The Family Business 3(17)

I stepped out into the night and sashayed across the street so that the driver of the blue sedan could see my every move. When I reached the sidewalk, I surprised him by approaching the car, opening the passenger side door, and sliding in next to him.

“Take me to your boss,” I demanded. The poor kid couldn’t have been more than twenty-two, and he looked like he was about to shit his pants.

“Ma’am, I have to call and see if it’s okay,” he mumbled.

“Then make the call. I don’t have all day,” I said, sitting casually back in my seat.

A half hour later, I was being led down a long, echoing corridor with a dark sack over my head. My guide stopped to open a door, and my knees almost gave out when I heard Xavier’s voice. I still wanted to confront him, but the reality of being around him with no prison guards in this unfamiliar place was starting to take its toll on me.

“Sit,” someone said, forcing me into a chair and then taking off my mask.

“Hello, my beautiful wife. Nice of you to come.” Xavier smiled at me, and I swear I saw the devil in his eyes. “What was so urgent you had to see me?”

“I’ve ended my relationship with Junior Duncan, so you can call off your dogs. I won’t be seeing him again.”

“Is that so?” I could tell from his tone that he didn’t believe me. I shouldn’t have been surprised, because aside from Junior, Xavier knew me better than anyone. He knew how much I loved Junior, and I wasn’t one to give up on the people I loved. Hell, look how long it had taken me to come to my senses about Xavier, as bad as he was.

I opened my purse, and I guess the quickness of my movement caught him off guard. He jumped, and the next thing I knew, his hand was clamped down on my purse, grabbing it out of my hands.

“What is wrong with you?” I screamed at him.

The door flew open, and two gun-wielding men dressed in black stood in the entryway.

“It’s all right. Just domestics.” He waved them out.

“So you thought I was here to kill you?” I laughed. “Then that means your men didn’t do their job of patting me down properly.”

“My men would never put their hands on my wife.” His voice was full of simmering rage. He smashed the contents in my purse between his fists, and I guess that was enough to satisfy him that I wasn’t carrying a weapon in there. He handed it back to me.

“Don’t worry, Xavier. I didn’t come here to kill you.” I opened my purse and pulled out the bottle of pills. “In fact, I don’t want to be here at all.”

“What is that?”

“Sleeping pills. I kept thinking that I could be done with you . . . by any means necessary,” I said, using a phrase I’d heard him use a million times.

“No! You will not kill yourself. It is not the way of Allah.” He reached over and snatched the pills out of my hand. “You will not get these back,” he said, as if that was the last word on the subject.

I shook my head. “You forgot what I do for a living. I have access to pills, as many as I need, but you know what?” He narrowed his eyes in anger, and I knew it meant he felt his control of me slipping away. “It doesn’t have to be this way. You want me not to kill myself? Then leave Junior—and me—alone. I have left the man who I love, and that needs to be enough. Do you understand that?” Looking into the eyes of my unpredictable, psychotic husband, I could only hope that my threatened suicide would be enough to keep him away from Junior and his family.





Brother X





11


“I want to know every move Junior Duncan makes,” I demanded of Elijah the second Sonya walked out the door. “I don’t believe for one minute that he’s going to give her up. Or that she’s going to give him up, for that matter.”

“You may be right,” Elijah replied. “But from what we can tell, he hasn’t left the house in days.”

“Well, keep an eye on him.”

Elijah frowned. “Actually, I had to move our people off the surveillance of the Duncan compound this morning.”

“Why?” I snapped.

“They hired a private security force. They’ve got cars and dogs patrolling the interior and exterior of the property, and Muhammad spotted them installing infrared and heat-monitoring cameras. These people are way more sophisticated than anyone we’ve ever dealt with.”

Every muscle in my body tensed up. “Stop making excuses, Elijah, and get the job done.”

“I’m not making excuses. I’m just informing you that we need more time. This is not some prison hit or some random guy off the street you have us stalking. These people are millionaires with all kinds of resources, and we’ve lost the element of surprise.”

“I don’t care! I want Junior Duncan dead by the end of the week. It’s the only way she’s coming back to me.” My voice lost its power as I referenced Sonya, my one weak spot.

Samuel entered the room and whispered something to Elijah, who then turned to me with a look of displeasure. “The Jew is here.”

“What does he want?”

Elijah shrugged. “I don’t know, but it must be important. As you can see, he tracked you down, and he’s not taking no for answer.”