Marlo went to get the car from the garage while Kiwi talked practically nonstop. I had to smile at how excited she was for the four of us to be in the house together. I loved the way my parents loved Kiwi and how they never looked down on me or shunned me when I got pregnant in college and refused to tell them who the father was. I knew they were disappointed, but they stood ten toes down behind me and their grandchild. I was too nervous and ashamed to be excited about my pregnancy, but my motherensured that my daughter had everything she needed. Kiwi had so many clothes when she was born, she wasn’t even able to wear them all before she grew out of them.
Since Marlo was accompanying us, I told my parents that I’d follow them in my car, so we wouldn’t be crowded in the Rolls Royce. I pulled out behind Marlo, and we drove through the security gate. There was a long road that led from the security gate to the main road. Anyone could get onto that path, but the only house at the end of it was my parents’ and without a code or being let in, they couldn’t get past the gate. We were almost at the main road when a black van turned onto the path and stopped in front of the Rolls Royce. My eyes widened as the doors of the van flew open, and four men with long locs jumped out with guns in their hands.
Screaming at the top of my lungs, I broke a nail trying to get my door open to get to my child. I didn’t give a damn if I got shot in the process, but I had to get to her. Marlo jumped out of the driver’s seat with a gun of his own in hand just as I made it out of my car. Gunshots erupted around me as I hit the ground and crawled over to my father’s car. My eyes damn near popped out of my head as Marlo’s massive body dropped. His eyes were open, but I knew instantly that he was dead. Blood trickled out of his mouth as his lifeless body blocked my way to the door.
Scrambling around the back of the car, shell casings rained down and hit the ground like rain drops. When I rounded the car, on the opposite side, I saw my father on the ground with a gun in his hand and blood saturating the white shirt that he wore. It felt as if my chest caved in as I heard tires screeching. Jumping up off the ground, I swallowed down bile as I yanked the car door open and found my mother hovering over Kiwi protecting her.
“Ma!” I screamed damn near choking on my tears.
My voice seemed to snap my mother back to the present, and she sat up straight and looked around with horror etched onto her face. “No, no, no,” she scrambled from the car in an attempt to get to my father. I knew I needed to call for help, but I couldn’t do shit until I made sure my child was okay. When she looked at me with tears streaming down her cheeks it broke my heart. Everything that I ever wanted to protect her from had come to fruition. She could be dead. Rage replaced the fear as I pulled her from the car.
“Go straight to my car. Get in the car and lay down in the backseat,” I instructed as my mother howled over my father’s body.
I knew she wasn’t in the right state of mind, so I rushed Kiwi to my car and got my phone from the passenger seat to call 9-1-1. My entire body was trembling. The way so many thoughts ran through my mind in such a short period of time was insane. I glanced over at Marlo and immediately thought about the fact that he had people that loved him. He’d literally taken a bullet for my father. That was his job but still who would have thought that it would even come to that? Was my father dead and if he wasn’t did I get to tell him I told you so?
I answered each question the dispatcher asked with a shaky voice all while watching my mother on the ground on her knees crying over my father. The urge to throw up kept getting stronger and stronger. It was taking too much strength to stand. All I wanted to do was collapse and cry my heart out, but I had to take control of the situation. My mother was a mess. The dispatcher assured me that help was on the way and no sooner than the words left her mouth, I heard sirens in the distance. A slight sense of relief washed over me. Prayerfully, both my father and Marlo were still alive.
The sirens got closer and closer, but it still seemed to be taking them way too long to arrive. My anxiety was getting thebest of me. I didn’t want to see another dead body especially not that of my father, so I paced back and forth and waited impatiently on help to arrive. Finally, an ambulance arrived. Before the EMT’s could even get out of the vehicle, a police officer pulled up, followed by another ambulance and another police car.
I knew it was about to be a long evening full of questions and possibly bad news, and I wasn’t sure I was up for the shit.
CHAPTER 6
UNO
A chill wentthrough me as I walked into the hospital. I knew what floor Devin was on, but I stopped at the registration desk to get a visitor’s pass and his room number. On the elevator, I released a deep breath and braced myself for what might be about to come. I had no news on Devin other than he’d been shot. By the time word got to me, it had been more than five hours since he was shot. An hour before I got the news, I texted Apricot, and it now made sense as to why she hadn’t texted me back. I wrestled with the idea of going to see Devin.
I worked for him and had been to his home on several occasions, but we weren’t exactly friends. I wasn’t his next in command. I had no way of knowing if he even wanted me there. But I showed up out of respect for him and Apricot. She didn’t deal with her father like that, but I knew she loved him. She was simply a civilian that didn’t ask to be born into the street life. No one could blame her for not wanting to be a part of it. Look at the kind of shit that could happen.
I knew I was on the right side of the hall when I saw a burly security guard positioned outside one of the rooms. My heart sank at the realization that it wasn’t Marlo. I had gotten word that he died. I wasn’t familiar with the person at the doorand wasn’t sure he’d let me in the room. I decided to check the waiting room to see if I could catch Apricot. Before I could even locate the room, she exited the bathroom. We locked eyes and instantly, I felt for her. Apricot’s eyes were puffy and red from crying. Actually, her entire face was swollen. She looked exhausted. Walking in my direction, Apricot wore a sad smile.
The first thing I did was hug her. We were still getting to know one another, but I didn’t see her objecting to a hug. When she hugged me back and started crying, I knew a hug was what she needed. I let her get it all out. When she stepped back, I used the pad of my thumb to swipe a tear from her cheek.
“How is he?”
“He made it out of surgery about two hours ago. He was shot three times. One of the bullets barely missed his heart. He’s lucky to be alive. That shit happened in front of me. In front of my daughter.” She broke down again.
“Fuck, Apricot. I’m sorry.” I wrapped her back in my arms, and that was where she remained for at least five minutes. “Where’s Kiwi?”
Apricot sniffed. “With my mom’s mom. My mother and my father’s mother are in his room. I was trying to wait for him to get out of surgery before I left. I need to get to Kiwi. I know she’s going crazy.”
“How did you get here?”
“I drove.”
I sighed. “I’m not sure you need to be driving.”
“It’s okay. I’m fine. I just want to get home to my baby. I can’t eat, and I doubt I’ll be able to sleep. I just want to close my eyes for a bit.”
“That sounds like a good idea. Is there anything I can do for you?”
“No. Thanks for asking though.”
“Since your pops is still kind of out of it, I won’t try to go in and see him. Let him know I came by.”
“Okay, I will. Thank you.”
“No problem.”
