18.0: Mo Money, Mo Problems!

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A week later...

Royalty stared at the boxes in a slight trance. "You ready?" Tyree asked coming down the aisle holding a basket full of snacks and medicine. When he saw Royalty's hand was empty he said, "Just grab a box." Royalty looked at the Plan B box saying, "Why do I have to get it? You get it. You're the reason we have to buy this anyway."

Tyree grabbed it saying, "Does it really matter? And technically this is your fault." Royalty watched as he dropped it into the basket saying, "How? You're the one who decided to let it loose inside of me." Tyree looked at her saying, "Don't act like you weren't the one who said, Come in me Daddy!" Tyree said in a high pitch voice loudly as Royalty threw her hand over his mouth.

He licked her hand making her pull it away as he laughed. "Shut up! I was just kidding. I said it because it sounded good. I didn't think you would actually do it," Royalty said tucking hair behind her ear somewhat embarrassed. "Who jokes about that?" Tyree asked.

It was safe to say they were together now. It hasn't actually been discussed or spoken with the craziness going on, but that's what it was looking like. They were back to how they used to be and they were both happy. They missed each other.

"I've never had a female say that, so I took my shot." Royalty rolled her eyes walking down the aisle in front of him. "Let's go. We need to go visit Lola," she said walking towards the checkout.

After checking out they left the CVS pharmacy then headed towards the hospital. As Tyree drove Royalty held her phone in her hands swiping through the pictures from her birthday night. She smiled at the pictures they took as a group, the picture of her gifts and her car that she couldn't even enjoy. They all looked so happy and like they actually liked each other. Like a family...

She stopped at a picture Lola took of her staring at it. She could still hear Lola's voice saying Girl, quit being shy. Strike a pose! trying to entice Royalty out of her shell. And like that, Royalty got a boost of confidence for a picture that would serve as memory for her 17th birthday.

What was supposed to be a celebration for 17 years of life almost became a day of death. So quick everything went left.

Once they got to the hospital Royalty sighed as her and Tyree got out of the car. Before entering the room Royalty knocked on the door. When they heard someone yell to come in she turned the handle pushing the door open to see Lola in the hospital bed and Saniye in the seat next to the bed. She was hooked up to the machines as a Lifetime movie played on the tv.

"Heyyy," Royalty dragged out in a soft voice. She went over to the side of the bed hugging Lola at the best of her abilities then making her way over to Saniye next as Tyree did the same. "How is she doing today?" Royalty asked sitting in a seat. "Better," Saniye said smiling a little. "She should be able to come home soon. The police came by earlier. They said Karina didn't die; which the bitch should've, so when she's healed she'll be arrested."

"Is her baby okay?" Lola asked making them all furrow their eyebrows as they looked at her. "Yeah, I guess so. The police didn't say anything about that, but I didn't ask either," Saniye said. "Good," Lola said faintly. They all looked at each other confused, but thought nothing of it. Her medicine had the tendency to make her talk about random things and sound a little crazy.

Luckily for Lola she was shot once in the abdomen and it wasn't life threatening after surgery to remove the bullet. Now it was just a matter of healing. To see Lola laying in a bed helpless was weird, because she was the family matriarch. She was the strong one that kept everything together and going, so that things ran smoothly. Even when they were in shambles as a unit they could count on her to keep everything straight. Now everyone was getting assigned responsibilities they've never had before.

Especially, since Rhyme hasn't been seen since  that night and neither has Romeo. Nobody really cared about Romeo's whereabouts including Lola, but they've tried to reach Rhyme with no luck. His phone was off. Lola was just trying to come to terms with the fact that everything both Rhyme and Romeo told her was a lie.

In Lola's eyes Romeo set her up for this to happen. How did Karina get the address to the hotel? Romeo had to have told her. Did Romeo tell Karina to shoot her? She had a million questions. Honestly, Lola wished she would've actually shot Romeo because she knew he wasn't going to be gone for good. Lola just didn't have the heart to pull the trigger.

As for Rhyme, Lola felt betrayed in the worst way possible. If what she saw on that paper was true, their marriage was never legal and Rhyme knew it. She didn't know if she was the biggest fool on earth not to realize it or if Rhyme was just a mastermind manipulator. All Lola knew was that once she was out of this hospital and better she was going to find out the truth for real.

After sitting in silence for at least 30 minutes as they watched Judge Mathis, Lola finally spoke saying, "Tyree," he looked away from the tv screen at Lola giving her his attention. "I need you go to the brothel. It has been closed throughout all of this, but you need to go take any money out of that building. Make sure it's still there first of all. His safes in his office and even that secret room...That he never told me about," she mumbled the last part.

"Move it all to the house in case Romeo decides to go back and try to take it or something. Hell, for all we know Rhyme could've took it already and left town, but just see if it's still there." Tyree nodded standing up when Lola added, "Royalty, go with him. I need you to get something for me from my old office. Follow these instructions." Lola extended a folded up piece of paper to her, so she got up and grabbed it.

Saniye looked at the paper wondering what it said, but said nothing. Tyree and Royalty left the hospital to do what they were instructed to do by Lola.

After the hour drive out to the isolated building Tyree put his car in park. What was once a place that was never empty looked like an abandoned building. No foreign cars parked outside owned by the exclusive, wealthy clients. It was a desert town. In about two seconds a tumbleweed was going to roll by.

Both Tyree and Royalty got out of the car. Once Tyree used his set of keys to unlock the building they split up. Tyree going to Rhyme's office to empty out Rhyme's safes and Royalty to Lola's old office. Once Royalty stepped into the room that only had a desk, but was otherwise cleared out she opened the note.

1. Stand up on top of the desk

Royalty looked at the note furrowing her eyebrows, but climbed on top of the desk like the note said. She stood on top of it looking at the next step.

2. Feel the ceiling until it pushes in

Royalty extended her arm then stood on her tip toes for more reach seeing as she's so short. She felt around and when the ceiling finally pushed in seeing the ceiling tile move. She pushed it some more until it was out of the way when objects started to fall out of the hole. Royalty covered her head after being hit once as they continued to fall. Once it was done raining the mysterious objects she uncovered her head fixing her natural curls that she was wearing down.

She looked down at the desk to see what fell. She couldn't tell so she jumped down from the desk grabbing one. Whatever it was, they were all wrapped up perfectly in brown paper then tied with white string. Royalty was so curious she wanted to open one, but didn't. Instead she looked back at the note for the next step.

3. Put them in a bag (Don't open them, nosey!)

Royalty chuckled then looked around the office spotting a briefcase sitting next to a filing cabinet. She grabbed it then sat it on the desk opening it. She began to stick the neatly wrapped objects in when Tyree came into the room. "You done in here?" He asked. "I am now," Royalty said shutting the briefcase. "Okay, come with me." Royalty grabbed the briefcase then followed as they went into one of the working rooms for clients. "Why are we in here?" She asked looking around the familiar room she once had sex in for money.

Tyree said nothing simply walking over to the bed pushing the button. When it raised revealing the stair case Royalty mumbled, "What the..." She watched as Tyree turned on the flashlight on his phone saying, "What kind of Batman lair type shit is this? Is Rhyme a vigilante? He gives me I have a double life vibes and has from the beginning. That explains the security measures in the house. Brothel owner/pimp by day, superhero by night!"

Tyree laughed shaking his head saying, "Come on." Tyree lead the way down the stairs until he heard a noise. He paused his steps on the middle of the stairs making Royalty do the same. "You hear that?" He asked getting quiet. When he heard it again he said to Royalty, "Go back up the stairs." "And leave you by yourself?" She asked. "Go," he said making Royalty hesitantly do what he said.

Tyree made his was cautiously down the steps into the dark chamber. He used his flashlight on his phone to scan the room. He saw something, but couldn't quite make out what it was. He made his way to the light switch turning it on. The first thing he noticed was all of the money was gone. Not some, ALL of it. The room was cleaned out. When he heard a cough he looked in that direction squinting his eyes.

That's when he saw blood. He followed the trail to see feet sticking out from behind some boxes. If it was Rhyme, Tyree had no idea what he would do. He was mad at his brother, but he would never want to see him hurt. His brother is all he has. Tyree moved closer and closer as the person groaned. Finally he got close enough looking at the man on the ground with a puddle of blood surrounding him as he held his neck struggling to breath. "Help," he breathed out. Tyree was trying to figure out who he was. He looked familiar.

Tyree furrowed his eyebrows saying, "Hendrix?" Hendrix was a pimp Rhyme knew. Sometimes when Rhyme was busy he would get dragged around with Hendrix all day. He hasn't seen him in years. He remembered Romeo mentioning getting him in on the plan, but that was about it. Tyree knelt down next to him asking, "What happened?"

Why did I ask that? Tyree thought as Hendrix pulled his bloody hand away from his throat to see it was slashed. Tyree was trying to figure out how he was even alive still or how he got down here. This must've just happened. Hendrix put his hand back over his throat pushing out, "Romeo. We came to get the money. He turned on me. Wanted it all for himself." With every word you thought it would be his last breath.

"Watch your back," Hendrix said. "Did he say anything?" Tyree asked. "He said that-" when Hendrix stopped talking Tyree looked at his face that he's been avoiding eye contact with to see his eyes staring out blankly. "Damn it!" Tyree mumbled standing up. During the whole time he didn't even think to call the police for help. He knew Hendrix was gonna die.

"Is everything okay?" Royalty yelled looking down the stairs. Tyree shook his head even though he knew she couldn't see going back up the stairs where she was. When he reached the top he said, "All the money is gone. And somebody's dead down there," he said casually like an afterthought as Royalty bugged her eyes in shock. "Don't we need to call the police?" She asked.

"Hell no," Tyree immediately said. He was already planning to tell Dareon so they can handle this. Tyree pushed the button making the bed go back down telling Royalty to come on so they can leave. At this point everything thing is a mess and the person who should be here to clean it up isn't...Rhyme. Where the hell is he at? Tyree wondered.

*

Rhyme sat on the ground tearing apart the leaf held in his hand. The wind howled giving an eerie feeling. After all, Rhyme was in a cemetery all alone sitting in front of his father's grave and has been for hours drinking and crying. He didn't know where else to go or even what to do.

"I don't know why I still even like yo ass after all you let happen to me, Pops." Rhyme said with a slur as if his father was sitting right across from him. "Me and Romeo," Rhyme said wiping his nose that was dripping. "You ain't shit!" Rhyme yelled sending birds flying out of a tree. Rhyme stumbled to his feet grabbing the pretty much empty bottle of Hennessy throwing the bottle at his father's headstone watching the glass shatter.

As some brown liquor trickled down the piece of slab that read Tareeq Joe Jackson. Loving father, brother & son. Rhyme couldn't help but laugh at that as he fell back sitting against the trunk of a tree. "Loving father my ass!" Rhyme spat the words out angrily. "Had us scattered all over the fucking place and couldn't take care of none of us. And I was the lucky one who had to live wit yo broke, pimpin' ass!" Rhyme said as he opened a bottle of Jack Daniel's. "Cheers bitch!" He said putting it to his lips. "How's life been lately?" Rhyme asked. "Oops, forgot your dead!" Rhyme said busting out laughing.

Rhyme thought about all ten of his siblings. Romeo, Dareon, Omari and Tyree were the only ones Rhyme really interacted with. The other 5 were somewhere in the world doing there own thing. Probably living a normal life while there's was a shit show. The common factor was that these 5 spent the most time with "Joe Jack the Mack" whether it was living under his care like Rhyme and Romeo or just visitation. It's clear his influence fucked them up in some sort of way.

Rhyme had many reasons to be the way he is today. Most bad memories stemmed back to his father, but Rico tried to push those memories back. He blocked them out and suppressed them as much as he could. He wanted to remember his father as his hero. The one who taught him everything  he knew right, wrong or indifferent. But that's hard when the memories come back every time you close your eyes...

Anytime we stayed here I couldn't sleep. My Daddy called it a players paradise when we came to stay at the huge mansion with women half naked roaming the halls and men gallivanting around in pure heaven, but I knew it was a whorehouse. It was hard to get any sleep around here when it's so noisy. Thin walls doesn't suit a place where people are always fucking. All you hear all night is people moaning and groaning or arguing.

I put my arms behind my head staring up at the ceiling as the room was dark. I closed my eyes hoping to block out any noises deciding I would try and get some sleep. It was best because it could be awhile before we sleep in an actual bed in a place with air conditioning and everything.

Me trying to sleep was short lived when I heard screaming. But it wasn't the 'good' screaming. It was the screaming I heard every time we came here in the next room over...The room my brother, Romeo sleeps in. I tell him to sleep in my room, but somehow he always ends up never coming to bed. That man comes and asks about him and my Dad tells Romeo to go with him.

As the screams kept going I put my pillow over my head turning over. To act like I didn't know what was going on in there would be a lie. I might be 7, but I'm not dumb.

When Romeo's screaming finally stopped I took the pillow from over my head pushing the covers back. I got out of the bed making my way to the door in the darkness. I turned my light on opening the door just standing in the doorway. I watched as the man came out of Romeo's room walking down the hallway buckling his belt leaned up against the door frame. He was a big man. Maybe 6'3" and a good 200 pounds. From my understanding he had recently gotten out of jail and his tattoos confirmed that.

I guess he got turned out in jail, maybe even raped. Now he likes ass and there's nothing wrong with that...Until your chasing little boys ass and not men's. As he got closer to my door I looked up at him catching his eye contact. He stopped in his tracks saying, "Shouldn't you be in bed, little boy?" He asked looking down on me. I said nothing just looking at him. I looked away from him down the hall towards Romeo's room.

I turned back at him looking up at him with wonder in my eyes. He lowered to my level saying, "He's okay. Your brother is fine. We were just playing." I'm guessing he could see my facial expression. I still said nothing when he said, "Want me to show you. It doesn't hurt." I looked over at him furrowing my eyebrows as he smiled. "I'll tuck you in. Would you like that?"

After just staring at him for a moment I finally nodded my head as I swallowed hard. He smiled even wider as I walked back into my room as he followed. I watched as he closed and locked it and when I saw he did I said, "I don't want you touching my brother ever again. When we come to stay here leave him alone." I was trying to sound as serious as possible, but I'm a kid. I wasn't intimidating nobody, especially not him.

He laughed stepping closer to me saying, "And who's gonna stop me? You? Little man..."  I backed up two steps saying, "I don't want you touching him again! If you have to come in here instead, that's fine, but leave him alone!" This time I yelled it hoping to get my point across clearly.

He chuckled then said, "But I like Romeo. He has pretty eyes. What do you have to offer?" In my mind I was thinking 'Not a damn thing,' but instead my mouth said, "More. A lot."

And from then on Rhyme found himself being molested by a man when they stayed at that whorehouse. All to protect his brother. A brother who was pressed about money. Granted, Romeo doesn't know his brother did that for him, but Rhyme felt Romeo owed him that money. When Romeo brought up himself being molested instead of Rhyme taking that time to sympathize with him, he denied it and said he wasn't some faggot. As if having your innocence taken away suddenly made you a derogatory term and your sexuality questionable. As if it was even your choice.

Something Rhyme struggled with daily, too embarrassed to talk about the fact a man took advantage of him, so he overcompensated with women and the need to be a feared, powerful man. A manly man. The men who had to make sure everyone knew they had big balls were usually the ones who doubted their masculinity the most.

At this point everything that's happened to Rhyme in his life was beginning to take a toll on him. Either ignore it or try and fix the issue. Rhyme definitely wasn't about to find his answer at the bottom of these alcohol bottles or from his dead father, but he was drinking like it could.

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Tyree let the continuous noise of a drill fill his ears as he spaced out. He just kept seeing Hendrix's lifeless eyes. Tyree had never seen somebody die before aside from his brother, Omari. He

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