Chapter 25
Chapter
Twenty-Five
A MONTH LATER
PHOENIX
A Month Later
“Did you remember to fix his tie? What if the jury takes one look at him and decides that he is too young to recall everything that happened that day? We should have talked him out of it!” I continued to ramble for another three minutes, and Kendrix, bless his heart, did not stop me.
“Did you get it all out?” he asked, pulling me into his arms. I snuggled deeper into him, thankful for the man he had become over the past year.
“Yes, I think so; I am nervous for him. My mind keeps returning to the fact that he being here with us is supposed to be temporary until the case is over. That day is today. I don’t want to see him go.” My heart had been so sad ever since they picked a date for the retrial. The suspect was healed enough to take the stand.
“Don’t worry about that now, baby. Let's get through this day and be there for Travis. Everything will work itself out. Come on, we need to get in there.” The heels I wore today put me in direct view of his skillful mouth.
I pecked his lips a few times, but when I tried to pull away, he held onto me tighter. “Now you know better than to give me a peck; I’m too greedy for that Jewel.”
He nibbled on my bottom lip, “Open up for me, baby.” He mumbled against my lips. I teasingly kept my lips sealed; he needed to earn it. Kendrix's hands roamed my body. He managed to get one hand underneath my dress.
I gasped, and his tongue swept every corner of my mouth. If I knew he was going to devour me like this, I would have picked a more secluded spot in the busy courtroom.
“Look at these lovebirds. Why can't you all keep your hands and body parts to yourselves whenever we see you two?” Levi teasingly said from behind us.
Kendrix pulled back to throw his middle finger up at him.
“Don’t be upset, Lee; I’m sure you will be up next.” Makayla sassed with a glint in her eyes, like she knew something we didn’t. I arched an eyebrow at her, but she just smirked at me.
“We have to get in there now, guys.” Brian led the way inside, and we all sat in support of the young boy who came into our lives at a crazy time but made a lasting impression.
“When I first got to the center, I was surprised to see a few kids from my neighborhood. One girl named Camille was crying so hard in the hallway, and when I asked her what was wrong, she said she was up next. I didn’t know what that meant, but after she went on a trip and never returned, I asked some of the other kids what was going on.
They mentioned some dance called a debutante ball, but it wasn’t like a normal one. Camille came to the center with her older sister Sasha, who went to a ball with three other girls. No one has seen them since. Sasha somehow contacted Camille and told her everything that went down there.
The ball is where they sell the girls to older men; I even have pictures. Camille and I came up with a plan to go back to the police with. We stole a phone from a worker at the center, and she took pictures of everything and sent them to me. The social worker who brought me to the center didn’t bother to check my belongings, so I had my phone the entire time. It was brutal there…”
Travis was a brave boy, only 13 years old. He recounted everything that he endured there, and I couldn’t be prouder of the courage he wore like a badge of honor.
“After hearing all of the evidence from several witnesses, I find Mr. Treegoob to be guilty of three counts of child abuse, human trafficking, and obstruction of justice. I sentence you to federal prison for 40 to 60 years; get him out of here.”
“Justice is served; you did it, Travis!” I hugged him the moment he walked over to us. His tears wet my blouse, and I didn’t care one bit. He had been through what most people will never in a lifetime. The abuse he endured at home before he got to the behavioral center was already too much, but with everything else on top, he needed to release these tears.
“How about we get out of here?” Kendrix suggested.
“We can all go over to the house; Genesis has been missing her Godparents lately. I think we all could use some family time.” Brian said.
KENDRIX
“You know Genny-pop, you are the sweetest baby ever, isn’t that right? I know you missed my face; I surely missed you baby love.” Phoenix cooed to Genesis and she looked damn good with a baby.
“She’s a natural, isn’t she?” Levi came to stand next to me in the kitchen; I was checking in on her. I knew she was safe here, but my brain wouldn’t rest until I saw her.
“Yeah, man, she is, but we are not ready for a baby right now. Are you coming with me tonight?” I knew his answer would be yes, but I didn’t want him to compromise his morals for me. My morals were long gone.
“You already know my answer; I’m ready to roll out whenever you are.”
“Let me go tell Phoenix I’m stepping out for a minute; Brian is going to stay here with them.” Levi is undoubtedly in for a surprise tonight.
“Baby, Levi, and I are stepping out for a minute. You have my location, so check it if you get worried. Brian will be here with you ladies and Travis. We shouldn’t be gone too long, but we have some unfinished business to tend to. I love you with everything I have, and it still doesn’t feel like enough.”
“Aww, Kenny, you are sweet. Baby, why don’t you say sweet stuff like that to me anymore?” That girl lived to tease my brother.
“Kay Kay, stop it, baby girl. You weren’t saying all of that earlier. Do you need another reminder of just how sweet I am to you?” Brian pulled Makayla closer to him, kissing her neck and feeling her up.
“Hey, not in front of the baby.” Phoenix held her hands over Genesis’s ears .
“Get out of here with that, Nix; I know you are not talking. Do you want me to remind you of how you and this guy like to get down?” He challenged her; Phoenix drastically shook her head no.
“Not too much on my woman now, we’re leaving Jewel, I love you.” It was hard for me to leave her, but we needed to put an end to this story.
“I love you too, don’t bring blood into the house.” Of course, she knew I could never hide anything from her.
“I won’t.” I dropped a kiss on her lips.
Since we were home and not at the resort with Lucy, we didn’t have access to her torture chambers, but this would have to do.
I decided that not only did Seth have to go, but the cabin could go right along with him. He was moved here this morning, and the last thirty days he’d spent in jail did a number on him. We did the necessary paperwork to ensure that his death would be better than solitary confinement. The government wanted information on The Higanbana Cartel, so we gave the CIA all the information on them in exchange Seth being delivered to me.
“I didn’t think it would have ever come down to this man. I can’t believe you thought that you would ever marry her. But guess what? She will be my wife one day and carry my children. You’ll always be a distant memory for the both of us.” I made my presence known. He did look bad, nothing like one of my closest friends, dare I say best friend. His beige skin was littered in bruises, and he could barely see out of his left eye.
I squatted down to get eye level with him. “You will regret the day we met when I am done with you. It would make my day to be the one to send you to hell, but I have a friend who knows a little bit about ancient Japanese torture methods. She is a little crazy, so I would watch how you talk to her.” Levi looked puzzled for a moment until he heard the door open.
“See now, that was a beautiful introduction; thank you, Ken. Mr. Chow, I have been obsessed with methods that can bring men to their knees. You see, that woman you decided to obsess over belongs to my family. She is my sister, and you wanted to take her away. Why did you do that?” Asha wore a black catsuit with boots that looked connected to the suit. She has the don’t fuck-with-me vibe going on. She sat her pouch down on the side table; she had a few knives that she inspected before choosing the one she wanted.
Seth groaned when she approached him with the first one. “Oh, so you can talk. You don’t want to talk to me, Mr. Chow?”
“ Fakkuyū !” Asha awarded him a huge smile; nothing about it felt comforting, though. It leaned on the side of sadistic; she wanted to hurt him.
“Let’s see if you will sing that same song once we are done here. I’m sure you are familiar with the ancient practice of a death by a thousand cut s. But don’t you worry too much about it; we’ll be sure to send a tiny piece back to your family for them to remember you by.” Seth didn’t make another sound; his tears fell fast instead.
“You better not piss her off Lee before she locks you in her chamber of death.” I laughed. He looked mesmerized by her, though. I was a bit scared.
“Trust Ken, if Levi finds himself in the hot seat with me, I have other devices of torture that I would use for him.” Asha stripped Seth of his clothes; her knife cut through the material like butter.
“Hmm, stop playing with me, Asha, before I show you how much I enjoy pain, especially when it comes from you.” Are they flirting right now?
“I don’t know what kind of freaky stuff you two have going on, but let’s get this show on the road.” She ignored us both after that.
“Mr. Chow, I hope that you are not reincarnated and spend eternity in hell.” She bowed before him and delivered the first cut right through his cheek.
The second one through his leg, with the third one piercing his chest. I had to look away after she got to one hundred. Asha had the patience to count all the way to one thousand. Seth passed out after she got to 300, and his body started to dismember slowly. I purposely didn’t eat tonight so I wouldn’t have anything to throw up.
“The clean-up crew Ms. Lucy hired will be here in two minutes. Here is that tattooed flesh you wanted. For someone who wore a pledge to honor and loyalty on his body, he sure didn’t know two things about it.” Asha handed me a bag. We planned to mail it to his family to warn them that we are not to be fucked with.
“Thank you very much, Ash; I appreciate your methods and the fact that you came back here even when this is the last thing you wanted to do.” Asha hasn’t been in the US for quite some time.
“When my family needs me, I come. I should get out of here and wash all of this blood off. I will see you guys soon before I head back home.”
“Come on, I will take you to my home; you can’t walk through a hotel looking like that,” Levi commanded her, grabbing his keys and phone.
“Don’t tell me what—” He cut her off by grabbing her and whispering something in her ear.
Asha is a spitfire through and through, and Levi is the only one who can soften her up a bit.
“If you ask nicely, maybe I will think about it.” She challenged him.
“Lord help me, Asha, will you please come to my house to shower and sleep until tomorrow?” She didn’t say anything for a minute.
“I guess. Bye Ken.” I hugged them both, listening to them bicker back and forth all the way out the door.
The clean-up crew did a fantastic job at collecting everything we used tonight. A fire burned the cabin down later that night, closing this chapter of our lives forever.