Tears gathered in her eyes, and she allowed them to fall silently as she washed her body. The shower was the only placeshe cried. When her tears ran dry, she finished up in the shower and stepped out.
After tending to her eye, she walked into the large walk-in closet and dressed in some red silk pajamas. Just as she put her towel and dirty clothes in the hamper, she heard a loud thud.
With her brows dipped, she walked into the bedroom. “Kev?—”
The words got caught in her throat as she took in the scene. There were two men dressed in all black with ski masks over their faces pointing a gun at Kevin, who was on the floor looking like he was about to piss his thousand-dollar pajama pants.
“Bitch, put yo’ hands up!” one of the men shouted, pointing the gun at her.
She glanced at Kevin with fear locking her in place. Just this one time she wanted to be reminded of what it felt like to feel safe in Kevin’s presence, but he only glared at her before he quickly said, “You dumb bitch! Go get the gun?—”
It was a strange thing, watching someone die. Teonny’s brain couldn’t quite compute the bloody mess that now covered her walls. Kevin’s handsome face, the face she had grown to despise, was half missing as brain matter leaked onto their cream-colored carpet. Despite half his face missing, he looked peaceful, like he could finally shut the fuck up for once and rest those evil thoughts that ran his life.
“Fuck, bro, you wasn’t supposed to kill him,” one of the men shouted. Teonny broke out of her daze before a scream tore out of her chest.
These people were dangerous. Her brain was finally catching up with how serious the situation was, but all she could do was scream. She wanted to bolt toward the door and get to her baby, but her feet stayed planted in place as she screamed at the top of her lungs.
“Man, bro, get her!”
A moment later, a large hand clamped over her mouth. She fought back, but the man was big, and she was no match for him.
“Shut up,” he hissed. “All we need is the money in the safe. And don’t play dumb. We know you got one.” This was what this was about? Money? Hell, they could have that. She would give them everything. All she wanted was to get to her baby. “Nod if you understand.”
She quickly nodded. Her vision blurred as tears splashed down her cheeks.
The man pushed her forward and pointed his gun at her. “Show us where the shit is, and no funny business.”
“P-please, I just want?—”
“Bitch!” He reared back and hit her in the head. It was nothing new to her. She was used to this kind of treatment, and she could take it. It did, however, shut her up.
“It’s i-in the closet.” She stuttered as she pointed a shaky finger toward the walk-in closet.
The bigger man picked her up by her hair and shoved her toward the closet.
“Aye, man, not so rough,” the smaller man said.
“Man, go on,” the bigger man spat. “This bitch needs to do what she’s told and quickly. These white people in this neighborhood probably heard that shot.”
Teonny hoped so. She crawled toward the closet. Her head pierced with pain from every movement, but she pushed forward.
Both men followed her, and she shakily spun the dial to the safe in the closet to open it. There was only about a hundred thousand dollars in there. Kevin had it stacked in a way that he could tell from a glance if she touched it, so she never did, but she knew the combination.
She also knew there was a gun inside.
Just when she swung the safe open, she heard the one sound she so desperately wanted to hear but also didn’t want to hear right at that moment.
“Mommy—”
Time stopped for Teonny at that moment. She swung around at the sound of Angel’s voice, horror written across Teonny’s bruised but beautiful features.
The smaller man, who was closer to the entrance of the closet, reacted in the worst way.
Teonny was sure she would never be able to get the sound of that specific shot out of her head.
Angel’s small body dropped, and so did Teonny’s heart.
“Fuck, man! She scared me! I ain’t know! I ain’t know!” The smaller man panicked as he placed his hands on the top of his head.
