Page 15 of Read the Room

Sully shook his head. “Just a minute ago, you proclaimed that GeGi wasn’t going anywhere. Wait…” He turned the phone screen toward himself then told Joey to put the phone in his wife’s face and take off her gag.“Hello, Mrs. Loris, question for you. Did you know your husband had other children?”

With tears streaming down her face, she nodded her head.“Yes, I knew. I’ve been trying to leave him, but he said he would kill me. Please leave me and my babies out of this. You can take him and his bitch of a mother.”

“Porsha! What the fuck!” Carlos didn’t like that.

Alexi sat there whimpering and shit.

“Alexi, shut all that whimpering up,” I commanded.“Mrs. Porsha, something in what you just said touched my spirit. Now, can I trust you enough to let you go and know that you’ll move on with your life quietly?”

Her head nodded vigorously.“Yes, I have the code to his safe. I will take everything and be gone by the morning. Is he going to be dead, though? I-I don’t want him to come looking for me.”

“Yes, ma’am, he will be,” I said as I walked over to the bar. I grabbed a bottle of brown and popped it open. I wasn’t worried about my fingerprints being on anything because I had gloveson. I extended the bottle to Carlos. “Here, player. Go ahead and drink this.”

He looked at me confused, but he took the bottle, put it to his lips, and started to drink. I watched him for a second. He drank half the bottle in less than a minute.Damn!I told Joey to have Mrs. Loris escorted home and stay with her until she got what she needed to get gone.

“Damn, dude. Looks like we’re setting your wife free,” Sully said with a titter.“Mrs. Porsha, I hope you and your babies have a good life. Remember to keep your mouth shut, or we’ll have another meeting.”

She nodded.“I don’t even know what you’re talking about. Carlos, fuck you and your bitch ass mama.”

His mother sat next to her with fury in her eyes that matched her son’s.

“No, fuck you, bitch. You better not touch my money.”

“Oh my God! Finish that bottle and shut up. Dead people can’t spend money,” Simone fussed. “I’m trying to catch a late dinner, fuck my husband, and go to sleep. I want to go to the Louvre tomorrow.”

“Man, shut up, Simone,” I said before I laughed. “Carlos, looks like it’s you or ya moms. What’s it going to be?”

Without words, he took the rest of the bottle to the head. Sully passed him another bottle. Alexi sat next to him and watched before she shifted in her seat.

“Lo’ak, what are you going to do with me?”

“It’s not your turn yet, Gina,” Simone quipped.

When Sully asked her who Gina was, she looked at him like he should have known the answer.

“Um, Khiaere’s ex ho ass bitch.”

I wasn’t about to go there with her because I was sure it was a character from one of those smut books she reads. Carlos’s eyes were hooded, so he was faded enough for me.

“Los, time for you to jump off the balcony.”

His eyes bulged. “What t-the fuck! We’re on like the twentieth floor.”

“Splat, splat, bitch,” I said with no remorse. “It’s you or ya moms. What’s it gonna be?”

There was groaning on the other end of the phone. Joey said that Carlos’s mother wanted to say something. I told him to take her gag off.

“Carlos, jump! Just jump! You caused this, so you jump!”

Sully’s head leaned to the side. “Damn, does anyone love your ass? This shit makes me sad for you.”

I wasn’t sure how I felt about his mother’s willingness to put him on the plank. That shit was crazy. It was clear that Carlos’s selfishness was genetic. Yeah, we were on the twentieth floor, but ask me if I cared.

Carlos was full on crying.

His mama had broken his heart if I had to guess. His mother continued to egg him on to jump. At this point, she was doing my job. After a few more pleas, he got up and walked to the balcony door then opened it. Alexi let out a muffled yell when he sprinted then jumped across the banister.Yule, Superman!Seconds later, the screeching of tires and screams could be heard.

“Now, Alexi, as far as you’re concerned, you deal with that. You mess with the bull, and you get the horns.” I walked over to her, leaned down, then placed a kiss on her forehead.

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