The Cartel 3: The Last Chapter (15 page)

Carter chuckled as he raised his glass to acknowledge the beauty that surrounded him in the club.

“This is the business that you need to get into. The drug money is good, but this is where it’s at,” Felipe stated surely.

“Prostitution?” Carter said doubtfully.

Felipe shook his head and smiled coyly while pointing at Carter. “No, my friend. That’s where you’re wrong.” He pointed to the girls around the club. “This right here, this is just one entity. Trafficking, that’s what I’m into. I buy and sell girls. I put them to work in clubs, brothels, on the street. Sex is man’s biggest addiction, Carter. I supply that demand, and it makes me filthy rich. Let me show you something.”

Carter stood and followed Felipe through the club as he explained his operation. “This club is one of many of my establishments. I own every property on this street, and each one serves its purpose.” Felipe led Carter out the front door and then pointed to the house next door. “That house right there is the brothel, and the one next to it is an auction house.”

“An auction house, as in slave auctions,” Carter stated condescendingly.

“Modern day slavery, if that is what you would like to call it. Human trafficking is big business. It is happening all over the world. I buy my girls from all over and I put them to work. Pump ‘em up on heroin and they’ll do anything I say.”

“How do you keep them from running away?” Carter asked as they stepped into the brothel house.

“Where are they going to go? They have no one, no family. They come from many different places. Some from Africa, some from Asia, the Caribbean … you name it. All they have is me and the addiction that holds them hostage,” Felipe replied.

The house was littered with drug paraphernalia. Dirty needles lay out on tables, and the smell of sex filled the air. Carter
was almost too disgusted to continue the tour. He could only imagine the type of clientele that frequented the spot. Brothel was just a friendly name for a whorehouse, in his opinion, and he knew that this would never be a type of venture he would be interested in taking. He didn’t believe in exploitation, and as Carter looked around the house he knew that the women trapped there were simply waiting to die.

“The money never touches the girls’ hands. The men pay the madame on the way in,” Felipe stated.

He expected Carter to be impressed, but his creased brow revealed his contempt. His moral compass allowed him to do many things. He had killed, robbed, and deceived, but to kill a person’s soul and force them into prostitution was beyond Carter’s ability. His moral compass would not allow him to ever become that lost.

“I know what you’re thinking. You think I’m running a trashy establishment here,” Felipe stated. “I only buy the best girls. Let me show you the grade-A pussy I’m selling here.”

He led Carter up the stairs to one of the closed bedroom doors. Before Felipe opened it, he said, “All you need is a few like this one in here, and men will come from everywhere to sample her. She is my big moneymaker.”

He opened the door, and when Carter stepped in, his heart broke in half. The sight before him almost brought him to his knees. It was as if he were seeing a ghost.

She’s supposed to be dead. How long has she been here?

As the girl lifted her head, her eyes met Carter’s. It had been a long time since they had seen one another. It was a reunion that neither of them ever thought would come. Before him was Breeze Diamond, on her knees in front of a john. She was so high out of her mind that she did not believe what was appearing before her very eyes. She had imagined her family too many times to get her hopes up. She was so high
that she thought Carter was simply another customer waiting to be serviced. She shed a single tear as she lowered her head back into the man’s crotch and went back to work.

Zyir sat back on his plush king-sized bed as he and Illiana counted the money he had just collected from the streets. The first flip had been good, and everybody was eating again. In fact, the streets had never seen a cocaine epidemic like the one that The Cartel was pushing. It was a new day, and although internal tensions were at an all-time high, everybody was putting their differences aside, because they all saw the bigger picture. It was time to move on and let past beefs die. The Cartel was in a stage of rebuilding, and money was always the common denominator that put everyone on the same page.

“How much is that?” he asked as he threw a large stack at Illiana, causing her to drop the blunt that was hanging loosely from her lips. It fell onto the exposed skin of her thigh.

“Damn it, Zy!” she screamed as she frantically hopped up, wearing nothing but lace panties and one of his button-up shirts. “You burnt the shit out of me,” she whined.

“You’ll be a’ight. Finish counting that,” Zyir instructed. He continued the count in his head as he began to flip through a new stack of money. He was a mathematician when it came to his paper. The sound of the bills flipping through the money machine was like a classic melody to him, but even he questioned its accuracy. After the machine counted it, he counted it—every dollar, one by one, until he was content with the amount.

He would usually do the task alone, but he knew that Illiana posed no threat. She wasn’t your average woman. She did not need to steal, because she had her own, and her bank account was filled with endless zeroes. It was for this reason alone that he allowed her to be present.

After many lonely nights, Illiana’s presence in Miami had become surprisingly welcomed. She was a distraction, someone he felt comfortable enough around because she understood his world. At first Zyir was hesitant to keep her too close, but after many lonely nights, the feelings of isolation and the ghosts that haunted his mind became too much. He needed companionship, and the time he spent with Illiana became convenient for Zyir.

Her warm body filled the empty space in his bed most nights, but unfortunately for Illiana, his heart remained ice cold. That was a void that only one woman could fill, and he had closed it off to the rest of the world the day that Breeze had been kidnapped. The day that she disappeared was the same day that Zyir gave up on love. Hustling was all that mattered, getting money his only concern. Even a woman as strikingly beautiful as Illiana could not soften his reserve. She had managed to squeeze into his bed, but he would never allow another woman to enter his life in the magnitude that Breeze Diamond had. Meeting her had changed the man that he was, and losing her had killed his spirit.

No, I can’t afford to feel like that again. Loving a woman hurts too bad,
he thought as he watched Illiana carefully.

“Why are you looking at me like that, papi?” Illiana asked, snapping Zyir out of his daze. “You see something you like?” Her flirtatious nature surfaced as she threw the money from her hands up into the air.

“What you doing, ma? You’re fucking up the count,” he objected with dismay.

Illiana shrugged her shoulders as she began to unbutton the shirt she was wearing, revealing her perky breasts and quarter-sized nipples.

“You’re just going to count it again anyway,” she said as she brought her face close to his and kissed his lips. Zyir turned
his head, allowing her kisses to fall on his neck. Having a woman’s lips on his own was too intimate for him. You kiss those that you love, and there was nothing but lust between them.

He flipped her over so that he was on top, and tapped her ass slightly. She already knew that he wanted to hit her from the back. He liked to see her derrière jiggle as he slid in and out of her.

Illiana was willing to give Zyir anything he desired. She was desperate to become his and to be affiliated with everything concerning him. She had never dealt with a man like him before. Everything about him attracted her, and she was pulling out all the stops in order to appeal to him. She wanted to be down, and the fact that he was a business associate of her brother’s was even better. It meant that he was powerful because the Garza Cartel only dealt with the elite.

As he slid into her, she grimaced from his size, but with each stroke he put down on her, the pain slowly gave way to pleasure. She threw her pussy on him as if her life depended on it. There was no slow lovemaking going on. Zyir was beating it up. Illiana moaned loudly, unable to contain herself. He reached around her body and fingered her clit simultaneously, making her call out to him in Spanish. It didn’t take her long to cum. Zyir was well versed in the female persuasion, and brought her to an orgasm better than any man before him ever could.

Money stuck to her sweat-covered body as she breathed in heavily from their intense escapade. She collapsed on the bed, exhausted as she watched Zyir stand before her.

“Come lay with me,” she said as she rubbed the empty spot next to her. She saw the look in his eyes and knew that he was about to tell her no. She knew she had to turn up her game in order to get her way. He was constantly pulling away from
her. Sex was her only weapon, the only thing that kept him near. “I’m not done with you yet,” she said as she reached up and grabbed his penis. It came back alive instantly from her touch, and she smiled as she crawled to the edge of the bed and took him into her mouth. She was an expert at keeping a man interested in the bedroom. All she had to do was figure out how to keep Zyir focused on her once the sun came up. She wanted him for herself, and was willing to go to any extreme to ensure that he belonged to her.

“I’ve killed niggas for less than what you’ve done.”

—Carter

The Cartel had buried Breeze’s memory so long ago that Carter did not believe his eyes.
This can’t be her,
he thought as he rushed over to the bed and pulled the girl off of her knees.

“Hey! Wait your turn,” the john protested. Carter pulled his gun and trained his aim on the man, who bitched up quickly, raising his hands in defense. He scrambled to get his clothing before scurrying out of the room.

“Breeze?” Carter called out. Breeze heard her name being called, but her high had her in a nod too deep to come out of.

“Carter, what is this? This is my place of business, señor. You can’t just …”

The girl before him was a mere shell of the vibrant young woman he had come to know. His mind told him that this girl couldn’t be Breeze. They had left her for dead so long ago and he was skeptical, but the resemblance was too similar to miss. When he saw the small gold cross hanging from her neck, her identity was confirmed. Through all of the storms that life had thrown her way, the necklace was still there. It had been the only piece of home she had left.

Carter turned his attention on Felipe as he rushed him with his gun drawn. He wrapped his hand around Felipe’s
throat as he put his gun directly to his forehead, forcing him against the wall of the bedroom. “Where’d you get her?” he barked as spit flew from his mouth.

Felipe could see that Carter was irrational. “I can see that you’re upset over this girl—”

“She’s my sister!” Carter shouted as he pulled back the hammer on his gun. “Where did you get her?” It would be his last time asking.

Carter knew that his actions were irrational and stupid, but he was acting out of emotion alone, disregarding the voice in the back of his mind telling him to calm down.

“Carter, this is not going to end well for you. I understand your reaction, and I can assure you that I had no idea of her affiliation to your family. Now that I know, something can be worked out,” Felipe stated calmly yet firmly.

Carter released Felipe and rushed back over to Breeze. She was delusional as she reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Come here, baby. Let me make you feel good,” she whispered, thinking that Carter was a john.

Pure emotion pulsed through him as he scooped her into his arms. Seeing her like this was breaking down the very essence of his manhood, making him feel weaker than he ever had before. He had failed her, Mecca had failed her, every man in her life who was supposed to keep her safe had failed.

“This ain’t for you, Breeze,” he stated sadly. “None of this was ever supposed to happen to you.” Carter carried her over to Felipe, her head resting upon his broad shoulders as she fell into a nod.

“I’ll buy her,” Carter said. “A half a million dollars.” There was no negotiating this bargain, and Felipe could see that bartering was not an option. Carter was a man who was protecting his family. That connection had no boundaries. Felipe
knew this, because he would go against a thousand armies to ensure the safety of his own loved ones.

Felipe nodded and placed a hand on Carter’s shoulder. He was not willing to give her away. To him, Breeze was just property, an expensive piece of real estate, but to maintain the business he was establishing with The Cartel, he was willing to sell her back. “If I could give her back to you for free, I would, but I paid a high price for her. A half a million dollars is not necessary. Just replace the seventy-five thousand dollars I spent in acquiring her and you can take her home,” Felipe said.

Felipe opened the bedroom door. As Carter stepped out, he was instantly surrounded by Mexican men who held automatic machine guns pointed his way. He had no idea that Felipe had so many soldiers throughout the brothel. They were his security, and every room was monitored.

Felipe knew that he had never been in danger. The only person whose life was at stake was Carter’s. Felipe lifted his hand to halt his army of loyal shooters, and shook his head from side to side.

“Let them pass,” he said. Felipe turned to Carter. “My driver will take you back to the airstrip. I know you are eager to get home. We will take care of the details later.”

The men lowered their weapons obediently, and Carter carried Breeze out of the brothel as she clung to him. He kissed the top of her head as he stepped into Felipe’s limousine. When he was inside of the tinted vehicle, he broke down over Breeze, cradling her closely and hugging her tightly as his tears fell relentlessly. There was no stopping them. This was his baby sister, the most innocent one of them all, and yet she had been through the worst hell imaginable. The rest of his family had played the game and accepted the risks, but it was Breeze who had been sucked in by association, only to be
chewed up and spit out. He could only imagine the cold and lonely place that she had just come from.