"Change of plans, shorty. I'm gone send the new location," I said. Our driver turned down a road where we knew so well. We've been to Brooklyn enough to know that there is an old factory that hasn't been used.
The other end of the phone got quiet. It's almost like she was holding her breath. Scared? I would be. I would be petrified if the Norwood siblings wanted to meet in a factory with me.
"Are y'all gone kill me?" She asked like a dummy. Maybe.
"Do we need to?" I asked her. She got quiet once more. This is why we had to change the location from Starbucks to a factory. If this hoe got my brother killed, she can consider herself dead too.
"Look, just come there and tell us what's good," I told her.
"Please, Queen. I didn't have Duke killed! We loved each other," she begged. I slightly believed that, because Duke wasn't flexing when he told me he had a girl in Brooklyn. He must had some type of feelings for this scary hoe.
"Okay, come see us in person. We can sort things out and you can tell us who he talked to. Until then, count your hours," I hung the phone up before she could say anymore.
"You must think you that bitch?" Cain looked at me with a smirk.
"Clean bitch. Disease free bitch!" I mimicked Lil Kim. My brother laughed a little as I turned the radio up with Lil Kim. "I'm rich, I'm gone stay that bitch!"
"Yea, she feeling herself," Messiah told Cain. The car stopped and we could see the alley was kind of dark. I wouldn't come here alone if I was her. So I'm sure we gone have to bust some homeboys down.
"Got the clean up crew on standby?" Cain asked me. It was my responsibility to have the crew on standby in case anything jumped off. That's why I called them a day before we got here. They are chilling in the Bronx as we speak.
"I'm on my job. Did you call the dude to watch the girl and see what she doing?" I asked. He looked like he was confused.
"That's why I don't give you big shit," Messiah said as he got out the car. Cain followed him as I followed Cain. We waved the driver off and made our way into the factory. The lights were dimmed, but we could see clearly. There were a lot of old machines and graffiti. You can tell the neighborhood kids come here to do ungodly things.
There were condom rappers on the floor, as if they couldn't trash it on their way out. The windows were all nasty and full of dirt. I wouldn't be surprised if a rat ran across my foot.
"Shit!" Cain yelled. He jumped away as I saw a rat run across the room. Well maybe I should consider Cain's foot instead of mine.
"Stop being a bitch," I smacked his arm.
"You running from a rat? Nigga you about to interrogate somebody and you running from a rat?" Messiah just couldn't believe it.
I could.
Cain is the toughest guy I know, besides Messiah. Cain fears no man or nothing. But the nigga is afraid of bugs and rodents. I mean can you blame him? I remember when we were like 6 or 7, he called me in his room to kill a spider. Now, keep in mind that I'm scared too.
The damn spider was hanging from a web which was hanging from the ceiling. Before I knew it, the spider fell in my hair and Cain freaked out! He pushed me and ran to mom. I knew then this nigga was gone be somebody's bitch in prison. Thank goodness he wasn't though.
"Man that rat was as big as my fist! His ass pay rent here!" Cain exaggerated.
I laughed as I grabbed some duct take and rope off one of the shelves. We could see a shadow standing in the doorway behind us. It was rather curvy. My brothers and I turned around in unison. We didn't expect that.
"Hi?" She said nervously. Shorty looked like a chick Duke would affiliate himself with. She was about 5'5 with brown eyes. Her waist wasn't too snatched. She had a little pudge to hold on to. She had this beautiful short pixie cute that really brought her beautiful face out. She looked like an angel. Her big brown eyes left from me, to Messiah, then to Cain.
"So Duke never mentioned me?" Was all she said. She walked closer to us, but stopped once she noticed the duct tape and rope in my hands.
"Why did he not mention you, shorty?" I cut straight to the chase.
"Better yet, why didn't you come to the funeral? This is my first time ever even hearing about you," Cain said.
"You didn't even try to reach out to us. You stayed silent. You let us hurt alone." Messiah sounded like he wanted to shoot her and burry her body under some cement. I touched his shoulder and his body slowly relaxed.
"Duke told me that his family was very private. When I asked him if I could fly out to Baltimore, he would always insist that he come to Brooklyn. I thought it was strange, but I loved him too much to care. I'm sorry," she sounded sincere. I put the tape and rope back on the shelf.
I grabbed a chair and took a seat before my legs got weak on me. Cain looked at me with a curious look. I fanned him off to signal I was okay.
Honestly, I felt like I was going to fall out. Just looking at this girl made me sick to my stomach. It made me miss my brother even more.
"If I was to die, I want y'all to burn my house down, take all of my money, and flee to Cuba," Messiah said seriously.
"Why the fuck would you even think you gone die? You bugging, B!" Cain snapped. I wrapped my arms around Messiah and placed my head on his chest. I never like to think of my brothers dying.
"Don't think like that. None of us going anywhere any time soon," Duke said.
"What was Duke like?" I looked up at her. I just won't accept the fact that this chick was close to my brother, like that, and he didn't say a word.
"He was nice and kind. He always put others before him, because in his mind he had everything he could ask for. He enjoyed football and wanted to play in college. He loved his big sister, Queen. He loved you to death. He looked up to you and wanted you to be happy one day," she said.
A tear was coming down my face as my body began to tremble. She described my brother a T. Tears were flooding down my cheek as I tried to control myself. Cain wrapped his arms around me to comfort me.
"He loved all of y'all, and wanted to go to college and make y'all and y'all mom proud. Lord knows that boy had a good head on his shoulders. I just want to know who would want to take a sweet soul like that? He loved me. He loved us," she reached down and started rubbing the small pudge I once thought was fat.
My heart skipped a beat. Im pretty sure all of our mouths were on the ground. But I wasn't upset. I was happy that he had a legacy.
"You're pregnant?" Messiah's voice cracked a little. I looked up at him and saw a look of concern.
"Duke's baby? You wasn't on no hoe shit, shorty?" Cain asked.
"Why did you not contact us? Did you think we didn't want to be in our niece or nephew's life? I don't even know your fucking name." I dropped my head in my lap because it was spinning. I could feel the last meal I ate attempting to come up.
"Duke was going to tell his mom, but he was more afraid of telling Cain. He knew Cain thought highly of him and going to college. He just-"
"Stop!" Messiah cut her off.
Cain and I both shot our heads over at him. He had rage written all over his face. Why is there rage at a moment like this? That is Duke's seed in her stomach.
"Bro, what's good?" I asked him. He ignored me and stared at the girl.
"Stop feeding us bullshit you want us to hear. You're not pregnant and you're not here for Duke. Queen asked you on several occasions for your name and you have yet to answer. You walked in here with your shy demeanor, yet you continued to run your mouth. I don't trust her, and if she don't get to stating her purpose I'm gone kill her." That's when Messiah pulled his gun out and pointed it straight at her head.
Everything was going too fast. I didn't know whether to agree or stop Messiah.
"Messiah, you tripping! Can't you see that she knows Duke! Put the gun down, bro." Cain begged. I couldn't even speak. I felt like if I spoke, then I would vomit all over the floor.
"What did I tell y'all about being naive? Stop being so damn naive! I bet she didn't come alone, neither." Messiah never once lowered his gun. That's when Cain jumped up and charged towards the door. He pulled his gun out and peeped around the corner.
"We got company, people. Paranoid ass Messiah was right." Cain whispered. I jumped up and grabbed the chick. She tried fighting me off as she scratched at my face.
I finally got her scrapped down in the chair, with her legs tied, and her arms tied behind the chair. She mugged me like I was her worse enemy. She couldn't move me even if she tried. I never cared for liars, and I definitely don't like liars who killed my brother.
"Messiah, get over here." Cain waved Messiah over. Messiah walked over calmly and peeped out the door. He quickly ducked back in as he looked back at us. He marched over to shorty and slapped her like he was her pimp. I flinched at the sound of his hand striking her face.
Her head flew to the side as her hair began to look out of wack. Her light skin was now a rosy red. She was furious. Her eyes became squinted as she breathed heavily through her nose.
"What was that for?!" She yelled.
"Bitch, did you bring niggas out here to set us up? Do you really think that's going to happen? I should strangle your bogus ass!" Messiah snapped.
"She brought niggas here? Let's go blast them fools," I whipped my gun out and walked towards the window. I saw two black cars with tinted windows. I couldn't see who was in the cars.
"Ain't no telling how many people in those cars? Get rid of them then kill the girl," Messiah ordered. What Messiah wants, Messiah gets. Cain walked out the factory busting bullets in their direction. I ran up behind him to have his back, as they shot back.
"Move," I told him. I shot straight through the driver's side of the first car. Whoever it was was no longer with us as he dropped his gun with his hand lying lifelessly out the window. Cain shot another one in the head as he got out to shoot. The second car pulled off quickly.
"The second car left, Messiah!" I told him. He looked at the girl and shot a bullet straight through her head. He didn't ask any questions and surely didn't get any answers.
"Fuck that! Let's head back to B. These Brooklyn niggas want our head," Cain said.
"Fuck that! We ain't running from no New York niggas. We go everywhere comfortably!" I cocked my gun and peeped through the doors again. There wasn't a car in sight.
"Call the clean up crew to clean this mess," Messiah said. I did as he said and called. It wasn't ten minutes before they showed up as if they were a legit clean up company.
"We going back to Baltimore. No need to stick around when there is blood being shed," Messiah said calmly. He made so much sense.
Plus I wanted to get back home to making money. I need to check in on the Tower boys and see what our profit is.