The Family Business 3 (3 page)

“So I guess you got my message?” My husband's voice sounded overly calm considering the message that had been delivered.

As he stared at me from across the table, I was wishing I was anywhere but there with him. I could feel his eyes undressing me, slowly and intentionally removing all the layers I was wearing. Guess it didn't matter how hard I had tried to cover myself up; he knew every single contour of my body too well to be thrown off by baggy clothes and no makeup. There was a time when that look he was giving me would have made my clothes melt away so I could jump his bones right there, but those days were long gone.

“Oh, I got your message loud and clear,” I replied sharply, looking up at his smug face for the first time. It had been three days since his men entered the Bull and Bear restaurant, threatening Junior and me like modern day Stormtroopers. I'm sure Junior thought it was about him, but I knew that confrontation had been my husband's way of reminding me that I was his wife and that playtime was over, regardless of the fact that he was behind bars. “Why else would I be here?”

He turned the chair around and sat in it backward, his eyes narrowed in anger. I had no doubt that if the guards weren't watching our every move, he would have slapped me for using that tone of voice with him. A part of me wanted to jump up and run. I could write him a letter when I got home instead of doing this face to face, I thought. Deep down, though, I knew that would never work. Not if I truly wanted to be with Junior. Besides, I hadn't taken a five-hour bus ride just to turn tail the moment things got uncomfortable. I needed to confront him. It was the only way he would respect me enough to give me my freedom and leave Junior alone.

“I'm not sure. I'm hoping you've come to your senses,” he finally said.

“Yes, I have come to my senses. I want a divorce, Charles.”

He sat up straighter, clearly taken aback by my words. “My name is Xavier—and I love you, so that's not going to happen. You knew when we first got married that Islamic law has no provision for divorce other than death. I'm your husband. Your only husband!” He spoke with finality, the same way he did when he was giving orders to the countless men who were always at his beck and call. The problem was, he seemed to forget that I wasn't one of them.

“Really?” I shot back defiantly. “And what kind of husband have you been the last five years?” I said it loud enough for half the people in the visiting room to hear.

“I've been a faithful one. Can you say the same?” Most people would have stopped at that moment, frightened by his steely calm, but I had come this far, and I was going to have my say.

“No, I can't, and that's why I want a divorce. You can't do anything for me locked up in here, Charles. I'm a woman. I need to be held at night. I need to be made love to. Hell, you stay in so much trouble that we can't even have conjugal visits.” I stared at him, refusing to back down.

He reached out for my hand, but I moved it away. I didn't want him to soften my resolve. “I understand, and I'm sorry,” he said, sounding more sincere than I would have expected. “I can fix that. Get my conjugal reinstated. I know this hasn't been easy on you, but I can make this right. Sonya, baby, I love you.”

I shook my head. “It's a little late for that, don't you think? You're not a husband; you're a responsibility. A responsibility I don't want anymore. I just want to be free.”

His eyes flashed with anger. “The only way for you to be free from me is for one of us to die. And I don't plan on dying anytime soon. You get where I'm going with this?”

“I don't love you anymore!” I pleaded. “I'm in love with someone else. What part of that don't you understand?”

“None of it! Because it's not happening and that's that,” he barked so loudly that I saw people from the next table flinch. Their eyes shot toward us, but they looked away just as quickly. Even the other men in prison jumpsuits wanted to pretend they hadn't heard anything. They were all so afraid of him—but I wasn't.

I clenched my jaw and sat straight and motionless, letting him know that I wouldn't let him intimidate me with his yelling. First he looked frustrated, like I was a hardheaded child he was trying to discipline, but then he just looked confused. He wasn't used to anyone pushing back against his authority.

“You love this man. Is that what you're telling me?” His eyes were tearing up, and I realized that beneath his hard exterior, he still had feelings for me. This was the most vulnerable that I'd ever seen him. Unfortunately, it was a little too late for that.

“Yes, I love him,” I replied with tears now falling from my eyes. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to happen, but it did.”

He angrily swiped away a tear that had escaped and began to run down his cheek. “You do understand that I will kill this man—and any other that stands between us.”

Just like that, the hard-as-nails husband that I knew was back. If I had thought for a second that he was going to let me go easily, I realized now that it was a foolish notion.

“You're serious?” I asked.

“Very serious. As far as I'm concerned, he's already dead.” His voice was barely a whisper as he dropped that bomb; then he stood up and walked out of the visiting room.

There's this magical moment that I always try to savor. It doesn't happen very often, and it only lasts a few seconds at the height of my orgasm, but when it does, there's no other feeling that can compare. That's where I was as I slid up and down on Niles's thick penis. I was trying to hold on to that phenomenal sensation, but it quickly slipped away. Don't get me wrong; I wasn't mad that it had subsided. I was still enjoying the after effects of my orgasm. I just wish I could have held that sensation a little longer.

A few seconds later, Niles palmed my ass cheeks, pulling me all the way down on his dick so I could feel him explode.

“Damn, that was good,” I murmured as I collapsed on top of him. This man knew my body as if he were a part of me. God, I loved him.

“Where are you going?” he asked as I rolled off of him and started dressing.

“With you.”

“Paris . . .” he said warily.

I stifled a laugh. “No, no, no. I'm going to drive you to the airport. I think I deserve a sappy good-bye.”
Or perhaps a chance to talk you out of leaving,
I thought. “Besides, I need to get my ass out of here and back to Spain. Left all my shit there.”

“Is this some ploy so you can go along?” He got up, revealing all the reasons I wanted to just throw him back on the bed.

“If you were going to any other city, then maybe, but I'm not tryin'a show up in New York.”

“Yeah, I get it. I'm gonna go jump in the shower. I would ask you to join me, but we'd never get out.” He laughed as he grabbed me around the waist and planted a deep, wet kiss on me.

“I'm not showering,” I said. “I want to smell you on me all day. Maybe I won't shower at all until you come back.”

“That is so fuckin' nasty and hot, you dirty girl,” he joked as he headed to the shower.

“Hey, since you fixed my tire, we'll take my car. I'll transfer all your stuff into it,” I said.

He turned around and smiled at me, cocky as hell. “See, this is why I'm keeping you. You're like a sexy ninja Girl Scout.” He took a step in my direction, like he was ready to start round two of our lovemaking.

“Go! I don't want you blaming me for being late.” I pointed him to the bathroom. As soon as I heard the shower turn on, I got to work gathering everything I would need. Twenty minutes later, we were headed out of the compound.

“You know, you're the first man I ever loved,” I said as I drove.

“So you love me?”

“Yes, very much.” I wanted to turn and face him, but I had to keep my eyes on the road, so I pulled over to the side.

“Why are you stopping?” He placed his hand on top of mine.

“What if you don't come back?” I asked.

“Then I will reflect on the wonderful moments that I've shared with you in way too short a time,” he said softly, caressing my face. “But the main thing I'm gonna do is my job, and do it effectively.”

I understood. I knew that I couldn't ever change his mind. The job was what he did, and he would no more walk away from unfinished business than I would. I reached out for his hand and held it tight, wishing this moment had never arrived. I wanted to tell him the truth, but I couldn't bring myself to speak.

“Hey. I've got something for you.” He interrupted my thoughts. Reaching into his waistband, he pulled out one of his karambit blades and extended his hand to me. “It's for you . . . until they're reunited.”

“What . . . why?” I questioned as I took the blade from him.

“Paris, you make me nervous like a little schoolboy. I'm not used to feeling all open and shit, but I do believe fate brought us together back in Spain. I love you with all my heart, you crazy, sexy woman, and I'm ready to commit to you. When I get back, we'll lay it all on the line, me and you, and see how things go.”

I was stunned. On top of my frayed emotions, this left me speechless.

“Just something I needed to get off my chest,” he said, “on the off chance that something does happen to me and I don't return. Tomorrow's never promised, but I need you to know that my love for you is.”

Niles kissed me tenderly. As he pivoted, I locked my grip on the single blade, mad at myself for enjoying the kiss. When we finished, neither of us spoke. I drove away from the side of the road and let him direct me back to the private airstrip. I pulled my car up to the plane and let him out. God, I didn't want to. I wanted him to stay here with me. He unloaded his bags and then turned to face me.

“I need to know something before I leave. Are you all in, Paris?”

“Yeah. I am,” I said solemnly.

“Good. Because I know you know who my next assignment is,” he stated, startling me. “Just wanted to show that I trust you with my business . . . no matter who says I shouldn't. No secrets. I love you, ma,” he said, oblivious to who I really was: the daughter of the man he was hired to kill.

“I love you too,” I replied. “Always.”

“Then we're on the same page.” He gave me a quick kiss on the lips, holding me around the waist. As his hands fell away and he began to move, I grabbed his arm, holding it firmly. At first he looked confused, because my grip had intensity, but when his eyes met mine they were soft, smiling.

“Do you trust me?” I fought back tears.

“Yes, and that's not something that comes naturally to me,” he said, holding my gaze.

“Then believe me when I say you can't go. You have to walk away from this job.” I heard my voice catch from the emotional hell swirling deep down at the core of my heart.

“Babe, it's gonna be all right. I'm not leaving you. Plus, I need to finish this job so that I can walk away from Nadja.”

“I don't care. Do another job for her. I need you to stay with me.” I knew the begging wasn't sexy, but I couldn't just let him go. He reached out and swooped me up in his arms and held me close, but by the time he put me down, I knew he'd made his decision and nothing I said would deter him.

I watched as he walked toward the plane and stepped up the ladder, disappearing into the G5. Just like that, he was gone.

I climbed back into my car, and with trembling hands, I donned a pair of gloves that I'd hastily stowed in my pocket in anticipation of this moment. From the opposite pocket, I produced a wireless transmitter and removed the safety with a flick of my thumb. I waited until the plane had taken off, imagining him there in the cockpit, thinking about me the same way that I was here thinking about him.

Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and counted to three as I fought back tears. In the end, the outcome was predetermined from the moment I had looked in that file back in a cheap motel in Valencia.

Niles had once taught me a valuable lesson about having to make hard choices when he wanted me to prove I was “about this life.”
Well, I am
, I thought as I opened my eyes and pressed the trigger.

“I love you, Niles,” I spoke out loud, although he was miles in the air by now.

Only when I saw the flames of the airplane lighting the sky and falling into pieces over the hill was I convinced of my success. However, success was synonymous with misery as the transmitter fell from my open hand and I closed my eyes again.

“Niles!” My chest heaving, I screamed at the top of my lungs, but there was no one there to hear it. I opened my eyes, and suddenly it was all gone. No smoke, no fire, no plane, nothing. Just Rio and Sasha sitting across from me, looking at me like I was a fool.

“You all right?” Rio asked, leaning as far as his seat belt would allow.

It took me a second, but I finally got it together and realized it was all a dream, and that we were on the ground, buckled up in the company G5. I glanced out the window as we made our way to the hangar.

“Paris, you all right?” he repeated.

“Yeah,” I said, angry about where my mind had taken me. “That motherfucker LaSalle fucked my head up. I was dreaming about that last day with Niles.”

“Damn, that must have been some good-ass dick! You still dreaming about him after he's dead.”

“Shut up, Sasha,” Rio and I said in unison. “Shut the fuck up!”

“Two ninety-nine, three hundred.” I finished my last pushup just as the sound of the cell block changed from the normal jailhouse chatter to a hushed whisper. This could only mean one thing: there were more than the usual number of corrections officers, or
screws
, as we inmates called them, on the floor. Within seconds of this observation, two of my most trusted associates, Brother Muhammad and Brother Jules, were posted outside my cell.

“Jefferson and Nugent are headed our way, Xavier,” Brother Muhammad said without moving from his post.

“It's cool. I've been expecting them,” I replied.

I stood up and adjusted my kufi then whistled at Lenny and Squiggy, my two pet rats, who scrambled up my arm and onto my shoulders. I'd raised them from babies after I killed their mother for chewing into a pack of Oodles of Noodles I'd stashed in my cell. There was only one thing in the world I cared about more than those two rats, and that was my wife Sonya—who, unfortunately, didn't seem to share the same feelings for me anymore.

As I fed Lenny and Squiggy peanuts, two white-shirt screws, Sergeant Jefferson and Captain Nugent, stepped in front of my cell. They might have been employed by the state, but both of them were on my payroll as well, and occasionally did a job or two on the outside when the price was right. Jefferson, a brother, stepped in my cell and almost killed himself tripping over Nugent to get out when he saw Lenny and Squiggy perched on my shoulders.

“Jesus Christ. What the hell are those things doing in there?” he asked once he was safely back outside.

“What's wrong, Jefferson? You don't like rats?” Nugent laughed as he walked into my cell. Unlike his darker counterpart, he didn't seem to have a fear of my pets.

“Fuck no. If it wasn't for the money he's paying, I'd have those nasty motherfuckers exterminated. If you don't mind, X, I'll stay right here.”

“Suit yourself,” I replied.

Unlike his partner, Nugent was always careful not to implicate himself in anything illegal, so he spoke in a low tone, making sure that only he and I could hear what he was saying. “The Italians just got word that their little problems in Attica and Rahway were taken care of. They send their thanks.”

“Tell them that prompt payment is thanks enough.”

Nugent nodded then made his way out of my cell. A few seconds later, Jefferson poked his head back in and said loud enough for the entire tier to hear, “Hey, X, I need you on a work detail over by Cell Block C. Deputy Warden Martinez said I can buy you some KFC if you finish it today. What do you say?”

I smiled. “Long as it ain't swine, I'm down.”

Five minutes later, Jefferson and I, minus Nugent, were walking down the main corridor of my cell block. Jefferson was keeping his distance because I had Lenny and Squiggy hidden in my orange coverall pockets. That didn't stop him from talking, though.

“X, man, what the hell would make you wanna mess with nasty-ass rats?” Jefferson asked.

I wanted to stab him in the neck with the shank I was hiding for talking about Lenny and Squiggy like that, but I also knew I needed his diarrhea-of-the-mouth self, so I kept it lighthearted. “They wouldn't let me have a dog,” I replied.

Jefferson laughed, continuing to talk about nothing as we turned down another corridor and walked until we had no choice but to stop at a gate. I'd never seen this part of the prison, but I had no doubt he was taking me to where I needed to be.

“On the gate!” he yelled, smiling at the female screw behind the glass. She pushed a button, triggering a loud buzzing sound, and then the gate opened. We'd already gone through five similar gates, and not one screw even raised an eyebrow. This was the power of the white shirt, and the reason why I paid fools like Jefferson and Nugent so much. Guys like them gave me and the brothers carte blanche to move freely throughout the prison to do our jobs.

Twenty feet after the gate, we went through a door that led outside to a long, barbed-wired path, which led to another building. I stopped and let the sun touch my face. Something I had always taken for granted when I was outside in the world was now considered a luxury.

Halfway down the path, Jefferson, who had somehow retrieved a rake on his way out of the building, interrupted my thoughts and started talking again. I swear that dude loved to hear the sound of his own voice.

“X, when we get around that building, I want you to take this rake and start cleaning up the leaves. It's a blind spot in the camera network, so the only people who will be able to see you are me and the other COs on the yard and in the tower. He should be around here in about twenty minutes, so I'll keep them occupied. When that time comes, I'm sure I don't have to tell you what to do.”

I nodded in confirmation as he escorted me to the spot where I would be raking.

After five minutes, Jefferson wandered off to talk to some other screws on the other side of the small street, so I let Lenny and Squiggy out to play in a pile of leaves. As I raked, my thoughts wandered to Sonya. I still couldn't believe she was having an affair. I wasn't one to explore my emotions—hell, some people might say I didn't have any emotions—but every time I thought of Sonya with another man, I became overcome with an intense jealousy.

“Motherfucker, I want my fifty dollars!” I turned around at the sound of a fight starting. This was nothing new. In prison, dudes fight every damn day. What made it different this time was that it was two COs who were beefing. Jefferson was pointing a finger at another white-shirt screw who was almost half his size. He was yelling loudly enough for half the prison to hear him.

“Get your finger out my face. I don't owe you shit!” the pint-size screw yelled back.

I had to stifle a laugh when Jefferson pointed his finger and poked him in the nose. What happened next surprised me, and probably all the other screws, because no one would have expected the short screw to punch Jefferson in the face. A melee ensued, and every screw on the yard came running.

When Jefferson had told me he'd take care of the screws, he wasn't playing. I whistled at Lenny and Squiggy, scooping them up. Less than a minute later, I spotted him coming my way, and my heart rate sped up, my body tensed, and my palms became sweaty. This was the moment I'd been waiting for. I glanced over at the screws, who weren't paying any attention to me or him as they tried to break up the fight.

When I looked back, he was less than twenty feet away. I tensed, tightening the grip around my shank, ready to spring into action. This was do or die time. I was on a mission, and I wasn't going to let anyone stop me from accomplishing my goal.

“Get in and bring the rake,” he ordered when he was in front of me. He had parked the prison van to block the view of both the tower and the COs.

“I have to admit, Nugent, I didn't think you had the balls to pull it off.” I jumped in the van and hid behind the seat. He threw a blanket at me, and I covered myself.

“I didn't, but you gave me half a million reasons to grow a pair.” He chuckled as the van moved toward the gate. Next stop for me: a visit to my wife and Junior Duncan.