Page 9 of Back in Blood

“I don’t want to intimidate you. I’ll get back in my car, and you can check it out. As long as you know that’s all that matters. If you don’t mind and you have a spare, I can change it. If not, I’ll leave you to handle it.” For the first time in months, I smiled. I smiled in an effort to gain her trust and also at knowing that I was possibly one step closer to getting Sintonio’s bitch ass.

With pinched brows, Lisa got out of the car slowly. The moment her eyes landed on her rear tire that was perfectly fine, I whipped my gun from the pocket of my hoodie. “Get in my fucking car,” I stated through clenched teeth as I pointed my gun directly into her belly.

Fear filled her almond-shaped eyes as the scent of vanilla and shea butter infiltrated my nose. The fragrance wafting off her body was powerful but not in a loud way. She didn’t have on strong smelling perfume that would make a sensitive nose sneeze. Her scent was light, clean, and enticing. I wasn’t sure why I was dwelling on the way she smelled, but it was the first thing that I noticed.

Since her feet didn’t move voluntarily, I yanked Lisa towards my car. Plenty of people were out on their way to work, and I didn’t want to risk being seen. The objective was to not get caught but if I did, I’d do my time with a smile on my face. One way or another, Sintonio’s bitch ass was going to suffer. I yanked my car door open and shoved Lisa inside.

“Make any stupid moves, and I’ll shoot you in the head,” I warned as I patted her pockets and found her cell phone in the pocket of her scrub top. I didn’t want my fingerprints on the phone, so I wasn’t going to touch it. “Toss the phone,” I demanded gruffly. With trembling hands, she did as I asked. The moment the phone hit the pavement, I slammed the door.

I gripped my gun in one hand and drove with the other. From my peripheral vision, I could see Lisa’s body quaking. She was afraid. Rightfully so. I didn’t give a damn. I had no way of knowing if she knew what her man had done or not but if she did, she deserved every ounce of fear that she was feeling. I lived nine miles from Lisa and Sintonio. I didn’t care about her seeing where she was going because she was dying after she gave birth anyway. Once we were inside my garage, I got out of the car and walked around to her side. Tears streaked Lisa’s face while a sinister grin inched across mine.

“Do you know who I am?”

She was still shaking. Lisa refused to make eye contact with me. She didn’t answer my question. She simply stared at the ground while I stared at her.

“Yeah, you know,” I surmised growing angry. “Look at me!” I barked making her jump, but she did as I demanded. “You know who the fuck I am?” I glared at her, anger coursing through my veins.

“Y-y-yes,” she stammered.

“You know your nigga killed my daughter?” I inched closer to her. So close that our noses were damn near touching.

“He said it was an accident,” she whispered. “We aren’t r-really together at the moment. We s-share a house, but we haven’t been on the same page since the incident. I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” she repeated as her breath hitched making it sound as if she hiccupped mid-sentence.

I didn’t give a damn about her I’m sorry. Nah, she wasn’t the one that pulled the trigger, but she had to die by default. The same way my child died behind some shit that didn’t have anything to do with her. I didn’t care about Lisa’s tears or her apologies. Pushing her forward, she moved toward the door that I’d left unlocked. Since I was behind her, I reached around her and opened the door. Inside the house, I locked the door, grabbed her arm, and dragged her towards my man cave.

There was another bar for any guests that I had over, a pool table, a ninety-inch television, and a few arcade games. I had purchased a twin bed and placed it in the corner. I’d also bolted a board into the wall and placed a knob on it. I needed something to tie Lisa to. I put a deadbolt lock on the door, but I still wasn’t going to allow her to move freely around the space. The man cave had a half bathroom with a toilet and a sink. Cameras had been installed as well. My man cave would be Lisa’s new home until she gave birth. Then, I was going to drive her out into the middle of nowhere and make her eat a bullet. The child wouldn’t be harmed.

The people that were still checking on me mostly did so via phone. I didn’t have to worry about visitors and even if someonepopped up, my man cave was soundproof. It was designed with my daughter in mind. So, I could turn up without waking her up. Just the thought of her made my heart ache. Fresh tears spilled over Lisa’s eyelids as I placed cuffs on her wrists. Once she was secured, I patted her pockets to make sure I hadn’t missed anything. I turned and walked out of the room and locked the deadbolt. I walked into the living room and grabbed a fresh bottle of Hennessy. I poured a hefty amount and sat in my recliner to roll a blunt. I got a text message from the manager of my car rental business, and I responded with a sigh. I loved money, but anything that wasn’t affiliated with making the ones that wronged me suffer, I wasn’t interested in it. I responded to him and tossed my phone over on the couch. I paid people to run my businesses, and that was what they needed to do. They didn’t get paid to ask me thirty fuckin’ questions a day.

When the blunt was rolled, I took a large sip of my cognac before fishing a lighter from my pocket. The weed nor the alcohol eased my pain. It didn’t even numb it. It simply made the agony just a bit easier to bare. Caprice’s room door was closed. I couldn’t stand to go in her room most days. I woke up with her on my mind, and I went to sleep with her on my mind. When she visited me in my dreams, I cried in my sleep. My world was bleak without that little girl. I was living in hell, and there wasn’t anything that would ever make it better. A nigga was simply going through the motions. Just existing. I wasn’t sure if it was a traumatic experience that had turned my father into a raging drunk and made him an intolerable asshole, but I almost empathized with him. Being drunk was better than dealing with reality sober. I wanted no parts of sobriety. Being sober was when I was at my worst. It was when I was sober that thoughts of tying Dolph and Robin up and killing them were the most prevalent in my mind.

The alcohol had saved them, and they didn’t even know it. I inhaled the first toke of weed and sat back in my chair. The bitch in my basement. She was the first step toward my revenge. Nothing that I did was going to bring Caprice back, but I was determined to make as many people as miserable as I was. If I had to live with everlasting turmoil so did they.

CHAPTER 6

LISA

I was scaredout of my mind, but the one thing I didn’t do was pray. I had been praying for months and rather than getting better, my life was getting worse. My doctor actually looked at me as if I was foolish when he asked if I was going to terminate my pregnancy, and I adamantly told him no. With each doctor’s visit, the prognosis wasn’t any better. On top of that, Sintonio and I were basically done. The only reason I was still wearing my ring was because my fingers were swollen, and I couldn’t get it off. Once he was confident that the police nor Capri were coming to our home, he left Stone Ridge, but the tension in the house was thick enough to be cut with a knife. I had enough going on and didn’t want to be bothered with moving but as soon as I had my baby, I was going to start looking for a place to live. I had access to Sin’s bank account so each time he got paid, I took money out. He never said anything about it. It was my way of recouping some of the money that I couldn’t get back from the deposits and things I’d paid for, for our nonexistent wedding.

I wasn’t sure how long I’d been held captive when Capri came back into the room. My bladder felt like it was about to burst because I’d been holding my urine for at least a few hours. The intense scowl on Capri’s face was intimidating. I didn’t wantto die. Especially while I was pregnant, but something told me there was no bargaining with this man. He was going to do whatever it was that he wanted to do. He had a plate in his hand that contained a sandwich, some chips, and a banana. He also had a bottle of water in the opposite hand. If he was going to kill me, I wasn’t sure why he was feeding me.

“Do you have to use the bathroom?” He asked gruffly, his dark eyes piercing through me.

Too afraid to speak, I nodded. Capri eyed me with contempt for a moment before setting the plate and water down. He pulled a key from his pocket and uncuffed me. He didn’t even have to tell me not to try anything because I damn sure couldn’t outrun him. I had no idea how long he was going to keep me alive, but if he was feeding me, death probably wouldn’t be immediate. My knees buckled as I thought of me and my unborn child losing our lives because of something that Sintonio did. I had never been so relieved in my life to urinate. The instant disappearance of the pressure on my bladder felt divine. I finished up and washed my hands.

“Eat,” Capri instructed. I assumed he was going to let me eat before he put the handcuffs back on.

Ordinarily, I’d be too nervous to eat, but I had to put some food on my stomach. If not, I’d be sick and get a headache. I had no control over what Capri did, but any way that I could take care of myself, I would. I bit the sandwich and picked up one of the potato chips.

“When are you due?” The way Capri was looking at me made my skin crawl. He really acted as if I disgusted him. It was crazy to me that he was going to make me suffer for Sintonio’s actions. The same way he snatched me up he could have snatched Sintonio up.

But then it hit me. It hit me like a ton of bricks. What if he wanted a child for a child?

“In three weeks,” my chest tightened, and my voice shook.

“I’m not going to hurt your child. I’m not yo’ nigga. I just want him to suffer. I want him to panic and not know what happened to either one of you. The same way I’ll never see my daughter again, your child won’t see you. Once it’s born, you’re dead.” He spoke with no emotion whatsoever.

“My son has a rare chromosomal disorder. Doctors aren’t optimistic that he’ll survive. I need medical attention,” tears rolled over my eyelids. “I can’t deliver him alone. It’s not safe.” At least he promised not to hurt my child, but I didn’t want to die. Unless my child died. If my child didn’t make it, I didn’t want to live anyway. So just maybe his ass would be doing me a favor.

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