there. You can't handle that.” He shook his head. “I’ll call your mama.”
“Ain’t no way she’s going to turn her back on Robert. Not after all the shit she been through,” I told him.
“She may come around if I ask her,” Uncle Bradon replied. “She needs-“
“Sharon doesn’t give a fuck about nothing but making sure Robert is happy. She doesn’t give a damn, trust me,” I replied. She wasn’t a soft spot for me; she would never be. She knew the nigga she was with. She failed to protect the children she brought into the world.
“Four-“
“I’m going,” Kenbral cut him off.
“Nah,” I said, shaking my head. “It can't be you. Robert won't believe you want to come back.”
“Yes, he will,” Kenbral chuckled. “He will believe me coming back well before you. He knows you hate him, knows that if you walk into his space, you’re there to kill him.
Me going back will work.” He wiped his hands over his face.
“I have the connections, the ability to move through rooms he can't. He will need me.”
“Trey-“
“Damn it, listen for a second, Four,” Kenbral sighed.
“Be the little brother for a second and let your older brother take the fucking lead.
You reaching out to Robert won't work.” He stood and started pacing in front of us.
“Robert knows you hate him; knows you will kill him over everything he did. Me going back?” He smiled sadly.
“The child that was forgotten about? Yeah, it would make perfect sense. I need you to do something for me first.”
“What?” I hesitantly asked.
“Fight me,” he answered, and I immediately shook my head. “Look, I know you don’t want to. We promised each other we’d never do it again, but for this to work, you are going to have to do it. It will get Robert’s attention and me the in that I need.”
“What do you have in mind, nephew?” Uncle Bradon asked Trey. I watched my brother, hating that he thought this was the only option but hating myself more because I knew he was right.
“There’s a junior agent that asked me to investigate an underground fighting ring in Oklahoma. I did just to keep her from getting on my nerves. As soon as I saw it, I knew it was connected to Robert.”
“How do you know?”