I paused just before exiting the room and looked back at her curled up underneath the plush purple covers, crying quietly, her eyes bloodshot red.
“Amill,” I called down the hall.
She spun around and came back in my direction.
“Yes, Daddy?”
“Can you sit with Marissa until I come back in here? You don’t have to say or do anything. Just… be there.”
Amill nodded without hesitation and entered the room. My heart was heavy watching her climb into bed with Marissa and wrap her arms around her. Marissa showed signs of life for the first time since she stopped pacing, gripping Amill’s hand and pulling her closer.
“I’m sorry for giving you a hard time for being strict on Amill. If I would have been more strict with my boys, maybe they wouldn’t be in this situation,” Marissa wept.
I rushed back to the bed, kneeling down in front of her so we were eye to eye as I brushed her braids out of her face.
“Don’t do that. This shit isn’t your fault. Don’t blame yourself,” I reassured her, my thumb and index finger slowly caressing her chin. “You are an amazing mother. I’ve watched you be selfless and handle business when it comes to those boys all by yourself. Even though you’ve been checked out for the last few hours, you found it in yourself to give Amill your energy. Even in your worst moment, you made sure she knew you were here for her,” I teared up and allowed the tear to fall. I loved Marissa and the way she cared for Amill in ways thatI never thought imaginable. Taking a deep breath to tuck my feelings because this wasn’t about me, I cleared my throat before continuing. “Everybody can see that you love those boys with everything in you and we are going to get them back. I don’t care what I have to do or who I have to go up against. I got you.”
Marissa nodded, her eyes confirming that she understood. I leaned down and planted a kiss on her lips before exiting the room.
“Where they at?” I questioned the men scattered around the living room.
One of them pointed towards the dining room and I marched in that direction. Chatter was coming from the sliding glass door, and that’s where I found Tech and Vez passing a blunt back and forth. As soon as I stepped outside the sun warmed my face and head. Tech had his laptop in front of him with wires plugged into Quinten and Marissa’s phones. When I got halfway to them, Quinten’s phone rang. I sprinted the rest of the way as Tech and Vez both lunged for the ringing phone.
“It’s Quincy’s phone calling,” Tech announced, answering the phone and placing it on speaker.“Hello,”he greeted, clicking around on his laptop.
The altered voice coming through the phone instantly made my blood boil.“We decided an in person exchange would be dumb as fuck. I will email information for an offshore account to Quinten. The ten million dollars needs to be wired there before the eleven p.m. deadline.”
“Let us hear them say they are okay. Proof of life,”I gritted, fighting to keep my answer in check.
“You motha fuckas can send it or don’t. That’s up to you,”he spat, ending the call.
“Fuck!” Tech exploded, slapping his computer clear across the patio. It smacked the wall and landed on the floor sitting up with a cracked screen. “They used a voice distorter, so I can’t usethat to try to identify them, and the call wasn’t long enough for me to trace it.”
“Shit ain’t making sense. Who the fuck in their right minds would kidnap Vincent Marucci’s nephews and be this incompetent? First they wanted to meet in person for the exchange but now they changed their minds.”
“I’m thinking the same thing,” Vez commented.
“We don’t have shit on these niggas after twelve hours so they ain’t too incompetent. Then Quinten hollin’ ‘bout he not beefing with nobody that would do some shit like this.”
“Lil Q told me that his dad and his uncles been into it about who was going to be in control of their business when Quinten retires. You think they would do something like this?” He questioned Tech.
Tech deadpanned, his facial expression blank. “You asking me that shit like I know them niggas,” he shrugged. “But with the way Quinten is, I wouldn’t put shit past none of them niggas.”
Tech stood from the patio and disappeared into the house.
“You smoke?” Vez offered the blunt.
“On vacation or when I’m stressed,” I commented, accepting the blunt from Vez, and took a long hard pull. We passed it back and forth in silence, allowing the weed to take the edge off. When Tech returned about ten minutes later, he had another laptop in his possession, holding it up with one arm while clicking around with his free hand.
“It was Hotwheels!” Tech shouted fervently, pointing his fingers at Vez.
Vez jolted upright in his seat, eyes wide in disbelief, with a slight smirk curling at the corner of his lips. “Let me motha fuckin’ see,” he demanded, shooting over to Tech.
“Well, who the fuck is Hotwheels?” I sputtered.
“Quinten’s half dead daddy,” Tech clarified.
“He kidnapped his own grandson?”
