Filthy Rich-Part 2 (20 page)

"Get out now."

Chetti turned and headed for the door. Reaching it, she turned and said, "Cedrick, this is a very dangerous world. If I were you, I'd watch my back." Glancing at Amelia she added, "You and the people you love could easily get hurt."

Cedrick knew what she meant.

"You step foot in this house again or near anything I love, I'll kill your ass," he promised.

Smiling, she said, "I like promises like that. I'll be sure to take you up on it."

With that said, she and Mac were jetted as the police sirens zoned in closer.

Chapter 17

Lying on his back in the trailer's bed, Luke stared up at the ceiling breathing heavily as he recuperated from the latest session of love making with Pamela. She was now lying on his chest. Both were naked.

Luke had honestly thought he'd lost Pamela after her last visit. He'd honestly thought she would never come back. Before their spat, he had never seen her react to a disagreement the way she did. It honestly scared him. It honestly made him wonder about being alone. It made him fear the possibility. But if he only knew...

Pamela, the Federal Agent, never had his back.

He
was
alone.

"I apologize for how things went during our last visit," he said genuinely, "obviously I'm going through a lot."

"It's cool," she said, kissing his chest and cuddling tightly with him. "I understand."

"No, it's not cool. You've been riding with me ever since this situation jumped off. I'm thankful for that."

"I know you are. You've just got to learn to open up to me. I'm not going anywhere. I'm not planning on leaving you to handle any of this alone. I'm not cut that way."

"Thanks."

Those words, although lies, meant the world to Luke. Pamela was all he had. He'd lost Darien. He'd lost Trinity and Nessa, too. Cedrick never wanted any dealings with him again. And Chetti was possibly the one who had tried to have him killed. Other than Pamela, he was truly by himself in this thing.

Looking at her watch, Pamela asked, "Your deposition is in thirty minutes. Are you nervous?"

"No. I’ve been trained for times like this."

Luke would be sitting down with Federal Agents to give, in recorded detail, intimate and intricate information on the Bishop family operations, specifically Chetti and Darien's part.

"Have to do what I have to do," he said. "Just don't plan on giving them too much on myself, despite the fact they're basically giving me partial immunity."

Silence.

Luke was in thought.

“Immunity?” Pamela asked, surprised that he thought he would actually walk out a free man. “You walking free once you snitch?”

“No…not at all, but my time will be lessened.” Luke lowered his head. 

"What are you thinking about, baby?" Pamela asked.

"Nothing," he lied.

"Baby, don't do that. Don't shut down on me. What are you thinking about?"

He sighed stressfully. "Just got a lot of regrets, that's all. Wish I could go back and do some things different."

"Like what?"

Luke thought about Cedrick. It hurt him to know that he could've set him free a long time ago. It hurt him to know that he had played a big part in Cedrick's misery just as much as Chetti and Darien, a misery that Cedrick didn't deserve. He didn't speak on it to Pamela though.

"Luke?"

"Yeah?"

"Talk to me, sweetheart. What's on your mind?"

Trinity and Gavin filled his mind. Their faces brought regret and pain.

"You have any regrets about your life?"

"Yeah, I think we all do. Anyone who doesn't is lying. I think we've all done something in our life we wish we hadn't."

He nodded and continued to go in deep thought.

"What are your regrets, Luke?"

"I had a son," he admitted to Pamela.

"What?" she asked in surprise. He'd never told her.

Nodding, he said, "Yeah, I did."

"You said
had
. What does that mean?"

He paused for a moment. Swallowing hard, he answered, "He's dead."

"Oh, God, Luke. How did he die?"

Swallowing a lump in his throat, he said, "I killed him."

Pamela looked at him speechless.

Luke sat up, turned his back to Pamela, and placed his feet on the floor unable to face her. "I killed him," he admitted again while staring into the distance.

Seeing his regret, Pamela sat up and rubbed his back.

"Darien brought him in this life. He brought him in our world, a world I never wanted him to experience because I knew it would be heartless towards him. Being my son wouldn't give him privilege. If anything, it would make him a target. Eventually, that's exactly what it did."

Pamela listened intently.

"Family enemies did something cruel to him, something real bad." As he spoke, he could see Gavin's face. He could hear him begging to be put out of his misery.

Pamela continued to rub his back.

"He laid there crying and begging me to shoot him." Pain filled his voice. "I had to shoot him. I had no other choice. I had to kill him to save him."

Cringing at the thought of a father killing his own son, she squeezed his shoulders and kissed his back.

"Damn." He dropped his head. "Damn, I regret that."

"The men who did what they did to your son, did you kill them?"

Luke thought about Pamela’s question. Under normal circumstances he would never tell a woman his business. He wasn’t built like that; but he was vulnerable, and felt like he had no one but Pamela. Darien was dead. Cedrick and Trinity hated him. Chetti and Nessa had both betrayed him, and all of his workers had pretty much acted as if he no longer existed once he got locked up.

There was no one left but Pamela. "I should've,” Luke finally answered. “Darien beat me to it. I've killed my share of men though. Too many to count.”

“Did you actually pull the trigger?” She gasped, rubbing his back again.

“Just gave the order," he stated, knowing he’d personally pulled the trigger on tons.

"Dear, God, Luke."

"You said that you wanted me to open up and be honest, right? You said you wanted me to trust you. Well, here it is. I'm not an angel, Pamela. Yes, my mother and brother did a lot. But, in all honesty, I'm just as guilty. I touched just as much cocaine, bribed just as many law officials, killed just as many men. That's the man I really am. But I hope you’ll love me for me."

His previous concerns with Pam’s loyalty went out of the window. It just felt good to get it all off of his chest, hoping she’d ride out his prison time with him.

Pamela said nothing.

Turning around, he said, "Pamela, I love you. And I don't want to hurt you. But I also want you to know I don't want to be that man anymore."

Placing a hand to his face, she said softly, "I still love you, Luke. Nothing you've said will change that. I'm riding with you through this right or wrong."

Luke allowed a slight smile to slip through the side of his lips. Then the two kissed.

"Got a surprise for you," she told him. She then grabbed her purse and pulled out a cell phone.

"How'd you get that in here?"

Smiling, she answered, "Finesse."

He chuckled.

"After what happened to you, I figured you needed someone to talk to so I took the time to find someone special to you."

"Who?"

She dialed a number. Seconds later, she handed him the phone.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Luke?" Trinity's voice said.

Happy to hear her voice, he stood from the bed with the phone to his ear. "Trinity, I thought you were dead."

Sounding stressed, she told him, "Been going through a lot since the house was hit. Things have been crazy in my life. Luke, I know I said some terrible things to you but I do love you. I would've never truly wished you in that place."

"Trinity, it's okay. I'm not worried about that."

"I know now you never wanted anything but the best for me. Without you out here, I realize that now."

Luke closed his eyes. A tear fell.

"Despite our differences, Luke, you were the only one I could count on."

"I love you, Trinity."

"I love you, too."

Brother and sister spoke a little while longer and ended their call.

Luke stood there in silence for a moment. He kept playing Trinity's voice over and over and over again inside his head. He'd needed to hear that voice. He needed to know she was alive.

Placing the phone back into her purse and getting dressed, Pamela smiled.

Hugging her, he said, "Thank you, Pamela. You're priceless for that. And I thank you for paying off these officers for all these special privileges. I realize none of this comes cheap."

"I told you I'm not going anywhere. Whatever it takes to get you through this, I'm with you."

The two kissed again.

Luke then got dressed and prepared for the deposition. Several minutes later, a knock came at the door. Opening it and seeing a CO standing at the doorstep, he turned to Pamela. The two hugged and parted ways, she on her way out of the facility and Luke headed to his deposition.

* * *

The room was small. Its walls and floors were bleach white. One of the walls held a mirror, a two sided one no doubt. In the center of the room was a square table with two chairs across from each other. Sitting in the center of the table was a tape recorder. Sitting on one side of the table and leaning against a nearby wall were two Federal Agents, one very familiar with Luke’s case named Agent Logan. Sitting opposite them was Luke. He sat upright and confident while his wrist were in cuffs, never flinching or shying from any questions.

"And who exactly did the Bishops purchase their cocaine from?" Agent Freeman, a solidly built bald black man asked from across the table.

"Fernando Chavez," Luke answered, glancing at the mirror. He knew someone was standing on the other side observing. He was sure it was more agents.

"Was he the family's only plug?"

"For cocaine, yes. Guns came from other sources."

"Names."

Luke named the family's gun connect one by one. He hoped that each name would shave more time off of his sentence.

"How much cocaine at any given time?"

"No less than fifty keys."

"Who set up the deals?"

"My mother."

"Who purchased them? Who made the exchange?"

"Darien and a few goons."

"What about you? Where were you?"

"Never touched any of it. I stayed corporate."

"The fuck you think?" Agent Logan commented, now standing and leaning against the wall. Aside from his stringy hair, he looked like a military Sargent. "We're stupid? Do you really think that?"

Luke simply looked at him.

Agent Logan began to pace the room. Luke could see him focusing on the two way mirror.

"You expect us to think you never touched a fuckin' thing? You expect us to think you were a damn choir boy, a fuckin' innocent piece of the puzzle?"

"I don't care what you think. I'm telling you what it is," Luke said calmly.

"He's bullshitting with us. I say, fuck a damn deal. Let's send his ass away for the rest of his life along with all the rest of them."

Freeman raised a hand to silence his partner.

Logan silenced but reluctantly. By the expression on his face, he wasn't happy.

"Who else was involved in all of this outside your family?" Freeman asked. "To be moving as much weight as your family was for as long as they were, you had to have had help from cops and possibly city or state government."

"One of the family's primary keys to keeping cops off our ass was one of your own," Luke said. "Brandon Bordain…his mother is a Bishop. He made sure the right people in the DEA and ATF were paid off.”

“Give us someone else,” Logan fired. “Someone did us a favor and blew his fuckin’ head off.”

Luke showed no remorse. He just shook his head. He figured Chetti had gotten to Brandon. He knew she wouldn’t stop until she got rid of them all. 

“The city mayor got a nice healthy check also to keep the police chief occupied,” he finally fired back. “And several city councilmen filled their pockets with plenty of our money, also; Blake, Hornet, and Williamston," he rattled off.

Logan shook his head in disgust. "Crooked muthafuckas," he mumbled.

“Tell us about Chetti kidnapping your brother Cedrick and holding him against his will?”

Luke didn’t hesitate. He told it all, willingly.