Chapter 9 Steel
Black hat.
Black fit.
Black boots.
I sat in the back of the van with my brothers as we drove to our destination. A million thoughts ran through my head as I tuned out the conversation buzzing around me.
Life right now still didn’t feel real to me.
I had a daughter.
A fucking daughter, and she was the coolest kid.
I was so damn proud of her for finally putting hands on that little girl.
I didn’t push senseless violence, but she had every right to defend herself.
Once that girl pushed her off the swing, it was open season for her ass. That was why I treated her today.
I’d taken her to lunch, gotten her a pedicure, and taken her shopping.
After dropping a bag on clothes, I’d taken her to a furniture store so she could pick out what she wanted for her room.
I was too serious about setting up a place for her.
When she was with me, she needed to feel like my home was her home, .
. . our home. She had a place there just like KJ.
Even though I knew I was leaving for a mission, I couldn’t pass up the chance to kick it with her outside of class since her mama hadn’t let her come back. One-on-one, she was so talkative and funny. She had so many questions, and I tried my best to answer them all.
The thing that warmed my heart the most was watching her with my son.
They took to each other instantly. The whole time she held KJ, he couldn’t keep his hands out of her face.
He’d touched her eyes, her lips, her hair .
. . It was like he knew she was his sister, and he was fascinated by her.
I’d already snapped so many pictures of the two of them.
As good a time as I had with her today, my mood soured the moment I pulled up at the house because I knew I had to see her damn mama.
I couldn’t believe Neha hid my child for this fucking long.
Now that she was caught, she wanted to explain the shit.
There was no explanation. There was no excuse, rhyme, or reason for keeping me away from my kid.
Every time I looked at her, I wanted to wring her neck.
I wanted so bad to let Jaeda loose on her ass, but I couldn’t do that.
It was enough that I let her go over there and say whatever she said at the pizza place. Now if it had been Mia, there would have been a fight. Luckily, she was out of town on that undercover mission.
“Nigga, you hear me talking to you?” Deuce asked, slapping the back of my head.
“Stop fucking hitting me,” I snapped.
“I’ve been talking to your ass for five minutes, and you over here spaced out and shit. The fuck is wrong with you?”
“Nothing.”
“It don’t look like nothing. You been on this shit for a minute now.”
“I said it’s nothing, nigga. Damn! The fuck you want?”
“Watch your fucking tone, Steel.”
My head snapped in his direction. “I’m a grown ass man, and you are my equal. I don’t have to watch shit.”
“Aye, aye!” Smoke said, waving his hands. “Chill out, man.”
“Who pissed in your Kool-Aid today?” Maceo asked. “You snappy as hell right now.”
“Look, I don’t feel like all this talking. Can we just take the rest of the ride in silence so we can get this shit over with and go home?”
I rested my head against the back of the seat and closed my eyes.
I needed to calm down because, the way I was feeling, I’d hate to have to fight my brother.
It would have been so easy to tell them what was going on, but everybody would have a million questions, and I didn’t have a million answers.
All that would do was piss me off even further.
My phone chimed, and I pulled it out to see a text from Jaeda. Even though she and Quaid were a few cars behind us, she was in our earpiece and could hear everything going on.
J-Baby: You gotta relax, Kerrion.
Me: I’m trying, Jae. I don’t wanna talk about this with them right now.
J-Baby: They are your brothers. You can talk to them about anything. You know that.
Me: I know, but not right now. It’s too much.
J-Baby: I get it. Just stop taking your anger out on them. Get your head in the game. You can’t be out here fucking up this mission because you’re mad right now.
Me: I hear you, Jae.
J-Baby: I’m proud of you for immediately stepping up to the plate. Nayelli is a beautiful little girl and I know you’re going to be a great girl dad, KD. I’ve got your back and I love you.
Me: I love you too, sis.
I tucked my phone away and tried to get my head right.
Conversation continued against my wishes.
I could hear my brother talking his shit, but I ignored him.
I didn’t have time for it right now. Instead, I replayed my time with Nayelli in my head to calm my nerves.
It was like the moment I knew she was mine, my heart fell in love with her.
It was instant and effortless. I couldn’t wait to build a relationship with her.
Maybe it was selfish, but I didn’t want to share her with everybody so soon.
Yes, I would tell them about her, but in due time.
We arrived at our destination about thirty minutes later.
Our driver killed the lights and parked in the cut where we could be discreet.
As we climbed out, the passenger van pulled up behind us and killed the lights.
Jaeda and Quaid were next. Behind them, Titan’s crew pulled up and hopped out before making their way over to us.
While he wasn’t with them, he didn’t hesitate to send them when my father requested they come for backup.
Since Jaeda and Quaid hooked up, they’d worked a few missions with us here and there because she was always right there when Quaid helped them out.
On more than a few occasions, she’d come in clutch for them.
I could say I liked the niggas. They were cool, efficient, and followed orders with no pushback.
We could say what we wanted about Titan and my sister, but he ran his shit like a well-oiled machine.
“What up?” Silas asked, slapping hands with us.
“Ain’t shit,” Maceo responded. “Appreciate y’all for rolling through tonight.”
“Don’t mention it,” Booker said, dapping us as well. “Y’all know we hate muthafuckas like this as much as y’all do. Sick bastards.”
Romero nodded in agreement. “All this free pussy, and niggas wanna go after little girls. Shit will never sit right with me.”
Tonight was a sensitive mission. We’d gotten word about someone snatching up underage girls and selling them into prostitution, nothing new for us.
Jaeda had been able to track and intercept messages about a drop tonight and get the location.
According to her findings, there were about ten girls in the building and at least seven more were on the way to the facility.
“Y’all ready?” Deuce asked, pulling on his night vision goggles.
Everyone confirmed we were ready and followed his lead. Goggles on, guns loaded, and silencers on, we trekked through the woods until we came upon a clearing behind the building.
“Whatchu got, Jae?” Deuce asked.
She was doing overhead surveillance with her drone, while Quaid hacked the security system.
“Five guards around front. Four around back. Give me a second.”
The next thing we knew, bodies started hitting the ground. Left and right.
“Oh shit!” Romero said.
I smirked to myself. Since Smoke equipped her drone to shoot, she’d been showing her ass in the field whenever she could.
“With all due respect, you a bad ass bitch, Jae,” Booker said.
“Watch your fucking mouth,” I heard Quaid say in the background.
He must have been in their ear because all five of Titan’s guys laughed.
“I said no disrespect, nigga.”
“Focus, y’all,” Deuce commanded. “Move in.”
We emerged from the clearing and made our way toward the building. We double-checked the bodies to make sure these niggas were dead.
“Y’all head in, and we’ll pull the bodies from the front around back in case the drop comes before we get out,” Silas said.
Deuce nodded. “Bet. Meet us inside when you’re done.”
With everyone clear on their roles, we headed quietly into the building with our guns aimed.
Room after room, we checked but came up empty.
As we went to round the corner, Deuce held up a hand to stop us.
He signaled that there were two people guarding a door.
Giving Smoke a head nod, the two of them stepped out into the hall, and the next thing we heard were hard thuds on the floor.
As the rest of us rounded the corner, we saw the two bodies laid out on the floor. Behind us, Titan’s crew came down the hall to join us.
“There’s an override code for that door,” Jaeda said in our ear. “Five. Two. Nine. Seven. Six. Three.”
Deuce punched in the code, and the light turned green. Slowly, we entered and took the stairs. We got about halfway down; we had incoming traffic. Deuce let off the first shot, and it was up from there. There were at least fifteen men coming at us, and we took them all one by one.
“Y’all search the rooms. Me, Romero, and Booker handle out here,” Silas said.
We dispersed, each of us taking separate hallways.
One by one, I checked the doors. Behind the third one, I found a group of four girls who couldn’t have been any more than ten to fourteen.
The room was dirty and had a slight smell to it.
When they saw me, they all ran to a corner and huddled together.
“You’re safe,” I said calmly, raising my hands. “I’m here to help. My name is Kerrion. My brothers and I came to bring you home.”
They all looked terrified. One stepped in front of the others, seemingly trying to protect them.
“How-how do we know we can trust you?”
“I give you my word—”
Their eyes widened, and I heard footsteps behind me. Quickly, I spun around to see a man standing there.
“Who the fuck—”
Before he could finish the sentence, I sent a bullet between his eyes, and his body hit the floor with a thud. The girls screamed and cowered further into the corner.
“We have to go,” I told them.
This time, they didn’t hesitate to run out of the room. I led them back up the hall where I saw Smoke leading two other girls.
“Take them,” I said to him. I have a few more rooms to check.”
The girls went with him, and I checked the last couple of rooms. When I got to the last one, I kicked the door in to find a nigga holding a little girl down while on top of her.
I let off a shot, hitting him in the shoulder.
He cried out and vacated the bed. What I saw broke my heart.
The girl couldn’t have been more than ten.
She had bruises on her face and arms. Blood was smeared on her legs and thighs.
When I looked at her, all I could see was Nayelli.
I’d never caught anybody in the act of violating another, let alone a child. That shit made me see red.
Before I knew it, I’d dropped my gun and tackled the man to the floor. My fists pounded his face as he didn’t even try to fight back.
“You sick son of a bitch! That’s a kid! She’s just a little girl!”
Grabbing him by the collar, I slammed his head into the concrete floor.
Blood was pouring everywhere from his head, but I couldn’t stop.
Standing to my feet, I brought my size thirteen boot down on his neck.
I heard the bone crack, and his body went limp.
That wasn’t enough. Repeatedly, I stomped his face until he was unrecognizable.
My anger at Neha and what I walked in on fueled the power of my feet.
It wasn’t until I felt strong arms wrap around me, pulling me back, did I begin to let up.
“Nigga, chill!” Deuce yelled.
“He’d dead, Steel!” Smoke said.
“Get the fuck off me!” I yelled, snatching away from them. I turned to see my brothers and Noah standing there, looking from the body to me like I was crazy. Silas stood in the hall, cradling the little girl in his arms as she cried. My chest heaved as I looked around the room at them.
“Leave,” Deuce told the rest of them.
They filed out of the room, leaving us alone. My brother stood there for a moment, staring at me like he didn’t know who I was.
“What the fuck was that?” he asked.
I tried to walk past him, but he shoved me back.
“Nigga, I’m talking to you!”
“Deuce, fall the fuck back.”
“Hell nah. Since when were you this sloppy? The fuck is going on with you tonight?”
“You didn’t see that shit, man. He . . . he was on top of her . . . violating her, Deuce. I can’t unsee that shit.”
He sighed heavily. “I know this shit ain’t for the weak, Steel. We knew it was a possibility we’d find something like this tonight, but you went rogue, my nigga.”
I sniffed, fighting back tears. “I’m cool.”
“No, you ain’t. I don’t know what’s going on with you, but it’s clearly more than this.”
“I said I’m cool. Drop the shit.”
“Take your stupid ass back to the van. We’ve got the rest of this.”
He left me standing in the middle of the room, my fists clenched at my sides. It had been a long time since I’d been that angry. Even longer since I’d beat someone to death with my bare hands. I looked back at the body at my feet and spit on him.
“Rest in hell, pussy ass nigga.”
Grabbing my gun from the floor, I left the room.