Chapter 3
If someone had told me eight months ago that I would be a part of this shit, I would have laughed. Being where I was from, I wasn’t afraid of anything, but this right here was next level. I knew I had to have loved this man to want to be wherever he was and do whatever he was doing. This shit was dangerous as hell, but if I was being honest, I felt a sense of accomplishment every time we rescued someone from a most painful fate.
About two months before Maceo brought me in on what he was doing, I was ready to take his fucking head off. He’d been secretive, answering calls in the middle of the night, always running off at some ungodly hour, and being gone for a week at a time with hardly any communication.
I knew when he took missions with the family. I wasn’t worried about that because I knew they had each other. But this… hell no. He was keeping me in the dark, and that left way too much room for my mind to wander. At first, I was convinced that he was cheating on me, and if that had been the case, I would have popped him in his shit.
I’d felt him ease out of bed one night because I wasn’t asleep like he thought. I listened as he slipped out of my bedroom before I got out of bed to follow him. As I tipped down the hallway to the living room, I found him talking softly on the phone.
“Yeah, I can do that. What time?”
I frowned. Where the fuck was he going and who was he going with?
“Bet.”
He hung up and turned around, jumping when he saw me.
“Jesus, Shar. What the hell?”
“Who were you on the phone with?”
“Nobody important.”
“You got me fucked up, Maceo. What bitch were you on the phone with this time of night?”
“I wasn’t talking to no bitch.”
“Oh, it was a bitch. I know you ain’t jumping to answer the phone every time a nigga calls or texts you.”
“Don’t even fucking play with me like that.”
“I’m not playing with you at all. I’m dead ass. For weeks now, you been ripping and running every fucking time that phone rings. I know you aren’t with your family working on some shit because you tell me when you have anything going on. So again, who is the bitch!”
“Ain’t no bitch!”
I shoved him. “Stop fucking lying to me! I’m not stupid, Maceo!”
“Don’t put your hands on me, Shar. I don’t disrespect you like that. I love you, but I will hem your ass up. Calm the fuck down.”
I was livid at this point and ready to swing at him. He must have read my mind because, immediately, he grabbed me up in a bear hug, locking my arms at my side.
“You bet’ not ever think you gon’ swing at me, woman. Calm your little ass down.”
I breathed heavily as his grip on me tightened. I wanted to headbutt him, but he had a good six inches on me in height.
“Listen to me. I love you. I wouldn’t disrespect you with no other bitch, especially not in your own spot. I haven’t been entertaining anybody but you since the first time I came over here.”
“Then tell me what’s going on. All of this secrecy… what do you expect me to think, Maceo?”
He sighed. “If I let you go, are you gonna keep your hands to yourself?”
“That depends on your answers to my questions.”
“Sharina Nicole.”
I huffed. “Fine.”
He released me and turned me to face him. “You can’t say shit to anybody, especially not Salima.”
“Why not?”
“Because she’s gonna tell my brother, and he’s gonna tell everybody else. You know my family would kill me if they knew what I was doing.” He sighed as he took a seat on the couch. “A few months ago, I linked up with another organization. They work with uncovering organ trafficking in the black market.”
“Or-organ trafficking? Like they’re cutting people open and shit?”
“Yes.”
“The black market? Maceo, that’s dangerous!”
“No more dangerous than what I do now.”
“But you’re by yourself.”
“No, I’m not. I have a team.”
“But they aren’t your family. They aren’t gonna look out for you like your family does.”
“We’re good, baby. They’re ex-military and down for the cause.”
I shook my head. “I don’t like this, Mace.”
“You don’t have anything to worry about. Don’t I come home to you every single time?”
“Yes, but ? —”
“But nothing. I promise I’m safe.”
So far, he had been safe. The guys in the crew were efficient and diligent in their jobs. Since I’d been with them, they’d rescued nearly a hundred people. This was never something I pictured myself doing. It started with making sure my man brought his ass back home safely, but now, I loved it.
Seeing people reunited with their families did my heart some good. After Salima was kidnapped right under my nose, that shit stirred up something in me. Not knowing where my bestie was for three days had my heart in shambles. If she’d never been found, or if Councilman Hayes had killed her, I would have lost my fucking mind.
I could only imagine what the families of these victims were going through. I left my CNA job to do this full time, four months ago. The money was great, but I felt like I was doing something that made the danger worth it.
Upstairs, I knocked softly on each door to check in with our guests. Everyone seemed to be getting along okay. As I made my way to the last door where Charity was, I could hear her talking softly. Lightly, I tapped on the door before opening it. She scrambled from the floor beside the bed.
“Hey, are you okay?” I asked.
“I’m fine. Just… a little overwhelmed.” She wiped her tears away as she looked at me. “Did you need something?”
“No. I just wanted to make sure you were okay and see if you needed anything. I know this is a lot.”
She nodded. “It is. One minute, I was waiting at the bus stop, and the next, I was in the back of that van.”
I moved toward her and took a seat on the bed. “How long were you with them?”
“Maybe a day or two. Like I said, I was at the bus stop. I heard this woman call for help in the alley behind me, and when I went to see what was up, somebody grabbed me. All I remember is a cloth over my mouth before I blacked out.”
I eyed her discreetly. She didn’t look like someone who’d been held captive for days. There was no sign of a struggle on her. No ripped clothes, no bruises, not even a broken fingernail. Her story, however, was plausible.
“Where are you from?” I asked.
“Nowhere, really. I grew up in foster care, so I don’t really have one place I call home. Honestly, I’ve been living in my car for the last couple of months.”
“I thought you were at the bus stop?”
“Oh, I was. I decided to go for a walk, and my feet got tired, so I sat down for a while.”
“I see. So you don’t have anybody that’s like family or friends that would be missing you?”
She shook her head with sadness in her eyes. “All I have is me.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. Where will you go from here?”
“Back to my car if it hasn’t been towed. I definitely have to get away from that place now. If it wasn’t for you all, I could be dead right now. How did you even find us?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know the details. I just drive the van and play hostess.”
I was lying. Maceo told me the ins and outs, but why would I tell her that? Until she made her way up out of here, she would be treated like everybody else. That meant she wouldn’t be privy to information that didn’t concern her. I stood from the bed before she could ask anything else.
“Well… don’t let me hold you. I’m sure you want to get showered and into something clean. The food is downstairs whenever you want to eat.”
“Thank you.”
I made it to the door when she called out to me.
“Shar?”
“Yes?”
“Maceo… is he your boyfriend?”
“Yes.”
“And the other men… you know them pretty well?”
“Well enough. Why?”
She shrugged. “I just wanna know I’m safe. Am I really safe?”
“You’re in one of the safest places in the city.”
She nodded. I left her with a tight-lipped smile as I headed back out of the room and downstairs. Maceo was waiting by the door while Tiny and Zeno laid the food out for everyone. I just had to admire my man. He was just so damn fine.
He stood six feet even to my five feet six, with an athletic build. Tattoos covered much of his smooth bronze skin. His eyes were the deepest pools of brown. Most of the time, he wore his contacts, but every so often, he wore his glasses. There was nothing sexier than a thug ass nigga with black frames.
The long locs hanging down his back were probably my favorite feature of his, next to those thick, clit sucking lips encased in a low-cut beard. I loved pulling his hair while I rode his face. The man was a fucking masterpiece. He looked up just in time to catch me staring at him, and a smirk formed on his face as he beckoned me over. Like a lovesick puppy, I floated across the room to him.
“See y’all later,” I said, waving at the other men.
“Good night, Ms. Gladden,” they all said.
I giggled. No matter how many times I told them to call me Sharina or Shar, it was always Ms. Gladden. They showed me an immense amount of respect, and I appreciated that. Maceo reached for my hand and linked our fingers together. We headed out to his Escalade, which was parked on the curb.
Settled inside, he cranked up and pulled onto the street.
“Babe,” I called.
“What’s up?”
“Do you ever get this weird feeling about the people we help?”
He looked over at me. “What do you mean?”
“Like something is off. I don’t know what it is, but I have this gut feeling.”
“Shar, they were kidnapped. I’m sure they would be a little off right now.”
“It’s not an I was kidnapped, and I’m shaken up kind of off, babe. Something just feels weird about this bunch.”
“I think you’re overthinking it. Don’t work yourself up about it.”
I sighed but didn’t say anything else. He wasn’t listening to me, anyway. Maybe I was tripping, or maybe I wasn’t. Either way, I was going to keep an eye on every person in that house.