Alone (Book 1)

Prologue

"From the moment you stepped into my life I've been a better man. You really complete me." He said, buttering her young spirit up. Hoping that she'd take the bait he was stringing along.

Continuing he began , "Baby this lavish stuff comes at a cost and you know I'm not no nine to five type of nigga. The fast life, the rush is everything. With that said I need you to help me with this lick". Wasting no time snatching the band aid off the wound Anthony blurted out these words with charm.

Castlena sat froze for a second , feeling very overwhelmed with this information. She'd knew what licks were , she grew up around this life style, she once was apart of this lifestyle. And he knew that , trusting him with her darkest secrets Castlena admitted to her young years of mischief.

The neighborhood she lived in as a child was close to one of the wealthiest blocks in New York. Her small hood often had master mind thieves that would occasionally burglarize the fancy brownstones owned by multi billionaire retirees. She being one of them, as a child she was often picked on for being light on her toes. Her family often talked about how her feet were so soft on any floor boards you'd never hear her coming. Most people walked hard against floor boards however Castlena walked so stealth you'd would not even be able to hear her walk up behind you.

Her older brother Christopher used this to his advantage to get into the expensive houses. She'd done it for three years prior to being here in Atlanta. The acceptance letter she'd received from Georgia Tech was somewhat a sign to her that she still had time to be something in life. That the same luxury she was robbing for could be hers.

Taking in Anthony's words more and more she wanted to feel offended however her heart just wept. Urging her to just do it one more time , for him . They both knew her skills, the likelihood of getting caught were slim to none. What could go wrong?

Unable to form words to agree Castlena only shook her head in agreement earning an intense kiss from Anthony. His hands entangled in her curls softly bringing her head closer to him. "Thank you baby, we're going to be in and out 10 minutes tops." Anthony said handing Castle a small pink revolver along with a duffle bag.

"These are for you, only shoot if necessary, grab as much as you can and run out the entrance we walk in. Nobody is home the owner is gone for the weekend so we should be good. Let's go" Knocking everything into gear, Anthony lead Castle to what unbeknownst to them were essentially the end of two lives.

Entering through a broken side door the duo immediately began their search once they'd reached the foyer. Castle tried to ignore the beauty of the house and stick to business, however the decor alone told her that the owner was swimming in money.

Anthony had scavenge the master bedroom room quickly figuring the good stuff was in the bedrooms. Castle took a different approach. She dedicated her search for the office . Slightly adjacent from the front door , the office sat giving the owner a perfect view of their front yard and drive way. Expensive taste they had, Castlena pocketed the jewels and vases then made her way around the desk.
To her surprise she'd seen an old fashioned safe , the kind that only locked with a lock and key. Assuming the key was near Castle found it quickly through a drawer in the desk.

Opening the safe Castlena stuffed the duffle bag with stacks of cash, a few jewelry pieces. Feeling somewhat accomplished she closed the safe dashing out the room to find Anthony. Castle began to feel something brewing in the pit of her stomach the more she ran around the house. Something in her being didn't feel right.

"Castlena!" Following the sound of her name Castlena made it to the back patio where she caught a slight tussle between Anthony and another person. She couldn't make out who the person however she had a feeling who it could've been. Two shots with off as Castle had made it to the patio, she could only look at Anthony with fear in her eyes. The mysterious man lied on the patio bleeding out in front of her with a travel bag on his hip. She'd only assumed it was the owner.

Grabbing her hand and tucking his gun in his holster he quickly guided them both fastly through the backyard and out into an back alley street. He cursed loudly unable to think as he ran. The man came out of nowhere, and he had the police called and a gun in hand. Anthony in the moment felt like he did what he had to do for himself to live, To kill or be killed.

This wasn't his first causality in the game however he never anticipated for it to happen anyway. Police cars flooded the area quick. They'd ran quite far but some cops were now in a running pursuit as well as on road pursuit trying to chase them down. Niether of them had realized who this man was. Unbeknownst to them he was someone of importance.

"Ma'am don't move stay down and put your hands in the air" Five Atlanta police officers caught up to her immediately upon her collapse. Not taking any time to quickly detain her wrapping the cold handcuffs around her already bruised wrists. Castlena could've gotten up and ran , resisted arrest or hid, However she didn't want to , she couldn't. This was the end , her life was over. God had given her the gracious ultimatum of going to college to stopping stealing however manipulation won the upper hand in potentially ruining the rest of her life .

Her parents she knew the disappointment they'd have once they find out. She wept silent to herself as they picked her up as if she were a piece of tissue and dragged her to the main road. There , swarms of cops cars blocked off the street, dogs were on leases barking towards Castlena.

Onlookers shook their heads as they dragged her out. She looked around tearfully wondering if Anthony got caught on the other side or anything of him. Her dreams weren't answered though, they escorted her into the back of a police car furthering reading her - her rights and explaining the situation at hand.

She hadn't decline to speak however nor did she ask for a lawyer, she just couldn't come up with the words to explain herself. There was no explanation no excuse to the crime she committed. A father's life was taken, although she's not the killer she's not a saint , she didn't stop the unfortunate event from happening.

She'd hadn't felt more Alone than now.