Chasing The Throne

Ch| 23

I'm fucked up; I'm black and blue
I'm built for it; all the abuse
..............

Troy

"You've got until tomorrow, Tee. I don't wanna hurt you, but you know what happens when you don't deliver" I said, peering at the woman who I once considered to be somewhat like a sister, as we stood outside of the abandoned warehouse.

Staring at me in disgust she finished removing some of the tape that I had intentionally left on her wrists when cutting her loose. "How could you turn on your brother like that Troy?! Jace is family".

Laughing lightly, I smoothly lit the joint that I had fished from out of my pocket. "He is my family! He is no one to you but a case". Turning my head, I quickly spit on the ground before taking another hit. "Three years Tee.....you were gunning for our heads the whole time".

Before she could respond, the creaky door to the warehouse slid open, Lana's small frame coming into view with every vicious click of her black pointed, red bottoms. Walking over to us, she gracefully took the joint that was placed in between my lips and placed it in between hers, before indulging in the perfectly wrapped piece of nature. "Why is she still here Troy" she asked, nodding in Tee's direction.

"You're turning brothers against each other? What happened to you Lana? Are you that money hungry that you've forgotten all of your humanity and morals?" She spoke directly to Lana. "You used to be so pure, now you're a perverted, cold hearted bit-"

Pulling her gun from her back waistband, she quickly clicked off the safety, before pressing the cool steel against Tee's temple. "Finish that fucking sentence, don't stop on my account".

As Tee's bottom lip began to quiver, she diverted her eyes to me, in hopes of me being her saving grace.

"He can't save you bitch and since you're feeling so froggy today, why don't you leap for me?" Lana said as she looked at her watch. "You had until tomorrow, but now you have until tonight. Club Pyro, 10pm".

"But thats in three hours, how am I suppo-" feeling Lana cock back the gun against her temple made her tremble and cry in fear. "Okay I'll get it done. Club Pyro, 10pm with my Captain. We'll be there."

Satisfied, Lana quickly placed her gun back in her waistband before making her way to her rental car, and sliding in. Before pulling completely off, she pulled up next to me, rolling the window down as I caught the last bit of a phone call. "Yes, its done. Have Rashawn at the club by 9:30, not a second later." Ending the call, she looked at me through the cracked window, "I'm going to meet up with your brother, I'm going to make sure he's safe through all of this. Tail her" she spoke, as we watched Tee scurry off to her car.

"Consider it done" I quickly responded.

.....................

I parked in a space across the street from the motel Tee had been inside of for the past hour. Just when I was about to give up and go inside, another car, similar to all of our work rental cars pulled up in the space next to her.

Leaning back in my seat, I watched as Treasure stepped out of the car, only to be rushed back into it, with a panicked Tee, carrying two overnight bags.

Lana 💕 :

Treasure & Tee?

Always a step ahead

??

Keep watching, keep me posted

Say no more.

Sliding my phone back into my pocket, I looked up just in time to see what Lana meant by "always a step ahead". Treasure had a gun to Tee's back, forcefully pushing her back into the motel room. Taking that as my cue, I headed to the cleaners so I could fulfill my other obligation before the events Lana had planned for tonight would fall into place.

As I drove to the nearby cleaners, I couldn't help but laugh at how all it took was one beautiful woman to turn everything on its head. But saying Lana's success is only attributed to her beauty, would be an overstatement and far from the truth. She is a genius. She knows how to manipulate people and things, in ways that are far beyond my knowledge. Whether it be a man or a woman, she cripples everyone. No one saw her coming, and none of us were immune to her charm.

Snapping out of my thoughts, I pulled into a parking spot, before hopping out of my rental car and making my way inside.

"Beinvenido! Como puedo ayudarte?" A Middle aged woman in all white gingerly spoke through a bright smile.

"He venido a ver la nieve", I responded as I pulled my shades from my eyes.

I watched as the woman transformed before my eyes. "Sólo cita gringo", she all but spat at me.

"Lana Harris me envió", I responded once again.

"Ohh, mi amor. How is mi hija?" She asked, her tone changing yet again, this time mirroring something of admiration.

"Hija?" I asked.

"I am Lana's first foster mother", she said as she walked to the front of the store, flipping the "open" sign to "closed".  Coming back to the counter, she put in a passcode that allowed us access to a vault that was behind a bag of dresses. "She was 7 when she came to me and we were very very close, until.....until her tio began doing things to her that no tio should do."

She was raped by her uncle?

Opening the vault, we both stepped inside and she took the duffle bag I had brought with me inside with her. As she filled the bag with 6 kilos of cocaine, she filled me in on the terrible things that her brother did to Lana and how once she was aware, she threatened to kill him if he didn't leave Miami all at once. As we walked to the front of the store, she began to tear up.

"Let her know that I love her and I am so sorry I failed her. Mi hija is my heart. It's no fair that he is successful and gets paid to lock criminals up when he is one himself. Be safe Troy, and please watch over mi hija." I nodded my head as she opened the door for me and I walked away from the only person that could possibly warm the cold heart of the woman I had grown to admire.

She's got secrets that nobody knows