CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
“This is a nice building, Joy,” Tess said as she and Tony followed Joy off the elevator and toward her apartment. “It’s so ritzy. You like it here?”
“I love it,” Joy said. “And the people who live here are real nice and friendly too.”
“That’s right up your alley,” Tony said.
Joy laughed and began unlocking her apartment. “I’m just shocked to see y’all in town.”
“You can thank Tony for that,” said Tess. “He said since you can’t get away and come see me, I should go see you. He said he was coming along as my escort.”
“As if you need an escort. Him, on the other hand,” she said jokingly. “Come on in,” she added as she opened the door wider for them to walk in first. Tess walked in, followed by Tony.
But when Joy was about to enter her apartment behind them, Sanchez, who was following them although Joy didn’t realize it, hurried up behind her and pushed her into her own apartment. He pushed her so hard that she fell into Tony and nearly hit the floor.
Tess was still talking when Joy let out a scream and began fighting against Sanchez as he covered Joy’s mouth while Tony quickly closed and locked her apartment door.
Tess’s heart pounded when she heard Joy’s scream, and when she turned around and saw who was duct-taping Joy’s mouth, she was shocked. “Sanchez? Where did he come from?
“Get your bitch!” Sanchez said angrily to Tony as he pulled out duct-tape and Tony quickly grabbed Tess.
Tess was fighting back too, but was stunned that Tony was manhandling her.
But Tony was doing more than that. He pulled out duct-tape and covered her mouth.
Then he began taping Tess’s arms and legs together while Sanchez taped Joy’s mouth, arms and legs together too. Then they sat both ladies on the sofa.
Both women were trying to speak and to break free, and Tess had tears in her eyes as she realized her own boyfriend was doing this to her.
But Sanchez was smiling. “I finally got my Joy back,” he said. “And what on earth has she been up to these past six months? She’s been whoring around with some rich old white dude. That’s what! My old lady is a whore.”
He could hear Joy say, through her muffled, tape-covered mouth, I’m not your old lady, which made him laugh. But Joy could see the bitterness beneath the smile.
And soon, his smile was gone. “Didn’t come see me not one time. Not once. I was locked up for all that time, and my own old lady didn’t give a fuck. I’m gonna enjoy killing you.”
“Not so fast, Sanchez.”
Joy heard a voice behind her and was shocked that somebody else was in her apartment. Then she heard footsteps coming up the hallway. And when two ladies stood in front of her, she could hardly believe it.
Melissa and Sloane stood in front of Joy and Tess and stared at them as if they were a circus act. Sloane was staring daggers at Joy, while Melissa seemed to be sizing her up. “Remove the tape,” she said to Tony.
Tony, the man Joy knew for years as Contessa’s old man, snatched that tape off Joy’s mouth as if he hated her too. He did the same to Tess.
Tess still couldn’t believe it. She was staring at Tony. But Joy was staring at Sloane. “How did you get in my apartment?” she asked her with a baffled look on her face.
“That’s what you’re worried about?” Melissa asked. “Really?”
But Joy had to know. “How did you get in here?”
“All of that security Mr. Skeffington insisted go wherever you go,” Sloane said, “went where you went. When you left this apartment, they left too. And we came in. How we got in? That’s our business.”
“But why? What do you want?” Then she looked her puzzled face at Melissa. “And who are you?”
But Melissa was too busy looking Joy up and down. “So you’re his woman now. You. I didn’t know it when Felicity told me about you, but now I’m certain. You’re my golden ticket.”
“A ticket?” Joy was frowned. “A ticket to what?”
“To hell. For you. And your old man.”
“You keep William out of this!” Joy yelled.
Sloane slapped her hard across her face.
“You keep his name out of your mouth!” she yelled back.
“You whore. You piece of trash. I’ve been slaving for him all this time and you just hit the scene and he’s treating you like you’re some queen.
A ghetto queen is all you are. A hood rat of the first order! ”
“Takes one to know one bitch,” Joy said, and Sloane slapped her again.
“You better hope I don’t get free,” Joy said angrily.
“She has nothing to worry about there,” said Melissa. “Freedom is not the name of the game today. Revenge is.”
Joy frowned. “Revenge for what? I don’t even know you, lady.”
“And what do you have to do with these people, Tony?” Tess asked him.
Melissa smiled. “So this is your old lady, Tone?”
“More like my ball and chain,” said Tony. “A nagger, that’s what she is.”
“Why didn’t you turn her?” Melissa asked. “She’s the best friend. I would have paid a pretty penny for her cooperation.”
But Tony was shaking her head. “She ain’t got it in her.
She’s straight lace through and through.
She would have called the cops on my ass if I told her anything about what me and Colin were planning to do.
Then he got his ass killed when he was supposed to kill Joy after I crashed into her car.
So I took off in that SUV. I knew if Joy saw my face, the jig was up. ”
“It was already up anyway,” said Melissa. “You and Colin Becker didn’t do shit the way it was supposed to be done. And then Felicity’s flat ass failed too.”
“They were looking for Felicity,” said Joy.
“They’ll find her at the bottom of the ocean. That bitch long gone. But after she failed, that’s when I knew I had to take matters into my own hands. I’ve been paying people to do my dirty work and it was backfiring left and right. I knew I had to handle this myself.”
Knocks were heard on the front door. Melissa nodded to Sloane. Sloane hurried over and looked out the peephole. “It’s Mr. Skeffington,” she said.
“What do we do now?” asked Tony.
“What do you mean?” said Melissa. “He’s why I propositioned every one of you in the first place. He’s the main event. Let him in, Sloane.”
Sanchez and Tony pulled out their weapons and aimed their guns at Joy.
Joy was amazed when Sloane took a moment to fix her hair and smooth down her dress as if that shit mattered now. And then she opened the door.
William’s heart was hammering, but he did all he could to maintain his composure. He did not want to give away the fact that he had information. He wanted it to seem as if he was just dropping by. But when he saw Sloane open that door, he was floored. “Sloane? What are you doing here?”
Sloane closed the door behind him. “You didn’t want me,” she said. “All that time and you didn’t give me the time of day. Now you wonder what I’m doing here? I don’t have any allegiance to you.”
William was baffled. Who said she did? But then he saw Joy. And his heart sank. Then he saw that her legs and her arms were taped. And Tess was bounded too. And who were those other two men and the older woman? “What’s this about?” he asked.
Joy could see the fear in William’s eyes.
And the fact that he had on glasses told her that he had been working at his computer, received information, and rushed to her apartment.
But what information could he have received when she was just hearing about this craziness for the first time herself, and it still didn’t make sense?
“Sit down, Mr. Skeffington,” Melissa said as Sanchez forced him down in the chair and trained his gun on him. Melissa sat down in the chair across from him. And she stared.
Then she shook her head. “Mr. Skeffington. That’s what every last one of us called you, wasn’t it?
After all those years of service, you were still Mr. Skeffington to everybody.
That barrier was always there, protecting you from us when it should have been the other way around.
” She smiled what Joy could see was as bitter a smile as Sanchez had smiled.
“It should have been the other way around,” she said again.
“What is this about?” William asked genuinely. He was still at a lost. He still had no concrete information as to why Joy was targeted by these people. “What is this about?”
“It’s about you, Big Man.”
“Then why are you holding Joynetta? If it’s about me. Why don’t you let her go. And her friend. Let them go if it’s about me.”
“Oh but I can’t do that. Sorry. Just like you killed my joy, I’ve got to kill yours.”
Now William was completely confused. So was Joy. “What are you talking about?” he asked. “I don’t even know you.”
‘You don’t remember me. Why am I not surprised? You don’t remember the woman you so graciously gave twenty-five-million dollars to after your gotdamn self-centered negligence caused my husband to lose his life.”
Her bitterness was on full display now. But William still didn’t know what she was talking about.
“My husband,” Melissa said, “was a member of your security detail the day your daughter died.”
Tess was lost. What daughter? Joy had never mentioned he had a daughter that died.
“My husband died that day too,” she said. “They died because you didn’t want security close to you. Then a kidnapper jumped in your car with your baby girl inside and they were so far back that they had to speed to catch up with you. That’s why my husband died!”
That wasn’t entirely true. They died after a gun battle with the kidnappers. But he knew that was beside the point. He remembered that they all died. He’d never forget that. “I paid each surviving widow twenty-five-million dollars. I paid you!” he said.
Joy knew the money had nothing to do with it. But in William’s world, it was always about money.
But Joy was right. Melissa became angrier. “Who gives a shit how much you paid me?!” she cried out. “My husband was dead. That was just money. My husband was dead because of you!”
Then she settled back down. “And you didn’t even come to the funeral.
You paid us all that money, and you didn’t even attend any one of their funerals.
” Her rage returned. “And you expect that money to exonerate you? I’ve been plotting and scheming your demise for an entire year!
I’ve took all of that blood money and paid anybody willing to do you harm.
Including Sloane. She got me into this apartment.
Felicity told me how terrible you treated her that night because of your whore over there. ”
“What happened to Felicity?” William asked her.
“Bottom of the ocean,” said Tony. “Where she belongs.”
Melissa laughed. “I like him.”
“You treated me like a dog,” said Sloane, still staring at William. “Now at least now I can take the money and live my life. I can find me a man worthy of me.”
William shook his head. He never once gave that woman any reason to think she could be his woman. Never. But that never stopped them.
Melissa stood up. “Your Joy will die first,” she said. “I want you to see your joy die just like you killed mine. And then it’ll be your turn.”
“Please,” said William. He didn’t even remember that woman’s name. “Please, I beg of you. Let her go. Let Joy go. You’ve got me. I’m the one that caused your husband’s death. She had nothing to do with it. Please let her go!”
“I’ll let her go alright,” said Melissa. “I’m sending her straight to hell right now!” she said.
As soon as she said those words, Tony joined Sanchez and aimed his gun directly at William too. And suddenly a crash so loud that it startled everybody in that room could be heard, and everybody turned toward the window.
Maximus Bluff, in a harness, crashed through that window with two guns drawn, and took out Sanchez and then Tony to neutralize their weapons.
They both dropped dead at the same time that the front door of Joy’s apartment was knocked down from the outside, and police officers stormed the place. It was obviously a choregraphed rescue.
“Police, hands up!” they came in yelling. “Police, show us your hands!”
William knew it was coming, but his heart was still hammering.
Joy and Tess couldn’t hold their hands up, but they had never been happier to see the police in their entire lives.
Some of the officers hurried over to handcuff Melissa and Sloane, while others went to help Max get unhooked from the harness they had put him in. But William hurried to Joy and Tess and freed them both.
But as the cops were hurrying Melissa and Sloane out of the apartment, Joy yelled for them to wait.
William, worried that something else had happened, hurried up behind Joy.
Joy moved in front of Sloane and punched her so hard in the face that her knees buckled.
The cops were about to restrain Joy, but William motioned for them to leave her alone.
“I thought you didn’t wanna touch me,” Joy said. “You slapped me, bitch, when you couldn’t stand to touch me that night in that car.” Then she pointed at a now-bleeding Sloane. “Don’t you ever lay a hand on me again! Don’t you ever!” she said to her.
“Don’t worry,” said William. “She’s going away for a long time. These glasses I’m wearing are camera glasses. I recorded the whole thing. The cops and Max knew when to come in, and who to take out, because they were watching the scene in real time.”
Joy smiled. “I knew something was up with those glasses. You looked like a nerd walking up in here.”
Then she smiled. “But my nerd,” she said. And William, relieved they got there in time, pulled her into his arms as the cops took the ladies away and the paramedics ran in to ensure the demise of Sanchez and Tony.
Then Joy reached out to Tess, who was crying over Tony’s sorry ass, and Tess fell into the comfort of their arms too.