What Da Lick Read? The Triple Cross (32 page)

Just as they sat down and were beginning to talk, Reality, D.J. and Toe-Toe rushed in. Reality spoke first.

“Where is Pop-Pop, we were all called and told to rush over here. Is
Killa
okay?”

Ponchees stood up and Khalil walked into the waiting room.

“Killian is fully awake now and he is asking for Leigh. I wanted everyone to be here for support when I tell him that she didn’t survive the accident. Let’s go upstairs.”

Everyone got up and went to the elevator and headed upstairs. Sam stayed downstairs with her phone in her hand. She had put out word to her connect to locate
Beautiful’s
last known address and place of work. Someone needed to be watching her every move and all of her interactions. There is no way in hell that she was wreaking all of this havoc by herself.

Killian knew something wasn’t right as he looked at all the faces of the people surrounding his hospital bed. Everyone was there except for Leigh. The somber mood swallowed up the air in the room and it seemed as if his chest was getting tight. He pulled his oxygen mask up over his face and took in a few breaths before releasing it again.

“I lost a leg. I’m a young nigga getting money; I can buy another one of those. I can buy all y’all an extra leg. Y’all are acting like someone died or something.” He was hurt that he lost his leg but he was trying to lighten the mood a little bit.

Tears flowed down Toe-Toe’s face. He turned and faced the wall as he wiped them away. One of the things that had drawn him to
Killa
was the fact that he had a big heart and he was a soldier. But right now, he was about to become the world’s worst enemy. A soldier with a chip on his shoulder and no heart at all was a killing machine and the streets of Atlanta will never be ready for what is about to transpire.

Khalil had found Leigh’s mom just as she was coming to check on Killian before she left the hospital. She had informed him that all of Leigh’s viable organs were being harvested for donation. This lady was so calm to have just lost her daughter, her only child in a car accident. He was amazed by her strength. Khalil told her that Killian was awake and responding and that he had been asking for Leigh repeatedly so he thought it was time for him to know what had happened to her. He didn’t even know what to say to his son and he didn’t know how to make it better. Right now all Khalil was seeing was red and it was the blood of Beautiful Diamond.

Leigh’s mom cleared her throat.

“Can we all join hands in prayer for all these children? They are going through so much right now.”

“Heavenly Father, it’s me again. I know you recognize my voice. I come to you thanking you for all the miracles that you have done and all the battles that you have won. This is not our fight dear lord, we need you front and center on the battlefield. Fight for your children lord and keep them safe from this devil with a cunning smile and a pretty face. I can feel it in my spirit lord that this is just the tip of the iceberg in this battle so I beg for strength and understanding. Arm us your soldiers with peace of mind and clear thoughts because we are going to need them. This battle has been brewing below the surface so you already know what we are up against. Prepare us heavenly father. Shield us, be our rock, our sword, our shield because an almighty battle of good and evil is brewing and I can feel the steam. Let our hearts and minds say amen.”

She grabbed Killian’s head and kissed him on the forehead. “I love you son. You are strong with a good heart. This is just to slow you down a little bit. You are still a whole man and don’t think otherwise.”

“Mama, where is Leigh? Why hasn’t she come to see me yet? Is she worse off than I am?” Killian looked into her face and he saw how his love would look when she was in her late forties.

“Baby, Leigh is with you right now. She is sitting on high with our heavenly father making sure that all of our prayers get answered.” She squeezed his hand tightly.

The room was so silent you could hear an ant piss on cotton. Suddenly, a guttural growl erupted from a place deep inside of Killian as he thrashed about in the hospital bed trying to get up. He pulled the oxygen mask off of his face and he pulled the I.V.s out of his arm in one tug. Tears streamed down his face and he begged for Leigh over and over again. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room; even Ponchees’ face was filled with tears. The pain of losing the only one you love is an unbearable pain that bought even the strongest to their knees.

Khalil had listened to the words that Leigh’s mom prayed and he could tell that she was anointed because the things that she spoke of in her prayer were true. He wanted Allah to fight the battle for him, but he couldn’t wait on Allah. After seeing the pain that his son was going through right now he knew that he wasn’t going to rest until he killed everyone that had anything to do with what happened.

He moved closer to his son’s bed, leaned over and whispered.

“I will paint this whole
muthafucking
town red so that you can rest easy at night. Whatever it takes for you to be able to sleep at night it is done! No ifs, ands or buts about it.”

He kissed him on his forehead and walked out of the room with tears flowing nonstop down his face. Ponchees followed him.

“I have to leave in a few minutes do you all mind if I have a few minutes alone with
lil
’ bro before I go?” Toe-Toe said to everyone else as he looked around the room.

The room cleared out quickly. Toe-Toe shut the door and pulled up a chair. He was hurting for
Killa
, he felt his pain. He sat down and grabbed
Killa’s
hand.

“Nigga, you better not give up. You hear me! I know your
ol
’ lady gone. But you still got to live for y’all
lil
’
shawty
. You the only daddy he knows. He can’t lose both of his parents’ man. Take all that anger, bitterness and hostility that you feeling and use that shit to get better. They got fake legs out here that work even better than the real ones. Just because you lost a leg don’t mean shit. You are about to graduate from college and then you doing your
thang
in the streets. Man I’m telling you don’t let this shit stop you. Just like your mom in law was saying this shit probably happened to slow your ass down. You smart as a
muthafucka
but you chose to use your gat to do your talking. Your body count is in the double digits. Nigga you know that if you do dirt you get dirt. It’s just a part of the game.
Ain’t
no way around it. Use this down time to come up with you a master plan man. Don’t fuck up like I did
shawty
. I’m telling you, it
aint
no turning back for me. This is all I know and all I want to do. Don’t let that be the same for you. I love you man.”

Toe- Toe got up and he put his fist up to his heart and then he put it on
Killa’s
and he walked out of the hospital room.

 
Beautiful gave herself one last glance in the mirror. She had on a caramel colored BCBG sleeveless pants suit with a
Micheal
Kors
denim blazer and some denim Louboutins. This looked like something that her sister would wear. Her eyes and ears in the streets had told her that Gorgeous and Honesty were driven from the hospital and to Honesty’s loft downtown. Beautiful was sure that they were not coming back out today. He had informed her that Gorgeous’ head was bandaged up and that there weren’t any bodyguards with them, just a driver that had dropped them off. Beautiful needed it to stay that way, at least for the next twelve hours. She hoped that they were trying to recuperate before they jumped back into the streets. She turned away from the mirror and glanced back one last time over her shoulder. Now the only thing that Beautiful had to do was remind herself that she was Gorgeous and that when she heard her sister’s name she needed to respond.

She grabbed her denim Gucci bag and headed out her door. Her condo in the Metropolis building was about five minutes away from the club. Her heart was beating so fast, she thought to herself that maybe she should have taken a shot of Patron or
Ciroc
Berry to calm her nerves. She would get one when she got to Gigi’s Pleasure Chest. Beautiful was in the final steps of her plan and she was determined that it was going to work. She wanted to see if people could tell the difference between the two of them, her impersonation of her sister had to work. It was the main part of the plan. Beautiful was going to slide right into Gorgeous’ shoes and tear her life up beyond repair.

The music pulsated and you could feel the bass even though you couldn’t decipher the words when you approached the front door. She opened the front door and was greeted by security.

“Good evening boss, glad to see that you are doing okay. Concrete is in everyone’s prayers.”

The security guard told her and he stepped in front of her and opened the door that went into the club.
Kanye
and Jay Z’s latest song “Niggas in Paris” blasted throughout the club and Beautiful looked around. She didn’t know whether to be proud of her sister or be pissed cause of her accomplishment. Gigi’s Pleasure Chest was definitely the shit. Gorgeous had outdone herself. Maybe she had picked up the creative gene from their mother Solitaire. She used to be an interior decorator and make clothes before she got taken down bad by the drugs.

 
Beautiful inhaled a deep breath and tried her best to act like she was in familiar territory. She walked up the bar and the bartender smiled at her.
So far so good
.

“Can I have a Patron with lime and salt?”

“You mean to tell me that you finished that entire bottle from the other day in your office? You might need me to come up there and calm you down.” The bartender said seductively from behind the bar.

The song changed and Beautiful was able to process what the bartender was saying and how she was saying it. She knew that her sister was a lesbian, so she flirted back a little with the bartender.

“Girl I hurt my head so I can barely think straight. Just go ahead and fix me a shot right quick. It is so much going on, I need to calm my nerves.”

Beautiful licked the salt off of the rim, took the shot and bit into the lime like a pro. She didn’t know where her sister’s office was so she just leaned up against the bar and took in the scenery while she came up with an idea on how to find out where the office was without walking around looking like she was out of place.

The security guard walked up to her and asked her did she need anything. Beautiful played it off “I’m so frightened; can you accompany me to my office and look around just to make sure that everything is okay.”

“Yes ma’am, I understand. I know that you are lost without Concrete; he is like your shadow. Well I’m here for you. Just let me know if you need anything.”

He lead the way through the club to the back, it was an exit and an elevator. They got on the elevator and went up a floor. The elevator opened up into a very spacious office complete with everything a business person could want. The security guard walked in and looked around. He looked inside of something that Beautiful later found out was a small closet with a few outfits. He looked in the bathroom and then he came back out.

“The coast is clear. Do you want me to stay here with you or are you straight?”

“I’m fine, I won’t be staying long. I just had to come in and check on everything and make sure you guys were good and get something off of the computer and then I will be out of here. Thanks again.”

Beautiful sat down at Gorgeous’ desk and powered on the Mac Book Air. “Shit!” She muttered to herself when she realized that it had a pass code on it. She closed the computer, got up and headed toward the elevator. Her eyes and ears had just sent her a text message telling her that there was no activity at Honesty’s building. Now was the time to use this to her advantage.

__________

Honesty snuggled up close to Gigi as they lay in her bed. The sun had long set and the picture window in her bedroom showed off the Atlanta skyline. They were both wiped out from this long ass day, and had fallen asleep right after they had arrived at Honesty’s apartment. They were out like a light as soon as their heads hit the pillow.

This was the first time that Gigi had ever been over her house to spend the night. She was enjoying the time alone with her, even though her mind was a million miles away. Honesty’s head hurt from crying so much. She hated to see her brother in so much physical and emotional pain. Before they left the hospital, he had been sedated. They had to do his IVs over again because he had ripped them out in a rage.