“Leave me the fuck alone, Tone!” she heaved out weakly. “Please, I just want what we have to end! I’m so tired! You can’t keep doing this to me!”
“You gonna fucking stab me, bitch?!” Fury flashed in his eyes, and before Remedy could get the chance to use the knife to defend herself again, he knocked it out of her hand. His hand gripped her hair again, and he slammed her head right onto the granite countertop.
Everything went black around her, and she no longer had the strength, will or power to keep fighting. Her body crashed down to the floor, and she slipped out of consciousness.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Kross’ car drifted into an empty parking space in front of the barber shop. He could see a few of the barbers standing around the door with a look of confusion etched on their faces. By this time, Remedy’s Lexus would’ve already been parked out front, and she would’ve been inside turning on all the lights so her barbers could come in and start their day. Kross was hoping to catch her at the shop, but he was disappointed to see that she didn’t show up. It had been a day since he saw her last, and he had been in his head a lot about where she could have been. It was obvious that the nigga who snatched her up the other night was her ex. That nigga had no self-control, so Kross knew he was probably putting his hands on Remedy for moving on. That shit wasn’t going to last long, though. Not if Kross had a say in it.
He stepped out of his Maybach, allowing his Jordans to make contact with the gravel underneath him. His presence garnered all the barbers’ attention, confusing them even more since they expected Remedy.
“My fault, I’m late,” Kross apologized as he shut his car door. He cut through the circle of Remedy’s employees and made his way to the door. With the key Remedy gave him, he opened the shop and held the door for all the barbers to come inside.
They eyed him oddly, but he was unfazed by it. He understood. Their normal was disturbed by his sudden presence and him filling in for Remedy. They had questions; however, he wasn’t about to answer any of them. The matter was too sensitive and too deep in Remedy’s personal life for him to discuss. He was going to handle it, and if she wished to fill in her employees, that would be her call to make.
“Where’s Remedy?” one of the old head barbers asked. His name was Pierre, and he had been cutting at the shop with Deno for over ten years now, so he knew all the ins and outs.
“She’s out for today. You need anything, let me know. For now, you’re responsible for opening and closing the shop.” Kross dropped the key to the shop into Pierre’s hand. It was separate from the one Remedy had for her office, so he wasn’t tripping. Pierre was one of the seasoned employees, and he remembered him from before he went to prison, so it was a no-brainer to give the key to him.
Pierre eyed the key with his brows bumped together. “Everything okay with Deno’s baby girl?”
“She’s straight. She’ll be back soon. Just hold the spot down for her while she’s away,” Kross asserted as he began making his way toward the office.
He was being dismissive about it, which caused all the barbers to exchange glances with each other. They all knew something had to be up, but nobody really wanted to be the one to question Kross Hunter.
He used his key to enter Remedy’s office. He glanced around, and for the most part, nothing looked out of place. Kross went to the safe, punched in the code, and once he pulled it open, he felt a scorching heat surge into his chest. It was completely empty. He had emptied the safe of all the paper Remedy collected throughout the week, but there were still a few bricks that were scheduled to be sold today. Roughly $40,000 worth of productwas emptied from the safe, and he had to get that shit back ASAP.
“Fuck!”
Overwhelmed with anger, he crashed his fist into the wall, causing a hole to form in it. The impact of his blow caused Deno’s framed obituary to tumble down to the floor and shatter. He was down 40 bands right now, and it fucked his head up because the only other person who had access to the safe was Remedy. He trusted her to never cross him, yet here he was taking a loss, and she was the only one to blame for it.
He turned to her desk and turned on the computer he got set up with the surveillance software he installed. It was hard for him to believe Remedy would actually cross him. They had just locked in with each other. He could tell she was genuine just by the look she had in her eyes. He was praying there was some kind of explanation for this shit because he would’ve hated to have to knock her off. He cared for her, but he had to look out for himself first.
He got into the computer and pulled up the system that contained all the camera footage. As it loaded up on the screen, his heart drummed against his chest, filled with anger and suspense. He didn’t want to be wrong about Remedy. She had been one of the only good things that happened to him since getting out of prison. He needed it to remain that way.
Once the system pulled up, he clicked on a few things before filtering the footage to the last time motion detected in the office. He felt his jaws clench as rage began to pump through his blood. He assessed the video and could see Remedy being pushed into the office with a gun nestled into the back of her head. It was evident to Kross that she was struggling to walk from whatever she endured at the hands of her ex. She stalled around the office a bit, not wanting to voluntarily give him what he wanted. Kross’heart ached at the sight of the backhanded slap that was inflicted onto Remedy due to her taking too long.
She wept on her hands and knees, unable to withstand the blow she received without falling to the floor. He had no regard for her and grabbed her by her hair to pull her back up to her feet. She stood weakly before ultimately deciding if she wanted to remain alive, she had no choice but to give him what he wanted, even if that meant burning Kross in the process.
Before she turned to the safe, she glanced up at the camera that was discreetly installed in the corner of the room. Seeing the blood, bruises and swelling that marred her beautiful face had Kross ready to crash the fuck out. It made him feel like he dropped the fucking ball. Remedy had asked him to stay at the suite that night, and he refused because he was so invested in avenging Los’ and Cassie’s murders. He allowed the satisfaction of getting revenge get in the way of protecting who God put in his life to heal him from the trauma he’d been enduring. This shit was beginning to fuck with his mental, and whenever his mind was compromised, he was liable to do some wild-ass shit.
The footage continued, and Kross watched as Remedy punched in the code to the safe, giving her ex free access to the bricks that were inside of it. Once he emptied the safe and closed it, he turned around to push Remedy out of the office. Kross noticed the scar that trailed from his left cheekbone down to his jawline. It burned a whole in his brain because he remembered the nigga he shot at when he rolled through the Zone 7 Disciples’ territory solo had the same fucking scar. Kross’ eyes widened in shock as his mind began to piece everything together. It was him!
There was no one else in the city with that same scar, so Kross knew he wasn’t mistaken. How the fuck could he have been so fucking negligent to not realize this shit sooner? Remedy had clouded his judgment so fucking bad that he didn’t eventhink to do his homework on the nigga she was fucking with. At the time, none of that shit even mattered to him. He didn’t take that nigga as any competition because he knew he would be giving Remedy exactly what she needed from a man, but that was no excuse for not being vigilant when the entire Paper Chase Crew had targets on their backs. Kross had fucked up and let somebody with the wrong connections get too close.
He really did care about Remedy, but he couldn’t stop himself from questioning her loyalty. He needed to make sure he was straight before anything, so he had to be real with himself. Was Remedy exactly who she showed him she was, or was she playing him from the beginning? None of this shit was adding up in his mind. That seemed to be a recurring theme when it came to all the drama that went down in his life. Kross was left questioning everything, and once again, the only person who had the answers was out of reach.
Shutting down the computer, Kross felt like he wasted way too much time lingering around. He needed to be putting a plan into action more than anything right now. He left out of the office, locking up behind him before rushing out of the shop. All the barbers were left to speculate what the fuck was going.
Kross sped onto the main road and headed in the direction of his mother’s housing duplex. Remedy had never really introduced her to her people, and he never really tripped about it since what they had was fresh. He wished they were able to meet under different circumstances, but he needed to find Remedy quickly. Kross parked in the yard of the duplex and saw Remedy’s younger brother playing ball on the hoop Andres had recently put up. Melo was a quiet kid, and from the few days of him staying in the duplex, Andres could see that he was battling with some of his feelings. He found out Melo was interested in ball, so he put up the hoop in hopes of getting Melo to warm up to his new living arrangement.
Kross’ Maybach instantly garnered the teenage boy’s attention, and he marveled at the sound of the engine and the beautiful exterior of the car. Kross rolled his dark tinted window down, revealing himself. Once Melo realized Kross was talking to him, he pulled his headphones from his ears, pausing his music.
“Aye, you’re Remedy’s little brother, right?”
At the question, Melo went into defense mode and screwed his face up at Kross. “Why you asking for?”
A deep chuckle rolled out of Kross as he mentally coached himself to keep his patience with Melo. He was the same way when he was a teen, so he extended the grace he wished he would’ve gotten.
