Chapter 4
Iblew a thick cloud of smoke from my lips as I passed the blunt to DaVinchi and the guys.
Noah, Booker, Romero, and Silas had gotten in about an hour ago.
We were sitting in the backyard at Mia’s talking strategy for the next couple weeks.
We were headed back home, but I was coming back to finish this job for her.
While she wanted to gain this nigga’s trust, I was ready to wipe out the whole organization once and for all.
“Pause this for a minute,” Silas said. “When the fuck you and Mia got married, nigga?”
I ran a hand down my face. “A year ago, man.”
“And y’all muthafuckas ain’t said shit to nobody?” Noah asked.
DaVinchi kissed his teeth. “Man, I almost choked on my damn drink when he said that shit in the restaurant. Nigga walked in smooth as hell, drank that man’s wine, and laid all their shit out. I just wanna know if she made it to your hotel in thirty minutes.”
I chuckled. “She did.”
He laughed. “On a serious note… this baby? Y’all are really about to become parents?”
Silas, Noah, Romero, and Booker all started choking on the spliff.
“Baby!” they all exclaimed.
“Baby, nigga,” DaVinchi confirmed.
“You didn’t tell us that part,” Noah said, grabbing his beer. “We ‘bout to be uncles?”
I nodded. “Yeah, man. We’re having a baby.”
“And you let her bring her ass over here?” Booker asked. “Senior gon’ fuck you up.”
“I didn’t let her do anything. Y’all know as well as I do that Mia is stubborn and hardheaded. When has she ever listened to me?”
Silas laughed. “She doesn’t have a choice at this point. You’re the head of the household.”
I shook my head. “That ain’t the kind of woman I married. She ain’t the least bit submissive.”
Romero snorted. “Better put your food down.”
Booker chuckled. “Nigga gon’ fuck around and end up with a prosthetic messing with that woman.”
Noah shook his head. “Mia is like every other woman with her man. A fucking brat, but she can be tamed.”
As soon as he said the words, the back door opened and Mia stepped out in her pajama bottoms, a tank top, and a bonnet on her head. My baby was making a full appearance tonight, and it made me smile. As my wife made her way over to us, everybody put their blunts out and fanned the smoke.
“Just rub it in, why don’t you?” she said, folding her arms.
“Well, hello to you too,” Silas said, standing to hug her.
He opened his arms, and she glared at him.
“I know you better hug me, woman.”
She kissed her teeth as she fell into his arms, and he rocked her side to side. The other guys followed suit, each taking a moment to rub her stomach and congratulate her. She muttered thank you as she turned to me.
“Can I help you, mamas?” I asked.
“I want ice cream.”
I smirked. “Is that how you ask?”
She frowned. “Your child wants ice cream, so I shouldn’t have to ask.”
I chuckled as I stood to my feet. Towering over her, I gently wrapped my hand around her throat.
“Ask me nicely and you can have whatever you want—”
She opened her mouth to say what I knew was some bullshit. Immediately, I clarified my statement.
“Within reason.”
She kissed her teeth. “Can you please go get me some chocolate ice cream?”
“Much better.” I leaned in and pecked her lips. “I’ll be back, and you better be here.”
She rolled her eyes. “Where else am I gonna go since you called in the cavalry?”
“Exactly.” I pecked her lips again. “I love your mean ass.”
She was quiet, but when I gave her that look, a small smile spread across her lips. She slipped her arms around my waist and kissed me again.
“I love you too.”
“Go on upstairs. When I get back, I’ll rub your feet.”
She smiled brighter as she walked past me. I gave her ass a hefty slap. My baby was already starting to thicken her up. I watched her ass jiggle as she walked away into the house. Behind me, my niggas murmured a bunch of comments among themselves.
“Y’all got some shit to say?” I asked, turning to them.
They laughed and shook their heads in protest. I knew they were just as over our shit as Quaid was. My boy wasn’t shy about letting me know when he was sick of hearing about Mia. While he loved her like a sister, he always said that we weren’t ready for each other.
At this point, we had no choice but to be ready.
We were married and having a baby. Those were two things I didn’t take lightly.
Did I expect to end up married at my age?
Hell nah. I thought I had at least until thirty before I was ready to settle down.
I for damn sure didn’t expect to be married to Mia James Dillinger.
I would have bet my last dollar it would have been anybody but her.
Growing up in the life we did, we’d always been enemies who happened to work for the same side.
I can admit, as a chap, I fucked with her on some petty shit.
Like the rest of the guys we trained with, I thought she was there because of who her mother and grandfather was.
I’m grown enough to admit that I was wrong.
Mia was a beast.
She excelled in training, not because she wanted this shit more than any of us, but because it was in her.
Maddie and Senior created something great.
She was cold and calculated. In hand-to-hand combat, she was quick and meticulous, watching her opponent’s moves.
Baby was also one of the best sharpshooters I’d ever seen. Those kill shots were always on point.
She deserved to be in the organization.
We were just too bullheaded to see it. By the time I stopped fucking with her about it, the damage was already done. She hated me and never let me forget that shit. We were forever exchanging insults with each other. While she meant hers, I was mostly playing around to get a rise out of her.
I had it bad for her, but I couldn’t let her know that.
The first time those insults turned into us fucking, I was eighteen and she was sixteen.
Her grandfather had sent a group of us on a mission with some of the older members.
Unlike the Dillingers who had to wait until they were twenty-one to fully join their organization, we stepped into the James organization at eighteen after three years of rigorous training.
Some said that was too young, but most of us grew up in this life with our parents.
My mother was part of it. She never sugar-coated shit for me growing up.
She told me what she did and why she did it.
It wasn’t expected of me to become a member, but I knew from a young age that it was my purpose.
I got a thrill from putting bullets in a scum muthafucka that deserved a violent death for the things they’d done.
Always had. Probably always would.
By the time I made it to my car, DaVinchi was at the passenger side.
Vinchi was my right hand. Usually, wherever I went, he was right there.
Of course, he wouldn’t let me drive around an unfamiliar spot by myself.
We both got in and simultaneously checked our guns to make sure they were loaded.
That was us. Always strapped, head always on a swivel.
“You ready to be a father?” he asked as I pulled out of the driveway.
“I don’t have a choice but to be ready, man. I’m excited though.”
He shook his head. “I can’t believe you got Mia pregnant. Shit, I can’t believe she let you.”
I chuckled. “I mean, she was the one telling me to nut in her.”
“Man, I don’t care what you say. No pussy has ever been good enough for me to not only slide in raw but listen to a bitch tell me to nut in her. That is spiritual entrapment.”
“Shut the fuck up, Vinchi.”
“I’m just saying. That’s voodoo or something. A pussy with the power to make you lose all common sense? Yeah, I don’t need that.”
“You don’t know what you’re missing.”
“And don’t wanna know. Besides, I think I want an older woman now.”
I gave him a side eye. “Whatchu’ done did?”
He grinned. “I ain’t did shit yet, but if Maddie keep dressing like that around me, I’m gonna do a whole lot.
Every time we tail Mia and that nigga, she be looking fine as a muthafucka.
You know he takes her on dates and shit to fancy restaurants or whatever, so Maddie likes to dress the part.
Nigga… if I see that ass and titties sit up just right one more time… ”
“Nigga, that’s my mother in-law.”
“And she’s a fine muthafucka!”
“Noah is gonna kick your ass. You know he wants her real bad.”
“I’ll fight for my love.”
I laughed out loud. “Shut up, man.”
We pulled up in front of Le Petit Glacier, an ice cream shop, and hopped out of the car.
I surveyed my surroundings as we headed inside.
There was a small line, nothing too crazy.
It was moving pretty quick, and I was glad because I wasn’t trying to be in here too long.
When it was our turn, I grabbed Mia’s order while Vinchi’s sweet tooth having ass ordered a sundae for himself.
“That’s diabetes in a bowl,” I said, watching him take a big bite of it as we walked out the store.
“We all gotta go some way.”
As we went to get back in the car, I caught sight of a familiar face.
Fucking JacQues DuPont.
He was coming out of a suit store across the street. For a nigga that was trafficking people underground, he didn’t seem aware of his surroundings at all as he hopped in the black SUV waiting for him. I climbed in my car and quickly cranked up.
“What’s up with you?” Vinchi asked as I busted a U-turn behind the SUV.
“That’s that nigga. I wanna see something.”
I made sure to keep five cars behind him the whole ride.
Most people made the mistake of keeping back two cars when they were tailing someone.
That still made you stick out, especially on an uncrowded street.
I was smart enough to keep my distance and move with the flow of traffic, so I didn’t draw attention to myself, all while clocking the street signs.
As we headed into a residential area, his SUV slowed down.
As it turned into the roundabout driveway of a nice sized home, I kept driving past, ensuring that I took mental snapshots of the house number and the outside.
I parked down the street and sent a FaceTime call to Quaid.
It was about seven here, so it was around one back home. He answered on the third ring.
“What’s up?”
“I need you to look up something for me.”
He got up and migrated to the office space he shared with Jaeda.
Since moving on the compound, they had built a bigger space onto her house to serve as the collective office space for both of them since he’d become additional tech support for the family.
I could see Jaeda in the background as he set the phone down to get logged in.
“Alright. What do you need?”
“I think I found that JacQues nigga’s house. I remember you said you were having a hard time finding a residence because it wasn’t listed in his name.”
It was as though JacQues didn’t exist. There was no property under his name. Whenever he was followed, he always ended up at a hotel or an apartment building, never a family home.
“What’s the address?”
I rattled off the address from my memory. I could hear him tapping hard on the keyboard and clicking around on the screen. Jaeda rolled into view and smiled at me.
“I see Maddie hasn’t killed you yet.”
I chuckled. “Not yet, sis.”
“How is my sister?”
“She’s herself. Pregnancy cravings got me sent on an ice cream run.”
She gasped. “Oooo… that sounds good. Baby, can you make me a sundae?”
Quaid chuckled. “I got you, love. Just let me finish this up… got it. The house is listed under the name Claude Pujon.”
I thought for a second. “He rearranged some of the letters of his name so it’s not as obvious.”
Quaid snapped his fingers. “You know what, you’re right.
” He clicked around for a minute. “Several other properties are listed under that name, most of them in shady areas. My guess is those are probably some of the places he’s housing these people.
The name is also linked to a website… looks like they offer a cleaning service.
Different packages offer different services… it’s weird.”
“How so?”
“The wording. If you don’t know what you’re looking for, you’d think nothing of it.”
Next to him, Jaeda squinted. “You think he’s using the website to book clients?”
“I’d put money on it.”
DaVinchi shook his head. “That’s damn near genius,” he said. “Who would suspect a cleaning company. Can you look up the customers? If this is what he’s doing, you can bet your ass that this is for the high profile and repeat clients.”
I slapped his chest. “Look at you using that big ass head for something good.”
“Fuck you.”
“That’s actually a good point, Vinchi,” Quaid said. “Give me and Jaeda a few days to look into this and do background checks so we can see who we’re working with.”
“Bet. I appreciate you, man.”
“Ain’t shit. Be safe over there.”
“Always.”
“Love you, Titan,” Jaeda said.
“Love you too, sis.”
“Damn, no love for me?” Vinchi asked, offended.
“Bye, DaVinchi!” Quaid said. “My wife don’t know your ass like that.”
Jaeda laughed as he hung up the phone. I shook my head.
“Don’t make my boy fuck you up about his wife.”
“I don’t want no smoke. Anyway, you think that’s the way he’s doing it?”
“I can see it being an option. We’ll know more once Jaeda and Quaid do their thing.”
“You plan on telling Mia?”
“Hell no. I don’t need her to have any more of a reason to think she’s staying in Paris a second longer. Come Friday, she’s getting her ass on that jet and going the fuck home.”
I wasn’t playing with Mia anymore.
We had too much at stake right now for her to be caught up in this shit any longer. We already had a plan in place. I’d already put in a call to Mr. James to let him know we needed more backup so we could move this shit along quickly.
While I didn’t tell him Mia was pregnant, I let him know that this was now bigger than we initially thought it was. He didn’t hesitate to let me know he was sending fifteen additional team members who would get here within the next few days.
That was just enough time to get my wife and child home safely before I turned this fucking city out.