A Rose by Any Other Name

Chapter 23

Marshall's POV

Lady had been in a coma for six months. I couldn't bare looking at her like that. I stayed for about a month after her wreck, but then I went back to New York. I kept in touch with Killa and Seven though.

I know Seven probably hated my ass for kissing Lady, but he eventually got over it. We were all boys. He knows how things get sometimes being close to each other's women. We all loved Lady like a sister, and shid let's be honest; the way he treated Lady, he better be glad we didn't off his ass.

Once I was settled back in my routine in New York, I got a shocking visit from my brother. He moved to the Virgin Islands and was doing big things out there. He had his own little medical clinic out there, and he was racking up those dollars. It's been like ten years since I've seen him. He was my li'l brother. I loved the kid more than life itself. I wish I could find my sister though.

"Milkdud, what's up?" he said walking into my house.

"Derek? What the hell?"

"It's good to see you too bruh," he said pulling me into a hug. "It's been too long."

"I swear, man. How's everything out there in V.I.?"

"It's going good. The clinic is booming. I can't complain at all. How about business here?"

My brother knows all about the things I do. I don't hide nothing from him. He's my best friend and I know he got my back. He knows all the guys and Lady. He just never met any of them, except for Seven.

"Man, we doing good. We were shut down for about a month. We had to shut production down while we were in Barbados. We shut down here and Atlanta. But we're back up and running and doing good."

"Well that's good. Aye, speaking of Barbados, do you know a chick name Jocelyn Towner?"

"Yeah, that's Seven's baby mama. But she gave her kids up to Lady about two or three years ago. Why?"

"I met her down in V.I.," he said. "Was Rose in a car wreck recently?"

"Yeah, about a month ago," I said. I was hoping his questioning wasn't leading to what I think he was about to tell me. I always had a feeling someone had done something to Lady. Especially when the doctor said the found oxycodone and cocaine in her system.

"So I hired a private investigator. Jocelyn and some girl name Stacy tried to kill Rose. Jocelyn said Rose kidnapped her kids. She was tryna get them back. I asked if she filed a police report or anything like that. She said she didn't wanna get them involved. She was just going to go get them herself."

"I knew she wasn't tryna kill herself," I said. "Hold on right quick. Let me call Seven."

I dialed his number and he picked up on the third ring. "Wussup, Ghost?"

"Aye where the kids at?" I asked him.

"They at the house with Rose's parents. Why?"

"Who there with them?"

"Nobody, we're all here at the hospital. What the fuck going on?"

"Man, it was Jocelyn and Stacy. They tryna kill Lady to get the kids back. I need you to send one of the guys to the house. Me and Derek about to hop on a plane and head back out there."

"Aight, bet. I'm finna send Devin over there now. I swear these bitches getting outta hand. That's alright though. I'm finna knock these bitches out the water."

We said our goodbyes and then hung up. I looked at Derek, and I asked him, "You ready to get your hands dirty?"

"You know I can't get involved. I could lose my license bro."

"Yeah, you're right," I said to him. "But trust me, if we do this right, they'll never know you were there. They won't even recover any bodies."

"In that case, let's have come fun," he said back.

I quickly packed me a bag and we caught the red eye to Barbados. Let the games begin.