23

The charges were official for Layla—attempted murder and the RICO act. Layla felt she was fucked. But she was baffled by the attempted murder charge. Who did she try to kill, and whoever it was, how were they still alive? If she wanted someone dead, then they would be dead. So who was still alive? She bothered her attorney with tons and tons of questions, but Fitzgerald had nothing for her yet. “I can’t go to prison! Get me the fuck outta here!” she cursed.

“They have a witness, but the identity hasn’t been made clear yet,” said Fitzgerald. “I have someone who can go underground and dig out whatever I need.”

“I don’t care what you gotta do, make it happen. Make it all go away.”

“He’s expensive.”

Layla sighed. “How much?”

“Fifty thousand,” he said.

“Nigga, I gave you a fuckin’ million on retainer, take it out of that,” she growled at him.

Reluctantly, Fitzgerald nodded, and their meeting concluded.

Layla felt that she was rotting away in a jail cell while Maxine was mocking her. She couldn’t shake the feelings of hate and disgust for the bitch. She didn’t trust Maxine. Everything started falling apart the moment she came home from prison. There were questions like, how did Maxine get an early release? Parole?

Layla felt in her bones that Maxine was the snitch. She had to be working with the feds. But what did she know that could possibly get her and Scott locked up? Was Scott running off his mouth to that bitch and jeopardizing everything they’d worked so hard for? Layla surmised that Maxine made a deal with the feds and infiltrated their organization to disclose information. It all made sense to Layla—befriending her and getting back into her good graces before stabbing her in the back would be the ultimate revenge. All the years she helped Maxine because she felt sorry for her, and it came back to bite her on the ass.

But no one was listening to her. No one believed that Maxine needed to go immediately. Layla needed someone to do what her own family wouldn’t do. Scott was a fool to fall back in love with Maxine, and Bugsy was an idiot to think she cared for him like she was his mother. Meyer was in the hospital, and Lucky was becoming detached.

***

It was visiting day, and Layla walked into the visitor’s room to see Lucky smiling like she’d won the lottery or something. Lucky looked fabulous and bossy, and it pissed Layla off. It felt like Lucky didn’t care that her parents were locked up, or that her mother was in a legal battle for her life.

“Bitch, why the fuck you grinning so hard for? Like you visiting me at the Ritz or something?” Layla berated after taking a seat across from her.

“It’s nice to see you too, Ma,” Lucky replied sarcastically.

Layla took in her daughter’s fashionable outfit, hair and nails done, eyebrows threaded and shaded in. “I see you’re living well.”

“I’m doin’ me.”

“Well, I need for you to take care of something really important. I want for you to put two of your best goons on Maxine and take care of her,” she ordered in a low tone. “She’s the one snitching on us. I know it. It all started to fall apart the moment she was released from prison. That bitch is out to destroy us.”

Lucky rolled her eyes and sighed.

“Bitch, you got a problem?” Layla said angrily.

“I’ll think it over.”

“You don’t need to think shit over. I gave you an order, you execute it. I’m the boss bitch here!” Layla growled through her tightened jaw.

“You were the boss bitch,” Lucky replied matter-of-factly. “Your men, they now answer to me.”

Layla clenched her fist and narrowed her eyes at Lucky. Was Lucky saying she was now wearing her shoes—stealing her queen pin position? But how? There was no fucking way, especially without a connect.

“You listen to me, you fuckin’ dead-eye bitch,” Layla exclaimed. “Don’t fuck wit’ me!”

Lucky had never heard that nasty remark from her mother. It stung like alcohol in a gunshot wound.

Layla continued to berate her. “I made you, I made all of y’all. And if you fuck wit’ me, if you go against me, I’ll bury you, you fuckin’ dead-eye cunt. This is my empire—I built it, and I will burn it down before I let an ungrateful bitch like you take control over it.”

For a black woman, Layla was turning red and it looked like smoke was about to bellow from her ears. However, Lucky kept her cool. Her mother wasn’t a threat to her, but she did have one thing she needed—the fifty million she hid somewhere.

“Where is it—the money?” Lucky asked. “You tell me where you hid it and I’ll take care of Maxine for you.”

Layla chuckled at the proposal. “Bitch, you think I’m a fuckin’ fool? You wanna play games wit’ me, little girl? I’ll take away your livelihood.”

“How? You don’t have any clout in here and no access to any funds. I met with Angel in Miami, and we negotiated a new deal. He’s mine now. Checkmate, bitch.”

“Angel would never get in bed with you!”

Lucky chuckled. “You don’t know how naive you sound right now.”

“Fuck you, you fuckin’ cunt! Don’t underestimate me, bitch!” Layla retorted.

“Then don’t underestimate me! You better recognize who has the upper hand.” The torch had been stolen, and now she was the one carrying the flame.

Layla paused and reexamined her position. She needed her daughter’s help, so she called for a truce. “Okay, look. I didn’t mean to get so upset with you. I apologize for getting heated. It’s just that I’m scared, Lucky. Despite what you’ve heard on the streets, this isn’t Club Fed. I’m surrounded by a bunch of phony, stink bitches. It’s cold in here and the food is lousy. I just want out.”

“And I want you out too.”

“I’m glad you said that. Because my attorney said that you might be able to help me do just that.”

Lucky was perplexed but replied, “Sure. Anything I can do, I will.”

“It’s not complicated. First you need to immediately stop doing business with Angel just like I ordered. Second, we need to put you up on the stand and convince a jury that you’re the female West who’s into racketeering and helping to run a corrupt drug organization. We need to give them reasonable doubt.”

“Say what now?”

“We need to make you a part of my defense. You shouldn’t have a problem with credibility because you are a part of our organization. You’re just not me—the head bitch in charge, but after listening to you today you obviously wanna be. So get your ass up on that stand and help your mother get found not—”

“Are you crazy?”

“Not yet, but I will be soon if I stay in here!”

Lucky immediately felt nauseous. A rush of emotions overwhelmed her and she had to blink repeatedly to stop the tears from flowing. She refused to cry in front of anyone. She clasped her clammy hands together to stop them from shaking and momentarily averted eye contact with her mother. How could Layla ask her such a thing?

“You just asked me to get up on the stand and implicate myself in a fed case for you? You know how those people play, Ma. Sealed indictments, snitches, and phone taps would be in my future if I placed myself on their radar. Whether you got acquitted or not, that act alone would ensure that my life as I know it would be over. The feds would make it so that the air I breathed was shallow until they got a conviction on me.”

“You’re jumping too far ahead in the story, Lucky.”

“One question. Are you willing to gamble my today for your tomorrow?”

Layla gritted her teeth out of frustration. She wasn’t used to begging or being in a position where she had to explain herself. But she did. “There’s no one else that I can trust to get up on the stand and say the right things, convincingly. And it’s too risky involving strangers in our world, exposing them to family secrets. This has to be done in-house. I wouldn’t come to you if I had a choice.”

“You have a choice. And you chose you!”

“I’m your mother!”

“Not anymore!”

“Oh, stop being a gotdamn drama queen. You know I’d always protect you.”

“Just like you protected Bonnie, Clyde, and Gotti?”

“Bitch don’t ever bring my kids into this bullshit.”

Lucky stood up, an indication to the guards that she was ready to go. “I’m going to make you regret this day for the rest of your miserable life!”

“Don’t you ever fuckin’ threaten me, Lucky West! I brought you into this world and I’ll take you out! You hear me! You fuckin’ hear me, bitch!”

Layla yelled and ranted, creating a scene for everyone to see. She gave her daughter an earful of threatening words while she could only watch Lucky walk out of the room and, perhaps, out of her life for good.