Chapter 26
“Get your stupid ass out, nigga,” Erys gritted, snatching the young nigga out the back of the truck and up the sidewalk to Rod’s front door. The boy’s skinny legs barely had time to catch up with Erys’ movements.
On the porch, Erys banged his fist against the door three times.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
His darkened orbs looked up at the small camera overhead and he yanked the boy up by the collar of his shirt. “This one of your niggas? If not, the nigga is about to be a bed of weeds.”
It took Big Rod a few more minutes to get to the door. “C3, you know we don’t do business here.”
Erys’ nostrils flared. “Why not? Business was being done at my house. Where I was tangled up with my lady, where my pops is. You know Paul Chisom paying these dumbass muhfuckas to break into my shit? Sound like a death sentence, don’t it?”
Big Rod’s eyes bounced to the boy jacked up. Erys had done him a solid and not beat his ass. Yet. With every passing second, the probability of Erys stomping him out to teach him a lesson was increasing.
“How the fuck you know Paul Chisom?” Big Rod posed, his aggravation growing.
“I-I just met him on the Avenue. The streets is dry and-”
Big Rod stepped out fully and closed the door. “The streets is dry because you muhfuckas can’t do the fucking right thing. Beefin’ with east side niggas. Got bodies in my fuckin’ streets and the feds breathing and barking down my neck. If I say the shit fuckin’ stops it muhfuckin’ stops.”
“On the Avenue? That’s all the information you’re going to give?
Aight,” Erys grumbled, tossing the boy to the ground and punching him in the face off the principle.
Had someone beat his ass when he was younger, he wouldn’t be doing half the nonsense he’d done.
Erys wanted to deliver a message so when he staggered back to whatever corner of the hood he came from, he’d remember to keep his narrow ass out of other people’s homes.
Erys stood, straightened his spine and looked down at him. “You got ten seconds to get the fuck out of my face before I forget I’m working on myself and break your ass. Hear me?”
The boy pulled himself to his feet, groaning in pain and started stammering down the street. Erys turned back to Big Rod. “Do I need to take over the fuckin’ 3Ways? Is this too much for you to fuckin’ handle? You know good and fuckin’ well we don’t do no shit like this. Fuck does Paul have on you?”
“G-Lock got wrapped up for trafficking. He talked. Now Paul thinks he can have free reign on our side of town. Power trippin’.”
Erys scoffed. “What is it? You scared? You tired? What? Why is that nigga still standing?”
The truth was, Big Rod could do a lot of damage with the snap of his fingers.
But he was tired. Been tired and when the gang fell into his lap, his higher-ranking members were getting swept up left and right.
Big Rod was on an island. No one to trust and he wasn’t pulling anyone back into the life they’d left.
Erys could see the truth in Big Rod’s worn eyes.
“I got it,” Erys stated. “When I’m done, gather these muhfuckas up. We gon get some fuckin’ order around this bitch.”
“You call, I’ll answer.”
Erys nodded and started down the path and back to his truck.
“And C3. Don’t bring this shit back to my house again,” Big Rod stated.
Erys stopped, smirked and turned around. “When I’m done, you should focus on frying chicken. That way I’m out your way and you’re out mine.”
Erys proceeded back to Cashmere Lakes, but not home.
While he was still in the murderous spirit, he made his way over to Paul Chisom’s side of the neighborhood.
In the hideaway bed of his truck, a few guns and more ammo in the event Paul was smarter than he looked.
With his modified AR-15 and the burner he kept for times like this, Erys hacked into the security system, shutting down the cameras and unlocking the side door.
He made himself comfortable, moving around the space searching for his target.
Upstairs, he found the sleeping children.
Down the hall, he found the primary bedroom.
The one-sided heavy breathing coming through the door was his answer.
Since Paul thought it was a game to play with him, Erys was going to show him who the controller was.
He slipped in, closed the door behind him, and found a spot in the sitting area.
“When are you going to tell him he ain’t hitting on shit?” Erys asked, pulling the lever of the rifle back to put a hollow point into the chamber. “All the heavy breathing and he ain’t doing shit.”
The woman screamed and leapt from the bed. Wrapping herself in the sheets.
“Screaming is going to make this little visit bloody. Blood complicates this. Sit down,” Erys ordered.
“Do you know who he is?” Mrs. Chisom asked, entitlement oozing through her words.
“I do. Better question would be, do you know who I am?” Erys asked, glaring at Paul. “Tell your bitch to sit down and shut the fuck up. Or I’ll do it.”
Paul, covered in a sheet and aggravation that his plan hadn’t worked, sat on the edge of the bed and grumbled. “Sit down, Lisa.”
“You’re going to just let him come in our home and-”
“Lisa, sit the fuck down!” Paul bellowed, making her jump.
Erys buzzed. “Mm, after all these years, you haven’t seen the real him. The bitch ass nigga who beats women. Kicks them until they miscarry and then silences them. Tell your wife what you did to your ex-fiancée.”
Lisa scoffed, “That lying ass bitch, I sat through that trial. Paul was defending himself.”
Erys looked at her then back at Paul. “Tell me you didn’t marry the head of your defense team.
Can’t say I’m shocked. If I were a weasel ass nigga who liked to cover my tracks, use Trae Way gangstas to do my bidding, then lock them up on padded charges, I would marry my self-hating defense lawyer too. ”
“I’m not sitting through this. I’m going to call my father.”
“I told you to sit your ass down and to shut the fuck up, didn’t I?” Erys posed. “Paul, do you want me to do it?”
Erys’ words were complimented by a dangerous twitch of his trigger finger and nostril.
Paul stood, understanding the whispers about Erys were true and he’d made a grave mistake attempting to punk him into leaving the community he’d had under his thumb for years. He grabbed her by the arm and yanked her down. “Sit down and shut the fuck up.”
“Now that I see you can listen. Tell her the truth,” Erys urged.
“We can settle our differences without her here. Let her go upstairs with our children,” Paul pleaded.
“Man, fuck them kids,” Erys stated. “Don’t nobody give a fuck about them kids. I’ve seen you fuck and I hate to break it to you, they’re not yours.”
Lisa slightly fidgeted. “We will give you what you want? What is it? Money? Jewelry.”
“Your bitch ass husband can stand on every dollar he’s stolen from the people of Waynesville and never be bigger than me. Tell her, Paul,” Erys said again, this time the laser beam of the gun pointed at the center of her chest. “Speak, nigga.”
“I-I did it,” he stammered as he rushed it out. “Everything Remedy said I did to her during the trial, I did.”
“Paul,” Lisa spoke, just above a whisper, the fear appearing at the brim of her eyes.
“What else?” Erys pressed.
“I used her trust to run for DA. That’s it. Take it off of her,” Paul spoke with bated breath.
“You’re not done. Lisa Hutton, daughter of Judge James N. Hutton. Do you think he really loved you or he just used you to propel him further?” Erys posed. “Moved you out of criminal law to private. Covering for him, for Dr. Worthy, and all these bitch ass neighbors you got around here, right?”
The tears fell from her eyes, still trained on the beam. Erys watched as all the lies over the years began to click for her. “Paul… what did you do?”
“I haven’t done anyth-” Paul started, immediately shutting up when he saw a second gun in Erys’ hand pointed at him.
“I…I’ve been using the Trae Way gangstas to do the break-ins and run the drug ring.
Dr. Worthy has been supplying the pills.
Teena crushes them down and cuts them with fentanyl and we move it. ”
“All of these overdoses and break-ins were you?” Lisa tearfully asked. “Loraine’s son is on life support from those pills. Paul, what have you done?”
“Ensured spousal privilege by marrying you. Oh and sent some young nigga to my house to rattle us. I’d say send the biggest, baddest muhfucka you know, but that’s me,” Erys said with a smirk. “I’ll give you some options. I could kill you, your wife and kids-”
“No! Please,” Lisa pleaded. “I’ll do whatever I need to do.”
“Paul, your bitch,” Erys spoke, glaring at him. “Or turn yourself in. Watching them niggas inside pick you apart will do my soul some good. That way your kids are absolved of your bullshit.”
“There’s got to be another way,” Paul tried to negotiate.
Erys pointed both guns to Paul.
“Okay! Okay. Okay, I’ll turn myself in,” Paul agreed.
“Right now. Make the call, Lisa,” Erys directed. Lisa wasted no time moving to her phone. “On speaker. Attorney General Baskins.”
Lisa’s hands shook as she hit the number in her phone. The line trilled. On the last ring, AG Baskins picked up. “Lisa, I’m with my wife. I told you not to call me this late. We’ll meet tomorrow at St. Harlem, baby.”
A smirk formed over Erys’ face as the secrets unfolded, ruining them from the inside out. Before he asked Tone to get him information, Erys knew where most of the bodies were buried. He was here now to watch them rise out of the dirt.
“I-it’s not that, Sam. It’s Paul,” she started.
“He hit you again? I swear I’ll kill that muhfucka myself,” Sam gritted.
That, Erys suspected, but didn’t have anything past his assumptions.
“No, worse. Richie’s overdose. Him, Teena, Dr. Worthy. They’re responsible,” Lisa shared.
“You sure? That motherfucker is coming for my seat doing this shit. Are you okay?”
“No,” she whispered, putting on a show. “He’s outside the bathroom door with a gun. I think he’s going to kill me.”
“I’m on the way,” Sam assured. “Don’t hang up.”
Erys stood, smiled watching her rush into the bathroom. Paul ran behind her. “Lisa! Open this fuckin’ door! Lisa!”
Erys pulled the trigger of the glock shattering a night lamp. In the chaos, Paul dropped to the ground.
“Lisa!!” he bellowed.
Erys dropped the gun to the floor knowing that Paul was dumb enough to grab it and put his prints all over it. He pointed it at Erys and pulled the trigger. Nothing in the chamber. The sound of sirens in the distance made Erys’ smile grow more.
“Checkmate, bitch.”
With that, he slid out into the night and headed back to Trae Way. Regulation needed to happen sooner than later.
There was officially a new leader in town.