A Commitment to Love, Book 3 (8 page)

my family,

my man.

That was what I was thinking,

that, and the fact that I wanted to kill Benny.

“You’re upset,” the devil whispered.

My teeth rattled against themselves. I’d locked my jaw together and fisted my hands, trying to keep all the rage in. No matter how much I wanted to murder this man, I always understood I didn’t have it in me. I would regret it. And in the end, I was no fighter, just a book worm from the hood that indulged in good food and great film.

Benny murdered for enjoyment. If I even tried to strike him, he’d know before I thought it and slice my throat with that lovely little pocketknife.

“Jasmine, you’re so pissed, you’re shaking.”

I hit him with my gaze. “I don’t need your help.”

“Yes, you do. You go to South End and he’ll have the whole neighborhood barricaded by police.”

“I’m leaving him. That’s what you wanted. Don’t worry about where I’m going.”

“You want this to end quickly? You want him to move on fast? You want me to leave him alone?”

Turning around, I blew out a long breath and jogged down the rest of the stairs.

Benny’s footsteps sounded behind me. “Jasmine?”

Tears threatened to spill out of my eyelids, but I held them in. I’d cried enough today. I was done. Now it was time to shift into survival mode.

Rock up.

My brother Sherman would always say,
“Jasmine, sometimes we got to rock up, when shit goes downhill. Get solid on the inside. Rock up. Don’t let these motherfuckers think you’re soft!”

Benny hurried to my side. “You can’t be going to your mother’s.”

I stopped and turned to him. “Why not?”

“Because she’s a demon woman.”

“You two aren’t talking these days?”

“Oh, we talk. Her more than me, and my constant listening to her plot and ruin our lives—”

“Why are you here again? You’re getting what you want.”

“Where are you going to go?”

“Bye, Benny.”

Benny cleared his throat. “This can be done quickly. Let me take you away for a few weeks. Give Chase time to move on. You know he’s going to search for you. If you hide by yourself, then he will catch you, and I’ll come for him. Your mother is not an option. South End is a no-go. If you stay with Gabe, Chase will murder him. Troy and Vivian are with me, so we can just—”

“Why are Troy and Vivian with you?”

“Family vacation.”

Turning around, I stomped farther down the stairs and Benny almost bumped into me. With a frown he closed the pocketknife and put it in his pocket. I gazed behind him.

His carved, broken-heart apple sat on the steps.

Chase would know he was here. He’d figure it out. I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. Would it make Chase give up sooner or cause him to be more obsessed with finding me?

“This won’t be done,” he said.

“What?”

“You need to come with me, or this won’t be done.”

My words came out as a whine. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

“I’m sorry, Jasmine.”

“You’re sick.”

He looked away. “I’ve always been that way. You just didn’t realize it, until this moment. But does that change things? I get what I want. I tried to stay out of this, but you’ve made a mess of things. I need to take care of my children better, stop cleaning up rich men’s mistakes and take care of my own.”

“You’re not even—”

“Jasmine, don’t fight me on this.”

I exhaled. “If I go with you, will you leave Chase alone?”

“Of course.” He shrugged. “I’m no monster.”

I almost cursed at him again, but instead, I glanced at the bedroom windows above us and spotted no movement. We had to get out of there fast, before Chase woke up and saw me talking to Benny.

“Let’s go,” I said.

“You were always the smart one.” Benny raised his hand.

A car started and then rumbled behind me. I turned. Betty rolled toward us. She was Benny’s favorite vehicle of his collection, a pearl-white 1934 Rolls Royce Landaulette with light gray leather interior. It had a classic right-hand English steering wheel, which was why I never drove her. It confused me. A divider sat between the driver and anyone who sat in the back. Being a fan of Betty Boop, Benny declared that the jazz-age flapping caricature would have loved a car like that, so he named it after her.

“Where were you parked?” I asked.

“Behind that crappy van.” He pointed to Maylin’s huge green and yellow beast. “It looks like the Scooby Doo Mystery Van.”

“I wish it was.”

“Why? You think Fred and Daphne could swoop down and save the day for Chase?”

“No, everyone knows Velma was the true detective, but that’s not why either. I’m more thinking I need one of Shaggy’s infamous Scooby Snacks.”

He chuckled. “I remember you and your brother’s theory, that the snacks were weed brownies.”

That moment came to me. Troy and I had become stoner teens, all due to Vivian. I didn’t partake much. Books made me high. Too bad anytime I told Vivian or Troy that books made me high, they’d throw things at me, and call me corny. Regardless, we’d sat at the table with Benny, thinking we didn’t look high, when we were. Instead of yelling at us, he’d laughed. Instead of discipline us, he’d rolled his own joint and listened to our high theories on Scooby Doo.

Forget about it.

Sadness rained down on me. Everything was different now, and nothing would return back to normal.

“Yeah. That was our theory.” I stormed off. Even with his old age, Benny rushed and got on my side with ease. He was too damn efficient, too quick. I could never escape him.

“Who’s driving?” I asked.

“Scar.”

Glancing over my shoulder I whispered another good-bye to Chase.

“You’re doing the best thing, Jasmine.”

I turned back and increased my speed. “So who’s Scar?”

“A good friend of mine. You’ve seen him around.”

“Scar. Hmmmm. I’m assuming that’s your friend with the huge scars on his face and neck.”

“That’s him.”

“Very creative nickname.”

“We’re killers, not poets.” Benny tried to grab my hand as if to guide me over to the car. It was something he used to do, when I thought he was a good man.
No. You can’t touch me.
I put space between us as we hurried to Betty.

“No.” I held myself and kept walking. “Where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise.”

“I saw one of your surprises last night. I don’t like them.”

He had the nerve to appear embarrassed. “This one is a good surprise. Plus, Troy and Vivian are already there. It’s going to be a family affair. A vacation. We need this. All of us. A lot has happened. We need to start looking at what’s important—”

“Where are we going?”

“Why so impatient?”

We got to the car.

“Benny, I don’t feel like doing these games with you. You’ve done enough. I’m only going with you for a few days at the most, so Chase will move on.”

“Ha!” Benny opened the back door for me. “You think he’ll be over you in a few days?”

“I think he’ll give up.”

“If that’s true, then he never deserved you in the first place.”

I got in the car. “Just tell me where we’re going?”

“You’re mad.”

“I am. Where are we going?”

He leaned his head into the car, and all I wanted to do was slam the door into his skull.

“You look very angry,” he said.

“Where are we going?”

“I promise, I’ll make this up.” He ducked inside, slid onto the backseat, and closed the door. “You don’t get it now, but I’m really just a concerned father, trying to make sure my daughter doesn’t ruin her life. Men can drag you down until you’re nothing. I’ve seen it so many times. I’ve seen Chase’s father and men like him do it all the time to good women. I’ve seen Chase himself ruin people’s lives.”

An edge dotted each of my words. “Where the fuck are we going?”

“I don’t like the cursing.”

“Fine. Where are we going?”

“Where else?” He winked. “London.”

“What’s in London?”

“Family.”

C
HAPTER
5

Chase

I
n
my dream, I walked in a house with dark, crooked hallways that melted at the touch. “Jasmine?”

I couldn’t remember how long I’d traveled through the big place. I just knew that Jasmine was lost somewhere inside.

“Jasmine!”

The space was cold,

hard,

and silent,

except for my echoes.

Nothing lived in this house.

A door appeared. I opened it and stepped outside, where a dog whined off in the distance and the grass stood still. No wind. I scanned this strange backyard. It was a small place with just a manicured lawn and a large, towering steel fence that rose in the air.

“Jasmine!”

She never answered back.

Filled with anxiety, I raced to the fence, thinking Jasmine stood on the other side.

“Jasmine, please! Where are you?” I banged on the wood, rattling it. “Jasmine! Jasmine!”

And then I woke up from that haunted dream, stared at the empty space next to me, and knew. It all made sense. The night before, she’d been acting odd. Every time we made love, she kept her back to me, while I thrust inside of her.

She never let me look at her face.

She left. No. She’s just not in the room. I’m just being paranoid.

Just like in my dream, I screamed for her. “Jasmine!”

The cook should’ve started work by now and probably thought I’d lost my mind.

“Jasmine!”

She didn’t respond, just like in the nightmare.

She left.

What other answer could it be? What else would she do, when faced with Benny’s ultimatum? It was the reason why I’d kept it all from her. I knew she would try to save us, not realizing that in the end, the only way we could be saved was if Benny breathed his last breath and died.

Grasping on a last bit of hope, I jumped out of bed, tripping over my own legs, naked, and hurried out of my cold, empty bedroom. “Jasmine!”

Just like the dream, I rushed through our place, screaming her name and hoping she would answer me.

“Jasmine?!”

My two main guards barreled up the tiny stairs. “Sir—”

“Where is she?”

They exchanged uncomfortable glances as if hoping the other would tell me the news.

“Where is she?!”

“Sir …” The tallest one stepped my way. “Ms. Montgomery disappeared early this morning.”

“When? How?”

The other one shook his head. “Someone disabled all of the cameras around 7 a.m. We just got them working again. The security on duty in the back gate are …”

The tall one coughed into his hand. “Those men are dead.”

Like a zombie, I walked past them, my shoulders lowered, my legs stiff.

“We have tire tracks leaving the gate,” one of the guards continued. “Our people think they know what type of car it could’ve been.”

“It doesn’t matter,” I muttered.

Step by step, I went downstairs with clouds of darkness in my head. Every few seconds, a slash tore the black fog and I swore I could see a knife piercing Benny’s evil skin and all of his intestines spilling out.

She left with him.

The men followed me.

“Sir, we also have a possible ID on the driver, but we’re—”

“It doesn’t matter.” I went to my office, where the liquor filled the bottles and my desk provided a safe place for me to think and scream.

“Uh … sir, we also have—”

“Get out of here!” I whipped around and came close to choking the tall one, with no idea if he was the guy that had said something or not. “You fucked up! Tire tracks? Did you just tell me that you have someone analyzing the goddamn tire tracks? I know who has her. I don’t give a damn about tire tracks and a possible ID on the driver.”