6. Vice Blackwell #2
The words came out before I thought about how they sounded, causing her expression to change… so did mine.
I didn’t know who these people were yet, but there was one thing I couldn’t ignore. Whatever was happening to her had started because of my family.
She’d gone to work that night expecting nothing more than a regular shift. Sam had brought this shit to her without meaning to, and now somebody had walked into her home because she’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“That came out wrong,” I said.
“A little…”
“I ain’t blaming you.”
“I know…”
The fact that she said it without hesitation surprised me.
Before I could respond, one of the officers called her name and told her the apartment was clear. Milan looked toward the elevators, but I saw the hesitation she tried to hide.
“I’m coming with you.”
She looked back at me. “I didn’t ask you to.”
“I know you didn’t.”
“Then why are you coming?”
“Because I’m not letting you walk back into that apartment by yourself.”
“Um… the police are right there.”
“And I’m right here too.”
She stared at me like she wanted to argue and I waited. Eventually, she shook her head and headed toward the elevators, and I followed.
The elevator ride up was quiet. Milan stood beside me with her arms folded across her chest, watching the numbers change above the door.
While Boog was still downstairs like he was security for the building, Mace was on my other side, already going through whatever information security had given him, but I kept my attention on her.
She’d been holding it together downstairs.
I could give her that. Most people would’ve lost their shit after finding out somebody had been inside their home, but Milan hadn’t.
She’d called me, gotten out of the apartment and stayed downstairs like I told her to.
That didn’t mean she wasn’t scared. I could see it in the way she kept rubbing her hands against her arms and how her body tensed when the elevator slowed.
The doors opened, and two officers were waiting in the hallway. One of them stepped forward before Milan could move toward her apartment.
“We cleared the entire unit. Nobody’s inside, and there doesn’t appear to be any forced entry.”
“Then how did they get in?” Milan asked.
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out. The lock wasn’t damaged, so either they had access or the door was left unlocked.”
“I didn’t leave my door unlocked.”
“I’m not saying you did, ma’am.”
“Then don’t make it sound like I did.”
I looked at her, but she was already walking toward her apartment. The officer started to say something else, then apparently thought better of it and followed.
Her door was open when we reached it. I let Milan walk in ahead of me before stepping inside with Mace.
At first glance, nothing looked out of place.
Whoever had come in hadn’t torn through the apartment or made a mess.
The living room looked normal, and there was nothing to suggest somebody had been there until my eyes landed on the kitchen counter where the police were taking pictures of the evidence.
The bullet sat in the middle of a folded piece of paper.
I walked closer without touching it.
YOU SHOULD’VE MINDED YOUR BUSINESS.
My jaw tightened after reading that bullshit.
Mace came up beside me and stared down at the note. “They knew exactly where to find her.”
“Yeah.”
“And got past security without anybody seeing shit.”
I looked toward the officer speaking with Milan. “Somebody saw something.”
Mace nodded. “I’m on it.”
He stepped away to make a call while I stayed near the kitchen. Milan moved through the apartment with one of the officers, checking to see if anything had been taken. Every few seconds, she’d stop and look around like she was trying to figure out what somebody had touched.
That was the part people didn’t think about.
It wasn’t just the bullet.
Some stranger had been inside her home. They’d walked through the same rooms she slept in, knew where she lived and had enough time to leave a message before walking back out.
“Nothing’s missing,” she said when she returned to the kitchen.
“You sure?” I asked.
“As far as I can tell.”
I looked at the note again. “They weren’t here to steal.”
“I figured that much out.”
Her attitude was coming back, which I took as a good sign.
One of the officers started asking her questions about who had access to her apartment, whether she’d given anyone a spare key and if there was anybody in her personal life who might want to scare her. Milan answered everything, but I paid closer attention when he asked about an ex.
“My ex lives in Florida.”
“How long have you been separated?”
“We broke up a few months ago.”
“Was it a bad breakup?”
She hesitated a minute. Not long, but enough for me to notice.
“It wasn’t good.”
The officer wrote something down. “Has he threatened you?”
“No.”
“Contacted you recently?”
“No.”
“Would he know where you live?”
“No. I moved back to Atlanta after we broke up.”
I stayed quiet, but the questions stuck with me. Until that moment, I hadn’t known anything about Milan outside of the fact that she was a nurse and had recently returned to Atlanta.
Apparently, there was a nigga in Florida who had enough history with her to make her hesitate before calling the breakup bad. I didn’t know why that bothered me. I guess because I didn’t like loose ends, but either way, the shit shouldn’t have mattered.
I was only here because she got caught up in a mess connected to my family. If Sam hadn’t crossed paths with her, if my name wasn’t tied to any of this, I would’ve never been here dealing with her stubborn ass.
…at least, that’s what I kept telling myself.
The officer moved on to the shooting, asking Milan to go over what she’d witnessed again. She answered without getting irritated this time, explaining that she hadn’t known Sam, hadn’t recognized either shooter and hadn’t seen their faces clearly enough to identify them.
When he finished, she looked at me before turning back to the officer. “So, what happens now?” she asked.
Before he could answer, I spoke.
“You’re not staying here.”
Her head slowly turned in my direction, revealing the frown that covered her face.
“I was asking him.”
“I know.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Then why are you answering?”
“Because the answer’s the same.”
She stared at me for a second before letting out an irritated sigh. It was obvious she wanted the officer to tell her something different, but he didn’t.
Instead, he looked between us before taking a step back, making it clear he wasn’t about to involve himself in whatever this was.
I folded my arms across my chest and decided to play her little ass game. I asked her, “So, you tryna stay here tonight?”
“I haven’t decided.”
I chuckled, not liking that answer. “Well, I have.”
She shook her head.
“There you go again.”
“Fuck you mean, there I go again?”
“Making decisions nobody asked you to make.”
“In case you haven’t realized Lil’ Mama, somebody broke into your apartment.”
“I know that, Vice.” Her voice was firmed. “I was the one that called you, remember?”
“Then we shouldn’t be arguing.”
“We wouldn’t be if you’d stop telling me what I’m going to do.”
I ain’t say shit, letting silence fill the space. She just stood there looking at me like she expected me to change my mind, but I wasn’t.
Mace walked into the kitchen, took one look at us, and immediately backed up.
“I’ma go check on that footage.” With that, he turned around before either of us could respond.
Milan watched him leave before cutting her eyes back at me. “See? Even he doesn’t want to be around you.”
“He works for me.”
“That doesn’t mean he likes you.”
“He likes getting paid.”
She pressed her lips together and rolled her eyes, catching herself from smiling. Little did she know, I noticed it. I just wasn’t about to point it out.
Instead, I told her, “Pack a bag, Shawty.”
The little bit of amusement disappeared.
“To go where?”
“Somewhere else.” She frowned and before she could ask where again, I said, “I’ll get you a hotel.”
“I can get my own hotel.”
“A’ight… Get one.”
“I will.”
“Good.”
“Good.” Neither one of us moved or said anything else.
Finally, I shook my head and asked, “You argue about everything?”
“When people try to run my life… yeah.”
“Nobody trying to run your life, Milan.”
“You just told me to pack a bag.”
“Yeah, after somebody broke into your gotdamn apartment.”
“I know why you said it.”
“Then what the fuck we arguing about?” Her mouth opened, but nothing came out, and I was glad it didn’t, because honestly, I was tired of the back-and-forth bullshit. When I saw she didn’t have a comeback, I said, “Exactly.”
She rolled her eyes and walked away.
I watched her disappear down the hallway before one of the officers glanced over at me.
“You two together?” he asked.
“No…”
He nodded slowly as a chuckled left his mouth, “Could’ve fooled me.”
I just looked at him, and suddenly, he found something else to do.
Milan returned a few minutes later with an overnight bag. She had changed out of her scrubs and into a pair of sweats and a T-shirt, and for the first time since I’d met her, she looked less guarded.
“I’m ready,” she said.
“Where you staying?”
“I haven’t figured that out yet.” I pulled out my phone and said nothing. “What are you doing?”
“Getting you a room like I said.”
“I said I could do it.”
“And you still standing here without one. I even asked where you staying to see what you would say and you talking about some, you haven’t figured it out yet.”
“Because the police were questioning me.”
I looked up from my phone, shook my head, and went back to what I was doing.
A few minutes later, I had a suite waiting for her at one of the hotels I co-owned downtown.
Of course, I wasn’t about to tell her that.
She already had enough attitude. The last thing I needed was for her to refuse the room just because my name was attached to it.
By the time we got back downstairs, Mace was waiting near the security desk with Boog right beside him.