Married To Money

MONEY #2

I looked at Steez, and Steez looked at me, and I knew this was going to be bad.

He was bigger than me and older than me, and he had been in the streets long enough to know how to hurt someone.

But I also knew that if I backed down now, I would never get another chance.

“Aight. Let us do it,” I said, dropping my backpack on the ground and pulling my hoodie over my head.

The fight started fast. Steez came at me like he was trying to kill me, and maybe he was, because that was how you proved yourself in this world.

You either broke someone or you got broken.

I took hits that made my vision blur and my ears ring.

I tasted blood in my mouth and felt my ribs crack and knew that I was losing.

But I didn’t stop. I kept swinging, kept moving, kept fighting because giving up wasn’t an option.

Giving up meant going back to that apartment and watching my mother work herself to death.

Giving up meant staying hungry, powerless, and invisible.

At some point during the fight, something inside me snapped.

I stopped thinking about winning or losing, and I just started fighting to survive.

I grabbed Steez, and we went down hard on the concrete.

We rolled, punched, and clawed at each other like animals.

And then I got my hands around a piece of broken glass that was lying on the ground, and I didn’t think about what I was doing. I just acted.

I drove the glass into Steez’s neck, and I felt his blood pour out hot and fast over my hands.

I felt his body go rigid and then go limp.

I felt the moment when his life left him, and I became something different than what I had been before.

The basketball court went silent, and everyone stared at me like they couldn’t believe what they were seeing.

I stood up slowly with blood all over my face, my hands, and my clothes.

I looked down at Steez’s body and I felt nothing.

No guilt, fear or regret. Just emptiness.

“Goddamn,” Force said quietly, and then he started laughing. “Goddamn, young Money! You really did that shit!”

Big Larry was grinning too. “I didn’t think you had it in you, lil’ nigga. But you proved me wrong. You proved all of us wrong.”

They pulled me away from the body, someone made a call, and within twenty minutes Steez’s body was gone like it had never been there.

They took me to a bathroom and helped me clean up.

They gave me new clothes and told me to keep my mouth shut about what happened.

Then Force pulled out a hundred-dollar bill and slapped it into my palm.

“Welcome to the game, young Money. You just earned your spot.”

I looked down at that hundred-dollar bill and I felt something shift inside me. This was power. This was control. This was the way out of poverty, hunger, and helplessness. I had killed a man at thirteen years old, and instead of being punished, I was being rewarded.

That was the day everything changed. That was the day I stopped being Montana, the hungry kid from the projects, and became Money, the young hustler who would do whatever it took to survive.

That was the day I learned that violence was currency and fear was power, and the only way to protect the people you loved was to become someone that nobody could touch.

The sound of the downstairs door slamming brought me crashing back to the present. I jerked upright in my chair and nearly knocked over the whiskey bottle. My head was spinning from the alcohol, the memories and the sudden shift from past to present.

“Daddy!” Solina’s voice echoed through the mansion, high-pitched and excited. “Daddy, where are you?!”

I tried to stand up, but my legs were unsteady, and I had to grab the edge of the desk to keep from falling.

I looked at my phone and saw that it was after four in the afternoon.

I had been sitting here drinking for hours, and I had completely lost track of time.

The screen showed twenty-three missed calls and fifteen unread text messages.

“Fuck,” I muttered, running my hand over my face. My white tee was wrinkled, and I smelled like whiskey, and I was in no condition to deal with my children right now.

I could hear footsteps on the stairs, and then Junior appeared in the doorway of my office. He looked upset, scared, and angry all at once. His school uniform was disheveled, and his backpack was hanging off one shoulder, and his eyes were red like he had been crying or trying not to cry.

“Pop, where the hell have you been?” Junior demanded, and his voice was shaking with emotion. “I’ve been callin’ you for hours!”

“Watch your mouth,” I said automatically, but my voice came out slurred, and I could see Junior notice it.

“Are you drunk?” He stepped into the office and looked at me like he didn’t recognize me.

“I’m good, son. Where’s your mother?” I asked as I tried to straighten up and look like I had everything under control.

Junior’s voice rose, and I could hear the panic underneath the anger. “Ma was supposed to pick us up, but she never showed up!”

My blood went cold. “What do you mean she never showed up?”

“I mean exactly what I said!” Junior was shouting now, and I could see tears starting to form in his eyes. “She was supposed to pick us up, and she never came! I had to ask Robert’s mother to bring me to get Solina from her school. Then, she dropped us off here.”

I looked past Junior and saw Solina standing in the hallway. She was rocking back and forth with her hands over her ears and tears streaming down her face. She was making that sound she made when she was overwhelmed and overstimulated, and everything was too much for her to handle.

“Soso, baby, it’s okay,” I said, trying to move toward her, but Junior stepped in front of me.

Junior’s voice cracked. “Don’t act like everything’s okay when it’s not! Where is Ma? What did you do? Did your goons do somethin’ to her? Did someone from your crew hurt her?”

“What the fuck are you talkin’ about?” I grabbed Junior’s shoulders, and he tried to pull away, but I held on. “You know damn well that would never happen!”

Junior was crying now, full-on sobbing, and it broke something inside me to see my son like this. “You control everything and everyone and you don’t care who gets hurt! You probably had someone grab her ‘cause she wasn’t doin’ what you wanted! You probably…”

“Stop it!” I shook him harder than I meant to. “Stop sayin’ that shit! I would never hurt your mother! I would never let anyone hurt her! Do you understand me?”

“Then where is she?” Junior’s voice was barely a whisper now. “Where is she, Pop? Why didn’t she pick us up? Why isn’t she answerin’ her phone? Somethin’s wrong, and you know it!”

He was right. Solei would never leave the kids waiting at school. She would never ignore their calls. She would never just disappear without telling anyone where she was going. Even when we were separated, and she hated me, she was always there for Junior and Solina. Always.

“I don’t know where she is,” I admitted, and saying it out loud made it real in a way that terrified me. “But I’m gon’ find out.”

“You promise?” Junior looked up at me.

“I promise, son.” I pulled him into my arms and held him while he cried. He was thirteen, trying so hard to be strong and grown, but right now he was just a scared kid who needed his father to fix things. “I’ll make sure your mother’s good.”

We stood there for a long moment while Junior cried into my chest, and Solina rocked herself in the hallway, and I tried to sober up enough to think clearly. My mind was racing through possibilities, and none of them were good. Solei was possibly missing, and someone would pay for that.

“Go take care of your sister,” I said finally, pulling back and looking Junior in the eyes. “Take her to her room, put on her favorite show, and make sure she calms down. Can you do that for me?”

Junior nodded and wiped his eyes. “Yeah. I can do that.”

“Good. You’re a good big brother. You’re a good son, and I’m proud of you.”

Junior’s lip trembled, but he didn’t cry again.

He just nodded and went to get Solina. I watched him lead her down the hallway, talking to her in that soft voice he used when she was upset, and I felt a surge of love for my kids that was so intense it almost brought me to my knees.

But I didn’t have time to fall apart. I had to see what was up with my wife.

I grabbed my phone and scrolled through my contacts until I found Kyesha’s number. I called her and waited until the call connected. “Hello?”

“Kyesha, it’s Money, ” I said, and my voice came out harder than I intended.

“Oh, my God. Is Solei okay?” That question made my stomach twist immediately.

“What the fuck you mean is she okay?” Silence hit the line for half a second too long. “Kyesha.”

“I just… she hasn’t answered me either,” she said quickly.

My jaw tightened instantly. “Where the fuck is my wife?”

“I don’t know,” Kyesha rushed out. “I swear I don’t.”

“That ain’t good enough.”

“I’m serious, Money. I…”

“This shit ain’t no game,” I snapped. “Where is she?”

Kyesha started stumbling over her words. “I think maybe she… well…”

“You think maybe what?”

“She mentioned lunch earlier.”

My heartbeat slowed dangerously. “With who?”

“Darius,” she admitted quietly.

Everything inside me went cold. “What?”

“She said she was meeting him for closure or something,” Kyesha said quickly. “I don’t know all the details.”

I gripped the phone tighter. “Where?”

“At Majesty’s.”

My blood started roaring in my ears. For a second, all I could picture was Solei sitting across from that nigga, smiling at him way too hard, apologizing, and shit.

After everything. After the island. After the tears.

After getting together. “Nah,” I muttered more to myself than her.

“Nah. Soul wouldn’t do no shit like that. ”

Kyesha stayed quiet, and the doubt was already creeping in.

Because technically… she already had before.

“I’m almost positive that’s where she went,” she replied carefully.

“She said she was going to meet him for lunch, talk, and then go get the kids before our girls’ night. We were going to be helping her pack.”

Suddenly, the anger I felt shifted into something darker. I straightened immediately. “When did she say she was meetin’ this nigga?”

“Around one-thirty. Maybe two.”

My mind started moving fast now. After I threatened to expose his financial crimes and ruin his career, the nigga backed off immediately.

No calls. No appearances. No slick lawyer threats.

At the time, I thought fear made him smart.

Now all I could think was maybe I should’ve killed him instead.

Because any nigga desperate enough to keep chasing another man’s wife after all that probably wasn’t thinking rationally anymore.

And if Darius touched Solei… nah. I couldn’t even finish the thought.

“Kyesha,” I said calmly, which somehow sounded scarier than yelling.

“Yeah?”

“Call me if you hear from her.” I hung up before she could say anything else, pocketing my phone. The whiskey fog had burned away and been replaced by something cold and clear and absolutely certain. I knew what I had to do.

I walked to the safe hidden behind the bookshelf.

I entered the combination and pulled out the special Glock .

40 I kept for situations exactly like this.

I checked the magazine, made sure it was fully loaded, and then attached the silencer.

The weight of the gun in my hand was comforting.

I tucked it into the back of my jeans and pulled on a fitted.

Then, I walked down the hall and found Junior sitting with Solina in her room.

They both looked up when I appeared in the doorway.

“I need you to handle your sister,” I said to Junior, reaching into my jeans for some money and handing it to him.

“Be a good big brother. Make sure she eats dinner and gets to bed on time. Can you do that?”

“Where are you goin’?" Junior asked, and I could see the fear in his eyes.

“I’m goin’ to get your mother.” I kept my voice steady and reassuring.

“Pop…”

“I love you both.” I looked at Solina, and she had stopped rocking.

She was watching me with those big eyes that saw more than people gave her credit for.

“I love you so much, and I’m gon’ make everything aight.

” I left before Junior could ask any more questions.

Pulling out my phone from my pocket, I scrolled through my missed calls and hit up Check.

His voice was frustrated. “Damn, bro. Where the fuck…?”

“This nigga Darius gotta die.”

“What the fuck happened?”

“I think this muthafucka got Soul. She was meetin’ him for lunch to pacify his ass and never made it to pick up the kids. Check, I swear to God, if…”

“Relax. Go handle it.” Check’s voice was all business now. “I’ll hit up Tip.”

I hung up and jogged down the staircase, grabbing my hoodie from the sectional couch in the living room.

I slipped into my Jordan’s, walked out of the mansion and got into my Lambo.

It was a little warmer than usual, which would’ve been beautiful if I had been in the mood to appreciate the beauty of it.

But all I could think about was Solei and where she might be and what that muthafucka might be doing to her.

I started the engine and pulled out of the driveway.

I didn’t know exactly where I was going yet, but I would figure it out.

I always figured it out. Because that was what I did.

I found solutions to problems, I eliminated threats, and I protected what was mine.

And anyone who tried to take her from me was going to learn exactly why people feared me. Just like the last time.