The New York Gang War

Ch 11: A Time For Celebration

Your P.O.V.

It's done, Garcia is dead and Harlem belongs to The Vipers. I have to say that it's really been a crazy couple of weeks. Now that my crew and I ran Harlem, we could do great things. Of course, with the help of the money we're making from our protection rackets and weed sales. And the money from The Blue Tropics was a big help too.

Right now, I had over two dozen cops all on the payroll. It turned out Garcia even had a stash of blackmail on them for taking bribes from his crew. And it was thanks to Liam that I had it now since he found it in Garcia's office. Though it seemed that they weren't even aware of the blackmail. So for now, I've pretty much been paying them what Garcia was. And if any of them tried to demand more, I could use the blackmail.

Right now, the crew was celebrating over at The Blue Tropics. But I was on my way to Jessica's place to pay her a quick visit. After that incident with Henry, she was pretty shaken up about it. The next day though, she seemed to have calmed down some. She even gave me the address to the apartment building she was at. And with Garcia no longer a problem, I decided to take the chance to check on her.

I honestly don't know what is wrong with me though. Because for some odd reason, I just couldn't get Jessica off of my mind. Maybe I'm just overthinking things now that Garcia's dead. And I had a feeling there was likely a handful of his men left around Harlem. I don't know if that's true or not, but it still is a possibility. If there are any Los Diablos thugs left, it wouldn't be long until they were dealt with.

After a while, I found myself outside an apartment building in eastern Harlem. The place seems to only have four stories, but nice regardless. Then I went inside and went right up to the front desk. The receptionist didn't seem like she was paying attention. Because she was going over some sort of paperwork. So she yelped in surprise when I rang the bell to get her attention.

Receptionist: Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't see you there.

Y/n: It's alright. I'm here to see Jessica Parker, I'm a friend of hers.

Receptionist: Name?

Y/n: Y/n L/n.

The receptionist then called up to Jessica's room. After a minute or so, she gave me Jessica's room number, which was room 320. It was on the third floor, so I had to take the elevator upstairs. Once I was upstairs, I made my way over to Jessica's apartment. When I found it, I knocked a couple times and Jessica answered a moment later. And it looked like she was doing a lot better than beforehand.

Jessica: Hey Y/n, this is a nice surprise.

Y/n: Yeah, well, I figured I'd drop by for a visit and see how you were doing.

With that, Jessica let me in and gave me some water. And I took a quick look around the apartments living room and kitchen. It looked like she had been doing a lot of cleaning. Because there was a handful of beer bottles and old photos of Henry in a trash bag. It didn't take a genius to figure out what Jessica was doing.

Y/n: Doing a bit of spring cleaning?

Jessica: Something like that.

Y/n: I don't blame you, after everything that you know who did to you.

Jessica: Yeah.....

It was awkward for a moment as I didn't know what to say. I knew that Jessica's now dead ex was still a very touchy subject. And I was trying to find a way to change the subject in order to break the ice. Then I saw a photo of what I guessed was a younger Jessica with her parents and a brother. And I was guessing it was likely from around her ninth or tenth birthday.

Y/n: This your family?

Jessica: Yeah, a picture my parents, my older brother Mike, and I took on my tenth birthday. This was taken about six years before I had even met Henry.