Page 2 of A Hood Wife And A Rich Goon

He forced her from the back of the townhome to the kitchen, where there was access to a small basement. Using unnecessary force, he tugged her down the stairs, damn near causing her to fall.

“I’ll know it when I see it. Where would he hide some shit around here?”

“I don’t know. He doesn’t live here full time,” she answered, panic lacing her tone. “This is just one of his spots.”

“Then give me the location of the other ones,” he growled.

“Why? You’re just going to kill me too when I give it to you, aren’t you?”

Although he appreciated her boldness, in that moment, he wasn’t about to play with her.

“You want to end up like that bitch nigga upstairs?” he tested. “Try me, shorty. I didn’t come here for this.”

“There’s a panel in the far-left corner.” She nodded in that direction, and he quickly glanced over his shoulder. “If you press on it, it’ll pop up, and there’s a space where he stores stuff.”

Bronx didn’t know she knew that.

For Christmas last year, she decorated this place for them and was looking for somewhere to hide his gifts when she came across it. What she found left her with more questions that she didn’t want to know the answers to. There was so much cash, diamonds, and jewels that her mind spun. No way he had those in his possession legally. She couldn’t say exactly what Bronx was into, but she’d heard rumors about the Andrews family for a long time. You had to live under a rock around these parts not to know who they were. It was speculated that they were tied to mob bosses, gun rings, and anything else illegal that they came across. There wasn’t a job too risky or complicated for them to take.

“Good looking out.” Bobbing his head, he inched closer to the space she referenced and did what she said.

When the wall popped like a latch, he shouted upstairs for the other man to join him. Pulling the panel and setting it aside, he stuck his arm into the small space.

“You find it?” his boy asked, barreling down the wooden steps.

“I found a lot more than that.” You would have thought it was his birthday the way his eyes glistened.

Pulling out a duffle bag first, he dropped it at his feet and unzipped it. There was so much cash it made his dick hard as he reached inside for a stack and brought it to his nose. The fresh money scent intoxicated him. His boy ran over to enjoy the moment with him. The men being caught up in the treasure they located gave Toni ample time to race up the staircase at top speed.

Pop!

The bullet barely missed her head, sending her tripping onto the stairs when she had nearly reached the top.

“The fuck you think you going? Go take care of her.” Setting his gun on a nearby wooden workbench table, Mr. Mesmerizing Eyes shook his head and pulled something else out.

The painting was covered in thick plastic. For a long moment, he drank in the portrait he was holding with dollar signs dancing around his eyes. Yelling, kicking, and screaming, Toni was determined not to go down without a fight. The second man brought her back upstairs and set her on her feet in front of him. Taking that as her cue to try to get away again, she bolted toward the townhome entrance.

“Look, don’t make me fuck you up!”

With her hand on the knob of the door and a gun against her back, she stiffened.

“We got what we came for. Handle her pretty ass.” His boy had the duffel slung over one shoulder and held the painting with both hands, approaching them in the small entry space.

Paralyzed, Toni’s hand slipped to her side, and tears spilled down her cheeks. She knew nothing was promised in this world, and life had already been beyond unfair to her. Bronx was the only thing she had; the only person who seemed to give a damn about what happened to her. Without him, she didn’t know who she was or how to survive. He’d come into her life when she was at what she thought was rock bottom. Accepting her fate, she looked into the cold, desolate eyes of the man she knew would end her life and lifted her chin. His mouth curled into a grin.

“Her fine ass got some heart in her chest. Don’t waste it on the wrong mothafucka, shorty,” he warned, raising his arm.

He struck her across her face with his gun, sending Toni crumbling to the ground, listening to their footsteps stepping past her to leave. She lifted her head to try and see something or say something, but her blurred vision subdued her. On her side, breath shallow, fading in and out, she heard the door slam shut. A buzzing sound pulled her back from the brink. She didn’t know how much time passed, and for a moment, she thought she was imagining it. Barely lifting her head from the carpet, her eyes skimmed the room.

One of them was sealed shut from her injuries. It registered with her that the sound was coming from the couch. Doing a sloth crawl in that direction, it seemed like an eternity before she finally arrived near the cushions. She listened to the buzzing noise until she thought she located it. Tucking her hand underneath one of the cushions, she felt around until her fingers brushed across something. She gripped the burner phone in her hand and didn’t bother trying to figure out who was calling. She didn’t care. Flipping the phone open, she immediately brought it against her ear.

“Help me,” were the last words she could utter before a sharp, throbbing pain shot through her temples, and her eyes pitched to the back of her head, making everything dark.

“We heading to the drop. You sure you ain’t trying to roll? We going to Tail Spin.” Oracle’s tatted arm hung out the window of the white van.

He flashed his diamond grill when he grinned, causing it to sparkle off the streetlights above them on the block.

“No. Fuck you.” Niva flicked her middle finger in the air with a harsh glare from the passenger seat of her man’s whip.