The Trophy Wife Read online

  Kalil shook his head and closed the door. He heard the television playing in his daughter’s room and headed toward the noise. He poked his head in her room and whispered, “Hey, baby girl.” He didn’t see his daughter, so he stepped inside the room. “Jada?”

  He heard sniffling coming from the closet. He gently slid open the closet and saw Jada sitting in the corner, crying her eyes out. Kalil dropped to his knees and began to rub Jada’s hair. “Baby girl, what’s the matter?”

  “Nothing.” Jada began to wipe her tears away as if she was okay.

  It hurt Kalil’s heart to see his baby girl in any kind of pain. He began to tremble. He gently grabbed Jada’s face, making her look him directly in his eyes. “You would never lie to Daddy, would you?”

  “N-no,” she stammered, wiping her eyes with both hands.

  “Why are you crying?” Kalil asked again in a soft tone. Jada didn’t respond, but the look in her eyes immediately let him know that he really didn’t want to hear the answer to the question. He gently grabbed her hand and asked her again, “Why are you crying, baby girl? You can tell Daddy anything.”

  “You pinky-swear you won’t tell Mommy?” Jada held her fist up and extended her little finger.

  “I pinky-swear.” Kalil locked fingers with his daughter and kneeled next to her.

  She dropped her head. “Fatboy tried to touch me again.”

  Kalil clenched his fist so tight, it began to hurt. “What?” he asked, his voice shaking. He felt like he was partly to blame if Jada had been harmed, because he’d left a void in her life when he was locked up.

  “Fatboy . . . he touched me down there again.” Jada pointed toward her pelvic area.

  Kalil tightly clenched his jaws and gritted his teeth. His heart ached in a way it never had before. Jada had just delivered a crushing blow. He couldn’t think of anything to say to her. Tears welled up in his eyes as he tried to be strong for his daughter, but the situation was too much to bear. A single tear slid down his cheek as he gently embraced Jada and rocked her back and forth.

  “Baby girl,” he whispered as he comforted his pride and joy, “it’s okay. Everything’s gonna be okay. Daddy will take care of you.”

  His sadness quickly transformed into complete rage as he envisioned Fatboy abusing his little girl. He’s dead. I’m-a dead that fat nigga, Kalil thought as he cried with his daughter. He quickly wiped his tears away so that Jada didn’t see him so weak. He picked her up and headed straight for the door. Then he went to the car and put her in. “Baby girl, stay in this car. No matter what you hear, don’t get out, okay?”

  “No, Daddy,” she cried. “Don’t leave!”

  “I’m never leaving, Jada. I’ll always be here for you. Now lock these doors. I’ll be right back.”

  Jada did as she was instructed, and Kalil headed back into the house. He had some unfinished business. Kalil was so enraged, he was shaking uncontrollably. He couldn’t believe that Destiny had allowed harm to come to their daughter. Staring at the world through rose-colored glasses, she didn’t realize that Fatboy was sexually abusing her own daughter. Kalil felt that Destiny was just as responsible as Fatboy for the abuse, and they both would have to pay. At that moment, it was Destiny’s turn.

  Kalil stormed into the house, tears in his eyes and hate in his heart. He burst through the front door screaming, “Destiny!” He stormed into the back room, and Destiny was still asleep without a care in the world. He picked up the brass lamp that stood on her dresser and walked next to her. He held the lamp over his head, preparing to crush it on her head. “How could you?” Kalil said as he hovered over her. “How could you let him hurt my baby, Des?”

  He couldn’t bring himself to strike her with the lamp, so he dropped it and took off his leather belt.

  Destiny felt the heavy leather belt wrap around her face and quickly jumped up. “Aghh!” she screamed, trying to figure out what was going on. The first thing she saw was Kalil’s hateful eyes. Just the look alone would scare a person half to death.

  Kalil, with all his might, struck her across the face again. Whap!

  “Kalil, what the fuck is wrong with—”

  Whap! He struck her across the back. Whap!

  “Kalil! Stop it!” she screamed in agony.

  “You let this nigga in here. You let this nigga touch on my daughter!” Kalil hit her again, this time catching her on the arm.

  Destiny tried to block the hits, but they were coming too hard and fast. She balled up on the floor and tried to cover her face as Kalil swung wildly and nonstop.

  Whap, whap, whap! The more he thought about Fatboy, the more he swung.

  The thrashing went on for a good five minutes. He wanted her to feel Jada’s pain. Whap! Destiny was balled up in fetal position and crying like a little child. Her screams registered in his brain, and he looked down over her body.

  Kalil was breathing hard. He realized what he was doing and stopped swinging. He began to cry, saying, “Jada is coming with me. You’re just as responsible as he is. Jada will never be with you. Never!” He looked down at Destiny and walked out the house to return to his daughter.

  Destiny managed to pick her sore body off the floor to try to prevent Kalil from taking her daughter away. Her body had at least fifty belt marks on it. She had more stripes on her body than a zebra. She wasn’t far behind him, yelling hysterically, “Where are you going with my daughter? Kalil! Kalil!”

  She grabbed and pulled on Kalil’s shirt, trying to stop him from leaving, but he pulled away from her and made it to the car. He jumped in the car and locked the doors while Destiny banged on the windows.

  “Jada, unlock the door!” Destiny yelled as she stared at her daughter through the window.

  Jada didn’t even look at her mother. She looked over at her father and whispered, “Daddy, I want to go with you.”

  With that, Kalil pulled off, leaving Destiny screaming in the middle of the street. “I will never let anyone hurt you again, baby girl,” Kalil promised as he placed his hand over his daughter’s. The only thing on Kalil’s mind at that point was to find Fatboy and make him pay for what he’d done. In his mind, Fatboy was already dead.

  “You say this is his main spot, right?”

  “Yep. This spot do about fifty a day. I used to trap in there before Fatboy took it over.”

  Kalil and Quinn sat outside of one of Fatboy’s dope houses. They had watched over a hundred fiends come in and out of the house, but no workers. That told Kalil that Fatboy hadn’t picked up his cash nor had it dropped off to him, and that there was a lot of money in the spot. They’d been there for the last four hours and saw no sign of Fatboy.

  Quinn began to get impatient. “Yo, son, let’s just run up in there and let his workers have it. Let’s make him look for us. I’ma kill him for that foul shit!” Quinn cocked back his gun.

  As badly as Kalil wanted to act on Quinn’s idea, he knew it was too risky. He was willing to wait all night for Fatboy if he had to.

  All of a sudden, Jada’s situation became clearer. She’d told Kalil that she liked to dress as a boy because every time she wore dresses Fatboy would try to touch her.

  “Nah, kid. It’s the first of the month. He’s eventually going to come and pick up his money, or one of his workers is going to lead us straight to him.”

  Just before Quinn could respond, a tall, dark-skinned guy walked out of the house with a black duffel bag in his hand.

  “Yo, there go Duke. That’s Fatboy’s little man.”

  Quinn ducked down in his seat to avoid being seen. “Yo, let’s follow him.” He looked over at Kalil.

  Kalil didn’t even answer. He just pulled his hoodie over his head and yanked his pistol from his waist. Without hesitation, he jumped out the car and began to walk aimlessly toward the boy. Kalil’s face was concealed under the dark hoodie and he acted as if he was drunk. Duke didn’t even notice Kalil until he was about ten feet away.

  “Yo, partna!” Kalil said as he stumbl
ed on purpose, nearly falling.

  Duke laughed at Kalil, not knowing that he was sober as a pastor. “Get yo’ drunk ass away from me, son.” He pushed Kalil away from him, causing him to fall.

  In one swift motion, Kalil grabbed his banger, rose up, and pressed the gun to Duke’s forehead. “Where the fuck is Fatboy?” he said through clenched teeth.

  Duke dropped the duffel bag on the ground and threw both of his hands up. “Yo, I don’t know.”

  “Oh, you think it’s a game, huh?” Kalil looked Duke straight in the eyes. “Get yo’ ass in the car.” He grabbed Duke by the collar while still holding the pistol to his head. Then he picked up the duffle bag off the ground, pulled Duke to the ride where Quinn was waiting, and jumped in the backseat along with Duke. His trigger finger was itching. “Yo, I’ma ask you again—Where is Fatboy?”

  “I don’t know,” Duke replied.

  Kalil was tired of playing games with him. He pointed his gun toward Duke’s thigh and pulled the trigger. Boom!

  “Aghh! Aghh shit!” Duke grabbed his thigh in agony.

  Quinn looked back at Duke and began to speak to him calmly, as if they were all friends. “My man ain’t playing over there. If you know where Fatboy at, you betta spit it out.”

  “Or I’ma put another one in you. This time it’s going to be in your face.” Kalil put the pistol to Duke’s head.

  “Okay, okay!” Duke put both of his hands up between the gun and his head. “He went to VA this weekend. He goes up there to re-up once a month with his man. I swear, that’s all I know,” Duke said, tears forming in his eyes.

  Kalil poked Duke in the forehead with his weapon. “When does he get back?”

  “Sunday night,” he said, holding his burning leg.

  “Where is his spot?”

  “He doesn’t let niggas know where he stays, but he is always at his baby mama house.”

  “Where?”

  “In Marcy. Nae-Nae stays in Marcy Projects,” Duke said, his voice trembling.

  Kalil opened the door and pushed Duke out, causing him to fall backward onto the curb. Kalil pointed his gun at Duke, but when he and Duke locked eyes, he couldn’t bring himself to take him out.

  Had it been four years ago, Kalil would’ve smoked him, but he just froze up. All he could see was Jada’s face as he held the gun. He vowed not to leave her again.

  Quinn noticed his cousin’s hesitation and took matters into his own hands. He stuck his gun out his window and let off five rounds into Duke’s body, leaving him dead in the streets and looking into the sky.

  Chapter Five

  The pounding sound of the rain hitting the roof awoke Kalil out of his sleep. He sat up on the couch, his perfectly toned chest, arms, and stomach stiff from the hard work that his new job required. “Damn,” he mumbled as he arose and pulled his sagging pajama pants onto his waist. His entire body ached, and he was exhausted from staying up late all week. Every day after he got off of work, he and Quinn would camp out in Marcy Projects waiting to see any sign of Fatboy or his girl, but they came up empty.

  “Fuck,” he whispered as he rubbed his triceps. He knew that the heavy storm outside would shut down the construction zone for the day, and in a way he was relieved. He hated the fact that he had to work so hard just to eat.

  “What up, bro? You good?” Quinn walked out of the bedroom and headed straight for the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator and examined the contents. He found a carton of orange juice and drank straight from it.

  Kalil joined Quinn in the kitchen. “Shit, I’m hurting bad right now, bro. My pockets ain’t as heavy as they used to be, and on top of that, I can’t stop thinking about what happened to Jada. Fatboy pulled that foul shit, and all I can think about is deading his ass. These mu’fuckin’ Italians got me on the clock too. I can’t even concentrate on finding that fat nigga, because I got to keep this job. This gig is a part of the condition of my parole. This fucking construction shit is for the birds.”

  “That’s because you trying to do something that ain’t you, feel me?” Quinn stared across the table at Kalil with a serious expression. “You out here beating down doors to get legit, but that ain’t you. The only way you know how to get money is the wrong way. That’s just how we do. What you need to do is get in contact with Hova so we can get right again.”

  “I hear you, man,” Kalil stated as he got up and left the table. There was so much temptation for him to get back in the game. He knew that if he got his hands on some work, he could flip a profit almost overnight. He kept reminding himself that he had one good reason to keep his hands clean, and that was Jada.

  “Oh yeah, and you ain’t got to worry about Fatboy coming around no time soon. Word out that you slumped his lil’ worker and that you looking for him. He ain’t gon’ be showing his face no time soon, so Jada should be safe with Destiny until we get at his ass.”

  “That mu’fucka can hide all he want. He better enjoy his last days because I got something hot waiting on him when he does pop up.” The news did ease his worries about letting Jada go back home to Destiny, however. He knew that he couldn’t keep Jada away from Destiny for too long. All he needed was for her to call his P.O. and report the beating that he had given her and he would be sent back upstate without hesitation. He would take Jada back home, but he knew that Fatboy wasn’t crazy enough to come around that way.

  Later that day he got dressed and headed to Jada’s school to pick her up from her dance class. He made sure that he was on time. He didn’t want anybody picking Jada up but him. As he drove up to the school he thought about how he had yelled at Jada’s dance teacher. He knew that he owed her teacher an apology for raising his voice at her the first time they had met. He also wanted to let her know that he would be the only person picking Jada up from now on.

  He saw his daughter and a couple other little girls playing on the playground when he arrived. Why are they outside in this weather? He walked over to pick her up.

  Jada smiled when she recognized her father approaching and left her friends to run toward him. She splashed puddles of water with each step that she took, and the bottom of her pants was dark from being soaked in mud. “Daddy! What are you doing here?” she asked in a sweet tone.

  “Why are you outside? Where is your teacher?”

  “Ms. London told us that we could come outside to play. This mean man came in and was yelling at her, so she sent us out here.”

  “Okay, baby girl, go play with your friends for a minute. Don’t leave this playground. I’ll be right back.”

  Kalil walked into the building and headed for the auditorium. When he entered, he could hear someone crying behind the stage. He walked down the long aisle and made his way up the steps that led to the stage. “London?” he called out when he saw the fragile girl balled up in a corner.

  She looked up and saw him staring sympathetically at her, and she immediately tried to wipe her eyes. Her hair was disheveled and she was shaking so badly that she could hardly stand. “I’m sorry,” she sobbed as she attempted to rush past him. Her head was turned away from him and she was trying to stop herself from crying, but the tears were continuous. They would not stop descending down her face.

  The sight of her made Kalil feel weak inside. The other day the young woman before him had been so confident and strong. Today she seemed to be a completely different person. He grabbed her arm lightly and turned her toward him. It wasn’t until she faced him that he noticed her blackened eye. She also had blood on her face from her busted lip.

  “Who did this to you?” he asked her. The look on her face revealed her embarrassment, reminding Kalil of a frightened child. He took her in his arms and rubbed her hair gently as he swayed back and forth.

  “Jada is outside,” she managed to utter as she avoided his question and pulled away from him.

  “Ssh. I know where she is. I want to make sure you’re okay,” he told her, trying to help her regain composure.

  London stopped trying to res
ist and finally cried uncontrollably into his chest. She didn’t know why she was letting him hold her, but in a way it felt good. She felt safe in his arms.

  “What happened to you?”

  “He just came in here yelling. He grabbed me in front of the girls, so I sent them outside,” she explained, her voice quivering.

  “Who is he?” Kalil wished he’d been there twenty minutes earlier. He didn’t know why, but he wanted to get his hands on whoever hurt her.

  “My husband,” she replied almost in a whisper.

  Kalil lifted her left hand and noticed the large diamond that occupied her ring finger.

  London tried to stop herself from crying, but the comfort of Kalil’s embrace made her feel even more vulnerable.

  “Here, sit down.” He led her toward a chair. He didn’t know exactly what to do for her, but he knew that he couldn’t just leave her there. “Is there someone I can call for you? Do you need me to take you somewhere?”

  London shook her head but didn’t reply. She couldn’t even look at him. The fact that he had found her in her current condition was humiliating. She always wanted to keep the fact that her husband was abusive out of the public eye. Usually when he hit her, he made sure that her bruises weren’t visible. He would always leave his mark in places that clothing would cover, but this time he took it too far, interrupting her class because he thought that she’d lied about the times that she taught at the school. He was relentless in his attack against her and had left her with a black eye.

  “I’m fine,” she said through her tears. “Please just give me some privacy.”

  Her shaking body looked so fragile to Kalil, and he felt like he should do something. “I’ll be right back,” he told her as he got up and rushed to the restroom. He pulled paper towels from the dispenser and turned on the cold water. He soaked the towels in the water and then wrung them out. Then he rejoined London in the auditorium, where she sat still in the chair with her head in her knees.

  Kalil made his way up the steps and knelt beside her as he lifted her head gently. “Here, let me see your lip,” he said softly as he dabbed her face with the wet paper towels.