14. Jeovanni
CHAPTER 14
JEOVANNI
Melissa walked into Jonah’s with a smile on her face. “How are you feeling since all of the technicalities have been handled?”
“I feel pretty damn good. I want you to meet my girlfriend and my sons.”
“Is this a new girlfriend?”
“Yes, it’s the mother of my sons.”
“She must be something special and not just because she birthed your sons. You were with Celine for a while, and I never met her.”
I didn’t even want Rainah compared to Celine. “I guess when you know you know.”
“Is that why you wanted to meet with me? To tell me that you’re ready to introduce me to them?”
“Nah, that’s not it. I actually want to tell you that I’m out. Once we’re done with this shipment, I don’t have a desire to move forward in the game. I want my lady and sons as safe as they can be, and if I’m knee deep in the game, there’s always a chance for something to happen to them.”
“Jeovanni, liquid cocaine has brought you millions of dollars. I thought you weren’t going to retire until thirty?”
“It’s brought me millions of dollars, that’s why I can walk away. I’m far from broke, and I have Jonah’s. I don’t see the purpose of constantly risking my freedom when I have more money than I can spend right now. There are things that money can’t buy. I don’t want my sons and my lady to ever be targets.”
Melissa nodded, and I angled my head to the left. “Let me ask you a question.”
“Of course.”
“You coming back around. Was that really to get to know me and Jovani, or was it more about getting us to move coke for you?”
“Wow, Jeovanni.” Melissa clutched invisible pearls. “I could have gotten just about anybody to move the coke for me. I chose you and Jovani because the two of you deserved to be rich. Losing your father and then choosing to let Joanna raise you and Jovani wasn’t easy for me at all. I was grieving three times over. I couldn’t eat for weeks. I literally cried every day and didn’t even have the energy to get out of bed.”
I gave a curt nod. I believed her; I guess I just needed to hear her say it.
“The same way you’re walking away from a game that made you filthy rich to protect those that you love is the same way that I wanted to protect you and Jovani from my father. I wouldn’t have been able to take losing either of you. If you don’t believe anything else in life please believe that. All that mattered to me was keeping the two of you safe.”
“I haven’t told Jovani yet that I’m leaving the game. I’m not sure how he’ll take it, but if he decides to continue that’s up to him.”
Melissa nodded. “So, when can I meet my grandkids?”
“Jovani and I have some business to handle out in Atlanta. I’ll set something up when I get back.”
“Sounds good, son.”
I gave Melissa a hug before walking her out to her car. Jonah’s was closed for the night, and I had to hurry and meet Jovani at the warehouse. If I was late. I’d never hear the end of it. As I drove, I found myself hoping that Jovani would decide to walk away from the game with me. Deuce was the only person that I trusted to watch my brother’s back, but not even Deuce would look out for Jovani like I would. I was my brother’s keeper and vice versa. Worrying about Jovani if he chose to stay in the coke game would give me premature gray hair. Maybe it was childish to still do most things together at our big ass age, but that was my brother from the womb to the tomb.
I pulled up to the warehouse at the same time as Tony. He had the information for us on the Russian buyers. And he didn’t want to talk about it over the phone. I asked him to come to the warehouse. I didn’t care about letting Tony know the location of the warehouse because he wouldn’t be alive to tell anyone where it was located. Jovani and I were going to get rid of his sick ass.
And the best part was, we didn’t have to worry too much about the others that Tony propositioned. Everyone aside from Andrew reached out to us and basically told Jovani and I that they weren’t with the shit, and they could tell by our demeanors at dinner that we weren’t with it either. The problem was, they weren’t killers. Jovani damn near cursed them out and asked why they thought we were killers, but we were assured that there was no judgement. We had dirt on them, and if they ever chose to go against us for any reason, they knew we’d take them down too. It was understood that we’d kill Tony, and we would all go our separate ways.
“Tony, my man, what’s up?” I slapped his palm as Deuce stepped to the side to let us by.
“I’m sweating bullets,” Tony shook his head. His pupils were dilated, and he was high as a kite. “I swear you and your brother have the purest coke this side of fuckin’ Florida,” he stated with a sniff.
“You’re late,” Jovani scolded the moment the door lifted, and we walked through.
“I’m right on time,” I kissed my teeth. “I arrived with the man of the hour.”
Jovani stood in the middle of the warehouse with his hands folded in front of him. “What up, Tony?” he chucked his chin up at Tony.
Tony rubbed his hands together with anticipation. “Ready to connect you two to these Russian buyers, so I can get my finder’s fee.” Tony pulled a small white piece of paper from the pocket of his charcoal gray slacks.
He passed it to me, and I read the writing that was scribbled on the paper. “Good shit.” I nodded. “Now you gon’ die, bitch.” I whipped my gun from the small of my back while Jovani did the same.
In no time, Tony had two guns on him, and his eyes grew even bigger. “Twins. What the fuck is going on? You can’t kill me.”
“Fuck if I can’t,” Jovani growled as he squeezed the trigger. I followed suit, and we riddled Tony’s body full of bullets.
The door lifted, and Deuce’s massive frame came through. He knew what to do. We had a large barrel of acid that he was going to drop Tony’s sick ass in. First, he had to put on an apron, rubber gloves, and goggles. Jovani and I waited around for Deuce to be done. We were both tired. Not much was said as we waited, but that was cool too. I could sit in silence for hours with my twin and know exactly how he was feeling.
“One more mission,” I tapped Jovani’s chest with the back of my hand as Deuce gave us a head nod that his task was complete. “And you can get back to the strip clubs and hoes.”
Jovani hit me with a crooked grin. “You think you know me, nigga.”
“Be safe.”
“Always.”
* * *
“What kind of girls you want?” I asked the pale Russian standing in front of me with ice blonde hair and piercing eyes. It took a lot of effort to hide my disdain.
There were two of them in the room, but only one of them did the talking. “I want girls of all nationalities,” his accent was so thick, I had to concentrate to understand him. “No one older than twenty-five.”
“You want us to check ID’s and shit,” Jovani frowned, and I tossed an icy glare his way.
The Russian glared at my brother like he wanted to kill him, and if that muhfucka jumped bad, it was over for his ass. I needed Jovani to play it cool until we got the info that we needed. Jovani stared right back at his ass, and I was about to say something when he spoke again.
“Children go for $60,000. If you take a child, he or she must be perfect. Np physical imperfections at all. I have to drop off a shipment in Ohio. I’ll be back in two weeks. I’ll expect some girls then.”
“Cool.” I bobbed my head.
The Russians eyed us as we walked away. I could feel their gazes on us even once our backs were turned. The moment we got in the Escalade that Deuce rented, I turned toward him. “Did you see anything?”
“There was a U-Haul parked behind the building. I put a tracking device underneath it. It pulled off about five minutes after you and Jovani went in. I wasn’t sure if it was empty or not, but it would be the perfect thing to transport people in.”
“Go to it.”
We had no clue how deep the Russians were, so in the vehicle with us was Deuce’s cousin, Rome. He wasn’t as large as Deuce, but he was ex-military and big enough. Deuce tracked the U-Haul fifteen miles away. It was parked in front of a dark building. We had four guns and no idea how many people with guns of their own were in the building or the U-Haul, but we were going to take our chances. Deuce hit the lights, and we got out of the Escalade. It was so quiet outside that the only thing we heard were crickets.
The driver’s side door to the U-Haul opened, and we all froze in our tracks. The driver, walked toward the building. With his back to us, we could tell that he was taking a leak. I knew Rome was a great shot, so I nodded my head at him and sure enough, just one shot hit ole boy in the back of the head and dropped him. Deuce ran over to the U-Haul and checked it. The keys were still inside, so he lifted the back door, and it was empty.
We tried the door of the building, and it was locked. Walking over to the dead nigga, I patted his pockets and found a key. After unlocking the door, I stepped into a room that smelled foul as fuck. Gagging, I pulled my shirt over my nose. In the first room were two Hispanic women that only wore white tank tops and panties. They didn’t look older than twenty, and they were sitting on a filthy mattress on the floor. When we entered the room, they jumped.
I placed my finger to my lips signaling for them to be quiet. The building had three rooms with black doors. The doors were closed. Deuce, Jovani, and I each went to a door while Rome watched the front.
Behind the door I opened was a black female that looked no older than sixteen. Seeing her curled up in a fetal position with tear-stained cheeks broke my heart. “Get up yo.” She sat up and scrambled backward until she bumped into the wall. “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m here to let you go. Come on.”
There was a skeptical look on her face, but she stood up slowly. Deuce stood by the door as two white girls walked out of the room looking as confused and skeptical as the other women.
“What you got?” I asked Jovani who was just standing in the doorway staring.
When he didn’t speak, I went over to see what he was staring at.
“What the fuck?” I mumbled. There was a mattress in the center of the room and on it was a baby that was wrapped in a blanket fast asleep.
(Don’t fret. The continuation drops May 11 th , Jovani Bendetti by Lisa Austin will conclude our Mother’s Day novellas.)