Capone iii, p.25
Capone III, page 25
With the amount of guards that was at the front, I thought we would be good. Now I felt like I was about to throw up. “Oh fuck.”
Jaiden looked at me. “Calm down and breathe, E… There’s only one way upstairs, so we just need to hold down up here.”
I watched as he walked over toward the terrace, he stood by so he wouldn’t be seen, and then looked at me and Ella. “I feel like I’m about to piss on myself.”
Even though it wasn’t a moment to laugh, Ella laughed. “Don’t panic because we don’t need that baby coming. We going to be good, and you and the baby will be too.”
“Let me get your phone,” Jaiden told me, and I handed it to him. I watched as he dialed a number and put it on speaker, turning it down some. “Capo… you might need to head back.”
“What up? Where’s Erin?”
“They got past the guards and they in the house.”
The line went quiet. “Yo, Jaiden… listen to me carefully.”
“I’m listening.”
“Remember everything I told you. You let that shit bang when it comes to protecting the family. Don’t second guess shit, let that shit go. The safe in my roo—”
“Got it already,” Ella said.
“Good shit, El… you already know what to do. Hold it down, I’m coming now… ‘bout an hour and a half out.”
“We’ll make it back in under that,” I heard Kincaid say in the background. “I’ll call Capri, and make sure she’s good.”
“Jaiden,” Capone stressed. “Protect your sister and my son… don’t let nothing happen to them.” I knew he was stressing that he wasn’t here.
“Capo, I got them,” Jaiden promised.
He handed me the phone. “Baby.” I didn’t want to look like a baby, but I was fucking scared out my ass.
“Erin, listen to me. I need you to shake all that shit off and if you have to, have his back. Ella will have yours too. I love you and I’m coming to you, ight?”
“Yeah.”
“Remember what I told you, Lady Capo… when it comes to you and…” Big Mike reminded me of the advice he had given me.
“I hear you,” I whispered.
“Love you, Erin.”
“I love you too.”
We ended the call and I looked at Jaiden. It felt like this was the first time I was looking at my brother as a young man, and not the teenager that used to smoke weed. That vein in the side of his neck bulged as he checked his bullets.
The house was massive, and it was a lot of ground to cover if you didn’t know your way around the house. I knew the house like the back of my hand, and that was because my biggest fear was getting lost in it.
Jaiden left the room first. His walk was different, he was confident like he knew he was about to put somebody through it. I had to thank Capone for it though, he instilled so much into him that Jaiden was a different person.
I stayed in the room watching the cameras and my eyes nearly came out my head when I saw two more cars roll through the gates. Creeping to the door, I waved for Jaiden to come over toward me.
“Two more cars came through the gates,” I whispered.
“Fuck,” he muttered and looked around the room.
Ella came out the closet and tossed him another gun, while she put the other one in the pocket of her robe. “We gotta get down to the garage and get up out of here.”
“Word.”
“You and Erin go and get Jo and CJ,” he told us, and we rushed down the hall.
Ella was shaking and I put my hand over her hand. “Capone isn’t going to let anything happen to us.”
“I know… I’m just tired of putting my baby through this.”
When we opened the door, Jo was holding CJ in her arms. His eyes were wide with fear and the look on his face broke my heart. “The bad guys again?”
“Yes, Baby. We’re going to be good though…Daddy is on his way, okay.”
“And Daddy never lets anything happen to us,” CJ said while looking between me and his mother.
We all left the room and Jaiden was still at the top of the steps. All we had to do was make it down the stairs, around the corner and to the garage. The only problem was that we didn’t know where they were downstairs.
Jaiden took a deep breath. I couldn’t tell if he was scared or not, because he damn sure didn’t act like it. “I’m going down first, Ella behind me, and the rest of you follow behind. If somebody is downstairs, let me handle it, while you run to the garage. My keys is on the lock box… we’re taking my car. Jo, I need you to start the car and have it waiting for me…okay?”
“Okay. Jaiden, be careful, please.”
Capri: I’m on my way.
Me: No. It’s not safe.
Capri: If you think I’m sitting here you’re crazy.
I knew Capri wasn’t going to sit still if she knew we were in trouble. She was only ten minutes away now, so she would get here quicker than Capone could.
We inched down the steps slowly while Jaiden held his gun, I held mine and Ella held hers. When we got to the bottom step, no one was there. While Jaiden watched, Jo, CJ and Ella scurried to the garage.
Rat tat tat tat
We all hit the floor. Me and Jaiden ducked behind the stairs. “These niggas would have semi-automatics.”
He cocked his gun back and let off a few shots. I turned to see Ella getting Jo and CJ into the garage and quietly closing the door before rushing back over toward us.
“Jaiden, come on man… Capone got you doing his work for him?” I recognized the voice and peeked through the stairs.
Conan?
I knew Conan from the neighborhood, and we even dated for a little bit. He used to always come pick me up and take me out, so Jaiden had become familiar with him. If me and Jaiden happened to be on the porch while he was passing through our block, he would always stop by and play Legos with Jaiden while talking with me.
The reason I broke up with him was because I wasn’t ready to date, and I knew Conan was in the streets heavily. When we broke up, everything ended cool, and we still spoke with each other. I hadn’t thought about him in years, and now he was in my home shooting at me and my family.
“You might want to just go on, Conan. I know your fat ass mama ain’t gonna fit out the house to attend your funeral.”
Conan’s mother had to be about six hundred pounds. She used to come out on her porch, but it had been years since anyone saw her. Jo was friends with her home nurse, and she would tell us how she was getting bigger and bigger.
RAT TAT TATA
Conan let off some more shots. I turned around and almost screamed when I saw somebody coming up from behind us.
POW!
Ella shot him in the shoulder, he dropped to the floor, and she walked over shooting him in the head, snatching his gun from him.
“Jaiden, you familiar?” she held the gun up.
“Hell yeah.” That was the first smile he showed me since he came into the room.
Jaiden spent hours shooting with Big Mike and Capone. I allowed it because he didn’t have anything else to do. I was against him learning and now I was eating my words because I felt at ease knowing that he could protect us.
I’ve always been so used to protecting him that the thought never occurred to me that there would be a day where he had to protect me.
“Go in the garage… go!” Jaiden whispered.
I didn’t want to leave him, and Ella grabbed me. “You’re pregnant… come on. I’ll come back for him,” she promised me.
I had no choice but to trust Ella in this moment. When she put me in the garage and closed the door, I wanted to run back in there behind her. Jo already had CJ in the car and was standing by the car.
She had already started the car and was waiting for Jaiden worried. “I don’t like this, Erin.”
“Me either. We have to trust that he knows what he’s doing.”
“I know. I still don’t like it.”
We heard a bunch of gun shots and ducked some, and waited, praying nobody came into the garage. “Get in the car…. Come on,” Jaiden and Ella ran into the garage.
Me and Jo climbed into the back with CJ, and Jaiden and Ella hopped in the front. “Good shot,” Ella praised Jaiden.
“He stupid as hell. The wall is mirrored.” He put the car in drive, hit the garage opener, and sped out as soon as the glass doors opened.
Soon as we came out, Capri was coming through the gate while shooting the cars behind her. She sped around the fountain, and we followed behind her as we exited the gates and onto the streets.
“Jaiden, careful on the winding road.” I knew this road always gave him trouble and made him nervous.
He bit his bottom lip, as he took the turns right behind Capri. I turned to look out the window, and there were cars following behind us.
“Pony, you know what to do!” Ella yelled, while she was getting her gun ready.
Like he was told, he got down between my legs and ducked down while I pulled my legs up on the chair. Gun shots hit the car, and the window was still in tacked thankfully. With all the turns, it was hard for them to get a clear shot, so they were just letting off shots hoping to hit us.
My phone started to ring, I’d left it in the front so Jaiden answered it. “Yo.”
“Hop on the expressway… I’m about to be coming up on our exit,” Capone ordered him.
“How the....”
“I always keep tabs on my wife, Kid… you should know that. I’m assuming they following you.”
“Yeah… gaining a little bit.”
“Bet. I’mma handle that for you… hop on. Make sure my son on the floor.”
“Bet.” Jaiden merged onto the other side of the road, speeding until he was able to get in front of her.
Capri already knew to follow behind him. We came down the winding road, and then drove down two more streets before we came up on the expressway. Jaiden merged over onto the expressway, and one car turned into three that were following behind us.
Capri separated from behind us to the side of us. I watched her holding the wheel with one hand. I knew she had her hand wrapped around her gun with the other one. I could tell she jumped out of bed because she still had a bonnet and pajamas on.
“Swerve Jaiden!” Jo screamed when one of the cars got in front of him and hit their brakes. He switched to the other lane, going around the car.
Jaiden was doing his best to drive in hopes that Capone would be coming up on us soon. Ella put her window down and leaned out letting off shots.
“Fuck,” she muttered and reloaded, aiming her gun out the window.
If we made it out of this without a scratch, I promised myself I would never take the expressway again. Every time I was on the expressway something bad happened, and now here it was around two in the morning and my seventeen-year-old brother was driving recklessly while cars followed behind us shooting.
“There go Kincaid,” Jaiden said, as he switched lanes, and Kincaid sped by on a motorcycle. He controlled the bike with one hand and held a gun in the other.
I watched as he leaned as low as he could, slowed enough and aimed his gun at the driver side of the car, causing the car to spin out of control. He dipped over a few lanes, blew a kiss at Capri, who had two cars on her.
There was still one on us, and he moved over a lane, so he was side by side with us, one empty lane in the middle of us separated us. There was a driver, someone in the passenger seat and one man in the back seat.
“Jaiden lean forward,” Ella directed him while she aimed her gun out the window.
Before she could pull the trigger, we heard a bunch of gun shots and turned to see Capone had pulled into the empty lane. He held the wheel while letting his gun go with the other. He tossed his gun on the passenger seat, turning his car and pushing them out the lane, causing them to spin out of control.
I felt like I was in the middle of a movie with the way they were moving. Kincaid had gotten rid of one of the cars, and Capone fell back, switching lanes behind us and went over toward the other one.
In a matter of seconds, Kincaid let off shots and both he and Capone locked eyes, and Capone turned his wheel, causing the car to spin out of control. He hit his brakes, and Jaiden sped up because the car came barreling across the lanes, missing us by inches.
My phone rang and Ella grabbed it from Jaiden. “Yeah.”
“Tell Jaiden to take this next exit and follow me. Kincaid and Capri gonna be behind you just in case.”
“I got you.”
Jaiden hit his signal like we hadn’t broken every damn law imaginable. We got off at the next exit, and I leaned down to check on CJ.
“You good, Pooh?”
He peered up and nodded his head. “Did Daddy get the bad guys.”
I smiled rubbing his curls. “You already know he did.”
“Yes,” he whispered, and then continued to lay on the floor.
I hated that he had to be part of this, and it killed me that we even had to go through this. We all wanted this to be over. Life had become so scary lately, and I was ready for it to return to normal.
We followed Capone for another thirty minutes until we pulled into a small, gated community. He pulled to the security desk, and when the security guard stepped out the booth with a AK47, I gasped.
He dapped Capone up and opened the gates. We pulled through the community until we came to a large Cape Cod style home. He killed the engine, and then hopped out the car, opening the door and pulling Jaiden out the car.
“You good, Kid?” He looked him in the eyes, checking him all over.
Jaiden’s hands were shaking as he shook his head yes. “Ye…yeah, I’m goo…good.” He stammered.
The adrenaline was wearing off and I knew exactly how he felt. “You did good, Jaiden. You hear me? You got your aunt, CJ, and your sister out of there.” He looked in the car. “Thank you, Ella.”
“Don’t mention it,” she climbed out the car, pulling the seat up so Jo could get out. She grabbed CJ out the car, and he went running to his mother.
Ella hugged her son and kneeled down until she was face to face with him. “You did so good, Pony. I’m so proud of you, Baby.”
“I was praying. Erin told me whenever I’m scared to say a prayer and it helped.”
Ella looked at me and smiled, before she looked back to her son. “She was right. I think I’m going to do the same thing now.”
CJ hugged his mother before he ran to his father who hugged him tightly, kissing him. With CJ in one arm, he still helped me out the back of the car and pulled me into his arms.
“You alright, Baby?”
“I’m fine. I would much rather not have to do this… Capone, this is getting crazy.”
He put CJ down. “I know. My plan was to handle it tonight, and then Jaiden called me. We’re safe for now, and then I’ll face the music tomorrow when I go back to the house.”
“What are you going to tell the police?”
“I was in Lennox Hills with my family for a little holiday vacation and I got the alert that my house was being robbed. I already erased the surveillance from my phone, so if they ask there is none.”
“Whose house is this?”
“Yours. I bought it for your birthday. We have lake access right in the backyard.”
So much had happened that I couldn’t even take in the fact that this man bought me a whole vacation house for my birthday. I held his chest while trying to put my thoughts together. Capri and Kincaid walked over, and she leaned on the car.
“Capone, I feel like you’re like a lion playing with your prey before you strike. You need to strike because I can’t take too much more.”
He ignored his sister and let us into the house. It had flowers and a balloon arch with happy birthday. I smiled as I took everything in, because although I was scared and regretted this life, I was grateful to have a husband that cared to celebrate me, even in the midst of the chaos in our lives.
“I feel bad that you had to spoil your surprise for me.”
“It’s alright, I got something else up my sleeve.” He kissed my head.
CJ ran from room to room taking everything in. The house gave major lake house vibes with the soft grays, tan, and blues.
Once everyone was settled down and we were in the master suite, I got comfortable in the bed and looked around, scared that something else might happen. “Nothing is happening to you, Gorgeous. Me and Kincaid are gonna stay up, but we’re good.”
I stared at the ceiling before looking over at Capone who stood by the window. “Do you know Conan?”
“Yeah. I heard about him.”
“He was the one in the house. I used to date him a while ago.”
His jaw flinched as he looked my way. “Oh yeah?”
“Yes. I just wanted you to know.”
He smiled. “I’ll handle it.”
I yawned, getting as comfortable as I could. Here I thought with us being in the New Year, we would have a fresh start. Instead, we were still in the same situation, and I was ready for it to end. We had a baby coming and I couldn’t grab a baby and run out the house.
We needed to end this now.
THIRTY-FOUR
CAPONE
It was my wife’s birthday.
Erin loved to celebrate everyone else and would plan something to make the people in her life feel loved and celebrated. I wanted to do the same thing for her because she deserved it. The past couple of months hadn’t been easy for us.
We were worried about our daughter, then I had Trilla making shit more difficult for me. Today was about Erin, and I made sure that nothing would ruin the day that I had planned for her. She was now seven months pregnant, and her stomach was huge.
At our last doctor’s appointment, the doctor said she was carrying large, and we found out she had gestational diabetes. Her mood the past few weeks hadn’t been the best, and she didn’t want to do anything for her birthday. It hurt seeing her feel so down about a day that I worshipped. Erin’s birthday was like what Christmas was for kids.
Her birthday was the day she came into this world for me. Yeah, it took more than a few years for our paths to cross, but they eventually did, and I promised myself every day that I would never this day go uncelebrated.
