I kept my eyes on the road. That question had been sitting in the back of everything since last night and I hadn’t let myself go directly at it yet because I knew once I did I was going to have to make a decision and live with it.
“Honest answer?” I said. “I don’t know yet. I don’t know if I let either one of them live. The shit that they’ve done to me is damn near unforgivable. And it didn’t start here..”
Deuce didn’t flinch at that. Didn’t try to talk me in either direction. He just said, “You know what Cain did to Abel. Your brothers would have done it to you without losing sleep. Just make sure whatever you decide, you can live with it on the other side. That’s the only thing that matters. And if you feel like they can be redeemed, that’s cool too. These decisions are yours to make. Just stand on it.” Deuce said, without hesitation.
That sat with me. I didn’t respond to it immediately because it deserved more than a quick answer.
“When the sun goes down,” I said after a moment. “Have our people ready.”
“I’ll be there.” Deuce said quickly.
“Nah.” I cut that off clean. “Sit this one out.”
“Griz, nigga.. you can’t tell me what to sit out. I’ll see yo ass in a few.”
“It’s not a debate. You got a wife and a newborn at home. You already rode out once for me and I won’t forget that. But this is my business and my blood and I’m not taking you away from your family behind it. Stay home.”
Silence on his end. I could feel him working through it, the part of him that didn’t sit well with being told to stand down. Deuce wasn’t built for the sideline. But he was also a man who understood what was being said underneath the words. I was gonna make sure that we all made it home safe, or at least that was my plan. This was a mission that didn’t require his attention. I just wanted him to rest and be with his family for now.
“Be safe my nigga! If you die on me, I’ll kill yo ass!” he said finally. Causing us both to bust out laughing at a time where we had no business.
“Always, brudda!”
I hung up and drove the rest of the way home in quiet.
—
I had barely gotten through the door and dropped my keys on the counter when my phone vibrated on the kitchen island. A text came in from my investigator.
Everything he had on Ivy. Home address, both business addresses, every phone number tied to her name, personal and professional. Clean document, organized, nothing missing. Even information on her nigga that I hadn’t even requested. His ass was an upstanding citizen and shit. Running a profitable company, and active in the community. Thinking he was gonna marry and take care of my bitch for the rest of his life. He was in for a rude awakening.
I stood there in my kitchen and read through it twice. Then I set the phone down and just stood there for a second with my hand flat on the counter.
Then I smiled. Not the polite kind. The kind that I let out when I knew I was about to shift some shit in my favor.
She had really thought she was gone. She thought she had got the dick and ran off on my ass. Thought she could leave that note on the dresser and slip back into her little life with her fiancé and her dogs and her white fence and that was going to be the end of it. Like last night hadn’t happened. Like I was just going to wake up, read the note, fold it up, and keep moving like a rational nigga.
She didn’t know me as well as she thought. Wasn’t shit rational about me at all.
I picked up my phone and called the florist I used when I needed something done right. Not the corner shop, the one downtown that dealt with corporate accounts and high end events and knew how to move fast when the money was right.
“I need a rush delivery,” I said when they answered. “Tonight. I’ll pay whatever the fee is, that’s not the issue.”
I ordered five dozen black roses. Had them delivered to her home address.
Then I thought about the note.
I kept it short because I didn’t need to say much. The roses said most of it already. The note just made sure she understood exactly what they meant.
Black roses to symbolize the end of your engagement. Consider it over. Your life with me starts now. I’ll see you soon.
I signed it using her name for me from when we were young, the nickname she had given me back when we were kids that nobody else in the world called me.
-Your Bear.
When I knew the roses would arrive to her today, I set my phone down and went to go prepare for tonight. I had a brother to pull out of a house full of armed men and a woman who wanted him dead. I had a decision to make about what happened to him after. And I had a war to finish before it bled into anything else I cared about.
But those roses were already on their way.
