Filthy Rich-Part 2 (12 page)

"How?" Sidra asked.

"I'll figure it out."

"What about them wetbacks?"

"They'll definitely be dealt with. Them muthafuckas got me for all my shit. There's no way I'm going to let them get away with it."

Memories appeared in Nessa's head, memories of her father before the drugs and the streets took him under. She could remember overhearing him with his goons plotting and planning like a general on niggas who crossed him. Before he fell off, he never rushed into anything. He always planned first.

"My father might be an asshole," Nessa said, speaking as if he was still alive. "But if there's anything I learned from him, it's to never leave shit to chance. Always plan it out."

Piper rolled her eyes as she took another puff from her cigarette.

That moment caused Nessa to realize at some point she’d have to tell Piper about her father’s murder and murderer. For now she couldn’t. Nessa finally realized she had been moving all wrong. She had been naïve in certain areas. She had been short on calculating things. All that had stopped now. It was time she started operating smartly.

"Well, what now?" Sidra asked.

"Gotta get some more work from Chavez."

"Alright, I'll go get the remaining money from upstairs. It’s about two hundred fifty grand. It’s the last of it. "

"Nope."

"Why?"

"Not going to need it."

"How do you figure?"

"Another thing the old bastard taught me was to use what I
have
in order to get what I
want
."

Sidra looked at her friend skeptically.

"That money stays stashed. For a man like Chavez, I've got something just as valuable as money."

Realizing what her daughter was implying, a smile appeared on Piper's face behind a veil of cigarette smoke. After a moment, the realization of what her friend meant finally registered on Sidra's face also...

Pussy.

A man's quickest downfall.

“Look-a-here, I agree that pussy is power, but a man like Chavez wants money too,” Sidra added.

Nessa pulled her phone from her pocket to call Chavez and set up another meeting.

Still smiling, Piper told her, "But at least you’re using your damn head. Pussy is a powerful thing, baby!" she said, rubbing her hand in between her legs.

As soon as Chavez answered, Nessa put on her most innocent sounding voice. She even sounded like she was whimpering.

Hearing the trouble in Nessa's voice, Chavez asked, "You fucked up, didn’t you?"

With Piper and Sidra watching her, still sounding like she was crying, Nessa said, "Chavez, I'm...I'm... I'm in trouble. The worst thing just happened to me. I didn’t know who else to call but you."

"What's wrong? And don’t talk crazy on my line.”

“No one can be trusted,” she sniveled.

“What happened?"

"I was robbed."

"By who?"

Nessa went into an act of heavy whimpering.

"Nessa?"

"Chavez, I owe people. Now without the barbies, I don't know what to do."

Chavez loved that fact that Nessa knew not to use certain words over the phone.

"Come see me," he said quickly, with disappointment lingering in his tone.

"I don't have any money."

"Just come see me."

"When?"

"Tomorrow evening."

Music to Nessa's ears.

After several moments, the two ended their conversation.

"Well?" Sidra asked.

Dropping the act and sounding normal again, Nessa smiled and said, "He wants me to meet him tomorrow evening."

“Bitch please. You think it’s that easy?” Piper asked with a roll of the neck and eyes.

"Yep, and I’m gonna suck and fuck every last one of those bricks I lost right out of his ass," Nessa said.

“I hope you’re right,” Sidra added. “Something just doesn’t seem right.” Her head kept nodding as her body language became weirder.

Piper noticed the strange look on Sidra’s face but decided not to say anything. She knew she’d have to keep an extra eye on Nessa’s so called girl. 

Chapter 11

Obviously Trinity had been through a lot lately. She'd lost her son brutally, a death and loss which she knew she would never get over. She'd been raped and almost killed, an act set up by her very own damn mother. She'd discovered her brother, whom she thought was dead, was still alive. And now, she'd just finished replacing the bandages from her recent hospital visit. Thank God her AIDS test was negative; along with the testing for other venereal diseases. 

Trinity stood in the mirror staring at her reflection. Bruises, scratches and cuts filled all images. As she watched in sadness, she didn't know what to feel most: anger, betrayal, sadness, heartbreak, bitterness. There was so much going on inside her, so much pulling her in various directions.

From childhood, Trinity had learned to harden herself. Because of the abuse, she'd learned to close herself off. She'd learned to barbwire her heart. She'd learned to conceal her emotions. That was the only way she could be strong enough to deal with everything she'd been forced to face. That was the only way she got through. It had become her defense mechanism and in time, a total part of her, a part she relied on day after day.

Hardening herself hadn't always been Trinity's defense mechanism. It hadn't always been her means to cope. In the beginning, she cut herself with razors constantly, in-between the molestation and abuse. She even tried to kill herself by swallowing a half a bottle of pills.

Staring into the mirror, so many memories now bombarded Trinity; each of them painful. She saw molestation. She saw death. She saw Chetti beating her as a child with extension cords, broom handles, and poles while spitting on her and calling her worthless. She saw pure hell, a world no human being, especially an innocent child, should ever have to see.

The outside world never saw Trinity's scars. They never saw her bruises. Chetti wouldn't allow them to. She kept Trinity sheltered with home schooling, nannies, and personal doctors. She refused to take a chance on letting the world discover the torment she was inflicting on her daughter.

Trinity's knees now went weak and began to buckle. Everything on her mind and heart right now was just too much to bear. Before long, she collapsed to the floor of the bathroom and began crying harder than she could ever remember. The tears were flowing like a river. Angrily she pounded her fist against the wall beside her. She gritted her teeth. She growled like an animal. Veins protruded from her neck.

Trinity could see her mother's face in her mind. She could hear her devil filled laugh. She could see the men raping her in the cabin. She could feel the pain of them thrusting inside her over and over again. The memory made her pull her knees to her chest, rest the back of her skull against the wall behind her and thud it several times on purpose until she could feel a headache approaching. So bitter and so angry, she placed her face in her hands and whimpered like a newborn baby. It was all she could do right now to make it through the moment of having so much fury and rage flowing through her veins.

A knock came at the door.

"Trinity?" Cedrick called.

Trinity didn't answer. She kept her face in her hands. Her emotions had a grip on her that she couldn't break free from at the moment. She was completely lost in them.

Another knock.

"Trinity?"

Finally, Trinity raised her face from her hands. Her vision was heavily blurry. "Yeah?" she asked.

"You okay?"

She wiped the tears away. "Yeah."

"You sure?"

Yes, I'm good."

She stood while continuing to wipe the tears from her face. Tossing the pills she’d been hiding in her purse, and then quickly washing her face, she gave her reflection a look in the mirror once again. She could only sigh. Seconds later, she opened the door.

Seeing his sister, Cedrick could see the tracks of her tears despite the fact that she'd washed them away. He could see the redness of her eyes. He could see her hurt and pain.

The brother and sister duo stared at each other.

"If you need to talk, you know I'm here, right?" he asked.

She nodded.

"I'm not going anywhere ever again."

Those words comforted her.

"You sure you're okay?" he asked again.

"Now I am."

They hugged.

Immediately those weird feelings filled Trinity again. For some reason she thought of Cedrick as being her husband; the man who would protect her and caress her when needed. She looked deeply in his eyes and smiled the moment he placed a kiss on her forehead. 

"You ready to go?" he asked releasing her.

"Yeah."

Moments later, the two were walking outside Amelia’s door, and hopping into the rental car headed downtown.

"So, where are we going anyway?" she asked.

"Got somebody I need you to talk to."

"Who?"

"You'll see."

Accepting that he wasn't going to tell her more, Trinity leaned back in her seat and stared out of the window at the passing outside world. As she watched people go on about their lives, she wondered if any of them had a life as bad as hers. The thoughts were so stressful that she had to smoke a cigarette to ease her mind.

Moments passed.

The car was silent.

Eventually the rental made its way into downtown Washington. As it did, traffic busily rushed up and down the maze like streets. Men and women conversed with each other or into their cell phones as they made their way along the sidewalks. Eventually the rental pulled into the parking lot of FBI Headquarters.

Looking around, Trinity asked, "What are we doing here?"

As Cedrick parked the car, Trinity stared at him perplexed. Seeing her uncertainty, he said, "Don't worry. Everything's good."

Believing him, she put out her cigarette.

The two stepped out of the car and headed across the lot. Moments later, after having their new IDs checked, and having to pass through a metal detector, they were on an elevator. Stepping off, and walking by neatly dressed agents with holstered guns on their hips, and entering a lobby, Cedrick told Trinity to have a seat. As she did, he approached a secretary and told her who he was there to see. She nodded and got on the phone. After several seconds, she hung up and said, "They're expecting you. I'll escort you back there."

Cedrick and Trinity followed the secretary through a hall behind her desk. Seconds later, they were entering a conference room. A man and a woman, both agents, were awaiting them at the far end of a conference table.

The secretary left.

"Cedrick, glad you could make it," the female agent said. She was the agent who'd met Cedrick outside his attorney's office, the agent who'd been keeping a close eye on the Bishops for several months. More importantly, she was the agent who'd been keeping an eye on Luke. She was Pamela, fictitiously, Pamela Benson.

Her real name was Agent Linda Pierce.

"And this is Trinity, of course?" she asked.

Trinity looked at her and then at Cedrick. She had no idea what was going on.

"You gave us quite a scare the day of the raid, Trinity," Pamela's partner, Agent Logan, a young, white outspoken agent said, "We thought you were dead."

Trinity didn't say anything.

"Please have a seat," he said, running his hand through his stringy hair.

Both Cedrick and Trinity sat down at the end of the table.

"What's this about?" Trinity asked Cedrick.

"They want to help us," he told her.

"We know you want revenge," Agent Pierce stated.

Trinity stared down the table at her.

"We had a long talk with your brother, Cedrick. We know about the abuse and molestation. We know about what happened to you at that cabin. We know your mother sent you off to die."

Trinity didn't speak.

"We even know about your son, Gavin. That particular info we'd known about before we talked to Cedrick.”

Tears welled up in Trinity’s eyes.

“Sorry for your loss,” Agent Pierce uttered. She paused a moment before continuing.  “We've also completed a blood test on Gavin in regards to our investigation of your family. His blood matched with Luke's so we do have confirmation."

"So, wait…how long have you been investigating my family? And what do you want?" Trinity asked tensely.

"We've had your family under investigation for nearly a year now," Logan said. "We picked up a whole lot on them: conspiracy, murder, trafficking, kidnapping; the works."