“We not staying, baby. We gon’ be back before you know it. It’s only going to take about nine hours, and eight of those is the flight. You can spend the day doing whatever you want, and when we get back, it’s up for us the rest of the trip,” I informed, walking up to her and wrapping my arms around her.
“But what am I supposed to do without y’all?”
“Whatever you want to do. Go to the spa and get another massage. Go shopping. Hell, you can even go back to the strip club if you want. Just do you.”
She pouted and looked up at me with sad eyes. “I don’t want to spend one hour without y’all, let alone nine. But I guess I’ll find something to do if I have to.”
I hated leaving Saniyah here alone, but it just wasn’t safe for her to go back to the city yet. And she damn sure couldn’t come with us on this mission. Kadeem and I both sent Saniyah a Cash App, kissed her, and walked out the villa. My trigger finger itched knowing that we were about to get this Antoine muthafucka. Exactly four hours later, we were landing on top of the roof at Blackline. We took the elevator to the apartment where we gathered weapons.
“I don’t know why we need these guns. I don’t plan on using them at all,” Kadeem spoke.
“Just in case this nigga ain’t alone when we get there and we gotta fuck some other niggas up.”
Kadeem nodded his head, but I already knew what type of time he was on. Kadeem was who everyone thought I was. Yeah, I was for sure with the shit and didn’t take none either, but Kadeem was different. He was cool and laidback, but he was a dangerous muthafucka when crossed. He was even more dangerous when someone fucked with people he cared about. We walked into the parking garage where we got into an unregistered car that we kept on deck for times like this.
Outside, the rain poured over the city in heavy sheets, while the car pushed through the streets. My grandmother told me once that when it rained like this, someone’s footsteps were being washed away. That had to be true because a murder was definitely being committed tonight. Kadeem drove toward the address that Dez had given us with one hand on the wheel.
We pulled onto a half vacant street on the north end with about six houses in total spread across the block. Even those houses looked abandoned, with broken windows and graffiti covered bricks. Kadeem hit the headlights and pulled up to the small house. We knew he was inside because there was a light on in one of the back rooms. Rain tapped steadily against the windshield while we sat there, staring at the house.
“You ready?” Kadeem asked, looking over at me. His hand was already on the door handle.
“I stay ready.”
We got out the car and walked up the walk way. I wasn’t surprised at all when Kadeem lifted his leg and kicked the door off the hinges with one hit, the sound echoing off the walls. I pulled my gun from my waistline, but Kadeem balled his fists as he walked through the house. The air smelled like stale cigarettes and low grade weed as we walked to the back. The moment we hit the door of the room, we saw his legs hanging out the window. This muthafucka was trying to escape, and we’d caught him dead in the act.
Kadeem walked in and made it across the room in two steps. He grabbed his leg, wrapping his hand around his ankle and pulling him back through the window. Kadeem wasted no time grabbing him around his neck and lifting him back to his feet, pinning him against the wall.
“What the fuck, bro?” Antoine yelped, clearly frightened. “Who are you?”
Kadeem slapped him upside his head. “Nigga, the question is why the fuck you sending emails to me with my woman’s picture attached to it!” Kadeem slapped him again. “You been followin’ her, you weird muthafucka?”
Antione took a deep breath then poked his chest out. “Y’all bitch niggas killed my uncle. I knew from the moment hisbuilding exploded that the two of you were behind it. My uncle told me about what y’all was trying to do to him.”
I heard the words he spoke, but before I could say anything, Kadeem punched him in the mouth, knocking three of his teeth out. Antoine yelled out in pain as blood and saliva ran from his mouth. Kadeem hit him again, this time in the nose, and I knew it had to be broken. As much as I wanted to see this muthafucka fucked up, I also wanted to know what he thought we had going on with his uncle. Placing my hand on Kadeem’s chest, I stopped him so that I could speak.
“What did we have going on with Derrick?”
Kadeem was still holding him against the wall, and he spit blood onto the floor before he looked up at me. “Even if y’all kill me right now, I know that I died trying to avenge my uncle. He told me y’all muthafuckas wanted him dead way before y’all killed him. You think that job wasn’t planned? Shit, we tried to get y’all before you got him. But we failed, and as a man, I can admit that.”
He poked his chest out and held his head up high. I couldn’t believe all this happened because he thought we had a problem that we actually never had. We ran a real business, and drama was never a part of it.
“I’m a fucking man, and I’ll die like one behind what I love. Y’all gon’ kill me, go ahead. I’m ready.”
Kadeem tightened his grip around Antoine’s neck, cutting off his airway as he spoke. “We never had any beef with yo’ uncle. We didn’t want to kill him until we found out he set us up. A conversation could have been had between us and Derrick; however, our girl was at that party when he took that hit on Crue. That’s where he fucked up at. You fucked up the moment you started watching her.”
By the time Kadeem was finished talking, Antoine was lifeless, his eyes bulging from his head. When Kadeem let himgo, he fell to the floor with a loud thud. Kadeem was breathing loudly when he looked at me.
“We gotta dump the body.”
I walked back into the living room, moving the table, and dragged the huge area rug into the bedroom. We rolled Antoine inside and carried him out to the trunk of the car. Once we were both inside, we drove back to Blackline. We pulled the car into the back of the building, carrying him in and taking the elevator down to the basement.
“This bitch ass nigga heavy as hell,” I spoke as we walked through the door of a small room.
Dropping him onto the floor, I stretched as Kadeem unrolled him from the rug. There was a large circular tub in the middle of the room filled with acid. Walking up the three steps next to it, I pulled the top off the tub, while Kadeem attached him and the rug to the overhead crane. He turned it on, raising Antione off the ground and into the tub, dissolving any traces of what we’d done.
We didn’t get backto Turks and Caicos until four in the morning. Thank God we’d slept on the jet because we were right back up at seven. We both felt bad about leaving Saniyah here alone, especially because we had to lie to her about what we were truly doing. So, we decided to make the rest of the trip extra special for her.
After eating breakfast, we decided to go to the beach. Saniyah dressed in a royal blue two-piece thong bikini, while Kadeem and I wore matching royal blue swim trunks. The water was a beautiful crystal blue, and the beach was lined with white lounge chairs under huge umbrellas. After finding a section, we tookour seats, relaxing on the chairs. Waiters and waitresses walked around in white shorts and matching button ups, taking drink orders.
