"Okay how do I look?" Diamond questioned while walking out of her bedroom. Noelle practically choked on her on spit as she noticed the short, multicolored mesh dress that fit her body like a glove.

     "Girl, my brother is gonna kill you." She laughed. Diamond twirled around in her dress as her now blonde locs fell in her face. She felt good wearing the dress. Short dresses weren't usually her style. In fact, dresses weren't her style at all. She was a tomboy at heart, sporting baggy pants or oversized shirts.

"Why? I'm gonna put on a jacket." She told her while staring at herself in the full-length mirror. She tossed her locs to one side, attempting to get them out of her face.

     "I don't know..." she trailed off. "I can't wait to see his reaction. You look cute though. Are you ready now?" She asked. This was Diamond's third time changing clothes and she was starving.

     She decided to make up for leaving Diamond's birthday party by treating her to a girls day. They went to the spa this morning and now they were getting ready to go sit down and eat at a lounge with Shawn tagging along of course.

     "Yes, damn." Diamond huffed as she put on her leather jacket. She grabbed her keys before they finally walked outside. "Have you talked to Benji since my party?"

     "No I don't know what to say to his ass. I just wanna smack him again." She replied, getting mad all over again. The texts, the phone calls, and the large quantity of flowers were starting to annoy her. It didn't matter how many roses he sent, she wasn't ready to forgive him.

     "I don't blame you! On a lighter note, I'm so ready to have fun!" Diamond smiled, climbing into the car. She couldn't wait to enjoy her night out with her man and best friend. Things were going strong between her and Shawn. She didn't expect their "situationship" to last longer than two weeks. It's been three months and it was slowly starting to turn into a relationship. Neither one of them introduced each other as boyfriend or girlfriend. It was simply just "friend". That's the way Diamond wanted it.

     "Who you telling? I'm sorry for leaving your party. I still feel bad." She let her emotions get in the way of her having fun and hated how much of a hold Benji had on her. Seeing him with Simone that night made her want to commit a crime. Just thinking about it made her upset all over again. This time, she wasn't gonna let her feelings get in the way of spending time with family.

     "I told you it's fine. After that nice ass massage and getting my nails done, I feel better. Plus, I needed that after that horrible hangover I had." Diamond laughed. The car came to a stop at a stop sign as a black Escalade pulled in front them sideways, stopping them from driving forward.

     "What the fuck?" Diamond yelled. A man jumped out of the backseat aiming a gun towards the both of them. Without hesitation, both Diamond and Noelle held their hands up in surrender. "Get out." The masked gunman yelled at Noelle only. She slowly slid out of the passenger seat while the stranger pressed the barrel of his gun into the back of her head.

     "Give this to Benji." The gunman told Diamond while throwing a burner phone towards her. Noelle looked back at Diamond before being pushed into the truck by a big, bald headed man.

     The gunman climbed back into the car before driving away, leaving Diamond sitting there shocked at what just happened.

     Benji sat in the chair while brushing his waves with his hand. He couldn't think straight. "He told me to give you this." Diamond handed him the burner phone. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Hell, he didn't want to believe it.

     "Who was it?" He questioned. He didn't want to go back to his old ways. His old ways was one of the main reasons he decided to leave Liberty City. Niggas had been testing him since he stepped foot in the city again. He vowed to never get his hands dirty again. That's what he had Dominic and Cory for. But now, 'mothafuckas was testing his patience.

     "I don't know him. One was short, about 5'6 and was wearin' all black. The other one was a big man with a bald head. They were in a black Escalade too."

"Dom—"

     "I'm on it." It was as if Dominic read his mind. By the time he made it to his car, he'd already issued APBs on a black Escalade along with the descriptions of the men and Noelle. Diamond was in a daze. She never had a gun pointed at her face before so she was still scared.

     "We're gonna get her back Benji." She assured after noticing the worried look on his face. His leg quickly bounced up and down and his thoughts were all over the place. He couldn't shake the feeling of the men touching Noelle. "I don't want you here Dee. I want you to go home and have Cory stay wit' you for the night."

     "No I'll have Shawn come over. He's on his way here now." Benji frowned. No matter how strong his feelings were for Noelle, he didn't know Shawn. For all he knows, Shawn could come into the restaurant trigger happy. "What?! You invited that nigga to my restaurant—"

     "Benji stop!" She yelled back. "That's Noelle's brother and if you want her back, you have to let go of this petty grudge with her family. That shit is between Benny and Sincere!" She finally told him. She was sick of the back and forth between them when they had real enemies in the streets.

     "Baby, what happened?" Shawn rushed into the restaurant walking directly towards Diamond. She sighed in relief before explaining what happened. Shawn looked over at Benji and gave him a death glare.

     "Shawn!" She grabbed his face. "Whatever beef y'all have, end this shit right now."

     "Look—" Shawn paused. "I'm just tryna get my sister back. I don't give a damn about what beef your Pops and mine got going on. As long as my sister happy, you good in my eyes." He said honestly. Just as he was about to respond, the burner phone rang.

     "Yeah?" Benji spoke into the phone. "Benji! Glad to hear that the phone got to you." The man chuckled. This only pissed him off even more.

     "Who the fuck is this?" He questioned making everyone look in his direction.

     "You thought you was just gon' trash my place and get away with it? Naw nigga." The man told him. He sighed while holding the bridge of his nose. It was Ricky for sure. Benji ordered Dominic to fuck up Ricky's house to send him a message. But he didn't know Ricky would find out who did it.

     Thanks to Dominic's IT skills, Benji found out it was Ricky who had been blowing up his phone with texts about Noelle and Sincere. He thought it was a little strange, considering the fact that he didn't know Ricky at all. But after doing a deep dive on Ricky, he noticed Noelle and Ricky had one mutual acquaintance in common, Terrance Davis. Terrance was Noelle's ex-boyfriend who Benji guessed couldn't handle rejection.

     It was as if the odds were also in his favor as well. The night of Diamond's party, Simone quickly mentioned Ricky and how him and Terrance were trying to get her to reveal his whereabouts and stash house. Simone hoped that revealing this information to Benji would make him see that she was his true ride-or-die chick. Really, it was an eye opener. She wanted protection from Terrance and Ricky but Benji wanted revenge. Once he put the pieces together, he decided to pay Ricky a visit.

"What do you want?" Benji asked.

"Ten racks if you want the girl back."

     "How do I know that she's okay?" He questioned. He heard shuffling in the background before hearing Noelle's voice which made him stand to his feet. "Benji it's Ricky he—"

     "Bring me the money. You got one hour. I'll send you the address." And with that, he hung up. Benji chuckled softly to himself while slamming the phone shut. "What's funny?" Shawn questioned.

     "He wants ten-thousand. I'll get that back in two days! Let's suit up man." Benji told them.

As Sincere grabbed two automatic rifles from the hidden shelf behind his bookcase, he heard a knock on the door. "I'm busy!" He yelled. He wasn't in the mood to be bothered.

     "I heard about Noelle." Benny told him making him turn around. He aimed the gun in his direction. At this very moment, anybody who wasn't family could get it. "The fuck you doing here?"

"Nicole let me in. I wanna help."

"Naw I don't—"

     "She's like my goddaughter Sincere. Ricky called my son. Said he wanted ten-thousand from him and he'll give her back. And earlier, one of my workers found two men standing on my corners—"

"Listen, I told you—"

     "Man I know! It's Tru's workers. The same Tru that took Nicole. This 'mothafucka had the audacity to come on my corners sellin' keys. Laced with water! You know how that shit make me look?" Of course he was pissed. People were dying over laced drugs Tru was selling on both of their corners.

     Tru wanted to start a war with Benny and Sincere and if that didn't work he wanted the police to watch their corners. Either way, they were gonna be off the streets and that's what Tru wanted. He was itching to be the king of the streets.

"Damn! I thought it was one of my men lacin' my shit. Yo, I'm sick of this nigga." Sincere clenched his teeth. The police was hot on their blocks and he wanted to lay low after he got his daughter back.

"So what do you say man? We gettin' too old for this." Benny chuckled before Sincere joined in. At that moment, he actually missed his best friend. "You right. Besides, we got something in common." He said, referring to Tru.

"Let's go get Noelle." Benny told him as Sincere passed him a gun.

Benji entered the dark alley and parked his car. Benny and Sincere sat in Sincere's car which was parked around the corner, waiting for a signal. Just in case some shit went left, Benny and Sincere was there as back up. Benji noticed a silver Mercedes-Benz parked facing him with its high beams on.

"You think he in there?" Dominic wondered while staring at the car. The windows were tinted so he couldn't see inside. The burner phone rang and Benji quickly answered.

"Alright, now step out of the car." Ricky instructed. Benji placed the phone on speaker before stepping outside of his car along with Dominic and Cory. They all wore bullet proof vests with guns in the backseat.

"Grab the duffle bags and sit them in between the cars." Benji looked over at Cory and nodded his head, following instructions from Ricky. Cory did what he was told and slowly walked back to the car.

A man with a bald head stepped out of the Mercedes-Benz aiming a gun at the three of them. He quickly grabbed the duffle bags and got back in the car.

"Where is she?" Benji asked, referring to Noelle.

"Check the trunk." Ricky said before the trunk opened. "Nice doin' business with you Benji." He laughed before hanging up. Benji quickly rushed over to the trunk while Dominic and Cory watched their surroundings. Noelle was in the trunk unconscious with a rope tied around her body and duck tape around her mouth.

"Noelle!" Benji shook her before snatching tape off of her mouth, causing her to wake up. She sighed in relief when she saw Benji. He grabbed a knife from his back pocket and cut the rope off of her.

"Benji!" She cried as she wrapped her arms around him. He gave her multiple kisses on her face before carrying her to his car. She was too dizzy to walk on her own.

"Aye Cory, drive." Benji instructed after he got in the backseat with her.

Benji sat a bottle of water in front of Noelle before sitting next to her. "Baby girl how you feel?" Sincere asked as he sat across from her.

"I'm fine. I promise. Ricky didn't do anything to me. I just sat there in an empty room." Noelle told him. She was disgusted while sitting in the dark, cold room that had a horrible smell. All she wanted to do was take a shower and eat but her Father wanted to grill her with questions.

"You sure?" He asked. Confusion was written all over her face once she noticed Benny standing near Sincere. She could tell it was Benny right away. Benji was almost a spitting image of his father with the same natural mean mug. "Are y'all back cool?" She asked them.

"Yeah. Tonight was the night that we put aside our petty differences." Benny told her. She was still confused but happy.

"I'll let you go. I have to get back to your Mother anyway. She's been worried sick. I'll call you tomorrow." Sincere kissed her forehead. He looked over at Benny and Benny did the same. Now that they had Noelle back, it was time for them to handle business.

Once they left, she pulled out her phone and sent a message to Diamond.

To Bestie👭: I'm fine. I might need a couple of days away from business if that's okay? 12:34 a.m.

From Bestie👭: of course! I'll let Shawn know that you're okay. Love you❤️ 12:35 a.m.

To Bestie👭: Thanks. I'll call you tomorrow. I love you too. 12:35 a.m.

She heard water running from upstairs and knew Benji was in the shower. She stood up from her seat and walked upstairs. She figured she would just take a shower with him. She was still a little upset with him but was thankful he came to her rescue.

She quickly undressed before pulling the shower curtain back, making him turn around. She stepped in and closed the curtain behind her. "Thank you for coming to get me." She mumbled while rubbing his cheek with her thumb.

"You knew I was comin'. Baby I swear imma do everything in my power to hurt—"

"Stop." She interrupted him. "I don't want you doing nothing."

"Noelle—"

"What did I just say?" She laughed. She didn't want him getting into any trouble. She was happy to be back in his arms. She felt protected. He didn't give a damn what she told him. He wanted Ricky dead. And he was gonna do it himself.

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