Chapter 3
Royal
“It’s big-time money, Royal. You can take a break from fighting,” Jeremy tells me.
“It’s illegal as fuck,” I remind him as I bring my cigarette to my lips and inhale.
“So is fighting, but you do it.”
“This would be jail time if we get caught,” I remind him.
“So is fighting.”
“This is worse,” I add. “Besides, if I’m in jail, who’s going to take care of April?”
“Royal, this could cover April for a long time. And you too. We could get a place that isn’t this roach-infested hotel,” he says. I get the appeal, and the thought had crossed my mind more than once, but kidnapping and ransom isn’t really what we do.
“It’s dangerous.”
“Our lives are dangerous. Don’t give me that shit,” he argues. I smirk at him.
“You’re right. But this is something that takes time, Jeremy. We can’t just go out and snatch someone off the streets. We have to plan it out, get things in order.”
“I know that.”
“And who’s to say that they don’t call the cops? How can we be sure they won’t?”
“We don’t know that for sure unless we can get some kind of leverage on them.”
“You’re talking some high-profile shit,” I chuckle.
“I’m talking money, Royal. Enough for us to live for a while. Enough for April to survive on.” Knowing that April is taken care of for a while would be nice. Knowing she has money to fall back on would be a plus.
“I don’t know, man,” I say, scratching my jaw. “There are only two of us.”
“But we’re smart, Royal.”
“That is true. But smart doesn’t mean shit when it comes to asking for ransom.
The cops get involved in it, and we’re fucked,” I remind him.
He sighs as he sits back in the chair and closes his eyes.
I know he wants money. I know he wants out of this place just as much as I do, but at what cost?
Kidnapping and ransom is a whole different ballgame, and we both know it.
There’s so much that has to go into planning something like that. Time, space. Things we don’t really have. Where would we keep this person? Who the hell would we take? How do we know that anyone would actually pay the ransom? There are a lot of unknowns for us to take a risk like this.
“I think it’s worth a shot,” Jeremy says, lifting his head to look at me.
“I’m not against it. Don’t get me wrong. It’s just not something we decide on overnight. We’d have to think this through. Play by fucking play.”
“And we can do that. We have time, Roy.” I inhale another drag from my cigarette and blow smoke into the air.
“Yeah. Fine. I’m good with it,” I tell him.
“Yeah?”
“Why the fuck not? What do we have to lose?”
“That’s what I’m talking about!” he says excitedly. I grin at him as he raises his fists in the air.
“You have someone in mind?”
“No. Not yet, anyway. We would have to look into some people,” he adds. I nod my head.
“Preferably a female.”
“Why a female?” he asks, confused.
“Easier to subdue. A female should be easier to keep in line.” He nods his head.
“You’re right. I wasn’t really worried about a guy, though. You could take him.”
“We can’t get ransom if I beat the shit out of the guy to keep him in line. I highly doubt anyone wants to pay for a bruised and bloody family member.” Now Jeremy laughs, knowing I’m right. I crack a smile before bringing the cigarette back to my lips.
“I’m glad you’re on board with this,” he says.
“You thought I wouldn’t be?”
“I wasn’t sure. I know we get into a lot of shit, but never kidnapping.”
“That’s true. Taking someone is a whole new level of shit,” I agree.
“I think we can handle it. We’re smart. We know how to work the system,” he adds. I nod my head. He’s right about that.
“Start looking around for someone. We’ll see what we can do,” I say.
Jeremy pulls his phone out as I sit back and close my eyes. I wouldn’t be in this shit if it weren’t for my mom. I would still be at home with my sister, taking care of her, but life had other plans for me.
I couldn’t watch my mom like that. Shoving a needle in her arm, wasting away.
I knew I had to do something to help April, though.
She doesn’t deserve that shit either, but she’s only sixteen, and having her on the streets with me isn’t an option.
Life is too hard out here as it is. She would never make it.
I wasn’t sure at some point I would make it. Not until the fighting came into the picture. Digging through trash for leftover meals. Begging for change. That shit got old quick, and the thought of it all disgusted me. I knew what I had to do to survive, and at the time, that was it.
I met up with Jeremy about a year after being homeless.
He wasn’t in much better shape than I was, but he knew people.
Not the best kind of people, but people who could get us money.
And that’s when I started to fight. I remember winning my first fight and getting tossed a hundred dollars.
I thought the fucking world was falling at my feet.
Since then, the price has gone up. I had to fight my way to the top. I had to prove myself as a fighter. I had to prove I deserved to be in that ring, and now all the underground fighters know me.
I made my mark. I know my place, and for as far as I can see, this is it. This is my life.