“See what had happened was…” Chad paced back and forth in straight line side to side. He was dressed in black tactical gear with different weapons strapped to his body. He looked like he was prepared for a fight. What was he preparing for? He bleached his natural black curly hair blonde and everything. Chad wasn’t model material like his sister Shanti. He was an avenge height but skinny. She stood out in crowds while Chad was always left feeling forgotten. He wasn’t bad looking, it’s just there was something about him that made people wonder. Well… now I know why. Chad was bat shit crazy. I still can’t believe I slept with him the night of my friend’s birthday party. I knew when we were kids, he had a thing for me. I’m not going to lie I took advantage of that…

Unfortunately, I remember that night like it was yesterday. I was in New York only for a week attending a work conference and my friend’s birthday fell on that Friday. I didn’t know Chad and I had so many friends in common. Especially for how random it was for all of us to be in New York City. We spent the whole time at the party talking and catching up. We laughed, recalled old memories we had long forgotten and even shared a few tears. I remember it being nice and comforting to be around him. He was kind and sociable, unlike Shanti who always seek all the attention. Even though I didn’t plan on sleeping with him, Chad was a thoughtful and gentle lover. I never met to end things between us the way that I did… At the time he had just met his girlfriend who now is his wife and I didn’t want to get in between that. All this time, he believed I forgot about the night we shared because I told him so. I told him I was too drunk to remember the details, obviously I lied.

Chad quickly walked up to me then slammed his fist on the arm of the thick wooden chair, “Are you listening to me!”

“No one listens to you,” replied Shanti. “No one ever hears you…”

“Shut up Shanti!” Chad screamed back.

“It’s true. She didn’t even hear you say how you chased our father through the hallways taking shots at him like he was target practice. That’s why he had so many bullet holes throughout his body. She didn’t even hear you say how the bastard of a coward actually hung himself.” It’s true I didn’t hear a thing…

Chad stood to his feet and turned his back to me. “Our father so determined he took his own life. He wanted to make sure we didn’t gain access to that fucking investment. Little did he know, we found out we didn’t need him anyway.”

Shanti walked over and placed her hand on Chad’s shoulder, “That’s why my little brother you were so valuable in completing this operation. You were there the whole time and she didn’t even notice you right in her face. I know you don’t like being in the shadows but that end up being our greatest advantage.”

“She’s right you know. I was there since the beginning… I was there when she first went into your office. I was waiting for her and her block head bodyguards in the car. I was there when you followed Charlie to the club trying to spy on him.” Chad walked behind my chair and began pushing it closer to the pool. “I was there in that whore’s house with her stupid son right before you and Charlie walked in. I looked at both of you through the window right before the house blew. At first, I was worried you were going to get caught in the blast. I was there at my father’s wake party coincidence you ran into me there.” He stroked his chin like he was in deep thought. He stood on the side of me as he continued his rant, “you said hello but was to focus on sticking your head up Shanti’s ass. Yeah, she told me about the hack Jason tried, too bad it worked out to our advantage.” Again, Chad knelt down to get in my face, “I was there when those RPGs went through your apartment windows. I shot one then Shanti shot one… Then guess what? I blamed it on the BK5s.”

Shanti intervened, “Fucking ‘Point and Shoot Killers’ lame ass old farts. They had to go! Francis was so fucking annoying and his brother barely even spoke, ever! Consuelo just kept them around because he’s old school. As for Charlie, well we were just as surprised as you were Ally that he betrayed us. Charlie had one job and that was to stab you in the back after getting the information we needed. I guess he really got pussy whipped huh? Things must have gotten really steamy after you put the shades down. I was hoping to have front row seats on you two going at it.”

I looked down at the pool watching the reflection of the lines on the bottom wave back and forth. The pool was eight feet deep and we were at the deep end. My arms were handcuffed behind me to this thick ass dining room wooden chair. It was heavy but if I get pushed in maybe I could break the damn thing. I looked up at the siblings and asked, “And what did I do to deserve this lovely, well thought out plan to kill me? I mean, I could give you the same access Sean can. Why involve me this just to kill me at the end?” I had to try… I wanted answers more than anything.

Chad took a deep breath before kneeling down beside me. “Sean will do whatever we tell him to do because we have his daughter. Yeah, his twelve-year-old daughter Hannah.” I slowly turned my head to meet Chad’s smirking gaze. He gave me a big smile, ear to ear with his lips closed. His smile was pure evil, he was happy his plan had worked. “That man will do anything to get her back. What do you have to give up, your friend Amber? That would have been too much work plus her boys wouldn’t have their mommy. That would draw too much attention.” Chad made a pouting face after talking about Amber. “Besides, you out done your usefulness and now you’re becoming too much work.”

“You didn’t answer my question… Why bring me into this? You obviously had unlimited resources to piece this together. So why bring me into this?!” I screamed back making my voice echo throughout the pool room.

“Because sweet cheeks, no one could have pieced it together better than you could. Shanti was right about how good were you. The old lady you helped before Shanti came into your office you remember her? Mrs. Jenkins. She is our aunt on our mom’s side… Shanti sent her to you to see just how good you were and boom look out easily you solved that one. Her son was embezzling money with my help of course and the idiot got greedy so I decided to sell him out. After it was resolved, she did sign over the business to low and behold, yours truly Shanti Edwards.” Chad pointed then bowed towards his sister as she cursi.

“I didn’t investigate shit! This whole time I’ve been just trying to stay alive! You two pieces of shit kept interfering.”

“Either way we needed to know your father’s part in the scheme of things and now we have all the answers we need. I am truly am sorry but all the loose ends have to be tied up now.” Chad again scooted my chair closer to the edge of the tool. “Besides if you would have stayed with me, maybe we could have figured something out.”

Shanti huffed and rolled her eyes. She pulled out a pistol and pressed it against my temple. “Will you make peace with it already we got shit to do still remember? Either way she’s going bye-bye.”

I closed my eyes and took a big gulp. Here it is, I whispered to myself. At least it will be quick and not brutal like drowning. Shanti made her gun ready to fire then slowly returned the gun back to my head. Before she pulled the trigger, another voice started speaking from behind me. My heart dropped when it sounded like a familiar friendly voice, it was Priest… I nearly burst into tears with joy when I heard his deep raspy Latin accent. How did he know I was here? Charlie, it had to be… “Hey, hey, hey! What the fuck is going on here?!” I heard commotion stirring behind me as Priest men were obviously surprised to see him. “Who the fuck gave you the order to follow what they say? Did you ever fucking hear me say, listen to what these two fucking idiot’s commands you to do?! No! Get her out of there right now!”

Chad stepped behind my chair out of my sight. “Not so fast…” Shanti ran along the side of the pool back towards the doors she came through. I watched her dash quickly holding her gun in her hands as she ran away. It almost seemed like Priest spooked her… Four men returned in her place pointing assault rifles directly towards Priest’s men. “If you want your precious Private Investigator then you can fish her out from the bottom of the pool!” Chad kicked the back of my chair forcing me to plunge into the pool face first.

“Priest!” I screamed before hitting the water. Slowly I sank to the bottom. The water was semi lite with the lights from the ceiling but not enough the light the whole thing. Shit! Shit! SHIT! Ok don’t panic… The thick air bubbles dispersed from around allowing me to see where I was going to land. I tried to turn my body to the side as much as I could to prevent landing on my face. The chair hit the bottom in an angle allowing me just enough room to wiggle my arm through. I got one arm free but the other is still handcuffed. I swam around to the backside of the chair and attempted to lift the rest back up to the surface. I didn’t have much air left to try to break out. The chair was semi heavy but the water helped guide back to the surface.

I started feeling weak and light headed from holding my breath for too long. I resisted the eager to inhale so bad as I continued pushing upward mostly swimming with my legs. I saw the flashing of the gun fire up above but that wasn’t my focus at the moment. I could feel my chest burning like I was holding in fire in my lungs. Keep pushing, keep swimming was all I kept saying in my head. Keep pushing, keep swimming, keep pushing. Over and over again. The surface was becoming closer but I could barely feel my limps anymore. My vision was blurry and everything started to darken. No not yet… I’m almost there. Keep pushing… keep… Lights out.

My eyes sprung wide open and launched forward hurling up nasty ass pool water. My vision was blurry but I could see Charlie was the one sitting next to me. “Take slow breaths, I pulled you out just on time. You never cease to amaze me Ally, come on we have to get some dry clothes.”

I coughed a few times before I could get my words out. “The girl… Hannah.”

“I can barely hear you…” Charlie replied. Priest walked over and grabbed my other arm. They guided me through the dead bodies on the floor. My left arm was still handcuffed and it made my body feel colder. The cold wet metal sitting my damp skin had me shiver uncontrollably. Priest wrapped a few towels around my shoulders trying to help me stay warm.

My energy was returning and I felt I could speak clearly again. I cleared my throat and said, “We have to go after them. Chad took Sean’s daughter, Hannah as leverage so he’ll have to access the investment. I’m sure once Chad and Shanti have what they want, they’ll kill them both.”

“You’re in no condition for a fight Ally. You don’t even know where they stashed her.” Priest intervened.

“He’s right, you need to rest for a minute. You almost drowned.” Charlie piggy-backed off his comment.

“There’s only one place they could have taken her. Douglas’ mansion… We have to save her. I’ll go by myself if I have to.” I slowly got to my feet and started walking towards the main door still dripping wet.

One of Priest man walked up and handed me a gray sweat shirt and sweat pants. “I found these in the girl’s locker room. They might fit you.” I slowly grabbed the clothes while looking at him a little shocked. He turned and looked at Priest, “Those two crazies stopped by the stash house and said it was your orders to help them grab the PI. Thank you for not taking us out, heffa. I’m sure they’re at the mansion. Last time I was there it was a whole bunch of high-tech bodyguards standing around outside. They didn’t look like Syndicate either, more like private hire or some shit.”

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Priest nodded his head and said, “That sounds like we’re going to need some more fire power. You sure you want to do this, baby girl?”

I nodded my head and answered, “I’m sure. Those two need to go…” Everyone surrounding me nodded their heads agreeing as well. One last show down… They will pay for all the shit they did to me and everyone else. I don’t care in the end we lose this investment money, the key to the money kingdom. I just want them dead… Revenge is mine today.

***

“Park right here. This is as far as we can go without being seen.” I told Charlie as he slowed down his Cadillac truck. We all looked across the open courtyard towards the front doors and saw at least twenty men standing outside.

“Damn that’s a lot of guys. Where in the hell did they hire these sons of bitches from?” asked Priest.

“We have to get in there somehow. The best way for this to all pan out is we stayed unseen. What do you think Charlie?” I turned and looked at him as he studied the area.

“The rooftop access would be our best bet however there’s a sniper patrolling up there. Once we take him out, we should be able to avoid their men. The only issue is which room are they keeping the girl in?”

“Once we’re inside, she’ll be easy to find because she’ll be in the room that is the most guarded. I’m ready to finish this once and for all.”

We waited until dusk to make our move. Priest had his men stay back until needed so they wouldn’t bring too much attention to Charlie and I. We wanted to grab Hannah first before the gun fight started. That’s the plan anyway... Quickly and quietly Charlie and I climbed up the pipes on the side of the building to the rooftop. Charlie snuck up behind the sniper choking him and made sure his body was well hidden in the shadows. Together we made our way down the stairs from the attic to the third floor. There were men everywhere patrolling the hallways carrying assault rifles.

I dropped down first and tucked behind a corner waiting for Charlie to get behind me. Together we snuck through the halls trying our best not to be seen. Unfortunately, it didn’t last too long. “What the hell are you two doing here?” Asked the tall stocky bodyguard. Charlie punched him square in the face making him fall flat on his back. Charlie grabbed his rifle then knocked him out with the bottom of the handle.

“She’s probably on the second floor. If I had to guess she’s probably in Shanti’s room. I don’t know why but I feel like it’s the best place to keep an eye on her.” Charlie grabbed the bodyguard by the arms and dragged him inside a nearby closet. “I’ll make a distraction to get those guys to move away.”

“Wait…” I whispered. “What if she isn’t in there?”

“There’s only way one to find out.” Charlie ran down to the end of the hallway and unloaded half a clip of bullets into the ceiling. He turned and looked at me shocked I haven’t moved yet. “Go!” I quickly glanced the balcony to the second floor and saw the bodyguards were gone. Charlie ran down the hallway then quickly turned the corner trying to avoid being seen.

I made my way down to Shanti’s room and slowly opened the door. I creeped inside and noticed there was only a small desk lamp on in the corner of the room. Something felt very off about this. It was too easy… Click. The sound of a gun cocking back surprised me from behind. I turned around and saw Shanti holding Hannah from behind. Her arm wrapped around her shoulders holding her still with the gun pressed against her temple. “You really thought it was going to be that easy? I knew I should have bet Chad that you would survive the pool thing. Oh well, never send a man do a women’s job.” Shanti lifted the gun off Hannah’s temple and pointed the pistol towards me. Before Shanti got a shot off, Hannah elbowed her in the stomach making the gun fire in a different direction. “You little bitch!” Shanti pushed Hannah to the ground then tried to shoot her instead but I lounged at her grabbing the gun.

I punched Shanti in the face and stomach then she returned a punch to my face. We tossed a tumbled on the ground fighting for the control over the gun. I got one good punch in which made her roll to the side unconscious. I picked up the gun before standing to my feet and walked over to her to make sure Shanti wasn’t a threat anymore. I nudged Hannah towards the door, “Let’s go before even more of her men come.”

As we dashed down the hallway to the stairs, we quickly run up to the roof access to find the latter missing. Shots from the opposite direction barely missed us. We had to run away and hide to avoid being hit. I waited until the guard got closer then I swung my leg as hard as I could and kicked him the balls. Direct hit! His knees buckled as he dropped to the floor. Only then we were able to get away or so we thought. Together we turned down the last hallway that led up the attic. There was another entrance to the roof in there as well. As I turned the corner, I bumped straight into Chad.

He stood still like a statue, almost like he saw me coming before I did. “Well, well what do we have here?” I tried to push him out of the way but he grabbed both of my arms instead and flung me to the ground. He pulled out his pistol and pointed directly at Hannah’s face. “Come on, we’re leaving. Your dad is waiting for you in the limo. Be a good little girl and you might get the keep your daddy.” Hannah nodded as she walked past me looking down to see if I was okay.

Out of nowhere, Charlie lounged at Chad from a room nearby. He knocked Chad down and began punching him in the face. Again, Charlie screamed at me to go and this time I didn’t hesitate. I didn’t have time to look back to make sure before reaching the back door exit to the back yard. A few bullets whistling by us when we reached the lawn. Chad must have gotten the upper hand over Charlie and chased us through the yard. I held Hannah’s hand as tight as I could, trying to run as fast I could manage back to Charlie’s truck.

Bullets flew past my head too close for comfort as I almost reached the truck. As I stuffed Hannah into the truck then jumped in after her. There was a full on gun fight going on right now with the Latin Folks with the BK5 as an ally versus the Wonder Twins’ hired militia. There was so much going on it was hard to keep track. Hannah jumped to the window looking outside. “My dad we have to go back for him!” I climbed on top of the seat and scanned the area with her. I had forgot Chad had mentioned Sean was waiting in the limo. Well, bullet holes cover the luxury vehicle top from bottom. I know he had to escaped… “There! There he is!”

Priest tapped his driver on the shoulder and said, “Turn around and pick him up.” The large SUV flung around in a quick one eight direction change. Sean was limping even more then before at the hotel while holding his left side. He had blood on the left side of his face and scratches on his arms and chest. The driver stopped right in front Sean as I opened the back passenger door to let him in.

As both Hannah and I tried to pull him up to safety Sean was shot two times in the back. “If I can’t have him, no one will!” Screamed Chad as he darted towards the SUV. He stopped at the further end of the courtyard and started shooting at us as we drove away. We shielded Sean with our bodies as glass flew inside the vehicle. I popped my head up a few times to see which direction the driver was taken us. Charlie was still in the courtyard.

“We have to get Charlie!” I insisted to Priest’s driver. He nodded his head as he tried to find a clear path to turn around. I spotted Chad reloading his pistol but that wasn’t the biggest issue anymore. I looked past Chad and Shanti standing on the back porch holding a RPG. I knew I should have shot her… Where in the hell do they get these thing from? She propped the missile launcher on her shoulders then spread her legs for a better stability. She closed one eye as she took aim at the Cadillac. “Shit! Drive Shanti has a fucking RPG!”

Everyone at the same time looked in the direction where Shanti was standing. The driver floored the pedal to the ground and drove as far as he could out of the courtyard. “Well come back for your boy! Right now we got to get out of the line of fire.” Shit, he was right. Shanti shot off a missile and it directly into a car nearby as we sped by. BOOM! “Damn! That bitch is crazy!”

“There! There he is!” Priest pointing towards the mansion. It was Charlie… he quietly was sneaking behind Shanti trying not to give his position away. By the time he had reached her, Shanti had reloaded two more missiles. Chad jumped up and down in excitement as he witnessed us trying to get away from her fire power. As she took aim one more time, Charlie took his chance and dashed as fast as he could and pushed Shanti to the ground before getting a clear shot.

A missile was still fired when Shanti fell but not in the direction she was planning. By mistake the missile went straight in Chad direction. He turned around when he saw it coming but it was too late to move out of it’s way. “NO!” The missile landed directly in his path making him explode into several pieces in the air.

“CHAD!” Shanti fell down to the ground and started crying profusely. The rest of her men were getting picked off easily but the Latin Folks, BK5 gang and Consuelo? He slowed crept up behind Shanti holding a huge shiny silver gun and pointed it directly at her head. When she turned around to face Consuelo blew her away with a single shot. It seemed to end as fast as it started… I didn’t take my eyes off Consuelo even after Charlie hopped in the SUV. We all watched together as the battle came to an end. He held up hand up in the air and watched his Syndicate gang finish off the sibling’s hired help. He didn’t try to get Priest to stop but instead seemed to be content for how everything went down. I was glad we didn’t have to deal with too. The man seemed weak and fragile and moved really slow but was still in full control.

Priest huffed and said, “I swear my brother is cockroach… Not even poison could kill his iron clad ass.”

Finally it was over…

***

We gave Sean a few days to rest up and heal from his wounds before going to this infamous place where the investment was being held. Sean had the same instructions my dad left for me about how to retrieve the funds. First the whole thing had to be liquidated. “I tried explaining this to Shanti and Chad that it could take a while before we start see any money is our hands.”

The small building was well guarded and had glass windows everywhere, inside and out. There doesn’t seem to be any privacy but it was the an awesome way to make sure no one could steal anything. Together Sean, his daughter, Charlie and I walked in and sat down at a Kiosk computer. The teller behind the counter had to confirm we were official members to the account. After confirming it was ours, the teller got on the phone and called her supervisor.

A round short man with no hair on top came out from around the corner with his hand extended. “Congratulations you guys! You finally came to cash in the largest investment in our bank. As soon as I can get some signatures we can be on our way.”

I looked around amazed to how fancy this building was. “Where are we? Why have I not ever noticed this place before?” We were only a half an hour outside Freeside. They made it seem like we had to travel half way across the world to get this money out.

The kind, smiley round man replied, “We are everywhere and we are nowhere…”

“Huh? I don’t understand…” I asked confused as hell.

“Try not to focus on the where versus the what. This is one of the top notches places to hide your money and let it grow. It’s literally in the middle of nowhere. We are everywhere and we are nowhere.” Sean gently said to me in a soft voice. He looked down at the key card the teller gave to him and said, “It all boils down to this… We’re rich for the rest of our lives, Ally.”

I looked down at my key card, “I only a quarter of my portion. Keep the rest in the system.” Everyone turned around and looked at me in shock. “I only want enough to restart and rebuild my business. Let the rest stay in there to regain what we taken out. We can become it’s new beneficiaries. Besides, I’m cool with just a few million.”

Charlie and I laughed while hugging one another. “It’ll be nice to have a fresh new start.”

And a fresh new start it was. I kept ironically about four million in the investment while taking out only about two. Sean withdrew his whole amount of about six hundred and fifty million. I decided to buy out the whole building where my business was located and paid a contractor to fix my old apartment building. I rehired Amber of course and even made room for Jason to help out as well. Charlie stuck around and helped me rebuild my brand as well as assisted in organizing the bank books.

My life was slowly but surley getting back to normal but much, much better. I had my best friends along my side and the man of my dreams who still stands by me strong. Everything seemed to be perfect until… A man came bursting through my office doors covered in blood from head to toe. His clothes were torn and ripped plus he had on no shoes. “You have to help me…” He mumbled as he fainted to the floor.

Amber ran over to the man and turn his body over. “Oh my gosh, it’s my brother! Someone help me!”

Charlie and I hopped on our feet to help out. “Your brother?! I thought you were the only child?”

Amber took a big gulp and replied, “Well not necessarily… I thought he died years ago.”

“So what are you trying to say? He didn’t die?” I asked.

“I’m honestly not sure…” Amber propped her brothers head on her lap.

Charlie looked down at me and Amber then said, “Looks like you have another case on her hands, Ally.”

The End of Book 1