Chapter 10 Titan
It had been three days since my baby’s funeral and I’d finally been summoned by Mr. James. By summoned, I meant two of his security guards showed up at my front door. The niggas didn’t have to say a word. I knew what time it was. I simply laced up my sneakers, put up my locs, and went with them.
This would be the second time I was geared for confrontation. The Dillinger brothers gave me the courtesy of waiting until yesterday to have a conversation about everything.
I was in my loft drowning my pain in weed and alcohol when there was a knock on my door. I got up to answer it and found them on the other side.
For a moment, I just stared at them. “Y’all here to square up?” I asked, noting the looks on their faces.
“It can go there,” Deuce said, walking past me into the loft.
The rest of them followed him into the living room.
I shook my head and closed the door. When I entered the living room, I noticed Deuce and Smoke had their guns out.
Maceo and Kerrion stood off to the side, hands clasped in front of them.
I stared at them for a moment before grabbing my half empty liquor bottle and turning it up to polish it off.
Then I grabbed my blunt and lit it before taking a seat on the couch.
“If you are gonna shoot me, have at it,” I mumbled.
“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t,” Deuce said, raising his pistol.
I shrugged. “Ain’t none and I’m not about to fight with y’all muthafuckas. If you gon’ send me to be with my baby, go on.”
I knew I was feeling the weight of the guilt, because a nigga could never pull a gun on me, and I say some shit like that. Deuce stared at me, a deep frown on his face. After a few seconds, he holstered his gun and Smoke did the same.
“What the fuck were y’all thinking, nigga?” he asked.
“Ask your sister, that. I was thinking I was going to get my hardheaded ass wife and bring her the fuck home.”
“You never should have let her go over there, muthafucka!” Smoke snapped.
I laughed. “What about her? She knew she was pregnant and shouldn’t have been over there either. I told her not to go. Forbid it and she hopped her ass on that fucking plane and went anyway.”
“You’re her fucking husband!” Deuce yelled. “We ain’t gon’ talk about that shit. But how the fuck are you supposed to be the head of the household and letting her do reckless shit?”
“Letting her? Your sister does whatever the hell she wants, and y’all know that! She barely listens to y’all and you think she’s gonna listen to me just because I married her? You clearly don’t know her. Those fifteen years you went without her is showing. Mia DeLuca is nobody’s submissive.”
Smoke shook his head. “Then you should have told Pops or her grandfather. This is just as much on you as it is on her, nigga.”
I jumped up from my seat and charged in their direction.
“You don’t think I know that!” I bellowed as Steel and Maceo held me back.
“You don’t think I feel responsible for my daughter’s death, muthafucka?
Like I don’t replay that scene in my head over and over?
Like I ain’t been over here drowning my muthafucking sorrows in liquor to numb the pain?
I feel every fucking thing! Ain’t shit you can say to make me feel worse than I do!
I gotta feel this shit for the rest of my life! ”
The room grew quiet. The two of them stared at me and I stared at them.
I snatched away from Maceo and Steel and sat back down, dropping my head in my hands.
For the first time since the funeral, I cried like a fucking baby in front of them.
I didn’t care how it made me look. A nigga was hurting and no amount of weed or alcohol could numb that pain.
We didn’t speak another word after that. They just sat with me, passing a few blunts in rotation and listening to music. When they left, each of them pulled me into a hug and told me there would be no beef. Life was already beating my ass harder than they ever could anyway.
A two-hour car ride later, we were pulling into the James family compound. Unlike the Dillingers, more than family lived here. Members from all across the organization lived on the compound. I’d lived here for a little while when I was younger, while my mama was heavily active.
Thaddeus James wasn’t a nigga to play with.
Old age and all, he was about his business and never hesitated to get in the field himself, much like Senior.
We rolled up in front of the James mansion.
His security got out to retrieve me. Unlike most niggas they brought to see Thad, they allowed me to walk freely.
There was no need for me to try to run or prolong what was about to happen.
As we walked through the quiet halls, I took note of the staff going about their business. They looked at me with sympathetic glances. No doubt they knew what happened and why I was here. We bypassed Thad’s office and headed down to the underground bunker where he held his special meetings.
When I reached the bottom of the stairs, Thad was waiting with his arms behind his back. The room was filled with several elder members of the organization and a few of the team. Booker, Noah, Silas, Romero, Emmon, and Elum were there as well, as well as my mama and Ms. Maddie.
She offered a weak smile and mouthed that she was sorry. No doubt she’d gone to bat for me with her father. If Thaddeus felt like you went against the grain, there was no conversation to be had. You were dead. If he decided to extend grace, you might live, but you had to fight for it.
I stepped into the middle of the circle, directly in front of my boss.
“Thaddeus,” I said, showing not an ounce of fear.
“Titan. You know why you’re here?”
“I’m aware. Let’s get it over with.”
“Before we get into that, I just want to know why the fuck you didn’t come to me with the news that my granddaughter was pregnant and on a dangerous mission.”
“I think we can also ask the question why she didn’t tell you herself.”
He chuckled. “Always the smart ass. Believe me, I will deal with Mia. Right now, I’m dealing with you. Explain yourself.”
I sighed. “I told her not to go.”
“Yet she did, and you said nothing. She was over there for three fucking months, Titan.”
“And for three months, I tried to get her to come back home. That’s why I went over there, to bring her back my damn self.
Should I have said something, yeah. Believe me, I regret not opening my mouth.
Mia is stubborn. You and I both know that.
But she agreed to come back. We were all set to leave when… when that shit popped off.”
“When you called me to ask for additional support, that was your time to tell me what the fuck was going on.”
“I know.”
“So what was the fucking reason!”
“I was trying to handle and protect my fucking wife!” I yelled. “I had her. I was bringing her back home and shit just went left. I don’t have any other excuse or reason, Thad. No matter how many times you ask me this shit, I don’t have another answer.”
He glared at me. I was never a disrespectful nigga to him under any other circumstance, but he was pissing me off. I just wanted to get this shit over with and go on about my business.
“Fine. Since you’re so eager to get your punishment, I’ll let them have at it.”
He snapped his fingers, and three niggas stepped forward surrounding me.
I looked at my mama, who stood there with tears in her eyes.
I knew she wanted to jump in, but she couldn’t.
Back in the day, if a nigga fucked with me, my mama was handling his while I worked over her son.
It was cool. She didn’t have to step today.
Wasn’t no nigga gonna beat my ass in front of my mama.
These niggas knew how I gave it up, so if they wanted to jump, I was gonna give them a run for their money. It didn’t matter if it was one, two, three, or ten of them. I was ready.
I cracked my neck as I stared at them. “Let’s do this shit.”
The first nigga swung, and I clocked him in the jaw with a right hook, sending him stumbling backward.
The second one grabbed me, and I gave him a headbutt before flipping him over onto the concrete floor and kicking him in the face.
The first one had regained his balance, so he charged me.
I caught him mid-air and choke slammed him to the ground.
Dude number three tried to sneak me, but here was the thing my mama taught me about fighting: you had to keep your eyes on your opponent and your ears open too.
I heard him when he snuck up behind me. Putting every ounce of force behind it, I elbowed him in the face so hard that I heard the bone in his nose break.
He cried out in pain as he held his shit.
His hesitation gave me just enough time to hit him with a two piece and an uppercut that brought him to his knees. I wasted no time hitting him with a roundhouse kick to the face that laid his ass out with his friends, who were groaning on the ground.
Thaddeus snapped his fingers, and this time five additional niggas stepped forward. I cracked my neck again, prepared to line them up as well. I was sure the plan was to tire me out, but I worked out five days a week to build my stamina and endurance, unlike most of the people here.
Two of the niggas charged me, I guess to try that double-team action.
I grabbed the one closest to me up in a chokehold while kicking the other one in the stomach, sending him stumbling back.
Another one pulled a bitch ass move and grabbed my locs.
I elbowed him in the gut. Deciding I needed both of my hands, I snapped the neck of the nigga I had in a headlock and let his body slump to the floor.
I turned on the one who grabbed my hair and grabbed his arm, twisting it behind his back.
“Bitch ass muthafucka. Real niggas don’t pull hair.”
I snapped three of his fingers before snapping his arm.
As I let him go, the last two men ran up on me.
One managed to hit me in the face, making my lip bleed.
I shrugged that shit off and lit into both of them, alternating between the two with jabs to the face and body, all while blocking the rest of their licks.
By the time I was done with them, they were bleeding and knotted up just like the rest of them.
Thaddeus hadn’t called for anybody else, so I turned to him, my chest heaving. My mother wore a look of pride on her face.
“You done?” I asked, looking around.
Thaddeus smirked. “Vinchi.”
Vinchi looked up, surprised to hear his name called. “Sir.”
“Tap in.”
“Nah, I can’t do that.”
Thaddeus frowned. “Excuse me?”
“I’m second in command for a reason. I got too much respect for this man to put my hands on him. With all due respect, this ain’t my issue. I’m not about to fight this man, and neither is anybody else on this team.”
“You wanna be next?”
“If that’s what you gotta do, that’s what you gotta do. I stay ready.”
“That’s enough, Thaddeus,” my mother said, glaring at him. “He’s fought eight people. You made your point.”
“It’s not enough!”
“It’s over, Daddy,” Maddie said.
His head snapped in her direction. “He is partially responsible for my granddaughter being shot and losing their child.”
“And Mia wears the other part of the blame. What, you gonna have her come in here and fight too? This was more than enough. She knew she was pregnant, just like he did. She made the decision to keep it a secret and take her ass over there. That part is not on Titan, and you are not about to have these muthafuckas keep beating on my son-in-law because you’re mad. ”
I chuckled. “Ain’t nobody beat on me, Ma.”
“Shut up, Titan.” She turned back to her father. “This is done.”
Thaddeus glared at her for a long time before walking away. As he passed me, he bumped my shoulder hard as hell.
“The rest of you take your asses home,” Maddie demanded. “Nothing else to see here. Take him with you,” she said, pointing at the dead man on the floor.
The group started filing out of the space. My team stayed behind along with Maddie and my mama. Once we were alone, my mother came to me and cupped my face.
“You handled that just like I taught you,” she said, kissing my forehead.
“Lightwork.”
The truth was, I channeled all my anger and grief into that fight. I gave them a portion of that I want to give JacQues because when we caught that muthafucka, he was getting every bit of rage building up inside me.
“I’m sorry about all this,” Maddie said. “I tried to reason with him.”
I waved her off. “It ain’t nothing. I knew it was coming, and I was ready.”
My team walked over and dapped me up.
“You know I would have dusted your ass, right?” I jested to Vinchi.
He kissed his teeth. “You could have tried, but I would have given that shit right back to you.” We slapped hands and shared a brotherly hug. “Real shit, nobody could ever make me turn on you off no principle.”
The rest of them mumbled in agreement.
“I appreciate that.”
“Shiiiit,” Emmon said with a grin. “I would have torn your ass up, cuzzo.”
“You ain’t ever beating my ass, my nigga.”
“I would have beat your ass my damn self if you’d touched my son,” my mama said.
He chuckled. “Really auntie?”
“Dead serious. Then I was calling my sister, and she was gonna whip your ass too. We didn’t raise y’all like that.”
He playfully waved her off.
“How are you holding up?” Booker asked. “I know that’s a dumb ass question, but I gotta ask.”
I really didn’t know how to answer that.
Most of my time was spent in my loft, staring at the wall, drinking, or smoking while staring at the only picture I’d ever have of my daughter.
I found it hard to face Mia right now. After she had that panic attack at the funeral and was screaming how sorry she was, I needed space before I said some shit I couldn’t take back.
I knew grief was hard. I knew the stages, and right now, I was in the stage of placing blame.
Every time I looked at her at the repast, I wanted to knock her muthafucking head off.
I would take minimal blame for this, but in reality, it was on her.
All she had to do was stay her ass stateside and our baby wouldn’t be dead.
Again, I couldn’t say that, so I kept my distance.
I sighed. “I’m hanging in there, man. I’m itching to get back over there.”
“You know we’re with you when you’re ready,” Romero said.
“I’m painting that city red. Everything that nigga touches is gonna burn.”
Before I exposed JacQues Dupont for the evil muthafucka he was, I was going to take everything that meant something to him.
Businesses would burn. His money, gone. His family, dead.
Before I killed him, he was going to know exactly what I was feeling right now, and I put that on my muthafucking daughter.