I probably spent a good hour talking to Beatrice. It turns out that she had been very sad since I had escaped the island, and she had been at Nene’s house both to be cheered up by Nene, as well as be close to Mrs. O’Brian in case she wanted to talk. Just knowing that made me feel even worse than before.
I had apologized so much that Beatrice had to finally stop me with a small shout. After that we caught up with each other about what had happened since I had left a week ago. It was hard to believe it had only been a week since I had left. A few of my friends thought I was down right stupid but a few of them had thought I was kinda brave to be doing this. Turns out Valeria’s actions had gotten her into some serious trouble. Mostly involving using her mother’s credit card to buy my plane ticket, and turns out some of the gold coins she had given me were also her mother’s. However, according to Beatrice, Valeria only laughed it off, granted it was apparently very nervous laughter but she said had no regrets. “I did what I did to help my friend.” Apparently I also owed her double what she had given me, so alongside being in trouble with two people, I now had a debt to pay. Beatrice was pretty cross with me mostly in my actions of knocking her off her moose spirit. She was just as competitive as me so she had something back for me when I got back. I was expecting her to slap the taste out of my mouth once she finished hugging me to death.
“If you do this to me again, I am not gonna play nice next time.” Beatrice said in a deadly calm voice, but then she let out a small bit of laughter. “Also your disguise makes you look ridiculous. Who’s idea was it?”
My cheeks blushed a bit as I tried to hide my face behind my hands. “It was Joshua Cash’s idea, he took me to a beauty shop and then a tanning salon.” I puffed my cheeks out a bit as I added. “And this ridiculous disguise has tricked Katherine so it is good for something!” That last part got Beatrice to stop giggling, and she looked at me in shock. “I-I forgot to mention that part. I have seen Katherine twice now.”
“What is she like now?” Beatrice was unable to keep the fear from spreading across her face. Beatrice had issues with Katherine of her own, practically when she had slapped the taste out of Beatrice when she had told her to stop yelling at me. Now that led to a fight when her father showed up to our house ready to snap Katherine’s neck. Now it was common for any adult on the island to punish a child like they were their own. We all saw each other as one big family so it was fine, however even then there were limits, especially if you slapped someone’s child hard enough to make them bleed. I should have seen the first red flags there as Katherine made short work of Beatrice’s father. He was a strong and well built man, but Katherine’s skills were on a level no one could have imagined. I guess that was why sometimes Beatrice’s father treated me badly. Sometimes, I looked just like Katherine in many ways. So he often shouted at me loudly if I was bad at his house or just told me to leave. He had raised his hand to strike me once when me and Beatrice had been especially disobedient during a sleepover, but he stopped. Then apologized to me, vowing to never cross that line with me.
“She is pretty much the same,” I answered. “Still a self righteous, proud, bitch of a woman.” I winced as I felt a tail land harshly against my wrist.
“Watch your language.” Thanani scolded before slipping onto my dad’s bed and grabbing a nearby book for my father, and leaving the room.
“I see, Uncle Thanani is okay,” Beatrice answered. “What is your plan?” Beatrice asked. “I mean I am glad that your daddy found you as soon as you landed so you aren’t trying to do this on your own, but what is your true plan?”
“Well right now, I am just trying to befriend this girl Trinity, she has connections to Katherine and is being trained by her. So we are hoping that she lets something slip.” I answered. “She is really like me back when Katherine was around, proud, irritating, but also scared. She wants to impress Katherine but she is scared of her. So we are seeing what happens first, either Trinity let’s something slip or my daddy and Joshua corner this Hezekiah Wallace and then we deal with Katherine. He is important to her plans so she won’t just let him be arrested.”
“So you are hoping that it ends up with the three of you against, Katherine?” I nodded my head. “I guess that is better than you doing this all alone.” Beatrice began to twiddle her thumbs a tiny bit. “Verona, are you sure you are okay? I mean it is good that Katherien doesn’t recognize you and you are safe with your daddy and uncle Thanani, but are you sure you are gonna be okay? Are you sure you don’t want to come home?” This was not a question, she wanted me to come home.
And I would be lying to myself if part of me didn’t want to go home. Maybe tell my daddy that I did as much as I could but it was time to go home. My momma was worried, and auntie O’Brian was worried. I could only imagine what little Sevil is going through at home without her big sister, but almost worst of all my best friend was hurting, probably scared to death without me. Probably thinking to herself. “Is this the last time I will see her alive or worse captured?” Maybe it was time to stop playing avenger and just admit to myself.
I am not ready to face Katherine.
However, now I had an excuse to keep going. I needed to save Trinity from this fate, I was the only one that could get that done. We had only gotten so fair because of my relationship with Trinity. So it was with a heavy heart that I sucked down those feelings and gave Beatrice a calm smile. “I am okay, Beatrice and trust me if things ever look bleak, my daddy is gonna send me home on the first plane back to the island. However, I have a mission to do and only I can do it.” I lifted my hand up and acted as if I was interlocking my fingers with Beatrice, my friend was quick to do the same motion. “I promise you, to our father above, I am gonna come back, and I don’t care if you beat me black and blue for what I did. I will come back and face it, and hug you until you get tired of me.”
Beatrice smiled at me with a tearful smile but it held the same joy that I loved so much. She was the closest thing I had to a sister on the island, even more than Sevil. “O-Okay, but you better not break that promise, or I will come to the end of the earth to find you. I don’t care where that bitch-” Beatrice yelped as a small hand chopped her on the head. She looked off camera for a moment. “Sorry Mrs. O’Brian.” I couldn’t help but laugh a bit at that. “I don’t care where Katherine might take you, I will come looking for you. And then I will beat her and then I will beat you for breaking your promise. Understand.”
“I understand, I love you little sister.”
Beatrice’s tearful face shifted into a soft pout. “I am only three days younger than you.”
I felt a smirk cross my lips. “LIke I said, I love you little sister.”
Beatrice's cheeks puffed out slightly, but she did manage to laugh at that. “Fine, I love you too… big sister.”
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Once I had hung up my phone I stepped out into the living room of our suite and I was glad to see that Joshua was awake. He was sitting behind the piano running his hands across the keys but he was not playing anything. He opened one of his notebooks and began to jot something down, he was only wearing a muscle shirt, his dreads protected behind a do rag. He smelled as if he had just gotten out of a shower. I sat down in a nearby chair and mostly waited for him to start playing the beautiful music that he loved. “Do you gonna join me?” He looked over his shoulder and smiled at me. He scooted over on the small bench we had and patted the space beside him.
“I haven’t played the piano in a long time, she wanted me to learn.” I rubbed my knuckles a bit as I remembered how Katherine would hit my knuckles if I had played the wrong note. I convinced her that I would rather focus on training rather than playing a useless instrument. (I don’t think it is useless but I needed something to get her to stop)
Joshua gave me a small smile. “Well let me try and take what our enemy made for evil and turn it to good.” There was something so inviting to him that I quickly crossed the space between us and sat down beside him. “Come on and play me something.”
“I don’t know…” I said looking down at the sparkling white keys and the solid black ones. I kinda remember one of them. I said playing the beginning to Heart and Soul. “Does that work?” I asked, stopping to look up at him.
“Try it again,” Joshua said with a smile as he cracked his knuckles. As I began to play the opening three notes, he joined in turning something so simple into an amazing medley. As we kept playing I turned to see that his eyes were closed and he was shaking his head from side to side. Swaying silently and happily with the music. Whatever lasting pain or trauma that one held me back from playing this gorgeous instrument, was chased away. It made me want to take up lessons again, with a much kinder teacher. It only got better as he opened his mouth and sang in a beautiful and clear voice. “Heart and soul, I feel in love with your, heart and soul. The way a fool would do madly`'' By the time we had ended the song I found myself singing with him though I don’t think my voice was as good as his.
“Thank you,” I said, leaning my head against one of his arms.
“No need to thank me.” As I sat there with my head against his arm. He began to play a new tune, one softer and lighter than the other. “Music should be used to spread joy and love, not taught to be some kind of sick training or something that can be used by parents to show off how good their kids are.”
“What song is this?” I asked.
“It doesn’t really have a name just yet.” He answered, “It is just a little piece I am working on, it helps my mind focus on what I am doing. It also helps that this talent has gotten me a nice little gig for an upcoming party.”
“What party?”
“I am playing accompaniment in a band that is for Hezekiah Wallace’s club tomorrow night.” I looked up at the older boy in a bit of surprise. “Let’s just say I have a few friends that were able to get me on stage that night. The other pianist had a bad case of disappearing.”
“Did you kill him?”
Joshua stopped playing the piano for a moment and looked down at me with mock horror. “Come on now, Verona. I may be a former drug runner and have connections to the streets, but I am not a murderer.” He let out a chuckle before adding in a very calm voice. “No I have people to do that for me.” Now it was my turn to look up at him in pure horror but he only started laughing like a mad man. “Okay, I am just kidding. No one is dead, I just had a friend of mine slip him about 20,000 dollars to go on a nice little vacation.” He held up a few of the island's gold coins. “Gotta love how much this country pays Tarun’s gold.”
“So what is your plan?”
Joshua went back to playing his soft piano tune. “See what I can learn from the muscions, and see what I can find out backstage. He lost a lot of produce in that raid, so I am curious to see how he bounces back.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“It’s no secret that Hezekiah sells cocaine in his club. It is one of the most exclusive nightclubs in the city, only the best of the best can go in. Often with different themes to keep the party going, if I recall you saw what swimsuit night was like.” My cheeks burned a bit as I thought back to what I had seen from Aisu's eyes. “Tomorrow night is gonna be a classical night, so a lot of dancing, a lot of talking, a perfect time to slightly increase your prices. Best way to make a profit if you know you aren’t getting more for a while is to increase your prices. Especially since losing that much of the powder is gonna be bad for him in the long run?”
“Why? “
“Well let me put it like this, let’s say you were selling snacks at our school despite the rules that we have against it. Now in order to not get in trouble you weren’t the one selling it but you had your friends do it for you and gave them a small piece of what you made overall that day. Now let’s say one of your friends got their locker raided and all the snacks you gave them got taken away. Not only would you lose out on a bunch of money, but now you would be hesitant to give your friend anymore of your snacks to sell. It would be a risk if they got caught again.” Xavier explained. “It would be different if Hezekiah lost a bunch of his own produce, but when you are selling for someone else, it ruins your name if you make a mistake like that.”
“How can I help?” I asked with a bit of determination.
“We were just gonna discuss that,” we both turned around as my daddy came walking into the room. His hair was a bit damp from his shower and he was holding the book that daddy Thanani had come and gotten him. “Also watch your mouth, young lady.”
I sent a scowl toward Thanani. “Don’t look at me like that stowaway, shouldn’t have been cursing with your friend.”
“Irritating cat,” I mumbled.
My daddy ruffled my braided hair a bit before leaning up against the grand piano. “So what we have planned for tomorrow evening is a stake out. I will be sitting in a car about two blocks over with a few members of NYPD and Xaiver will be wearing a wire. We are hoping that one of the performers for the evening might let one slip, or even catch a worker slipping a guest something. If they have that they can use it as a way to do a formal drug raid on the building and even shut down his club for as much as two months. That should get things rolling on Katherine’s end to try and either get this lifted or run right into a little trap we have on another source of revenue for them.”
“What can I do to help?”
“Well… we are also sending you inside of the building that night.” My daddy then held up a hand to kill the excitement spreading across my face. “On the condition that Trinity invites you, apparently this week is the 7th anniversary of his nightclub Alpha and Omega, being opened, and apparently he has an announcement to make. During the 5th anniversary Trinity was there to open the show with Aailyah, so if she invites you to join this party. Then I will allow you to come as well with your own wire. Try and see what Trinity knows, as well as do a bit of walking around.”
I nodded my head slightly at that and before I could ask my daddy a question I got a text message. I looked at it for a moment before smiling to myself. It was a series of pictures of Trinity and Aailyah hanging out today. However it was the last message on the bottom that caught my attention. “Do you happen to have a black, red or deep purple gown? If not I can pay for it, I want you at a party tomorrow night.”
“Looks like I get to come after all.” I said, showing my daddy the text I had gotten. “And I have an idea.”
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The next afternoon I was waiting outside of my fake hotel about five blocks away from my real one. I had an entire plan to go to the mall today with Trinity in order to have her buy me a gown. This way I could do my best and pick Trinity’s brain about a few issues that my daddy wanted me to. Mostly what other operations her dad has been doing, what could be expected at this meeting, and maybe get her to take me to another one of their houses so we had an idea of where the others might be. A moment passed and her usually limo pulled up and a man opened the door allowing me to step inside of the car. As soon as that door opened, I could feel her before I could see her. A dark purple aura began to slide out of the open door, swirling towards me only to be carried away by the heavy wind that was blowing through the city today.
“What is Katherine doing here?” I thought to myself. My feet felt like I was stuck in the mud, my entire body was frozen as if I had been caught in the stare of Medusa.
“Cindy?” I saw Trinity poke her head out of the car door. She was dressed in a black skirt, dark leggings underneath and a nice looking black jacket with white sleeves. Her hair was done up in a new style of braids, much thicker than the ones I had in my head. She climbed out of the car and walked over to me. “I know,” she said in a soft voice. “But she is being dropped off nearby and I know you don’t really like being near her. We just picked her up.”
“Okay,” I said, taking my own cap and pulling it down over my head. I had gotten dressed in a pair of jeans, a dark red shirt and shoes and had a black jacket slung over my shoulders. “Stop it!” I thought to myself as I forced my fear as deep as I could. I came here to get over this and take her down, so maybe this was the best chance. I took a deep breath before taking Trinity’s hand and she helped me inside of the familiar limo. Katherine was sitting to one side of the limo near the front, sipping on a drink and reading a very small hand held book. I was glad to see Aaliyah again, as she was sitting near the back of this curved couch that was inside of this limo. For an act that was supposed to be me and her acting as cousins. We hadn’t really seen or spoken to each other since she had taken me to the club where I first met Trinity. She was wearing a pair of dark pants, and a cream covered V neck sweater.
“Can you please hurry up,” Katherine said without looking up from her book. “If you let out even a degree of heat, I will not be happy with any of you.”
“Y-Yes ma’am,” I said softly as I quickly closed the door behind me. “H-How are you doing, Mrs. Katherine?”
“Just fine,” she sounded annoyed, which was both a good thing and a bad thing. Good cause she would be a bitch during this trip and it was fun to see her like that, it was a bad thing because she was in a bitchy mood.
Everyone suffered.
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(A/N: I normally wouldn’t put a note here. However, I just wanted to explain something. If you seen one of my posts in one of the society pages here. I know I said expect three chapters this week, however the reason it is gonna be too. Is we have reached the halfway point of this story, so I want to spend the next week planning out the true second half. So sorry about that. Also one other change is coming up in my posting schedule will be a bit off for a few weeks as well. I am going on an event with my ministry group for my college called Fall Retreat from oct 13th to the 16th so instead of six chapters of project exodus it is gonna be three. I will try and catch up with my regular posting dates once I get back.)
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