23

Rufus and YB perked up when they saw Crown’s Escalade pull hastily into the driveway. With his eyes fixed on the truck, YB reached for his gun and cocked it back. Both men saw Crown drag the semi-naked Sweet out of the truck. He was so busy assaulting Sweet that he didn’t look around to see if there was trouble.

“Look at this bitch nigga here. You think he knows it’s comin’ to him?” Rufus asked. “I should just go over there right now and fire some hot ones into his face and chest.”

“Just chill, Rufus. We need to work this as planned,” YB said.

“I’m gonna work it, YB. I’m gonna murder this nigga.” Rufus kept his eyes on Crown, watching the man’s every move.

Crown pulled Sweet toward the door, causing her to stumble over the steps. He pushed her inside and slammed the door behind him.

YB and Rufus waited for the signal from Chaos.

“That should be four inside, right?” Rufus inquired.

“We’ll see,” YB replied.

They sat and looked up at Chaos’s bedroom window and continued to wait for the signal.

****

Chaos heard the commotion downstairs. She heard Sweet crying out to Crown saying that she was sorry but her pleas fell on deaf ears. Chaos soon heard the sounds of Crown punching Sweet. She crept out of the bedroom and looked over the banister.

“Bitch, you don’t fuckin’ think! That’s the fuckin’ problem wit’ you hoes. You cost me money tonight wit’ your bullshit!” Crown ranted.

He grabbed Sweet by her long weave and dragged her across the marble floors toward the basement.

“Crown, I’m sorry. Daddy, I’m sorry!” Sweet tried to resist being dragged into the basement. She accidentally scratched Crown on his wrist and he became even more furious. He punched her in the face with his cell phone. Blood trickled from Sweet’s lips and her right eye was almost swollen shut.

“Fuck is wrong wit’ you, bitch? You gon’ fuckin’ scratch me, huh? I’m gonna fuck you up downstairs.”

“Yo, Crown, everything good?” Toy-T asked. He stared at his cousin and then at the battered and bruised Sweet. “What she do?”

“Mind your fuckin’ business, Toy-T. I got this. Where the fuck is Chaos?”

“She’s upstairs gettin’ ready for business,” Toy-T informed him.

Crown had the look of the devil on his face. His eyes were sunken with rage. “You tell that bitch to get my money right tonight or she gonna have the same fate as this bitch.”

“A’ight,” Toy-T responded.

Chaos was horrified look as she continued to watch from the staircase. She wanted to cry. She wanted to help Sweet. It wasn’t too long ago that Chaos found herself in the same situation as Sweet. She knew that once Crown got her down into that basement, the punishment would only get much worse.

Sweet’s horrifying cries made her cringe and she decided that it would be best for her to walk back into the bedroom and continue with the plan. Chaos took a deep breath, shed a few tears and then walked over to the window. She once again looked for the Lincoln, glad to see it was still there. She pulled back the blinds and curtains and opened the windows. She walked over to the light switch and flicked it on and off twice.

“There we go,” Rufus said when he saw the lights flick off and on.

Both men secured their weapons and then pulled on dark knitted ski caps. They got out the car and walked calmly toward the house, keeping a keen eye out for anything unusual.

Chaos looked out her bedroom window again and saw the men coming and smiled. She held a set of house keys in her hand. Toy-T was unaware that while he had been groping Chaos for his own pleasures, she had picked his pocket and removed his house keys, sliding them quickly into her panties. Chaos used to be a thief and pickpocket back in the Bronx when she ran with an all-girl crew.

Before anyone saw her, Chaos tossed the keys out the window. YB caught them and knew it was on and poppin’. With Toy-T and Crown being the only men in the house, YB and Rufus knew that it was easy picking. They could do almost anything with the element of surprise.

By then, Crown had dragged Sweet kicking and screaming into the basement. Chaos could still hear her pleas for help, and she knew help was definitely on its way. The house had motion sensor lights but no alarm system. YB and Rufus walked to the back door, not wanting the neighbors to become suspicious of two young black men dressed in all black with guns in their hands. They easily opened the lock to the rear and moved inside the darkened kitchen. Once the men were in the living room they could hear vicious screams coming from the basement.

“What the fuck is he doin’ to her?” Rufus whispered.

The house was large. YB wondered where Toy-T was and then he thought about Chaos. Soon he saw her coming down the steps dressed in jeans, a denim jacket, and Timberlands.

“Where’s everyone?” YB asked in a low voice.

“Crown took Sweet downstairs. But Toy-T, he’s in here somewhere,” Chaos told them. “Fuck that nigga up, YB. He ain’t right.”

YB didn’t say a word. He and Rufus moved toward the basement and opened the door carefully, ready for any kind of trap. They crept down the rickety wooden steps and heard Sweet screaming which was a plus for them because her screams drowned out their approach.

“Crown, Daddy . . . I’m pregnant wit’ your baby! I’m having your baby,” Sweet screamed out.

“What the fuck you say, bitch? You’re what?” Crown exclaimed.

“I’m having a baby,” Sweet cried.

“Bitch!!”

Sweet gave an agonizing wail.

Rufus whispered, “Damn, what the fuck is he doin’ to the bitch?”

The basement was a big, open concrete area with one closed-off room. It was the room where Crown had his safe and file cabinets and where he held meetings with his people. It was also the place where he disciplined his chicks.

YB quickly scanned the basement as he neared the door with his gun clutched tightly in his hand. He passed Chaos a loaded .380 and hoped she knew how to use it. Chaos nodded.

Rufus and YB looked at each other for a brief moment, reading each other minds. They’d been in situations like this many times before.

“Fuck this shit!” Rufus exclaimed, violently kicking the door open, shocking Crown.

YB rushed in behind Rufus with his gun aimed at Crown’s head.

“What the fuck!” Crown screamed.

YB and Rufus quickly took in the scene. Sweet was chained to a long pipe, naked with her arms outstretched. Her back was scarred with burn marks and she was also bleeding. Sweet looked up at YB with her beaten and tear-stained her face. She looked so pitiful and distressed. Crown, who was shirtless and sweating, stood over Sweet with a hot comb in one hand and his thick leather belt in the other. He was burning Sweet with the hot comb and then beating her.

“You sick muthafucka!” YB shouted.

“Fuck y’all niggas,” Crown retorted. He threw the hot comb at Rufus and tried to run for it, but Rufus was on his ass quickly. He bashed the Ruger across Crown’s face. Crown dropped to the floor, scrambling to get away but Rufus, was all over him. Rufus beat Crown the same way Crown beat his bitches. The Ruger came viciously across Crown’s face several times until it was red with blood.

Chaos walked in behind the duo and her eyes were drawn to her friend Sweet. “Oh my God! What the fuck?”

She quickly went to her friend’s aid, tears trickling down her face. She took Sweet in her arms but forgot that she was still handcuffed to the pipe. She wanted Sweet free immediately. Chaos filled with rage, pulled her gun from her jeans and rushed over to where Rufus and YB were kicking and pistol whipping Crown brutally.

“You fuckin’ bastard,” she screamed. “Why you do that to her?!”

Chaos kicked at Crown while he was still on the floor. “Give me the fuckin’ combination! Give me the combination!” she screamed. She knew that the combination was written on a slip of paper somewhere in his office in case of an emergency.

“Fuck you and that bitch!” Crown retorted with a smirk on his blood-spattered face.

Chaos hit him again and again. YB pulled her off him and said, “Let us do this!”

“Fuck him! Fuck that bitch-ass nigga! Kill that muthafucka!” Chaos cried.

Crown lay sprawled on his marble floor, looking helpless. His nose was broken and his face was covered in blood. He panted but he still had some sarcasm in him. He looked up at YB and Rufus and stated, “Both y’all niggas is dead. I’m gonna make sure Harlem sees to that, and your families.”

“What, muthafucka?” Rufus said, towering over the beaten Crown. He kicked Crown in his mouth and made him spit out two teeth.

Crown cried out in pain, clutching his bloody jaw and squirming over the floor. Rufus laughed. They went through his pockets until he found the key to the cuffs and tossed it to Chaos who quickly uncuffed her battered friend and held her in her arms.

“Where the money at?” Rufus asked.

“Fuck you!” Crown snapped.

Rufus beat him again and then asked again, “Where the fuckin’ money at?”

“Fuck you!” Crown repeated, spitting up blood.

YB tore through the room, turning over furniture while Rufus continued to torture Crown. Chaos helped Sweet to the couch and draped a sheet around her nude body. Suddenly, Toy-T burst into the room, firing a .45 wildly.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

“Fuck y’all niggas, man! Fuck y’all!” Toy-T shouted.

YB and Rufus quickly ducked behind furniture and returned the gunfire, unloading on Toy-T heavily. Crown scurried to get his Glock 17 from his hidden spot while Toy-T had their attention. Crown was hurt badly but anger and vengeance kept him conscious enough to reach for his gun.

Chaos pulled Sweet down to the floor and looked up to see Toy-T charging into the room with wild eyes, letting off numerous shots everywhere. She gripped the .380 in her hand and fired off two shots at him. The gunfire was chaotic and soon Toy-T was down with a shot in the head and chest.

Before anyone could exhale, Crown moved forward with the Glock gripped in his fist and aimed it at YB.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

He hit YB square in the chest three times, sending YB crashing against the wall. Chaos’s eyes widened with shock when she saw her nigga go down. She jumped up from the floor and rushed to YB, not realizing that Crown had his gun aimed at her head and was about to squeeze the trigger.

Before he could fire a round at her, Rufus stood hurriedly shot Crown multiple times in the chest. Crown’s body crashed into a glass table.

“Fuck!” Rufus shouted. He then looked over at his cousin lying on the floor and thought the worst.

“YB, get up! Get up, nigga,” Chaos begged.

YB coughed loudly and opened his eyes. “Damn, this shit hurt.” He was panting loudly but pulled up his shirt to show that he was wearing a bulletproof vest.

Chaos sighed with relief and hugged him. Their joy was short lived when Rufus said to them, “Yo, I think that bitch is dead.”

Chaos looked over at Sweet and saw her friend sprawled on her back. She looked dead.

“Nooooo!” she screamed, rushing over to Sweet.

She picked her up in her arms and noticed the blood and the bullet hole in her neck. “Oh my God, no!”

“Fuck!” YB muttered.

Rufus just shrugged and said, “Yo, let it be. The bitch is gone.”

“She was pregnant! She was fuckin’ pregnant!” Chaos exclaimed, staring at Rufus.

“Yo, YB, we need to be out soon. So let’s just get this nigga’s shit and bounce.”

YB agreed, knowing that there was nothing that they could do for Sweet. She was dead. Chaos continued to hold her friend’s lifeless body in her arms realizing that the two of them had almost been away from Crown. They had come so close only for her life to be snatched away.

YB and Rufus ransacked Crown’s entire crib and came up with $75,000 cash, jewelry, and minks. Rufus threw everything into Crown’s Escalade and YB had to pull Chaos away from Sweet’s body.

“We gotta go,” YB said.

Chaos didn’t resist. She knew that there was nothing that she could do for Sweet. She stared at Sweet’s body on the cold floor for a moment longer and then rushed outside with YB and Rufus.

“I’ll take the Lincoln and y’all bounce in the truck,” Rufus said.

Chaos quickly got in on the passenger side and YB jumped behind the wheel. He peeled out of the driveway and sped down the block, Rufus right behind him.

Chaos rested her head against the passenger window, still upset and crying over Sweet. She looked lost for a moment. YB drove down City Line Avenue. He knew that in a few hours, cops would be all over the gruesome crime scene that they left behind. Word would soon spread about the home invasion and Crown’s death. He knew that the best and only thing for him to do was take the money he had stashed plus the shit that they took from Crown and leave town for a while. It felt like he was running away from his beef, but he heeded Magic’s advice. YB knew that he had to live for today so he would live to fight tomorrow.

He glanced at Chaos and said, “We gonna do this. I’m sorry about your friend. She was cool peoples.”

Chaos turned to YB, her eyes puffy and red from crying. Her face was still wet with tears. “Just get me the fuck outta Philly,” she said a hoarse tone.

YB nodded.