Chapter 5
Seojun 3 Months Ago
Imoved my head from side to side, giving my neck a much-needed crack.
Rolling my shoulders, I closed my eyes and tilted my head back.
The cool air caused a shiver to run down my spine, but this was still my favorite season.
I didn’t have much time to enjoy it since the summer heat was right around the corner.
I gazed up at the night sky through the holes of the roof and smelled the rain that was due to arrive soon.
I couldn’t believe that it had almost been a year since Ayzo told me about Nicholas going on a road trip with a random woman to seek out his ex, Olivia.
Maybe it was a coincidence, but since then, my own search for revenge has been nothing but rewarding.
A slow smile crept across my face as muffled cries echoed behind me.
I slowly turned around and stuffed my hands into my pockets.
Passing the toothpick around in my mouth, I eyed the five men currently tied up.
The first man was Theron a.k.a. Ron.
He was my third in command and in charge of recruiting the women for my massage parlors and group homes.
I only hired women who wanted to make extra money.
Nothing was by force, and I made sure no one abused my girls.
Ron was the man who made all of that happen. You could imagine my disappointment when I learned he jumped ship to the Cobras.
The second man, Lewis, helped Ron with my group homes.
He made sure anyone, man or woman, who came into one of my homes, was clean.
No type of STD, fever, cough, not a single damn illness passed the threshold.
Everyone had to be healthy as an ox.
If one of the girls fell ill, she was quarantined.
If she caught an STD, since they were free to come and go as they please as long as they got checked and stayed safe, then she was removed from my payroll.
Trust and loyalty have always been big to me.
If I was betrayed, then there was no coming back.
The last three men were a part of the security team.
I cocked my head to the side and chuckled.
Now that I thought about it, I never had a chance to learn their names.
Ron had hired them on just before everyone turned their backs on the Jaguars.
I shrugged.
It didn’t matter now.
“Can I be honest with you guys? Now, if I do, you promise not to tell anyone?”
Ron and Lewis glared at me while two of the nameless guards shook in their chairs with terror.
My eye caught the last man frantically nodding his head in agreement.
I chuckled as I pushed off the table I was sitting on while pointing at him.
“Ah, see guys! This man right here is a good man.”
I stood over him, baring the gold fangs in my mouth.
“A man of his word, right?”
His eyes darted over to the other men. I snapped my fingers in his face and tsked.
“I wasn’t talking to them, I’m talking to you, uh…dammit. What is your name?”
I snatched the duct tape off of his mouth, not attempting to be gentle. He yelled out in pain as tears welled in his eyes. Glancing at his face, I hurriedly examined the piece of tape and realized I took off a nice chunk of his mustache.
“Damn. My bad,”
I said, letting out a low whistle.
“Here you go.”
I ripped off the clunk of hair that was on the tape and stuck it back on his lip with a light pat. It limply fell on to his lap.
“Anyway,”
I said, holding back my laugh.
“What’s your name?”
He blinked a few times before he audibly swallowed. “J-Jonah.”
“Ah, Jonah. So, are you a man of your word?”
He nodded.
I arched and eyebrow as I chewed on the toothpick in my mouth.
“If you are, then why did you betray the Jaguars? Why did you renege on your word and loyalty to me?
“I swear, Mr. Seojun I–”
I yanked my gun out of my back pocket and sent a bullet through his mouth.
Blood splattered the ground that I had littered with tarp.
I shook my head in disgust.
I knew for a fact that whatever was about to come out of his mouth was going to be a damn lie.
When Ayzo and I went into hiding, we compiled a list of every muthafucka who turned their backs on me.
I may not have remembered every single person’s name who worked for me, but when I had someone tied up, you better believe they snitched like their lives depended on it.
After almost a year, I finally had every single person who worked for me on my list.
All I had to do was check off each name until I found the ringleader.
I placed my foot on the chair and pushed, causing the corpse to drop to the floor with a splat.
“Damn, you had to shoot the nigga in his mouth?”
Right on queue, Raheim came walking into the warehouse.
Raheim was in his early thirties and ran a cleaning crew all across the Midwest.
He was tall and stocky, which made it a breeze for him to haul away bodies with little effort.
I remembered hiring him a few times when I ran the Jaguars and never had any issues.
When those idiots ran into my house a few months back, he was the only one I could think of to accurately get the job done.
Fortunately for him, when he heard that the Cobras needed a cleaning man, he declined.
He said he wouldn’t work for anyone that could do some shady, disloyal shit like that.
It was a good thing he was loyal to me because I had originally planned to kill him, too, once he had my house put back together.
Right behind Raheim was my cousin Jay.
He used to follow me and Ayzo around when we were kids before we were inducted into the Jaguars.
He wanted so badly to be a part of the crew, but at the time, he was too young.
Plus, his mom, my aunt Jenny, made me swear on her death bed that I wouldn’t let him near the group until his 21st birthday.
She had hopes that he would’ve changed his mind by then, but unfortunately, he didn’t.
The pair began rolling up the body on the ground and I couldn’t help the slight shake of my head.
Watching my cousin work, I just knew that my aunt was probably rolling in her grave just as much as Jay was rolling up the body.
I sighed.
I did try to keep him away, but at the end of the day, he’s a grown ass man.
If he wanted to be a part of this life, at least he was going to do it under me.
I was going to keep him safe.
As Raheim and Jay carried out the body, I spun on my heels to examine the other men.
The two men that were already scared had pissed themselves.
Hell, one of them had passed out.
I snatched the toothpick out of my mouth and jammed it into his cheek.
“Ahh fuck!”
he shouted through the tape over his mouth.
“I didn’t give you permission to take a damn nap.”
His body shook with fright, but he kept his eyes on me. From the corner of my eye, I could see Lewis moving his head before he began mumbling.
I walked over to him and snatched off the tape from his mouth. Luckily for him, he didn’t have any facial hair.
“What do you want from us, Seojun? You know that we all crossed over to the Cobras and that’s grounds for execution. So, why torture us?”
I smiled before placing my hands behind my back.
“That is an excellent question, Lewis. I have just one simple question and if you can answer truthfully, then we can wrap this up and call it a night. Does that sound fair?”
Lewis eyed me with suspicion.
“Just one question?”
I held up my finger and nodded.
“Just the one.”
“And we are good to go for the night?”
“Indeed.”
“Okay.”
“Great! Who recruited y’all to leave the Jaguars and join the Cobras?”
Lewis shifted uneasily in his chair as he looked back over at Ron. I squinted my eyes as I stared at him. He knew something, but he obviously was afraid to say anything because of Ron. Even though I was the boss, Lewis reported to Ron for years and he hardly had to interact with me. I could respect that, but I wasn’t Ron, and he didn’t run shit - I did. I pulled my gun out and scratched the side of my head. My patience was thinning, and I was getting hungry. It was well after midnight and the taco spot; I liked was only going to be open for another hour and a half. I’d be damned if I missed out on some tacos because nobody wanted to talk.
“Either answer my damn question, or I leave y’all here while I go eat and get some sleep. It’s going to be a cold one tonight – probably the low 40s with a bit of rain. Ehh, y’all not afraid of getting a little bit of pneumonia, right? Then tomorrow evening, I’ll come back and chop y’all up one by one.”
When Lewis chewed on his bottom lip instead of talking, I turned around and grabbed my keys off the table. I began walking towards the exit to talk to Raheim and Jay when Lewis called me to stop. I slowly halted in my steps before looking over my shoulder.
“A man named Z approached us at the group home off Langley Ave. We thought he was just another customer. I mean, he had all of his documentation and passed all the tests to get in. We assumed one of the girls invited him because it was like he already knew what the procedures were. After he spent time with Cinnamon, he came to us. He started telling us about how his job is similar to ours, but he just got paid more.”
I rubbed the stubble on my chin.
“Z, huh? He didn’t have a last name?”
Lewis shook his head.
“I’m sure he does, but I don’t remember what it was.”
I arched my eyebrow when I noticed Ron was glaring at Lewis. Probably because he was running his mouth and nobody liked a rat, but could you really blame the man? I mean, me personally, I wouldn’t be snitching, but their hands were tied. Especially since he thought his only chance of living was to give up information.
“Any information you want to add, Ron?”
I asked.
“I bet you know more and the faster you tell me, the faster we can call it a night.”
Ron’s eyebrows scrunched up as the muffled cries of the two other men and Lewis’s pleas filled the room. As I watched Ron’s face go through a wave of emotions, I couldn’t help but place my hand on my chest and wipe away an invisible tear. These men were begging for their boss to talk so they could be let go. To these men, it was a life or death situation, and he knew it. Ron finally sighed heavily before nodding his head towards me.
I walked towards him and removed the tape from his mouth.
He huffed out a breath before licking his lips.
“He never gave his last name. The agreement was, he could see Cinnamon if he got us in with the Cobras. We were guaranteed a position at his house.”
“And who does Z work for?”
Ron shook his head.
“Nobody knew. Hell, not even Z knew. He reported to a man named Manny and that’s all I know.”
I nodded my head.
“So, all fifty of you decided to jump ship because they were offering more money?”
Ron shifted uneasily in his seat.
“I can’t speak on everyone else, but that’s not why I left.”
He exhaled and briefly looked down.
“The day after I met Z, I received an anonymous text from somebody who threatened to hurt my family if I didn’t betray you.”
My back stiffened as I glared down at him.
“Why didn’t you just come to me?”
“They knew where my daughter laid her head every night! Hell, they even knew what school she was attending. If you thought I was going to stay loyal to you just for her to be killed, then you never knew me. You know how much I loved her. In the end, it was all for nothing.”
I cocked my head to the side.
“What do you mean?”
Ron let out a humorless chuckle.
“My baby mother took our daughter and ran. The last time I spoke to her; she said she didn’t want anything to do with me because she knew that I had betrayed you. She didn’t want our daughter’s life in danger when your wrath came knocking on our door. A month after she left, I found out they were dead – hit by a damn drunk driver.”
“Damn, my condolences.”
I turned to look at Lewis.
“What about you? I don’t remember you having any children, so what was your excuse?”
Lewis stared down at his feet.
“I- no offense, Seojun, but the women were beautiful, and we were allowed to have them. If you would have just let us pick a girl that we liked and paid us decently, a lot of us wouldn’t have been so eager to leave.”
“Money and pussy were all it took?”
I glanced at the other two men who stared guilty at the ground.
“Damn, that’s fucked up.”
Jay said, leaning against the door frame, putting on a new pair of gloves.
“Agreed!”
Raheim said, his dark brown eyes raging with anger.
“I would put a bullet in my own damn head if I fucked over the one person who put me on game and gave me a steady income, so I didn’t have to work in corporate America. You fucked up a good thing and for what? Some damn pussy and the fact that you got greedy.”
Shaking my head, I walked over to the two men and removed the tape from their mouths. I didn’t want to hear all of their crying and begging for forgiveness, but I needed one more question answered.
“I got all of the information I needed so let’s call it a night and y’all can go.”
The look of relief spread across everyone’s faces except for Ron. He slowly closed his eyes and dropped his head. Ron has worked with me long enough to realize what was happening, unlike these other three.
“So, my last question for you guys is where do you want me to leave your body? Of course, it won’t be the full body because I need to send a few of your limbs to the others who betrayed me.”
“B-but you said you were going to let us go.”
One of the nameless men stuttered.
I dropped my head back and laughed.
“I said no such thing, but I can see where the confusion came. I said we can call it a night and y’all can go…to hell. This is your final night alive.”
I watched anger fill the nameless man’s eyes as he sneered at me.
“You conniving son of a bitch! I’m glad I backstabbed you and I’d do it again.”
He hocked a glob of spit onto my shoes before beaming with pride. I smiled back at him as I stood over him. Lifting my hand, I motioned for Jay to come towards me. He knew exactly what I was asking for as he picked up the metal bat that I had resting on the wall. This wasn’t just an ordinary bat, but one I had specially designed. She had a smooth handle that was designed for my fingers to fit snuggly. The barrel had jagged nails welded into the base and was wrapped in barb wire.
“This is Tiffany. I got my inspiration to make her from my favorite villain, Negan.”
“W-who?”
I scoffed.
“Negan! From The Walking Dead TV show? I would tell you to watch it but, you know.”
“Seojun, please!”
He began to beg but I ignored him as I admired my bat.
“Tiffany baby,”
I cooed, wrapping my hands around the handle.
“This no name fucker spit on your favorite pair of shoes. Do you believe that?”
“I’m sorr-”
His words were cut short as I introduced Tiffany to the top of his legs. His screams echoed throughout the warehouse as the nails dug into his skin. Yanking the bat back, pieces of his skin got caught on the barb wire and dangled freely. I smiled manically as I swung again, this time striking his stomach. The thing I loved most about Tiffany was that her nails never went in deep enough to kill but made the death slow and painful.
“Hold this for me,”
I instructed to him as I left Tiffany digging into his abdomen.
“Now, where was I?”
“You were asking them which body part they didn’t mind not sending to their families.”
Jay chimed in with glee.
“Me personally, I say the fingers. They break off easily and fit in envelopes.”
Raheim glanced over at Jay before shaking his head.
“I haven’t met anyone who enjoyed chopping up bodies as much as you.”
“Blame my science teacher for putting a scalpel in my hand and letting me dissect frogs.”
I huffed out a laugh.
“Can you two handle these three? I’m starving like a muthafucka.”
Raheim nodded.
“I got you, boss man. We’ll get this place cleaned up once we’re done and have those special cargos delivered tonight.”
“One finger for each person on the list,”
I instructed before glancing over at Ron from the corner of my eye. I turned and strolled towards him, pulling out my gun from my waist.
“I don’t agree with what you did, but I understand why. I just wish you would have come to me. You know how I feel about protecting family. So, I’ll make your death quick.”
A small smile crept across his face.
“You’re right, but I can’t change the past. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry, Seojun.”
I nodded before putting the gun against his temple. He closed his eyes and exhaled a long breath.
“At least I’ll get to see my little girl again.”
I gave him a half smile before pulling the trigger.