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ChapterTwenty-Two
Joyce
I’m living in a fantasy world, that is the only way I can describe these past few weeks as Solo’s wife. Our honeymoon was surreal; every time I saw him standing or walking, I would just stand there looking at him. He is still not one hundred percent. He uses the wheelchair and a cane sometimes, but he is working hard to get there. We are meeting today for lunch, and I feel like I am literally floating on clouds walking to the restaurant. We chose a spot not far from the new offices, so I changed into flats and headed that way. I am so far into my thoughts and memories I do not know I’m being followed until a hand grabs me and pulls me into a dark corner of a business that’s no longer open. I open my mouth to scream, but that slap stops it from ever happening and I can taste blood filling my mouth. I grab my face and look up at who just signed their death warrant and it’s Ellis!
“Ellis! What the hell are you doing here? Are you crazy!”
“How dare you get married, you ungrateful bitch! I let you have those other men, but marriage was out of the question!”
Other men? How long has he been watching me? When he mentioned me having sex with Joseph at the store, I just assumed it had only been that one time, but if I’m understanding what he is saying, he has always been watching me.
“Nobody leaves me, Joyce! I gave you time to be a whore and I let you run that little business of yours so you could build some character, but now it’s time for you to come back home and I can finally run that company properly.”
I blink at him, open my mouth, close it, and blink again, all the while thinking This mother fucker is crazy!
“I am not going anywhere with you!” I say and go to walk away, and he pulls me back so hard by my hair, I hear my neck crack. When I turn around to face him, he backhands me, and pain blossoms across my face and leaves my ears ringing.
“You were stupid when I met you, and I see you are still stupid! What part of you’re coming home are you not comprehending!?” He is screaming in my face, spittle flying everywhere he is so angry, and I realize I am in real trouble. Thoughts of the last time he beat me rushes to the forefront of my mind and I am petrified. I try to look around in hopes that someone will walk by, but no one does. I make up my mind in that instant if Ellis is going to beat me or kill me, he is going to do it right here; I will not make it easy by willingly leaving with him, so I dig my heels in and stand my ground.
“I am not going anywhere with you, Ellis; I may still be stupid but I’m not crazy. There is no way I am leaving my husband to go anywhere with you. So, if you want me to go, you’re going to have a kicking, screaming woman to drag out of here or you’re going to have to knock me out and carry an unconscious woman to your vehicle. Those are the only ways you are getting me to go anywhere with you!”
“Make it easy on yourself, Joyce. Screaming, unconscious, or dead, you are coming with me. If your stupid mother would have been able to get inside that house the day you married that white man who got turned out by your black pussy, you would have already been home. She was incompetent when we got married and she’s incompetent now.”
Wait, what? What did he just say? I cannot even think straight, and not just from the pain radiating throughout my head, but also by the words that keep pouring out of his mouth.
“She assured me that you were a submissive girl and too young to know any better; that’s the only reason I allowed her to give you to me to settle her debt. The home she has been living in was my rental property and she was behind on her rent, you see. She was also letting the guy she was shacking with sell drugs out of my house. When I told her to leave, she begged me to let her stay and offered to give you to me. She told me we worked at the same company so all I had to do was find out what department you worked in, and the rest was like taking candy from a baby. Your mother always kept track of you; she knew every shelter, every job, and every apartment you stayed at. It wasn’t until you changed your name that she lost track of you. That is until you did that big spread in that magazine about black female millionaire business owners and then she started right back up. Me, well I have a PI to give me a yearly report on your activities. It was only a matter of time before I was coming to get you, so stop being a bitch and let’s go!”
He grabs my arm in a bruising grip and turns to drag me to the car when he goes flying backward into the door and sliding down in an undignified heap. I turn to see what happened and a pissed off Solo is standing there with Aryan.
“I knew I should have killed his ass when I saw him at Peter’s hotel,” Aryan says.
“He was around you before this and you didn’t tell me?” Solo says to me quietly.
“You were missing, and once you were found I didn’t waste another second thinking about him, and he never came around again, so it wasn’t important. Besides, Aryan was there to handle it in your stead.”
“Take him to Atlas’ spot and I will be there as soon as I get Joyce home.”
“Baby, I have work to do. I can’t go home. If Ellis is with you, there isn’t a threat to me.” He stands there regarding me closely, then gives me a tight nod. Aryan heaves an unconscious Ellis over his shoulder and puts him in the back of the SUV, gets in and drives off. Meanwhile Solo puts me in his SUV and heads to the hospital so Lennox can check me over. I forgot about my face until he mentioned it and then the pain came back two-fold.
“On second thought, maybe I will go home and lay down,” I acquiesce and call T to let her know.
Solo
I walk into Atlas’ garage to find Ellis hanging from meat hooks attached to the ceiling. He is either asleep or unconscious; either way that state of being is going to change quickly. I would have been here sooner, but I had to run an errand. I place the errand on a cot, set my bag down on the table, take my jacket and wedding ring off, and roll up my sleeves. I take the package out of my bag and unroll it on the table. I pull out a vial and two syringes and fill both with the contents of the vial. Walking over to both the errand and Ellis, I inject them both, and have a seat to wait for the drug to take effect. It is a slow acting drug but extremely powerful. While I wait, I hear the door open behind me, and I know it’s the rest of my brothers and Joyce.
“Solo, what is going on here?” she asks concern lacing her voice.
“Have a seat, baby. I had hoped you never had to see this part of our lives, but I should have known that was wishful thinking on my part. You know we are all former military with our own specialties, and lucky for us we have friends in high places. When something or someone threatens our family, we handle it; accordingly, all of my brothers and my sisters will handle any business that needs to be handled. Thinking back on it now, I should have introduced you to this sooner, because this is a very real and integral part of the family you are married into, and perhaps knowing this would have stopped you from marrying me.”
“Not likely,” she scoffs.
“I had my brothers bring you so you could get any answers you may need, before both of them come up missing. In a few minutes, the drug I gave them will wake them up and I guarantee you they will be willing to give you any answer you want.”
We have a seat and wait for the games to begin, and sure enough in a few minutes they both awaken. The drug I gave them is a mild stimulant and truth serum; the next one I give them won’t be as nice.
“Where the hell am I?” the errand says as they wake up.
“Hi Mom.”
