Chicago was holding a meeting at his diner with all of his employee's. Since he was rarely there he at least wanted to match faces with names.
"Faith Taylor?"Vernon called out looking at the clipboard.
Everybody looked around the diner as Vernon called the name out again three times.
"She hasn't been to work in three days!"Somebody finally called out grabbing Chicago's attention.
"Sarah look for her number, I hate a no show."Chicago ordered his assistant Sarah.
She nodded and began typing away on her IPad mini, "Here you go sir, I sent it to you."
Chicago nodded before telling Vernon to get eyes on the girl. He wanted to know who this girl was that failed to attend his important meeting, and fail to show up to work. He didn't like lazy sorry people.
Chicago proceeded to the meeting, and he went over things with his employees and got to interact with them some.
He decided to stay at the diner and complete some paperwork. After he was done going through his emails he decided to call the number Sarah sent him.
You have reached the voicemail box of...
"Vernon!"He called out and his big security guard walked inside.
"What's up boss?"
"You get anything on that Faith girl?"He asked as he was looking at floor plans for his new club.
"Yea boss, last seen at the hospital. Don't know if she visiting or not."
Chicago looked up from his computer, "Give me the address."
*
"Oh my poor Fay."Amelia kissed her forehead.
Two days ago Amelia got worried because Faith never came back to her house. So she asked around on where she was staying, when she got to the apartment the door was unlocked and it was blood everywhere.
Once she walked inside the bedroom she saw Faith laid out on the floor unconscious in a pool of her own blood.
Demarcus haven't been seen since.
"She's been responding well to our breathing treatments, if you didn't get there when you did your niece wouldn't have made it."The nurse said walking into the room.
Amelia sighed as a couple of tears dropped from her eyes, she gently grabbed Faith's hand and placed a kiss on it.
She was outraged that Demarcus would put his hands on her niece. She wanted him caught and dead, and she was going to make sure of it.
A knock on the door knocked her out of her thoughts, she looked over as Chicago came in with Vernon right behind him.
Once Chicago locked eyes with Amelia a little smirk appeared on his face, "Well look who it is."
"Little Chico. How you been."Amelia smiled as she got up and gave him a hug.
"I've been good Amelia, I see your out the pin."
"Yea I've been out for a couple days, how's your mama boy."
"The same old Christine."Chicago answered her, "But I must be in the wrong room, I'm looking for one of my employees who didn't bother to show up to work or a important meeting."
"Well what's their name?"
"Faith Taylor, you know her?"Chicago asked and Amelia nodded.
"That's her right there.."Amelia pointed over to Faith who was hooked up to all types of machines, "That's my niece."
"Damn, what happened to her?"He asked looking over at her
"Her boyfriend did this to her, I know your father is out the game Chicago but I need this dude handled. Look at how he did my niece."Amelia said as a few more tears came down her face.
"You know I got you Amelia. Your like family, what's this dude name?"
*
Christine moved swiftly in the kitchen as she prepared for the family dinner tonight. All of her kids would be home, and she was excited about it.
"Baby, why are you in here slaving like this? We do have chefs you know."Her husband Chico stated as he kissed the side of her face.
"I know Chico, but my babies are coming home and I want to cook them a home cooked meal. Not that healthy shit your chefs be making."
Chico chuckled at his wife and walked out of the kitchen.
Christine was a beautiful caramel woman. She was a short woman who had a little pudgy stomach with wide hips and thick legs and thighs with a butt that was round and poked out. She always kept her natural curly hair in neat stitch braids or buns. She had slender greenish brownish eyes, pink heart shaped lips and a round face.
She was always stunning in her designer wear, she didn't look like she was forty.
Chico was a tall slim man who had smooth dark skin, nice defined waves with a nice cut line on the side. Straight white teeth, pink plump lips and round brown eyes.
Like his son Chicago he also wore expensive suits.
"Wanda!"Christine called out to the head maid they had.
"Yes Mrs.Knight?"Wanda walked inside the kitchen.
"Can you announce to the butlers that the food is ready to be laid out on the big dining room table?"Christine asked smoothing her edges.
"Yes ma'am."Wanda smiled walking off.
"Ok, I'm going to go get ready. Don't touch any of the food either old ass."Christine eyed her husband before walking up the stairs.
Chico waved her off, before sneaking a piece of chicken and walking into his office.
"Mr.Knight, Mr.Chicago is here along with Miss.Camilla."Wanda announced knocking on the door.
"Ok, thanks Wanda. I'll be out in a minute."
He looked over some paperwork furrowing his eyebrows, "This isn't right.."He trailed off getting up and walking out of the office.
He walked in the living room where everybody was. He spotted Chicago and walked over towards him.
"Can I have a word with you real quick?"
Chicago stopped his conversation with his older brother Tishun.He looked over his father and nodded.
"Wassup pops?"
"I was looking over some bank statements, you noticed the ten million missing?"
"Ten million? You saying somebody stealing from me?"Chicago felt himself getting upset.
"Aye aye, no work talk tonight."Christine interrupted, "This is family night, don't go ruining it with all this work talk."She eyed the both of them.
They both nodded and agreed to not talk about the matter anymore.
"Where the hell is your brother?"Christine asked her three children.
"You know how irresponsible Andre is. His little young ass is probably somewhere with a girl."Tishun answered making everybody agree.
"Well I can't wait any longer the food is going to get cold, c'mon everybody let's eat."
They all walked inside the dining room, and began to sit down.
Everybody start making their plates and socializing with one another, "Mama you made this?"Camilla asked eating some of her cornbread.
"I sure did. I wanted my babies to have a home cooked meal."She smiled taking a sip of her wine.
"Well I missed this, I don't to much cook for myself anymore. I just be busy."
"Speaking of busy, how have all of your businesses be-"She was cut off by a loud commotion coming from the front.
"What the hell is that?"Chico asked as everybody stopped eating.
"Um Mr.Knight, Andre is here."Wanda came and announced.
"I don't need no damn introduction Wanda."Andre slurred coming into view with his arm around a girl. In his other hand held a bottle of Tequila.
"Boy, I'm gone try my best to not knock you and this bitch out right now."Christine took a deep breathe as she looked at her drunken son.
"See mama I told you he was irresponsible."Tishun shook his head standing up out of his seat.
"Shut yo ass up. You don't do nothing but kiss mama and daddy ass."Andre spat at his older brother.
"Watch yo mouth son."Chico eyed his son intensely.
"Watch my mouth? You need to be watching yo dick pops, see this girl right here...you don't remember her? She said y'all met last week in a big fine hotel."Andre smirked as he kissed the girl on the cheek.
"That's enough Andre."Keith stated through gritted teeth.
Christine looked over at her husband, "Is that true?"
"No baby, the boy is drunk you can't believe anything he says."Keith defended.
"Oh I'm lying?"Andre smirked, "Show them the pictures baby."He ordered the girl. She nodded and went inside her purse and pulled out a stack of pictures.
Everybody looked over at the pictures and the room grew silent, "Daddy you cheated on mama?"Camilla asked with a shocked expression.
Chico just sat silently as he gave his son a angry expression.
Christine got up and leaned over and got in Chico's face, "Bitch."She stated with a mug before walking out of the dining room.
"Everybody get the fuck out!"She yelled out stomping up the stairs.
Everybody sat at the table silently, just staring around. Nobody said anything for about five minutes.
"This is why I don't like family dinner's. Y'all don't know how to fucking act!"Chicago got up out of his seat and grabbed his coat.
"Y'all just sad."He shook his head walking out of the room bumping Andre in the process.
"Look at this nigga thinking he some saint."Andre scoffed, "When you gone start claiming yo kid?"
Chicago stopped in his tracks and looked at his baby brother. Andre was the spoiled one, he didn't grow up the way everybody else did.
"Your nineteen and still a little bitch."Chicago looked his brother up and down before storming out of the house.
He made it to his corvette and drove off towards his house.
*
Faith was finally awake now and eating on her own. She couldn't do much since she had broken ribs and a broken arm.
The knots she had on her head was gone down, and all she had was a couple bruises and scratches on her body.
"How long have I been in here?"She asked her aunt Amelia who was in the corner playing spades on her phone.
"About two days."Amelia answered her, "How are you feeling?"
"I'm a little sore, and my head is killing me."She groaned a little as she rubbed her head.
"Doctor said you had a concussion, luckily you didn't have internal bleeding in your head."Amelia answered getting closer to her bed, "What happened that night Faith?"
"He took my money bought a ring with it, and asked to marry me. I declined and he didn't take it well. All I remember is him just hitting me over and over again like he wanted to kill me."Tears dropped from her face as she spoke, "Then h-h-he..."She broke down crying as Amelia walked over and pulled her into a big embrace.
"It's ok baby. You got me now, and he's being handled you don't have to worry about that son of a bitch again."Amelia rocked them back and forth as Faith sobbed into her chest.
The two stayed like that for a minute, before Amelia broke apart to get her a kleenex.
"I'll send Demetrius and Cosco over there tomorrow to pack your things. I don't want you near that apartment ever again."Amelia stated passing her the kleenex, "You hear me chile?"
Faith nodded as she cleaned her face up.
"It's another thing I wanted to ask you.."Amelia trailed off looking at her with hurt eyes.
"What is it?"Faith grew nervous as she bit the inside of her jaw waiting on her aunts question.
"Did you know you were pregnant?"
*
It's been a week since Faith left the hospital, and now she was back working at the diner.
Nobody bothered to ask her about the obvious bruises on her face and arms, they just minded their business. Faith liked that.
She was kind of upset about losing her baby boy, but was also a little happy. She didn't want to have a child by Demarcus at all.
"Hey, Faith right?"This tall brown skin skinny girl came over flipping her long box braids behind her shoulder.
"Yes."Faith answered the girl cooly as she wiped down the table.
"I'm Dreeka, Mr.Knight wanted to see you in his office."Dreeka smiled as Faith looked up at her with her eyebrows furrowed.
"Want to see me? For what?"Faith asked as she tucked the towel in her apron pocket.
Dreeka shrugged pursing her lips together, "But I wouldn't keep him waiting. He looks pretty upset."
Faith scoffed before nodding, "Ok."She walked to the back.
She gently knocked on the office door, and Vernon swung the door open standing over her with his tall built frame.
"What you doing back here?"Vernon eyed her suspiciously
It was his job to always be alert when it came down to Chicago, he was trained to not trust anybody that came around. Not even his own mother.
"Umm..."Faith trailed off nervously. She felt uncomfortable with the look Vernon was giving her.
"Let her in."Chicago intervened from his desk, "That's Faith Vernon."
"Alright boss, she just look a little different from when we saw her all beat up at the hospital."Vernon commented making Faith frown up.
"You can leave now Vernon."Chicago gave him a stern look. Vernon put his hands up in surrender before leaving out of the office.
Faith stood there awkwardly as she watched Chicago type away on his computer. She wanted to say something but decided against it, since he looked very tense. Plus she remembered the last time they exchanged words with each other.
"You know why I called you in here?"He asked closing his computer and looking straight into her eyes.
Faith slowly shook her head as she tried to look somewhere else than Chicago's piercing hazel eyes.
Faith was a beautiful girl, with or without the bruises on her body. She had some height on her she was about 5'7 with beautiful smooth brown skin big heart shaped lips that she always had coated in lip gloss, a small round nose, with big brown eyes.
She had a tiny waist with a flat stomach that made her round apple butt poke out and sit up just right.
Her natural hair was mid-length and she was blessed with healthy coily hair that she always kept in braids.
"Your aunt told me what happened to you."He kept his eyes on her as he carefully studied her.
He could see how jumpy she was and how she always checked her surroundings. He noticed it the first time they met, at first he thought she was on drugs but now he knows the real reason.
"She did? Look I'm fi-"
Chicago put his hand up and stopped her from talking, "You didn't look fine, when your face was all swollen and beat up."He stated as Faith rolled her eyes.
She didn't want anybody in her business, especially her boss knowing what she went through.
"So you called me back here to tell me how beat up I was?"Faith crossed her arms now finally looking into his eyes.
"No. I called you in here because the nigga knows where you work, and I don't need that kind of attention at my place of business."Chicago stated bluntly.
Faith scoffed as she shook her head, "If you were going to fire me, you could've sent a email. Yea I check those now."She stated with attitude in her voice.
Chicago took a deep breathe the girl was just getting on his nerves. He couldn't even finish before she jumped to a conclusion, "Can you please shut the fuck up for a moment."He stated sternly as his gaze on her continued. He stood up from his chair and went into his file cabinet.
"My assistant Sarah is out on maternity leave, so I need a new one to cover for her. My family is close to your aunt, so I'm doing her a favor. Plus she said you were good with numbers.So don't think I'm doing something for yo ass."He picked up a stack of papers and dropped them in her arms.
"I need those on my desk tomorrow morning."
"Look at all of these! You expect me to have all of this done by tomorrow morning?"Faith gave him a bewildered look as Chicago held a nonchalant one.
"I said what I said, and if you want to keep a good paying job you'll do as I say."He sat down at his desk still holding that nonchalant expression.
Faith scoffed as she looked down at the big stack of papers in her hand, "Your dismissed now."Chicago got back on his laptop and began typing away.
Faith rolled her eyes and left out of the office bumping Vernon in the process.
"What you mad?"He laughed before making his way back into the office.
She just rolled her eyes and clocked out. She made it to her car and drove off towards her aunt's house.
"Demetrius get yo pinhead ass down these stairs, and clean this damn dishes!"Amelia yelled as Faith walked in the door.
"Hey auntie."Faith said softly as she put the stack of papers on the dining room table.
"Hey baby, how was work?"Amelia asked as she pulled the chair out and sat down.
"It was ok, but now I'm Chicago's assistant."Faith sighed and Amelia furrowed her eyebrows.
"Well you don't seem to happy about it."
"Because..."Faith trailed off sitting down next to her, "The man is rude auntie, he's not nice."She pouted.
"Well Faith."Amelia laughed, "The boy barely knows you baby, Chicago is a hard person to get through I know that because I know his father. He'll come around eventually, but you just worry about your money not if little Chico likes you."She smiled before getting up.
"Demetrius! You got three damn seconds before I come up there and beat yo ass!"Amelia yelled once again.
"One! Tw-"She couldn't get it out because Demetrius came running down the stairs.
Faith laughed to herself as she watched her little cousin run into the kitchen.
"Dang ma I was in the bathroom. I told you my stomach hurt."He grumbled making the dish water.
"I don't give a damn, you shouldn't have eaten the damn cereal with that spoiled ass milk."Amelia slapped him upside the head before walking into the living room.
Demetrius smacked his teeth and rubbed the back of his head as he mumbled things under his breath.
Faith laughed between the two as she went through the papers highlighting things she thought was off to her.
*
The next morning Faith walked into the busy building. She watched as everybody scrambled trying to get to their destination.
She took a deep breathe as she walked to the front desk lady.
"Hi. How might I help you?"The preppy white girl asked smiling at Faith.
"I'm here for Mr.Knight. I'm the new assistant."Faith smiled nervously as she wiped her sweaty palm down her black slacks.
"Follow me."She heard a deep voice behind her. She tensed up before turning around and becoming face to face with Chicago himself. His hazel eyes looking through her.
Like everyday he looked fine as ever. He had a crisp haircut, a black turtle neck on with plaid grey and black pants, and his black loafers on. His curly hair was in four neat braids and he had his diamond chain and earrings with his apple watch on.
"Pay close attention, and try not to fuck up."He side eyed her before walking in front of her.
"Oh God. Here he goes."Faith trailed off as she followed him lazily.
This was going to be a long day....
*