“It’s all good, big sis. We on point. You know the west side crew making they move on them City niggas tonight, right?” Tommy said and I nodded my head.
The P.G. niggas that Izz got into it with a few months back had been causing a little static lately and I had given them the green light to make a move. the niggas were trying to punk them and I wasn’t about to make them kick back and take the disrespect any longer so we got the drop on the niggas and we were about to take out the head and take their bread at the same time. After we hit, they would be too weak to retaliate and it would be a dead situation. I trusted Jamiya’s crew to handle it by themselves so I didn’t need to even send over any extra reinforcements.
We sat and smoked as we talked about new money opportunities. We still had the line on the sliders but we hadn’t really been fucking around so we decided to assemble a brand new crew to make runs with. I was tired of using these bitches that had kids to go home to and were scared to make money. They were liabilities because when they got caught, the first thing they started screaming was they got kids. Nah, we needed hoes that just wanted money and merchandise so they could look cute and flex on the Gram.
I was sending Greg down to Arizona to get at Andrei next week so we could put that play in motion. After discussing the money, I moved on to a heavier issue. It was time to make a move on the Richmond niggas and Tay’s bitch ass had been spotted one too many times. I had let him get comfortable in thinking that he could do as he pleased but I was tired of hearing his name come up. Some of my young niggas had been just waiting for the green light but I had told them to hold off because I wanted dude to get nice and cozy. Now that the nigga was snug, it was time for him to get fitted for a casket. The streets were on fire right now, Oakland hadn’t had a break on killings and neither had Richmond and as much as I hated adding to the body count, this was one thing I wasn’t letting go.
After everything had been discussed, I made sure that everybody was going to be on their job so that when I hit the block next week, there would be no slacking and we could handle our shit and get back to the money. Lex and I hopped in my whip and rode through all of our blocks, watching everything to make sure that it was running smoothly. Once I’d made my rounds and checked in with all the top guys, Lex and I dipped out.
I hopped on the freeway and headed towards Baby Tone’s daycare. It was a quarter to six so I was making good time. I turned up the radio and bobbed my head as I tried to think of some fun things that we could do in the house this weekend. Baby Tone loved when Lexis was over because she always played hella rough with him and I swear he was like a baby sumo wrestler. I couldn’t wait to get my baby and spend some time. I had been so busy that I hadn’t been able to enjoy some alone time with him in days.
Lexis turned the radio down as she picked up the rose that was sitting on the seat. “Okay, bitch. Who we got sending us flowers and shit?”
I laughed at her ass because I swear I couldn’t have nothing on my own. “Girl, Q ass. He been doing all kinds of little shit to get my attention,” I said, trying not to smile after mentioning his name.
Lexis opened the card. “Umm, no, bitch. I don’t think this is from Q. this shit is weird, but it’s definitely not from Q,” she said.
I snatched the card out of her hand and read it while trying to keep my eyes on the road.
I figured you might need this after today. You shouldn’t play with love, but just remember the games began with you. I’m definitely the better player.
I shook my head because I didn’t know what to think of the card and Lex was right. It was definitely not from Q. My only thought was that it was from Chris because his text messages had been sounding similar all day.
Lexis stared at me but I never responded.
I
pulled up to the daycare and Lex and I both got out of the car.
“Don’t be trying to hog my baby either. You know he gonna come running to me first,” Lexis said and I laughed.
“Bitch, please. He don’t none of you hoes come before me. I’m mama.”
We both laughed as we stepped in the doors. I looked around at the few kids that were sitting on the mat playing with toys and waiting for their parents but I didn’t see Baby Tone. I figured he must have been getting his diaper changed or something, so I walked over to the back of the class where Haleena, the owner of the daycare, was wiping down tables and cleaning up. She looked up and frowned when she saw me coming her way. I looked at my watch and it was five minutes to six so I didn’t know what her problem was.
I walked up to her and grabbed some graham crackers off the table. I knew Haleena from Uncle Ken’s club. She used to be a dancer there so that she could finish school and start her own childcare. “What’s up, Haleena? Where’s my baby at?” I asked and she frowned up again.
“Hey, Jaeda. What you mean, where is he? I called you like three times earlier today to tell you that he was sick and needed to get picked up and you changed your number. I guess but his dad came around 4 and picked him up. He didn’t tell you?” she said, looking at me like I was crazy.
I shook my head. My heart started beating fast as hell. “What the fuck you mean his dad, Haleena? Antonio’s father is not alive. Who the fuck came and picked up my baby?” I yelled.
Lexis heard me yelling and came running back towards us. “What’s wrong, Jae. Where’s Baby Tone?” she asked.
“I am so sorry, Jaeda, but I couldn’t get a hold of you and Gio wasn’t answering either, I just assumed that you sent Chris because he came not long after I called you.”
I shook my head and stormed out of the facility. I was pissed at myself because I had definitely forgotten to update my number with her after I had changed it the other day.
I was calling Chris’ phone back to back to back and he wasn’t answering. I didn’t know where he was or why he would come and pick up my son but I was about to go crazy. Chris had no kind of relationship with my child in the 8 months that we were together so why he wanted to play these childish games, I didn’t know. I started my car as tears dropped rapidly from my eyes.
“Calm down, Jae. You got to keep cool so we can find out where they are,” Lexis said as she sat on the phone with China and told her what was going on. I got a notification on my phone it was an incoming text from Chris.
I waited for the picture to download and I immediately went from 0-100. This nigga had my baby and was in my fucking house. My son looked distraught and his face was covered in tears and sweat. How he got in my house was beyond me. I opened the home security app on my phone and saw that my front door had been opened and my alarm had been deactivated about an hour ago. I was so pissed that I had left my phone in the car when we were on the block because then I would have gotten the notifications as soon as it happened. I showed Lex my phone and I pulled off from the daycare and hopped on the freeway pushing 100 all the way to my house. If Highway Patrol got on me, there would be no stopping until I got to my son.
Once I pulled up to my house, I didn’t even stop to turn off the car. Lexis and I both jumped out of the car and ran into the house. I looked around and Chris had torn my living room up. His bitch ass had sliced up my couch and broken my coffee tables. There were picture frames broken up all over the floor.
I ran upstairs and I could hear noises coming from my son’s room. Lexis and I both bust into the room and found Chris standing over my son’s crib saying the Lord’s Prayer. I ran up to him and pushed him away from my son. “Get the fuck out of my house! Why the fuck are you messing with me? You a whole ass hoe for this bullshit!” I yelled while pushing him and punching him in his chest.
Chris just stood there laughing like a maniac while blocking my blows.
“Jaeda!” Lexis yelled and I turned towards her. “Something’s wrong, he’s barely breathing! What the fuck did you do to him?” Lexis yelled.
I ran to her and grabbed my son from her arms. His breathing was shallow and his face and body were discolored and he wasn’t responsive. I dropped to my knees and started talking to my son. “Antonio, it’s mommy. Wake up, baby. Baby, wake up!” I cried.
The harder I cried, the louder Chris laughed. I could hear Lexis talking to Chris but the room started spinning and I felt my son take one final breath. I screamed from the bottom of my soul. This nigga had done something to my child. This crazy ass nigga had killed my baby boy. I stood up and turned around.
Pop. Pop. Pop.
I watched as Chris’ body fell back and blood started seeping into the carpet beneath him. Lexis was holding a gun with tears rolling down her cheeks. I dropped to my knees and sobbed uncontrollably.
I could hear sirens getting close but I couldn’t move. I didn’t know where Lexis was in the house but all I could do was hold my son and rock him. I tried to perform CPR on him but nothing was working.
There was a loud crash downstairs and I just lay across my son as footsteps rushed towards me. “Ma’am! Ma’am! What happened here?”
I felt people around me but I was stuck in a trance, I couldn’t move. I just clutched my baby close to my heart. He was gone. I couldn’t believe that my son was dead. This psycho had come into my life and then into my home, and harmed my child and it was all my fault. I had failed at protecting my child and I wanted to die. I had lost everybody and my son was my heart and the only thing that I had left in life.
I could feel the paramedics trying to Baby Tone’s lifeless body out of my arms and I didn’t want to let him go. I could hear the voices around me. There were so many that it all just jumbled together into one big ball of noise. I could hear screaming as my body vibrated. It was so close and that was when I realized that guttural noise was coming from me. I was lost. My body was weak and I felt just the way I had the day of my baby’s birthday; floating and watching everything from a distance.
I lay on the floor in total shock as two paramedics and an officer surrounded me, bombarding me with questions. I wanted to yell at them and tell them to shut the hell up. I couldn’t think and I felt as if I was suffocating. I looked around and Chris’ body had been covered with a sheet. I was glad he was dead. He had killed my baby and hurt me in the worst possible way and even the death that he had received was too good for him. My child had been beaten. He had suffered at the hands of a psychopath and that’s how he should have been done. Chris should have been beaten and violated in the worst way.
I saw officers place Lexis into handcuffs and I jumped up to stand. What the hell were they doing? Why were they trying to take my best friend to jail when Chris was the one who committed a crime? I ran over to them and pushed the officers off of her. “No! Why are you arresting her?” I yelled at them.
“Ma’am, you need to calm down and take a step back,” an officer said as he took a step towards me.
“No. I’m not stepping back. Shit, you are arresting her for what? This man killed my son, not her,” I said, pointing my finger at Chris’ dead body.
“Like I said, take a step back!” the officer yelled as he placed a hand on my torso. “This is a crime scene and she was holding a gun. There are two dead bodies and we need to assess the situation. Unless you want to find yourself in cuffs, too, get the hell back!”
I opened my mouth to say something but was pulled away. I looked up and stared into Greg’s face. I shook my head. “He killed my baby, Greg.” I fell into his arms. “My baby and now they want to take Lex to jail.”
Greg walked me downstairs and sat me on the couch. A couple of officers tried to approach me but Greg told them to give me a moment. I looked up as Lexis was being led out in handcuffs. We locked eyes and I mouthed a thank you and blew her a kiss. After a couple of moments, a female officer approached me and told me that my child had been transported to the hospital and an officer was going to provide an escort over there. I stood up and Greg grabbed a coat out of my coat closet, my purse, phone and keys and we left out. As we walked out, I noticed that my home was taped off. I shook my head because growing up in the hood, you would see police and ambulances but you always knew somebody had died by the yellow tape.
“Jaeda!”
I turned around and I saw Lo standing outside of the tape. She looked scared as hell and an officer was holding her back from trying to duck under the tape. I broke from Greg’s embrace and walked over to where Lo was.
“Excuse me, officer, this is my cousin,” I said and the officer let her go and allowed her underneath the tape. I told Lo to ride with Greg and for them to follow behind the police cruiser en route to the hospital.
I
cried the entire way to the hospital. The officer kept trying to make small talk and say little kind words but I drowned him out and got lost in my thoughts. I didn’t know what I would do with my life now. I was finishing up my first year in college and it seemed that no matter what I did and how good of a person I had tried to be, I couldn’t catch a break. I had been losing my loved ones since before I knew how to read and write and now I had lost the most important person in life to me. I thought back to the dream I’d had where Tone had visited me and told me to open my eyes and stay on point.
Tears filled my eyes and ran down my face because I had let Tone down in the worst way possible. I had let this man come into my life and get close enough to my son and take his life. I felt like scum because I was worse than the dumb bitches that let random ass niggas come meet their kids every couple of months. I was worse than the bitches that didn’t know who their baby’s fathers were. At least those bitches took care of and protected their children but I had failed at that. I had failed to protect my son from danger. I wanted to die. I needed to die because I wasn’t worth the oxygen pumping through my lungs.
“We’re here,” the officer said to me and I looked up as he opened my door and helped me out of the car. We began to walk towards the emergency room entrance where Greg and Lo were waiting for us. The officer led us through the emergency department and up the elevator to the third floor.