PROLOGUE #2
After changing her pamper and rocking her for a few minutes, Kari finally settled down and started to fall asleep.
Once I was sure that she was knocked out, I carefully laid her back in the bassinet and swaddled her blanket around her.
I waited a few minutes then went to look for Kenya.
I checked our bathroom first; she wasn’t in there.
I searched all the rooms upstairs and didn’t find her in any of them.
My heart started beating faster as my antennas rose because something was up.
“Kenya?” I called out but got nothing.
I quickly moved downstairs.
“Babe!” Still, I got nothing; the house was deadly quiet, you could hear a pin drop.
I knew Kenya and there was no way in hell that my girl would've left our daughter unattended while she screamed at the top of her lungs.
Kenya could be in a dead sleep and as soon as Kari started up, her mom was going to get her.
So, I knew something was wrong and could feel that shit deep in my gut.
I went all through the whole house again and even checked down in the basement.
“Kenya!” I called out again, and still nothing.
I sighed because I could feel the anger and nervousness rising inside of me.
I couldn’t even lie; fear had even crept in.
I wasn't the type of nigga who panicked easily, but every second that passed without seeing her made my mind go places that I didn't want or need it to go.
I headed back to the kitchen to grab my phone; I'd left on the counter when I brought in the food. That's when something caught my attention. The back door was slightly cracked, and my entire body went icily still. Slowly, I reached behind my back and pulled my gun from my waist. I hadn’t checked outside, and if something was wrong with my fuckin’ woman, I was going to lose it.
I could already feel it in my chest that something was definitely wrong.
Before stepping outside, I dialed Kenya’s phone and it just rung for forever until rolling over to voicemail.
“K, what the fuck? Where are you baby? Call me back.” I ended the call and stood there for a moment then quickly dialed my brother’s number.
“Yeah,” Zelan answered on the first ring.
“I need you to get to my house now and get mom over here,” I told him.
The urgency in my voice must've registered immediately because he didn't ask any questions and ended the call.
I put my phone in my pocket before heading outside.
Gun raised and aimed; I moved around the back of the house on full alert but found nothing.
I was now on a thousand because where the fuck was my girl?
I went back inside and went to check the security cameras.
My heart thumped rapidly as I watched Kenya come downstairs around eight o’clock in a pair of tights and a t-shirt with some Gucci slides on her feet.
She walked into the kitchen, but I couldn’t see anything else from the camera that I was watching.
So, I switched to the camera feed in the kitchen and sighed in relief when I saw her pull out a bag of breast milk from the fridge and started to make the baby a bottle.
When she went to throw out the breast milk bag, she noticed that the trash was full, so she pulled it out and headed for the door and went to take it outside.
That’s when my nightmare became a living hell.
The minute she opened the door; someone snatched her out.
She was screaming and fighting, but that didn’t stop the person from getting her. I lost my fuckin’ mind.
“Nooo…Nooooo! Fuck nooo!” I roared.
I then switched to the front door feed, and saw a dark colored truck, but couldn’t get a license plate number. Just as I rushed downstairs, my mom and brother were walking into the house. Zelan played no games because his gun was already out.
“What’s wrong?” he questioned, eyes bouncing around the house.
“Kenya is missing, and it looks like someone snatched her up. She went to take out the trash and the moment she opened the door they grabbed her,” I said to them, and my mom’s hands flew to her mouth.
“Oh my God! Where is Kari?” She questioned.
“Upstairs. When I came home all I heard was her screaming and I knew that was unusual for her to be crying that long and Kenya not going to check on her.” I sighed stressed as fuck.
“So, let me get this straight. She went to take the trash out and somebody gripped her up. How the fuck did they know when she would take the trash out to snatch her up?” Zelan asked.
“Your guess is as good as mine. But that’s what happened. Ma, I need you to take the baby home with you. I gotta find her mother and I don’t feel safe with having y’all here,” I told my mom and she nodded in compliance.
“Okay. I’ll go get her things together. She can stay with me for as long as you need her to. You need to stay with me or your brother too until you all figure this out. I pray that Kenya is alright. I would say that you need to call the police, but…”
“Nah, Ma. We got this,” Zelan swiftly cut her off.
“Ma, I’ma hire some security to look after you and my daughter. But for right now, I’ma send Rock over. You know him so I know you’ll feel comfortable with him in the house.”
“Okay.” She nodded again before placing a kiss on my cheek then went upstairs to get Kari and pack her things.
I grabbed all the breastmilk out of the fridge and packed it up.
Once my mom finished getting Kari and her stuff together, Zelan and I helped get them into the car.
I called Rock and he was already on his way to her crib, so I didn’t have to worry about them while I got down to business.
Zelan and I stood out front watching our mom's car travel down the street until it was completely out of sight before we headed back inside.
“What’s the deal?” Meek asked, walking into the house not even three minutes later.
I guess Zelan called and caught him up to speed before he got here.
I went to grab my duffle bag so that we could hit the streets then just as I made it back downstairs my phone started ringing.
Looking down at my phone, I noticed that it was an “unknown number.” Normally, I wouldn't answer but since my woman was missing, I hit accept immediately.
"Yo," I answered, placing the call on speaker.
For a few seconds, there was nothing but static and I started to hang-up, but Zelan held his hand up motioning for me to pause. A few seconds later, a distorted voice came through the phone. It sounded robotic, like somebody was speaking through a computer.
"We got your bitch." Hearing that shit caused my heart to stop, and my air supply felt like it was cut off.
“The fuck! Nigga, I don't know who you are," I growled. “But what I do know is God himself won't be able to save you. I won't rest until I get my girl back and murder yo' ass. Better hold the people you love real tight muthafucka, cause a nigga like me won’t ever stop coming for you!”
The voice laughed. “Shut the fuck up before I blow this bitch brains out!”
For the first time in a long time, fear filled my heart and I felt fuckin’ helpless. I bit down on my lip until I tasted blood.
“If you touch her—”
“If you want her back," he interrupted, "I'ma need three mill.” The voice said and I could tell it was a dude because of the way he was talking.
Money wasn't shit to me, that nigga could have every dime I had just as long as I got my girl back in one piece. Trust and believe he’d pay for any and all pain inflicted at a later date.
"Let me talk to her so I can know that she’s okay." There was dead silence. “Let me hear her voice or you ain’t getting shit!” I roared.
A few seconds later, the call dropped and I lost my shit. My knees buckled and my emotions were at an all time high. I’d never felt this type of anger and pain all mixed into one. That was my daughter’s mother. Kari needed her fuckin’ mom!
“Fuckkkkkkkkk!” I started tearing shit up and pushing over anything that I could get my hands on. All I could feel was my brother’s arms wrapping around me as my knees damn near buckled.
“Calm down bro. We gonna get her back. You just gotta keep your head on straight so that you can think clear. That’s what these niggas want you to do, they wanna see you unravel.
I know I had my feelings about Kenya but nah, we not going out like this.
We will get her back and kill every nigga that had a hand in this shit,” Zelan said and I nodded.
“I already put a call out to the crew to put their ears to the streets and stay on high alert. We got you bro,” Meek said, placing his gun on the table to clean up some of the mess I made.
“We gotta go,” I said, picking up my duffle bag.
My phone beeped letting me know that I had a new text message. I tapped on the unknown number then almost immediately a video of Kenya popped up. She was sitting in a chair in what looked to be a basement or a warehouse of some sort.
“Juelz help me please,” she whimpered, and that shit broke me.
I cried like a baby. The love I had for this woman was beyond what my heart could feel.
My vision was blurry, and my rational thinking was all about the gone.
All I could see was red and I wanted was whoever was behind this’ head on a platter.
The “why’s” didn’t even matter to me. My phone started ringing again and I knew it was him.
“I’ma fuckin kill you! Don’t touch a hair on her head!”
“From the way I see it, nigga you ain't really in a position to threaten me and make demands. Get my money,” he demanded.
“I got it now. Tell me where to meet you.” I gritted.
“I’ll text an address.” He ended the call and I took off running down to the basement where my safe was carrying the empty duffle bag.