Chapter 14 #3
Kong parked his car on the curb outside the Whitaker’s home and looked up at the two-story structure.
Emeric’s car was in the driveway, and only the lights on the bottom floor were on.
The sun was beginning to set, casting a bit of a shadow over their block as he puffed on his cigarette and studied the house with squinted eyes.
In his hand was the results of the DNA test he’d run on Neo.
Part of him expected it to be false hope, but when he read the numbers, it almost stopped his heart.
His intuition had been spot on. He didn’t know how or why, but he had the facts.
Now, he wanted the answers. He checked the time on the dash and saw that it was almost 7:30.
Pushing his car door open, he flicked his cigarette butt into the wind and slammed his door shut.
Moving toward the sidewalk, Kong adjusted his black blazer and started up the sidewalk to their wraparound front porch.
The home was in a decent urban neighborhood with a two-car garage.
The yards were sizeable, and everyone had a nice car.
He assumed Emeric was just starting to touch some real paper but was impressed considering he came from nothing and had worked his way into his current position.
Kong heard the whimpering and yelling when he approached the front door to ring the bell. With a frown, he paused and listened.
“I told you to stay out my shit, bitch!”
Slap!
“Emeric, no! You promised you wouldn’t hit me again!” Darcy pleaded. “Please!”
“Bitch, I’ll break any promise I ever made to you if you keep trying me!” he barked.
Kong raised his hand and pressed the doorbell.
The chimes throughout the entry of the house silenced them inside, and he heard loud footsteps coming toward the front door.
Weed smoke escaped when Emeric flung the door open, eyes bloodshot and glossed over like he was high off more than za.
Startled by Kong’s presence, his hardened expression molded into something else.
Clothes wrinkled and disheveled, he poked his head out the front door to look past him and make sure he was alone.
Paranoia. He was high, probably off that same bullshit Moose just kicked.
“What you doing here?” Emeric wiped the tip of his nose.
“I need to talk to you.”
“Look, Kong,” Emeric sniffled, “now ain’t a good time—”
“Make time.” Kong stepped past him into his home, and Emeric felt some kind of way about it as his face balled up.
Darcy pulled herself from the floor and leaned against the arched frame of their living room.
Barefoot, blouse ripped, skirt rising up her waist, she looked like she’d been in here fighting for her life.
There were broken pieces of glass on the floor and a bottle of bourbon on the table with a half-filled glass.
“What’s this about?” Emeric asked, stumbling past him into the living room to grab his drink.
He was moving like Kong couldn’t peep the tension in the room. There was also no sign of Neo, which alarmed him. Darcy looked at Kong, weak and timid as she bit on her thumbnail. There was something dark and chilling resting in his glare.
“I know about you, Mira, her operation, and what she did for you,” Kong declared.
Once Clue got him the results, he had him start investigating a few more things about Emeric.
He frequented Mira’s spots regularly. Although Darcy was a petite thing, Emeric had a fetish for dumb thick women, damn near plus size.
He’d fuck the smaller chicks, but he preferred those video vixen types from back in the day.
Small waist and ass that can block any view.
Swallowing his liquor, Emeric’s jaw tightened, and he reached in the ashtray for his blunt to spark.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he slurred, taking a pull from the blunt and swaying a bit where he stood.
Kong didn’t wait for him to give another bullshit response. Click Clack! His gun was now in his hand at his side.
Gasping, Darcy’s hands fell against her mouth, and she cowered into a corner.
“I ain’t here to repeat myself. I followed the paper trail, or lack of one I should say. Just enough to make this adoption look legit. But it’s not, is it?” Kong tilted his head.
Emeric didn’t say anything. He simply took another tug of the blunt, so Kong raised his gun and shot past him.
“Agh!” Darcy screamed. “Tell him!”
“Shut the fuck up!” Emeric ordered through gritted teeth.
Kong walked right up on him and swung his pistol across his face.
Choking on his blood, Emeric hit the ground and remained face down.
“I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you everything I know!” Darcy belted. “Just… stop.”
Kong turned to her, looking her up and down.
“Where is Neo?”
“He’s upstairs in the nursery,” she whimpered, tears filling her eyes and spilling down her face.
“I didn’t know. I swear I didn’t.” She cracked hoarsely.
“I was going through some papers a few weeks ago. I found them buried in the closet. Something didn’t look right, and when I brought it to Emeric’s attention, he tried to deny it.
But I knew… I knew something wasn’t right.
The adoption agency had never even heard our names.
All the paperwork was fake. He said I should just let it go.
That if I wanted to keep Neo, I wouldn’t say anything.
” She broke and crumbled to her knees. “And I wanted him so bad. I didn’t want to lose him…
” She squeezed her eyes shut, and more tears spilled.
“I want my fucking son,” Kong growled.
“You ain’t getting shit,” Emeric grumbled, sitting up.
Pow! Kong sent a bullet right through his leg.
“No!” Darcy wailed. “Okay! Please, don’t do this.”
She crawled across the floor to check on Emeric. With his back against the sofa, he sat up. Blood oozed from his leg, and sweat beads gathered at his forehead. Wincing in pain, he grabbed his leg and threw his head back against the couch.
“Baby, I’m sorry. What can I do?”
“Go get my son and bring him to me,” Kong ordered.
“Fuck that! You don’t come up in here barking orders. I paid for that little bastard—”
Kong sent another shot through his arm.
“Argh!” Emeric bellowed.
“The next one takes your life,” Kong warned.
Darcy scrambled to her feet, and her husband called after her, but she was determined to save him.
The only reason she wanted a baby was that she thought it might make Emeric a better man, a better husband, but he seemed to only get worse when he realized a lot of her attention went to this baby.
Darcy was more concerned about her marriage than motherhood, and that was the ultimate red flag.
Mothers put their children’s needs ahead of their own, and she didn’t seem to be in that place.
“You think you gon’ get away with this?” Emeric chuckled.
“Like you thought you did,” Kong pointed out, squatting in front of him with his pistol hanging between his legs.
The cocky smile on Emeric’s face wilted. Moments later, Darcy descended the stairs with Neo in his car seat and a diaper bag packed for him. He was still sleeping when she carried him to Kong.
“I packed a few things he likes,” she whispered, holding the bag out for him to take as well.
Kong appreciated it. He slid the strap over his shoulder and held the car seat with his other hand.
Darcy hated to see them go. Trembling and utterly sick to her stomach, she stood between Kong and the doorway, watching him take away what she thought was going to be the remedy to her marital problems. Hands steepled over her mouth, she wept into them.
Pow!
The shot fired was meant for Kong, but it pierced Darcy in the chest instead.
In the doorway, a few inches from where the bullet should have landed, he watched her hit the floor and struggle for her last breath.
Emeric still held the smoking gun in his hand, eyes wide as he listened to the blood gurgle in her mouth while she fought for what was left of her life.
“Shit, Darcy! Baby!”
Boom!
Kong sent his next shot through Emeric’s skull. He wanted to spare Darcy, because he genuinely believed she was dealt a bad hand dealing with a man like that. He guessed fate had other plans. Maybe she was better off right where she was.
“Come on, man, your mama can’t wait to see you,” Kong told Neo with a mile wide grin.
“Hey!” Inari hugged her sister when she and Moose entered the Bellamy Productions building.
The lighting was low, the music was too, and the crowd mingled while devouring Ayla’s delicious recipes.
In a corner, a table was set up with a display of her cookware set, utensils, aprons, and dish towels.
Everything pink with the Palate Pleasures Kitchen logo on it.
There was another table where she’d personally hired a chef to try some of her recipes live and prepare them with her spices in her cookware for live examples.
Tonight everyone would receive a discount code with their first purchase.
Since her interview on the Sarah Paul podcast, her viewers had gone up significantly.
The preorders for her cookbook had skyrocketed right along with the launch of her spices and cookware.
She was blown away by the numbers that she was producing.
It paid to have a man like Kong in her corner.
Thanks to him, her industrial style office was almost complete.
She couldn’t wait to start processing orders and shipping.
More networks were reaching out about interviewing her, and even the Food Network was interested in doing a piece on her.
The number of opportunities rolling in made her head spin.