11. Uri
Uri
“Get up,” Robert said, kicking my feet. I looked down at his foot, then up at him.
I wasn’t asleep, hadn’t been asleep for hours.
I was lying here, listening, thinking, trying to get a plan figured out to get Corinthians away from him.
She’d been locked in his home office for two days; every night, he went in there and came out when the sun was coming up.
Fixing his pants, always fixing his pants, and whistling.
I hated the sound of his whistle. I hated seeing him coming.
I hated hearing his heavy footsteps. I hated him. “Get up, Uri.”
I sat up, wiped my hands over my face, then looked at him. My voice was gone from screaming. I didn’t have any words left anyway.
“We are going to the office,” he announced. I don’t know if he thought I would be happy or excited, but I was neither. “You know how to act, and you know what will happen if you don’t.” He pointed at the door and chuckled. “Go get ready.”
He walked out of my cage, leaving the door open, and left the room. Slowly, I got up from the floor, looked around to see if anyone was around, and my eyes locked on Logan.
“Don’t even think about it,” he chuckled, shaking his head. “The door is locked, and I’m here as a precaution.” He lifted his shirt to show me the butt of his gun. “I’m not playing with your little ass anymore.”
I licked my lips, then left my cage. After I showered, brushed my teeth, and got dressed, I went down to the living room. My mama sat on the couch, her head down. When she heard me stop walking, she looked up. A ghost of a smile pulled at her lips, and her eyes watered.
“Uri,” she whispered and stood. She approached me, and I took a step back.
“Oh, honey, what has he done to you?” She was asking as if she didn’t know.
Like she didn’t hear my screams or know what happened in that basement; she knew; I knew she did because I heard her crying when I was locked down there.
Robert tortured everyone in this house. Her hands went to my face.
“I’m so sorry.” Her face twisted, and she moved one of her hands from my cheek to my forehead. “You’re warm.”
“He’s fine,” Robert said, coming into the living room.
He wore a black suit, a white shirt, and shiny black dress shoes.
He adjusted his jacket, then shook his head.
“Stop touching him; he’s fine.” Her hands dropped to her side, and she took a step back.
“Let’s go.” Robert snapped his fingers and left the room.
I glared at Mama then followed behind Robert.
The entire car ride to the office, Robert talked on the phone.
He was in full business mode, making plans, setting up meetings, and preparing for them.
I’d seen him this way my entire life, able to turn on and off the monster that he was.
But then again, I don’t think he ever turned it off, just shifted to a different form.
The monster he was at home was slightly different than the one I was looking at now.
He craved power, control, and dominance.
We parked in the garage. The driver got out, opened the door for us, and we walked through the employee garage to the side entrance.
Strong Pharmaceuticals was the largest black-owned company in the world.
From the outside looking in, people thought we were lucky; we claimed to be a business built on love and an understanding of the community's needs. That was a lie.
“Sir,” Mona, Robert’s secretary, jumped from her desk when we got off the elevator. Mona had been around for as long as I could remember. She worked for Robert, and her sister worked for Logan.
“What is it, Mona?” Robert asked as we walked to his office. “I have a meeting shortly, so make it quick.”
“It’s about your meeting,” she said, following behind us. She patted me on the shoulder and gave me a small smile as she passed me. “I know you said that it was closed, but…”
Robert opened his office door, walked to his desk, and picked up a small folder.
“But what?” he replied as he read whatever was in the folder.
His face twisted, then he looked up at Mona.
She hesitated again, and Robert shook his head.
“I don’t have time for this. I need to get to my meeting.
” He rounded his desk and walked out of the office. “Uri, come on.”
I followed him, not caring that I had to sit in on a meeting for a company I didn’t want anything to do with.
Because it was a family business, I had to be here even though I was a kid.
Robert opened the conference room doors and walked in.
He wasn’t three steps into the room before he stopped, then looked over his shoulder at Mona and me.
“That’s what I was trying to tell you,” Mona softly said. I moved around her to look into the room and saw my Uncle Bradon.
“Robert, bring your ass in here,” Uncle Bradon said with a chuckle. “I told her not to tell you I was here. Don’t get your panties in a fuckin’ bunch.”
Robert walked to his seat at the table and sat. I took my empty seat next to him, leaned back, and waited.
Uncle Bradon lived across the country, running the West Coast office.
I knew him, and Robert didn’t get along with him.
Honestly, Uncle Bradon didn’t get along with any of his siblings.
His daughter, Brieghton, sat next to him; she was younger than I was.
She sat next to Uncle Bradon, coloring and eating a snack. She looked happy.
“What are you doing here?” Robert asked Bradon. Logan sat in his chair across from me. His face was twisted in anger.
“I called this meeting to let you know I’m back,” Uncle Bradon announced.
Robert’s leg started to bounce. “Why?”
“The California office is on track; I’ve been there for over a year. It’s time.”
“When is this move happening?” Logan asked. “And who will be taking over the Cali office since you are here?”
“Tulane Forrester,” Uncle Bradon answered with a shrug.
“He’s not family!” Robert objected.
“That’s not how it works!” Logan jumped from his seat. “Each office is supposed to be run by someone with Strong blood.”
Bradon leaned back in his chair, chuckled, and shook his head. “As the CEO, I have the final say-so on who runs the offices. I went to Cali to start over, get away from the city, and get my head right. I’ve done that. I trust Tulane.”
“You trust him?” Robert reared back. “How can you trust a hustler, a fucking thug? He’s a nobody.”
“Tulane has three degrees, years of experience, and has seen shit that you could never imagine. He will run the office just fine.” Uncle Bradon shrugged.
“Unless you want to run that office. Or possibly Denzel can?” He looked over at their quiet brother.
Denzel sat in his corner of the table. I was surprised to see him in town, too.
He never came; he ran the main office in Louisiana.
“I don’t want it,” Denzel declined. “I need to focus on Oakly. He isn’t doing too well.”
“He’s never done well,” Robert said, waving him off. “Now, back to you, Bradon. When are you moving back?”
Uncle Bradon glared at Robert. Denzel’s oldest child had been sick his whole life.
Denzel and his wife had another child, a daughter, to help with his recovery, but that’s all I knew about it.
Uncle Bradon shook his head. “I don’t know how the fuck you got so heartless, but don’t say no shit like that again,” he told Robert.
Uncle Bradon was the only person I knew that Robert or Logan ever backed down from. They talked about him behind his back but never said anything to his face.
“Daddy?” Breighton said, tapping Uncle Bradon on his arm. He looked down at his daughter and lifted his brow. “Uri’s face is red.” Uncle Bradon quickly lifted his head to look at me; his expression went from confused to concerned, and he stood.
“What’s your temp?” he asked me, pushing his chair back. I watched as he rolled up his sleeves and rounded the table.
“He’s fine,” Robert said. I felt fine, but that didn’t matter because I always felt the same. If my face was red, then that meant something was wrong.
“You don’t fuckin’ know that,” Uncle Bradon said, shaking his head.
He rounded the table and got in Robert’s face.
“I told you what to look for. How to monitor him, all the shit you’re supposed to do.
” He grabbed Robert by the front of his jacket and pulled him from his chair.
“When was the last time he was checked out?”
“Not too long ago,” Robert answered. He was glaring at Uncle Bradon, but didn’t move to do anything to make him mad. “I have a doctor-“
“I don’t give a fuck what you have,” Uncle Bradon said, pushing him away. “He’s getting checked out.”
“He doesn’t need to be checked out,” Robert denied. “He’s fine. Probably just a little hot. Nothing to worry about.”
The more they argued, the more it felt like everything was moving slowly, and my head was spinning. I could hear Uncle Bradon say something to Robert, and then my chair was pulled back. Uncle Bradon moved my head back and forth, and I started to see spots.
“Uri!” Uncle Bradon yelled, shaking me, but I couldn’t say anything. I wanted to tell him I was okay, that it was Corinthians that he needed to worry about, but I felt myself getting sleepy. The last thing I heard was him calling my name, and then everything went black.
***
“He has an infection,” I heard someone say. I opened my eyes to see Uncle Bradon talking to a woman. Her back was to me, but I could see his eyes. He looked worried, sad, and then angry.
“How long has he had it?” he rubbed his jaw.
“A few days; we’re lucky we caught it when we did,” she answered, then closed the chart in her hand. “He’s going to be here a few days.”
“Alright,” Uncle Bradon replied. “Thank you, Nadine.”
Nadine turned to the side, and I got a good look at her face. This was Logan’s baby mama, the one who kept her son away from him.