Family Over Everything (23 page)

“What the fuck do you want?” she spat, snatching away from him.

Taking a deep breath, he shook his head and a single tear slipped from one eye. “Look, Corrine is in danger. I came to you because you two are close and I need your help. I can't do this alone.”

“What do you mean, she's in danger?”

“About two hours ago, I got a call from some man demanding two hundred thousand dollars for Corrine, or else.”

“Or else, what? Who's this man?”

“Look, I don't have time to discuss all of it, girl. All you need to know is that Corrine needs our help, and I know she's counting on someone to help her.”

“Our help? Since when did you start caring about her? Last
time I checked, you haven't seen that girl in years and didn't give one fuck about her! Why the fuck do you care now?” Mercedes asked harshly.

“Because she's family—”

“Family? I'm the only family she got! You haven't seen that girl in over what? Eight years? And now you're screaming
family
? Get the fuck out of here! I'll help you, but please know I'm only doing this for her, not you.”

“I deserve that, but that's all I ask, Mercedes. She needs both of us,” Deion said, pulling off.

Mercedes shook her head in disbelief and folded her arms under her chest.

“If it isn't one thing, it's another.”

“So tell me because I've been dying to know, why did you do this to Corrine? What has she done to you to make you act as if she never existed?”

“It's a long story, Mercedes. But I'm here now; isn't that all that matters?” Deion asked sincerely.

“I guess so, Deion. I'm surprised that you popped up out of the blue, wanting to be in your sister's life. She's been through a lot and she's losing it. But I guess you're right; you're here now and that's all that matters.”

They remained quiet until Deion pulled up in front of his designated destination and got out of the car.

“Where are we?”

“At my brother's. Stay close to me and put this on,” Deion instructed, taking off his leather jacket and handing it to her.

She nodded her head and she slipped the jacket on and followed close behind him. Walking into Day'onne's safe house—a small, roach-infested apartment—he wrinkled up his nose. Mercedes' mind instantly rewound back to the time when she, Corrine, and
Tessa lived with Rachael. She cupped her hands over her nose, trying to muffle out the vicious odor. When they walked into the living room, they found Day'onne and Menace on the couch, high out of their minds.

“Yo, Day'onne, get the fuck up!” Deion yelled angrily, shaking Day'onne.

Day'onne, who had smoked at least five blunts and drunk a whole bottle by himself, smiled goofily up at Deion.

“What's good, bro?” He snickered.

“Yo, I need your help, bro. Corrine's in trouble!” Deion yelled.

“Man, fuck that bitch!”

“Fuck you mean? Nigga, get the fuck up, man! She needs us!”

Day'onne waved him off, taking a liquor bottle off of the table and taking a swig from it. Angry, Deion walked back out of the apartment with Mercedes following him.

“Did you say his name was Day'onne?”

“Yeah, that's my twin brother. I wanted him to help us out with this shit since he's the source of the problem. But fuck it, I guess we got to do it ourselves.” Deion kept walking.

So he's the one that raped Corrine,
Mercedes thought as they hopped back into his car.

Deion started his ignition and pulled off.

F
eeling hands assaulting her, Corrine opened her eyes.

They had her stashed in one of their old trap houses. The dirty place reeked of decomposed bodies, fish, and burned flesh.

She was sprawled out on a dirty abandoned apartment floor, beaten to a bloody pulp, her breath becoming short gasps. Her eyes were almost swollen shut and her naturally supple lips looked like golf balls on her face. Her body ached and she continued to go through withdrawal, yearning for a dose of cocaine.

Gathering the little strength she had within, she managed to say, “Please stop.”

Jewels wickedly laughed as he ripped her clothes off and pulled down his pants.

He spat on his fingers and wiped it on Corrine's opening, then grabbed the base of his fat, nasty penis and roughly plunged it into her. Corrine arched her back in pain and released a loud scream, trying to squirm out of the tight grip he had on her. Tormented, she cried from the pain that continued to taunt at her young body as Jewels continued to rape her.

“Damn, your shit feel just like Relisha's!” Jewels panted as he continued to pound her insides.

Jewels laughed as he kneeled down, forcing his tongue down her throat. Hot tears continued to burn her cheek as she tried to escape, but it was to no avail.

“Oh, shit!” Jewels moaned, ejaculating on her stomach.

Jewels stood up and pulled his pants back up. Corrine curled into a fetal position, paralyzed with pain. For the first time in a very long time, she wished she was in Mercedes' arms, letting her know everything would be okay.

“Bitch, we're not done with you!” Brooke yelled, grabbing hold of her hair.

She let out out a bloodcurdling scream as he dragged her back and forth like a mop in the abandoned apartment. Brooke continued to beat her like she was nothing; less than a human being. He stomped, punched, and even pistol-whipped her with the butt of his gun.

Lying in a pool of her own blood and watching her whole life flash before her, she lost faith in life.

“Just kill me . . .please,” she pleaded weakly.

“When do you think they'll call?” Mercedes asked Deion, taking a sip from her can of soda.

“I don't know, they should be calling any minute now,” he said, glancing at his platinum Rolex.

They were seated on Deion's couch, watching television, and waiting for the right time to deliver the money, in which they had an hour left. Mercedes was dressed in a pair of black sweat pants, black Chuck Taylor sneakers, and a black pullover hoodie. Her hair was tied into a tight ponytail and she had not one speck of makeup. Deion was also dressed in all black. He had on a black sweat suit, black Timberland boots, and an all-black Pittsburgh Pirates snap-back cap. He looked at Mercedes, admiring her dark, smooth skin, feisty attitude, and even her grind. Taking her by the hand, he softly said, “I'm sorry you and Corrine had to go
through the things y'all went through. I can tell by looking in your eyes that you've been through a lot. But I want to tell you now, I really want to get to know my younger sister all over again, and I promise you I won't ever neglect her again.”

“That was random; where did that come from?”

“Nowhere; I'm sitting here thinking, that's all. I wanted you to know that.”

“Well, I'm glad to hear that. I hope Corrine accepts you back into her life. She's been through a lot and, like me, she wants to be happy.”

“Yeah, I want both of you to be happy, too. I swear when we get out of this predicament, I'm going to be the best brother I can possibly be,” he vowed.

“Let me ask you something?” Mercedes said, taking her hands out of his and turning her body so she was completely facing him.

“Shoot.”

“Your twin, did he really rape Corrine?”

Caught off-guard by the question, Deion gasped. He looked down for a moment, raised his head, and nodded. “Yeah, when we were much younger.”

“And you knew this? Why didn't you help her?”

“I don't know; I really couldn't do anything to help.”

“What do you mean, you couldn't do anything to help? That's your sister, you're sup—”

The loud ringing of Deion's cell phone prevented Mercedes from uttering another word. Seeing it was a private call, he eagerly flipped his cell phone open.

“Hello?”

“I hope you're ready?” Jewels said.

“Yeah, I got your money. Where is my sister?” Deion said, clenching his jaw.

Removing the cell phone from his ear, Jewels placed the phone
to Corrine's mouth and she moaned. He slightly smiled before placing the phone back to his ear. “Did you hear that?”

“Yeah. What did you do to her? If you hurt her, I swear—”

“I don't think it's too smart for you to be making threats to me right now, don't you agree? I want you to deliver the money, now. You have less than an hour,” Jewels said before hanging up.

“Okay, he's ready. Let's go,” Deion said to Mercedes, jumping to his feet and grabbing his car keys off the table.

Less than thirty minutes later, they arrived in Homewood. It was a little after midnight and the streets were unusually quiet, not one soul walking the lonely street. When they reached their destination, he turned to Mercedes. “Okay, I want you to stay in here and be on lookout while I deliver this money.”

“What if they come after me? I don't have any protection on me!” Mercedes said, worried.

Reaching into his glove compartment, Deion pulled out a .357 and handed it to her. She held the metal in her hands, ready to bust a move on anyone.

“You sure you'll be okay with that? Do you know how to use it?”

“Yeah, I got this, don't worry about me. Just be careful, I got your back,” Mercedes assured him.

Deion nodded and got out, gripping his .9mm. Carrying the heavy duffle bag filled with the ransom money, he looked around, making sure nothing was out of the ordinary. When he reached the abandoned apartment, as instructed, he walked in and threw the bag onto the floor. Taking a deep breath, he walked back out and made his way back toward his car.

“He did it,” Brooke said.

He and Jewels had kept Corrine hostage in another abandoned
building across the street so they could see whether or not Deion. Brooke had been watching from a window the entire time.

“I'll be right back, I'm going to go get it,” Brooke said as he made his way to the door.

“I'll be watching. Hurry up and get back,” Jewels said.

When Brooke entered the abandoned apartment where Deion had dropped the money off, he didn't notice the BMW following him.

Deion, who'd never left the area, watched through his tinted windows. When he'd seen Brooke leaving the building and going across the street to the abandoned apartment, he instantly knew who he was.

Putting his car in P
ARK
, he hopped back out of the car and made his way toward Brooke inside the building.

“So, y'all bitch-ass niggas really thought y'all was really going to get away with this?” Deion said, pointing his .9mm at Brooke.

Caught off-guard, Brooke dropped the duffle bag filled with money, reached for his waistband, but cursed himself, realizing he'd left his gun in the room with Jewels and Corrine.

“Fuck you, bitch-ass nigga!” Brooke spat. “If you going to kill me, you might as well do it now.”

“Any last words?”

“That crackheaded bitch's pussy was bomb!” Brooke laughed.

Gripped with anger, Deion wasted no time pulling the trigger, earning his first body. With not one ounce of regret, he watched as Brooke's lifeless body collapsed to the ground.

Jewels heard the gunshots coming from the abandoned building and looked out of the window.

“Oh shit! What the fuck?” he yelled, pulling out his Desert Eagle.

He glanced at Corrine who sat bound to a chair, beaten beyond recognition.

She sat there in a daze, praying to God to end her life. She knew death was knocking at her door and she embraced it, thinking it was better than suffering.

Standing, Jewels headed for the door. Before walking out of the dirty room, he cocked his gun and pulled the trigger, pumping one hot bullet into her chest.

Deion walked out of the front door of the apartment and saw a big, beastly figure running toward him. Without a second thought, he raised his gun and pulled the trigger.