Pawns & Kings Read online

  I often thought back to that day at my father’s burial. There was so much running through my mind that I didn’t even have the where-with-all to pay attention to my surroundings. But I did remember seeing a black limo in the midst of the other cars that were there. At the time I had no idea that my family was concealed behind those tinted windows.

  “That was the day that you found out about him, wasn’t it?” Dajah asked me.

  “Yeah,” I said staring at the floor. “That day changed my life. But it wasn’t until a few weeks ago that I found out about the rest of you.”

  “I never thought in a million years that I’d be sitting here looking at you,” she told me. “I thought that you hated us.”

  “Nah, it was never like that. I just had no idea that my father had a family. There was a lot that I didn’t know about him, but finding out about you guys has made a lot of things make sense.”

  “Wow, this is so crazy,” she said, laughing to herself. “I wonder what D.J. would say about you being here.”

  My mood suddenly changed but I doubted that Dajah noticed. It was clear that none of them, including Marcia, knew about this war going on between me and D.J. Marcia was under the impression that Walter was the one who told me about them. She had no idea that her son was the one who showed up at my office demanding that I give him the company, and I had no intention of telling her that he had tried to kill me just a couple of weeks ago.

  “Speaking of D.J., has he been around lately?” I asked innocently, not wanting to reveal my true motives.

  “No, he left about three months ago and he hasn’t been back since,” she said disappointedly.

  “You haven’t talked to him in that time?” I asked, slightly confused.

  “No, I haven’t but my mom probably has,” she told me. “And he’s really close with Daniella so I’m sure that she talks to him all the time.”

  I nodded my head while thinking about what she said. If Daniella had been talking to D.J. then that would explain why she had such an ought against me. There was no telling what kind of poison he had been putting in her head.

  I spent the rest of the day and evening at the Estate and left after I had dinner with Marcia and Dajah. Daniella still refused to see me or be around me even after talking with her mother. A part of me did feel a little bad about that and I hoped that before I went back to Atlanta we could resolve our issues. But I was more concerned about D.J. and what was going to happen when he showed up. It was only a matter of time before he dropped in on his family and I was hoping that I would be around when he did just so that I could see the look on his face.

  Chapter XVII- Natalie

  “I just don’t understand what the big deal is. You can’t keep me locked up in this house forever.”

  To say that I was stressed and irritated was an understatement. I thought that with Darius being gone I would be able to get out of the house for a while so that I could hang out with some of my friends, but I was wrong. Mike and Terry stopped me dead in my tracks and now they had Phillip and Donna in on this intervention as well. We were all standing around the island in the kitchen while I tried to convince them to let me leave. I was frustrated because I was a grown woman who shouldn’t have to have permission to go do anything that I wanted to do. But that was one of the downsides to dating a billionaire businessman who had people who were trying to kill him.

  “Nat, you know that Darius won’t be cool with us letting you go out, especially while he’s all the way in Miami,” Mike said.

  “Yeah,” Terry chimed in. “The last thing we need is for him to be jumping down our throat over something like this."

  “So just don’t tell him, Terry,” I said as if that was the obvious answer. “I mean, come on. Are you really going to do me like this? You the same nigga that I used to see around the way not too long ago, remember?” I figured that making him reminisce on the old days might be my only chance at getting my way in this situation.

  “I know we go back a few years, but I can’t cross my boy,” he replied.

  “Besides, it’s just not safe,” Phillip added. “I have to agree with Terry and Michael on this one.”

  “Well, I don’t agree,” Donna said. “You all stood by and let my son go to Miami by himself and now you want to keep Natalie locked inside until he comes back. I don’t think that’s fair.”

  “Ms. Donna, we’re not trying to treat anyone unfairly,” Mike said. “We do whatever Darius tells us to do. That’s it.”

  “Well Darius isn’t here,” I reminded them for what seemed like the one thousandth time. “And how are you gonna stop me from leaving if I choose to walk out of that door anyway? Are you going to use physical force?” Clearly I was only saying this to test the waters, but I was surprised when they actually looked at each other as if to say that they would physically restrain me if they had to.

  “I can’t believe you two,” I said, holding my mouth slightly agape as I looked at them in shock. “You all would really manhandle me in order to keep me in this house?”

  “No,” Mike said hesitantly. “But I’ve already told security not to let you out of the gate. So trying to leave won’t work.”

  This was unbelievable. I had already been putting up with Darius trying to control my life, but now he had his boys doing the same thing. All I wanted to do was have a girls’ night out, but even though my man was miles away, he was still ruining my plans.

  “Natalie, I know it may be hard to hear, but it really is for your safety,” Phillip said.

  I rolled my eyes as all of my fight left me. I knew that this was all pointless and that there was no way that I could win.

  “Fine. Whatever.” I left them in the kitchen and headed upstairs, still upset. There was no use in arguing with them any longer because they weren’t going to change their minds.

  I arrived at the top of the stairs and turned the corner into the hallway. Just as I did this I collided with Derek, almost causing him to drop the MacBook laptop that he was carrying.

  “Oh, I’m so sorry Derek. I didn’t see you,” I apologized.

  “Nah, it’s cool,” he said with a smile. “You sure were walking fast as hell though. Is everything okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m just a little pissed off right now,” I said, walking past him as I headed for my room. Derek’s room was right across the hall from mine and I could see that he left his door open. He had what looked like surveillance equipment set up in the corner of his room which piqued my interest a bit.

  “What’s wrong? Who pissed you off?” he asked as he stepped in front me, blocking my line of sight into his room.

  “I had plans to go out with my girls tonight, but Mike and Terry are refusing to let me leave the property,” I explained quickly while still trying to peer over his shoulder.

  “Oh, I see,” he said. “Well you know that Darius gave us strict orders.”

  “Strict orders to keep me locked up in this place?” I said, becoming frustrated again.

  “Not just you, but everybody. It’s for your own safety.”

  I simply rolled my eyes while I folded my arms. If one more person implied that Darius knew more about my safety than I did, I was going to break something.

  “Besides, there’s plenty that you can do here,” he told me. “You can go watch a movie, go workout, play some games, go swimming.”

  “I don’t want to do any of that!” I snapped. Derek raised his hands slightly.

  “Okay, my bad. I was just trying to help.” He turned and went into his room but left his door open. Derek really was a nice guy so I felt bad about snapping on him the way I did. I walked into his room and over to his bed where he was standing.

  “Derek, I’m sorry. I know that you’re just trying to help,” I said. “It’s just that there’s a lot going on right now and I guess it’s all just stressing me out.”

  He looked at me and I could tell that he was understanding of the situation that I was in. I often felt that no one understood how ev
erything was affecting me, but something about Derek told me that wasn’t the case with him.

  “You have looked stressed lately,” he said, turning toward me. “Let me see if I can help you with that.”

  He told me to sit down on the edge of the bed and I did. I turned my back to him as he sat behind me. He placed his hands on my shoulders and began to rub the tension and stress away. At first I was a little caught off guard by this gesture, but after a few seconds I began to relax. It was clear that Derek knew what he was doing and had probably practiced on many of his lady friends. Within minutes he had me feeling amazing and I honestly did not want him to stop.

  “How did that feel?” he asked after he stopped working his magic and was letting his hands rest on my arms.

  “That felt amazing. You do that really well,” I told him.

  “Thank you.”

  Again my attention was arrested by the equipment in the corner of the room. Now able to get a closer look, I could see that he had surveillance on a building that I had never seen before and that he was also tracking something or someone on a map. I got up from the bed and walked over to the table where everything was set up.

  “What is all of this?” I asked. Derek came and joined me at the table.

  “This is all of the equipment and gadgets that I use to do what Darius pays me to do.”

  “And what exactly is it that he pays you to do?” I wanted to know.

  “I like to call myself his Computer Technology Specialist,” he said proudly. “That involves hacking, surveillance, and anything dealing with artificial intelligence. Right now what I’m doing is using Darius’s phone signal to track where he is on this grid.” He pointed at the screen that showed the map of what I assumed was Miami.

  “So that green dot is Darius?”

  “Yeah,” he confirmed before pointing at the next screen. “This is the hotel that Darius is staying at.” He hit a few buttons on the keyboard and the shot changed to the view of a hallway.

  “That’s the room that Darius is staying in,” he told me. “I hacked into the security cameras at the Four Seasons and now I have live footage of every floor, including the parking garage, at the hotel. Not only that, but within a certain range I can follow Darius where ever he goes within the city by using the cameras at stop lights or on the outside of buildings. This way, if anybody tries to walk up on him, I can warn him ahead of time.”

  “Wow, that’s amazing,” I said, very impressed. I knew that Derek was smart but I had no idea that he could do all of that.

  “You know, this all gives me some peace of mind,” I said. “It’s nice to know that you’re still looking out for him even though he’s miles away.”

  “Darius is our boy, so we’re going to always look out for him, no matter what,” Derek said.

  Minutes later I left Derek’s room and went to my own. I felt a little better about everything that was going on now that Derek had shown me the equipment.

  I lay on my bed just as my phone began to ring. I pulled it out of the pocket of my jeans and answered right away since I already knew who it was.

  “Hey,” I answered.

  “Hey, baby. What’s up with you?” Darius’s strong tenor tone came through the phone.

  “Nothing. I was about to go to bed. Are you okay?” I asked.

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” he assured me. “I just wanted to call you and tell you that I love you.”

  I froze at his confession. This was the first time that he had ever told me that he loved me without being prompted, so instantly I felt like something had to be wrong.

  I sat up in bed still holding the phone to my ear. “Darius, what’s wrong? Why are you telling me this?”

  “Nothing’s wrong, baby. I just wanted to make sure that you knew that I loved you no matter what happens, a’ight.”

  I was definitely nervous now but I didn’t let it show. He didn’t sound like he was in danger so I took that as a reason to breathe easy. It was moments like this when hearing his voice wasn’t enough. I wanted to be where he was but I knew that was impossible at the moment.

  “Okay, baby,” I said since there was nothing else that I could say. “I love you too.”

  Chapter XVIII- Darius

  I ended my call with Natalie and got out of my rental car. I parked along the street a couple of blocks away from my destination. Tonight I was going to enjoy myself at this strip-club called Cosmo. The bartender at the restaurant where I had dinner earlier had told me about this place and he told me that it was one of the best high-end gentlemen’s club in Miami. All I cared about was having a few drinks and looking at some beautiful, sexy women.

  I went into the club and chose to keep a low profile since I wasn’t known in Miami. It was a weeknight so as expected there wasn’t a large crowd, but there was still enough people for me to blend in and go unnoticed.

  Cosmo had many beautiful women of many different nationalities. They had everything from your average big-booty black chick to your Hispanics and Asians, and they even had a Russian chick in there. But there was this one girl; body like a stallion. She had pecan-colored skin and olive-colored eyes. She was dancing on the platform right in front of the booth where I was sitting by myself. She had made it her business to give me a private show from her spot on the stage and so far I was a happy customer.

  By this time the sounds of Ne-yo and Trey Songz were serenading us all with “The Way You Move” and I was beginning to think that they had written the song with this girl in mind. She turned her back to me and got in a squatted position. With one hand gripping the pole she meticulously used the other to remove her red bra, leaving her red thong as the only thing still attached to her beautiful body. She swayed her hips to the music a few times before turning around. With her back now against the pole, she leaned her head back causing her taut nipples to be erected into the air. When she brought her head back up her sexy gaze collided with mine.

  She got on her hands and knees and slowly crawled to the edge of the stage. She lifted one of her manicured index fingers and used it to beckon me to come to her. I took a gulp from my glass of Hennesey before getting up and walking over to her.

  “I haven’t seen you in here before,” she said, caressing my chest. Her face was so close to mine that I thought that she was going to kiss me.

  “I’m from out of town,” I told her simply.

  A seductive smile came to her face as she said, “You here for business or pleasure?”

  “A little bit of both, I guess.” I was tempted to touch her supple breast which were just barely grazing my chest, but I fought the urge since it was against the rules to touch the strippers.

  “Well, why don’t you take me up out of here,” she suggested.

  “I got a lady at home,” I told her without hesitation.

  “I don’t see a ring on your finger,” she said.

  “I know you don’t,” I said glancing at my hand. “But that don’t mean that I’m gonna spend the night with you.”

  She didn’t seem to be the least bit offended by me turning down her offer, but that didn’t stop her determination either. She grabbed the collar of my shirt and pulled me closer to her.

  “But I know you want to fuck me. Don’t you?”

  I looked her up and down again. My gaze made it clear that I wanted to take her back to my hotel for the night, but what man wouldn’t? Still, I couldn’t do it because there was just too much at stake.

  I reached into my pocket and pulled out at stack. Her eyes grew big when she saw what would probably take her three months to make. I unwrapped the hundred dollar bills, peeled one off and stuck it in the strap of her thong.

  “Right now, I just want to see you dance,” I told her. She seemed to willingly accept the opportunity to make some serious money in place of the prospect of spending the night with me. I’m sure she would have been even happier with both, but prostitution wasn’t really my thing.

  She spent the next hour or so dancing for me while
I rained one hundred dollar bills on her. She was pulling out her best moves, doing things that I hadn’t even seen the girls in Atlanta do. She had me under her spell and I was completely mesmerized. Once the twenty grand was gone I got ready to leave. A few of the other strippers tried to come give me a dance after they saw how I had spoiled their friend, but I was done for the night. After the show that she had put on, some of the other customers came over offering her ten’s and twenties but she was done for the night as well. She gathered all of her money, blew me a kiss and then headed for the back.

  I left Cosmo and headed down the street toward my car. It was about one in the morning and there were a few people out doing various things on this particular block. I ignored them all as I took my time making my way down the street. But something didn’t feel right. I felt like I was being watched way too closely. I kept my head forward and kept walking at an even pace. I knew exactly where my gun was and it would only take a second for me to pull it out if I had to.

  My phone rang and I drew it out of my pocket. It was Derek.

  “What’s up?” I said.

  “You got somebody trailing you from about twenty feet,” he told me.

  “Can you tell who it is?” I asked, still playing it cool.

  “Nah. They got on a hoodie.”

  “A’ight. I’ll handle it.” I ended my call with Derek and cut down an alley. I pulled my gun out and waited, five seconds then ten. Finally, the hooded character came into the alley with me. I swung at him but he ducked and then pulled his gun out. I backed up against the wall since he now had his pistol, with a silencer attached, pointed at my chest. I thought for sure that he was going to shoot me at point blank range until he snatched the hoodie off revealing that he wasn’t a man, but a woman.

  “What the fuck?” I said relaxing slightly when I realized who she was. “Janelle, what the hell are you doing here?” Janelle was Francisco’s personal assistant and I hadn’t seen her since the auction in Paris. Her golden brown hair was hanging loosely around her face, but she was still sexy as hell, even in sweats.