“Oh, grow up, Addison! She’s old, senile, and needs to just kick the bucket already.”
My mouth hung opened as I stared at the phone. “What the fuck is your problem? Nana hasn’t done anything to you, but love you. She gave you her last and wanted nothing, but for you to spend time with us. Why the hell do you hate her?”
“Fuck her! Mama never stood up for me when I needed her the most. My dad kicked me out and disowned me all because I wanted to live my life. I minded my business and made sure not to go over my credit limit. The moment my dad gave me an ultimatum to either join him or marry within the group, I gave him my ass to kiss. He couldn’t tell me how to live my damn life!”
“You have got to be kidding me. You are treating grandma like shit because you couldn’t be a spoiled brat anymore?”
My mother scoffed. “Fuck you.”
Three beeping noises echoed in my ear indicating that she had hung up. I paced the floor with my hands on my hips. After all these years, my mother chose to be a selfish evil bitch all because her dad wanted her to pull her weight. Sadly, I wasn’t even surprised, but I couldn’t help but wonder why these so called reapers never checked in on grandma. I mean, if she was my grandfather’s wife, I would’ve thought they kept her living comfortably until someone else took over. I shrugged. I guess there wasn’t any use thinking about that. None of them were around and I was already trapped into one engagement.
A loud chime echoed throughout the room, causing me to slightly jump. I looked down at my phone, but realized I didn’t have any notifications. Scrunching my eyebrows for a brief second, I chuckled when I realized it was the phoneI found at Mr. Adalyn’s house. I forgot I hooked it up to the charger when we got back earlier this morning.
I picked up the phone and to my surprise, the passcode was turned off. An uneasy feeling settled in the pit of my stomach. I mean, who walked around without a security code or face ID set up? I shook my head and tapped the screen to bring the phone to life.
My love: Where are you?
I frowned. Now I felt terrible. Mr. Adalyn didn’t have his phone, and he was probably going to be in huge trouble for not talking to his girlfriend or wife. A wave of jealousy rushed through me; I didn’t have anyone who worried about me like this. All I had was a creepy man who bought me. I would probably never experience love. I shook my head. There was no point in pouting over my own decisions. Besides, at the end of the day, as long as my nana was good, then I’d be fine. I exhaled and decided to text ‘my love’ back. Hopefully, they won’t accuse me of being some mistress and just provide me instructions on how to get the phone back to Mr. Adalyn.
Opening the messages apps, I noticed one other text message that caught my eye. I didn’t want to pry, but maybe it was someone who knew how to get ahold of Mr. Adalyn without getting him in trouble with his wife or girlfriend. Opening the message, I noticed there was only one item in the thread, and it was a video. My thumb hovered over the play icon before I closed my eyes. What was I doing? I couldn’t be invading this man’s privacy like that! Then again, the battle to do the right thing was losing against my curiosity.
As soon as I hit the play button, my eyes bulged in horror. Dash’s face took over the screen. I hadn’t seen or heard from Dash in over five months and just assumed he was assigned somewhere else. I mean, he was a big flirt and alwaystold me how beautiful I was and that probably irritated Bruno. It’s not like I ever paid him any mind because he literally gave the same line to all of the women he ran across, but even still, he was a sweetheart. On the outside, he tried his hardest to be this mean killer, but deep down, he was a softy.
The same gentle brown eyes that sparkled with excitement every time he saw me was now staring back at me and was full of terror. The kindness was replaced with fear and anger. I watched as he sat on stairs that looked like the one’s at Mr. Adalyn’s house while holding on to his neck. Tears formed in my eyes as I watched the blood seeping through his fingers.
“Any last words?” a deep male voice asked through the video.
I listened as the man holding the camera identified himself as Seojun. I scrunched up my eyebrows. Who was Seojun? I had never heard of him before, well, I haven’t run across him before if he worked for Mr. L. I’ve had a few personal guards following me over the past year, like Dash, but I was good about remembering names. His was unfamiliar. Maybe he worked for Mr. Adalyn?
I screamed when I saw a bullet lodge into Dash’s forehead, causing blood to splatter across the floor and onto the lens of the camera. Just before the video ended, I saw the profile of a deep honey-butter complected man end the video. Bile began to rise in my throat as I rushed into my private bathroom and heaved. Tears stung my eyes as the image replayed over and over again. Why did that man kill Dash? Better yet, who the hell was he? Was he one of Mr. Adalyn’s cleaning crew members? I shook my head as I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.
I couldn’t wrap my head around what the hell was happening. Why would one of Mr. Adalyn’s cleaning team kill Dash? This happened months ago, so what did they do with his body? Did Mr. L know about this? I wanted answers but Ineeded to tell Mr. L what I just saw just in case he wasn’t aware. I may not have liked the man, but one of his followers was killed in cold blood.
My phone began to ring, causing me to slightly jump. Relief washed over me when I saw Mr. L’s name highlighting my screen and I’m never excited to hear from him.
“Mr. L, I’m glad you called I found this –”
“Bitch, I don’t give a fuck what you found! Why are you running out that damn apartment so early in the morning without telling Bruno?”
I briefly looked at my phone in disbelief as anger coursed through me. Yes, I was sneaking out with K to earn some money, but how the hell did he find out? I made sure to be discreet and the only people who knew I was leaving were my friends and they didn’t know about Bruno.
“I am a grown ass woman. I don’t even understand why I have to tell Bruno every damn thing. You know I’m not out here doing anything.” I snapped, placing my hand on my hip.
“Don’t back talk me! I’ve allowed you to stay on campus and hang out with your little hoe ass friends, but I think you getting a little too comfortable. How I know you not sneaking off to give away my pussy?”
I gritted my teeth as I gripped the phone tighter. I hated when he took claim over me. I wasn’t a piece of property. Rolling my eyes, I dragged my tongue across my teeth. “I am not having sex. All I was doing was helping Akira at her job. Hell, I’ve been doing that for the past few months, and -”
“Is that right? So, Bruno needs to get fucked up, too, for not keeping a better eye on you? I swear it’s hard to find competent muthafuckas to do their damn job.”
Mr. L continued to rant on the phone. I wanted to yell at him to shut the fuck up so that I could tell him what I saw, but a nagging feeling was telling me to keep my mouth shut. I didn’t know why, but I listened.
Mr. L exhaled a heavy sigh, causing me to listen. “Look, your ass graduates in a few more days and then we don’t have to deal with each other anymore. Well, I mean once I get paid after shipping your stupid ass off to your new husband, but then that’s it. No more contract and you can even take your old ass granny with you. But if you fuck this up, Addy, I swear that I will break your fucking neck. Do you hear me?”
My stomach rolled with more nausea as sweat began to coat the insides of my palms.
“Mr. L, please. I haven’t been doing anything I’m not supposed to be.”
“Yeah okay. If I find out you lying to me, bitch, I’ll put you some place where you can freely whore yourself out.”
