Page 133 of In the Safety's Zone
“How would it look that you’ve allowed your lies to be sold to publications so that you could profit off of your own sons’ misery? You are out here not only praying on their downfall but preying on their success all because you can’t garner any of it for yourself. I don’t even have to ask what type of mother you are because you’ve made it clear on more than one occasion the answer to that is you’re a terrible one.” I squeezed Aphrodite’s hand so she would stay calm.
“Bitch, you know nothing about me—”
“And I’m thankful we’re going to keep it that way. You have been nothing but a hindrance to your sons for as long as I’ve known Anthony. A yoke around their necks trying to impedeprogress to keep them beholden to you no matter what. Frankly, it’s disturbing. But this is a low I didn’t think you’d reach, Jill. You continue to surprise me at every turn.”
“Unlike you bitches I had to scrape for everything I ever had in this world. Wasn’t shit handed to me.” Her theatrics kicked up a notch as she slapped herself in the chest like we would be sympathetic.
“Oh, damn, Billy I didn’t know that you got handed this business. You too, sis? I just knew I heard that you built your firm from the ground up, Rye. Not you all lying on your resumes.” AP was back cracking jokes and I was glad she wasn’t ready to swing.
“Yeah imagine that. All the studying and learning I did was for nothing. I didn’t know I was just walking into a business. Guess all those hours of training for you were pointless cause you just got handed your trophies.”
Jillana didn’t enjoy being the one being made fun of but the stress she’d brought into the room was now long gone.
“Y’all can laugh all you want but none of you have had to live like I did.”
“But even if we did, our asses wouldn’t have stayed there. And no matter where we started, it wouldn’t be where we ended up. The entire point of this world is to leave it better than how you entered it. You had everything you could’ve wanted but you decided that you didn’t want to live off your son’s generosity. You really thought it should be your money. There’ nothing in this world I wouldn’t do for my daughter. I’ve been a mother for less than two years and I would live and die for her. Do the impossible and put myself through hell to make sure she got everything she needed. But you couldn’t even be bothered to love your fucking sons the way they deserved and yet you think you’ve earned the money they risk their necks for?” Rye bust out laughing at Jill as she read out Jillana’s list of sins.
“Without me, there would be no them.” And really, that’s all she had to go on.
“They didn’t ask to be here and frankly you’ve gotten far more out of them than you deserve. You set Anthony up in college and now you’re trying to ruin the pro career that he built from the ashes of his past. I refuse to let you do that.” Aphrodite spoke as if she was ready to swing on Jillana how Rye had.
“So how much are you offering to make it go away?”
Aphrodite nodded to Billy who walked over and handed Jill an envelope. She greedily tore it open and I was about to get pissed that AP was trying to come out of pocket to handle this for me.
But when Jillana’s face fell I knew what was up. She looked at all of us before crumpling the paper up and tossing it on the table.
“It’s empty.”
“Yeah, it is. Because I’m not paying you shit. You’re the type that never goes away. You would come back again and again with some type of scheme and your hand out and frankly, I’d rather see you in jail than give you the money I bust my ass for.” AP was finally smiling and I was glad I wasn’t going to have to lovingly cuss her out.
“Jail? They can’t put me in jail for this.” Jill was rolling her eyes but the confidence wasn’t there.
“Oh, but they can. Your attempts at extorting not only your son but also his girlfriend. The false criminal accusations you’re attempting to hurl at him for cheating and betting on games. Your desire to drag him through the mud at all costs and the pesky habit you have of trying to take out loans in his name.” Billy sat down on the edge of the table and crossed her legs in the cream-colored suit pants she’d worn.
Her final accusation caught my attention but Jill was avoiding my eyes and trying to look innocent. “What?”
“You can fake all you want to but I’ve had his social security information locked down since he became my client. It’s standard procedure so that I don’t have to rework their entire portfolio because they got a wild hair to buy a fucking jet in the middle of the night. My brother is never in New Orleans cause he doesn’t want to run into you or people you have believing the worst of him. But I keep getting dings from agencies all around there and Baton Rouge like he’s trying to apply for credit. Even when you’re not speaking to him you’re trying to fuck him over. It needs to be studied how wicked you are.”
“Is it a financial Munchausen by proxy thing? Only instead of inflicting physical harm on your kids for attention you inflict financial harm?” Billy was making jokes and I knew this shit was gone be okay.
Rye smirked but kept her eyes on Jillana like she was ready to pounce. “Yeah, I think it’s called Greedy Bitch.”
“There’s nothing I can do if people run with those stories. And they can’t sue me because they didn’t do their due diligence.”
“Well, I hope you like orange. The second they realize your ass lied you’re going to be on the hook for all the damages we’re about to sue them for. I suggest you get your affairs in order. But I’m not that harsh, enjoy that last private plane ride home on me. It’s the last thing you’re ever getting out of us. Goodbye, Jill.”
SILAS
THIS DAY HAD been a long time coming. Damn near forty years, to be exact. What started off as playground beef in St. John’s parish was finishing tonight. This bitch had called me every name under the sun but it was because he was miserable with himself. He tried to say I thought I was better because of how I looked. It wasn’t like there weren’t people who looked like me all over New Orleans. You throw a stone you see a Black person who’s a fusion of at least three different cultures. I never made a big deal out of it but despite growing up in the same neighborhood, his hatred was there. And it lasted for years. Every chance I got I made sure this nigga was down bad because he’d tried to play with me. I wasn’t shocked when he tried to start his own high school with the number of kids and broken homes he was creating, I would’ve never imagined I would love two of them the way I did.
Antonio was a piece of shit, but he had the good sense to at least deal with women who would take care of their kids. His people weren’t shit so there wasn’t any hope of them making him do right. He’d kept a good streak going of having kids who wouldn’t be damaged by his internal brokenness until he hooked up with Jillana. She was a girl who was overindulged and damn near coddled by her family so once she met him it was like she rebelled against having common sense. Anything to be the one who tamed Antonio’s ass. She wanted to love him enough to get him to change his ways. But he wasn’t built like that. Thirty years later, she was still trying to pretend she hadn’t wasted most of her life chasing behind someone who would never love her, thesons he produced or himself the way he should. And now she was facing financial ruin and jail time without having him to protect her. Not like he could since he was hogtied in front of me. If she had been suffering under his bullshit alone I’d have helped her out. But she more often than not had those boys be her meat shields so she would suffer the full brunt of her actions now for fucking with them.
“We could always roll his ass up in a rug, tie some chicken to his limbs and then let the gators do their job.”
The smell of the water was always calming for me and I thought about ways this would be easier for him. I’d grown up on this land. Spent weekends visiting our relatives here and then moved here full time when my folks wanted out of the city. The air was heavy, smelled damp and gamey. Of the rotting matter that decomposed and fed the vegetation that kept the land almost hidden from the sun. It had been a place of refuge for my people and would now provide peace for one of the people I loved most.
I shook my head at Anthony’s words and wished he hadn’t been here right now. How he knew what I was up to was still a mystery but he’d picked up on some shit living with me. The nigga his mama let nut in her to make him and his brother was hooting and hollering on the ground like somebody was ‘bout to come out here and save him.
