Chapter 17
Bentley turned up the long drive that led to the tall brick mansion. His car was recognized, so the gate surrounding the property was open before he got to it. He listened to Amber’s low snores in the back seat and felt a rush of emotions overcome him. She would never know what kind of danger she had been in. To her, the events probably felt like a dream. Or like a blip in time to her baby mind.
Bentley was grateful that he’d gotten to her just in time. He didn’t know what kind of sick man would attempt to kill his own child, a baby at that. It had taken everything in him not to end Adam right then and there, but Bentley knew he wasn’t his kill. He was Boogie’s. After he was parked in the circular driveway in front of the mansion, he honked his horn to announce his presence. He got out and walked around the car when he saw Roz exit the home. She looked exhausted as she bounded down the stairs wrapped in a long blue kimono.
“Bentley!” She hugged him tightly when she reached him. “I’ve been trying to call you since yesterday.”
“You know I’ve been out there lookin’ for my niece nonstop.”
“I know and I appreciate it,” she said, stepping back. “I just needed someone here with me, you know? With Boogie down right now, and Amber missing, my mind is just all over the place.”
“My bad, sis. You know if I could have been here, I would have been. But Amb bein’ out there with that bitch-ass motherfucka had my mind goin’. I couldn’t come back without her.”
“It’s okay. I’ve been praying. I know God is going to bring my baby back. Maybe we should just let the police do their job.”
“Police?” Bentley made a face. “We don’t need them. Plus, didn’t I just say I couldn’t come back without her?”
He opened the back door on the right side and revealed a sleeping Amber. Roz gave a gasp of disbelief as she stared at her baby girl safe and sound. Tears fell freely down her cheeks, and her lips quivered when she looked back at her brother. She threw her arms around his neck and squeezed him tighter than before. He hugged her back and wiped his tears away behind her back. When she pulled away from him, Roz didn’t waste any time getting Amber out of the car. The beautiful baby girl woke up immediately, almost sensing her mother’s presence, and smiled up into Roz’s tearful face.
“Oh, Amber. I’ve missed you so much, baby!” Roz held her close and kissed her all over her little face. “I’ll never let anything like that happen to you ever again. I promise. You hear me? I promise!”
Bentley’s heart warmed as he watched the mother and daughter being reunited. He’d been relentless about finding Amber and doing it quick. He didn’t want to depend on anyone to do it for them. He also couldn’t bear the thought of letting his sister and Boogie down. Bentley didn’t know Louisa well, but he knew her type—the kind who thought they were invincible. Very high-class and used to nothing but the finer things. Her version of lying low wasn’t hiding out in a safehouse. It was sitting poolside eating caviar. With so many connections the Tolliver family had, it wasn’t hard to find the hotel she checked into. He let his money talk from there.
“Where’s Boogie?” he asked.
“He’s resting,” Roz told him, patting Amber’s back as she fell back to sleep.
“Well, get him up. He’s gon’ want to see this,” Bentley instructed her and went to the trunk of his car.
“Bentley, this is the first time we’ve been able to get him to lie down since he was hurt. He really needs to—”
She stopped talking when Bentley lifted the trunk open. Bound inside of it with duct tape over his mouth was Adam staring at her with bugged-out eyes and blood trickling from his temple. His gaze pleaded with her, but she was disgusted just looking at him.
“Like I said, he’s gon’ want to see this.”
* * *
The silence was deafening to Adam as he sat in a pitch-black room. His heart pounded against his rib cage because, even though he couldn’t see or hear them, he knew he wasn’t alone. He knew he was going to die. The only question was how.
The lights suddenly flipped on. Although they weren’t bright, he had to squint and blink his eyes to adjust to them. He was finally able to see where he’d been taken to after being dragged out of the trunk. He was in a wine cellar tied to a chair in a wide aisle between the whites and the reds. Leaned against the far wall was Bentley, but he wasn’t the one who had turned on the light. Boogie had done that.
He stood at the winding stairs that led to the cellar, staring menacingly at Adam. Even in his injured state, something about him seemed powerful. Not many would have survived what had happened to him. Roz stood beside her man, glaring at Adam. Their hate for him filled the room. Boogie walked slowly over to him and ripped the tape from his mouth.
“Aughh!” he shouted.
“If that’s all it takes to make you scream, then we’re gon’ have a lot of fun,” Boogie said, his words coming out breathy.
“Fuck you!”
“I should be the one sayin’ that. You’re the one who shot me, after all.”
“I wanted to teach you a lesson.”
“There’s no lesson in the world I could learn from you except how to not kill a man, because as you can see, I’m still here, little nigga.”
“I weakened you, though. The mighty Boogie Tolliver learned that he’s not invincible after all. All it took was a ‘little nigga’ like me to break you.”
His words ignited something in Boogie. He swore he saw the fire flash in his eyes right before Boogie’s hands were wrapped around his throat. He thought again that he was about to die, but just as he felt himself about to pass out, Boogie let him go. Adam choked for air, and Boogie stumbled back. Roz came to his aid to help stablize him.
“The thing is, I know I’m not invincible. I’ve seen death so much I know it’s inevitable. But a motherfucka like you could never take me out,” Boogie said, catching his own breath.
Although he wasn’t at full power, he was strong. Adam’s aching neck was proof of that. But he didn’t care. Staring at him and Roz together he felt the same thing he did the first time he laid eyes on Boogie. He spat at their feet.
“I’ll give it to you, you have balls,” Boogie chuckled. “I tried to give you an out. Why didn’t you take it? And then you tried to kill my daughter, nigga? You gotta pay.”
“It looks like you might need a nap first before you do anything,” Adam said, continuing to taunt his weakened state, seeing that it had gotten to him before.
“Actually, that’s exactly what he’s gonna do,” Roz spoke up. There was a grim smile on her lips as she stared at Adam. “Oh . . . you thought he was gonna be the one to handle you? Nah. That’ll be me.”
“And you think that scares me?”
“It should.”
“You’re the same bitch I broke years ago. Weak.”
“I am?” Roz licked her lips and laughed, but it wasn’t the kind when something was funny. “You shot my man, you kidnapped my daughter, and now you’re weaponizing the trauma you put me through against me. Oh . . . and you tried to smother my baby. My baby? You keep trying to take everything from me. I hate you. So I’m gonna make sure you never can hurt me or her again.”
“You don’t have it in you to kill me.”
“I guess we’ll find out, huh?” She sneered and spoke to the man on the wall without taking her eyes off Adam. “Bentley, how long did this motherfucka have my baby?”
“Two days.”
“Two days, huh?” Roz stepped forward and leaned down until her lips were by Adam’s ear. “There’s nothing like a mother scorned. You’re going to suffer for two weeks, and before the end of it, you’re gonna be begging me to kill you.”
Bliss belongs to the beholder.