Marlene & Gerald in mm. (Don't laugh at my choices, they're just the image I had in my head for them😂)

enjoy💜

Trinity

I lightly knocked on the door waiting for a response. I played with my fingers while I waited, moments later I heard footsteps coming close to the door.

"What?" Gerald said as he swung the door open.

"I was just letting you know that I'm done for the night, I'm about to head home." I said not making eye contact.

"Well I need to speak with you so step in right quick." He stepped aside for me to come in, shutting it when I did.

Silence filled the room as he walked over to his table that was covered in different bottles of alcohol.

He pulled a glass from the cabinet and filled it with some Hennessy. He took the glass to the head before turning to me.

"Have you been keeping an eye on our guests?" He asked referring to Monique and Lyric.

Yesterday while I was talking to who I thought was Khadijah, she told me that her name was really Monique and she stepped in as Khadijah because that's her best friend. I was confused at first but she then told me everything that happened. I knew Carmen and Gerald were some sick people, but I didn't know they were so ill minded and pathetic.

"Yes." I quickly answered.

"Then why does Terrion tell me that he thinks you guys are gettin' a little close." He breathed in my face with alcohol strongly on his breath.

"I-I don't know."

He grabbed my neck and began to choke me.

"Yeah, you've been giving her quite the hospitality while I was gone. Taking her to the bathroom, feeding her, making conversation." He tightened his grip with each add-on.

He let go and I gasped for air and rubbed my neck, coughing with every inhale.

"You're too nice for your own good Trinity, and you're so smart that you're dumb. I have her here for a reason, and that reason is to suffer. So you going behind my back and treating her like she's a valued resident at the Trinity Inn isn't helping. Do you understand?" He asked taking another shot of Hennessy.

"Ye-yes," I managed to choke out.

"Nah see I don't think you do." He grabbed me by my arm and dragged me to the room that held Monique.

When we got in Monique had her head down and her her shoulders moved up and down indicating that she was asleep.

"Get up!" Gerald yelled taking her hair in his hands pulling her head up.

She snapped up and focused her attention on us breathing heavily.

"Punch her, give me your best shot." Gerald said lighting a cigarette.

I looked at Monique with sorrowful eyes but she looked at me with a slight head nod telling me to go ahead and do it. I fiddled with my sweaty hands before looking back at Gerald, he blew a cloud of smoke out of his mouth before putting the cigarette end to Monique's arm.

"Ahhhhhh!" She yelled out.

"Do it now!" He said relighting the cig.

I took a deep breath before cocking my arm back and punching her in her face. The blow sent her head back and blood gushed from her nose. I didn't mean to punch her that hard but I pictured her as Gerald and released my anger.

He stood there with a smile before he started clapping.

"That was a good one," He continued to clap. "Now you may leave." He said before he walked out.

I turned my attention back to Monique as she groaned in pain.

"I am so sorry, I had to do it I didn't want him to do something else to you." I whispered wiping the blood from her nose.

"No, it's fine. You got hell of a right hook." She said as we both laughed.

I held the shirt onto her nose a little longer until the bleeding stopped. I started grabbing my jacket and my bag to leave.

"Don't worry Monique, we're out of here tomorrow." I gave her a small smile.

I looked at Lyric who was sleeping peacefully in the bedroom to the left of Monique before I exited the room.

Now to set this plan in motion. The moment I've been dreading. I thought to myself.

-

-

"Hey sis, I haven't seen you in two weeks. What's the deal?" Antoine said as he shut the front door behind us.

"I've been busy with some things and haven't had time to swing by." I said truthfully.

"Oh so you don't have time for yo big brother? What type of shit is that?" He nudged me playfully.

He stopped playing when he realized I wasn't my usual uppity self and a concerned look swept over his face.

"Trin, what's the issue?" He said sitting next to me on the couch.

"It's so much." I leaned onto him and cried onto his shoulder.

"Just talk to me Trinity, I can't help if I don't know what the problem is." He rubbed my back in circular motions.

I took a deep breath.

"Pinky promise you'll still love me and won't get too mad." I held out my pinky.

"You know imma always love you Trin, but the gettin' mad part," he shook his head, "ion know 'bout allat, how 'bout you just tell me first and we'll go from there."

"Ok," I sighed and clasped my hands together.

"First I'll start with the accident. When you were in the accident, you were pretty roughed up. I mean the doctors told me they didn't think you'd make it. They tried all they could and you still weren't breathing on your own." I looked at him and he nodded for me to continue.

"Well they came to me about your medical expenses and I was telling them I didn't know how I was gonna pay it, and after that it seemed as if they didn't care about your well being and they said they would have to pull the plug." I gulped hard and watched as his jaw clenched.

"And?"

"And so I told them to give me another week as I'd come up with the money...I went to a club one night and they agreed to put me on as a stripper and—" he cut me off.

"Yo, hol' on what the fuck! Trini—"

"Let me finish please." I said calmly.

He leaned back on the couch rubbing his temples and breathing heavily.

"I only did it for that one night, I was only going to do it until I had enough money to pay for the medical bills. But that same night I ran into a man named Gerald and a woman named Carmen. They told me I'd be a good piece of eye candy, that meaning I'd have to flirt with guys here and there who looked like they had money and convince them to buy drugs from Gerald. Or there were some men who owed Gerald and I had to lure them in so he would get his money back. I did that for the first couple of nights and I had more than enough to pay for the bills. I planned on stopping but..."

"But what." Antoine said through gritted teeth.

"He wouldn't let me." I felt tears burn my eyes.

"What the fuck you mean he wouldn't let you?" He roughly turned my body to face his.

"Just that! He wouldn't let me quit! He said he'd kill you if I tried to leave and he'd make me suffer. I never told you because I was scared that you'd do something stupid and get yourself hurt or killed! Gerald is a bad man Twan and he don't care about nothin' or nobody. He do what he gotta do to get his business done. No questions asked." I cried into his shirt.

"So I'm guessin' you ain't in school either." He said after I calmed down.

"No. I work for him all day cleaning up his trap house and sometimes I still go out with different men to get his money." I said hesitantly.

Twan took a deep breath as he rubbed my back, I sat up and sat Indian style on the couch.

"You ain't goin' back there, and I mean that shit. And let that nigga come lookin' for you if he want to and he gone have somethin' else to deal with. I don't care how bad of a man he is, I'm bad as hell to and crazy as a mothafucka'." He said with all seriousness.

"I wasn't plannin' on going back, but I need your help with something first."

He looked at me a nodded his head.

"So, Gerald and Carmen kidnapped this girl, and her niece. Well actually it's not even her niece because the girl they think they have isn't who they actually want, but they don't know that. I've been around her for the past couple of days and she's really sweet and so is the little girl. She don't deserve to be in there and she's the one who gave me the courage to come tell you everything. She told me to leave and never come back but I told her I wasn't leaving without her and the little girl. So we have to get them out Twan. We have to." I said in one breath.

"Okay hol' on Trin. Slow down a lil' bit. Where is the girl they actually want and how they end up with the wrong girl?"

"The girl he thinks he has is someone named Khadijah." I said shrugging my shoulders.

"W-wait a minute, you said Khadijah?" He asked cocking his head.

"Yeah, Khadijah. And Monique is her best friend so she stepped in as Khadijah." I explained using my hands.

"I know Khadijah." He said putting his head in his hands.

"Really? How?"

"I went to elementary school with her. She was always quiet, people didn't like her because she had worn the same clothes for so long and she wasn't the cleanest...or the nicest. But I became friends with her because I saw past all that. I actually ran into her a few days ago at a hotel." He explained.

"Now that I think about it," I said standing up, "Gerald is Khadijah's adoptive father, and she got him locked up for something and he's been looking for her ever since he got out." I said snapping my fingers because it was all coming together now.

"We gotta get to Khadijah." I said after a long silence.

"Right I know how, let's go." He said grabbing his keys off of the table.

-

-

Antoine

We pulled up at the address and I hopped out and opened the door for Trinity. We walked up the long driveway and knocked on the door.

There were cars in the driveway so I knew someone was home and the lights were on throughout the house.

I heard footsteps walking towards the door.

"I know you lyin'." I heard someone say before the door was unlocked.

"Bruh, you must got a lot of balls coming here to my house." The dude that I recognized to be Khadijah's boyfriend said.

"Aye I need to holla' at ya'," I said not trying to entertain his bullshit.

When I had my run in with Khadijah at the hotel a while ago, Trey and I had a few words. He was pissed that I told Khadijah I'd see her around and he told me, "If you wanna see her around I dare you to come to our crib, and imma show you what you gone see." He wrote down his address on a piece of paper and pushed the paper against my chest. "Let's see how bold you really is, play boa'."

He looked around outside before he moved out of the way to let us in. When we walked into the living room there were six other guys sitting there staring at my sister and I. I pushed Trinity behind me and decided to get straight to the point.

"Look man, I ain't come here on no bullshit. My sister here, told me some shit that I think you'd wanna hear." I explained.

"And whats that?" Trey said folding his arms.

"Tell them Trin." I said and she stepped around me.

She began telling them everything she told me and they gave her their undivided attention. When she was done explaining everything down to a tee, everyone had an unreadable expression on their face.

"Thank you bruh, you know I thought I was gone have to bust yo ass up for coming up on my property, but you cool wit' me." Trey said as he dapped me.

"So my baby alright?" The guy said that was sitting on the arm of the couch.

"Yeah she's fine, I make sure of it every chance I get. And so does Monique, she treats her like she's her own. That's why I was shocked when she told me that she wasn't her niece because she worries about her in the most motherly way." Trinity said.

He looked down and played with his hands while a small smile crept on his face and it quickly disappeared.

"Alright, what's the plan." He said lighting a blunt.

Korie
(Next day)

"You ready?" I asked Khadijah as she tied up her tennis shoes.

"As ready as I'll ever be, let's go."

We walked out and headed downstairs where we had Marlene for the time being. We didn't know whether she was telling the truth or not about knowing what Gerald was up to but I didn't care as long as my baby came out of this alive and well.

We got to the bottom of the steps and I opened the door allowing Dijah to go in first.

"Call Gerald." Khadijah said throwing her the phone.

"What do I say?" She asked hesitantly.

"Tell him you're coming to get your stuff and you want to talk to him."

"Okay..." she dialed his number and it rang until it reached voicemail.

"Call again." Khadijah demanded shifting her weight to one leg.

Marlene called him a total of six times and he never answered.

"Alright you're coming with us then." Khadijah said walking out and back up the stairs.

We both followed and went to the car. Trey and the other guys were in a truck and Antoine and Trinity were in their car all ready to follow us to Marlene's house.

When we got there Gerald's car wasn't in the driveway, so we assumed he wasn't here, but another car was parked on the street in front of the house.

We all got out of our cars and made our way to the house. Marlene dug in a flower pot for a second and pulled out a key. She unlocked the door and we walked in.

"Who car is that in the front?" I asked.

Marlene shrugged her shoulders and looked around the house.

"That's Terrion's car." Trinity spoke up.

"Who is Terrion?" Antoine asked.

"He's Gerald's hit man, also his nephew," she pointed to his car, "he parks his car here and rides in a different one to do his jobs." She explained.

"So right now he out killin' a mufucka?" Trey asked rubbing his chin hair.

"Either that or he's at the other house." She spoke quietly.

"Is that where my baby at?" I asked

She nodded her head as she tucked some hair behind her ear.

Khadijah came back in the living room with a folder in her hands.

"Let's ride." She said and we all followed suit behind her.

-

-

Trinity

I walked into the house and my body instantly tensed up when I got to Gerald's office door.

After knocking for what seemed like forever, the door was finally swung open. I could tell he had been drinking by the strong smell of Hennessy.

"Where you been all day?" He slurred.

"I had some family issues." I lied.

He waved his index finger in my face and shook his head.

"Are you lying to meeee?" He asked in a sing song voice.

"Is there anything you need me to do?" I tried changing the subject.

"Follow me." He said stumbling down the hall.

We walked into the room that Monique was in and I was shocked by what I saw.

Monique looked like she'd been beaten half to death and she was unconscious. I turned to look at Gerald who was cleaning his gun.

"I was bored today and had nothing to do, sooo," he shrugged his shoulders, "I played a few games with Khadijah."

"What did you do?" I shook my head and walked over to her limp body.

"Oh come on Trinity, you can't be that stupid. You see exactly what I've done, for every year I did in prison because of her I added a mark to her body." He cocked his gun and aimed it.

"What are you doing with that?" I asked with a shaky voice.

"I'm gonna kill her," he said adding a more bullets to the gun, "then the little girl, then you."

He pointed the gun at Monique's head but just then the door opened and there stood Marlene. Gerald had his back turned away from the door so he didn't see who came in, I'm guessing he thought it was one of his guys because he didn't turn around.

"Baby." She said in a soft tone.

He turned around slowly and just stared at her.

"How the hell did you get in here?" He asked with anger laced in his voice.

"Devin let me in, because I have something that you would want."

"And what's that?" He lowered his gun as I hurriedly untied Monique from the chair.

Marlene walked out and came back in pushing Khadijah into the room.

"Who is that?" Gerald scratched his head with the end of the gun.

"This is who you really want baby, this is Khadijah," she spoke, "you have the wrong girl."

She had Khadijah tied up and she pushed her into the chair that Mo was in, and she looked unconscious.

"Let me get the gun baby." She walked over to him and rubbed down his arm. "Let me do the honors."

"How do I know that's Khadijah?" He said looking between Mo and Khadijah.

"Well if it makes you feel better we can kill both of them," she shrugged her shoulders, "doesn't matter to me."

He kissed Marlene and smiled a goofy grin.

"I knew you were good for somethin' woman." He said handing her the gun.

Marlene held the gun with two hands and pointed it towards Khadijah's head, Gerald walked behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"This is for ruining my life, I hope you rot in hell bitch." She drew her elbows back fast and hard elbowing Gerald in the stomach making him tumble backwards.

She turned around with the gun aimed to him.

'Bang, Bang, Bang!'

I covered my ears and closed my eyes as the shots were fired, when I opened them I saw Gerald laying in a pool of blood. Dead.

"Go find Lyric!" Marlene yelled to me.

Just then Korie, Trey, Antoine and the other guys bust in the house, they must've heard the gun shots.

I ran through the house looking for Lyric, I heard small cries coming from Gerald's office. I ran in and called her name.

"I'm in here!" She cried behind a cabinet door.

I tried opening it but it was locked. I searched for the keys all around his desk, knocking over everything in the process. I looked around the room and my eyes landed on a set of keys right next to his bottles of liquor. I ran and grabbed the keys, there were at least 15 on here.

Gunshots sounded throughout the house which made me fumble with the keys. After trying a handful of them, one finally worked and I was able to get Lyric out. She cried onto my chest as I hugged her tight.

"It's okay now, we're leaving okay." I said in a calming tone but the gunshots in the background weren't helping.

"I want my daddy." She said shaking.

"I know and in order to get to your daddy we have to hurry and get out of here, okay?" She shook her head yes as I stood up and grabbed her hand.

I ran to the door and peeked out and there was a full blown shoot out in front of my eyes. Gerald's men against Antoine and the rest of the boys.

I turned around and picked Lyric up.

"Close your eyes and don't open them until I say so, okay?"

"Okay." She said closing her eyes.

I slid out of the room and tried to make my way to the front door but I was stopped by Terrion.

"And where do you think you're headed?" He asked grabbing a handful of my hair.

"I don't want her in here, she might get hurt!" I screamed in pain.

He snatched Lyric out of my arms but not without me putting up a fight. He pulled a gun from his waist band and hit me in the head with it. I flew to the ground as blood trickled down my face.

I looked up and he had the gun pointed to Lyric's head.

"Lyric baby, keep your eyes closed!" I said as I stood up slowly.

She held her eyes shut tight but that didn't stop the tears from flowing