Chapter 32
THREE DAYS LATER
“Baby, are you sure you’re okay?” I asked as Shar stood in the bathroom mirror, brushing her teeth.
The cuts she sustained from the broken glass were beginning to heal. She still looked as beautiful as ever in my eyes, but I could tell she was feeling a way about them. Every night since her rescue, I’d tended to her wounds and rubbed her down with coconut oil to help minimize the scars as they healed.
“I’m fine, Maceo,” she said softly.
I stood there watching her. She appeared to be okay, but I wasn’t completely convinced. I thought back to how we’d gotten her out of the house. When we’d gotten close to the property, I’d parked off in a thick brush as not to alert Charity of our arrival. I was sure she thought it would take us a few days to find her, but that was her mistake. Again, having Jaeda was a major perk in this line of business.
When I bought the place, I had an underground bunker built and a tunnel dug from the basement to a couple yards behind the house, just in case we had to make a quick exit. I’d also added a second breaker box.
“You really were out here on some secret agent, secret mission type of shit,” Mia joked as we approached the tunnel entrance.
“Pops always said you gotta be one step ahead of your enemy,” I reminded her.
That was the reason my brothers had the place surrounded on all sides, just in case Charity tried to run. I pulled up the opening to the bunker and climbed down first. The solid concrete walls were lined with motion sensor lights that came on as we walked the path. At the end of the tunnel was a door that led to the bunker.
“Wow,” Mia said as we stepped inside the soundproof room.
Three huge monitors were mounted to the wall. Gun safes lined the walls and were fully stocked and ready to go. I turned on the monitor and waited for the cameras I had installed in the house to pick up. There was one in the living room, one in the kitchen, and two in the basement. When the screen flickered and the images populated, we saw that Charity had Shar in the basement tied to a table. They were going back and forth for a second before Charity tried to cut her ring finger off.
“Enough of this shit,” I said, walking over to the breaker box. I cut the lights in the basement. After tucking my gun and grabbing a blade and night vision goggles, I cut the lights in the bunker and opened the discrete entrance. Quietly entering the basement, I could see Charity making her way toward the room with the breaker box.
Slipping on the goggles, I swiftly and quietly tipped over to Shar and covered her mouth with my hand.
“We gotta move fast, love.”
She nodded beneath my hand. I worked at lightning speed to cut the ropes. Once she was free, I picked her up and carried her back through the passageway.
“Get that bitch,” I told Jaeda and Mia.
I didn’t give them time for a meet and greet with Shar before I was sprinting down the tunnel and taking her to safety. Once we were back at the car, I placed her on her feet and checked her over.
“Are you okay? You’re bleeding.”
“I’m fine. It’s just from the glass from the accident. God, I’m so glad to see you!”
She threw her arms around me in a hug. When she pulled away, she cupped my face and kissed me deeply. I didn’t want to leave her, but I had to get back inside.
“Stay here. Deuce, Smoke, and Steel have the place surrounded.”
“Okay.”
I started back for the house, but she softly called my name.
“Maceo!”
“Yeah?”
“I love you.”
“I love you too, baby.”
A few days had passed since Charity snatched her up and we had to go get her. Charity was locked away in the cellar of one of my father’s hideaways at the back of the compound. It was a small room underground with no windows and amenities other than fresh air flow because I didn’t want her dead just yet. She’d been down there for three days with no food, no water, no human interaction. I didn’t give her the courtesy of knowing when she was going to die. Just that she, indeed, was going to die.
Shaking myself out of my thoughts, I stood from my position on the bed. Walking into the bathroom, I wrapped my arms around Shar’s waist and stooped to kiss her neck. Our eyes met in the mirror, and she smiled softly as she wiped her mouth clean.
“I love you,” I said, kissing her temple.
“I know. I love you too.”
“You had a nigga scared, man.”
She turned in my arms and pressed a kiss to my lips. “I wasn’t scared because I knew you would come get me. Jaeda told me you ‘my wife’ the fuck out of them.”
I chuckled. “I had to let them know just how serious this shit was. Ain’t nobody fucking with my wife.”
She giggled as I lifted her and placed her on the counter. Standing between her legs, I cupped her face as I stared deep into her eyes.
“We’re gonna get away for a little while once I wrap this up. A nice, long vacation.”
“Oooo! Somewhere with a beach?”
“Of course. You know how much I love seeing you walking around in those little ass bikinis,” I added, smacking her ass.
“Must you always be so fresh with me?”
“You see this?” I held up her left hand and pointed at her ring. “That means you’re mine. You literally signed up for this shit the moment you gave me some ass. Then you went and married me? You done fucked up now.”
She laughed, and it felt good to see the smile back on her face. She rested her chin against my chest and gave a heavy sigh.
“I really do need this. Just tell me, first class, or are we taking the PJ?”
“Now you know we’re taking the PJ. You act like you can’t fly on a regular plane anymore.”
“This is the manner I’ve become accustomed to, sir. You can’t treat me like royalty and complain when I act like a princess.”
“You right.”
The sound of our bedroom door opening broke our little moment of solace. Salima walked into the bathroom with Darlyn strapped to her chest and pushed me out of the way. The tables had turned, and it was her turn to be up Shar’s ass after a kidnapping.
“Hey, my love!” she said, kissing Shar’s cheek.
“Hey, boo. Hey, my suga plum!”
She plucked Darlyn from the carrier and smothered her face with kisses.
“You don’t see me standing here? You’ve been with my brother too long,” I said, mushing Salima’s head. “Just come barging in my house.”
“Shut up, Maceo. And get out. We need some girl time. We’re about to crawl in bed, watch bad movies, and eat snacks. You aren’t invited.”
“Did you just kick me out of my own house?”
“Sure did! Bye! Wait… are those sheets clean? I’m not trying to lay in the essence of y’all.”
Shar giggled. “Yes, they are clean.”
“Good. Now you can go.”
I shook my head as I playfully pushed her out of my way to get to my wife and niece.
“Yo’ bald mouth mama gets on my nerve, DD,” I said, kissing her cheeks. I leaned in and pecked Shar on the lips. “Have a good time. I’ll be back later.”
“Okay.”
I kissed her again, this time a little longer. Well, that was until Darlyn pushed my head away.
“So I can’t kiss your godmother, DD?”
She gave me that same scowl her bighead ass daddy did.
“Mean ass.”
I stole another kiss from my wife before leaving the room. The smile dropped from my face the moment I stepped foot outside. I looked toward the direction of the underground room.
It was time to handle this shit.
“You ready to do this shit?” Deuce asked as we approached the bunker.
I’d asked him to come with me because he was the only person who knew the rage I felt right now. When Salima was taken, my brother wasn’t himself. For three days, he was on a rampage. Unbeknownst to most, several lives were taken in that time period.
Anybody who knew Councilman Hayes and his possible whereabouts weren’t here to tell the story anymore. We spent many late nights touring the city and spots he frequented. For the first time since we were kids, I saw that man show genuine emotion that wasn’t directed toward family. So yeah, he was the only person I needed with me right now.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
I looked down at the small black case in my hand that Smoke had given me. Not only was my brother a beast with getting his hands on any weapon. He had that chemical warfare on lock too. The vial I was carrying was sure to take Charity out, but it would also ensure that she suffered beforehand.
“Nah, you gotta feel that shit in your chest, my nigga. She took your wife, killed people you cared for, and tried to kill you. The bitch has to feel you. We’re tossing her ass in the incinerator when this is over. No need to leave a trace.”
I nodded.
Charity had this shit coming. For everything she’d done to Shar and me and the part she played in trafficking all those people. There was no second chance or redemption for her.
I opened the cellar door, allowing the sunlight to shine down on Charity. She squinted as she looked up at me. Her face was bruised and swollen from the whupping Jaeda and Mia put on her. The smell coming from below was putrid and almost made me gag.
“You stink,” I said, fanning my hand.
“Fuck you,” she mumbled, rattling the chains that bound her.
I descended the stairs while Deuce waited at the top.
“I hope you’ve had time to pray and ask forgiveness for your transgressions,” I said with a chuckle.
Deuce laughed. “I’m sure we’re past the point of forgiveness.”
“You know what our family motto is, Charity? ‘Revenge is an act of passion; vengeance is an act of justice.’ Today, justice is mine.”
“Save me the speeches…” she said hoarsely. She cleared her throat and glared at me. “I should have killed your bitch when I had the chance. Gut her like a fucking fish and left the innards for you to find. I should have taken her body and mailed her to you piece by fucking piece! Then again, maybe I should have sold her. Nah, I should have pimped her out. Pretty thing like that, I knew people would have paid big bucks to fuck her.”
I crossed the small room and grabbed her up by her throat.
“I don’t typically put my hands on women, but I’ll choke the shit out of a bitch like you. I should snap your fucking neck right now.”
“D-do it…” she choked out.
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you? You’d like me to put you out of your misery? You don’t think you deserve to suffer? You took my fucking wife, and you thought you were going to get away with that shit? What were you gonna do? Kill us both, dip out of town, and start over? Nah, baby. That ain’t happening. The only way you get to leave this city is in a body bag or a blaze of glory.”
I let her back to the floor. She groaned as I stood over her. Days of no food and water combined with the ass whupping she took had her a little weak. I pulled the gloves from my pocket and slipped them on before opening the black case, pulling out the syringe.
“This,” I said, holding it up. “This is liquid cyanide. You know what that is, Charity? I’ll tell you. In small doses, you might experience headaches, dizziness, nausea, cramping, and some other shit. In large doses, however, you’d experience gasping, irregular heartbeats, seizure, fainting, and ultimately, death. That sounds painful, right? Either way, you’re gonna suffer.”
She looked up at me, breathing heavily. There wasn’t an ounce of remorse in her face. When I grabbed her arm, she tried to jerk it away. Getting down to her level, I straddled her and locked both arms above her head with one hand while injecting her with the other.
“Just let that marinate,” I said, looking down at her. “It won’t be long.”
Releasing her, I stood to my feet and went to sit on the steps. With my hands clasped under my chin, I watched the lethal dose begin to take effect. She began to gasp.
“You feel that?” I asked as she tried to grab at her throat. “Imagine every one of your victims gasping for that last breath of air right before they were killed and their organs harvested.”
She started dry heaving, and the next thing I knew, she was throwing up bile.
I pulled out a blunt and lit it. After taking a long pull from it, I blew the smoke in her direction. That only made her cough and throw up even more.
I chuckled. “You know, I thought about what I would do to you when I finally got my hands on you. I’m not even that much of a violent nigga, to be real.”
“You a fucking lie,” Deuce said, laughing. “Pops ain’t made you my right-hand for nothing.”
“A’ight, maybe I lied. But I’m not violent without warrant. Now, if we were just talking about the innocent lives you helped steal, I’d just put a bullet in you and call it a day. But you fucked with too many of my people to let you slide and get off easy with a headshot. You had five innocent men that served their country fearlessly killed. You had me and my family shot at on my fucking wedding day. While those are major offenses, kidnapping my wife sealed your fate.
“I don’t know if you’ve ever been in love or if you’re even capable of that shit, but love will turn a sane man into a fucking savage. I’d die about and behind Sharina Nicole Dillinger. And if I die, you can believe she will dig me up, bring me back, and kill me again for leaving her.”
Deuce laughed. “It’s sad how accurate that is. Your wife might be a little crazy too.”
“Oh, she is,” I said, looking at Charity, who was struggling to stay upright. “You know, she wanted her lick back, but I told her daddy would handle that shit, so she didn’t have to get her hands dirty. She’s too pretty for this grimy shit, but make no mistake, that’s my hitta.”
Charity slumped to the ground, her breaths growing labored. “Just… shoot… me…” she begged as a tear slipped down her cheek.
“Shoot you? Nah, baby. You gon’ feel this shit until the very end.”
She began to shake violently as a seizure riddled her body. I watched, emotionless, as she twitched and foamed at the mouth. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head as it slammed repeatedly against the concrete. Moments passed, and the shaking slowly began to subside. Her body went limp, and I watched as her chest rose and fell for the final time. For a moment, I sat there before getting up and checking for a pulse. There wasn’t one.
“You know they are gonna say she ain’t suffer enough,” Deuce said.
I chuckled. “I’m sure they will, but that was good enough for me.”
He shook his head. “The crew is on the way to get her. Go on and say your goodbyes so I can get home to my wife.”
“Your wife is in bed with mine,” I said, ascending the stairs.
He laughed. “We can’t say that in front of too many people. You know they used to kiss and shit.”
“Don’t remind me. We have to tell them they don’t need to follow in each other’s footsteps with everything, man. Both of them being kidnapped is enough.”
He laughed. “Facts.”
I closed the door and headed back in the direction of my house. “Come on and get your wife and your traitor ass offspring so me and mine can celebrate.”
“I hope Darlyn shitted all on your sheets. Calling my baby a traitor.”
We shared a laugh and playful shoves as we took the walk back. For the first time in weeks, I felt like I could breathe freely again. One thing was for certain… I was never doing this shit again.