A King is Born (11 page)

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Authors: Treasure Hernandez

BOOK: A King is Born
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Chapter Fifteen
M
alek couldn't believe what he was seeing on the TV. He watched as his high-school basketball picture appeared on the television screen. He shook his head as his heart began to beat fast. He had to get out of town, and quick. A part of him wanted to believe in his heart that Halleigh was alive, but he knew she was gone. Mitch's words wouldn't let him think otherwise.
Initially, Malek wasn't sure that the police officer he'd shot was dead, but the evening newscast confirmed it. He buried his face in his hands and began to cry. His life had fallen to pieces, and he had nothing. No Halleigh, no child, and no love. The drug game had consumed him and swallowed him whole. He wished he had chosen another path in life, but in actuality, he didn't choose the game, the game chose him.
The guilt of Halleigh's and his baby's death was on his heart. He gripped his gun and put it to his head. He had nothing else to live for. Not even the money was worth living for. His eyes became bloodshot red, and his hand shook as he held the gun to his temple. He believed he was responsible for Halleigh's death, and the pressure was too much for him to bear.
Everything in the room was blocked out, and the only thing Malek could hear was the sound of himself breathing, as flashbacks of him and Halleigh making love in the islands appeared in his thoughts. He saw her pretty smile. The thought of never seeing it again was breaking his heart.
He quickly pulled the gun away from his head and tossed it on the hotel's bed. He couldn't bring himself to take his own life. That would be the easy way out. Malek's mother had always tried to teach him the right way was God's way. He didn't want to burn eternally for committing suicide, although he wasn't so sure that he'd go to heaven anyway, because of all the wrong he had done.
He stood up and began to pace the room back and forth. He had a bag full of money and didn't know what to do next. It seemed like every move he made was a bad move, so now he was just stuck and indecisive.
Afraid, confused, misguided, and alone, at that moment Malek realized he needed Halleigh. At first he thought she needed him, but without her, he had no purpose. The universal pull of soul mates was inevitable, but Halleigh had been pulled to a place where Malek couldn't follow.
Then how come I can still feel you, ma ? It's like you're somewhere out there calling for me. I can feel your heart, Hal,
he thought as fresh tears came to his eyes.
He kept thinking about Halleigh's body lying somewhere and rotting. That thought alone was driving him crazy. He knew he had to get out of the room and make a run for it, but what then? Where would he go? Who would he turn to? Malek didn't have a clue, but he did have a bag full of untraceable dirty money, and that always did the trick. He would have to go far away and begin anew. Start a new life and try to move on from the chaos, death, and destruction.
I'll always carry you with me, Hal. There will never be another woman for me. You're mine, and I'm yours . . . in life and in death.
Malek snapped out of his love funk and began to think of how to get out of town. He couldn't stay in the same spot for too long for fear of being apprehended. The entire police force was probably searching for him at that very moment.
I've got to get the hell outta dodge.
He had checked in the hotel room under his name, just to get off the streets, and knew it would only be a matter of time before the cops found out where he was hiding. At first, he didn't care if the cops found him; that's just how messed up in the head he was. But now he was coming to his senses.
Malek's thoughts seemed to be disorganized and jumbled, though. It was the worst way to be when devising a plan. Scatterbrains made bad decisions and didn't think things through fully, but Malek's nerves were too bad to even consider that.
He gathered the bag of money and his gun and headed outside so that he could start his car so it could warm up in the brutal Michigan winter weather. Just as he walked out, he saw what he thought was a familiar face brush by with a fur coat on. She pulled up her collar, trying to block the cold winds, but that prevented him from getting a good look at her. He was glad. He didn't need anyone spotting him, especially her, if it was in fact who he thought it was.
“Malek!” he heard someone call out.
Malek didn't pay the voice any mind as he continued his trek to his car parked toward the back of the parking lot.
“Malek!” she yelled again, her hands on her hips. “I've got Halleigh!”
At first he just looked around suspiciously as he made his way to his vehicle, but when he heard those last words come out of her mouth, he stopped immediately and turned around, hope entering his body.
Tasha couldn't believe the man she was looking for was right in her face.
What a coincidence
, Tasha thought at first, but then she remembered someone once telling her that there are no such things as coincidences.
Maybe, just maybe, this Halleigh and Malek thing was meant to be
.
“What did you just say?” he asked urgently as he began to head back toward Tasha. He was so wrapped up in what Tasha had just said, he didn't even notice the cop cars heading toward him.
“I said I have Halleigh,” Tasha repeated. “She has been trying to call you. She's called like forty times. Haven't you gotten her messages?”
Malek patted his pockets to retrieve his phone, but felt nothing but empty space. He couldn't imagine where his phone had gone as he tried to recall where he was when he recalled having it last.
That muthafucking junkie.
Malek remembered Grady giving him a hug. “Where is she?” he asked Tasha, not pressed about the cell phone.
“She is in the hotel room going crazy over you. You have to go help her,” Tasha said. Then she saw flashing lights whip into the parking lot just a few hundred feet away from them.
The police cars went around the building, giving Malek only a matter of time to make a decision on what to do. Malek couldn't believe what he had just heard. Tasha's statement gave him hope, but it was short-lived. Malek, at that point, didn't care if he got caught by the police. The only thing he was thinking about was his woman and if she was really alive, because for a split second, he wondered if Tasha was setting him up, trying to lure him into the hotel room so she could get some type of reward money for his capture or something. But it was a chance he was willing to take.
Malek rushed toward Tasha with the bag in his hand. “Where is she? Where is she?” he yelled as he neared her. “Tasha, look, I don't have a lot of time. Take me to her.” He grabbed Tasha by the shoulders and looked around to see if the cops had made their way back around.
“She's in the room,” Tasha said, hurrying toward the motel room that Halleigh was in. Malek followed, holding the bag full of money.
When Malek got to the motel room with Tasha, he saw Halleigh sitting on the bed, gripping a blanket. When their eyes met, it was as if a magnet had drawn them together. Halleigh rushed over to him and grabbed him, squeezing him as tight as she could as tears began to flow freely.
Malek slightly lifted Halleigh off her feet and hugged her tightly as he buried his face in her neck, smelling her scent. “I have been going crazy trying to get you back.” He looked into her eyes. “Did he hurt you?” Malek quickly thought about what she could have possibly been through. “Did Mitch hurt you?”
Halleigh looked into Malek's eyes and saw a look of deep concern accompanied by defeat.
Malek clenched his jaw tightly and gently placed his hand on Halleigh's stomach as he awaited her answer. Halleigh could see that Malek was blaming himself for what had happened to her, and she didn't want to bring him more pain. She wanted to tell him what they had done to her and tell him everything that she had been through, but she couldn't bring herself to add more stress to Malek's plate.
“No, Malek, I'm fine. I'm okay, baby. Don't worry about me. I missed you so much. I was so afraid that I was going to lose you, Malek,” Halleigh said, refusing to let Malek go as she felt the tension and stress melt away from her body. Malek was like her savior, and as long as he was near her, everything in her world was all right.
Tasha rolled her eyes at the sight. It almost made her want to vomit, but somewhere deep inside herself she wished that she could know a love so pure and true as the one before her.
Malek kissed Halleigh passionately and got on his knees to speak to his unborn child.
“The baby is okay,” Halleigh said, reassuring him as he wrapped his arms around her waist while still kneeling on the floor.
“Daddy's here now. I'm never going to let anything happen to you again. I put that on everything I love,” he whispered to the baby.
Before Malek could say anything else, Tasha interrupted him. She was looking out of the window. “Police are everywhere !” she said as she looked on in amazement. Tasha quickly regretted helping Halleigh. She didn't sign up for any police trouble, and the last thing she needed was a case for aiding and abetting.
“Fuck!” Malek rushed to Tasha's side and peeked out of the window.
Five police cars were spread throughout the vicinity. They seemed to have the entire hotel on lock. The flashing lights intimidated him. He was clearly outnumbered. “They must've seen me come in.” Malek's mind began to race. The Flint Police Department was gunning for his head for killing one of their own.
“Is what they're saying about you on the news true?” Halleigh asked Malek, hoping he would tell her something different. Malek remained quiet, and his silence was her answer.
Malek took out his gun, walked over to Halleigh, and kissed her like it would be his last time ever doing it.
Halleigh felt it and wasn't having it. “Whatever you are about to do, I'm doing it with you,” Halleigh insisted without a drop of fear in her heart.
At that very moment, she reminded Malek of Scratch and how set he'd been on having Malek's back. “No! Just know that I love you.” Malek gave her another hug and kiss. He was about to go out blazing with the cops because he knew they weren't planning on bringing him in breathing.
“I have an idea.” Halleigh grabbed his hand.
Tasha looked on in disbelief, waiting to see what was to unfold.
Toy looked at the body of her dead brother Mitch as the paramedics put a white sheet over his body. She was infuriated and thirsty for revenge. With her long-braided cornrows and loose jumpsuit, she looked like one of the boys as she was surrounded by her goons from Saginaw. She had just gone to identify the body of her twin sister, and wasn't expecting to come bury her brother along with her.
Sweets walked up on her, and Toy's goons immediately reached for their guns.
Sweets put up his hands to signal there wasn't any beef. “Slow down. I'm Sweets. Mitch was my man. We did business together.”
“I know who you are. You the faggot, right?” Toy said, hiding her green eyes behind the Dolce & Gabbana glasses that sat on her face.
Sweets clenched his jaws at her comment, not because she called him a faggot, but she was being blatantly disrespectful. He gave her a pass, since she had just lost two of her loved ones. “Yeah, I'm the faggot,” he answered sarcastically. He rubbed the front row of his teeth with his tongue.
“Set up a meeting,” Toy said. “I want to talk to his crew ASAP.”
Toy was a boss in her own right. She moved heavy heroin in the Saginaw area, and actually, she was homosexual also. Mitch had given her the rundown on Sweets months ago. She knew they'd been doing business together, but at this point, until she got to the bottom of the situation, everybody was suspect.
Toy watched the paramedics cart off her only brother. “Do you know who is responsible for this?”
Sweets slowly nodded his head and rubbed his hands together slowly. “Malek.”
As soon as the name came out of his mouth, Toy knew exactly who he was talking about. Mitch had also talked to her about Malek when he and Malek were hustling together. At first when he told her about his new business partner, he sounded confident and happy, as if he had found his long-lost brother. Slowly, over time, his conversations regarding Malek began to change, and Mitch would tell her of Malek's arrogance and inability to lead his troops. Toy knew it was only a matter of time before Mitch took Malek's empire for himself, but she wasn't prepared for the young gun to come back with so much force, leaving her without her brother and sister.

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