Chapter Twenty-nine
Millie stared out of the window, characteristically puffing on a cigarette with a smug look on her face. She was in deep thought and was alone in the spacious hotel room. Well, she did have one more person in the room with her, but he was soon to be dead. She ordered Baby and her crew to leave her alone with Rah so she could “catch up on old times.” Rah squirmed as his body was tightly duct taped to a wooden chair. Blood leaked from his left pinky and dripped onto the Berber carpet as he tried to call Millie a bitch, but couldn't because of the sock stuffed deep down his throat.
“I know what you're probably thinking. How did this dopefiend bitch catch me slipping, right?” Millie asked rhetorically as she left the window and slowly began to circle Rah, watching him as a lioness would her prey. Millie stopped directly in front of him and looked directly into his eyes. She pulled out the sock that was stuffed down his throat and Rah immediately began to cough violently.
“Where do that nigga stay? Tell me or it's
on to the next one!
” Millie joked as she repeated a rap lyric, totally having fun tormenting Rah, threatening to cut off the next finger. She pulled out the sharp pliers that she used to cut off his pinky a day before and waved them around, giving him one last chance to spill the beans before she played doctor and made a surgical cut. “Now, are you sure you ain't trying to come up off that info on your man?” Millie asked.
“Fuck you!” Rah yelled as he tried to break free from the chair, but it was to no avail because Baby had done a number on him. Baby made sure that Rah could never escape the situation on his own.
“You crazy bitch,” Rah said as he breathed heavily and began to feel lightheaded because of all the blood he had lost. Millie smiled and shrugged her shoulders.
“Suit yourself,” she said as she pulled out a cigarette and put a flame to it. She let it dangle from the left side of her mouth as she took a long pull and knelt down, casually grabbing Rah's finger. “Oh, I almost forgot,” Millie said just before she grabbed the sock and forced it down Rah's throat as he tried to turn his head away from her, but she managed to stuff it even further than before.
“Don't want the neighbors to hear, feel me?” Millie asked and she grabbed Rah's middle finger and placed it in between the pliers and looked up at him. “Give that nigga info up. I'm only going to ask you one more time.” Although Rah couldn't speak, he wanted to express how he felt. He just barely raised his middle finger slightly as his hands were duct taped together, flipping her off as a smile formed on his face. Without hesitation, Millie squeezed the pliers as hard as she could. The sound of his finger's bone cracking filled the air along with muffled screams and vigorous twitching and jerking. Millie yanked the pliers, trying to rip his finger off, and blood squirted six feet into the air. She yanked for a third time, squeezing even harder, causing his severed finger to fly across the room. Millie had gone mad; mad with revenge and hatred in her heart.
“You want to tell me now, homeboy?” Millie said calmly as she wiped the blood off her face and tossed the pliers onto the bed. She pulled the sock out of his mouth and waited for him to respond. Rah panted heavily as he sweated profusely. Only whimpers could escape his mouth as he began to drool on himself. He was in excruciating pain and began to black out because of the overwhelming pain. His head became heavy and he felt himself slipping out of consciousness.
“Seven is going to kill you, bitch,” he managed to whisper with pride just before he fainted and his chin hit his chest. Millie had to admit, she admired his courage but she also knew that she couldn't let Rah die. At least, not at that moment; she still needed him. He was her only connection to Seven and that was who she wanted badly. She smacked the hell out of him and screamed his name, trying to wake him up.
Smack!
“Rah! Don't die on me, you son of a bitch,” she yelled as she grabbed him by his jaws and raised his head up. Millie saw that Rah's eyes began to roll in the back of his head and she smacked her lips as she let his head drop back down to his chest. Obviously, her plan to squeeze the information out of Rah wasn't working so she decided to go with her plan B. Rah had a little secret back home. When Baby went through Rah's phone, he discovered baby pictures and text messages from a woman from Flint; Toya, to be exact. It just so happened that Rah was a new father. Millie anticipated Rah's stubbornness and loyalty, that's why she had already sent Baby and half of the crew to Flint to snatch up Toya and the baby for collateral. One way or another, Millie knew Rah was going to give up some info.
Just as Millie picked up her phone to call Baby, a blocked number was incoming and she smiled as she picked up the phone.
“Speak,” she said as she held the phone to her ear.
“Yo, who the fuck is this?” Seven said coldly into the phone.
“Hold up. Is that any way to talk to a lady?” Millie said sarcastically as she put her cigarette out on Rah's forehead and began to slowly pace the room.
“Bitch! Fuck you. Put your boss on the phone or whoever sent me this package.”
“Seven, relax. You don't remember me, honey?” Millie asked in a sweet voice, but was steadily getting heated by the second.
“What?” Seven asked, not understanding.
“Let me help you out. You tried to have me killed, but instead you . . .” Millie paused as she felt her eyes begin to water just at the thought of Hazel's painful death. She then clenched her jaws and shook the feeling off. “But instead you killed an innocent young lady for no good reason.”
The words were like darts to Seven's heart, being that he still had a heavy heart for what he had done to Hazel. He knew exactly who he was talking to. But never in a million years would he had thought that a dopefiend could get to him like Millie had just done. The phone was silent and the sound of Seven inhaling deeply was the only noise.
“Where the fuck is Rah?” Seven asked, quickly getting to the task at hand.
“We are about to play a little game. It's called . . . if you do not come to me, Rah is going to die a horrible death,” Millie said, indirectly getting straight to the point.
The sound of Seven laughing filled the phone's speakers. He already knew at that point Rah was going to die. But he also knew that Rah was one of the realest men he had the privilege of knowing and would never tell Millie about his whereabouts. Seven had positioned himself to never get caught slipping and Rah was the only link to him for an enemy to explore.
“Do you know who the fuck I am, Millie? Huh?” Seven said through his clenched teeth. “You can never touch me, believe that! I can touch you, though. That's a promise. So you do me a favor. Tell my nigga, Rah, I love him to death and real niggas do real things!” With that, Seven hung up the phone, leaving Millie with a dial tone. Millie couldn't believe what Seven had just done. Although Millie had Rah tied up, Seven was still in complete control. Millie threw her phone on the bed and in complete anger she punched Rah square in his nose to take out her frustrations. He was still unconscious, so he didn't feel it, but Millie did as she shook her hand in pain. She had punched him so hard that she broke his nose and also her pointer finger. Millie knew that she would take it to extreme measures to get to Seven and she was willing to go as far as she had to avenge Hazel's death. She was about to get to Seven one way or another. But in the meantime, she was about to cut his legs from under him by taking over his blocks. Lady Luck was about to fill the streets of Columbus, Ohio and she knew that a hustler's worst nightmare was a decline in business.
Chapter Thirty
“Wake up!” Baby said as he threw a bucket of ice-cold water onto Rah. Rah had been out for almost a whole day. He slowly raised his head and it took a few seconds for him to regain his focus and remember where he was. He looked up at Baby who had a slight smirk on his face and was looking down at him.
“Got a surprise for you,” Baby said as he looked back at Millie. Rah's eyes focused on Millie and he saw Millie cradling an infant in her arms and rocking slowly while looking down at the child. Rah got a glimpse of the baby's face and knew immediately that it was his newborn son.
“If you touch him, I'llâ” Rah screamed as his heart dropped to the floor.
“Shhhh!” Millie said as she looked at Rah, while continuing to rock the baby. “You don't want to wake the baby,” Millie whispered as she smiled, knowing that she had won the battle. When she saw the pained look in Rah's eyes, she knew that she would get the information she needed to kill Seven.
“Just let him go! He has nothing to do with this,” Rah pleaded.
“He has everything to do with this. Now, you have a choice. You can come up off that information or you can kiss your son good-bye. I'll send his ass right where I already sent your baby's mother,” Millie said, insinuating that she had killed Toya. Actually, Millie didn't kill Toya, who was tied up in the next room over. Millie didn't want to kill innocent bystanders, just wanted to use them as collateral. By the looks of things, her plan had worked like a charm because Rah instantly broke down in tears at the sound of Toya being dead.
“Okay, okay,” Rah whispered as he dropped his head in shame.
“What?” Millie said as her face lit up.
“I said okay! I'll do it. I'll tell you. Just let my son go!” he pleaded as he let the tears flow, but never whimpered. Millie quickly handed the infant over to Baby and got on her knees, directly in front of Rah. She grabbed him harshly by his jaws and pressed the issue.
“Where is he?” she asked as she felt her adrenaline began to pump.
“3702 Vanderbilt Way. It's in a small suburb called Sudbury, right outside of Columbus,” Rah admitted. He dropped his head and shook it in shame, hating that he had just told them about Seven's safe haven. “He has security and cameras everywhere on the property. The only way you can get him is through his parking garage. It's the only place he doesn't have cameras.” Millie quickly looked at Lovie who was sitting in the corner of the room and threw her head in the direction of the door, signaling her to check out to see if what Rah said was true.
“It's already evident that I am going to kill you eventually. However, if you're telling the truth, your family will live. But, if you're lying to me . . . I feel sorry for them,” Millie said as she stood up and began to put her plan in motion. She grabbed the infant from Baby and walked out, going over to the next room where Toya was tied up, waiting.
Chapter Thirty-one
Three weeks later, Rah's body was found hanging from a telephone pole on the same block that he once controlled. Millie was sending a message and letting people know there was a new regime in Columbus, Ohio. Millie's crew was judge, juror, and executioner and that was unmistakable. With Rah's death, Seven lost a brother and his best friend. Millie kept her word and let Rah's baby live, dropping him at a random hospital, but Toya wasn't so lucky. She was also found dead in a hotel room, while tied to a chair with a single shot to the head. Once Seven got the news, he knew that his empire was crumbling, but what he couldn't understand was how Millie did it. Little did he know, she had one of the most ruthless crews Baltimore had ever seen on her side and Millie's street IQ was equivalent to a scholar's Harvard degree in academics. He had finally met his match, so he went into seclusion after burying Rah properly, along with his baby's mother. Seven's blocks had all been stripped away from him. He had no more territory throughout Columbus. It all seemed to happen so fast. Seven decided to leave all of his dope in the streets and not try to collect on what he had fronted hustlers throughout the city. Millie had the whole city on lock and Seven's paranoia was at an all-time high. He stood at the edge of his yacht smoking a blunt, ready to set sail. He was going to use this time to reflect and regroup.
Millie smiled as she sat back and looked at the small metal remote in her hand that had a red button on it. It was a detonator to the bombs she had placed under Seven's yacht. Millie had sent her goon to Seven's house a week earlier and put tracking devices on his cars so they could know his whereabouts and set him up perfectly for his demise. Millie watched Seven closely, waiting for the best time to send him to his grave. She wanted his death to be special . . . to be classic. She owed that to her Hazelnut. Millie knew Seven was scheduled to set sail that afternoon and couldn't wait to give him his big surprise. He would never get a chance to leave that dock on that day and Millie was anticipating blowing him up and sending him to his maker. She sat at an Italian restaurant with her crew as they celebrated their win and last day in Ohio. Bottles of the house's most expensive champagne lined up on the table. Millie felt the feeling of sweet victory.
“Ohio was nice, but I'm ready to go back home to B-more,” Millie said as she sat at the head of the table. “This is to life,” Millie said as she raised her glass.
“To life!” Baby said as he smiled. Baby looked at Millie and placed his hand on top of hers under the table. Millie smiled and felt a tingle go up her back. At that moment, for the first time, she looked at Baby in a different light. She loved him from the bottom of her heart and his loyalty and realness was unmatched. She knew she had a real nigga on her team and she respected it. Everyone at the table downed the drink and the celebration continued for the next hour.
Millie looked outside and the line of luxury cars were being pulled up from the valet so they could leave. She made a couple of her goons stay in Ohio to continue what she had started and they were to be her lieutenants and hold down Ohio while she, Baby, and Lovie were going to return to Baltimore. Millie's drug empire had just expanded, and what she thought was going to be a personal trip to Ohio for revenge ended being a lucrative business trip, too. Perfect!
The waitress brought Millie the bill and placed the bag of her unfinished food at her feet.
“Thanks for coming. Have a nice night,” the waitress said just before she turned around and left toward the back. Millie smiled and took the bill as she and Baby remained at the table as everyone prepared to leave. Millie left a crisp hundred-dollar bill as a tip for the nice waitress. Millie was about to head out, but had one more thing to do. She looked at the detonator and smiled and so did Baby.
“I have been waiting for this for so long,” Millie said as she looked at the device.
“I know. You ready?” Baby asked as he smiled and playfully punched Millie in the arm.
“Yeah,” Millie said as she smiled and took a deep breath.
“I'ma let you make that call alone. I'ma pull the car to the front door and will be waiting for you. We got a long drive,” Baby said as he stood up and watched the whole crew make their way to the exit. Baby started to leave, but Millie stopped him.
“Baby!” she said as she looked into his eyes.
“What up, ma?” he asked as he stopped in his tracks and looked back at her.
“I love you,” Millie said. But the way she said it, it wasn't a platonic “I love you” and they both sensed that. Baby smiled and his heart began to flutter. He had been waiting on that day for many years if Millie knew it or not.
“I know. I love you too, Millie,” he said as he walked up to her and gently cradled the back of her neck. He slowly kissed her soft, full lips and let his tongue slide into hers. Millie felt chills and her love button began to thump at the feel of his lips pressed against hers. With that, Baby left to get the car, leaving Millie sitting there, smiling. Millie took another deep breath and watched him leave. She then picked up her phone to give Seven his big surprise. She picked up her secured phone and called.
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Seven stood at the edge of his yacht ready to set sail. He looked back at his newly hired, elderly Spanish maid, who was rocking Rah Jr. to sleep. Seven smiled knowing that Big Rah would have appreciated him taking responsibility for his son.
Real niggas do real things,
lingered in Seven's head; a creed that he and Rah lived and died by.
“Let me see him, Wilma,” Seven said as he smiled and opened his arms. She brought the baby to him and Seven grabbed him and kissed him on the forehead.
“I'ma raise you as one of my own, li'l man,” Seven whispered as he looked down at the baby, who already had resemblance to his father. Seven stared into the water and gave the deck worker thumbs up, signaling him to lift the anchor so they could set sail. All of a sudden, Seven's phone rang and he looked at the caller ID, which was blocked. He knew exactly who it was.
“Hello,” he said as he placed the phone between his ear and shoulder and began to rock the baby.
“You took the only thing that I had good in my life, when you took Hazel. Do you know that?” Millie asked.
“Look, Millie. I never meant to hurt Hazel. That pack was meant for you. Do you know that I think about that girl every single day? She is the first thing on my mind when I wake up and the last thought in my head before I go to sleep. I know I will have to suffer for what I did, but who are you to decide what it is? Huh?” Seven asked, really wanting to tell Millie how he felt about Hazel for once and for all. “That is the only woman who ever captured my heart. The only one! I will always love her!”
“Yeah, but it's too late for all of that. I just wanted to hear your voice before you die. I hope you rot in hell,” Millie said as she clenched her jaws so tight, it seemed as if she would crack a tooth.
Seven laughed and continued to rock the baby. “Remember when I told you I was untouchable? Believe that! I ain't new to this, I'm true to this,” Seven said.
“See you in hell,” Millie said as she stared out of the restaurant's window, looking at her crew smiling and joking while getting into their cars. Millie pushed the red button and waited to hear the thundering sounds of explosives just before she heard a dial tone. The C4 dynamites that Millie's goons placed under Seven's boat were enough to blow him up, three times over. The sounds of explosions went off, but not from Seven's boat . . . from the cars of her crew, including Baby. Millie's heart broke in half as she saw her whole crew go up in flames right before her eyes. Her hands began to shake as she dropped the detonator. She was speechless, frozen in astonishment while watching the flying metal parts and fireballs form from the explosion.
“I see you're not talking as much these days, huh?” Seven said as he thought back to a week earlier, when he watched Millie's goons sneak into his garage and place devices under his cars. He sat back and watched them on his surveillance camera while laughing. All the time Millie thought she was watching Seven, he was watching her. He knew that Rah was aware of how he would closely survey his parking garage and Rah ultimately helped Seven when the battle. Rah knew exactly what he was doing when he gave Millie the info on Seven.
“I told you I was untouchable, bitch. You just killed you whole crew by pushing that button,” Seven said smoothly and calmly. Millie fell onto the floor completely shocked at the turn of events. She listened to Seven's words and they were killing her softly.
“If I was you, I would get the hell out of there,” Seven said as he started up the yacht's engine and slowly pulled out of the dock. “I want you to look at your feet and into that bag you got right there,” Seven suggested.
Millie did as he said and looked into the big paper bag that the waitress had given her. She saw a stack of Styrofoam takeout boxes. Millie then opened one up and saw bricks of dope inside of the boxes. “What the fuck?” she whispered as she couldn't believe her eyes.
“Now I want you to look at the back entrance,” Seven said, just before he hung up the phone and continued to sail with a big smile on his face.
Once Millie turned around she saw Feds with labeled bulletproof vests on, rushing into the restaurant with their guns drawn. She dropped the phone and held her head up high
. I'm still a bad bitch,
Millie thought as she fully understood that karma had just come full circle.
“Freeze, bitch! Put your hands up where I can see them!” an officer yelled. Millie had no choice but to grin at Seven's antics. Seven had outwitted her and outplayed her in the chess-like street game.
“Motherfucka!” Millie whispered as she put her hands up and shook her head from side to side. The federal agents rushed her and confiscated ten bricks of raw heroin, which was a guaranteed life sentence. Seven knew he could have killed Millie, but he wanted her to live and suffer, just as he would have to do for the remainder of his life. The game was over and so is the story for now.