“Who da fuck pawned dis shit?”
“I… I… I don’t know! It was a long time ago.”
I gritted my teeth, not liking his response. “How long?”
The owner’s eyes shifted from me to the ancient computer he had sitting on the corner of the counter.
“I got it.” Gal pulled his jean shorts up to his waist and climbed over the casing.
I kept my gun raised as the man pleaded for his life. My eyes were back on my jewelry. I couldn’t believe I was looking at my shit. I just knew this hoe had slung my shit all through the A. Jewelry could be replaced, but Stella had taken everything from me. My freedom, my credit, my possessions, and a piece of my fucking heart. I’d nursed that sour-ass hoe to health, and she had fucked me over. I had no business being in jail because the ass-whooping she’d gotten was well deserved. She’d fucked me over and had the nerve to do it again when the cuffs hit my wrists.
Gal clicked and clacked on the old-ass computer like this was his shit. “Aite, he got this shit categorized by sections. I’m in the jewelry. How far you need me to look back, Tunan?”
“Dis past year, give or take.” I kept my eyes on the owner, who still had his palms raised.
Gal clicked away some more before saying, “Aite. I see a Joshua Numb… a Paria Carl… Stella Wade?—”
Just hearing her name had me ready to unload the clip.
“Stella. Address.”
Gal pressed a button, and a receipt paper rolled out. Grabbing a pen, he wrote down the address and climbed back over the counter.
“Now, was that shit so hard?” Italian taunted.
Picking up the binder, I tucked it under my arm and put my gun back in my waistband.
“Wait! You have to pay!”
“Pay? We ain’t payin’ for shit. You better be glad you ain’t payin’ with your fuckin’ life. As a matter of fact, I’ll take this.” Italian snatched the necklace and the money. “Nice doing business with ya.”
Gal handed me the paper, and seeing Stella’s address, damn near had me foaming at the mouth. Leaving the shop with ourpossessions in hand, I stood outside the car as the boys filed in, laughing at what had just transpired.
Stella
5469 Pineroads Blvd Apt 3165
Jagoda Bay
This bitch had beenunder my fucking nose this whole time.
Chapter 3
Shio Cuppacio
As soon as the wheels were down, I was waking Solana up and ushering her out of the plane. The flight was only four hours, so it was still deep in the night when we landed. I didn’t give her a chance to wipe the crust from her eyes before we exited the plane. There was a car waiting for me, but nothing fancy. The Chrysler 300 would do since it was all I could get at the last minute. The car wasn’t important anyway. What was tucked under the seats mattered most.
Four hours in the sky, and by the time we were on Mexico’s soil, I’d set shit in motion.
Guns. Grenades. Bulletproof vests.
Speeding down the dark streets of México City, I didn’t give Solana a second glance as she looked out the window at her hometown. I couldn’t even process what I felt toward Solana. I’d been feeling her. I’d thought that maybe, despite the circumstances of how she was placed in my path, we could build something. I cared for her and felt I could fall in love with her. But the minute I saw that powder residue on her nostrils, all that shit was dead. I was off that with the quickness. I was off her, and I realized I shouldn’t have beenon herto begin with.The facts surrounding her being in my possession were still so cloudy. My daughter and the good bullshit Bahati was on, by hiding her whereabouts, were my only priorities now. Don could eat a dick if he thought I was going to continue to play his games. Whatever he had going on with the Ledesma Cartel was his business—not mine.
Solana’s coked-out ass wouldn’t take up more space than she already had in my world. I’d fucked up and let a pretty face, rounded doe eyes, and a fat ass cloud my judgment. I knew her being sent to my home was straight-up bullshit and completely unorthodox. Her father wanted her to learn how to be a wife, which was dumb because I’d never been married, nor did I have a pussy in between my legs to train a woman to be a wife. All that bullshit was a red flag. His motive didn’t matter, though, because I was done with his daughter.She’d run her course in my presence.
It took us approximately twenty-nine-and-a-half minutes to pull up to her modest casita. By the time we arrived, it was midnight, but I didn’t give a fuck if it was five in the morning. I wanted answers. I came for my fucking daughter, and I wasn’t leaving without her. Parking behind a black truck and two Mercedes, one older and the other brand-new, I looked over at Solana. She was whimpering and shaking, but I gave zero fucks.
I didn’t have to tell her to get out, which was good because I wasn’t above dragging her by her ankles from this car. I stood outside the driver’s door, waiting for her to walk up the pavement. When she exited the car and looked over at me, I noticed her makeup again, the first time being on the plane. It was completely ruined, black streaks staining her cheeks and lipstick smeared all across her mouth. One side of her curls was drooping while the back and other side was smooshed into her head. She pulled her dress down, closed the car door, and circled the Infinity. Her heels were now in her hands as she walkedbarefoot across her father’s property. She’d nearly collapsed on nothing but caught herself before she could hit the cobblestone. She shot me a look as if I were the one who had made her stumble.
