Page 3 of Forced Matrimony With An Unhinged Menace 4

I had to stand down in this moment.

And that revelation hurt me more than anything. That wasn’t who I was. But right now it was life or death.

I gave my brothers a look to let them niggas know, no matter how bad they wanted it, no matter how good they thought their aim was, they couldn't under no circumstances take that shot at this nigga!

"Move," Demon barked at her, walking her backward toward the exit with that gun still pressed against her head. "I told these niggas I was playing chess, not checkers." He turned his head toward his own men without ever once taking his eyes off the three of us. "Handle these niggas. Make it quick! Don't bother cleaning it up. This their shit, and I want they people to come and find they bodies here."

"Demon! Be smart with this shit! You know that's Zuri Carter. There will be no place on earth you or yo family can hide if you harm a hair on her head. If you love Sonny, do what you know is right. The wrong move can cost you!" I watched his face change when I mentioned his son's name but the pussy ass nigga had to play unfazed, so it faded quickly.

"Kaseem, nigga, FUCK YOU! & whatever the fuck you think you talking about. Dead men can't speak, you finna learn that the hard way." He smirked.

My mother let out a scream that I felt deep in my chest, a sound that tore straight through that warehouse and through me right along with it, as he dragged her backward out that door and out of my sight. I could hear her pleading for our lives. I've never in my life heard my momma plead for shit, from nobody.

Seconds after that door slammed shut behind them, I heard tires screeching outside, his car peeling off fast, taking my mother with it. My heart dropped. I'd never felt this out of control and it wasn't shit I could do. I could see my brother Namier shaking mad, from the corner of my eye. He was itching to catch a body but had to follow my orders. I had to get us out of here alive. I could only pray that Demon was smart enough to take heed to what I’d just told him.

The three men he'd left behind started closing in on us slow, intentional, guns steady on all three of us, boxing us into a tighter and tighter space with every step they took. Me, Zaire, and Namier all looked at each other for half a second, and I already knew, being the oldest, being the one my father handed all this weight to, that figuring a way out of this was on me and wasn't nobody else about to do it for me. My mind said to go out swinging. Set this bitch off, and shoot to the death of all of us. But, I couldn't let my brothers die today. Not like this.

I had to try and talk us out this shit. And if that didn't work, I could promise that nobody was leaving this bitch alive. As soon as I gave the word, I had no doubt that my brothers would set this bitch off and we'd go out with our shit blazing.

"Man, y'all ain't got to do this," I said, keeping my voice level and calm even though my heart was slamming against my ribs hard enough I could feel it in my throat. "Whatever that nigga paying y'all, whatever he promised you for this, we can triple it today. Cash."

"You can't buy loyalty, fuck nigga," the one running the show said, taking another step closer, his weapon never dropping an inch. "And that's exactly why you niggas in this position right now. Y'all think money fix everything, and it don't. Should've stood down after the first message got sent to y'all. You niggas should have left well enough alone. What the fuck you thought would happen if you kept poking a bear?"

I could see Zaire's jaw jumping beside me, tightening up hard, and I already knew exactly what he was calculating in that head of his, whether he could get a shot off clean before all three of them lit us up where we stood. I gave him a look out the corner of my eye, telling him without a single word passing between us to hold the fuck up, to trust me for one more second. My brother Zaire was about action, he’s never been the nigga to tolerate a lot of bullshit, so I knew that him keeping his cool was hard as fuck right now.

"Shit, you right," I said, turning my full attention back to the leader, keeping every word measured. "What's done is done. Can't take that back now. But I can give you and your boys five million each, and we forget this whole thing ever happened between us. I won't hunt you down. Won't look for you niggas after this at all. I'll let this whole situation die right here. All I'm asking is you make sure my mother gets back to us safe."

"This a once in a lifetime offer I'm putting on this table for you right now, and I ain't gonna offer it twice. You can make yourselves rich men tonight, walk away from all this with more money than you'd see running product for the next ten years combined. Or you can kill us right here in this warehouse, and eventually, and I mean this from the bottom of my heart, the streets gonna find out exactly who touched us. And once that happens, you won't be nothing but dead men walking. You'll be looking over your shoulder for the rest of whatever life you got left. You already know who we are. You already know our reach stretches further than you want to think about right now. Let's be smart about this shit. You can take the money, or follow Demon's orders and eventually die behind this shit."

"You talking too fuckin much! We need to smoke they shit.. NOW!" Zaire mumbled beside me.

"Man, shut the fuck up," one of the younger ones snapped at me, stepping forward like he wanted to end this right there, but the leader threw a hand up hard, cutting him off cold.

“Like he said, let’s be smart about this shit.” He told his crew.

After that, the three of them huddled up for a minute, keeping their guns trained on us, whispering back and forth low enough that I couldn't make out a single word.

My whole body stayed tensed the entire time they talked amongst themselves, my mind running through every possible outcome, every way this could still go left even if they took the deal.

A few minutes felt like they stretched out into hours, then the leader turned back around to face me.

"Take us to get the bread," he said, his voice flat now, all business. "And we'll try our best to make sure your moms get spared too. I'll keep it G and let you know we can't promise shit. We can try and get through to the nigga and spare her life, but you know how that nigga is. Then, we'll still have to deal with Demon on our own time because he gave clear instructions to kill you niggas. Once we got that money in our hands, we gotta skip town regardless. Demon ain't gonna wanna hear a word about us accidentally letting y'all get away once he finds out. We gotta use that bread to get the fuck outta dodge. So what's it gonna be? You wasting my time or we doing this?"

"I'll pay, like I just said." I responded, no hesitation in my voice at all. "Just take me to it."

"Where it's at? And how the fuck I know this ain't no setup on your end?"

"Nigga, I'm standing here with three guns pointed at me," I said, keeping my tone even, almost bored, like the question wasn't even worth the breath it took to answer the dumb shit. "How exactly I'm supposed to set you up from this position? I ain't know this shit was about to go down today! I ain't expect you niggas to show up here. Take our phones out our pockets right now, keep them on you the whole ride there so you know ain't nothing funny happening behind your back."

"Call my home security yourself, put it on speaker so you hear everything with your own ears, and I'll have that money packed up and sitting ready by the time we pull up. Y'all can pull off free and clear after that, no strings, no chase. All I care about is leaving here alive. My beef ain't with y’all so I don’t mind doing what I gotta do to show you niggas that. But you niggas walked into a payday if you smart enough to let this shit go."

"Home security?" he asked, eyes narrowing, suspicious.

"Man, he's just a big nigga with a flashlight who watches the grounds and calls in anything that looks off," I lied, keeping my voice casual, like it wasn't nothing worth getting worked up over. I had to sell this shit. All that was on my mind was getting my brothers the fuck home.

They looked at each other for a second, still uneasy, still weighing it, but they agreed. The ringleader pulled my phone out my pocket himself and dialed Sam like I instructed, put the call on speaker for everybody in that circle to hear.

"Sam, have Mars pack a package," I said, keeping my voice steady, even, no tremor in it that these niggas could pick up on. "Three sets of duffles, five mill in each. Have it ready in an hour. Standing by. Not a minute late, and not a dollar short. I'm about to be headed that way."