Everything Connects

chapter eighteen

Marcus

“ Noooo,” the sound of groans behind me blends in with my own disappointment.

“Fuck.” Welp, there goes my three hundred dollars down the drain. I’m not nearly as good at horse racing as I am at sports.

Part of me feels bad about lying to Tiffany about all my progress. Not only did I not go to rehab for the gambling, I ran up another debt. Not with Saint this time. If I don’t give my bookie $20,000 by the end of the week, he’s going to take my legs.

I finish the whiskey in my glass before sliding it back to the bartender. My phone rings on top of the counter. I don’t answer it. I already know who it is.

My new girlfriend isn’t as understanding as Tiffany. By now, she knows I’ve taken the money out of her purse. This is probably her last straw with me.

This is why I have to get my girl back. I know I’m to blame for losing Tiffany. I fumbled her heart so many times. Even as far back as high school I constantly fucked up. She had so many reasons to leave me, especially after the shit with her mama. However, she believed in us, and stayed by my side through it all. She wanted nothing but the best for me.

Pulling my last twenty out of my pocket. I lay it under my cup before getting to my feet. The room spins momentarily. I have to get my shit together if I was going to interrupt Tiffany’s wedding tomorrow.

I meant what I told that muthafucker yesterday. I’m going to do everything in my power to ruin their relationship. Even if I have to put a bullet in that dude. I need my girl back. I know that if I have her, she will help me out of this situation. Tiffany will always have my back. It took me losing her in order to realize how valuable she was to me.

Stumbling out of the bar, I make it to my car. It crosses my mind not to drink and drive seeing as that’s how all my trouble started.

I’d been drinking with the team celebrating our win against the Bulls. I had a shorty on my lap that was whispering in my ear all the freaky shit she wanted to do to me. We left the club together and headed to a hotel. She was lying over the seat giving me that type of head that you pay for. I don’t know when my eyes closed, but when I opened them, I realized I was in the wrong lane and a car was heading toward me. The other car blared their horn, and I swerved out of the way losing control. The chick was uninjured and took off on me. I remember her saying something about not wanting her husband to know she was in my car.

I broke my leg in two places that night and I never fully recovered. A year later my team was letting me go.

All that plays back in my head as I pull my keys out of my pocket and pop the locks on my door. As soon as I reach the driver’s side, the keys slip from my hand. Bending to pick them up, the world spins. I take a minute to right myself again, then I stand back up. Immediately, something is placed over my head, and I’m grabbed from behind. I struggle with the tight grip until something pinches the side of my neck. Soon after, everything goes dark.

**

I come awake abruptly and take in my surroundings. I’m in some sort of basement area. The concrete walls and floor along with the low ceilings and small windows give away the location. An empty metal chair is in front of me. Somewhere in the room is the sound of water dripping slowly.

After taking in my surroundings, I pay attention to my body. Nothing is injured, but my hands are tied behind my back as I sit in a chair.

“Oh good, you’re up,” a man’s voice says from behind me. I turn my head trying to get a view of who is back there. I can barely see over my shoulder, but the person that spoke comes around to face me.

“Who the fuck are you?” I ask the white dude with the big ass nose.

He flips the chair in front of me around, then sits down backwards in that cocky asshole kind of way. Propping his tattooed arms on the back of the chair, he smiles coldly at me.

“Some call me Ghost, some call me Death. Hell, I’ve even been called your worse fucking nightmare. My name doesn’t matter. Why you’re here is the important question.”

I hate muthafuckers that play these childish ass games. Instead of cursing him out, I grit my teeth and ask.

“Why the fuck am I here?” Sadly, I owe so many people I don’t even know who could’ve kidnapped me.

He gives me another one of those cold smiles. “Have you forgotten? You still owe Saint a debt.”

My heart races. Until that whack ass Basille was almost shot, I forgot about Saint. He was serious about our debt being paid when he took Tiffany. I haven’t heard anything from him since that phone call. I hate that Tif got involved, but that deal of her paying off my debt was too sweet to pass up.

Even though this big dude had me a little shook, I wasn’t going to go out like a punk. Fuck these fake mafia dudes. I’m from the hood, I know real gangsters.

“Our debt was settled. You tell that pussy muthafucker, I don’t owe him shit.”

“Why don’t you tell me yourself.” The new voice has my attention shifting to the doorway.

My thoughts freeze and my chest tightens. My brain is trying to grasp something I’m not quite ready to understand yet.

“Basille? What the hell are you doing here?”

He chuckles, and for the first time I’m not seeing that quiet prissy pretty boy that I always see around Tiffany. There is a darkness and coldness in his eyes that has me paying attention. My brain finally shouts out the answer that I was refusing to grasp.

“You’re Saint.”

“Ding Ding Ding! You’re correct. Ghost, let my boy Marcus know what he’s just won?” Saint says as if he’s some type of game show host.

In front of me, Ghost pulls out a big ass gun and lays it on his thigh.

“That’s right, you’ve won your exit papers. Your first-class ticket to hell.”

I finally start to see the true danger I’m in. I’m never going to make it out of this basement alive. I realize that now.

“Why?” I ask not understanding how all this happened.

Saint chuckles. “Well, I guess I wouldn’t be a true villain if I didn’t give you my monologue of my motive.”

He walks over to the seat Ghost is seated in. Without words, Ghost stands up and turns the seat back around the right way. Saint unbuttons the button to his black tuxedo and takes a seat.

“Where do we start,” he says tapping his chin. “I guess the first day I saw her. It was your birthday party, right?” he asks but I don’t reply. “I spent most of my teen and early adult life fighting for everything that I have now. Never really cared to settle down. That is until the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen walked into my brother’s club. I watched her all night look absolutely miserable as you entertained your guests. The moment she got up from your table I had to pounce.”

He stops, smiling hard as if he’s reflecting on the memory.

“Ten minutes,” he says in a soft tone. “That’s all it took of being in her presence to know I had to have her. No matter the cost. I was the youngest child so whatever I wanted I got. I took that philosophy into my adult life.” He shrugs nonchalantly.

“My first plan was to kill you. I would’ve had Ghost follow you home, wait until my beautiful angel left for work and then blew your worthless brains out. However, my big brother talked me out of it. Mason is the logical one out of the group. He told me, Saint, if you kill him, she will mourn him, and it may be years before she’s ready to move on.”

He dusts imaginary dirt off his suit pants before continuing.

“After thinking it over I realized my brother was right. I needed a better plan. So, I took a few days to do my research.” He laughs like shit is funny. “Damn, you were easy. There was so much information on you. I could’ve told her about the many affairs you were having. The possible little boy that could be yours two states away. I could have even exposed that little coke habit you’d started.”

My mouth falls open at all the things this man knew about me. Things no one else knew, like the coke thing. I’m not addicted, it’s just something I do on occasion.

“Instead, I decided to let you hang yourself. Which is why I had an associate tell your friend about that private gambling ring.”

Once again, my heart races as it all comes out. “You set me up. You knew I would run up a debt with you.”

“Of course, I did. I needed to let you get in just enough debt that I knew you couldn’t pay it back.”

“You played me, and you played Tiffany” I shout as I yank at my wrist fighting to get them free.

He laughs. “All I did was put the game in motion. You did everything else for me. I didn’t tell you to give up your girl to pay your debt, that was all you. In fact, I assumed you would’ve said no. I just wanted her to see how far down the hole you’d gone.”

“Fuck,” I yell as I realize he’s right. I practically pushed her into his hands. “Wait,” I say as something dawns on me. “Your game didn’t make sense. Even if you got rid of me, how were you so sure Tiffany was going to fall for you?” No matter how much I deserved it, my girl was not going to leave or cheat on me. She’s too loyal for that.

He smiles and it isn’t a pleasant one. “While you were busy gambling your life away and wallowing in self-pity, I was doing everything in my power to win my girl. I showed her I could be her protector when I hired a guy to harass her at her favorite coffee shop. I then showed her I was her biggest supporter when I hired her for my new resort. Although, honestly, she won that role fair and square.”

“Yeah, she’s a talented designer. That resort is looking gorgeous,” Ghost says as if they’re having a normal fucking conversation.

“Isn’t it?” Basille asks turning to look at the guy over his shoulder. “One of the best.” He turns back to me with a smirk. “Where were we? Oh yeah. Her birthday was my favorite. I came in and saved the day again when I got her dinner for her birthday. I knew you wouldn’t have anything planned because I made sure you’d be at the bar. Why else would I make the pay out nearly half a mill.”

I played right into his hands that night. The moment I got the text about the pot being that high, I forgot everything. Even when she reminded me it was her birthday, I still couldn’t miss the opportunity to win that much money. It would have solved all my problems.

Saint continues, reclaiming my attention.

“Everything after that just worked in my favor. I had my guys play the bad men in order to get her to move into my home. Once she was there, I figured I had her. But she was still a little hesitant. She let me taste that sweet pussy but wouldn’t give it all to me.”

I pull at my bonds at the mention of him having what should only belong to me. He and Ghost laugh at my attempt.

“I’m quick on my feet, so I had a plan for that as well. I brought home an old girlfriend in order to get the ball rolling. It worked like a fucking charm. Thankfully, I had the hindsight to replace her birth control with placebos. The pregnancy sealed the deal. And now,” he says holding his arms out at his sides. “I’m about to be a married man.”

Rage rises up in me. No way will I let this scum win. Yeah, my plans for Tiffany weren’t all that kosher, but this guy is pure evil. She deserved so much more than this conniving, scheming, asshole.

“I won’t let you get away with this. I’ll find a way to tell Tiffany everything.”

The smile on his face falls and sitting in front of me is a stone-cold killer. For the first time, I actually start to see the true nature of this beast. I allowed a psychopath to come in and take the one good thing I had. I failed her.

Slowly, a grin appears on his face. “How can you tell her from hell?”

I open my mouth to reply, but the sound of a gunshot blasts in my ear. Only a millisecond of time passes before the bullet pierces my head. In that time, all I can think of is her. Sorry, Tiffany.