19. Reed
For the past few days, I spent my time in the office scanning through videos and collecting everyone who had been working with Paula. So far, we’d found two ghosts working the tables. Of course, Paula used my name to push them through the hiring process without much background information.
I was still trying to figure out what to do with human resources.
It didn’t matter that they thought they were working on my orders.
Since the dealers wanted to be ghosts so bad, Sawyer and Nicholas made sure they were the real deal.
I was sure they had sense enough not to come back and haunt Cashville, or I would kill them again personally.
As I loaded up the next video, my phone rang.
I was hoping that it was Faith again. I turned my phone off during our weekly meeting and noticed that I had a voicemail from her.
I had only been in my office for a few minutes before I noticed that she’d called.
I couldn’t even imagine what she was saying for three whole minutes, but I was sure it had something to do with me being unreachable.
I wanted to give her a minute to cool off before calling back. I picked my phone up and frowned at the unfamiliar number. Something was wrong. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something felt off. I swiped the screen to answer before putting the phone to my ear.
“Hello?”
“Hey, have you heard from Faith?”
My stomach dropped when I heard the voice on the other end of the line. It was her sister Grace.
“No. She was doing her final walk-through at the old house today.”
“She never picked Jada up from school. You know that’s not like her.”
I jumped up from my desk and grabbed my keys. The mama bear I knew would never leave her baby at school. With my keys in hand, I headed out the door. It had been way too long since Faith called me. Anything could have happened by now.
“When was she supposed to pick her up?”
“Pickup ended fifteen minutes ago. I’m on my way to get her. The school called me.”
“Get my baby and keep her safe. I’m going to find your sister, Grace. Don’t worry.”
Everything that happened between me ending the call with Grace and pulling up to Faith’s house was a blur.
By the grace of God, I made it to my destination unharmed and without leading every police in the city on a high-speed chase, because I wasn’t stopping for shit.
By the time I pulled up in her driveway, I was no longer thinking rationally.
Faith’s door was cracked, instantly sending alarm bells sounding in my head. I didn’t bother to turn off my car before jumping out and running to the door. The house was eerily silent when I pushed the door open.
“Faith!” I shouted, calling her.
Pulling my phone out, I tried calling her for the fifth time.
As soon as I pressed send, I heard ringing.
I looked around, scanning the room like a madman.
My heart fell through my ass when I spotted Faith’s phone on the floor.
My hand trembled as I reached down and picked it up.
Something hit me, reminding me to listen to the voicemail Faith sent earlier.
I started the message on speaker and immediately heard Faith’s voice. She didn’t sound right. Who the hell was she talking to? The message wasn’t for me. There was a man’s voice, and he didn’t sound so happy either. Fucking Casper.
If he wasn’t already dead, he was about to wish he was. Turning in my tracks, I jogged outside before I realized that I didn’t know which house he lived in. I ran to the house next door and knocked like a maniac before a middle-aged woman came to the door.
“Does Casper live here?” I asked her impatiently. If mom thought she was going to stand in my way, I was going to knock her out too.
“Casper?” She frowned. Before I could expound to say a tall, skinny dude who needed to make sure his life insurance was up-to-date, realization hit her.
“Oh, you mean Jasper. He’s one door down to the right.
The left side is Miss Faith and her little girl.
” Faith’s neighbor’s words hit my back as I turned and tore out running next door.
Tires screeched as Nicholas skidded to a stop in front of Jasper’s house.
I didn’t have time to ask where he came from or how the hell he knew where I was.
Since I barely remembered leaving Cashville, it was possible that I had called him.
I heard shouting coming from inside the house followed by a loud crash.
The slap that sounded nearly stopped my heart.
Hearing Faith cry out had me seeing red. Yeah, Casper was going to hell today. I moved down the hall to the first open door and spotted Faith in a fetal position against the far wall next to the bed.
“Stop fighting, bitch!” He barked as he dragged her to her feet and shoved her on the bed. “Do you fight that weak-ass nigga who you been flaunting in my face for the past few weeks?”
I rushed him, hitting him with my shoulder like a freight train, sending him flying into the wall. The impact of his body hitting the wall put a hole in it.
“Reed.” Faid sobbed.
Hearing her say my name almost took me off my square. I’m here, baby. I didn’t have time to console her. I had unfinished business. My inattention gave Casper time to stagger to his feet.
“You fuckin—”
I swung, hitting him in the mouth before he could finish his statement.
His head snapped back, and I followed up with another punch, then another.
When he fell, I started to stomp him. He screamed in agony, but his cries fell on deaf ears.
How many times had my baby screamed for help?
How many times had he put his hands on her?
Had he had his hands on her? Did he—I couldn’t even think about it.
Reaching behind my back, I pulled out my gun and aimed for his head.
“Drop the gun!”
“Hands up! Drop the fucking gun!”
The voices were muffled, but I could make out what they were saying. None of that mattered right now.
“No! No! No! Don’t shoot him! He saved me.” That was Faith. Who was she talking to? “Reed, baby! Stop. Please don’t shoot him, baby.”
Blinking rapidly, I looked over at Faith, and she moved toward me with both hands up like she was afraid of me.
Seeing the terror in her eyes made me drop the gun.
Suddenly, my hands were snatched behind my back.
I put up a fight, spinning around to find four uniformed police officers in the room.
I had no idea when they got here or who called them. But obviously, they were here for me.
“No, no, no, he saved me. That man was trying to rape me. He came in and saved me!” Faith disclosed.
The men restraining me released me as they rushed over to administer assistance to Casper. I hoped he was dead, but seeing him moving to sit up shut that down. Since I couldn’t exactly finish him off in front of the cops, I turned my attention to my wife.
“I got you, baby. I got you,” I vowed, snatching her into my arms.
“You came.” Faith sobbed.
After kissing her face a thousand times, I pulled her back so I could look into her eyes. “Of course I came, baby. I’m always coming for you.”
It had been five days since I carried Faith out of Casper’s house, and neither of us had yet to leave the house other than to drop Jada off and pick her up from school. Even then, Faith insisted on me driving.
As a man who spent most of his time in a casino, I was used to being on the go all the time.
Staying home with my babies felt so natural that I was thinking about setting up a home office like Nicholas.
I checked my emails on my phone, while Faith lay curled up against my side.
Jada was knocked out down the hall where she had been for the last couple of hours.
As long as they were under this roof, they were safe.
“I’ll never stop thanking you for saving me, Reed,” Faith spoke, breaking the comfortable silence.
“You never have to thank me for taking care of you.”
“I still can’t believe you came. I left the voicemail running, hoping that you would hear it, but I never thought it would work.”
“Voicemail or not, I’m always coming for you. I was already at your house by the time I listened to it.”
“I didn’t know that,” she mumbled.
“I’m always coming for you. I told you that.”
She nodded and offered me a soft but comforting smile. “I know that now.”
Before I could respond, my phone vibrated against the nightstand. I never passed up the opportunity to kiss my wife, so I gave her a quick peck on the lips, then turned to pick up my phone.
Seeing that it was Sawyer had me swinging my legs over the side of the bed. “Yeah?”
“We found her.”
“Paula?” I asked, knowing damn well who he was talking about.
“Yeah, man. We got her.”
“Where is she?”
“She’s meeting with someone, thinking it’s one of her cohorts to pick up a drop. My team is going to pick her up.”
“I’m on my way,” I said, ending the call.
Concern made my chest tight as I turned to Faith. I had barely left her side since I’d saved her from Casper. We even showered together. I could have very well taken her with me, but I didn’t know what I was going into right now. Plus, it was way past Jada’s bedtime.
“It’s OK, Reed. This place is a fortress,” she said, answering the question before I could answer it.
“You sure?”
“Yes, just hurry back. I don’t want to be up all night worried about you.”
“I’ll make it as quick as possible. I promise,” I vowed, kissing her deeply. Tasting her made my dick hard, but I resisted my carnal instincts and opted to handle the business first.
“I love you, Reed. Come back to me in one piece.”
“You don’t have to worry about me, love. I love you,” I stated again, giving her a quick peck before heading out.
As I barreled down my driveway, I already missed my family.
I had never wanted to rush back home so fast. The two people waiting for me back home were the most important thing in the world to me.
Outside of them, not much mattered, especially not the four hundred thousand dollars and counting Paula and her team had stolen.
She could have literally asked me for the money.
My pussy bill had to be higher than that.
I pulled up to the address that Sawyer forwarded me, killing my headlights as I pulled around to the back. I got out and went to the back entrance and knocked on the door. Within seconds, Sawyer tore the door open.
“Where is she?”
“Down the street. We’re watching on screens.”
“Watching what on screens?”
“The takedown.”
“What takedown? Where the fuck is she?”
“Well thanks to your girlfriend, that nosy ass show she worked for released a story earlier today, all about Paula’s bullshit. If something happened to her now, you know damn well we would be the number one suspects.”
Sighing and shaking my head, I paced the floor. I didn’t want the cops involved. For the second time in less than a week, they had interfered with me doing what needed to be done.
“Did you find out how long that shit was going on?” I asked, looking over at Nick since he was the numbers guy.
“It looks like they pulled a few moves about a year and a half ago, and then they got bold in the past few months.” Nicholas explained.
“A year and a half?” I asked, looking over to where Sawyer stood. “Where the fuck were your antennas when these muthafuckas were robbing us blind?”
“Don’t put this shit on me. You know how much money moves through Cashville every day. She knew what to do to prevent setting off red flags. Half of the money was taken in fake payroll and bonuses.”
I shook my head. “So, everybody around this muthafucka dropping the ball.”
“She’s your assistant, but you had her doing so much shit for you that the staff didn’t know what was what. Meanwhile, you were so busy with your dick down that greedy bitch’s throat that you missed all the signs. Then you had the nerve to flaunt your new woman in her face,” he scolded.
I lunged for him, but Nicholas jumped between this. “Chill, bro. This ain’t on either of us. It’s Darius. She’s been working with him the whole time. I’m pretty sure they were fucking around until he went down. Then he sicced her on you.”
“What the fuck?” I shouted, placing my hands on top of my head.
“They got one point three million in total. Some of it, we’ve been able to recover, but you know that’s beside the point. Even with her off the board, we have a bigger fish to fry,” Nicholas stated.
“It’s showtime,” Sawyer announced, pointing to the giant TV screen on the wall.
I watched helplessly as Puala strutted in the warehouse wearing a blonde wig. With all the money she had stolen, and that was the best disguise she could come up with. That was neither here nor there. She passed an envelope to one of the cashiers I recognized from that day in the cashier’s cage.
My face burned with anger. I wanted to reach through the screen and choke the fuck out of both of them and shake them until I rattled their brains like dice.
Unfortunately, as soon as they made the exchange, a swarm of cops rushed into the room.
Both the unnamed woman and Paula crumpled to their knees, screaming and holding their hands in the air as they were both gathered up and cuffed.
I had seen enough, so I turned and headed for the door. I promised Faith that I would hurry home. Although I was disappointed in how we handled Paula and her helper, at least I could make good on the promise to my lady.
“Leave Darius to me,” I said, turning to Nicholas before leaving the same way I’d come.
Once I was in my car, I pulled my phone out of my pocket. I scrolled through my contacts before landing on the number fifty-two. I pressed send, and there was a moment of silence before a deep baritone filled the quiet.
“Fifty-two.”
“Hey, I need a number twenty-two, family meal, delivered to Jonesbury Correctional Facility.”
“Say less,” he replied, ending the call.
By midnight, Darius would be with his creator, and I could rest easily knowing that he was finally out of the way. If you asked me, he lived way too long after the shit he pulled anyway. Like I’d said before, he wasn’t my fucking cousin.