Chapter 12 |
Michael's pov
"Michael!" Janet screams, and my mind goes blank when I hear the gunshot that I never wanted to hear.
She fell backwards down the stairs, and I could feel my heart start to beat again. She shot Diana.
That's all I could think about.
She shot Diana.
She shot Diana.
She shot Diana.
When all of my senses finally came back to me, I could hear her crying from behind me. I turned to see her lip between her teeth as she tried muffle her sobs.
"I'm s-sorry... I didn't mean--"
"No, no, no, it's okay. I was hoping you would do that," I say while pushing her hair back behind her ear. More bruises.
"Janet, get her in the car. Take her somewhere far away from here," I demand while never letting my eyes leave hers.
"But where exactly?" Janet asked.
"I don't know just get her out of here!"
Janet grabs Kyela's hand, pulling her away from me and takes her down the stairs of the basement. I just need her to get out of here before she's traumatized more than she already is if that's even possible.
Janet's pov
We run down the steps of the basement, and at the foot of the stairs, Diana's body lies lifeless. I can feel Kyela's hand shaking in mine, and I know she's scared. If I was in her shoes, I would be too.
"Oh my God," she croaks.
"Shh," I say, "they can probably hear us."
"Who?"
"Joe, James, and whoever else Joe is paying," I say.
I lead her through the darkness of the basement to the door that Diana brought me through. I don't even understand how she knew that I was there. She was in the house the whole time. I heard everything that happened from outside when I was looking for a back entrance with Randy. Now, I don't know where he is, but I need to find out.
"Where are we going?" she whispered, breaking me from my thoughts. I nearly forgot that she was with me.
"Out back. That's where the car is," I tell her, and she nods.
I never thought I'd find myself alone with her in a dark basement trying to find my way out, but I'm doing this for my brother, and whatever he wants, he gets. That's just how it's always been.
He seems to be really into this girl. I've never seen him get so angry over a girl besides Susanna, but she's different, nothing like Kyela.
Finally, we reach the outside, but there's no sign of Randy, and no sign of any of Joe's men either.
"Over there," she says while.pointing I'm the direction of the black Bentley that's parked behind a tree.
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We had been riding in the car for fifteen minutes in silence. She hadn't said a word, but I didn't expect her to want to talk about what happened in that hellhole. That's something her and Michael should discuss. I was just here to help.
"I underestimated you," I blurt out truthfully, "I couldn't have ever done what you did."
She looks at me and tilts her head in confusion.
"I mean, being emotionally damaged and all, I couldn't have killed a person," I say.
She still doesn't say anything, instead, her eyes grow wide as she looks out of the window at the passing trees. How insensitive of me, right?
"Sorry, I just... I don't know."
I don't know how to talk to people. When do I ever talk to people? Never. I barely even talk to Michael, and he's... my best friend. I guess I could say he's my best friend because I never really had any real friends besides my siblings; thanks to Joe. My brothers and sisters were the closest things to friends that I could possibly get. Now, he had her. I could say I was jealous, but I'm not willing to admit that. I just never liked to share, and everyone knows that.
"He really likes you, you know?"
"But you don't," she replies almost immediately.
That's not what I thought she would say. I thought she would be all happy and stuff, but she just sits there and sulks.
"Um... I don't matter... I never--"
"Look, you don't have to act like you can stand me right now because I saved your life, okay? I know you hate me, and I've caused you a lot of trouble, Janet. Why does it matter if everyone in your family likes me but you? That's not fair to either of us, so take me out while you still can because I'm sure that's what Michael planned anyway," she cried.
"W-what? We didn't go through all this trouble to get you back just so we could kill you! Joe could've done that!" I shouted, but she didn't look my way. She just sat there.
"Alright, listen. Things change, people change? I actually do like you, a little..."
"A little?" she scoffs.
"Hey, it's something," I say sarcastically, "But since you did save my life back there, I owe you something. I can't just hate you forever. You're important to my brother, so you're technically important to me too, got it?"
She nods.
"Now, I have to get you out of here."
Michael's pov
When I went back into the foyer area, Randy and Jackie were holding Joe and James at gunpoint.
"How long have you been here?" I asked, nodding to Randy.
He shrugged, "About five minutes."
"I'm glad to see my sons sticking together. Shows that I raised you boys right," Joe says.
"Raised us? You were barely even there," Jackie says.
"I thought you disowned us a while ago. It's nice to know we're still your sons," I say sarcastically.
He laughs, despite the fact that he's holding his blood covered bullet wound, he laughs, "I did, but now, I want you back. See, I knew you would come and get that girl, and I knew we woods be having this conversation. I want you back, boys," he tells us.
"We're not boys anymore, Joe," Randy says.
"You are as long as he lives," a woman's voice called from the top of the stairs. We all looked up to see where the voice was coming from.
Celeste.
"You'll never be men in this world, boys," she mocked us. Her dress shimmered under the light of the crystal chandelier above us. I couldn't bare to look at her any longer.
All at once, Celeste pulled a gun out from underneath her dress when Rebbie came charging from a room behind her. They collided, but Celeste went head first over the banister. Her gun went off, shooting into the air where the bullet hit the chandelier above her. That's when I saw James from my peripheral; he pulled another gun from his pocket just as I turned to shoot him, but instead of his hand, I got his head.
Joe, who was still on the floor, jumped up and hopped on one leg to get to me, but Randy and Jackie caught him before he was two inches away from his original spot. Elbowing the both of them in the stomach, Joe was set free, and he began charging after me. Rebbie was at the bottom of the stairs before I knew it, trying to get Randy and Jackie back into their feet. That's when Marlon burst through the door.
"Where's Jermaine?!" I screamed.
"I lost him about ten minutes ago!" Marlon yelled back.
I was focused on getting Joe out of my way so that we could get the hell out of here, but he wouldn't budge. I punched him once in the nose, once in the jaw, but all he would do was shake it off like nothing was happening. I was getting tired of his shit.
I could tell he was about to tackle me, and let's be honest, I was ready to be tackled by his fat ass, so I swung. I swung harder than I had ever before, and when my hand connected with his jaw, it stung like crazy. I had never hit anyone that hard before. He stumble a few feet before falling next to Celeste who was still on the ground.
Two men, who were dressed in all black came running in struggling to hold down Jermaine so that he couldn't get loose. Well, the gang's all here.
"Don't just stand there! Do something!"
Everybody jumped from the volume of my voice before jumping to action. Jackie and Randy ran up to the two guys, beating them to let Jermaine run free, but they weren't done with them until they couldn't fight back.
Rebbie drug Celeste from her spot near Joe to the other side of the foyer.
"Maureen Reilette Jackson!" she screamed.
"Don't call me that!" Rebbie yelled before punching her twice in the face. By the way Celeste was swaying back and forth, she was probably about to pass out from the way she hit her head. It was pretty hard.
I just knew that I had to finish things with Joe who was slowly trying to get back to his feet. I wasn't going to let him.
I placed my foot on his chest, and his head fell back onto the floor He's had enough, but I wasn't finished, "This is the last time that you can come between me and my women, alright?"
He didn't say anything, but a groan escaped his wrinkled lips.
"Michael!" Marlon suddenly screamed. I felt his body crash into mine, and we slid across the floor, bumping into a table, resulting in a lamp falling over and breaking. That's when the chandelier came crashing down on top of Joe.
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Hey Readers !
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-mickeythemoonwalker