71. Four
Four
Istared at my mama. I wanted to feel something, anything besides anger towards her and came up empty.
Years of trying to figure out why or how I ended up with parents as I did sat at the edge of my mind.
Robert was a monster. There was no doubt about it.
But my mama? Sharon? She was a victim. A kid forced into a life that wasn't fair to her.
She was no different than Cori and me. Well, no, she was; her outcome was different because she didn't have someone like Unc to look out for her.
"You want to see him die?" Cori asked, and Mama nodded. "And what exactly will that do for you. I mean seeing him die."
"The same thing it'll do for you," she answered. "Heal the broken child inside of me."
Cori looked over to me, and I shrugged. This was her decision. If she wanted Mama to live, then she would.
"Fine," Cori agreed with Mama.
"I know where Robert is," Mama said.
"Where?" I asked.
"With his wife," she answered, and I stood there confused.
"Aren't you his wife?" Cori asked.
Mama shook her head. "No, I'm just the girlfriend," she humorlessly laughed. "He married someone else. I was his witness."
"Where is he?"
"At his office," she replied. "In the gym."
"Let's go." I took Cori's hand and left the house. I could hear Mama walking behind us. Her steps were slow and measured; they echoed with confidence that I knew she didn't have.
We got to the car, and I opened the door for Cori, but she didn't get in. "If she rides with us, I won't let her sit behind me. Her story is sad, but I'm not dumb enough to think she's innocent."
"Agreed."
Mama stood next to the car, her dark eyes watching us. I couldn't read her expression. "I can sit in the back," she offered. She hadn't heard our conversation. "Or drive."
"You can have the front," Cori said. I looked over at her and waited. She reached around me and took my gun from the waist of my pants. "If you try something, you won't get to see Robert die, but I have no doubt you'll see him in hell."
Mama smirked, then nodded. "That's fine with me," she replied.
Cori and I stepped back, and she opened the door to the back passenger side. She got in and waited. We rounded the car, and I opened the back door for Cori; she got in, and I closed it.
"You remember how to get to the gym?" Mama asked once I was in the car and situated.
"Yeah." I looked in the rearview mirror to see Cori facing Mama. My gun in her hand, her back against the door. I knew she preferred her razor but seeing her with a gun was a turn on like no other.
I drove down the driveway, flashing my lights at Cori's people as I drove past them. They followed. The twenty-minute drive to the gym was quiet. Mama stared out of the window. Cori watched her, waiting for any reason to have to kill her.
I parked my car and got out. I opened the door for Cori while Mama opened her own. Without waiting for her cousins, we headed towards the gym entrance.
"My nephew Mims typically does security," Mama said as she looked around. "I don’t see him."
"His head is in the trunk," Cori told her.
Mama nodded, not fazed by what she'd heard. She went to the back door, put in the code to open it, then walked inside.
Silence.
The gym still smelled the same, of blood and despair. I looked over to Cori. Her left hand tapped against her side as she followed behind Mama. We made a right, then left and another right before we stopped in front of Robert's office door.
"You don’t have to go in if you don’t want to," I told Cori. "I can do this for us."
"No," she said without looking at me. Her eyes were locked on the closed door. "I want to see him die."
I took my gun from her, and she pulled out her knife. If there were any security around, they wouldn't live through the night.
"There's no one inside," Mama said. I stared at her, trying to figure out if she were telling the truth or not. "I have no reason to lie."
"You wouldn't want to," Cori said from beside me.
I walked ahead of them, mindful that Cori was to my left and Mama to my right. When we reached Robert's office, I could hear him talking, more so yelling.
"Call me back, Logan!" He demanded, and I smirked. Logan would never be calling him back.
I pushed his office door open and walked in. My gun was already aimed at his head. Robert looked up, ready to yell at whoever he thought was coming in unannounced, and stopped dead in his tracks.
"Surprised?" I asked him. Without warning, I shot him.
Robert grabbed his wounded shoulder and glared at me.
He wasn't dumb enough to make a move. At least, not yet.
His eyes went from me to the door, and for a brief moment I saw joy.
I didn't need to turn around to know it was Cori. His eyes said it all.
"Pet..."
"Corinthians," she corrected him.
Robert nodded and licked his lips. In that moment, I realized how much in love with her he was. His obsession with her would never end.
"Corinthians..." his words trailed off as he watched her take my empty hand. Hatred filled his eyes as our fingers intertwined. "No!" He jumped from his seat, moving his hand from his shoulder and slamming it on the desk. "No."
"Yes," Cori laughed. "Hell yes." She held up her ring finger and smiled. Yale had come through in the clutch with her engagement ring. We'd met months ago to design it. Her finishing it and me picking it up before the engagement party had been perfect timing.
"No! No! No!" Robert slammed his hand on the desk. "You were not supposed to marry him, Pet! You are mine! Only mine!"
"My name is Corinthians!" She yelled back. "Not now, nor has it ever been, Pet! I am not your pet!"
"You are mine!" The vein in the middle of his forehead protruded as he yelled. Anger rippled through his body, and all I could do was smile.
"Robert," I said, making him turn his attention back to me. "Robert!"
"What, Uri!" He yelled, turning his rage on me. "What the fuck do you want, you sorry excuse for a damn son?! What?!"
"Sorry excuse?" I laughed and let Cori's hand go.
"Sorry excuse?" I rounded the desk and hit him in the mouth.
"Do you know how much shit I've dealt with because of your parenting?
Do you know how many sleepless nights I had?
And if I did sleep, how many times I woke up in a cold sweat?
" I hit him again, making him stumble back and fall into his chair.
I wrapped my hands around his neck. "Do you realize how fucked up I am?
And it's all because of you! If anyone is a sorry excuse for a son, it's because I had your fucked up ass as a father! "
"I never wanted to be your father," he gasped as I squeezed tighter. "I didn't want you or your brother! Your mother trapped me."
"How could a child trap you?!” I roared. "She was a fucking kid! You're eighteen years older than her!"
I didn't let him go until his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he stopped fighting my hold. Truthfully, I didn't want to let go, but I knew if I didn't, he would die. Robert didn't deserve a quick death. Finally, I let him go and stepped back.
"You okay?" Cori asked.
I looked down at my hands. I wasn't shaking; my bracelet wasn't going off, which meant my heart wasn't racing. I didn't feel anything, which meant I wasn't okay. "No," I told her.
"What do you need?" She asked.
I looked up to see her still in the same spot I'd left her. Her eyes were alert, her left hand tapping against her thigh. She was scared.
"I'm not okay either," she answered, then licked her lips. "Everything is the same in here." She looked around, her eyes never staying on anything longer than a second or two. "The carpet, paint, his desk." Her eyes went to the small claw marks on the desk. "Nothing's changed."
"You don’t have to be here for this," I told her.
She gave me a sad smile, then nodded. "Yes, I do," she said, then laughed softly. "I have to see him die." She looked at me, her pretty ass eyes full of fire. "I want to be the one who kills him."
I smiled. If she had said that she didn't want to be here, I would've understood. But hearing her say that she wanted to be the one who actually killed him made me proud. "What do you have in mind?"
***
"Sit there," Cori instructed Mama. She pointed to a chair near the door.
Mama did what she was told, then waited.
Cori walked around the table, her favorite knife flipping between her fingers, her eyes locked on Robert.
He was naked and strapped to a table, hands held together above his head, bound at the wrist. His legs strapped down as well.
At first, I wanted to leave with Robert.
Take him back to KC to kill him, but Cori objected.
She didn't want him there; she said when this was over, she didn’t want to take the chance of his soul escaping hell and being in KC.
I didn't want to point out how crazy that sounded, but we all dealt with issues differently.
Near the table was a pot of water boiling over an open flame. Near the flame was a pair of scissors.
I leaned against the wall and waited. There was no need to rush her. This was her playing field. I was here for support and to pull her back to reality, if needed.
Finally, Robert started to wake up, and I smiled. My girl was about to embrace her crazy finally.
"Pet," Robert groaned, trying to move. "Pet."
"Corinthians." She put the tip of her blade at his ankle, pressed down, then moved it up his body, only stopping when she got to his waist. Blood flowed from his cut and onto the table. "My grandparents named me Corinthians."
"I know," he groaned. His eyes rolled in the back of his head, and he started to shake. "I just..."
"I remember when I first met you," she continued as if Robert hadn't said anything.
"It was at the park near Turner Row. My daddy and uncles had just got done playing basketball.
We were walking to the car, and you called his name.
Daddy cussed under his breath. Called you a fuck nigga or something like that, but we turned around and went to talk to y'all.
Throughout the entire conversation, you kept staring at me.
I didn't like it." She started cutting from his waist, making her way up.
"When y'all were done talking, I remember you touching my face.
" She stopped at his hand and examined his hands.
I saw the moment she'd made up her mind.
Moving slowly, she cut the tip of each of his fingers off.
Robert screamed. "Ahh."
"When we got home, I told Daddy I didn't like that you touched me.
He said it wouldn't happen again. That we wouldn't see you again.
" She moved to his other hand, but this time she didn't cut off his fingertips.
Instead, she cut down his hand to his chest and used the tip of her knife to circle his areola.
She picked up his nipple, looked at it, then placed it on his forehead.
"Daddy lied. I saw you again a week later.
You and your father-in-law came to our house, y'all talked for a few hours, and I prayed I never saw you again.
" She laughed. "I was wrong again. Well, partially.
I didn't see you again for months, but your father-in-law?
I saw him. Over and over again." She looked up at me, and her eyes filled with tears.
My father and grandfather had abused Cori.
"I didn't remember it at first, then I saw a video of me as a kid, and all the memories I thought I buried came back.
" She turned back to Robert. "The only thing I could say about him was that he only made me fight.
He wanted me to be the daughter he lost. I thought she'd run away.
She hadn't. He sold her." Cori started cutting again, this time down his waist. "To you. "
"I didn't want her," Robert groaned and shook his head. "I never wanted her."
I looked over at Mama to see her face void of all emotions. She was numb to the pain.
"You should've never touched her," Cori calmly said.
She cut down his leg until she got to his calf, then stopped.
Her knife went into his calf, and she carefully cut his right calf, making sure not to go too deep but deep enough to cause pain.
Robert screamed in agony, but Cori didn't care.
"You should've never touched me. Or any other girl for that matter.
You should've kept your hands to yourself. "
"He's going to pass out from the pain," Mama said. "That or go into shock."
"I know," Cori nodded. "But not before he experiences this pain.
" She pushed his dick out of the way and cut into his nut sack.
She pulled his balls down and then reached across the table to the scissors resting near the open flame.
She picked it up and slowly cut off his balls.
The blade of the scissors was so hot that it cauterized as it cut.
Robert passed out from the pain, and Cori set his balls on his chest. She turned to Mama. "Can you add two tubes to his chest?"
Mama stood and nodded. "Where and for what?"
"One in each lung," Cori said, not giving any further explanation. She walked around the table, picked up the smelling salt, popped it, and placed it up Robert's nose. He slowly woke. "This is going to hurt."
"No, please."
"Sharon."
"Sh-sha-sharon?" Robert groaned. "What is she doing here?" The entire time, his attention had been so focused on Cori that he never noticed her.
Mama did what she asked. She worked quickly, not asking any more questions. Robert screamed and begged for her to stop. He even passed out a few more times, but each time Cori used the smelling salt to wake him. Once she was done, Mama went back to her seat.
"Please," Robert gasped. "Please."
"No need to beg," Cori said as she filled her syringe with boiling water.