Chapter Forty-One
Marchella
I had no idea how my mother did this shit for nearly twenty years. I spent all of twenty minutes alone with my thoughts before I started scrubbing the house from top to bottom. I opened all the new dishes and washed them before organizing my cabinets the way I wanted them. I vacuumed carpets we probably hadn’t even walked on yet and scrubbed the kitchen floor until the entire house smelled like lemon cleaning products.
When my knuckles hurt and my lungs were stinging from all the chemicals, I went to the bedroom and flopped onto the bed. It’d only been thirty more minutes.
I ran my hands through my hair and massaged my brow. I flopped my hand down on the bed, and I noticed the drawer on Blaze’s side was cracked. I rolled onto my belly and reached to shut it, but the familiar pattern on the black metal I saw through the tiny opening was something I recognized at a glance.
“Why the fuck–?” I jerked it open, angered by the thought of him going into Disciple shit unarmed.
The gun slid back and bounced gently off the front of the drawer.
“Why the fuck what?” Lucia excitedly asked, rushing to my side.
I hadn’t realized anyone was inside the house with me and had the gun half aimed before I recognized the voice.
“Whoa!” Lucia laughed.
She stepped closer and ran a painted finger along the barrel.
“That’s sexy,” she purred with all the ignorance of a high school girl.
“Does Dad know you’re here?”
She rolled her eyes and put a hand on her hip. I hated it when she flashed that Izzy attitude at me, and she was definitely her mother’s daughter, even if she was my half-sister.
“Dad’s being a crab ass, even my ma said so!”
“Yeah? He’s gonna be all over your ass if he finds you here tonight. That’s what he’s gonna be,” I warned her. “You should get.”
“I just wanted to see your house.” She batted her lashes and flashed her whitened smile in what I knew to be an effort to disarm me.
It might work on strangers, but not me. We were sisters.
“Then you should have come to the bonfire, like everyone else.”
Her jaw dropped and she bugged her eyes in a dramatic attempt at appearing shocked, “Marchella Miller! We’re sisters.”
“You remind me that we’re sisters, and yet, you forget my name. Cute, Lucia. Real cute.”
A subtle look of confusion crossed her painted features before her eyes lit up, “Aviston. Duh.”
“Yeah.”
She stared at me with a smile that made me uneasy and nodded like she knew something I didn’t.
“What?”
“Nothing?” She shrugged and bobbled her head. “Jeez, fine. We’ll leave.”
“We?” I panicked.
“Yeah. Nakarii came to your little bonfire. She said you and Blaze like to perform in the garage, so I came to see for myself. The idea of my sister carrying on in some grease hole with a man our father has to give a charity job to… I just couldn’t picture it. Now I can. I’ve seen it.”
I don’t know which part upset me more, her hateful bullshit, or the fact that Nakarii was apparently here again. I stormed past her, giving a wild look around the house. It was easy to search with the layout. When I didn’t find anyone inside, I followed the sound of voices to the backdoor.
It wasn’t latched. I reached out, my fingers making connection with the screen just barely.
Nakarii’s back was to me. Her right arm was extended, and the nose of her pistol was snuggly against Blaze’s chest. His eyes were burning into her.
“Blaze,” Donnie whispered, his own weapon leveled at someone standing in the shadows.
“You boys aren’t very bright. Not at all.” She laughed. “I’m Nakarii Olivio. I even gave you my real name. How simple can you be?”
She reached out and ran a hand up his chest, curling her fingers around the back of his neck.
“My mother is Vennie Olivio, but before she married my father, people in Chicago called her Venice Valentino.”
I heard the shuddered breath that left Donnie all the way from the porch. The figure near the trees was short in stature. I went with my gut and inwardly decided it was a female.
Everything slowed down in my mind. I’d suffered from a paralyzing fear for so long. I’d accepted that I was destined for the same fate as my mother from a tender age, but now that I was faced with danger, I wasn’t going to wait for the losses to start rolling in. I was going to handle it myself, and there was something about knowing it that steeled my nerves.
The monster was in front of me. It had dared stick its head out of the shadows my father’s club chased it to and was confronting the one thing I loved.
“You’re going to do everything we say. We’re going to own the Steel Disciples and it’s going to be a beautiful thing. You’ll see.”
I slid my thumb over the safety and raised the gun. Nakarii’s attention shifted toward me, but it was already too late. I pulled the trigger before she could realize what she was looking at.
Her head flew back, and she dropped.
“Get her, Donnie!” I barked, hoping he hadn’t missed the woman in the tree line.
Blaze’s face was a mask of shock, and he took a step toward me. When he shot a look over his shoulder, I glanced that way, too.
Two men with gold-plated, army-style guns slid out of a vehicle that was so dark I hadn’t even realized it was parked.
My breath caught and I dropped the gun. There was no running from a thing like that. The armed men rushed toward me with a short woman hot on their heels. Blaze closed the distance between us fast, throwing me into the side of the house and covering me with his body.
“Do you think a meat shield will protect her from us?” one of the armed men asked, laughing.
“Get the fuck off of her. She killed my niece.” A feminine voice growled.
“Order them to kill your fucking nephew if that’s how you want it!” Blaze barked.
I heard a scuffle, but I couldn’t see anything.
“What the fuck?” Mackie roared.
“I’ll air this whole fucking block out, draw your weapon!” someone shouted at Mackie.
I clung to Blaze. Inhaling the leather-scent of his kutte is what kept me in the moment. As high as I’d climbed in my empowerment, I’d fallen with the squeezing of that trigger. I tapped at his ribs in a silent request to be let up. He didn’t even notice, any attempt to move on my part was met immediately by force. He shoved and herded me behind him like he’d been doing it all his life.
“You boys aren’t criminals, nephew. You’re playing at it, but you’ve no idea what you’re doing. I don’t play. I only get out of bed to win. If we’re speaking. It’s checkmate.”
“May–” Blaze huffed. “May, kill that bitch.”
“Blaze,” May whispered, “—they’re everywhere, brother.”
“I won’t let you kill her,” Blaze growled.
“I won’t let my niece's death go unanswered, Blaze. I didn’t come here to hurt you, but its principal. I’m a woman, I’m held to a higher standard in this game we play. You understand?”
“My life for her,” he blurted out.
“No,” I shot my hand out, catching him in the spine and sending him flying toward her.
It was a stupid move on my part, the minute I was exposed there was a gun placed against my head.
“You hurt my ol’ lady and I’ll ruin everything you love!” Blaze roared.
“Here is what’s going to happen.” Joplin’s tone still carried a smile. “I’m going to count to three, and when I finish, Marchella will be removed from my sight, and the rest of you will get in my limo. You have the option of going with me or going to jail for the rest of your lives. I have been following and recording you and your associates for weeks. Make your choice.”
“I won’t be removed from shit.” I spat back.
The bitch didn’t even get one out, she cleared her throat, held up a finger, and Mackie tackled my ass!
“Goddamn it!” I started throwing elbows and jabs for all I was worth.
I was no match for Mackie. He was prison built and meaner than a fuckin’ snake. He clapped his hand over my mouth like he used to when we were kids and shit got ugly. Then he hauled my ass inside.