The Family Business 3 (13 page)

“Daddy, the others, they're not like you and me. I'm the only one who understands that you should never appear weak in this business, because it makes you an even bigger target. If somebody hurts one person in your family, then it's your job to make sure their entire lineage is dead.

“That's what's pissing me off right now. To our enemies—hell, even to our supporters—we're coming off like some scared-ass little pussies instead of the powerful Duncan family that you raised us to be. To them it'll look like we're impotent without you here to guide us.

“I feel like I'm the only one who knows what to do. Now, I'm trying to be patient, I am, Daddy, but you and I both know that's just not how I was made. I will not be patient, especially when it comes to killing the bastard who put you in this bed.”

I stared down at my father, holding onto his hand for dear life and willing him to answer me. I needed him to say something, anything that would help me at that moment, because I wasn't getting a whole hell of a lot of comfort from waiting. “You hurt my family, you die,” had always been the Duncan motto, which was why I couldn't believe that my brothers hadn't waged an all-out war to avenge this.

Only thing I hated more than waiting was being helpless, so to have to experience the two together felt like my own personal hell. Hospitals were cesspools of incompetence, if you ask me. You can walk into the hospital with a small issue and come out worse than when you walked in—if you come out at all. As far as I was concerned, these inept fools who worked here were half the reason Daddy didn't seem to be getting any better. I swear, if he didn't make it, I would come back here with my guns blazing, right after I killed the motherfucker who shot Daddy in the first place.

“Honey, we all just need to remain positive,” my mother said as she walked in and joined me at the bedside.

I shook my head in amazement. I didn't understand how my mother, of all people, was not raging mad. Hell, I hadn't even heard her complain once, even though I knew it had to be eating her up, watching her husband lying comatose in this bed. Those two had a deep connection. Not only did my parents have a strong partnership, but they were still, even after all these years, madly in love.

“Mom, I am positive. I'm positive that the person who did this should burn in hell, and I should be the one to light the match.”

She put a hand on my shoulder, but didn't stop me from continuing my rant. “I don't care how Junior feels about Sonya. He's wrong. I would never choose another person over this family, and you know I've been in that position,” I said, reminding her of the sacrifice I'd made when I had to kill Niles Monroe. “And I have never regretted my choice, Mom. I loved Niles, but family comes first.” I looked down to Daddy, the man who had instilled that valuable lesson in me ever since I was a child. “So I don't understand how Junior can betray us for some girl he didn't even know a year ago. I mean, am I the only one who thinks he needs to give that damn crazy man his wife back and move on? How the hell can he choose her over us?”

She sighed. “I don't know what to tell you, Paris. I don't know what your brother is thinking at the moment. I swear that woman must have some kind of voodoo or something, the hold she has over him.” She looked down and put her hand on Daddy's arm, giving him a sad smile. “Then again, there was a time your father felt the same way when other people were telling him to stay away from me. I guess there's no telling what a man will do when he's in love.”

“It's not the same thing,” I said, refusing to ignore what was right in front of our faces. “If it weren't for my pussy-whipped brother, Daddy would not be in here fighting for his life.”

She shot me an angry look. “Paris, you will not talk about my son that way!”

Oh, Lord,
I thought, rolling my eyes.
There's nothing more fierce than a mother protecting her son.

She went on, insisting, “Your father would want you to keep a cool head right now.”

“No, he wouldn't.” I stood up. “I'm gonna go get some air. I'm sure you want to spend some time alone with Daddy.” I left, knowing I was incapable of saying what she wanted to hear.

Entering the waiting area, I found Orlando, Vegas, and Sasha. Orlando and Vegas were deep in conversation, but Sasha spoke up when she saw me enter the room.

“Paris, how's Uncle LC?” she asked loudly, glancing at my brothers. They stopped their conversation as soon as they heard my name.

“How do you think he's doing?” I snapped. “While y'all are sitting here talking about nothing, my father is in there fighting for his life, and there is not a damn thing any of you are willing to do about it.”

“It's not that simple,” Vegas jumped in. As happy as I'd been to see him when he first came home from prison, I was growing sick of his “Let's wait and see” attitude. It seemed like instead of prison making him hard, it had turned him into a punk. Even Rio would have been tougher than this.

“Yes, it is that simple. We should just kill these motherfuckers. Not like we don't know who they are or why they're doing this,” I reminded them.

“Why I got to be the motherfucking voice of reason?” he said, sounding thoroughly fed up with me. “You need to calm the fuck down, Paris. Don't nobody know where Junior is.”

“And?” I challenged. “Who gives a fuck where he is? This is all his fault anyway.”

“And what if they got him?” Vegas asked. “If we act without thinking this through, they will not hesitate to kill him. And if you think Ma is upset about Dad, just imagine what Junior's death would do to her.”

I was struck speechless for a second. I hadn't thought about that possibility.

“Vegas is right.” Sasha had the nerve to open her big fat mouth.

“If I were you, I'd shut the fuck up. This don't have nothing to do with you. That's our father in there, not yours,” I snapped.

“Fuck you, Paris,” she shot back. “Did you forget that I already lost my father to the family business? So don't try and tell me this has nothing to do with me. I have as much right to be here and to give my opinion as any of you,” she shouted before storming out of the room.

“See, you always got to say something stupid. I thought that motherhood would have calmed you the fuck down and given you some maturity, but I see I was wrong,” Vegas said.

To hear him coming to annoying-ass Sasha's defense like that had me seeing red. What the fuck was wrong with my family these days?

“Oh, please!” I yelled. “You the one who got your ass sent to prison, so don't call me stupid unless you looking in a mirror.”

Orlando finally stepped in to the fray. “Well, I agree with Paris.” He stood up and moved closer to me. You could have knocked me down with a feather. Orlando and I were never—and I mean never—on the same side.

“Then you're both stupid asses.” Vegas stood his ground.

Orlando reminded him what was up. “Look, I'm the head of this family, and at the end of the day, it's going to be my call what course of action we take. Not yours.”

“Yeah, okay, little brother. We'll take your course of action—if you want to get all of us killed. If you haven't noticed, they're cherry-picking our top soldiers. As fast as I'm training them, they're getting killed or injured. This is not some half-ass game, in case you've forgotten.” Vegas got up in Orlando's face.

“Man, fuck you!” Orlando balled up his fists. My brothers were about two seconds away from tearing each other apart.

“Stop it! Stop it right now! You two are supposed to be our leaders and you're fighting like dogs in heat. What would your father say?” Mom stood in the doorway, dropping the ultimate bomb and silencing us all.

There was a time when Uncle Lou was alive that I would have turned to him for advice, but with Pop out of commission and Uncle Lou dead, I had to turn to another elder outside of the family. I sought out Minister Farah to ask for his opinion about how best to utilize Johnny's information. While we both wanted the same thing, Orlando was letting his need for revenge overrule common sense about our predicament. He wanted us to go in guns blazing, like a bunch of street corner thugs, and take out X and his people. Not that I didn't want to put Bonnie and Clyde to use myself, but we weren't built for that type of warfare. The Duncans were more like ninjas than samurai. That was why we'd survived when others couldn't.

“So you think my plan is solid?” I glanced over at Minister Farah, who was sitting on about five pillows so that he could see over the dashboard of his SUV as he drove. We'd just come from staking out X's little hideaway in Rosedale.

“Very solid. It'll keep the body count down and give you some breathing room to negotiate. I'm proud of you. It's a well thought out plan,” he said as he maneuvered the car to the curb. “You know, Vegas, this may not be coming at the most ideal time, with your father being in the hospital, but I have always considered you to be the son I never had,” he said sincerely.

“Minister, I don't think anyone has ever given me a greater compliment. Thank you.” I leaned over and offered my hand, but he pulled me in for a quick guy-hug. Truth be told, if anything did happen to LC, I knew Minister Farah would be there for me. Other than my family and Marie, he and Daryl had been the only constants in my life.

“Be safe, my son. I will keep you in my prayers,” he said to me as I exited the car.

After he drove off, I headed down the street and cut through a hidden passageway to get to my next stop. When I arrived at a pink metal door, I rapped on it quickly and waited until I was let in by Dexter, the burly bodyguard I'd been considering hiring away from this joint.

“What's up, Vegas?” He offered his huge knuckles for a fist bump.

I tapped my fist against his. “Nothing much, Dex. She still here?”

“She's waiting for you.”

I disappeared down the long brick hallway, opening another door and stepping into an elegantly decorated fifties-style brothel, where there was so much scantily clad pussy that even in my current state of distress over Pop I couldn't help but notice. There were a couple of leggy white girls, including one whose ass gave Iggy Azalea a run for her money, and a sister or two that made a brother homesick. In spite of all the beauty that surrounded me, however, Marie was still the hottest woman in that place, and she knew it.

“Hey, sexy.” Marie's face broke into a wide smile the second she saw me from a couch across the room. She came over and wrapped her arms around me, leaning in for a deep, passionate kiss. Even as her hands found their way to my crotch to properly welcome me, she let me know that she had noticed and didn't appreciate my wandering eyes. She said, “You have the best in the house, so there is no need to be breaking your neck looking at the help.”

Shit, I was no fool. I knew better than to argue with her, but that didn't mean I was going along with her agenda. No matter what she said, I'd have to be six feet under before I stopped appreciating beautiful women.

Taking my hand in hers, she led me to her own personal room, where I knew she occasionally saw super high–priced customers. Behind the closed door, she moved in and threw her arms around my neck, obviously ready to get busy.

“Hey.” I untwined her arms and pulled away.

“What? Baby, it's been two days. I miss you,” she whined, rubbing her breasts against me. “Come on. Let's make a baby.”

“Look, I missed you too, but I'm here for business, not pleasure.” She gave me a sexy pout and reached her hand out to grip my manhood again, but I shot her a look that caused her to step back.

“Is Conrad here?” I asked.

“Yeah, he's here. And you owe me big time,” she said with a frown. “For hooking him up and for not fucking me.”

“Don't you know by now I'm a man who always pays his debts?” I kissed her gently. “Now, stop frowning, I'm going to make it up to you.”

“And you're going to pay me back with interest,” she snapped with attitude.

“Looking forward to it.” I smirked, leading her back out of the room. “Where's Conrad?” We stepped into the hallway, and she knocked on the door next to her room.

Inside the room, a very happy Captain Conrad Marks of the NYPD sat on the bed as two hot, naked black-and-Asian biracial twins flanked him, buttoning his shirt. Captain Marks and I had been friends since he was a lonely white beat cop back on Jamaica Avenue, and I was in my late teens. Junior and I helped him quite a bit with his career—with the help of Pop and Uncle Lou, of course. To say he was a dirty cop was an understatement, but he was
our
dirty cop.

“Vegas, I have to tell you that I haven't been fucked like that since I was a sergeant and we used to go to your friend Majestic's strip club in Long Island City.” He was grinning like a twelve-year-old boy as he offered me his hand.

“It's good to have you back,” he said. “I'm sorry about that trouble you had a while ago. Wish I could have been more help, but it wasn't in my borough, so it was off limits.”

“Nah, it's all good. Your loyalty was never at question.”

Marie directed the girls, “Lia and Mia, you can go now.”

Conrad and I watched as they skipped their perfect asses out of there. I knew Marie was watching me like a hawk, but I couldn't help myself. There was something about that combination of an Asian girl with a little chocolate in her that just got me every time.

Marie closed the door behind them. “I'm glad you enjoyed our services, Captain. I'm sure I can arrange for you to have a weekly visit.” She handed him a gold VIP card.

“Why, thank you, young lady. After that little treat you provided for me today, I think I'll be taking you up on that.” Marie smiled graciously and then stepped out of the room, leaving Conrad and me to talk.

“So, Vegas, today I get laid by two of the most beautiful women I've ever seen. I get a free pussy card, and on the seat of my car this morning, I find twenty thousand dollars cash.” He stood up and started looping his belt through his pants. “What am I supposed to make of that?”

“Conrad,” I said with a huge smile, “if I were you, I'd just go with it, because today must be your lucky day. Now, come let me buy you a drink so I can tell you why it's going to be even luckier.”