TYCE II (14 page)

I handed the bag to Bree, “Merry Christmas.”

“Thank you Santa! I’ve been a naughty girl, but it pays so
ooo
nice!”

I laughed, “You’re crazy girl.”

“Shit I mean it; every girl should have a friend like you. I don’t feel
shit for them punk ass niggas, fuck em, fuck em with a big ass tree trunk right up their ass!”

My mouth dropped, “Damn Bree, you all animated.”
“I can’t stand stupid ass drug dealers! They think they’re untouchable, well we jus’ reached out and touched Diego’s ass!”

Dallas was
amused by how hype Bree was
. She immediately liked the spirited young girl and for her to pull this off showed she had som
e balls, a woman after her own heart.

             
Bree stood up to leave holding her newfound wealth securely in both hands. I was all set to walk her out when she approached me with a serious look in her young eyes.

“Tyce.”

“Wasup lil momma?”

“Promise me I’ll be ok.”

I gave her a warm hug, “I promise. I know Diego and his brother will come lookin’ for me but I’m used to that. Nothing will happen to you, I’ll murder
them fools so you won’t have to look over your shoulder while you’re gettin’ that masters degree.”

Bree smiled at me, “Thanks Tyce.”

“You’re welcome lil momma.”

After Bree left, Dallas and I sat down to a breakfast of blueberry muffins, cheese eggs, turkey bacon and orange juice. She had that financial glow in her eyes. There’s nothing like eating breakfast after
an eight million dollar plate just fell in your lap without you lifting a finger. I didn’t point a gun at anybody or kill some over confident baller and rob him. I used the most powerful weapon on the face of the earth to increase my wealth…my mind. I smiled at her from across the table as I watched her woof down her food. She was eating like she was in a contest. I couldn’t help but wonder if she was eating for two. I snapped out of my brief
daydream
as I noticed someone was missing.

“Where’s Angelique?” I stopped chewing, “I noticed her car is gone, have you seen her?”
Dallas gulped down the last of her juice. “I haven’t seen her since yesterday evening, she had

that
big party at her club so she probably stayed there. That place
doesn’t close til four O’clock in the morning.”

“Hmmm, you’re probably right; I’ll call her in a minute.” I continued to eat.

Dallas put her elbows on the table, “All I
know is
I’m here and she
aint
.”

             
Armando took a second look at his phone. He blinked his eyes rapidly. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The email
he just received this morning
from his online bank account informed him that his account
was closed and it now
had a zero balance! He immediately punched in the numbers to the bank and impatiently waited for the correct prompts so he could speak to someone. It
seemed like hours before an individual
finally picked up.
However
, the
jolly
personal banker
that
the
merry
customer service rep transferred him
to
only repeated the same thing
…
all
the money was gone!

             
“FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK!!!!”

The phone exploded as he threw it against the wall. He stared at nothing. His mind was blank, absent of any thoughts. Eight million dollars disappeared over night.
Then a light came on in his head and he started to laugh out loud like he’d just heard the
funniest joke in the universe.

             
“That motherfucker, that fucking motherfucker!”
Armando stormed out of Diego’s study and into the bedroom where Tyce’s mom was being held. He found her sitting on the edge of the bed quietly praying. She looked up just in time to see an open hand speeding
towards her
face. The unexpected blow spun her around almost knocking her off the bed.
Her left eye began to water as the stinging sensation spread across her entire face.

“Your son is fucking dead! You hear me bitch!
DEAD
!”
Armando stooped to holler in
her
face
.

“
Whut de fuck es going on? Why are yu slapping our guest
?” Diego casually walked into the room with a puzzled look on his face.

Armando turned around. “He robbed us!”

“
Who robbed us, whut are yu talkin’ about
?”
“Fucking Tyce that’s who! All the fucking money in the collection account is gone! All of it, every single dime!” Spit flew from Armando’s mouth.

Di
ego put his hand up to his jaw
and stroked his chin. He shook h
is head slowly and smiled. He’d always
considered himself an intelligent man but even he didn’t see this one coming. This definitely hurt but he was far from broke even with an eight million dollar loss. That was just one of several accounts that Diego maintained, but
he was pissed off nonetheless.

             
He refocused his attention on the
terrified
lady in the room gently rubbing her swollen cheek
with the back of his hand
.

“
How’s yur leg
?
He asked politely.

She looked a little confused, “Umm my my leg is fine.”

Diego pulled a gun from the back of his waistband and shot her in the thigh. She screamed in agony as she clutched her bleeding leg, tears began to form in her eyes
as the blood saturated her
black slacks
.

             
Diego smiled, “
Hows ur leg now
?”

The pain was making her dizzy it was so intense; it felt like her leg was on fire.

“
Armando giv me yur phone
.” Diego held his hand out.

“I broke it.” Armando confessed.

“
Samsung didn’t take de money, so why break yur phone stupido
.”

Armando didn’t respond to the question choosing to remain silent ins
tead. Diego tapped the bleeding woman in the middle of her sweaty fore
head.

“
Do yu have a phone
?”

“
Y
Yes
b b
but it’s almost dead.” She
stuttered
.
“
Call yur son and tell him I wan tu trade…yu fur him…tell him to bring the eight million he stole frum me thes morning, and the five million he also took or I will pump 13 million bullets in yur body! Tell him yu have one en yu
r leg
already.
”

She did as she was told and placed the call, repeating word for word what Diego wanted. It was a conversation she didn’t want to have
and a situation she didn’t want to be in. As the battery on her phone quit so did her mind. The shock accompanied with the rapid blood loss was too much too handle and she fell back on the bed unconscious dropping the dead phone on the floor.

             
“
Le
ave the
s bitch here, we have wurk
tu do
.”
Diego snatched his brother’s arm and pushed him out the room leaving the door wide open. He had no intention on trading even with Tyce. He hoped his mother bled to death so he didn’t have to waste time killing her. Right now his focus was killing Tyce and getting his money back.

             
Carmela watched as three black SUV’s sped from the property almost crashing into the
stone
eagle statues that lined the pathway to the gate. Diego, Armando, and all the bodyguards were gone. The house was
quiet;
she was all alone except for the
gunshot
victim
bleeding to death upstairs.
Carmela contemplated what to do next, normally she wouldn’t interfere in Diego’s
affairs,
but she couldn’t just let the poor woman die. She rubbed her hands on her apron; that was something she did when she was nervous. Her conscious and Catholic values pleaded with her to do the right thing.
However,
her fear of Diego’s brutality froze her b
ody right there in the kitchen.

She finally decided to call the one person she
knew would help her.

             
The kids were playing X-Box in the family
room;
they were content in their video game world as the tension rose between their parents. Sway was sitting on the couch sipping apple juice while Ranae sat across from him with her arms crossed. It was the morning after the Ready Room incident and Sway was finally sober enough to explain himself. Angelique threatened to call the holice if Ranae didn’t leave the premises
, so reluctantly she left but not before dragging her half naked husband out with her. Once they were in her car Sway passed out again delaying the burning questions swirling around in her mind. She hated waiting for a confrontation, she wanted answers, and she wanted them now!

“Come with me outside Sway.” Ranae shot up from the couch.

Sway sighed heavily as he lifted his two hundred and twenty pound frame off the over sized sofa. The married couple faced off on the back patio closing the French doors so the children couldn’t hear the adult conversation.

“I can’t believe your
cheating
on me! What the fuck did I do to deserve this huh? What the fuck did I do?
” Ranae punched him in the chest. “I asked you point blank, was there anything wrong with you. What did you say huh? Nothin’ is wrong babe, I love you, I’m in love with you…
bull
shit
!”

Sway put his hands up slowly, “I’m not cheating Ranae.”

“Ohhhh ok so that wasn’t you layin’ there half naked ‘bout to fuck some model looking bitch in a
fish net body condom
!?”

“Her name is Angelique, she’s Tyce’s girlfriend, and we….” She cut him off.

“Ohhhh I can’t
believe
this shit. He is gonna kill you when he finds out! How the fuck do you sleep at night knowin’ you’re fuckin’ your best friends woman?
You make me sick
!”

“I DON’T SLEEP! OKAY, I DON’T SLEEP AT ALL!” Sway
balled his fist up. “I have nightmares every time I close my eyes! I see dead bodies, blood, and guts…that shit plays like a
never-ending
movie in my head all night! I replay all the missions and see the faces of all the people I killed when I was overseas!”

Ranae stared at him, “So your answer is to fuck another bitch?”

“I’M NOT FUCKIN’ ANGELIQUE!!!” Sway sat down on a patio chair. “I’ve been helping her with the security set up in her clubs. I was there last night to see what kind of video surveillance and alarms she needs. I had to be there to see the
crowds;
it gives me a ch
ance to see the system I installed in action. I was jus’ helping out a friend.”

“Ok nigga setting up security don’t involve you being
naked
, so miss me with that shit.” Ranae pointed at him.

“She w
as jus’ trying to help me out.”

“More like thank you for setting up her security system by
sucking your dick
! And don’t tell me that lame ass excuse about you being too drunk to remember or to wasted to know what you were doing!”

“I wasn’t drunk.” Sway put his head in his hands.

“Oh please negro, I was there and while I was

confronting
the bitch yo ass was passed out
drunk
!”

“I was high on oxycodone.”
He spoke softly.

Ranae stopped talking; her face chang
ed from being angry to worried.

“What do you mean you were high?”

Sway exhaled deeply,
“I’ve been taking 30 milligram O
xycodone, it’s the only thing that helps me cope with the nightmares. It helps me sleep; it helps me function during the day. Another side affect is it decreases my sex drive. Last night I took two before I got there and that shit had me all fucked up. From what I can remember, Angeliq
ue was just trying to help me.”

Ranae stood there quietly digesting what she just heard come out of her
husband’s
mouth. She didn’t know how to take all of this.