Chapter 4
"He's our what?" Zaire cut her off, his gun still trained dead on Demon over her shoulder, not wavering an inch.
"We heard the whole lie you just spilled to this nigga through them doors and we know it's bullshit.
Every word of it. Ma, I love you. I do. But you better move, cause we ain't leaving this warehouse without his head today.
If this was your plan to handle this whole situation on your own, nah.
That ain't happening. Not after everything this nigga already took our family through…
bitch ass nigga could never be our blood.
You shoulda had a better plan than this. "
She looked at him, and he looked back at her, and I stood there watching the looks pass between the two of them that I couldn't fully name.
A mixture of fear, hurt, and regret all tangled up together sitting heavy in her eyes.
My mother, a beast who's always been fearless, standing there looking small in a way I'd never seen her look before, not once, not even when Zaire got locked up.
This shit had me thinking, was it some truth to what we just heard?
Hell nah. How could it be? I knew my mother, and she was slick as hell.
This had to be a part of her plan to take this nigga down, make him trust her before leading him to his demise.
My mind was still catching up to what she'd just said through them doors.
I didn't have time to sit with that. None of us did. We were in a situation where one wrong move could cost us everything. As bad as I wanted to shoot, I couldn't risk accidentally hitting my moms. She stood in front of this nigga like she really wanted to spare his life and ain’t give a damn about how we were looking at her ass. If this was a game, she’s taken it too far now.
Demon didn't waste the distraction my mother's confession had just bought him.
He moved fast, faster than I expected out of a nigga his size, he got behind my mother before any of us could react.
He wrapped his arm tight around her chest, and pressed his gun straight to her temple hard enough that I saw her flinch.
He was now using her as a fuckin shield.
This shit was wild. And although I was watching it in real time, I couldn’t get my mind to fully believe this was really going on.
Why was my mom even meeting with this nigga, knowing that the only talking that needed to be done, was him getting a bullet in his head.
My whole body went cold watching that.
"Y'all bitch ass niggas ain't smarter than me," he said, backing the both of them slow toward the far wall, his eyes flicking between all three of us, calculating, sharp.
"You think I ain't know this was a setup the second I got that call from her ass?
I ain't crazy. Look around this bitch. I came prepared.
Y'all niggas the ones lacking right now, standing here thinking you had me cornered, and thinking I would believe this bullshit she just tried to sell me. Right idea, wrong nigga tho."
That's when three of Demon’s men came through the side entrance of the warehouse, they had their AK's raised, spreading out slow and deliberate to cover every single angle of that warehouse, cutting off every exit we might've thought we had.
Any plan we had was dead! Those niggas could easily Swiss cheese our ass if we moved wrong.
The looks on their faces was of satisfaction, like they'd proven something by having one up on us.
I hated that this gave Demon the idea that his dumb ass was smarter than us, that was far from the truth.
Impulse is what had us follow him here in the heat of the moment, but he was still never gone outsmart me.
I thought right then, as I was standing there with my mother's life hanging on a trigger finger, that this was it.
This was how it ended for all of us. Not in the way I always figured it might go down if it ever came to this.
In my mind, since this bitch ass nigga had killed Darius, then sent a hit on Zaire, I always thought I'd blow his brains out on sight and mail what was left of his head to his people.
But standing in a dirty old warehouse watching this hoe ass nigga hold my own mother hostage with a gun to her skull, I had to think smarter.
Even with me having the best aim, the way that he was holding my momma, there was a possibility that I'd shoot her while trying to kill him.
Then the men he had positioned would kill us all anyway after that.
I had no choice.
I had to stand down in this moment.
And that revelation hurt me more than anything. That wasn’t who I was. But right now it was life or death.
I gave my brothers a look to let them niggas know, no matter how bad they wanted it, no matter how good they thought their aim was, they couldn't under no circumstances take that shot at this nigga!
"Move," Demon barked at her, walking her backward toward the exit with that gun still pressed against her head.
"I told these niggas I was playing chess, not checkers.
" He turned his head toward his own men without ever once taking his eyes off the three of us.
"Handle these niggas. Make it quick! Don't bother cleaning it up.
This their shit, and I want they people to come and find they bodies here. "
"Demon! Be smart with this shit! You know that's Zuri Carter.
There will be no place on earth you or yo family can hide if you harm a hair on her head.
If you love Sonny, do what you know is right.
The wrong move can cost you!" I watched his face change when I mentioned his son's name but the pussy ass nigga had to play unfazed, so it faded quickly.
"Kaseem, nigga, FUCK YOU! & whatever the fuck you think you talking about. Dead men can't speak, you finna learn that the hard way." He smirked.
My mother let out a scream that I felt deep in my chest, a sound that tore straight through that warehouse and through me right along with it, as he dragged her backward out that door and out of my sight.
I could hear her pleading for our lives.
I've never in my life heard my momma plead for shit, from nobody.
Seconds after that door slammed shut behind them, I heard tires screeching outside, his car peeling off fast, taking my mother with it.
My heart dropped. I'd never felt this out of control and it wasn't shit I could do. I could see my brother Namier shaking mad, from the corner of my eye. He was itching to catch a body but had to follow my orders. I had to get us out of here alive. I could only pray that Demon was smart enough to take heed to what I’d just told him.
The three men he'd left behind started closing in on us slow, intentional, guns steady on all three of us, boxing us into a tighter and tighter space with every step they took.
Me, Zaire, and Namier all looked at each other for half a second, and I already knew, being the oldest, being the one my father handed all this weight to, that figuring a way out of this was on me and wasn't nobody else about to do it for me.
My mind said to go out swinging. Set this bitch off, and shoot to the death of all of us.
But, I couldn't let my brothers die today. Not like this.
I had to try and talk us out this shit. And if that didn't work, I could promise that nobody was leaving this bitch alive. As soon as I gave the word, I had no doubt that my brothers would set this bitch off and we'd go out with our shit blazing.
"Man, y'all ain't got to do this," I said, keeping my voice level and calm even though my heart was slamming against my ribs hard enough I could feel it in my throat. "Whatever that nigga paying y'all, whatever he promised you for this, we can triple it today. Cash."
"You can't buy loyalty, fuck nigga," the one running the show said, taking another step closer, his weapon never dropping an inch.
"And that's exactly why you niggas in this position right now.
Y'all think money fix everything, and it don't. Should've stood down after the first message got sent to y'all.
You niggas should have left well enough alone.
What the fuck you thought would happen if you kept poking a bear? "
I could see Zaire's jaw jumping beside me, tightening up hard, and I already knew exactly what he was calculating in that head of his, whether he could get a shot off clean before all three of them lit us up where we stood. I gave him a look out the corner of my eye, telling him without a single word passing between us to hold the fuck up, to trust me for one more second. My brother Zaire was about action, he’s never been the nigga to tolerate a lot of bullshit, so I knew that him keeping his cool was hard as fuck right now.
"Shit, you right," I said, turning my full attention back to the leader, keeping every word measured.
"What's done is done. Can't take that back now.
But I can give you and your boys five million each, and we forget this whole thing ever happened between us.
I won't hunt you down. Won't look for you niggas after this at all.
I'll let this whole situation die right here.
All I'm asking is you make sure my mother gets back to us safe. "