Chapter 42 KODY
KODY
Katrice’s eyes watered as she shook her head with resignation.
She glanced at my mama and shrugged. “You’d never understand how much I loved Dub.
More than you ever did. So many times, I tried to make him leave you.
He said he couldn’t. He said that his family would never respect him as a leader if he divorced you.
Dubose loved you so much that he put it in his will that if Dub ever left you, Dub would lose everything. ”
“Katrice...” My mama’s voice broke with a pain I’d never heard before. I was already past the point of anger, but hearing the emotions in my mama’s voice, I was ready to burn Katrice alive.
“Don’t Katrice me! Thirty-six fucking years I’ve been sharing a man who never even loved you! He tolerated you because of Dubose! I took care of you after Dub died! That alone should dry those tears up! If I didn’t care about you, I wouldn’t have given a shit!” Katrice blasted.
Mama growled and charged at Katrice. Kim did too, but Alli snatched her up. Briefly, I regarded the way his hands cupped my sister’s waist, and the way she clung to him. I tucked that away for a later date.
I held my hands up, signaling everyone to stay back while my mama beat the silk press out of Katrice’s ass.
Katrice was no match for the woman who gave birth to me.
Me and everyone else watched while my mama slung Katrice against every wall inside the living room.
Finally stepping in, Stacy grabbed my mama and yanked her up like she was his woman.
I grabbed a bloody and knotted up Katrice and tossed her onto the couch. “Thirty-six years, huh?”
She wiped her bloody lip and shouted, “Yes! I was more woman than you would ever be, Charnice! I stuck beside Dub and never turned my back on him! The minute he was in the ground, you went on about your life as if nothing happened. You never loved him! That’s why I made sure to bring him up every single time I had the opportunity to.
I wanted you to suffer and be ashamed of the piece of shit son you raised.
I gave Dub everything he wanted, and I never would’ve stood by and watched anyone take his life!
” she shouted even louder. Now, tears were streaming down her face.
“You gave Dub everything?” I quizzed. “Including children? A son, maybe?” By now, everyone stood there looking at Katrice with death in their eyes.
Katrice’s bravado dimmed slightly. However, my answer was written all over her face.
“No!” my mama yelled, but I already had Katrice by the throat. Fuck that she was a woman. I hemmed her up against the nearest wall while her fingernails clawed at the skin on my hand.
Brandishing my gun, I put it to Katrice’s head. Her eyes widened with fear.
“Who the fuck is he?” I demanded, lowly.
She dug her nails into my skin. That shit didn’t move me.
I let a shot off into the wall, then put the gun back to her head.
The heat seared her skin. She cried out in pain, but I shouted over her.
“Who the fuck is he?” I let her fall to the floor, and I let another shot off, this one grazing her right shoulder.
“Lucían!” she cried as she balled over. Blood spilled from her shoulder. “Please don’t hurt my baby! Te lo ruego, por favor (I’m begging you, please)!”
“Ya son took my bitch! What the fuck makes you think I’ma spare that nigga?”
“He’s your brother!” she implored.
“Che si fotta!” I roared. “He ain’t no fuckin’ kin to me! I’ma make sure you feel his pain when his flesh is ripped from his body.”
On a dime, Katrice’s face relaxed. With blood trickling through her fingers, and with tears slowly cascading down her face, she cackled like a maniac.
“I never thought you would fall in love, but you did. What great joy it gave me to see you so happy.” Her eyes grew dark, and her face contorted to that of a demon.
“You will never lay a hand on my son!” she hissed.
“He runs one of the most ruthless cartels in Peru and will have your precious Heir in the air before you know it. You took everything from us. Now we will do the same to you. Good luck finding her in one piece.”
My hand seized Katrice’s throat, again. I lifted her off the floor and choked her until she passed out. As her body hit the floor again, I felt no remorse.
“Check every fuckin’ airstrip in the state,” Cooley ordered to whoever was on the phone.
“Start in Miami,” I told him. While Cooley handled that, I consoled my mama.
“I’m so sorry,” she stressed. “I didn’t know.”
“It’s okay, Mama. Everything’s gon’ be okay. Kim is gon’ take you upstairs, and I want you to shower and get some sleep, aight.” I kissed her cheeks and summoned Kim.
“Come on, Mama,” she said. As they disappeared up the stairs, I caught Alli staring after Kim. We locked eyes, but I didn’t have time to address what the hell was going on between them.
“I got a location,” Cooley announced. “A private airstrip just outside of Miami. The flight leaves at seven. We gotta get in the air.”
“Bet.” I hit up one of my contacts. He answered the phone on the second ring.
“Long time, no hear,” Carter Winters drawled. “What can I do for you?”
After running down the list of what the fuck was going on, I rattled off the location and said, “His flight is due to leave at 7 a.m. I need some people on the ground to stall. Under no circumstances does it leave the ground. Shoot that bitch up if you have to. I’ll be there.”
“Bet. I got you.”
I hung up with Carter, and my house turned into a makeshift bullpen. Not that I ever hoped for times like this, but a nigga was ready. Roy brought out every assault rifle and pistol I owned.
“I’ll get everything I can on Lucían,” Alli stated.
Two hours later, we boarded Cooley’s jet.
The silence was deafening as the flight got underway.
Cooley was focused on saving his daughter.
I was focused on saving my person. Heir was the love of my life, and I was sure that she carried my baby.
I would never rest if something happened to them.
Years ago, I thought I’d lost my mind. If I couldn’t save Heir, I wouldn’t only lose my mind, but I would lose everything known to myself.
That would likely be the first time I ever considered ending it all.
We landed in Miami just after six. The sun had just broken the horizon as we raced to the private airfield where Lucían’s plane waited for him to board.
Carter kept in close contact with me, keeping me abreast of the situation on the ground.
So far, Lucían wasn’t the wiser that anything was amidst. He was due to arrive at the air strip any minute, and we were trying to beat him there.
We arrived thirty minutes later at an airstrip owned by one of Lucían’s cartel associates.
The place was dilapidated at best and looked more like a centuries old warzone.
Suited for war, we crept into the empty private hangar and took our positions.
Inside a small room, two men sat behind a wall of monitors, displaying air traffic.
Alli didn’t give either of them a chance to know what was going on before he ended their lives.
Although the airstrip had seen better days, the jet parked inside the hangar was state of the art.
“You’re clear,” Alli crackled through my earpiece. I sauntered toward the jet with one purpose in mind. Onboard the jet, I eased into the opened cockpit and put the barrel of my gun to the back of the pilot’s head. His hands flew up in surrender.
Cooley appeared next to me. His eyes were void and without hesitation, he put a bullet into the pilot’s head.
The man slumped over, dying instantly. Noa and Russ were there to carry the man off the plane.
Carrying a duffle bag in one hand and a sleeping Katrice over his shoulder, Adir boarded the plane, slightly smirked, then headed to the lavatory.
Quickly Cooley and I scanned the aircraft for any devices, then planted one of our own.
We needed to hear everything going on inside here.
After we were done, Cooley took a seat in the pilot’s chair and relaxed.
I sat next to him, glanced at him, and decided that maybe I wasn’t the only nigga who had a few screws missing.
Mere minutes later, Lucían’s voice sounded inside the hangar.
“Eyes on Heir.” Roy’s confirmation caused Cooley and I to relax. “Lucían, Heir, plus five boarding. Dube boarding.”
“Tú debes ser el mayordomo (You must be the steward),” Lucían said.
“Sí (yes). Póngase cómodo, senor (Get comfortable, sir). Estaremos en el aire en breve (we’ll be in the air shortly).” That was Dube, Cooley’s butler. His ass sounded like the dude off Fresh Prince.
“Gracias,” Lucían replied.
Cooley started the aircraft and maneuvered us out of the hangar and onto the airstrip with ease.
Quite frankly, I was impressed as hell. I was even more impressed when he got us into the air without so much as a bump.
We coasted at a decent altitude, just to make our guests comfortable.
Minutes later, Dube relayed the occupants’ locations to us.
Cooley pressed a few buttons and did some shit that put the plane in autopilot mode.
“Cooley, I got captain’s side. You take co-captain’s side. Kody…do what you do. On my go.” Adir sounded cool and calm, as if we weren’t about to wage a war in midair.
“Copy,” Cooley responded.
“Copy,” Alli seconded from the control station. I had to shake my head. That nigga Alli was cool with me.
“Go!”
Adir’s gunshots rang out in time with Cooley’s as he exited the cockpit. Right behind him, I avoided Heir’s screams and the bullets flying and zoned in on Lucían, whose eyes were wide with disbelief. Like a little bitch, his hands were up. Six seconds, that was all it took to subdue his entourage.
Adir tossed Dube the duffle bag, to which Dube hurriedly dressed into the same gear Adir, Cooley, and I were dressed in. Meanwhile, Adir headed back to the lavatory to retrieve Katrice. Speechless, Lucían peered at the four of us. With their guns trained on Lucían, I addressed the love of my life.
“Come here, baby.”
Heir scrambled from her seat next to Lucían and jumped into my arms. Her face was worn with tear streaks and swollen, red eyes. She wore the same dress from last night, and it was torn in some places. I kissed her lips, then handed her off to Dube.
“Brother!” Lucían drawled. “While it’s not my desire to meet this way, here we are.”
I looked a lot like my father, but this nigga was Dub reincarnated.
I transported ten years back, to the moment I knew that I was going to kill the man who fathered me.
I had never felt fury like I felt then. What drove me to pull the trigger was my father’s cocky-ass laugh that mocked everything about the McAroy name.
That was fine, though. Killing him restored honor in my lineage.
Killing Lucían would restore order because I was the muthafuckin’ king around this bitch.
“If you land this plane in Peru, you’re all dead,” he sneered.
“Who said we were landing?” My question drew an amused smile from him.
“Ah, you’re going to crash the plane and kill us all? Do you not care about your life? Or that of your”—he glanced at Heir and chuckled—“your lady friend.”
I peered at Heir. “You didn’t tell him about me, baby?” She shook her head. Turning back to Lucían, I said, “If she would’ve told you about me, you would’ve known that I never gave a fuck.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “Nosotros somos iguales (We are alike).”
I shot his kneecaps off, choking him on his own laughter. “Nah, my nigga. I guarantee you, we not.” He crashed to the floor of the jet and sobbed in pain.
“You’re going to pay for this!” he shouted. To reward him, I shot him in both his hands, dismembering his fingers. “Ah!” he screamed.
Pleased that he was good and capacitated, I reached for Heir and retrieved a blindfold from my pocket.
“Look at me, My Heir.” Her terror-filled eyes peered at me.
Lifting the blindfold, I asked, “I love you, baby. Do you trust me?” She nodded frantically and whimpered as I covered her eyes.
“I got you, aight? I’m not gon’ let you go.
” I kissed her lips and as I strapped her to me, she broke down crying.
She trembled terribly. Once this was over, I would calm her down.
“Everybody strapped?” Cooley called out.
“Strapped!” Dube confirmed.
“Strapped,” Adir added.
Just a few minutes later, Heir and I were falling out of the sky.
Two hours later, I stood over Heir’s hospital bed, watching her sleep.
Damn, I was so close to losing her. My heart had finally settled.
Now, it beat erratically for a different reason.
It was confirmed that Heir was carrying my child.
If I could have resurrected Lucían to inflict more pain on him, I would have.
He and Katrice deserved to die the slowest deaths many times over.
Heir’s door opened, and Kim entered. She closed the door behind her and came directly into my arms. Stress lines dressed her forehead where I placed a kiss.
“With Adir’s help, I finally got Mama to get some rest,” she said.
“Good. Now, I need you to do the same thing.”
“I will in a little while. I just wanted to check on you and Heir, first.”
“I’m good, and so is she.”
Kim grinned. “I won’t lie. I was completely against you being with Heir. Thankfully, you didn’t give a damn about what I had to say.”
We both chuckled.
“She looks good on you, bro. Very good. What’s even better is that she’s good for you. Although I’m not looking for it, the two of you give me hope that love may find me one day.”
Surprised, I asked, “Even after what we found out about Pops and Katrice?” If I wasn’t already in love with Heir, the revelations about my Pops would’ve surely had me worse off than I was before I met Heir.
She nodded. “You taught me something.”
“What’s that?”
“That for the right woman, any man is capable of changing and loving.”
“Would this nigga you happen to not be lookin’ for, happen to be Alli?”
Her eyes stretched quizzically. “No… Why?”
“Just a brief observation.”
“Oh.” A few seconds clicked by before she stuck her hand out for our handshake. “I love you, bro.”
We locked fingers, and I prayed a nigga never hurt my fucking sister. “I love you, too, baby.”
Kim left Heir’s room, and I was back to concentrating on my baby. Heir was going to have the best life with me and nothing less.