Chapter 27 Feel
Feel
I ease the front door open, careful not to make a sound.
Inside, the house is cloaked in darkness, but I hear her.
Juaqína, talking low, venom in every word.
Then I hear Zara. Relief hits me like breath after drowning, but I stay focused.
I move down the hallway, quiet and cold.
My steps silent. Calculated. Juaqína’s back is to me.
She doesn’t see me. But Zara does. She meets my eyes, barely blinking through the tears, and I bring a finger to my lips.
Don’t speak. Her eyes flick back to Juaqína just as the psycho grips her by the hair again, spewing madness.
“Same thing yuh do Talia enuh gyal!” Juaqína shouts at her, but that’s the last thing she gets to say.
I swing the butt of my Glock and crack it clean into the back of her skull.
She drops like dead weight, hitting the floor hard.
I don’t waste a second, I reach for Zara, grabbing her gently but urgently, pushing her behind me. She’s trembling, holding her belly.
“I knew you’d come,” she whispers. I nod once. Always will. Juaqína looks up at me, voice soft but heavy.
“How yuh know mi deh here?” I cut my glare toward the body on the ground.
“You forget who man be?” I ask her, voice low, deadly serious.
This right here? This is exactly why I trained for moments like this.
I step over Juaqína’s body, but she starts to move.
I spot her hand twitch toward her waist and react fast, kicking the gun across the floor before she can even touch it.
She groans, squirming, thinking she’s slick.
I step down hard on her ankle, smashing the side of her expensive Prada boots until the blade slides out.
She gasps in pain. Then I dip, snatch the second knife from her waistband.
I know all her hiding spots. Every single one.
I lean closer, looking her dead in her eyes.
“Yeah,” I growl. “Mi remember dem.” She starts crawling backwards, panicked now. But I’m done with patience.
I grab her by the throat and shove her back against the wall, squeezing harder as she claws at my wrist. “You come in my house, touch my woman… threaten mi daughter?” I grit through my teeth.
She struggles, gasping. Zara is behind me, still watching.
Still silent. But I don’t let go. Because she didn’t come here to scare anyone.
She came to kill. Gutta storms through the door, gun drawn, eyes blazing.
The moment he sees me with Juaqína pinned to the wall, he lowers the weapon.
“Glad mi reach in time… Zara good?” he asks, already scanning the space. I nod once, my grip still firm on her throat.
“She good.”
Zara glances at Gutta. “Come, help me with Joe and Lizzy…. dem in the kitchen.” Her voice shaking but steady, and the two of them disappear down the hallway.
That leaves me and this traitor alone. Juaqína’s eyes lock with mine, blood dripping from her busted lip.
She struggles to speak through the pressure on her throat.
“Wah… wah you a go do?” she chokes out.
“Trust me,” I say, my tone deadly calm. “You nuh wah know.” Because I’m going to kill her. Just like the rest of them. The ones who thought they could cross me and live to tell the story. She gives me a bitter, bleeding smile.
“Mi nuh know how yuh know mi deh ya… and a the meeting yo go.” My jaw clenches.
How she know that? She was here from long time.
Jah Jah… how!? But this is Juaqína. Former top worker.
One of the best in the game. She nuh ordinary.
Clearly, she was watching. Plotting. Even Joe didn’t catch her. No alarm went off.
She’s skilled. Twisted… but skilled.
“Yuh did deh ya long time,” I murmur, staring straight through her. And she smirks like it’s a badge of honor.
“Mi neva stay cause I was too close to killing you. But mi learn from the best. Mi affi move with the plan.” Click. I slam the barrel of the Glock across her face again. Her head jerks, blood sprays the cream wall behind her.
“Traitor,” I snarl. That word feels too small for what she is.
Gutta comes back in.
“Like yuh chloroform never strong enough, snitch.” Juaqína rolls her eyes like this is some joke to her. Really a mad gyal this eno.
“That she do the people dem?” I ask.
Gutta nods. “Cyaa wait fi see yuh put a hole in her head.”
“Shut up, Gutta!” she snaps, but her voice cracks.
He laughs. “Yuh know how long deh gyal ya a carry feelings, bredda? She a drown in her own madness. Man clown.” I just look at her. A long, heavy silence. Then I speak. “Gutta… go a the breaker. Most likely that she mess round.”
He heads off, flicks the switches. The house hums, then the lights return.
And now I can see her clearly. The damage. The rage. The woman I once trusted, unrecognizable.
“You did mean business snitch,” Gutta mutters, arms folded at the door.
She looks back at me. “Nick… yuh know seh yuh nuh hurt woman. That’s why mi never fraid. That’s why mi do this.” I stare at her, disgust crawling through my skin.
“Mi used to rate yuh,” I say, voice low. “And mi been have ratings fi yuh enuh but mi naav none no more. Right now mi a wonder why yuh mek man reach the point weh mi tired of you and feel fi hurt yuh.”
Mi feel fi kill har dawg, just a head shot. That too easy. She moves her lips. One more excuse. One more lie.
“Because yuh pu—”
“Shut up!” I snap, rage curling in my throat. “Mi seh why yuh mek mi feel like it alright fi hurt yuh?!” Mi heart not even feel conflicted and that’s how mi know mi done with her.
“Mi did about fi tell yuh seh the gyal a move like a traitor, mi G,” Gutta chimes in, stepping closer.
“Mi hear seh she round Lennox. And a dawg link mi and say a she help the bwoy get to Wayne. But mi did a wait fi get proof. Well… seet deh ya now.” Proof in human form.
She nuh even flinch when he say it. Dat she do?
Mi never feel so bout a woman yet. Is like mi soul reject har.
“Juaqína…” I mutter, my tone venomous. “Yuh mek mi hate yuh.” She scoffs, eyes narrow.
“Really?” She tries to talk again but I cover her mouth with my hand.
“Not even yuh voice mi nuh wah hear.” I turn to Gutta. “Get the tape.” Gutta disappears and comes back with the duct tape. I tear a strip and slap it across her mouth, silencing whatever lie she was about to tell. My eyes flick to Zara. She looks okay, lip swollen, but she’s standing.
Juaqína almost robbed me of that. Almost robbed us of everything. I look back at her tied-up body on the floor, breathing hard through her nose. My fist clenches. Mi name woulda affi change from Nickoi if mi lef she fi after dis. And mi name nah change anytime soon.
“You woulda kill Zara if yuh get the chance,” I growl, every word vibrating through my chest. “And mi did warn yuh. Mi give yuh more chances than anybody, and yuh still run go side with mi enemy?! Fi do wah? Bring me down?!”
She mumbles under the tape. I raise my hand, and she shuts up again. “Mi nuh wah hear nothing from yuh,” I say coldly.
Gutta moves to her, tightening the rope. “Mi done tell yuh seh yuh stupid fi bite the hand weh feed yuh. Look how much good the man do fi yuh.” Zara walks back over, hand gently touching my arm. I soften, looking at her immediately.
“Wah happen, Mami?” I ask, voice low now. She gives a small nod.
“Mr. Joe and Lizzy okay now. Mi nuh know if Gutta tell yuh, but she did do something to them… fi mek dem sleep.” Chloroform. Mi hear dat earlier. Zara’s eyes harden as she looks past me at Juaqína, then softens again when she faces me. “Mi a go back and assist dem, okay?”
“Alright, Mami.” I kiss her forehead gently, squeezing her hand before she walks off. When she leaves, I turn back to Gutta.
ZARA
It’s been about half an hour since I’ve been in the kitchen with Mr. Joe and Lizzie.
Nickoi and Gutta still have Juaqína locked up in the office, doing…
whatever. Mi sure dem probably a kill har.
I stir the tea, hands a bit shaky, before walking to the island and handing them each a cup. “Mi glad unuh okay,” I say, voice soft.
“Thank you,” Joe says, smiling weakly. “So happy that devil didn’t get to hurt you.” I glance at Lizzie and smile.
“And mi glad seh yuh survive har too.”
“Thank God… and Nickoi.” I smile to myself and climb on the stool.
“She hurt you?” Joe asks, looking concerned.
“She buss mi lip, but she neva get to do me how she wanted to.”
“Good,” they both say at the same time. Once I’m done helping them, I head upstairs—slowly—to the office.
When I crack the door open, Nickoi is standing in front of her.
His voice low. Dangerous. She’s trembling.
He raises his gun and slaps her across the face.
Her head whips to the side. I flinch. But mi nuh feel bad fi har.
That she do mi. She a get back wah she deserve.
I stand in the doorway, watching… until I finally speak. “She was lying, babe.”
Nickoi glances at me. “Wah yuh a talk bout, Mami?” his voice is still tight.
“She neva pregnant fi you. She admit it. Yuh can check the camera if yuh nuh believe.” Juaqína jerks like she want fi argue but Nickoi shuts her up quick, swinging the back of his hand in her face again.
“Easy yuh self!” he snaps. Damn.
“Yuh really feel seh yuh a get weh after everything yuh do?” Nickoi circles her slowly. Gutta stands to the side, his grin devilish. Yuh can imagine somebody get people fi hate dem so?
I don’t even feel sorry for her.
How mi fi feel bad when she wicked? She almost kill me and mi baby.
“My father and Lennox father were friends… an’ look how him betray mi father. Lennox was mi bredda and him still stab mi inna mi back fi the business. You, lie bout pregnancy fi mi lef mi woman. Yuh side wid Lennox, thief mi drugs, help set up Wayne and after all a dat, yuh still claim loyalty?!”
He hits her again.