Page 29 of 10,000 Hours With A Rich Menace

“Like slaves?” Priscilla screeched.

“Likealive ones,” I mocked and headed toward the exit.

Stevie

As soon aswe stepped outside, another large truck pulled up and Menace headed to the black one of the two. Jeffie headed toward the one that had just pulled up and turned for me to follow her. I was still trying to wrap my head around being in this warehouse for a week. Beans was super nice to me and made sure that I was comfortable.

When one of his workers started eyeing me funny, he broke his nose, and I hadn’t seen him since. Since he was so nice to me, in return I doodled a tattoo for him on some loose papers in the back office.

Sleeping on the cot that was provided for me wasn’t the best and my back was still suffering from going to a luxury resort suite to a small room in the back of a smelly, dirty, warehouse. The man that had kidnapped me held the door open for me.

“I thought we were friends,” I gave him the stink eye and he laughed, holding the door open wider for me.

“Boss’s order… nothing personal, Stevie.”

I climbed into the back and looked around the massive truck, melting in the soft butter leather seats while Jeffie pecked away on her phone. “Is he not coming with us?”

“Menace has a full day, and usually I would be with him, but I need to get you settled and this situation under control,” she spoke as she continued on her phone, never breaking her stride in texting.

“Jeffie, my cousin cannot find out about this… please promise to keep this secret. I promise I will tell her when I’m ready, but it has to come from me.”

She paused, lowering her phone to look at me. “Why did you trust that girl, Stevie? You’re a smart girl, none of what she was doing sounded shady to you?”

“I should have been smarter and listened… sometimes it’s easier to turn my brain off. I can’t explain it, but I like living in my bubble… I’m happy there.”

She held her phone again and pointed it at me. “You need to make sure your cousin knows. I hate keeping things from her… that’s my sister-wife… not healthy for me to keep things from her and Core.”

“She and Core are broken up,” I reminded her.

“And I have plans on reuniting them… enough about my family. This isn’t a joke… he needs a wife, and he’s really going to marry you. You’re really going to live with him,” she reminded me.

My father and Priscilla both deserved whatever came to them. I wanted to pretend that I didn’t care so much. He had been out of my life since my mama’s funeral and I hadn’t heard a word from him.

Why should I care for a stranger?

My father was a stranger, and I shouldn’t have given a damn about what happened to him. It was safe to say that he was innocent when it came to betraying me. He had no idea that Priscilla knew me.

The betrayal was hearing that Priscilla was willing to offer me up to this man without a second thought. Bringing up myvirginity, something that I had told her in confidence really hurt. For a brief second, I wanted to die because all eyes were on me.

Menace was most definitely scary, and his eyes were very menacing with how he stared at you. Like he wanted to rip your head off and then eat a full course meal after. Even I could see his eyes soften when he heard what Priscilla had said about him being fine, and it wouldn’t be that bad.

“I don’t want my father or Priscilla to die. What they were doing was wrong and they should have to answer for what they did. Death just seems so final.”

“It is final,” Jeffie nonchalantly replied.

I looked out the window as we continued to drive. “Where are we?”

“Your new home… Staten Island. We’ll make arrangements for you to get your things from the condo with Skyler… I guess that would be the time for you to be honest with her.”

“Not yet… give me time to tell her. Skyler is always so hard with me, and she will tell me that she told me so, which she was right. I just don’t want to deal with that right now. I’m her big cousin, not the other way around. Allow me to tell my own business and sit with this for a little minute… you know?”

She nodded her head at me and agreed with what I was saying. It was hard to admit to my cousin that I didn’t listen and ended up in this situation. I’ve always been raised to look at the bright side of things, and the bright side was that I wasn’t dead.

It was because of the people and connections that Skyler knew that had prevented me from dying in that warehouse when that could have been my fate.

“I’ll give you that. Remember, your business includes me knowing and will break the trust me and Skyler have. She’s my best friend, and we don’t lie to each other.”

“I understand. I promise I will tell her that I made you promise not to tell.” I smiled at Jeffie, who went back on her phone. “What is he like?”

---