The Golden Chalice (6 page)

Michelle rose, furious
. “
There has to be money. You’re lying. I don’t know what deal Pops made with you, but that job was ace. You owe us
!”

“
You don’t negotiate with me
!”
Lee seethed
. “
You need to know your place, little girl. I deal with Pops and him only. And there is no getting out, Michelle. You and your father work with me on my terms or you don’t work at all
!”

She blinked at him with raw hurt in her eyes. He hadn’t wanted to hurt her. Or maybe he had. He just wanted the damn kid out of his face. She had him on edge
. “
Get out
!”

Michelle grabbed her backpack and walked out, slamming the door
.

Lee clenched his fist and accepted his misery, but Michelle never did. He opened his eyes and returned his gaze to her. She turned over and rolled in close to him. Her arm went around his waist; her face rested in his lap. Lee stroked her head. He knew she was semi-awake, enough to hear what he needed to say. “I want you to know that I plan to keep my promise. I only waited until you were better. But I plan to honor my promise. I’ll let Sasha out of the family. You can take her where you choose. I won’t go with you. Give you some of the freedom you need from me. And you’ll come back…. And we start over.”

She lifted her head and peered up at him. “You’ll let her go.”

Lee struggled to keep the emotion out of his voice. “I can’t let you go, Michelle. I know it’s not what you want to hear, but I won’t do it. Never.”

She nodded.

Lee slid down and rolled on top of her. She parted her legs and he slipped inside her, kissing her deeply. Michelle’s hands were gentle. Softly and sweetly, she moved beneath him as he plunged deeper. His tongue escaped and made a path down her neck. She arched under him and he sought her nipple, while his dick tunneled, stroking in and out of her. Her heartbeat throbbed beneath her breast, into his mouth. Lee rolled his tongue over her nipple and sucked her areola ’til she panted. Her breasts heaved and her pussy went from tight and warm to soft and pliant. His thrusts became erratic, hurried movements that sent the headboard to banging against the wall. She clung to him, arms and legs wrapped around his body, thrashing as he buried his face into her shoulder and shuddered out the biggest release of love he could give her. Lee allowed himself to weep, silently, into her shoulder. She’d think it sweat and not tears against her skin.

He should let her go. Set her free. A better man would. But he would never let go of the happiness and hope she unknowingly gave him.

“Lee? Lee, are you okay?”

“Mmm.” He pressed his face to her chest before lifting his head. She frowned, looking up at him curiously. Lee forced a smile, or hoped he did before he dropped off her.

Michelle drew the sheet away and rolled to escape him, possibly to wash away his seed.

“Stay.”

She looked at him.

“I want another baby. Give me one.”

She blinked at him, and his request thickened the tension between them before she spoke. “No, Lee. Never again.” She rose and left him alone. Lee closed his eyes allowing the answer to repeat, both in and out of his head.

“Never again.”

***

The sunlight, a soft touch to her closed lids, warmed her face, drawing her out of another fitful sleep. When she slept, she dreamed. When she dreamed, she remembered. Her lashes parted a fraction, and opened. Michelle waited for her vision to adjust to surroundings she didn’t immediately recognize.

Slowly, her mind woke. Her body was the first to sound the alarm. The familiar aches of sex made her thigh muscles tight.

“Lee?”

She found herself alone. Dropping her head to her pillow, she wasn’t surprised. She’d welcomed him in last night, knowing if she did, she’d be his. Rolling over, she sighed. Her hand went over her eyes.

Michelle could feel his phantom thrusts, his kisses, his hands perusing her curves. Hear his voice in her ear, whispering promises she didn’t need. The playback was too much. She pressed the heels of her palms into her eyes and forced him out of her head.

It worked. Michelle sucked in a deep breath and lowered her hands. The covers were gathered at her hip so she crossed her arms over her exposed breasts. There she sat in the center of his bed, completely alone.

The dogs slept, heads tucked under paws, their diamond collars glistening on their necks.

She stared at the patterned molding of the ceiling. His promise: her key. One she planned to use. Sometime in the night, he’d left. She’d felt the bed shift after she’d showered and scrubbed away traces of sex from her skin, heard him breathe a heavy sigh to her refusal to hold him or comfort him. She’d roll over and fuck him but when it was done, so was she. That troubled Lee. It troubled her. Who were they now?

There was a knock at the bedroom door, soft rapping of knuckles. She closed her eyes and ignored it.

“Michelle?” Sasha stuck her head in. “You ’sleep?”

Michelle sighed. “What is it?” Of course it would be her foolish, misunderstood baby sister who was constantly in need of her reassurance. If it weren’t for her promise to Pops to keep Sasha safe, her life would have never made this U-turn.

“Lee’s gone, so I thought maybe we could have breakfast together? To, um, talk?”

Sasha entered and the Dobermans’ heads lifted. Lupe snarled. Evita rose from her corner, ears raised. Her sister stood there frozen in the dogs’ sights. The animals’ bared teeth warned she should not come closer. Michelle didn’t bother to calm them. They wouldn’t attack unless she ordered them to, though her agitation had now become their own.

“Leave,” she exhaled in a throaty, morning voice.

“I know you said…I…I listened to the tape.” Sasha held up the tape recorder. “I heard Pops’ final words…it was so hard to hear him again.”

How many times in that hospital had she replayed the message left for her on the tape recorder? Listened to her father’s words and remembered all the years before. The ones minus the diamond chase, when it was just Pops who made pancakes and helped her and Sasha with their homework. Living out of motels where she, at only nine, had to clean up his vomit and feed her baby sister from vending machines.

Eventually, Pops progressed to better jobs, where she and Sasha attended private schools and were chauffeured around in limos. And Pops’ gambling debts would yo-yo them from rags to riches. Those were the sweet times in between the chaos, when they had a place of their own, rooms of their own, and a father who combed their hair and danced with them to tunes on his favorite transistor radio. It would all crumble in a blink when the drinking and gambling started up again and they would be on the run. Memories. Michelle had more than she cared to carry.

“I miss him, too,” Sasha said.

Michelle chuckled. She narrowed her scope of vision to the recorder and lifted her gaze to Sasha. She wasn’t as sharply dressed as before. No, her sister arrived free of makeup, her hair flat and listless. She wore a white shirt and blue jeans. She looked as she did when they were just Pops’ girls.

“I can’t imagine what you’ve been through these past weeks. All the heartache you’ve suffered. But it’s over now. Even Lee says so. That score, it was the biggest. It was nirvana….” Sasha sighed. She took another step and Evita barked and snarled. Immediately, Sasha stilled. “I wish there was something I could do or say.”

“There isn’t.”

Sasha’s gaze roamed from the sheets, Michelle’s disheveled hair, her partial nudity, and then to the dogs. “So, um…you two together?”

Michelle laughed. “You could say that.”

“You watch the news? The Feds made an arrest. Some nobody trying to take your shine, claiming he did the job all by himself. As if he could! He confessed. Can you believe they are buying that bullshit?”

Michelle looked on.

“Do you hate me? Is it that bad between us?”

“No. It’s worse because I don’t feel much of anything anymore.”

“I—”

“Don’t bother. If you listened to the tape, you know what Pops wanted. His warning…so it’s like this, little sister. Pack a bag. You get your start-over. I paid for it in blood.”

“Start over? What are you talking about?”

Michelle drew the sheet away and rose from the bed, nude. Evita walked over, sniffing at her feet. She stretched and looked to Sasha as if she just remembered her presence. “Lee’s letting you go.”

“Go? Where…? I don’t want to go.”

“That was the deal, Sasha. You’re going to be free.”

“And you, what about you?” Sasha stepped cautiously forward.

Michelle stroked the top of the dog’s head. “Oh, don’t you worry about me. I always land on my feet.” She turned and went to the bathroom without a backward glance. Behind the closed door, she waited and listened for the bedroom door to close. When it did, she exhaled. Michelle stepped to the mirror and faced herself, something she was finding increasingly hard to do.

***

“He’s overseas, Lee. What the fuck do you expect? The man isn’t stupid.”

“Retribution. Revenge. Do I need to run it down for you? He made a play against my family, almost cost me my woman.” Lee clenched his fist. He held tight to his anger. Maintaining his outward sense of control took more strength than he’d initially imagined.

“Ah, so it’s all about Chocolat.” Escobar’s gaze sharpened. His irises glimmered like cut onyx. “How is your diamond star?”

“Recovering,” Lee said in a stilted breath. He was no fool. Word traveled fast in their world. Michelle had done the impossible. Her latest heist made her the most hunted and desired thief among them. Protecting her would now have to be his life’s work—and he could fail. He sensed it.

“Cumminskey. I want to know where he’s hiding. Who’s protecting him?”

“Right, the motherfucker went too far.” Escobar nodded. He drank a bit of his scotch. The amber liquid glistened in the glass and the ice cubes clinked. Escobar released a satisfied sigh. “I agree he’s got someone helping him. I doubt it’s one of our own. Everyone’s pissed about Rawhead.”

His clenched fist, a tense ball of fury, relaxed. Lee exhaled his frustration and blinked the weary dryness from his eyes. He hadn’t slept. After making love to her until she refused his touch, he lay in the darkness and watched her. She didn’t know him. None of them did. The lengths he’d go to avenge their child knew no bounds.

One quick glance at the time on his watch confirmed he needed to end this meeting. Michelle would be up soon. He wanted to be there when she woke. Hold her a little longer. Lee looked over to Escobar when he spoke. “We do what we do with immunity because we believe in the code. Cumminskey doesn’t. He knows too much about us all, about The Order, to be allowed to run rogue. He needs to be dealt with. He’s put us all at risk.”

“Like breaking into the Briscol Bank puts us all at risk?” Escobar slipped Lee an icy, accusatory glare.

“The murder of Rawhead goes against the grain. There’s no harmony in our business now, Escobar.”

Escobar took another sip of scotch. The men sat in silence for a long pause. “How about you do some house-cleaning of your own first, before you make demands?” His coal-black gaze returned to Lee. “Cumminskey didn’t strike against you cold. Someone gave him the heat. Told him the inside plans of your operation. You expect us to help you deal with this mess when you got a traitor in your ranks?”

“You got a name?”

“Look to your left hand,” Escobar drawled. “I hear he’s the one that gave you up.”

“Hear anything else?”

“Not enough to confirm it. Word has it another player is moving in on us all. Nigerians who happen to be fond of scorpions. Think about it, Lee, who on your team has the balls to go after you from the inside?”

Lee shifted in his seat. He felt a tightening in his throat. Abahti had proved to be the most loyal of anyone he’d known since Pops. He’d trust him with his life. But the life of his woman? He had begun to wonder.

“You plan to deal with this?” Escobar pressed. A wicked smirk played at the corner of his mouth.

“I’ll handle it. I want a drop on Cumminskey first. He’s a wild card for us all and you know it.”

“Since you scored the Chalice?” Escobar smirked.

“Let’s say I rolled sevens. I got the power, the woman, the Chalice.” Lee locked eyes with Escobar. “Doesn’t make me weak. That kind of luck makes a man dangerous. Anybody goes after Chocolat or another member of my family and they’ll find out how dangerous.” Lee reached for the door handle. “Get me the information I need. Tell them all it’s on me.”

“Fuck yeah it is,
hombre
…all on you.”

That said, he exited the limo and crossed the parking lot to the open door of his chauffeured car. Easing inside next to Abahti, he cut him a look. “Any word on how Cumminskey knew about the heist? Who in my organization gave me up?”

“No. Working on it.”

Lee stared a minute longer. “Of course you are.”

***

The knock was the same. Two knocks followed by three repeated ones. That’s all it took. You had to be a regular of the Snow White to know the passkey. Kumar’s eyes slipped past a young woman strolling down the hall. In these projects, a baby carriage could be misleading. She wore a puffed jacket and hood, large gold hoop earrings with her name written in cursive through the middle. She popped her gum and gave him the eye but kept going. He let go of the breath he was holding.

A trip downtown this time of day was the only good way he could score. Dealers, his in particular, had an aversion to daylight. He’d be lucky if anyone answered.

The slot at the door slid open.

“Yo?”

He just slipped in a tight roll of bills.

The slot closed.

Kumar waited.

The slot opened and his goodie bag was tossed. It’s how it went. Easy and clean. No hassle. He shoved the plastic baggie in his front jean pocket, popped the collar to his jacket, and poked his hands in the pockets. He dashed out the way he came, down the cramped hall and along the stairs. Slipping through the door, he realized the risk was greater than it ever had been. If Lee ever uncovered his secret, he’d be a dead man. And Kumar refused to think of a life without Sasha. Betraying her trust worried him more than Lee. Without her love, he’d been a dead man walking.