Page 74 of Another Constant

“I’m not. I’m pregnant. Well, according to the test in my purse I am.”

She pulled me into a hug, holding me like I was gonna disappear. I wasn’t. If anything I had a better chance of expanding.

Chapter17

Kinga

Harlem was likely about ready to murder my ass by now because I had texted her for the fifth time that I was on my way. I was on my way but had something I needed to handle. I knew the only way I’d be able to rest easy was if I finished this shit fully. I had already called everything in with a friend of mine up for the game I was playing. I had sat up all night wondering how I’d finish this shit, then it hit me. I didn’t need to because I knew a guy. Somebody who would drop Memphis at the drop of a dime while I was standing right in front him. I wanted his ass to feel that heat, and me to be the last face he saw, but I wasn’t willing to risk my freedom doing it right in the open. I had more to lose now.

I was standing in the middle of a grassy field overlooking the long forgotten industrial parts of Chicago. Money was funny in these parts so it was miles of open uninhabited space and abandoned buildings. The perfect place to be unseen for a meeting.

A black on black Range pulled up in front of my car and stopped, leaving the lights on and the car running. We wouldn’t be out here long.

“Yo, the fuck we meeting up in dead man land for, youngin’?” Aroyal asked, walking up and leaning back against his truck.

“Because I need a man dead.”

He nodded for me to continue and I explained what I needed and what I was willing to pay to have it handled tonight.

Aroyal shook his head after I finished speaking. “You sure?” he asked, eyes now searching mine for any inkling of uncertainty. “That’s your blood.”

I spat onto the ground before correcting his statement. “Blood doesn't make you shit in my book. Memphis has been a dead man since Sora found out where he lived all those years ago.”

“That’s a long time to hold a grudge.” Aroyal’s stare was intense. He was up for the job but didn’t want me to regret my request. Not many were privy to the tainted history between me and Memphis. It was no secret. I just didn’t broadcast it and neither did he.

“First time I met Memphis, he called me and my brother the ho’s sons. Unlike my brother, I didn’t give a fuck about him. Sora did though, he wanted to know the nigga, so the next time we saw him he had shown up to a basketball tournament at the gym. Sora was trying to get a word in with him and Memphis treated him like dirt. I beat his ass so bad, they arrested me and he pressed charges later on, doing a press conference and calling me a fucking monster. Maybe I am but I didn’t go picking this fight. Weeks ago my shop was raided. I found out he gave my name to the feds because he wanted to clean his streets and put in a bid for mayor. Blood don’t make a nigga shit in my book, so if you wondering if I’ll regret this? You are wrong. Death has been his legacy since he came for me. It just took me a minute to figure out how I wanted it to happen. So why not die on the very streets you call yourself cleaning?”

Aroyal nodded. “Then you want it loud, also sending a message to whoever he gave your name to.”

I threw my head forward in agreement.

He chuckled. “You young niggas sure know how to make it happen.”

I chuckled. “Making sure the retribution is just as loud as the initial act.”

Seeing somebody like Aroyal laugh was a foreign sight. As a matter of fact, anytime I had seen him, he was always frowned up, always serious. “I’m sure. But at a ceremony to the opening of a park he was supposed to have revamped? That shit is cold.”

“It’s genius because I’ll be standing in front of him.”

Aroyal shrugged. “Genius and cocky. When you nod, I’ll take the shot. Simple nod.”

Aroyal and I parted ways, both headed to the same address, just different spots in it. Memphis had an unveiling of a park he allegedly renovated near my blocks. Son of a bitch had even named the park after himself to commemorate the work he claimed to have done. He hadn’t done shit but piss people like me off and risk his life for cameras that wouldn’t save him in the end.

It was an outdoor event, people dressed in black tie attire standing in the middle of the hood with fucking champagne flutes and their good diamonds. Loitering on the streets where the usual fiends and winos got their fix or a forty. His words made these random uppity folks think they were safe out here at seven in the evening on a Saturday. The only reason these spaces were empty was because police had blocked off the streets, only allowing access to a few early in the day. Memphis had to be a cocky son of a bitch to think this would fly. I wasn’t the only one gunning for him after his latest news appearance. He called himself declaring war on all YNs on his streets.Who died and made the streets his?

I laughed aloud at the thought as I walked up the three steps toward the porch in front of the new fieldhouse where he stood proudly, dripped in gold. Nigga thought he was a prophet or something. He was talking to two other suits, also standing pompously with champagne flutes in their hands. Everything was decorated for this phony ass event, him and everybody acting like they gave a shit about these parts when they really didn’t.

I approached him, not giving a damn if he was in the middle of a conversation. The two men excused themselves, leaving us alone. He glanced around to see who was looking before he gulped the champagne.

“What the fuck are you doing here?”

I chortled. “You look like my presence scares you.”

“It doesn’t, you fake ass thug. I’ve faced tougher problems with a much better way of protecting what’s important to them.”

“Is that a threat, Memphis? See, you thought you’d pull me out of character and probably get me arrested again, but nah, not again, Pops.” I said that last part with venom spewing from my lips.

“I’m not your father. Never have been. Yeah, I married yo’ mama but she couldn’t see a good thing if it hit her in the face. She had to sleep with scum. That hood shit runs deep in your veins. She didn’t think I knew she was fucking Ortega, a motherfucker with a rap sheet as long as my achievements and a slew of fucking chop shops. I knew every fucking thing. Bitch was ungrateful and so are you. I let you breathe out here for long en?—”

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