All Or Nothing (22 page)

There was no doubt in Shantell’s mind who was behind this: Mike. If he didn’t personally do it, then he had a hand in it somehow. Shantell had carefully inspected the house for signs of forced entry. She saw none. The only person who had access to her apartment was Mike. Beside her, he was the only other person with a key.

With no family to turn to for help, Shantell reached out to the only person she could, Ronald. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed his number.

“Hello, Ronald.” She sobbed. “Somebody just broke into my house and fucked up my place. All my shit is either stolen or ruined. They even messed up my daughter’s things. I don’t know what I’m gonna do.”

“Shantell, listen to me. Calm down. I can barely understand you,” Ronald said. “Now, run that by me again.”

Taking a deep breath, Shantell slowly repeated what she had just said. This time it was audible and understandable to Ronald.

“Did you call the police?” he asked.

“No. I am still kinda messed up about the whole situation. I was tryin’ to take a tally of what was taken to see what was damaged and what can I still salvage.”

“Listen, I’m on my way over there right now,” Ronald announced. “Everything is going to be alright.”

No truer words were ever spoken.

The very next day, Ronald placed a series of calls to his agent and his financial adviser. Before the day was over, he had secured Shantell a luxurious condominium in The Arlington, in the south end section of Charlotte known as Dilworth.

Ronald was the answer to all Shantell’s problems. He waved his magical wand, money, over the situation and Shantell’s troubles just disappeared. When Ronald was done working his magic, Shantell’s home situation was better than before.

Mike may have thought he was hurting her, but actually he had helped her.

Happily ever after

It was late Sunday afternoon when Mike finally awoke from his long slumber. He had been sleeping off the effects of wild partying, heavy drinking and a hot sexual romp. He moved slowly through the house, still feeling the aftermath of all three things. His energy level was nowhere near it should be. Mike was cool with that; he knew that this wasn’t anything a long nap couldn’t cure.

After brushing his teeth, the first thing on his mind was reading the Sunday paper. Mike was a sports fanatic; he needed to know what went on in the world of sports while he was asleep. If he missed a day of either watching ESPN’s Sports Center or reading the daily paper, he felt that his day didn’t go right. He couldn’t function not being in the know.

“Yo, where’s the paper?” he asked.

Tonya sat in the living room, watching TV, totally ignoring Mike. As usual, his girlfriend was mad at him again. This was because of Mike’s tardiness; he kept late hours in the street. Tonya suspected that he was cheating on her but she couldn’t prove it. She had warned him time and time again, ”Don’t let the sun beat you home.” Mike had violated her rule so many times, it was pathetic.

He repeated, “Yo, where’s the fuckin’ paper? Stop actin’ stupid! You too old for that.”

“Why don’t you look for it?” Tonya snapped. “It’s sittin’ right there, on the fuckin’ kitchen table. If it was a snake, it

woulda bit yo’ ass. You kill me wit’ that, Mike. You don’t never look for nothin’.”

“Who you talkin’ to like that? Yo, watch yo’ fuckin’ mouth! .Don’t let yo’ mouth write a check yo’ ass can’t cash,” Mike barked.

“Whateva nigga!” Tonya countered.

“Okay, keep it up. I ain’t gonna tell you no more. Think I’m playin’ if you wanna.”

With that said, Mike marched through living room, toward the kitchen, in search of the Sunday paper. There he found a fresh copy of the Charlotte Observer newspaper lying neatly on the table. He pulled out his chair and casually began going through the paper. Mike went directly to the sports page. The caption read, “Rookie Leads the Way in Triple Overtime Win”. Accompanying the large article was a black-and-white picture of Ronald catching an alley-oop dunk.

“Bitch-ass nigger!” he cursed.

“What?” Tonya replied.

“Mind yo’ business. Wasn’t nobody even talkin’ to you!” He shouted.

Quickly Mike discarded the sports section on the floor. He didn’t want to see or read about Ronald Wright’s exploits on the basketball court. He wasn’t the least bit impressed by him. In Mike’s book, Ronald would never be the half the man he was. He was self-made. A sport didn’t define him. He felt if you took away the millions of dollars that Ronald earned on and off the court, he was nobody.

Mike tried to put Ronald out his mind by glancing through other sections of the paper. He scanned the front page and the local section but found nothing of interest. He moved right along to the entertainment section and finally, to the life section of the paper. There he read the horoscopes and the advice column. Flipping through that section he came to the part where couples announced their engagement. Mike looked on in interest to see if he could spot any of his bitches.

He saw a bunch of white couples and a few mixed couples. Just he was about to turn the page, something caught his eye. If seeing is believing, than Mike refused to believe what he saw. There was a picture of Shantell and Ronald, announcing their engagement.

Would you look at this shit here? He mused.

For months Mike had heard all the talk around town, about Shantell and Ronald, how they were supposed to be getting married, and he had had it up to here with it. Now it was staring him right in the face.

Words could not describe just how Mike felt at this moment. As he read on, his blood began to boil. The finality of the situation was beginning to set in. In Mike’s warped and twisted mind, Shantell belonged to him. He made her. Matter of fact, he saved her from the uncertain future of a stripper.

Quietly, Mike still held out for some sort of reconciliation. He was ready to admit he messed up, and he was about to apologize for all that he done, if only Shantell would take him back. He felt like the acts he had committed against her were forgivable. They were like crimes of passion, because he wasn’t in his right state of mind.

So much for that, he thought.

As he continued to stare at the picture, he noticed that the couple looked happy. Shantell looked happier than he had ever seen her, and that infuriated Mike. He was miserable in his current situation and he wanted her to be miserable too.

Mike had done everything in his power to get back at Shantell, including burglarizing her apartment and stealing her car. But it seemed like none of his shenanigans worked. Somehow, they had backfired on him. Every time he destroyed something of value that he had bought, Ronald merely upgraded the item to something much better. The things he did seemed to draw them closer together.

Regardless of the fact that Mike wasn’t with Shantell any more, or hadn’t had her sexually in months, she still was his. Mike felt that he was the one that gave Shantell her first taste of

the finer things in life. Now this ungrateful bitch was running off and getting married on him. There was no way Mike could allow that. He vowed that they would get married over his dead body.

It was a picturesque day in Charlotte, North Carolina. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the sun shone brightly on the city. Originally, the forecast had called for scattered showers but there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. God must have showed Shantell favor on her wedding day. Thus far, He chose not to spoil it. Shantell prayed that the weather would hold, at least for the sake of her wedding pictures.

Shantell opted not to push for an extravagant wedding on some remote tropical island, the kind of wedding that every woman dreams of. Though she probably could have;, she had Ronald wrapped around her finger. He would do anything to make her happy. All she had to do was say the word. Since his mother was not only coordinating the wedding but controlling the purse strings, she decided to live with whatever she got. Whatever Dorothy Wright decided was okay with her.

Every day, for the rest of her life or as long as she was married to Ronald, Shantell knew she had to prove herself to his mother. She had to prove she wasn’t the gold digger that his mother claimed she was, first by signing a prenuptial agreement and secondly, by accepting a modest wedding ceremony.

Ronald’s mother felt and would always feel like he son was making a big mistake. She felt that Shantell wasn’t worthy of her son. But after countless talks with Ronald, her husband and their pastor, she relented. She agreed to let her son live his life and make his own mistakes. She was there to ensure it wouldn’t be a financial one.

For her wedding there was one expensive purchase Shantell was allowed to make, and that was for a designer wedding dress. She wore a $20,000 wedding dress by Vera Wang. The stylish dress looked stunning on Shantell. Her body breathed life into it.

Ronald stood proudly as he watched Shantell walk slowly towards him. He smiled lovingly at his soon-to-be stepdaughter Jordan, as she threw down a trail of rose petals. He considered himself a lucky man, despite what anyone else had thought. He knew that some of his teammates didn’t approve of his marriage to Shantell, because most of them knew her background as a stripper. Still, it didn’t matter to him what they thought about him. He didn’t care what they had to say about the situation, either. He had already discussed this with his pastor and he told him. ”Son, they talked about Jesus too.”

When Shantell walked through the church doors, all eyes had been on her. She now strolled gracefully down the aisle toward her future husband. The whereabouts of her father were unknown, so she got an older distant male cousin to give her way.

Damn, you beautiful! Ronald thought to himself. Thank you, Lord, for sending this blessing my way.

As Shantell got closer to the wedding party she tried not to focus on Ronald at all. Just looking at him might make her cry. Instead, she began to concentrate on her daughter. This was a momentous occasion for her too.

She was about to give Jordan the father figure she never had. Shantell was about to give her daughter’s life some stability. The irony of the entire situation was that young Jordan would never know about the life her mother led or the things she had to do to feed her. For that, Shantell was eternally grateful.

Their new life would bare a stark contrast to her old one. A change had finally come.

This was a bittersweet day for Shantell. She was upset that her mother couldn’t be here to share in her day. Ronald’s family members outnumbered hers by at least twenty to one.

Finally the moment had arrived. The couple stood face to face, lost in each other’s eyes. After the pastor recited the formalities, Shantell and Ronald recited their own wedding vows, just like they had planned.

Ronald began, “I love you, Shantell. Today is a very special day. Long ago, you were just a dream and a prayer. This day is like a dream come true, because the Lord himself answered my prayer. For today, Shantell, you as my joy have become my crown. I thank Jesus for the honor and opportunity of journeying through life with you. Thank you for being what you are to me. With our futures as bright as the promise of God, I will care for you, honor, respect and protect you. I will lay down my life for you, Shantell, my friend, my love. Today, I give you me.”

Shantell softly said, “I love you, Ronald Wright, with all my heart and soul. And you know this to be true. For years I prayed that God would lead me to His choice and I am confident that His will is being fulfilled today. Christ told us that the wife must submit herself unto her own husband as unto the Lord. For as Christ is the Head of His Church, so is the husband head of his wife. Ronald, I submit myself to you.”

Everyone was moved by there vows. There wasn’t a dry eye in the church. People looked on in envy as Ronald and Shantell marched down the aisle as Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Wright.

From her seat, Dorothy Wright stewed. Outwardly her smiling face gave off the impression of happiness, but it was all an act. She couldn’t wait for Shantell to slip up, so she could get into Ronald’s ear and have him file for divorce. She wanted Shantell to go back to the ghetto existence from which she came.

There were no immediate plans for a honeymoon. The NBA season was still underway. Ronald’s job took full precedence over everything else. Shantell didn’t care about traveling, anyway. She had survived all her life without leaving Charlotte; she didn’t feel like she was missing anything.

As the couple strolled out the church, they were greeted by hundreds of fans and spectators who had gathered outside to get a glimpse of this celebrity wedding. They smiled and waved at the swarm of people, as they proceeded toward their limousine.

Suddenly out of the corner of his eye, Ronald could see a shadowy figure rapidly approaching. He noticed a large black object in the figure’s right hand. Ronald’s heart was racing with fear. Ever alert, at the last possible minute he shoved his bride to the floor of the limo.

The loud crackle of gunfire shattered the tranquility of the afternoon. Calmly, the assailant managed to squeeze off two shots before he was subdued by a group of innocent bystanders.

The crowd looked on in horror, unsure of what they had just witnessed. In slow motion, Ronald seemed to fall to the ground as Shantell let out a blood-curdling scream. A sickening feeling hit her.

“Nnnnnnnooooooooo!!!!!” She shouted. “Nnnnoooo!!”

Fearing for her daughter’s life, Shantell began a frantic search in the crowd for Jordan with her eyes. Quickly she spotted her, crouching low, with a groomsman shielding her. Shantell crawled over to her dead husband’s lifeless body. She pounded on his chest and pleaded for him to wake. Soon blood drenched her beautiful wedding dress; Shantell couldn’t believe what had happened.

Her fairy tale wedding had turned into a tragic nightmare right before her very eyes.

No one at that wedding would ever forget that fateful day. News of the tragedy spread like wildfire. Ronald Wright’s murder made national headlines. Old wounds were re-opened for the city of Charlotte and its residents. Once again, their judicial system was examined by the world with a microscope. The city was forced to endure another high-profile trial involving an elite athlete.