Chapter 1
ANTONIAS SUAREZ
“Bianca’s been hit!”
On everything I love, my heart stopped in my chest hearing Tyrese’s voice through my earpiece. There wasn’t too much shit I ever held on to. However, hearing Bianca’s name mentioned in such a horrible way, I knew there was nothing ever going to eradicate me from the fear I felt hearing that shit.
I was still dressed in designer from head to toe, covered by the blue operating room gown to protect both me and my patient.
Bianca’s steady heartbeat was the fuel to getting me through her surgery without breaking down.
I hadn’t prayed in a long time, but I surely stood over her and prayed every scripture I could recite.
One bullet ripped through her pelvic and another through her abdomen.
Adir, along with Dr. Percy Cartright, stood on the opposite side of the operating table, just as silent and focused as I was as we fixed our girl up.
I didn’t have the stomach to look at Bianca’s medically-induced, sleeping face.
It would cause me to spiral and burn the whole state down.
If there were innocent casualties, I didn’t give a fuck.
Whoever did this to my baby was going to feel wrath like they’d never known.
Even as we worked, Alli and Noa were fast at work gathering up any and everyone who could lead us to the person that was responsible for shooting up the venue. The city wouldn’t know peace until I put to death anyone who had a hand in nearly taking Bianca from me.
An hour now, Adir, Percy, and I had been at this.
There was so much blood, so much damage the bullets had done.
Blood loss, damaged tissue, and trauma made it impossible to save everything.
Performing an emergency hysterectomy on a woman who didn’t even know a man’s body was gut wrenching to say the least. Percy, board certified in obstetrics and gynecology, focused on preserving Bianca’s eggs.
Although her ovaries would be left, we had to be cautious.
It was a wonder my hands stayed so steady while I sewed my baby back up.
Another hour later, Adir, Percy, and I were done.
Neither of us said a thing as we undressed from the surgical garb.
While I lagged behind to make sure the nursing staff was careful in transporting Bianca to recovery, Adir left the operating room to give his family an update.
Percy’s staff followed behind him, taking Bianca’s precious eggs with them.
Mentally, I replayed every moment of Bianca’s emergency procedures from the beginning right down to the last stitch I put in her.
My eyes zoned in on the monitor cataloging her vitals and ensuring everything looked normal.
Once the nurses had her ready to move, I followed them onto the elevator and rode with them to the fourth floor.
Inside the private room where Bianca would be staying for the next few days, I stood off to the side and allowed the nurses to get her transferred and comfortable in bed.
Seeing Bianca nearly lifeless… Anger like I’d never known consumed me in its clutches and squeezed so tightly I could’ve combusted.
“Gimme a minute,” I told the nurses, who scurried off at hearing the harshness in my tone. After they left the room, I approached the bed and stood over Bianca like an angel.
Chuckling, I said, “I know you ain’t think you was gon’ escape me that easily, now did you, baby?”
Of course, she said nothing back. Her eyes were closed, and her intubation tube was still in place.
“We won’t rest until whoever did this is no longer breathing.
” I ran my fingers down her rich chestnut cheek which had once held the evidence of the tears she’d cried while fighting death.
“They tried to take you from me, baby. I can’t have that.
Even though you don’t love a nigga, I’ll go to my grave lovin’ you.
” I touched her face one last time, then leaned over to kiss her forehead.
Heading out of the room, I briefly spoke to the nurses who would be keeping watch over her. Kelz and Heavy’s aims were just as solid as their nursing skills, so I knew she was in good hands.
“If she so much as sheds a tear, buzz me,” I stated. They nodded in unison.
As I walked away, my eyes stared through the thick glass, the sight of Bianca lying in that bed fueling the furnace roaring inside of me.
Inside of the elevator, I pressed the button for the first floor and ran through several different ways I would kill whoever touched Bianca. Shit. And the rest of the family.
The doors slid open on the first floor. Judge and Minnie Bell waited there with Adir.
Minnie’s face was tear-ridden and full of grief.
Her husband’s face reflected the anger we all felt.
They’d changed out of their party clothes but were so devastated that they looked disheveled.
I held the elevator for them, then waited for the doors to close before facing Adir.
He stood there, eyes black, and face set in a grim expression.
“Where the fuck you been?” I asked him.
He briefly tilted his head and shrugged.
No, this other side of Adir wasn’t anything to fuck with, but unlike most people, I was used to dealing with this side of him.
Matter of fact, this side of him was who I preferred in times like this.
While everybody else was terrified of this nigga, he was simply misunderstood.
I understood him, though. A little too much.
I followed him to his office where Dothan, Alli, Adrian, and Noa waited for us. Adir closed the door behind us, then went and sat behind his desk. The air inside the four walls was quiet and thick with tension. Everybody was on edge.
Before anything could be said, the door opened. Sean stuck his head inside.
“Turn on the news,” he informed us, then closed the door.
Adir flipped to the local station. On the screen was a video of a mangled Seas & Shores Restaurant and Grill.
“Tell her to get that shit off there!” Adir barked, but I was already dialing Katrelle. She answered on the first ring.
“I’m handling it,” she answered, then hung up. A few seconds later, the broadcaster abruptly cut to a commercial. Alli took the remote and flipped to another station. Footage from the restaurant played on the screen.
Something inside of me bubbled intensely seeing Bianca in a nigga’s face.
And he was standing too fucking close to her.
Within a couple of minutes, the footage showed a dark sedan coming down the block.
It didn’t slow or stop. There was no acceleration of the sedan as someone in the passenger seat unloaded.
Watching the bullets rip through Bianca turned me into a monster.
It was watching Minnie run out of that building to get to her daughter that turned me into raging monster. I wanted blood. A lot of it.
“I spoke to Detective Gunner. The plates are bogus,” Alli said, breaking the silence that came after he pressed pause.
“I got a hit on the nigga Bianca was outside with. Torro was a popular bartender from Atlanta. The city is goin’ crazy behind him,” Noa informed us.
“They want whoever did this just as bad as we do,” Alli added.
Adir chuckled.
“Impossible,” I mumbled. Nobody wanted these niggas as bad as I did.
“What the fuck is a bartender from Atlanta doing in Pensacola… At my family’s event?” Adir questioned.
“His uncle owns the restaurant, and Torro has worked high profile parties for them in the past.”
Dothan cleared his throat and said, “Torro has an open case out of Cobb County, stemming from the summer. He’s on bond for robbery and attempted homicide.”
My eyes snapped to Dothan. “Who was hit?”
“A nigga named, Jarelle Duggins,” Dothan answered.
“Was Torro solo?” Alli questioned.
“Nah,” Dothan replied. “Warrants were issued for brothers, Cliff and Manny Rollins. Neither of which have been detained. I should add that Torro has a prior closed case that was sealed. If I had to take an educated guess, he’s state protected.”
“Do we have a location on the brothers?” Adrian questioned.
“If I had to make another educated guess, they’re already on 75 headed back to Atlanta,” Dothan stated. “The city is protecting them.”
Silence followed for a minute before Adir stated, “We’re lookin’ for the brothers. I’on give a fuck if we gotta dangle their great-granny off the Bay Bridge by her fuckin’ gray edges. Find ‘em and bring them niggas to us.”
Noa, Alli, and Dothan filed out of Adir’s office, leaving me with Adir and Adrian.
Wordlessly, Adir and Adrian watched me leave out of Adir’s office. I made my way back to Bianca’s room. Her parents were by her bedside, doing their best to stay strong. Violence had touched the family before, just not in this way. And out of all people, Bianca.
Minnie spotted me outside her daughter's room and broke away from her husband to come to me. I opened my arms for the woman I considered another mother. She laid her head on my chest and softly uttered, “Thank you.”
I kissed the top of her head. “Now you know that’s not necessary.”
She wiped her eyes and said, “As much as I wanted you to wait for her, I knew you couldn’t wait forever.”
There was no need for her to elaborate. If Minnie could see the love I had for her daughter, I wasn’t sure how Bianca couldn’t see that shit. Minnie patted my shoulder, then went back to join her husband. Exhaling a deep breath, I forced myself to walk away.
In my apartment upstairs, I paced the floor. My emotions were all over the fucking place. Just then, my phone rang. I ignored Katrelle’s call as if she wasn’t my fiancée and as if she hadn’t experienced some trauma tonight. My concern was tied to the woman on the fourth floor.
Another hour passed before I left my apartment and found my way back to Bianca’s floor. Thankfully, Judge Bell and Minnie were leaving out of her room.
“We’re about to go upstairs and try to get some sleep,” Judge Bell stated. “You’ll let us know if anything changes?”
“Absolutely,” I assured him.
Hand in hand, they ambled off to the elevator. Inside Bianca’s room, I pulled a chair up, checked the monitor to see how her vitals were doing, then focused my attention on the way her heart beat steadily.
. Time passed as I played every single moment we’d ever been in each other’s presence. Bianca just did something to me that I knew no other woman would ever be able to do to me.
“You haven’t left out of here for the past few hours, bruh.”
Glancing over my shoulder, I mugged Adir as he entered Bianca’s room.
“You clockin’ my moves?”
“Naw…”
I turned my attention back to Bianca, who was still heavily sedated. She was breathing on her own, and her vitals looked good. Still, I couldn’t bring myself to leave her bedside.
Adir chuckled. “You forget you got a fiancée, nigga? Katrelle ain’t goin’ for that shit. It’s a lot of shit I let slide wit’ you, but my sister ain’t on that list. Ain’t gon’ be no fuckin’ sister-wives—”
“Shut up, bruh. I’m taking a few months off to make sure Bianca gets the help she needs—”
“Again… You got a whole ass fiancée,” he reiterated. “Plus, you say that as if I ain’t gon’ take good care of my sister.”
I smoothed my hand down my beard and sighed heavily. I hadn’t shaved since yesterday morning. There was no energy inside me to scrap with Adir over his sister. However, I would if he tried to block me from doing what the fuck I wanted to do.
“You proposed to Katrelle less than six hours ago. And here you are ready to throw it all away over the woman you love. I fuck wit’ that.”
“Then move outta my way and let me take care of her.” Adir stared me down, but I wasn’t backing down. He knew that. “Like I was saying, I’ll be taking off for the next few months. I’ll still attend meetings and be here under emergent situations. Otherwise… I’ve got Bianca.”
Adir blinked at me a few times before quietly exiting Bianca’s room.
Again, I found myself watching Bianca. Just yesterday, I was dead set on putting her behind me.
I’d never experienced the first real kiss with her, never had the pleasure of laying her down, and never heard those three words slip from her lips.
You’re a fool.
I probably was. I wasn’t changing my mind about spinning the block, though.