Most Wanted (6 page)

“Beg for your life! Beg, bitch!” the men who’d invaded my mother’s home demanded. “Tell your daughter to play by the rules so you can live the rest of your life,” one of the men commanded my mother.

“Gianna! Please!! Help me!! Give them whatever they want!” my mother cried out. I doubled over in response to her pain.

Suddenly the screen went black. “Please, Warren . . . you can’t hurt her! Not after everything she has done for you! You can’t hurt her! Just kill me, but don’t hurt her!” I managed to scream through my burning throat.

“Oh, now you wanna worry about someone other than your fucking self? If you don’t want to find her dead in that nice house you bought her with my fucking diamonds, you better find a way to either return my shit or repay me double of what they were worth,” Warren demanded again with finality. Before I could even answer him, he flicked a card at me. I flinched thinking he was going to hit me again.

“That’s how you get in touch with me. You better come up with a plan real fucking quick, bitch, because this time, I’m calling the fuckin’ shots,” Warren spat. His words sunk in on me and I felt hopeless. I didn’t know what the fuck I was going to do, but I was going to have to come up with a plan. Maybe begging for mercy will work.

“Warren, I love you . . . please. Let’s get back together. Please, baby. Spare me. I can make everything better. I can fix it all. I can get money from Sidney,” I begged.

Warren let out a sinister, maniacal laugh. “Bitch, I don’t care where you get the money from, but I better hear from you,” he said.

My heart sunk as he hawked a wad of spit on me, then turned and walked away followed by his thugs. They were all laughing raucously as they left me in the strange warehouse-looking building all bruised and battered. At that moment, I wished like hell that Warren had just fucking killed me.

O
n shaky legs, I got up from the chair I had been forced to sit in and walked in the direction Warren and his boys had gone. My body felt like I had been in a twelve-round boxing match with a heavyweight prizefighter. When I walked out into the fresh air, I bent over and threw up. It was a mixture of fear and overwhelming gratefulness that I was alive. The mere fact that I was still alive made me appreciate the air outside that much more. I knew that the only thing that probably kept Warren from offing me was the possibility of getting those diamonds back or at least the money for them. My insides churned, but not as much as my mind. I cried again when I saw that Warren had at least left my car there for me. I stumbled over to my car. Just as I was about to open the driver’s side door, I noticed that my tires had been flattened. I’d forgotten they had shot my tires out when I first came to the stadium. He had left the car there as a joke . . . to taunt me, because he knew damn well I couldn’t drive it like that. I looked around at the deserted, dark lot. There was no one around for miles. I could hear the cars passing over top on Highway 264. There was no way anyone would even hear me screaming from down there.

“Fuck you, Warren! Fuck you!” I screamed, slamming my fists on the door. Lucky for me he had at least left the doors unlocked. I carefully climbed inside the vehicle and retrieved my cell phone. It was almost dead and there were at least twenty missed calls from my mother. There were also calls from Sidney. I didn’t have time to listen to the voice messages.... I just wanted to use the little bit of battery life left to get the fuck out of there.

“Hello . . . um . . . can I get a cab to meet me in the parking lot of the Tides stadium? Yes! The parking lot . . . I have money to pay for it!” I screamed at the lady. She was acting like I was some damn crackhead trying to play games. It seemed like it took forever for the cab driver to find me, but he finally did. Of course he required that I pay upfront because he had picked me up in that seedy-ass area. “I need to go to the hospital,” I told him.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“Just mind your business and take me to the hospital!”

The cab took me straight to the Sentara Leigh Hospital. I exited the cab as fast as my battered body would allow. I looked up at the huge red sign that read,
EMERGENCY ROOM.
I staggered into the emergency room doors and all eyes were on me. I know I must’ve looked like shit. My hair had been pulled, my lips and eyes were swollen, bloodstains covered the front of my shirt. I looked around and located the nurse. I stumbled over to the triage station and leaned down on the small glass partition.

“Please help me . . . I’ve been attacked,” I sobbed; then I slid down to the floor like I was hurt much worse than I had actually been beaten.

The nurse behind the glass jumped up just as I made myself lay flat on the floor. “Code yellow! Get me a gurney now! Code yellow!” I heard her yelling. It sounded like a million pairs of feet rushing toward me. I closed my eyes, finally feeling like I could let go and relax for a minute. I was quickly hoisted onto a gurney amid the hushed murmurs of the nurses and doctors who discussed my fate. I felt a bunch of hands probing me. They checked for a pulse, tested the rigidity of my abdomen, and shone a light into my eyes to see if my pupils were dilated. “She’s been beaten pretty bad. Let’s get a head CT and chest X-rays right away,” I heard a doctor call out. I kept my eyes closed and let them cater to me. I knew there was much worse shit to come.

 

After all of the poking, prodding, X-rays, and CAT scans, I was finally placed into a hospital room. I was feeling better already from the pain medication I had been given. I kept rehearsing in my mind the story I was going to tell Sidney when he got there. The nurses had already notified him about my condition. I knew he would be completely falling apart until he got there. It seemed like an eternity before Sidney showed up at the hospital. I could hear him outside of my hospital room asking which room I was in. The heart monitor above my head began beeping as my heart rate sped up. It was time for me to deliver the lies I had conjured up in my head. I couldn’t possibly tell Sidney the truth about what had happened. I was trying to think fast, but in my condition, that was no easy task.

“Oh, my God! Gigi! I’m so sorry! It’s all my fault . . . I drove you from the house. This would’ve never happened if I hadn’t argued with you,” Sidney huffed as he rushed over to my bedside. Tears leaked out of the sides of my eyes and pooled in my ears. I don’t know why the sight of Sidney and his words made me cry immediately. Maybe it was because I knew that it was really not his fault and that I was about to get him caught up in some shit.

“What happened, Gigi? Who did this to you?” he asked, grasping my hand tightly. I could see the strain of sympathy tugging at the sides of his eyes. It was time for me to tell my lies. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply.

“I . . . I . . . stopped for gas and some guys . . .” I started, but I let the sobs flow freely. It was Academy Award–worthy acting, although I was still crying over the situation. “They . . . they just . . . attacked me,” I sobbed.

“Shhhh. Don’t worry about it. I know it’s hard to talk about, but you will have to tell the police,” Sidney said softly, stroking my hand. I snatched my hand away from him like a snake had bitten me. My slanted eyes went completely round. There was no way I could let the police get involved. They would be snooping and asking too many fucking questions! No way!

“No!” I raised my voice. “I don’t want the police involved. The guys took my identification and told me if I get the police involved, they would kill me and you,” I fabricated on the spot.

Sidney looked at me like I was crazy. He stood up, his back stiff and erect. I always knew when he was uncomfortable with a situation. His face was serious, angry even.

“Gigi, there is no fucking way I’m going to allow anyone to get away with what they did to you! If you don’t want the cops involved, then I will hire someone to look for these punks, but it can’t go unspoken just like that! They fucking put their hands on you and I am your husband . . . I’m not going to just let them get away with this!” Sidney said through clenched teeth.

I swallowed hard and closed my eyes. I knew he wasn’t going to let this go. I had to think quickly. “Okay . . . if you want to hire someone to look for them. But, you know I don’t trust the police. I don’t want them involved,” I said. Sidney seemed to calm down, but the look he gave me said he was suspicious of my story already.

 

I was released from the hospital the next morning. The doctors had notified the police anyway since they claimed they were mandated reporters as medical caregivers. When the cops showed up, I told them I couldn’t remember anything . . . that I just woke up on the ground after some guys beat me up and took my car at the gas station. They seemed suspicious, but they didn’t press. Of course, they had found my vehicle with nothing missing from it, so they wanted to know why it was in the stadium parking lot. I had to literally scream at them that I didn’t know because the guys had stolen it. They didn’t have any store surveillance showing a carjacking they had said. I screamed at them so bad they went hightailing away from me. They had even informed Sidney that my tires had been shot out. Sidney seemed suspicious of me as well, so he enlisted a guy named Ricco who worked for him to sit outside of the house and “keep an eye on me.” That frustrated me, but I understood where Sidney was coming from. He stayed with me a few hours, then told me he had things to do at the business.

Damn, he couldn’t leave soon enough. I knew I had to get in touch with Warren or else. As soon as Sidney went to take care of business, I dialed the number Warren had told me to call. I had no choice . . . there was only about six more hours until my twenty-four hours were up. I was fucking trembling as I waited for Warren to pick up the line. I paced the floor of my bedroom and kept peeking out of the windows like a paranoid crazy person. Finally, he picked up.

“G-money . . . I knew you’d be obedient. You ain’t that fucking stupid now, are you,” Warren said when he answered the phone. He got right to the point. “So, you scheming-ass bitch . . . what’s the plan to get me my money or those diamonds back?” I exhaled.

“I don’t have anything, Warren. I don’t have the diamonds and I don’t have any money. I don’t have access to my husband’s accounts like that. He gives me an allowance, but I know he keeps at least five hundred thousand in the safe at the dealership,” I whispered tentatively, my voice quivering.

Warren started laughing like I had said something real funny. I crinkled my eyebrows in response. He stopped laughing abruptly and started talking in a very serious tone. “Yo . . . you really don’t know what you did, huh? You are fucking clueless that you stole twenty rare, precious diamonds belonging to Sensi Akiwaba . . . a fucking warlord from Sierra Leone! You don’t know this muthafucka has had people’s hands and arms cut the fuck off for stealing his diamonds! How you think I’m out here??? That nigga paid the best lawyers in town to get me out just so I could find you, Gigi! You are the most wanted bitch in America right now! And guess what? If I don’t return those fucking diamonds or at least four million dollars, you are fucking dead!” Warren barked.

I listened intently, letting his words settle into my brain. It all hit me at once. I felt like someone had hit me in the head with a lead fucking pipe. Warren had just dropped a big bomb on me. I had stolen from the wrong muthafuckas for sure. I had no idea that Warren had been doing business with the Africans. I had heard back when I lived in DC that the Africans had been taking over DC at the time with pure heroin and meth, but I never put two and two together about the diamonds. I never knew I was in deep shit like that. I could really just kill my mother for staying in contact with Warren. It was all because of her that I was in this situation now! Who was I fooling? Those Africans probably would have found me with or without Warren’s help. I was walking around a wanted woman and I didn’t even know it!

“So what am I supposed to do, Warren? I don’t know if Sidney has that kind of money just lying around,” I said through tears. I knew Sidney was pretty wealthy, but I was sure he probably had his shit invested or in overseas accounts. I was so much younger than Sidney, having him killed for insurance money wasn’t an option. That would be a sure way to get myself investigated. Plus, I figured I might be beneficiary on one of his policies, but most of his shit was probably going to go to his kids. My mind was racing at a mile a minute.

“Don’t ask me what the fuck you should do. You didn’t ask me what to do when you stole the shit from my crib!” Warren replied with a lot of base in his voice. “You better fucking come up with something and fast. I guess you will have to do something drastic to get the money . . . I don’t care if you rob a fucking bank . . . you better start thinking,” Warren said. His words caused a chill to take over my body.

“I’ll come up with something. But after you get your money I want you to leave us alone,” I cried.

Warren let out a crazy laugh again. “I’ll leave you alone when I’m ready, bitch. Now you’re going to help me get this money from your man or else,” he said.

I came up with an idea that quickly. I knew there were very few things that were more important to Sidney than his own life. “I have an idea, but it will have to be well thought out. You will have to do it quick and swift,” I told Warren.

“I’m listening,” he said. I started talking and there was silence on the other end of the phone. I began to lay out a plan with Warren that would save my own ass. Just like that, I was scheming right along with Warren.

I
paced inside the house waiting for Warren’s call. I had told him all he needed to know to go through with the plan, but he was insisting that I go with him. When he said that, my mind started to race because Sidney had one of his boys outside the house. I asked Ricco to run and pick me up some takeout; he was hesitant, and asked me not to tell Sidney, but he went. As soon as his ass pulled out of our circular driveway I was right behind him.

Warren picked me up around the corner from my estate. It was a crazy feeling knowing that Warren knew where I rested my head every night. He knew everything. I was shaking like a leaf in a windstorm when I got into the car with him. I didn’t know if he was going to beat me up again or something even worse this time. I slid into the seat and didn’t dare look over at Warren. We were alone in the car, but I’m sure he wasn’t alone altogether. I was sure he had his dudes hiding out somewhere ready to pounce.

“Dayum, G-money, I ain’t mean to bruise that pretty face like that,” Warren said, his voice sly and sarcastic.

The nerve of this bastard! I stared straight ahead without a word. We didn’t need to be friendly. I was just going to try to get this shit resolved. Warren reached over and ran his hand gently over my cheek. I jumped and my heart started thumping fiercely against my chest bone. I was so scared and paranoid, not to mention my body still throbbed from what Warren and Ace had done to me.

“Please, Warren,” I murmured, moving my head so that my face was far from his touch. I didn’t want any physical contact with him.

“Shhh, I’m not going to hurt you anymore,” Warren said softly. It was like he was crazy. One minute he was trying to damn near kill me, now he wanted to be all nice? I didn’t trust his ass one bit. Back when we were together I would’ve never believed that he would ever put his hands on me the way he did the other day.

“You gotta feel where I’m coming from. I was left behind the walls, dead and stinking, and you stole from me . . . on the real, I wanted to murk you as soon as I saw you, but I couldn’t,” he continued.

As hard as I tried to fight off the feeling, I started to feel fuzzy inside when he spoke. Although he had hurt me, something inside of me still felt for Warren. No matter what, I guess he would always occupy a part of my heart as my first real love. I wanted to believe that he was angry when he’d put his hands on me. That he would’ve never really wanted to hurt me like that. It didn’t matter anyway, he had already done it. I was wearing the scars to show it too.

“I’m sorry, Warren. I didn’t mean it, but I was scared and left with no one and nothing when the feds got us. They told me that you were blaming me for everything . . . I saw you on video,” I was finally able to explain. I was still too scared to look at him.

Warren reached over and grabbed me. “Aggh, please!” I screamed. I just knew another beating was coming.

“G-money . . . G-money . . . c’mon, I’m not going to hurt you. I would’ve never blamed you for anything. You don’t know about the feds and their video tricks? That was all game, baby girl,” Warren said, pulling my head toward his. I stopped resisting for just a second. Warren pulled my face into his. I was shocked. He kissed me so deeply that I could barely breathe. I couldn’t even fight him off if I wanted to and I didn’t even try. Although I was deathly afraid, it felt so good to feel Warren’s tongue in my mouth again. Tears drained out of the sides of my bruised eyes. I was conflicted as hell. On the one hand, I hated him because everything that was wrong in my life was because of him. But I knew then that I still loved that man no matter what. It was all for nothing, though. We were about to do some shit that would never allow us to be together again.

Finally, I pulled away from him. “Damn, G-money . . . we could’ve been so good together,” Warren lamented with finality. He pulled his car away from the curb and we both rode to do the deed in eerie silence.

I immediately noticed that there was a black SUV following us. It wasn’t a surprise. I surmised that it was the same SUV that had been parked at the Tides stadium the night I was set up and assaulted. I can’t say seeing that vehicle didn’t make my insides curl in on themselves.

“So where we going?” Warren asked. I’d been so lost in thought he startled me. I blinked a few times and was back on course with what we were doing.

“She’s usually at school at this time. Tidewater Community College,” I said, my voice quivering. “She has a red Honda Z sports car. Her plates say daddy’s little girl.” I knew this was the ultimate betrayal, but what choice did I have?

“Her daddy is rich and she goes to community college?” Warren asked skeptically. He sounded as if he was trying to smooth the tension between us in the car. I just shrugged. The less conversation we had the better for me.

“It’s all just like I said. The time, the place, and the same pattern every day,” I whispered. I wasn’t trying to be Warren’s friend and chitchat about the girl I was about to turn into a victim. After all, she was my stepdaughter.

“A’ight. And you sure daddy ain’t gon’ call five-o to get his baby back? I’m not about to play no bullshit . . . I will murk you, her, and him and move the fuck on,” Warren said. That was the Warren I expected to hear. It was like his mood had gone from day to night. I guess he was back to hating my guts.

“I’m sure,” I said, my voice unsteady. I wasn’t sure of shit. Sidney was a businessman, not a gangster, so there was a high probability he might call the cops or even the fucking FBI. I was saying a silent prayer that Sidney didn’t try any funny business once he received the ransom demand. I was also praying that God spared my ass for this foul shit I was doing.

I watched the whole shit unfold after I pointed Arianna out to Warren. I had to admit, Warren’s boys were like pros. It all happened so fast. I watched from a distance as one of Ace’s boys slyly put a gun to Arianna’s back, whispered in her ear not to scream, made her get into her own car and he got in the passenger seat. The last thing I said to Warren was, “Remember, she’s just a kid. Her father will pay the ransom, so don’t hurt her.” He looked at me with fire flashing in his evil eyes. “I guess that’s your job now. Convince daddy to play by the rules and the girl goes home. Play games and everybody goes to hell together,” Warren replied before he put me out of his car.

Sidney’s first call came forty-five minutes after I did the deed with Warren. I had been dropped back to my car before the call came in. I picked up my cell phone with shaky hands. I closed my eyes and asked God to forgive me for everything I was doing.

“Hello? Hey, baby,” I said with a phony voice. I could hear the nerves in my own words, but I don’t think Sidney did. I had to pull the phone away from my ear because Sidney was yelling so loud. A cold feeling came over me like I had been pushed into an icy river. My bottom lip trembled. I knew I was going to hell for this.

“Gigi! Gigi!” he was screaming. I closed my eyes. I didn’t realize I had been holding my breath. I felt fucking awful inside.

“Gigi . . . I need you to go into my safe at home!” Sidney sounded frantic and like he was crying. This shit was real, but I still pinched myself to make sure I wasn’t having a nightmare.

“Sidney . . . why are you yelling? What is going on?” I asked, acting stupid.

“Gigi!” Sidney cried out again. “Listen to me!!”

“What?! Tell me what is going on! Stop calling my name and tell me what’s going on!” I yelled back. I needed to let my fear and frustration out, so this was the perfect cover.

“Somebody has Arianna! Somebody snatched her! They said if I don’t give them four million dollars, she dies! They said if I go to the police, they will send me her body in a suitcase,” Sidney sobbed. He was coming completely undone. I felt my stomach drop. I closed my eyes and for just that minute, although I hated his kids, I felt kind of bad that this was all my doing. All to save my own ass from Warren.

“Oh, my God, Sidney! I think we should go to the police!” I yelped real phony-like. I only said that because I knew that would be the logical thing to say if I weren’t down with the kidnapping. Any normal stepmother would say call the cops.

“No! Absolutely not! I will give them every dime I have to save my daughter’s life!” Sidney screamed at me. That kind of made me feel bad. He really was a good person.

“Okay. Okay. Whatever you think is best,” I quickly agreed, relieved that he wasn’t going to mess up the plan by involving the police. I knew he was smarter than that.

“Calm down and tell me the safe combination,” I told him. Sidney had never trusted me enough before now to give me the combination to the safe that held his money. I was thinking good for his ass for not trusting me, but I kept my smart remarks to myself. Who knew this would be the circumstances it took to get into that damn big money safe. I had often wondered just how much money Sidney kept inside of the safe. I guess I was about to find out. Sidney rattled off the numbers and I punched them in on the safe’s digital lock pad. It didn’t work the first time.

“Are you sure you gave me the right numbers?” I asked. I heard Sidney breathe hard into the phone. “Honey, calm down and think first,” I told him. He rattled off another number combination. I punched those in and the little red light finally turned green on the safe. I turned the heavy metal knob and heard the lock give with a click. It was finally open. I pulled back the door to reveal the contents. My eyes lit up like a kid at Christmas when I pulled back that door and saw all of the cash Sidney had inside. I felt flush being exposed to that money. Money was the root of all evil, and trust me, all kinds of evil thoughts were running through my head at that moment.

“This muthafucka is truly fucking rich,” I mouthed silently. I grabbed a few of the stacks of cash out of the safe, held them up to my nose, and inhaled deeply. The smell of the money was intoxicating to say the least. It was the smell of freedom. I was in a stupor. I felt nostalgic holding that money. It was like old times again when I had my own money. I forgot I was even on the phone with Sidney, that’s how lost I was in the idea of that money in my hands.

“Gigi . . . there should be about five hundred thousand in those stacks there,” Sidney said, interrupting my daze. I blinked at the sound of his voice. The amount of money in my hand didn’t help keep my nerves at bay either.

“You sure? There seems to be less,” I lied as I rushed around the closet secreting a few stacks of cash inside three of my handbags. It was foul, I know, but so was all the other shit I’ve had to do over the years to survive. I figured that the cash, along with the few remaining diamonds, should secure my escape after all of this shit with Warren blew over. I wasn’t stupid enough to think that after this shit I could just continue to live my life as Mrs. Sidney Costner, happy wife. Plus, my mother was a wreck these days. Especially after she found out that I had also been assaulted. She was swearing to God that someone was going to kill us. I had told her to go stay with her best friend from church way out in the country, so I wasn’t worried about her at that minute, but I knew I would have to make a plan for her as well.

Things had gone from real good to real bad within a matter of days. I started realizing that Warren had always been right at the helm of everything that had ever gone bad in my life. When I walked out of college, it was because of Warren. The first time I got pregnant and had an abortion, it was by Warren. The first time I stayed out overnight without calling my mother, it was with Warren. And the biggest failure was getting arrested by the fucking feds because of some shit Warren had told me to do. Now, I was perpetrating the worst form of betrayal you could ever think of and why . . . because of Warren. Warren was a fucking bad omen in my life. Even now that there was a very strong possibility he was going to get his money for the diamonds back and then some, I still had a feeling that Warren was going to try some funny business even after he got his fucking money to pay the Africans. He seemed to have to cover for his actions, so him killing me and my mother wasn’t that far from my thoughts.

“Gigi, look again. I can’t remember taking anything out of there. I always kept the same amount in there just in case I ever need it for the business and can’t get to the bank,” Sidney said. I let out a long, exasperated breath.

“I don’t have time to count all of this money. I’m just saying it doesn’t seem like the amount you said,” I replied, annoyed.

“Okay, whatever it is . . . just put it in a bag and meet me at the dealership. Tell Ricco to bring you. They want the money by midnight or else they’ll do something bad to Arianna. I have to call my accountant and try to get my hands on some more money or else my baby girl will be dead by morning,” Sidney said nervously.

“Okay, I’ll be right there,” I said. I grabbed one of his big travel duffel bags and stacked the money inside. There was something overwhelmingly powerful about picking up a duffel bag filled with stacks of cash. So much so that I felt dizzy at first. God knows I wanted to take the fucking money, go get my mother, and get the fuck out of dodge. I could just leave and let Sidney and Warren hash out their problems. If Warren murdered Arianna as a result, oh well, I never liked her anyway. I could take the money and do better than I did with the proceeds of the diamonds. Yeah, that’s what I’d do . . . take that fucking money and disappear, but this time to some place in another country. Fuck it!

All of that was on my mind and I was really close to going through with it, but I thought better of it. Being the most wanted woman in America wasn’t on my list of life accomplishments. I guess I also had a little more heart than to just completely fuck Sidney over after all he’d done for me. Besides, I didn’t want to be on the run the rest of my life. Those years I spent watching my back all of the time after I ran from DC was stressful enough. Funny thing was, as soon as I eased up with watching my back, Warren found me. Life was crazy like that, I guess.