Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
KAIRI MOORE
“Kairi!”
My eyes popped open, and I jumped when I felt someone shaking me awake. Seeing it was my dad, I calmed a little until I realized something was wrong for him to be waking me up in the middle of the night.
“Daddy, what’s happening?”
We then heard a sound, like someone was inside our house. My father looked at me and put a finger up to his mouth.
“Shhh,” he whispered. I held my breath, then another sound. Someone was definitely in our house. My eyes switched over to my dresser where I kept my little pistol. My father picked up on what I was looking at and shook his head at me.
“I’m gonna need you to hide,” he said. My mouth fell.
“Daddy, no.”
Ignoring me, he gently pulled me off the bed and walked me over to my closet, then he opened the door for me.
“No matter what you hear, do not come out, Kairi.”
My eyes filled with tears. I’d seen too many true crime programs and read enough urban fiction books to know that if someone was in your house, it wasn’t going to end well.
I gripped his hand, trying my hardest to pull him inside with me, but he just whipped his arm away and shoved me inside.
“Dad—”
“Do not come out,” he demanded. I nodded as the first set of tears rushed down my face. My dad smiled at me, caressed my face, then closed the closet door.
I crouched down and covered my mouth as I sobbed hard.
“The hell y’all doing in my house?!” Daddy snapped. I held my breath, trying my hardest to hear.
“Where is she?”
I froze when I realized the voice was coming from Viper. He was the right-hand man of Orlando Sanchez—a very dangerous man—and he was looking for me!
“She’s not here, so I’m gonna need y’all to get the fuck outta my house. Now!”
I suddenly heard a loud thump—like a body hit the ground or something.
“Arggghhhhh!”
Then my daddy screamed, making me jump. I could hear sounds of grunting and my dad’s moans.
They were going to kill him.
Without even thinking, I burst out of my closet and rushed out of my room. I ran into the living room and screamed when I saw five men beating the hell out of my dad.
“Stop it!”
I dropped to the ground, to cover my father’s body with mine, and the attack stopped.
“Daddy? Daddy, are you okay?” I grabbed his face that was starting to swell. He coughed up a little blood and nodded at me.
“Why are you doing this?!” I turned to Viper to ask, and that was when I noticed his son, Sony, standing beside him with a smile on his face. Sony’s wife, River, stood beside him, mean mugging me along with her sister, Ocean.
I looked back at my dad, feeling the guilt weigh down on me. I should have known better than to go to the police.
My father was a low-ranked worker in The Society. So, I’d heard rumors about how powerful they were, even going as far as having cops in their pockets, but I still took my chances, thinking the cops would protect us.
But the fact that Viper was standing in our living room, I knew my statement had gone from the cops’ hands to his.
“This world doesn’t have a place for snitches,” Viper whispered.
My palms shook, fear gripping me until I couldn’t utter a word.
A bitter, metallic taste bubbled up from my stomach that was starting to turn.
I then looked over at Sony, my eyes pleading with him to stop this.
To tell the truth, but I knew that he wasn’t there to help me.
I then looked to my father, remorse hitting me hard. He was suddenly pulled away from me. Those men started kicking him again right in front of me while Viper and Sony just watched.
“Stop!” I begged.
My attempt to get in between them again was thwarted by one of Viper’s men grabbing me, holding me in place to watch.
One of the men then kicked my dad in the face, making his nose sprout blood, and I spoke up without thinking.
“I lied! I lied! I came onto him!”
The room fell silent for a few seconds, and then thankfully, they stopped attacking him. The man let me go, and I rushed back to my father’s side. He was bloody all over and could barely open his eyes.
“Daddy, I’m sorry,” I whispered, trying to help him sit up.
I was suddenly yanked up by my right arm by River. She just stood there, breathing heavily, staring at my face.
“This hoe, she thinks she’s so pretty,” Ocean snorted. I looked at her, wondering why she would say that when I’d never acted like that. “You’re not even all that and think my sister’s husband would try to rape you!” Ocean said.
“Bitch, my husband wouldn’t touch you even if someone paid him!” River snapped. “Why would he, when he’s got me?” Her voice slightly broke.
I didn’t answer. I just looked at her as the tears rolled down my cheeks. Her eyebrows were knitted in anger, but then they suddenly softened as she continued to look at me. Then I saw it—the realization of the truth hit her.
River didn’t have to say it; I could see it in her eyes too.
She was unsure. River’s lip trembled and kept moving like she was forming words to say, but she said nothing.
Her eyes saying more than any words could.
River’s eyes took in my appearance, focusing on my face and then down my body before she quickly looked at herself.
I sucked in a breath, her reaction doing something to my emotions.
She then looked to her left and right, a questionable look displaying on her face.
“Here, sis, I got some acid in my bag. Throw it on this bitch for trying to fuck with your family,” Ocean spat. “Let’s see if she’s still pretty after.”
Since the moment Ocean and I crossed paths, years ago, she’d hated me, and I never understood why because I didn’t know that damn girl.
My father somehow got involved with The Society when I was still in high school, and that was when I first met Ocean and River.
River ignored me like I never existed, but Ocean always had something to say.
Always talking about how I thought I was so pretty when I had never said or acted like that.
River continued to stare in my face before she stepped back.
“Nah, she’s not worth it,” River responded to Ocean and then walked away.
Ocean sucked her teeth and followed behind.
“I wanted to see that pretty face scarred up,” Ocean lowly said. I trembled at her words.
“Make this be the last time we need to have this conversation. Keep your fucking daughter in check, Kennedy, or I’ll do it for you,” Viper whispered his threat.
He gave me one final look before stomping out of the room with his goons behind him.
Sony slowly followed with his eyes on me. He then grabbed his dick, winked at me, and stepped out of the room, leaving me feeling broken.
I woke up to the sound of someone moving around the kitchen, and I jumped out of bed.
“Daddy?” I called him when I saw him trying to make something to eat. “Let me do that for you.”
“I’m fine, Kairi.”
His face was swollen, and his eyes were bloodshot red.
“I’m so sorry,” I whimpered, and he looked at me.
“You have nothing to feel sorry for. It’s my fault, not yours. I never should have gotten involved with them.”
When I found out that my father was involved in The Society, I often wondered how, but I was always too afraid to ask. However, I knew it was out of desperation for money. After my mama died when I was eleven, my daddy struggled to look after me and my brother, until he joined them.
Because of Viper, Sony walked around thinking he owned the world and could do what he liked—including trying to assault me.
For so long, I hid it from my dad, but he figured it out when I had a panic attack after seeing Sony again at a gathering that I helped out with on the catering team. I just wanted to forget about it, as if it didn’t happen, but my best friend convinced me to go to the cops.
The biggest mistake of my life!
“I shouldn’t have said anything and just let it go,” I said lowly. My dad thumped his hand on the kitchen island.
“You shouldn’t have to!”
I half smiled, approached my dad, and gave him a hug.
“It’s fine,” I lied, hoping to soothe him. The most important thing now was that they didn’t kill my dad. That was worth letting it all go for, as long as Sony stayed away from me.
My dad’s phone vibrated on the kitchen island. After hugging me back for a few seconds, he let me go to pick it up.
“Mothafucker!” Daddy yelled, making me jump.
“What’s wrong?”
He stood there looking at the text he received before sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose.
Feeling curious, I took the phone from his hand to look for myself and saw it was his friend Gerald.
Ger: Hey brother, not sure what’s going on, but Viper told everyone not to give you any more work.
Why didn’t I just keep my mouth closed!
The door opened, and I sighed happily when Sparkle handed me a bottle of Henny.
“How did you know I needed this?” I asked, kicking off my sneakers and hanging up my bomber jacket. She walked away to the kitchen, and I followed.
“Just had a hunch. You sounded like you needed it,” she said, taking a seat at the kitchen island. I joined and immediately opened up the bottle and poured some into the glass she had waiting for me.
Sparkle sat in silence, watching me down two mouthfuls before I turned to look at her.
“Viper found out that I went to the cops, and they almost killed my daddy last night,” I explained. Hearing those words come out of my mouth had me reaching for my glass again. I finished the contents and poured some more.
“What? How?” she asked, gasping dramatically.
My shoulders hunched even though I had somewhat of an idea. Dirty cops.
“I should have known better, Sparkle. We’ve heard the stories. These are some dangerous people,” I said with a sigh.
I looked at my best friend and could see the anger displaying on her face.
“I shouldn’t have told you to go to the cops,” she said, sounding sad. I shook my head because none of this was her fault. It was Sony’s.
He chose to try to rape me five months ago at a party. I only got away because some random guy helped me that night.
I looked at my friend, and I knew we were both tired of it all.
Just like me, Sparkle woke up one day and found out that her mother had entangled herself with The Society.
Similarly, Sparkle ended up working odd jobs, like catering and cleaning, like I did now.
Until she found her way out in the form of her husband, Diego.
He was an older man and high ranked in The Society. He took a liking to Sparkle and immediately took her as his wife, even though she was only twenty-five at the time and he was fifty.
I thought she’d found her happily ever after in him, but he ended up being the worst devil to ever walk this earth. My best friend suffered by his hands until he died of a heart attack two years ago.
As his wife, she inherited it all and now was living her best life as that man’s widow. Sparkle didn’t have to work again and was no longer under the influence of The Society. At twenty-nine years old, she could do as she pleased.
I refilled my glass and took another mouthful before I continued.
“Wait, there’s more,” I breathed before chuckling bitterly. “They’ve stopped him from working.”
“What?” Sparkle hopped up to her feet. “They can’t do that!”
“They have. Remember, my dad works directly under Orlando and Viper is his right-hand man.” I shrugged, knowing that there was nothing I could do about it. I wish there was, but there wasn’t.
Sparkle just sat there silently, chewing on the corner of her mouth as if she was thinking about something, wondering if she should share it with me or not.
“Well, why don’t we poison Sony? Nobody will ever find out,” Sparkle said, making me look at her with a frown.
This girl was always talking about poisoning some damn body like she had experience or something.
“Girl, if you don’t stop with that mess. Somebody might really believe you would do something like that if they heard you,” I laughed.
She sat there staring into space for a few seconds before blinking out of it and looking at me.
“You know I got you, friend. Fuck them,” she angrily spat.
“I know, and thank you, but we’ll figure it out. We always do.”
If my father wasn’t allowed to work anymore, I knew that also included me. I only ever helped out at events, so I wasn’t involved like my daddy, but still, the pay was good and that was why I did it for so long.
“Well, I will help you look for something else,” Sparkle said, flipping her blonde weave off her shoulder. She reminded me of Bambi from Love & Hip-Hop Atlanta.
She lit a blunt, took a pull, and then handed it to me.
“I wish we had a way of fucking with those bastards,” she said. I looked at her and sighed.
If only!