“No! Please,” Lisa pleaded. “I’ll do whatever I need to do.”
“Paul, your bitch,” Erys spoke, glaring at him. “Or turn yourself in. Watching them niggas inside pick you apart will domy soul some good. That way your kids are absolved of your bullshit.”
“There’s got to be another way,” Paul tried to negotiate.
Erys pointed both guns to Paul.
“Okay! Okay. Okay, I’ll turn myself in,” Paul agreed.
“Right now. Make the call, Lisa,” Erys directed. Lisa wasted no time moving to her phone. “On speaker. Attorney General Baskins.”
Lisa’s hands shook as she hit the number in her phone. The line trilled. On the last ring, AG Baskins picked up. “Lisa, I’m with my wife. I told you not to call me this late. We’ll meet tomorrow at St. Harlem, baby.”
A smirk formed over Erys’ face as the secrets unfolded, ruining them from the inside out. Before he asked Tone to get him information, Erys knew where most of the bodies were buried. He was here now to watch them rise out of the dirt.
“I-it’s not that, Sam. It’s Paul,” she started.
“He hit you again? I swear I’ll kill that muhfucka myself,” Sam gritted.
That, Erys suspected, but didn’t have anything past his assumptions.
“No, worse. Richie’s overdose. Him, Teena, Dr. Worthy. They’re responsible,” Lisa shared.
“You sure? That motherfucker is coming for my seat doing this shit. Are you okay?”
“No,” she whispered, putting on a show. “He’s outside the bathroom door with a gun. I think he’s going to kill me.”
“I’m on the way,” Sam assured. “Don’t hang up.”
Erys stood, smiled watching her rush into the bathroom. Paul ran behind her. “Lisa! Open this fuckin’ door! Lisa!”
Erys pulled the trigger of the glock shattering a night lamp. In the chaos, Paul dropped to the ground.
“Lisa!!” he bellowed.
Erys dropped the gun to the floor knowing that Paul was dumb enough to grab it and put his prints all over it. He pointed it at Erys and pulled the trigger. Nothing in the chamber. The sound of sirens in the distance made Erys’ smile grow more.
“Checkmate, bitch.”
With that, he slid out into the night and headed back to Trae Way. Regulation needed to happen sooner than later.
There was officially a new leader in town.
27
Franklin: don’t wait up
Mouth: everything good
Franklin: yeah, set the alarm
A long sigh left her lips. Remedy tossed her phone on the nightstand and returned to stripping the bed. She would’ve preferred he be here attached to her in some sort but she more than understood what needed to be done. Someone violated and the price for violating was dire. Especially when it was a man like Erys.
Down the stairs to the laundry room, she started a load and placed the basket of towels on the couch and started to fold. Most of the laundry had been done by the aide the day before, which Remedy was thankful for. Folding clothes for her was relaxing and one of the many things her grandmother taught her. When she did it, she remembered the stories and lessons told as she sat at her grandmother’s worn slipper covered feet.
She remembered her grandmother’s stories of failed loves, past lovers and how she could love a man she knew she would never have as her own. But that wouldn’t stop her from being there – it wouldn’t stop her from showing and sharing the many layers of love. May used to tell her – I was made to love, even if it wasn’t returned to her fully.
“He out there handling business?” Ernie asked, shuffling over to her.
