Chapter Nineteen
Aries felt extreme relief after hearing her husband's voice. Knowing that her family was waiting for her to come home gave her motivation to finish the job at hand quickly and efficiently. She was tired of the debt that Case was holding over her. After this they would be done and he would have no business with her.
I'm going to walk away from this life once and for all. I'm tired of living this way,
she thought as she pulled back up to the trap house. Aries used to enjoy killing, but her heart wasn't in it anymore. Aries had grown roots back in Barbados, and she realized that living life in the fast lane wasn't worth the risk. She would much rather be living her boring, average, normal life with her family.
She frowned when she noticed that there were no vehicles in the driveway. “I told these stupid-ass niggas not to go anywhere,” she mumbled as she parked curbside and turned off her engine.
She hurried into the house. “Yo, I'm back!” she shouted as she looked around, trying to find anything peculiar. There were always supposed to be two people present in the trap house: one to stay on the main level of the house to be the lookout, and one in the basement watching Macy.
When Aries went from room to room and noticed that there was no one standing watch, she rushed down the basement steps.
“Fuck!” she shouted when she saw Jordan's body sprawled across the floor. She kicked the boy's dead body in utter frustration. She wanted to call Case to tell him what had gone down, but feared the wrath that he would dispense on her family.
I have to find him and finish this job before Case finds out Macy's missing.
Aries rushed out of the house to scour the streets for Macy. Her wellbeing depended on his demise, so she couldn't stop searching until he was no longer in existence.
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Macy pulled up to the large grocery store and parked the car as he eyed the entrance. He still had an hour to wait before he could pick up the money, but it felt as if he would pass out at any moment from the pain of his gunshot wound. Macy was desperate for some aid. His inured arm was becoming unbearable, and he was well aware that he wouldn't get far in his current state. Macy knew that he was taking a risk by going into the mega chain shopping center, but he had to nurse his arm.
He noticed a bum pushing a cart outside of the building. It was filled with empty pop cans as the raggedy man went from trash bin to trash bin searching for anything that he could find valuable. Macy pulled up to him and hit his horn lightly.
BEEP! BEEP!
The bum was so used to being invisible to the general public that he didn't even look up and kept on strolling while singing a tune to himself.
“Hey, my man,” Macy called out in a hushed tone as he lowered his head so that he could see out of the passenger window.
The bum stopped walking and stuck a finger in his own chest. “Who, me?” He looked around to see if there was someone standing behind him.
“Yeah, you. You look like you could use a little bit of help,” Macy said.
The bum walked up to the car and bent his head inside. “Hey, you that ... that mayor! Aye! You the mayor! Look at this! The mayor! Stopping to talk to li'l ol' me!”
“Shh!” Macy whispered as he motioned his hands for the bum to keep it down as he looked in his rearview to see if the bum had garnered any unwanted attention. “Shh! Keep it down! Calm down!”
“Oh, my bad. My bad. Ol' Rosco get crazy sometimes. Ain't this some shit! The mayor talking to me. What a day, what a day!”
“Look, man, quiet down,” Macy stated. “Get in the car. I've got a proposition for you.”
Rosco the bum entered Macy's vehicle, and Macy pulled to the back of the parking lot. Rosco noticed that Macy was injured. “Aww, shit. Who shot ya?” he asked.
“You asking a lot of questions, fam. Listen, I have a proposition for you. As you can see, I'm hurt real bad. Now, I can't walk up in this store looking like this, so I need someone like you who can go in there for me,” Macy explained.
“No problem. Buy me a beer and I'll go in there and buy the whole sto' for ya,” Rosco stated.
The man's over-the-top personality would have been hilarious if Macy weren't in such dire straits.
“Nah, I don't want you to buy it. I need you to steal me a few things,” Macy said.
“Steal! What the mayor got to steal fo'?”
“Look, Rosco? That's what you said your name was?” Macy asked. Rosco nodded and Macy continued. “If you go in the store, grab a few items for me and then ride with me across town, I'll give you this watch. It's worth about five thousand dollars. That'll buy you more than a bottle of beer.”
“Five thousand dollars?” Rosco asked incredulously.
“Five thousand dollars,” Macy confirmed.
“Aww shit! Rosco working for the mayor. I tried to tell these niggas I'm on the come-up! Look, though, I think I can help you out on a few things! Gotta clean up these streets, Mayor Sigel. These bitches funky than a mu'fucka. Stanking just like piss. Put your face on the ground to take a quick nap and you wake up smelling like straight toilet bowl.”
Macy couldn't help but chuckle as he pointed at the entrance of the store. “Let's work on this first. We'll worry about the rest later. I need some peroxide, gauze, antibiotic ointment, Tylenol, a new shirt, a baseball cap, and tape. Get me enough to last a few days.”
Rosco nodded. Macy pulled up to the door and Rosco hopped out and entered the store.
Macy waited impatiently in the car until Rosco finally emerged from the store. Macy pulled off as soon as Rosco was inside. He drove a good five miles before he pulled over at a small gas station.
“You get everything?” Macy asked.
“Yeah, everything is everything,” Rosco replied. “Can I get my watch? I got to get going. I've got places to be.”
Macy looked at Rosco sternly, silencing him instantly. He slid the watch from his wrist and handed it over to Rosco, standing true to his word. It was a gift from Fatima anyway, and Macy wanted nothing that would remind him of her or the fact that she was sleeping with Case.
“Nice doing business with ya,” Rosco stated as he exited the car.
Macy went into the gas station, keeping his head down, and headed directly for the bathroom. Once he was safely inside, he locked the door and removed his bloodied shirt. He winced in pain as he flexed his hand and put it under the running faucet. Pink swirled in the bottom of the sink as Macy cleaned his wound. He gritted his teeth to keep from yelling out in pain. The bullet was still lodged in his hand, but he just had to bear with it until he could get real medical help.
The peroxide bubbled like lava as he poured it over the gaping hole in his hand. He then wrapped it in gauze and put on the clean button-up shirt before going back to his car. He looked at the clock, noticing that he only had an hour to blow before it was time to go to the locker.
He headed for the train station, and when he arrived, he smirked knowing that he would be lost in the hustle and bustle of the crowd. He pulled the baseball cap down over his eyes and then walked into the train station, discreetly watching his back as he cautiously made his way to the locker. He located it and noticed that the key was still in the keyhole. He looked around before reaching inside and removing the briefcase that lay inside. He rushed outside, threw the money in the trunk, and then pulled smoothly away. Macy didn't know where he was going, but he knew that his future was not in L.A.
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“How could you have been so stupid?” Aries fussed at herself. “Stupid! Stupid!” She hit the steering wheel for emphasis each time that she spoke. Aries felt panicked because she knew that actually finding Macy was an impossible feat. L.A. was a big city, and Macy Sigel was a man on the run. There were a million and one hideout spots that Macy could find to stay off of her radar.
Aries had never had a job go so terribly wrong, and the chaos was slowly driving her mad. There was no way that she could go back to Case empty-handed. As soon as he realized that Macy had escaped, there would be hell to pay.
She had checked everywhere and was slowly but surely running out of options. Things were looking dismal, and her heart sank when she finally realized that she must give up. She had fucked up. Her skills and thirst for blood weren't what they used to be. Aries was in over her head, and without the other Murder Mamas around to keep her together, she was slowly going crazy.
Murder was a heavy burden to carry alone. Before, she had relied on a sisterhood to shoulder the pain. They distributed it evenly amongst themselves, convincing each other that it was completely justified, that their victims deserved whatever death sentence they received, but Aries had worked this job alone, and it was starting to get to her.
“This isn't for me anymore,” she whispered.
Just as she said the words, Case's number popped up on her phone. She knew that she should answer it, but instead she allowed the call to be forwarded to voice mail.
I'm out,
she thought. Instead of carrying on her search for Macy, she busted a U-turn and headed for the airport. Macy was not a dumb individual, and Aries knew that with his connections and resources, finding him would be like searching for a needle in a haystack. So instead, she decided to flee. It was the only option that she had.
She was going home to her family and relocating them. Aries didn't care how far she had to go to ensure that her husband and son remained untouched. Some may feel as though she punked out, but Aries was just empty. She had done too much and seen too much over the years to even continue.
She understood that Case would seek her, but she hoped to get a head start on him. By the time he realized what had occurred, she would be halfway across the world, and her family would be moved to a completely new place. This time she would make sure that Case or no one else would be able to find her, and that meant staying out of L.A. for good. If the day ever did come when he darkened her doorstep, she would greet him with lead this time around.
It was time for her to tell the truth to her husband about who she really was. She would not be able to convince him to relocate without telling him the reason why. Aries could no longer lead the double life. It was too time consuming, and she had to remember so many lies that it was driving her crazy. If Prince knew it all, he would either judge her for her sins or help her through them. She hoped he loved her enough to help her cleanse her soul.
Aries picked up her phone and dialed her husband's number. She was so nervous that she called the wrong number before finally getting it right.
“Hello?” Prince answered.
“Prince ... I need to talk to you,” Aries said as she sniffed as tears began to fall. She was overwhelmed and her back was pressed against a wall. Silently she knew that getting married and having a child was a huge mistake. She loved them too much, and that made her weak. She constantly feared for their safety, and when dealing with a man like Case, it became an unbearable load to carry.
“Rachel?” Prince responded, hearing that his wife was emotional.
“No, it's Aries,” she replied, being truthful with him for the first time.
“What? Rachel? What are you talking about?” Prince asked. “You're not making any sense.”
“I need you to come here, Prince. I need to explain a lot of things to you ... come clean about a lot of stuff,” she rambled. “I would rather do it face to face. It's not safe there. You have to grab Tre and leave right now. Meet me in Las Vegas. I'll pick you up from McCarran International,” Aries said.
“What? Rachel ... Aries ... whoever you are. What are you talking about?” Prince asked.
Aries sighed deeply, knowing that to Prince none of this made sense. “Prince, go to the front door and look outside. Have you noticed a new car sitting on the block since I've been gone? Maybe a cable van or a worker from the power company has been lingering around?”
Prince frowned and stood to his feet. “I'll be right back, champ,” he said to his son as he picked him up off his lap and put him on the couch. He walked outside and pretended as though he was checking their curbside mailbox as he glanced up the street. A white van sat three houses down from his home.
“There's a van,” he said into the phone.
“Go back inside the house,” Aries stated. “There are men inside of that van who want to harm you and Tre.”
“Rachel, you're talking crazy, like this is something out of a gangster movie,” Prince said as he went back inside. Despite the fact that he was unsure, he double-locked the door and pulled the curtains closed.
“This isn't a movie, baby. It's real life. Trust me, I've been living it for years,” Aries replied. “Go to the bookshelf in the living room and pull down the encyclopedia and open it up.”