Chapter 4
“Pick this useless bitch up, have Camden clean her up. If she dies, drop her ass in the West End River.”
KC looked down at the mess before him and grunted. “What if she doesn’t?”
“Doesn’t what?” Javier gnashed.
“Die,” KC said calmly as he took in Reign’s battered body passed out on the floor.
“Lock her in that fucking room until she looks decent and I’ll deal with it then. She better be muhfuckin’ grateful I don’t have her ass fucking every nigga at the party. Ungrateful bitch,” Javier fussed, as he walked away from KC and an unconscious Reign.
Alone, KC gathered Reign’s limp body from the floor and quickly moved her into an unoccupied room.
The staff handled the mess left on the floor as if it were just another day.
Typically, that’s how they all seemed to handle things.
Javier would fight Reign and very rarely would she fight back.
Very rarely would she scream. The staff would stand by as if nothing were happening.
If Javier ended up killing her, they would follow his instructions as if it were nothing at all.
Another day, another task – something else to discard with the trash.
That was the type of evil he exuded, along with the fact that everyone working for him was here under the guise of debt or extortion.
Families ripped apart in his trafficking ring or indebted to him because their loved ones mismanaged his supply.
Javier was a gangster by trade but in the southern coast of the country, a kingpin.
No Cree Alexander, no Don LeFleur, and no Queenie in all her treachery.
But he was menacing in his own right. While other movers and shakers in the country moved with a sense of self and a reason, everything Javier did was erratic and only in his best self-interests.
This party was a show of it. He never cared about Reign’s twenty-sixth birthday, he merely wanted to love bomb her enough to make her compliant.
Keep her unsuspecting that her head would be bashed against the marble countertop of the bathroom repeatedly because she didn’t want to snort his product off the mirror or let another couple have her at will.
She was easier to control when the diamonds, jewelry, and access were an idol to her.
When he was an idol to her. Now, she wanted out of the life, and he wanted her broken and hanging on to his every word for his own sick twisted pleasure.
Without remorse, he roamed back into the bedroom he shared with Reign and finished what he was doing. It was days before he emerged from the room to handle business. In a black and gold robe dragging over the polished floor, his slippers dragging with every step.
A sound KC hated but was alert to. For the staff, it served as an alarm that Javier was awake, and his guest was gone. He still hadn’t bothered to put his eyes on Reign nor had she come out of the bedroom KC placed her in nights ago.
“Morning, Javi,” KC spoke up from his seat at the far end of the island. Hovering over a lukewarm cup of coffee he’d been slowly drinking while managing the tiny fires that sparked over Port Lucia and Ocean City while Javier enjoyed the spoils of Reign’s birthday.
Javier grunted, shuffling past him into the dining room and taking his seat at the head of the table.
King-like, but he was far from it. Tyrant was what Javier was.
The staff brought in breakfast like they’d done every day since they’d started.
KC sat to the right of him and slid the newspaper over.
“There’s been raids all over Majestic Heights,” KC spoke before Javier could fork the eggs into his mouth.
“Ah, yeah. That territory shit. Since every crew here is pussy. Any territory up for grabs?”
“No one else has territory up there from the outside.”
Javier grumbled. “Except that muhfucka Cree.”
KC smirked, holding his comments. No one that moved with Cree or The Family was sloppy. Not even the LeFleur Mafia moved like this. “These raids open up space for us.”
Javier paused slicing his steak to cut KC a look.
“For you. It opens up space for you to move in. Flood the boroughs with your product.”
Another grunt left Javier’s mouth. “Who ordered the raids?”
“Mayor Norman. Operation Street Sweep. Or some shit like that.”
“Why?” Javier posed mid chew.
“Pressure from his highest donor. Apparently, the man’s daughter got caught up with Metro Ross. Government name Darrion Ross Jr. He has the five boroughs on lock with his product. Six of his major stashes have been raided and he’s currently awaiting his trial. If we want Majestic Heights…”
“When you start speakin’ French?”
“If you want Majestic Heights, the mayor is up for grabs. His weakness: beautiful women. Which one are you sending?”
Javier swallowed, sniffed the residual product lingering in his nostrils, and directed, “Arrange the meeting. And wake the lazy bitch up. She needs to earn her fucking keep.”
On beat, KC rose from the table and started his way out of the dining room only to be halted by Javier’s voice. “Bring her down. Even if she has to crawl.”
KC flexed his jaw, almost repulsed by Javier’s vile character.
He almost objected the request before remembering what declining meant.
Reign was the prime example of the wrath following rejecting Javier.
She refused to be used as a sex slave on her birthday and was beaten as if she’d stolen something from him. If anything, Javier was the thief.
KC nodded in acknowledgement and proceeded.
Every step towards the room Reign occupied, his steps felt more weighted.
Heavy with guilt. Cemented in knowing and doing nothing.
He lightly wrapped his knuckles against the door, hoping to hear the mutter of her voice.
Instead he heard Camden, the house manager.
She pulled the door open and looked up at KC, somber eyes. Before speaking, she pulled him in and closed the door. “This is the worst beating yet. I snuck the doctor in to tend to her. How could you let this happen?”
KC gritted his jaw at her silent scolding. “What the fuck was I supposed to do?”
“Not be a pussy and stop him. I’ve watched you stop him from beating men who deserved this.
She couldn’t open her eyes for two days!
” Camden semi-shouted before looking over her shoulder and down the hall into the bedroom to ensure she hadn’t startled Reign.
“He drugged her and beat her on her birthday. You don’t see anything wrong with that? ”
“You think I like this shit? Huh? Do you know what that nigga will do to us if we buck back?”
Camden scoffed and flailed her arms. “I’m fucked either way and so are you. He owns us. He doesn’t own her. She’s the only one who can get out of here. What are you going to do about it?”
KC’s face twitched with conviction. But his mouth spoke the opposite. “Javi wants her downstairs. Get her there before he comes up here. He’s been coked up for two days and hasn’t come down. I don’t want to make this worse.”
Camden scoffed and waved him off. “It’s worse. We are at worst. Would you like to wait until he kills her like…”
KC gritted. “Don’t.”
“Then do something,” Camden sharply urged before spinning on the balls of her loafer-covered feet. “I’ll help her down. If he touches her, I’m doing something about it. Since you can’t be a fuckin’ man.”
KC’s nostrils flared as he watched her walk away.
He felt that in his chest. The weight increasing by the second.
He could hear Camden softly speaking to Reign and chose to step outside the room.
Rubbing his face vigorously, he tried to cool his being from the scolding.
She was right. There was nothing he’d done.
But he could do something. It had to be at the right time.
First step was getting her out of the house and away from Javier.
The six minutes and forty-five seconds that passed before Reign and Camden moved out of the room seemed like an hour.
Reign’s face was swollen, blotched with black, blue, red, and green bruises.
He was sure the rest of her body looked like her face.
Reign barely looked in his direction, a phoenix.
The glimpse he caught fiery and filled with rage.
Trailing the women, he observed Reign’s movements, limited, cautious, painful. Once downstairs, outside under the veranda, Reign stood on the far end from where Javier sat, sure to be out of his reach. Javier looked over her and winced.
“What did you learn?” he posed as if Reign were a child who didn’t pick up her toys and lost a few minutes of screen time.
KC and Camden schooled their faces.
If Reign could skew her expression without further pain, she would.
“You can’t hear too?” Javier grumbled. “Answer me before I open your mouth for you.”
Reign muttered. “Not to defy you.”
“When I tell you to jump, bitch, you better ask me how high,” Javier directed before pointing to the seat. “Sit.”
Reing did. Sure to position herself as broken and dependent.
“You need to clean yourself up and be in Majestic Heights in three days. KC is going with you.”
“W-why?’ Reign questioned.
“I want you to sleep with the mayor, record it, send it back to me and maybe then I’ll forgive you for the bullshit you pulled.”
Reign finally looked at him, purposely dimming the light in her eyes. “Okay.”
Javier leaned back in victory. “Countless ass whooping’s and you finally get it. Keep Javi happy, I keep you happy. Go, get out my face. I can’t stand the sight of you.”
Reign stood and walked away, Camden on her heels.
Javier turned his attention to KC. “If you touch her while up there, I will kill her in front of you like I did the last one. When she gets that nigga, you stand there and fuckin’ watch until the deed is done. I want that territory.”