Chapter 4
I’d woken up to an empty bed, and I wasn’t sure how long Rose had been gone. I figured she’d gone to the main house, so I wasn’t concerned about her absence. I eventually rolled out of bed, took care of my hygiene, and dressed in basketball shorts and a T-shirt.
On my way to the kitchen to see what I had to eat, I grabbed my phone from the dresser. I smiled when I saw Rose’s name on my screen. It had been twelve long months since I’d received a text from her.
Rose:
Russ, please don’t be mad. I told you last night that we needed to talk. Even though we ended our night together, I still needed some time alone before having the conversation. Can you give me until noon? I promise I’ll be ready to talk when you get here.
Whatever Rose had to tell me had been eating her up inside since the moment she realized she was falling for me. I tried numerous times to get her to open up to me, but when she distanced herself every time I asked, I left it alone.
I figured when she was ready, she’d tell me. Unfortunately, it took us being apart for a year for her to get to this point. I couldn’t imagine her telling me anything that would cause my feelings for her to change, but I was anxious to find out what had a hold on her.
My refrigerator was damn near empty, but I had eggs, bacon, and cheese. Once I confirmed the bread hadn’t molded, it took about ten minutes to make a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich.
While I ate, I went through my unread emails and text messages, responding to those that needed a reply and deleting or ignoring the rest. When I finished eating, I cleaned up my mess and went to the living room.
I had a few hours to kill before going to talk to Rose, so I turned on the TV to catch the highlights from the last twenty-four hours of sports. After a few minutes, there was a knock on the door. I went to answer it and found my brother on the other side.
“Wassup, Rock?” I greeted when I opened the door.
“Shit.”
He followed me back to the living room, and I muted the TV so we could talk.
“It’s early. What brings you by?” I asked.
“Rue, Daisy, and Blossom just left in a hurry, headed to Rose’s place.”
“Word? They didn’t say why?”
“Rue said Rose called an emergency meeting. You don’t think something happened between her and that nigga she was with last night, do you?”
I chuckled. “Nah. Rose was with me last night.”
His brow narrowed. “I’m sure I saw her leaving with her date. How’d that happen?”
I explained to him what I saw when Gayle and I were leaving the gala.
“Of course, I handled his ass, and she ended up coming home with me.”
“Hold up. What happened with Gayle?”
“I dropped her off, and she low-key put me in my place. She accused me of using her as a pawn to make Rose jealous.”
“She’s not wrong.”
“That’s not what I did, but I can’t tell her how to feel. Things ended amicably, so we cool.”
Rocky shook his head. “I told you bringing her to the gala was a bad idea, but I guess it worked out since Rose had a date too.”
“It worked out, but that ain’t why. I had to get my woman back.”
“I guess her showing up with a nigga on her arm was the catalyst.”
“I can’t lie. That shit pissed me off. It’s water under the bridge now. We spent the night making up for lost time and—”
“She snuck out like a thief in the night. I love Rose like a little sister, but are you sure she’s ready? What makes you think things will be different between y’all this time?”
“Honestly, I don’t know that it will be, but she wants me to come over at noon to talk.”
“That’s good, but what if what she says isn’t something you want to hear?”
“I don’t know, Rock. I haven’t had enough time to give it any thought. What I do know is that, for years, Rose has been carrying something heavy. I’ve tried to get her to open up about it, but she’d always pull away.”
“You think whatever she’s carrying is what keeps her from fully committing to you?”
“I know it is. Has Rue ever mentioned anything?”
He shook his head. “Me and Rue don’t pillow talk, especially about our siblings. You think this emergency meeting is like the meeting before the meeting?”
“Maybe. You know they talk about everything, but I hope they don’t talk her out of telling me.”
“Nah, I don’t think they’d do that. We may not pillow talk, but I’ve overheard enough conversations between Rose and Rue to know that Rue wants to see y’all together.”
Our conversation eventually shifted to our thoughts about the gala. We had a meeting scheduled for tomorrow with the planning committee to discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly. Rocky’s phone rang, and he answered it quickly.
“What’s up, baby?” Rocky asked.
“Rose is gone!” I heard Rue shout frantically through the phone.
“What do you mean?”
“Her apartment door was wide open, but she’s not here.”
I was already on my feet with my keys and phone in hand, heading toward the door.
“We’re on our way,” Rocky said behind me.
We rushed toward my truck, and when Rocky appeared on the driver’s side, I went to the passenger side without argument. He drove like a maniac to Rose’s apartment. Luckily, no police cars were in sight, but they would’ve had to chase us down had one tried to pull us over.
I opened the app for the tracker I had inside a bracelet I’d given Rose over two years ago. She typically wore it all the time, but I couldn’t remember if she had it on last night.
“Shit!” I spat.
“What did you find?”
“Rose isn’t wearing the bracelet with the tracker inside.”
“You put a tracker in her bracelet after all that shit you talked about me doing the same with Rue’s necklace?”
“It sounded crazy at the time, but that shit don’t matter now, because she ain’t got the muthafucka on.”
“Did you tell her to never leave the house without it?”
“Yeah, nigga, but have you met Rose? She’s hardheaded as fuck.”
He came to a screeching stop when we arrived in front of her apartment. I barely let him put the car in park before I was out and headed toward the building. Someone was leaving as we approached the door, so we rushed inside and took the stairs to the fourth floor.
Although Rose had never invited me to her apartment, I’d been there numerous times. Before she moved in, the apartment manager, with a little convincing, was nice enough to let me check it out.
I also paid her rent for the full year, giving him a little extra each month after he gave me a key.
The money she paid, he gave to me, and I put it in an account for her.
I wasn’t proud of the things I’d done without Rose’s knowledge, but I also didn’t give a fuck, because, in my opinion, it had to be done.
When I barged into her apartment, I found three of her sisters pacing and crying. Rocky was right behind me, and when Rue saw him, she ran straight into his arms. I went to Daisy and Blossom, embracing them before asking them what they knew.
“Start from the beginning,” I said.
“Rose texted us to come to an emergency meeting at ten. We got here at nine thirty, and she was gone. Her door was wide open, her purse was on the floor by the door, and her phone was on the floor by the couch.”
I looked around the apartment; nothing looked disheveled or out of place. It didn’t appear that she was forced to leave, but she wouldn’t willingly leave her phone or the door to her apartment wide open. Something wasn’t right, and we needed to figure it out as soon as possible.
“Rock, can you have Officer Downing meet us here?” I asked.
“He’s already on the way.”
Officer Downing was our main contact at the police station. We worked together to keep men who abused women off the streets. Our operation was simple and worked flawlessly because we made the job of law enforcement officers easier.
When I was seven years old, and Rocky was ten, our father beat our mother to death. He was currently serving life in prison, but if we could get our hands on him, we’d torture him to death. Our mother’s parents took in me, Rocky, and our younger brother, Roman, and raised us like we were their own.
Unfortunately, Roman died six years ago from a severe and untreated case of pneumonia, and Rocky and I gained custody of his son, RJ, because his mother was no longer interested in raising him.
We opened the Rush Brothers Youth and Recreation Center in Roman’s honor, using some of the money we won from the lawsuit against the hospital for its negligence in handling Roman’s care.
Roman was young when it happened, but Rocky and I never forgot how our father beat the life out of our mother, and not just the day she died. He beat her so often that when we looked into her eyes, we could see her zest for life leaving.
When Rocky was about sixteen, he made it his mission to rid Onyx City of men like our father.
He didn’t tell me what he’d been doing until I was sixteen, and that was when we built our underground organization.
Domestic violence incidents occurred in our city, but if we were made aware of it, we handled it.
I’d lost count a long time ago of the number of bodies I had, and when I found out what happened to Rose, I’d be adding another one to the list.
“What do you think happened here, and who do you think is responsible?” Officer Downing asked.
I was so deep in my thoughts, I didn’t realize he’d arrived.
“I think Rose may have been kidnapped, and a nigga named Preston is responsible,” I told him.
It could have been one of the other niggas I’d scared off, but my gut told me that after what happened last night, Preston was responsible.
“Do you have a last name?” he asked.
“Did she tell y’all his last name?” I asked her sisters.
“No. She didn’t tell us anything about him,” Rue said.
“Where’s her phone?” I asked.
Blossom gave it to me, and I prayed she hadn’t changed her code. I breathed a sigh of relief when I entered my birthday and the phone unlocked. I immediately went to her text messages and found Preston’s name.
“Preston Williams. He said he’s from Chicago and works for Onyx City Parcel Services.”
Officer Downing’s fingers moved quickly across his phone screen. While he did that, I texted the apartment manager to get access to the building cameras.
“I sent the info to my guy. We should have something in a few minutes,” Officer Downing said.
“I’m waiting to hear back from the apartment manager for camera access,” I told them.
“How long do you think she’s been gone?” Downing asked.
“She texted us at eight forty-five and asked us to meet her at her place at ten. We got here at nine thirty, and she was gone,” Rue said.
He looked at his watch, then said, “It’s been a little over an hour, so that’s good. Does anyone know what kind of car he has?”
We all shook our heads. Had it been a few days from now, I would’ve had all the information he needed about Preston, but Rose had done a good job keeping him under wraps. My phone vibrated with a text from Melvin, the apartment manager.
Melvin:
I can reach out to the security company, but they are closed on Sundays.
I didn’t bother responding by text, and a few seconds later, he picked up my call.
“Mr. Rush, is everything okay?”
I put it on speaker before answering him.
“I need access to those cameras, now!”
“I don’t—”
“Melvin, my guy, that’s not what I want to hear right now. Call the security company and tell them that one of your tenants has been forcibly taken from their apartment and that the police need access to the cameras.”
“Forcibly—you mean kidnapped? Was Ms. Abrams kidnapped?” he questioned.
“Aye, man. Do what the fuck I said before you come up missing. You got five minutes to call me back with news I can use.”
I ended the call with several sets of eyes on me.
“Now isn’t the time, but when we find my sister, I want to know why you have her apartment manager on speed dial,” Blossom said.
Officer Downing’s phone rang before I could respond. We listened as he gave a few one-word answers, then ended the call. His fingers moved around the screen again for a minute before he spoke.
“I got an address, but you won’t believe who he lives with,” Downing said.
“We ain’t got time for no guessing game, nigga,” I barked.
“Percy Williams.”
“Percy Williams?” Rocky repeated.
“From the Westside Riders?” I questioned.
He nodded. “They’re brothers. Preston has a long ass rap sheet from Illinois. My guy is still digging, but I’m sure he came to Onyx City because he was running from something in Chicago.”
“Well, he just ran his ass into an early grave. Let’s go.”