Payback Ain't Enough (27 page)

“Hello, Mrs. Whittaker,” I said as I approached the table in the conference room of the DEA’s office. She turned around with glossy eyes, and her nerves seemed to be frazzled as she stood up to shake my hand.

“Please, call me Joy.”

I gave her a quick shake, and then sat down.

“I just want all of this to be over,” she stated as she slid the paper across the table.

“Don’t worry. I made a promise to your husband that I would take care of this for him.”

“So when do I get my money?”

“It will be deposited in your account by midnight,” I said as I opened the folded paper. When I saw the names on it I could have choked on my own saliva.

“Have you found my husband’s body?”

“Not yet. But we are on it.”

As Joy got up from the table she looked me in the eyes and said, “I may be a widow in pain, but trust and believe, I am not a fool. That list has been duplicated several times, along with the names of cops, informants and witnesses. Don’t fuck with me, detective. And I want my husband’s body. He deserves a decent funeral,” she threatened before walking away.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

I heard all of the commotion, and it felt as if my bones were shaking. I didn’t know if I wanted to stay in the kitchen or run out the back door. But I did know that my party was ruined. That’s why I hated these Detroit niggas. They never just come out and have a good time. Just as I decided to run out of the back door, the kitchen door swung open and this big dude wearing black sweatpants and a hoodie came barging in. His baseball cap was down low on his face.

“Your name Redbone, right?” he asked me. I was so scared, I couldn’t part my lips. When I wouldn’t answer, he asked, “You the one on the posters, right? Yeah, you her.” He pulled out a gun and came toward me. I started screaming.

“Don’t scream now, bitch! I didn’t hear yo’ ass scream when you jacked Cisco’s package. Look at me, bitch.” He took off his hat. “Do I look familiar?” My eyes grew as I thought back to the day I saw him. “Yeah, you do remember me, bitch.
You looked me dead in the face when you reached over me and took those bags. That was a major loss for me.” He put the gun to my head.

“I got your money. I got your dope,” I stammered, scared for my life as well as the one life of my unborn child.

“Where is it?”

“It’s at my house. Please don’t shoot me.”

“Bitch, the only thing I want is your life.” I heard him release one into the chamber.

The kitchen door flew open. Talk about captain-save-a-ho. Briggen was right on time. I had never been so happy to see my husband. I was having one of them life-flashing-across-your-eyes moments that people say you have right before you die. Brianna, Peanut, my baby and the one in my stomach.

The sound of gunfire snapped me out of my trance. Tears immediately started to run down my cheeks. Briggen had stepped in, arm raised like it was nothing and let one off. The nigga’s arm flew up, and his gun went off, hitting the ceiling. He could have shot me, I thought. This lame’s blood splattered all over me before I dropped to the floor, screaming again. But this time, I couldn’t hear myself, and then everything went black.

Me and Boomer were sitting in Tiny’s living room. To think I was ever considering giving Nick some play. He let Tiny turn him out just like that. She was able to be all in his phone and gave us Nick’s connect number. His name was Bronson. Boomer and I were going to take a trip to Canada to see him.

I gave her an envelope filled with ten stacks and stood up. “Thanks, girl. Your work is done.”

“Aww, are you sure?” she pouted. “I’m practically living with the nigga. You want anything else? I mean, name it, because I could get it.”

“Nope. That will do it for now.” I gave her a hug and we left.

I was tripping because he told her that Briggen’s wife did stumble on Cisco’s package and money. He said the girl kept all of the money but gave him the dope. He had sold it all but only gave her half the money and he used the other half to put toward what he needed to establish himself with this new connect. So, in my mind, I didn’t see no other way to deal with him but to take him out. He also shared with her his plan to take over and to get everyone warring with each other.
Damn
. I would have never pegged this nigga for the type to get pussy whipped… But pillow talk? He really ain’t a “G” after all. Boomer said I needed to be in his spot. Pulling moves like that, the nigga had to know that his days were numbered. It was time to put all this shit out on the table. And because of that I had called for an immediate sit-down, and everybody had showed up except for Cisco.

“Your boss don’t have the respect to show up at an emergency meeting?” Boomer asked Dark.

“Like I said, he ain’t my boss, and he’s on vacation,” Dark answered snidely.

“Janay, this better be good. I left the golf course to come here,” Born said causing everyone else to start bitching and screech, “Golf?”

“Yeah, muthafuckas,
golf
,” he shot back.

“If it wasn’t urgent I wouldn’t have called everyone,” I snapped.

Everyone sat down and got situated. After I called the meeting to order, to my surprise, in walked Nick.

“This muthafucka,” I heard Six-Nine mumble.

“Y’all called a meeting to discuss me, and I wasn’t invited?
Tsk. Tsk.
Shame on all of you.” He took his time looking at everyone in the room. He had the floor, and he knew it.

“What the fuck you mean, shame on you? You’re the one who ain’t playing fair,” I told him.

“Fair? Girl, this is
The Game.
And you do whatever it takes to win. It’s about winning.”

“We will see about that. This meeting is for us to do a little housecleaning. Have a seat, Nick,” I replied nice and calm as I waited for him to sit down. I looked around the room and focused on Dark. “Didn’t your boss get the memo? We needed him here. Like Boomer said, the meeting is mandatory.”

Dark looked around the room at everyone. Then he said, “I’m glad this meeting was called because I have an update. Cisco is no longer in charge of this family.”

“You know the rules, youngin’. Cisco has to appoint you, and he should have been here to do that,” Boomer told him.

“Cisco is gone. He won’t be coming back. Everyone here should be able to read between the lines.” He shut up so we could digest what he had just said. “But that ain’t the issue at hand.” He leaned in and sipped on his drink.

“Then what is the issue?” Six-Nine asked him. “I told him he needed to keep a close eye on you. It’s obvious that he didn’t listen.”

“He obviously didn’t,” Dark said to Six-Nine. “The issue is, apparently before he left us, he made a list with all of our names on it. The nigga gave the list to his wife and told her if she didn’t hear from him within a particular amount of time to get the list to the appropriate people.”

“Appropriate people, meaning who?” I asked.

Dark peered over at me and smirked as if to say, “You dumb bitch.”

“Appropriate people, as in law enforcement,” Born answered my question.

What? I ain’t going back to prison
, I thought, trying my best to keep my game face on in front of The Consortium. “And why would he do that?”

“He obviously did listen to you, Six,” Boomer said.

“A list? Are you sure?” I didn’t want to believe what I was hearing. “How do we know your informant ain’t on no snake shit?”

“I spoke to her. That informant is his wife. She called my cell phone and told me. She was distraught, and I can only suspect the worst from her,” Dark said. “Also she works for this congressman named Duffy.”

Well, I’ll be damned. Cisco was married to some disgruntled chick that has our names on some damn list, who works for a congressman who was trying to move up. And to make shit worse, the list would be an asset to this congressman’s career and whoever else could benefit from it politically, I was sure. But I still couldn’t figure out how the fuck we let something as crucial as that slip right past us.

“Anybody else have something to share with us before we discuss why I called you all here?” I had to get back to the issue that was at the top of my list, and that was Nick.

Briggen let out a chuckle. “So, that means that Cisco is gone, and you are the nigga responsible for sending dude to my wife’s party? She’s pregnant, man!” Just that quick Briggen looked as if he was foaming at the mouth. Dark was up and out of his seat, they had their guns drawn on each other. I never saw uncle Boomer move so fast in all my life.

“Not here, youngins! We are in a hotel. Y’all settle this on y’all’s time!”

“You damn right, I’ma settle this shit.” Briggen flashed a smile at Dark as he put his gun away.

A smile? That’s a dangerous nigga in my book. Even though they both sat down, Boomer remained standing over where they were. I had gotten word that they were burning and shooting each other’s shit down all over the city. For us to supposedly be working together on the same team, I couldn’t see it. These niggas were all crazy.

“Anybody else got something?” I asked. And since no one spoke up, I said. “Okay, other than Melky’s people trying to run me off the road I want everyone to know that Nick here has an announcement to make.” I turned to Nick. “I’m glad you decided to join us, and I’m glad that you are willing to give us an update. The floor is yours.”

Nick stood up and scanned the room. “Relax, everybody. What I’m about to say ain’t all that bad. I’ve been serving you all for quite some time.” He turned toward Dark. “Before Cisco left us, he made a failed attempt to do what I’ve managed to accomplish. You all didn’t appear to be mad at him, so I expect the same cooperation.” He paused. “I want to be the connect, the number one supplier. And I hope that business can continue as normal. I—”

“How can it continue as normal when you raised the price twenty percent? I think that’s kind of steep,” Born interrupted. “Don’t y’all?”

Everyone started talking at the same time.

“Hold up. Hold up, everybody,” Nick stated calmly. “I took the percentage into consideration. I did. And I’ve decided to cut it to fifteen percent,” he said, and then sat down.

In my opinion, fifteen percent was being greedy. I couldn’t wait to talk to this Bronson guy myself. Through all of this, I did notice that Briggen was shooting Nick daggers throughout the meeting. That was a surprise because I thought they are boys. There was more conversation between everyone, but I had blocked them all out. I felt as if my back was up against the wall. For this shit to be worth my while, I needed to be at the top of the food chain, which meant moving into dangerous territory by trying to undercut Nick and go to his connect. But once I did, there would be no turning back.

I was up and out of there shortly after Nick made his announcement. I couldn’t wait to have a sit-down with Mr. G. He had assured me that whenever I was ready to make a move to let him know.

I had to go check on Shan. She was still very much shaken up so the little flashy party-promotin’ girl wouldn’t even leave the house. I tried to tell her that this shit wasn’t no game. Now she seemed to understand. She was lucky she didn’t lose her life. Even though four people were shot, no one died except for the one nigga I popped.

I pulled up in front of Mia’s. She was standing in the doorway. I rolled the window down. “I gotta check on Shan, but I got your text to stop by. What’s up?” She came to the car with an attitude, of course. I hadn’t been back to her house since the Halloween fiasco.

“I received a message from your boy behind the wall.”

“And?”

“He said that some nigga named Dark killed your brother. He said he’s sure that you know him.”

I sat there thinking about what she had just told me, and it all made sense. Dark was too smart for his own good. He got with Cisco, learned the ropes, got in with The Consortium, rubbed shoulders with the players and took Cisco out. But who had him do Forever? And why?” That was still unclear to me. And why was this nigga just telling me this. I rolled my window up and pulled out of the driveway. Too much shit was going on for me.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

I lay on the couch crying and had been in my bed for the last few days. I never had a gun to my head before and never wanted to experience that again. I was still waking up in cold sweats. What also devastated me was the fact that my party ended up being a total failure. Because of all of the drama that went down, the people who had hired me to do their events had pulled out. Every last one of them muthafuckas cancelled. As a promoter, I was finished before I ever got started.

I heard Briggen’s truck pull into the driveway. He had been keeping a close eye on me. I was so glad that I had enough sense to not give the police my new address. Our next-door neighbor said that they had been coming by our other house every day. I couldn’t have cared less.

“Shan, you awake?” I heard Brig’s voice coming toward where I lay. “Hey, baby, I’m glad to see that you got out of
that bed. But now you moved from the bed to the couch. That’s progress,” Briggen said to me as he leaned down and kissed me on the forehead.