The Trophy Wife Read online

  Peanut pulled out his cell phone and dialed his own voice mail. There was no way he was going to call Hova because he already knew what the answer would be. “Yo, Hov, this Nut. Hit me back ASAP. There’s a wrench in the plan,” he said. Peanut hung up the phone and looked at Lynch. “Nigga didn’t answer the phone. I don’t know ’bout you, but I’m not trying to make a wrong move, nah mean? I say we wait until he calls us back before we do anything.”

  “I feel that.” Lynch put his gun underneath his seat. “We better tail this bitch, though. It looks like she trying to hide out, and we need to know where to find her when Hova do call.”

  Peanut wanted to lose London to ensure Jada’s safety, but he figured that Lynch would grow suspicious if he changed the plan too much. At least they ain’t circled in chalk, he thought. He nodded his head. “A’ight, let’s roll. Make sure you ain’t following her too close.”

  London drove with one hand on the bottom of her steering wheel, and Jada clung to the other one as they rode down the city streets. She rubbed the back of Jada’s hand as she looked over at the little girl sitting beside her. She couldn’t wait to begin her new life with Jada and Kalil. It was what she always wanted—a man who loved her to the depths of her being and a child to care for. Maybe one day Kalil and I can give Jada a little brother or sister.

  She parked on Fiftieth Street and walked around the car to let Jada out. She grabbed their bags out of the backseat and then made her way into the hotel.

  Lynch tried to lean his seat back to make himself more comfortable in the car. They had been sitting on Lexington Avenue for two hours, and he was growing more impatient with every passing minute. “Why he ain’t called yet?”

  “Just chill out, fam. He gon’ call.” Peanut pulled out a spliff and prepared to gut the inside. He knew that he was playing with Lynch, making him wait for a phone call that would never come. With expertise he rolled a Dutch and sparked it up. He could tell that Lynch was irritated by his demeanor. He hit the blunt, held the smoke in his lungs, and then held it up for Lynch to partake. “Calm yo’ ass down and hit this shit,” Peanut told him.

  Lynch shook his head. “Don’t nobody fuck with weed no more, nigga. That mild shit doesn’t even get me high, fam.” He pulled out a small plastic coke-filled baggie. “This right here gon’ get your boy right.”

  Peanut frowned. He didn’t know that Lynch got down like that. This basehead mu’fucka . . . Peanut shook his head. “I don’t mess around with that. Today you hitting coke, next week your ass will be smoking rocks.”

  Lynch laughed it off as if it was a joke, but Peanut was dead serious. He had learned that golden rule from Kalil. A coke habit was something that he never wanted to have.

  “This here will give your scary ass some balls,” Lynch added.

  “A’ight, mu’fucka. You feeling good,” Peanut replied, giving Lynch a pass on the slick shit he’d just said.

  Before Lynch could respond, his cell phone rang. He checked the caller ID and a smirk crossed his face. “It’s Hov.”

  Peanut quickly grabbed the phone from Lynch’s hand. He didn’t want his white lie to be discovered. “Let me talk to this mu’fucka,” he stated as he flipped up the face. “Hov!” he answered as Lynch looked on in anticipation.

  Hova asked, “Did you take care of my little problem for me?”

  “Nah, we ran into a little situation. She got a kid with her,” Peanut said, hoping that Hova would wait for a better time to get at London.

  “I don’t care who’s with her. Grab her and the kid and take them to one of the money spots. Keep them there until you hear from me.”

  Peanut hung up the phone and shook his head. He knew that he could no longer stall. Hova had given the order. Now he and Lynch had to follow through.

  “What he say?”

  “Snatch the bitch and the kid. We’ve got to take them to one of the stash spots.”

  “That’s what the fuck I’m talking about. You ready to rock, son?”

  “Let’s roll, baby,” Peanut replied hesitantly as he gave his man a pound.

  Jada sat Indian-style on the bed and watched attentively as London stood in front of the mirror and pulled her hair up into a neat bun. “Ms. London, did you steal my daddy from my mommy?”

  London looked at Jada’s reflection and turned toward her. “Jada, what would make you ask that?”

  Before that moment London hadn’t thought twice about how her relationship with Kalil was affecting Jada.

  “I don’t know,” she replied with a shrug. “Before my daddy went to jail he loved Mommy. Ever since he met you, he don’t like her anymore. What if you make him don’t like me too?”

  London smiled at Jada and made her way over to her. She sat down on the bed beside her. “Jada, I love your father very much, and I know that he cares a lot about me too. I haven’t known your father for very long, but I do know that he loves you more than anyone in this entire world.”

  Jada began to beam with pride as she listened to London speak.

  London laughed and put her arms around Jada. “You are his pride and joy, sweetheart, and I would never do anything to try and take your father away from you. And you know what?”

  “What?”

  “I love you too. I would like to be a part of your family, if you’d let me. Can I share your father’s heart with you?” London asked. It was important for her to have Jada’s blessing because she knew how important Kalil’s daughter was to him. She never wanted Jada to feel threatened or feel that she had to compete to keep her father’s love.

  “Yeah, I guess I can share him.”

  “Well, thank you very much.” London hugged the little girl. “Now I’m going to go and take a shower so that we can get ready for bed.”

  “What about swimming?” Jada asked.

  “It’s too late to go tonight, but I promise that will be the first thing we do tomorrow.”

  Jada nodded happily and began to bounce on the bed. “I’m going swimming, I’m going swimming,” she sang, making London chuckle at her antics.

  London was about to go into the bathroom when Jada said, “Ms. London, I’m hungry.”

  London pulled out the phone book and quickly located a pizza restaurant. “You like pizza?” she asked.

  Jada nodded and London placed the delivery order.

  “Okay, Jada, I’m about to take a shower. When the deliveryman gets here, come and get me so I can pay for it.”

  “Okay,” Jada said as she watched London enter the bathroom and close the door behind her.

  “Aye, my man, I’m looking for my wife. We’re vacationing here, and I just flew in on a separate flight. I can’t remember what room number she told me she was in and I can’t reach her on her cell phone,” Lynch lied as he looked innocently into the concierge’s eyes.

  Peanut stood on the outside of the hotel and peered in as he watched Lynch interact with the man behind the check-in desk. He flipped the face of his cell and attempted to reach Kalil.

  The automated voice told him for the umpteenth time, “The Nextel subscriber that you are trying to reach is unavailable. Please try your call again later.”

  Peanut quickly redialed the number one more time, more out of desperation than anything. Where the fuck is this nigga? This time he got the voice mail.

  “Yo, you’ve reached Kalil. Leave a message.”

  “Yo, Kalil, this Peanut. I need you to hit me back ASAP, fam. This is important. It’s about your shorty.” Peanut hung up the phone and turned back toward the hotel. “Oh shit!” he exclaimed as he bumped directly into Lynch, who was standing closely behind him. “Fuck, nigga! What the fuck you doing, yo, sneaking up on me and shit?”

  Peanut was hoping that Lynch hadn’t heard the message he’d just left for Kalil.

  “You good?” Lynch asked.

  “Yeah, I’m good.” Peanut peered at Lynch. “Is you good? Did you find out the room number?”

  “Yeah, I got it.”

  “Fuck we st
anding out here for then?” Peanut asked sarcastically as he walked into the hotel. Kalil, you runnin’ out of time, baby. Where you at? Peanut didn’t want to bring harm to Kalil’s little girl, but he knew that if he went against the grain, it would establish beef between himself and Hova, something he didn’t want. If it came down to it, he would have to handle his business. He knew that he didn’t have a choice. It was all in the game.

  Tap, tap, tap!

  Jada jumped up as soon as she heard the knocking at the door. She was so hungry, she could eat an entire cow. “It’s about time,” she whined. “Ms. London, food’s here!” she called out. She walked over to the door and opened it without hesitation. Her smile was quickly covered by a firm hand, and she was forced back into the room.

  “Hmm, hmm!” Her cries were muffled by the two men who rushed into the room with their guns drawn.

  “Shut the fuck up!” Lynch whispered harshly. He pulled out the chair from underneath the corner desk, sat the little girl down in it, and pressed the gun to her head.

  Peanut’s conscience ate at him as he saw the little girl’s eyes swell with tears.

  “Shut the fuck up, brat, before I blow your brains all over the room.”

  Lynch’s words only made Jada cry harder. She began to sob heavily as she tried to stop herself from crying.

  Lynch heard the shower running and knew that Hova’s wife was in the bathroom. He sat down on the bed with his gun aimed at Jada as he patiently waited for London to emerge.

  London turned off the running water. She stepped out of the shower and began to lotion her body down, applying her favorite Victoria’s Secret scent. She paused when she didn’t hear the sound of the television going in the room. “Jada, everything okay in there?” She quickly stepped into her satin pink-and-green polka-dot pajama pants and white camisole top. “Jada!” she called again.

  London gathered her personal items off of the vanity and exited the bathroom. As soon as she opened the door she was greeted by the barrel of a pistol. Before she even had the chance to scream, she was backhanded to the floor. She looked up and immediately recognized the face of one of her husband’s disciples. He found me, she thought. She glanced over at a frightened Jada, who was forced to sit still in the chair and was also being held at gunpoint. London knew very well the type of people her husband had working for him. Lynch she knew personally. She’d heard stories of his murder sprees. She silently wished that her husband had sent any other disciple besides him.

  London did the only thing that she could think of: pull her wifey card. “What are you doing? I want to speak to my husband now!” She tried to sound as if she wasn’t frightened, even though she was silently counting the minutes left in her young life.

  “Oh, now you want to speak to Hova? Now this bitch wants to talk to Hova.” Lynch pointed at London and looked back at Peanut. “Guess what? Hova sent us.”

  Lynch wasn’t telling London anything that she didn’t already know. She had run away and had hoped to leave town before he could catch up with her. Now it was too late.

  “Let me just speak to him, please,” she cried. “Just let me call him.”

  Peanut cut in. “Maybe we should let her call.”

  “What?”

  Peanut shrugged. “It ain’t gon’ hurt nothing. Let the bitch have what she wants. Hova still gon’ murder her.” He was hoping that once Hova heard his wife’s voice he would call off the hit. It was a long shot, but he figured it was worth a try.

  “Whatever . . . but she talking on speaker.” Lynch flipped out his phone and dialed Hova’s number. He knelt down and grabbed London by the hair as he put the phone up to her lips.

  Hova answered, “I hope you’re calling me to tell me that my problem is taken care of,” making it obvious that he’d checked the caller ID.

  “Jake?” London stated with fear in her voice. “Jake, baby, what are you doing? I wasn’t leaving. I just needed some time to clear my head. Please stop this,” she begged.

  “London, London, London, you disobeyed me.”

  “I didn’t, Jake. I was going to come back. I just needed time to get my head together. You know that I love you. I would never leave you,” she lied. “I took a vow to love you forever. You know our marriage means everything to me.”

  He could hear the desperation in her voice, and a smile spread across his face. He was amused with her Oscar-worthy attempt to get him to change his mind. “Vows? I must have missed the part where you vowed to be a lying bitch. Or the part where you vowed to have an affair.”

  Tears flooded London’s eyes as she slowly came to the realization of what this was really about. Oh my God, he knows about Kalil, she thought to herself.

  Hova asked, “Did you enjoy fucking Kalil?”

  “Jake, please . . . don’t do this,” she whispered. She knew that her husband was a cold man and that there was no way he was going to let her live after her betrayal.

  After a long silence on the line, Jake finally said to his disciples, “Finish the job. Till death do us part,” he stated mockingly before hanging up the phone.

  “You heard what he said. Get the fuck up.” Lynch pulled London to her feet. He licked his lips as he looked her up and down. Her nipples were hard from the cold chill that had taken over her body. “I’m gon’ bless you with this dick before you die,” he whispered as he openly lusted for her.

  London jerked away from him. “Don’t touch me.”

  Lynch smacked her across the face with his gun, causing a deep gash to appear on her cheek, and blood flowed freely onto the hotel floor.

  “Ms. London!” Jada cried.

  Lynch called out to Peanut, “Keep that brat quiet before I shut her up myself.”

  “Jada, it’s okay, sweetheart. Everything’s going to be okay.” London looked the little girl directly in her eyes and she could see the fear in Jada’s pupils. She wanted nothing more than to keep Kalil’s daughter safe. “Why don’t you let her go? I’ll come with you. Just leave her alone. She has nothing to do with this.”

  Lynch pulled London out of the hotel room and Peanut pulled Jada and followed closely behind. Lynch whispered in London’s ears as he led her through the hotel lobby and out the door, “If you say one word, my man is gon’ murder the little girl.”

  He hit the button on his keys to pop the trunk and then forcefully stuffed London inside.

  “Wait,” she protested.

  Her cries were ignored as they folded Jada up and stuffed her in next to London. They slammed the trunk, leaving London and Jada in the dark, cramped space.

  “I want my daddy,” Jada whispered.

  From the sound of her voice, London could tell that she was crying. “Me too, sweetheart, me too,” she said as she held on to Jada’s hand tightly and closed her eyes. She prayed to God that this was a bad dream and that, when she opened her eyes, everything would be okay.

  Chapter Twelve

  Breaking news! We have live coverage of a high-speed chase happening right at this very moment. The authorities say that the chase has been in progress for over an hour and that the driver is holding nothing back!

  Kalil watched the television and couldn’t believe his eyes. June was on CNN, driving like a madman, trying to elude the cops. He watched as the white Lexus maneuvered in and out of lanes going at least 120 miles per hour. The sight of June’s car made Kalil’s jaws clench and fist ball up. Just hours earlier, he was looking down the barrel of June’s gun, thinking his life was about to come to an end.

  “Yo, Quinn, look at this shit!” Kalil yelled, his eyes glued to the fiasco. Kalil began to think about how he could have been in right alongside June in the high-speed chase. Thinking about it, he was sort of glad that June pulled that stunt. If he hadn’t tried to kill Kalil, he would’ve been in the car with him.

  Quinn entered the living room and saw the chase happening live and in living color. “Is that—”

  Kalil cut Quinn off mid-sentence. “Yeah, that’s that bitch-ass nigga.”


  They just stared at the television set and watched the drama unfold. June’s Lexus caught a flat and began to fishtail, causing the vehicle to lose all control. The helicopter caught the whole chase from a bird’s-eye view.

  Just before June could gain control of the car, the inevitable happened and the chase was over. His car crashed into the back of a semitruck, causing him to spin around wildly, forcefully slamming his car into the guardrails alongside the highway.

  BOOM!

  The car instantly burst into gigantic flames, sending debris flying everywhere. The wild accident caused a domino effect, and cars began to spin crazily, causing a massive pileup. It was complete pandemonium unfolding live on CNN.

  “Damn!” Quinn yelled as he watched it as if it was a high-packed action movie.

  Almost instantly, Kalil and Quinn began to smile. It was sort of a guilty pleasure to see that June’s karma had caught up with him so quickly.

  “Karma’s a bitch.” Kalil turned off the TV and began to rub his bandaged chest. The spots where the gunshots hit were badly bruised and sore. But Kalil would take the bruises over holes anyway. “Yo, Quinn, if you didn’t put the doubt in my head, I would be dead right now.” Kalil thought about how he’d vested up just before the setup.

  “I knew something was funny about the nigga. I just had a gut feeling. That’s why I followed you there.” Quinn slapped hands with his cousin.

  “That’s one less thing I have to worry about now. He should be glad I didn’t catch up with him. I had something for him.” Kalil sat on the couch and thought about his next task—telling Hova he had nothing for him. “Man, I owe Hova dope or money, and I have neither.”

  “What you going to do?” Quinn asked, ready for whatever.

  “I’m going to see him.”

  Hova sat at his office desk that overlooked Club Heaven and smoked his Cuban cigar. His insides were boiling, thinking about his wife cheating with another man. What made him even more enraged was the fact that he knew her lover.