Smoke and Mirrors

Mr. Billy

Whew, I pulled the handkerchief from my pocketed collar shirt and wiped the sweat from my head, that was close! I turned around and made my way across the hotel and into the security room. Once inside I locked the door and stood in front of over twenty cameras; all showing different angles of Diamond Heights, from the front entrance, to the back entrance, to the beach where Mia stood holding a phone to her ear, and the Penthouse suite Angel had just walked into.

I watched her enter the Penthouse and head straight to the bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries. She picked up the bottle and examined its label before pouring her a glass full. She poured the contents from her champagne glass into her mouth and refilled her glass. She put the bottle of Champagne on the table and picked up the box of chocolate covered strawberries. Placing the glass of champagne on the table, as I knew she would, she opened the box and took out one of the strawberries. She bit into the strawberry and nodded her head before picking up the glass and putting it back to her lips.

I watched her grab another strawberry and the champagne bottle before walking into the bathroom and closing the door behind her. I looked at the screen to my left and watched Mia cling the phone to her chest and stare out into the ocean.

"Come on niece, you got this. Bring the family home." I said in a low tone, wondering how my niece would handle everything. If she was anything like her father, I knew she wouldn't fold under pressure. It was sad Mia never got a chance to meet him. King was a great person and down right an amazing dad, but he chose to save our father from his own weakness and infidelity leading him to spending time in prison for killing our father and Caroline, or at least that was what the media portrayed.

Our father, Kareem Joseph Diamond, could never keep his dick in his pants. Always cheating on our mother with any woman that would lay down with him. That ole JD was a slick and smooth one, through it all our mother, Mary, stayed with him, up until the moment she found out Caroline was pregnant with his child.

She went ballistic once she found out about the affair. She threatened to tell Akeem, but she knew our father would never let that happen, so she packed her things, cleaned out their joint bank account and hauled ass with our baby sister. Our father allowed her to take Jessica, but it would be over his dead body before he would let me and King go.

Caroline overheard Akeem telling someone over the phone about his plans to kill JD and rushed to tell him before Akeem could complete them, also confessing to our father she was pregnant and afraid of what Akeem might do once he found out, having no doubt that the child was my father's.

She also informed him that Akeem was the one who forced her to seduce him, so that he could use the pictures and videos of them having sex as black mail, never expecting JD and Caroline to fall in love.

Eight months later, Caroline welcomed a baby boy into the world.
Word got back to our father that Akeem found out about the affair, and was planning on killing him and Caroline after my father signed the contract giving Akeem, his long time business partner, part ownership of the casino, which would result in Akeem getting half of our family's business and complete control over the undercover gambling and drug ring that went on underneath the casino unbeknownst to everyone except those involved in it.

Not sure how to handle the situation, my father signed his portion of the company to King and ran for Governor so that King could have as much support as possible going up against Akeem.

From there we as a family deviated a plan to fake JD and Caroline's death, but it would cost us one of our own, King, who would do anything to save the family he was born into, and the one he was creating.

Not liking the turn of events, Akeem hired a hitman to kill JD, and Caroline. He would have been successful too, if King hadn't walked in on the hitman about to shoot our father. He shot the man in the back of the head then set the room to reflect that of a scandal and drug deal gone wrong. He paid the coroner $250,000 to say that Governor Kareem Diamond and his mistress were the two bodies found in the basement of the casino, and the news reporter $275,000 to print a false headline.

Caroline feared leaving Cameron and Dre with Akeem, but knew they were better off there with him. She knew he cherished Cameron and wouldn't lay a finger on either of their heads, especially Dre on behalf of Cameron.

Amire' was seven at the time, and Veronica was pregnant with Vanessa, but King knew that if he didn't handle the situation, Akeem would come after his family too because in the end all he wanted was the casino and the drug ring to himself.

After the FEDS raided the casino and locked King up, he took a plea for up to twenty five years in prison; sending a pregnant Veronica and Amire' to start over fresh in Atlanta. He thought he had did them a favor until he seen the news report of the apartment fire.

Seemed as if Akeem had learned the truth. He wanted answers and revenge. After hiring a private investigator, Akeem located Veronica searching for answers she refused to give him.

And just when Akeem had begun second guessing his PI's information, he found a letter on Veronica's bed addressed from King before his sentencing confirming what he already knew.

Veronica afraid of what he might do, contacted me with her concerns, when we got back to the apartment, we found Akeem raping Vanessa from behind. I hit him across his head with Vanessa's lamp and picked my niece up to carry her out of the apartment. When I came out of the room, Veronica had the apartment going up in flames, and we struggled to make it out.

I continued to watch the camera screens until Mia walked off the beach, towards the hotel, and into the elevator. I looked back at the screen of Angel and saw she had yet to come out of the bathroom. By now, I was sure those Oxycodone I crushed into the champagne bottle were kicking in. Just as I anticipated, she staggered out of the bathroom in a robe and laid across the bed before passing out into a deep sleep.

When Mia walked into the room, I grabbed my cell from my pocket and dialed the burner phone I'd left in the night stand. She looked around the room, confused, trying to figure out whose phone was ringing.

She made her way to the night stand and looked over at Angel before pulling out the drawer and putting the burner phone to her ear.

"Hello." She spoke into the receiver.