Authors: Blake Karrington
Herman was the epitome of evil. He enjoyed inflicting pain on her, but she had stayed with him for her children. Now, he was the biggest threat to their lives. She could finally get the lock off the door, her hands were sore and bloody, but she manage to turn the dead bolt on door, and it finally opened. She ran out into the warehouse, slipped on some oil and twisted her ankle.
“Oh God!” Lorraine screamed. She wanted to sit there and cry, but she knew she had to get to her babies. “Please, Jesus, help me.” Lorraine prayed as she tried to stand.
She hobbled over towards the door of the warehouse to find it locked. “No, no!” Lorraine yelled as she beat on the door.
She looked around the warehouse and took a deep breath. She had made it out of the basement, and now she was going to make it outside this damn warehouse, or die trying.
__________
Brianna pulled up to the abandoned looking house on Central Avenue. She scanned the yard, but only saw a van parked in the grass. She and Jonathan got out. Jonathan had his 10mm by his side. He looked at the minivan, trying to make out the color, but it the darkness of the night made it too hard to see. He looked closely at the passenger side of the vehicle. He saw the bullet holes and it confirmed, what he was already thinking. This was the same van that was involved in the shooting at his house and in the killing of A.J. He gripped his gun and followed Brianna up the stairs. There was only one light on in the house.
The door opened and Charrise glared at Brianna.
Brianna walked into the house looking around the living room. She noticed blood on the floor, and a bloody rag. She locked eyes with Charrise and Selena. For some reason, it seemed like the temperature in the room dropped as the ladies stared at each other. So much had happened in the last couple of days, that they really needed to sit down and get things ironed out. But life wouldn’t seem to slow down long enough for the words to be said.
Ivory appeared out of the dark kitchen with Herman. Their appearance startled Brianna and she raised her gun.
Herman smiled at her.
“Where is our mother? You sick fuck!” Brianna said taking a step towards him. Herman ignored her and looked at Jonathan.
“Hey son, so it looks like this red bitch done brought you into to this shit as well.” Herman said laughing.
“I’m not going to ask you again, Herman.” Brianna said as she took another step towards him. She stopped in her tracks when she saw Ivory click back the chamber of her .45 magnum and point it in her and Jonathan’s direction.
Both Selena and Charrise looked at her like she was crazy.
“What are doing Ivory? That’s my sister and brother.” Charrise yelled while looking at Selena for backup with her statement.
“Yeah, what’s going on, Ivory? These our people right here?” Selena chimed in.
“Sorry ladies, but family or no family… This the nigga that killed my sister and the bitch that ordered it!” she said as she kept her gun fastened in their direction.
“Now, how about you put that gun down before we be planning a double funeral! “ Ivory instructed seeing the gun Jonathan still had at his side.
“Na fuck that, I ain’t putting shit down.” Jonathan screamed back, waiting for the opportunity to catch Ivory slipping so he could get a shot off.
“Jonathan just put the gun down. This is obviously some type of misunderstanding, because I haven’t had anyone killed. The only person here that I’m interested in seeing dead is this sick old drunk mother fucker right here.” Brianna uttered in Herman’s direction.
“You better listen to your sister and put that shit down.” Ivory said, pulling her other .45 out her back pocket.
“Fuck you bitch, I don’t know you!” Jonathan said not taking his eyes off her.
Herman’s pulse quickened and he could not stop the smile that spread across his face. All three of the children he raised could be wiped off the face of the earth in a matter of minutes. His cheating ass wife would die from starvation and dehydration, and that motherfucker Cowboy would be put in a cage for the rest of his life. Taking them all down would be worth him taking a bullet. Just as long as none of these mother fuckers breathe free air.
“I’m the bitch that is going to open your skull with a fuckin bullet if you don’t put that gun down.” Ivory yelled again.
__________
Lorraine managed to crawl through the window of the warehouse. Once she was outside, she sighed, recognizing the familiar street. She knew she was only a few minutes away from the Snapper’s restaurant. She had no idea what time it was, but she knew that she could get to a phone there. She ran up the street, her feet were being cut by glass and rocks, but she kept running.
She finally reached the doors of the restaurant and ran inside. Two servers, Sheila and April, were wiping down tables. They stopped and stared at Lorraine who ran past them to the phone at the bar. She fell onto the bar stool and grabbed the phone. Her hands were shaking so badly that she dropped the receiver twice.
“Ugggg!” Lorraine yelled as she snatched the handset from the floor.
“Ms., can I help you? Oh my God, are you ok?” One of the bartenders asked, noticing her wounds.
“Thank you, but I’m fine. I just need to use your phone”
“Ms., you’re bleeding.” the bartender said, noticing the dried and fresh blood on her arms.
“Ma’am! I’m fine, I just need to use the damn phone!” Lorraine screamed causing her to jump back behind the bar. Lorraine took a deep breath and dialed Cowboy’s number. The phone did not ring; it went straight to voicemail, causing Lorraine’s heart to stop. “Oh God!” Lorraine said aloud, thinking Herman had accomplished his goal in having Cowboy murdered or locked up.
She sat back in the chair; she needed to gather her thoughts. She took a deep breath and dialed Charrise’s number.
__________
Charrise, Jonathan, Brianna, Selena and Ivory had not moved. Each had yelled at the other, and kept their guns locked on one another. The sound of a phone ringing seemed to be miles away. Charrise realized that it was her phone and she pulled it out of her back pocket.
“Hello.”
“Charrise?! Thank God you answered! Look, baby, please. Herman is trying to kill Brianna and Cowboy.” Lorraine said breathless.
Charrise was relieved to hear her mother’s voice. She looked at Brianna with a huge smile.
“So, you are okay? Where are you?” Charrise asked
“Yes, that psycho kidnapped me and locked me in a warehouse, but I escaped. I’m at a restaurant off highway 49. But baby, that’s not important. I’ll be all right. You need to get to your sister and warn her and Cowboy. That man is crazy, and I’m scared for my baby.” Lorraine’s voice rose hysterically.
“Don’t worry, Ma. I will handle everything. I have to go now. Mama, call the police and tell them what happened. We will get to you as soon as we can.”
“Ok, baby,” Lorraine whispered, and hung up the phone.
__________
Charrise put the phone back in her pocket. She turned her eyes from Brianna to Herman who was smiling at Brianna. He was waiting for Ivory to put a bullet in her. Even if he wasn’t the one pulling the trigger, he would still get the same joy of seeing it done.
“Who was that?” Brianna asked, noticing the smirk on Charrise’s face.
“That was Mommy, and she’s alive and safe.” Charrise responded.
The smile on Herman’s face slowly began to fade. He knew that if Charrise was telling the truth, then his whole plan had just unraveled.
“Look, Ivory, I don’t know what’s going on, but me and Gwen had an agreement and this bastard dying was part of it. Can you please tell me what changed?” Selena asked while pointing at Herman.
“Yeah well, Selena, I’m a soldier and I just follow Direc—” Ivory was saying before she was cut off by the shining of car headlights through the window of the small home.
“Well Selena, it looks like you can ask her yourself.” Ivory continued.
“What’s up, Brianna?” Gwen said as she walked into the house, flanked by four other MHB solders. As she walked towards Brianna, the headlights from another approaching car shone on Jonathan’s face.
Gwen and Jonathan locked eyes, but before she could react, Jonathan had the gun pointed in her face. Gwen’s entrance had been the diversion he needed. The women on the side of Gwen yelled at him to drop the gun as Charrise, Selena, and Brianna instructed him to do the same.
“Whoa, whoa what is going on?” Selena yelled. The distraction that Selena caused gave Gwen the chance to pull her gun. “Gwen, calm down, these are my family.”
“Family?” Gwen asked glaring at Jonathan and Brianna. “This is the fool that took over a million from me and murdered my sister right in front of another member. Word is, your big sis is the one that ordered it!” Gwen yelled.
Charrise and Selena turned to look at Jonathan and Brianna.
“What? You robbing and killing people?” Charrise said. “Jonathan! Answer me!”
Jonathan didn’t answer Charrise. He didn’t move his eyes from Gwen. Charrise ran her fingers through her hair. She looked at Brianna, who was in a war stance. She could see her finger itching to make it to the trigger of the gun in the small of her back. Brianna knew that no matter how much she could have tried to convince Gwen and her crew that she never ordered Jonathan to do anything, there
was no way they was going to
believe it. She also knew that with the firepower Gwen had behind her, her and Jonathan would be slaughtered.
“Gwen listen, we gotta find a way to resolve this. I can assure you that I had nothing to do with the robbing and killing of you or any MHB member. But I will take responsibility because this is my family. Now I don’t know what the fuck is fully going on with my little brother, but we can work this out.” Brianna spoke trying to reason with Gwen.
“Fuck this bitch, Bri. She and her crew murdered both my boys. As I see it, I owe her a life for A.J.’s.”
“Jonathan, shut the fuck up. If you had not been out here robbing folks your friends would not be dead!” Brianna yelled.
Brianna looked at Gwen with pleading eyes. This would be the one time she would try the mercy role. If it didn’t work, it would be time to go all out in a blaze of glory, and Brianna was ready die. She was tired of living with a constant ten thousand pound weight over her head, whether it was jail, stick-up crews, or the rival gangs that were constantly threatening her empire. At that moment, she realized that Brandon was right. Dealing with some bougie and stuck-up black folks was a lot easier than dealing with this life and death style of living she was involved in.
The knock on the door startled everyone inside. The drama that existed inside the house had drawn everyone’s attention from the second set of car lights earlier.
Gwen motioned for one of her henchwomen to open the door. The girl slowly opened the door with her gun pointed towards the entrance.
“What up, Gwen?” Eagle said approaching with a black duffel bag.
“Eagle? What the hell you doing here?” she asked.
“Setting this shit straight, Gwen.” Eagle said as he threw the duffle bag at her feet. “Let them go, and consider this squared up.” Eagle stood between Jonathan and Brianna.
“What, you fucking this bitch while my girl locked up? Nigga!” Gwen yelled. Eagle smiled and shook his head. He handed her his cell phone and motioned for her to listen to the person on the other end.
“What up, bitch? I see you holding shit down.” the voice on the other end spoke.
Gwen smiled as the thought of her girl’s face entered her mind. “Ni, what’s up trick?” she joked back.
“Now on the real, I need you to sit down with girlie and I need you to give the young buck a pass.”
“Who are these people to you, Ni?” Gwen asked with a curious look on her face.
“Sis, that’s my future sister-in-law.” Niya responded.
Gwen’s eyes shifted from Eagle to Brianna. She waved for her crew to lower their guns, and nodded to Brianna. “So let’s you and I take a walk and talk, and get this shit figured out.”
The two ladies walked outside the house and into the blackness of the night. Everyone inside took a seat. They were starting to get nervous when the ladies had been gone for nearly a hour and a half, before they returned, laughing and giggling like two teenagers. Brianna had agreed to give Gwen her blessing with Auntie and to give up all her cocaine and heroin transactions. She would simply deal with weed, and MHB would provide the security and protection for her weed transactions. Both could get what they wanted, Gwen and MHB would have the Carolinas on lock and Brianna would still be getting money and able to fall back and enjoy her new life with Brandon.
Once back in the house, Gwen motioned for her girls to come on.
After talking with Jonathan, Brianna convinced him to ride out with Eagle and check on their mom, and then go to the hospital to check on Kasy and Cowboy. Leaving Brianna, Selena, and Charrise alone in the house with Herman.
“Ok Charrise, I’m not trying to leave you out or treat you like a child, but you sure you want to do this?” Brianna asked with a concerned look on her face. Charrise looked at Herman. This was her father, but when she thought about all the things that he had allowed to happen to her, she couldn’t find an ounce of love left in her body towards him.
“Yeah, I’m sure.”
Brianna handed her a bottle of Patron and all three started emptying their bottles all over Herman’s body while he screamed and tried to wiggle out of his bondage.
“What you crying for now, nigga? I thought you liked liquor?” Brianna asked in a joking manner.
“Maybe he just likes brown, not white liquor.” Selena chimed in while laughing.
“Please don’t kill me, I will go far way and never come back. I promise… I promise…”
Herman’s pleas fell on deaf ears as Brianna struck the matches. She gave one to each of her girls, and all at once, they threw the burning flame sticks on Herman’s alcohol drenched body.
Brianna kissed Cowboy’s forehead and hugged her mother.
“You make sure y’all call us okay, to let us know you’ll are alright.” Lorraine said, hugging Brianna. She touched her stomach and smiled. “I really wish you would stay here, baby, so I can take care of you.”