New York's Finest (9 page)

Meanwhile, my Blackberry rang. I looked down at the screen and noticed that it was Marco. I had forgotten that quickly that I was supposed to have met him at his apartment. I looked at Damian and sighed.

“
What’s wrong?” he asked.

“
I was supposed to meet Marco before I got the call from Vanessa. And this is him calling me now.”

“
Are you going to tell him what happened?” he asked me with concern written all over his face.

“
I’m not sure. What do you think? I mean we don’t know why Reggie was shot. And you know Marco’s gonna ask,” I said and waited for Damian to give me the go ahead.

Before he could respond, my phone stopped ringing. So I held it in the palm of my hand and debated on whether or not to call him back.

“
Nah, wait,” Damian finally spoke up. “Don’t tell him anything right now. Remember how paranoid he is and if he thinks we’re having problems out here, then he’s liable to shut our supply off and disappear from the face of this earth. So let’s wait until Reggie comes out of surgery and sees what he says.”

“
Well, what excuse am I going to give him about why I didn’t meet him when in fact I told him I would?” I asked curiously.

“
I can’t help you with that,” Damian replied facetiously. “But you’re a woman so I know you’ll come up with something.”

I cracked a smile. This was the first time I smiled since finding out Reggie had gotten shot. I knew Damian made this remark to simply make me smile. I poked him in his side. “Don’t play with me. You know men are masters at the lying game.”

“
Nah, I doubt that,” he chuckled as he looked back over at Vanessa who was still texting someone. “I wonder who the fuck she’s texting,” he changed the subject.

I looked at Vanessa with a disgusted look on my face. I figured that whoever she was texting had to be saying some pretty good stuff because she’d been going at it for close to forty minutes nonstop. I couldn’t stand the sight of her so I turned my attention back to my phone. When I did that, I immediately thought to myself what was I going to tell Marco? I knew he’d be pissed off if I stood him up. I knew he would even be more furious to know that he’d tried to call me and I wouldn’t answer his call nor call him back and explained my whereabouts. I sat there and wracked my brain trying to figure out what I was going to tell him. He was a man who always wanted answers no matter how bad it was. He detested liars and if he found out someone lied to him, he’d make their lives a living hell.

So what was I going to do?

New York’s Finest Kiki Swinson

Damian and I sat in the waiting area of the ER for a total of five hours before we finally received word from the surgeon that Reggie was okay and didn’t need a blood transfusion. The doctor said he was doing fine, a little weak from surgery, but he should easily rebound from the two shots he received.

I was so happy to hear the good news. My first question for the doctor was when Damian and I could see him?

“
He’s being transported to ICU right now,” the doctor responded. “So give the nurses about thirty minutes or so and then you’d be able to go back and see him.”

“
That’s good news,” Damian spoke up.

“
Yes it is,” I agreed.

“
Since he’s on his way to the ICU, is there a certain number of visitors he can have at one time?” Vanessa asked out of the blue. I was taken aback by her question. I looked at her like she was fucking crazy. I mean, what kind of question was that? Was she trying to imply that she needed to be the only person going back there to see him? I swear I wanted to ask her exactly what she meant when she asked the doctor that question, but I decided against it. I knew now wasn’t the time to chew her silly ass out. Not in front of the doctor anyway.

“
Well, when we have patients in ICU, hospital policy only allows visits from family members,” he explained.

Vanessa turned her attention from the doctor and looked directly at Damian. “I know you’re his wife,” the doctor stated to Vanessa. “Are you two related to him?” he asked Damian and I.

“
Yes, we’re both related. I’m his sister and this is his brother,” I said and then I looked over at Vanessa and waited for the bitch to say anything that would suggest the opposite. I knew she was a loose cannon and she was prone to say anything. But she also knew my elevator didn’t go all the way up to the top floor and that I would fuck her up when it came to Reggie. Trust me, she knew where to draw the line when it came to me.

“
Okay then. Well, I guess you all would be fine,” the doctor finally said. He gave us the impression that he sensed some tension. I could tell he was a bit uncomfortable standing there. Within seconds he excused himself, probably shaking his head at black people and their unnecessary drama.

Vanessa stormed back to the seat she had claimed. I stood in the same spot and shook my head with disgust. “She is so lucky that we’re in a public place, because I would blast her ass right here on the spot!” I said, damn near on the verge of tearing the skin off my lips with my teeth.

Damian grabbed me by my arm and pulled me back to where we were sitting. “Come on. She’s not even worth it,” he commented.

I sat back down with Damian sitting next to me. He wrapped his arm around my shoulder to console me. I tried to relax and let her antics run off my back but I couldn’t. “Look at her sitting there with that $75,000 iced out Presidential Rolex on her fucking wrist and flicking with those five carat VS1 diamond hoops in her ears. My brother risked his life out there in those fucking streets so he could buy all that shit for her ungrateful ass.”

“
I helped Reggie pick that joint out. And I got his jeweler to add the diamond bezel to it,” Damian said in a reminiscent way.

“
He told me. So to think that she has a problem with you or me going back to see Reggie is a slap in the face. I told him from day one that bitch wasn’t shit. I swear I can’t wait until he gets rid of her ass.”

Damian continued to massage my back. A short while later, a nurse came in from ICU and notified us that we could go back and see Reggie. I was so happy to hear the news that I literally raced completely pass the nurse and into the ICU. “He’s in room 119,” I heard her say.

I think I counted like six rooms before I reached Reggie’s room. When I pushed opened the door and saw him laid in the hospital bed with his eyes closed, while an I-V was attached to one arm and monitor devices were stuck to his chest, I almost wanted to cry my heart out. He looked so helpless in that bed. Knowing that I couldn’t do a thing to make him feel better was devastating. My eyes started wailing up with tears, but I held them back. I knew I had to be strong for the both of us.

“
Is he asleep?” Damian asked when he entered the room behind me.

Vanessa came into the room directly behind Damian. “Oh my baby!” she began to sob in a dramatic way and then she rushed over by his side. “Look at all this shit they got on him,” she griped as she took inventory of his body.

I walked over and stood on the opposite side of the body with Damian standing by my side. “I wonder if he can hear us?” Damian asked out of curiosity.

“
I’m sure he can,” I chimed in.

Vanessa sucked her teeth and said, “Well, if he could don’t you think he would’ve opened his eyes by now?”

I looked at her with the nastiest facial expression I could muster up. “Look, Vanessa, right now isn’t the time to be getting flip at the lips. My brother is laid up in this bed and I’m sure he’s going to be in a lot of pain when his drugs wear off, so can we leave the sarcasm and the bullshit at the door out of respect for him?”

“
First of all, this is my motherfucking husband. And while he’s incapable of making decisions, the hospital calls on me. So if anybody is going to get some respect around here, it’s going to be me. Because at the end of the day, I got the last say so, not you. And if I wanted to be nasty, I could have both of y’all asses kicked out of here.”

“
Well, bitch, do it! I dare you ho!” I snapped. I couldn’t hold back my rage any longer. I tried my best to get around to the other side of the bed but Damian wouldn’t let me get by him.

“
Let her go Damian. I ain’t scared of her. Because as soon as she lay one finger on me, I am going to have her ass locked up on the spot,” Vanessa threatened.

“
Bitch, do you think I care about getting locked up? I would love to go to jail behind whipping your ass. See, I’m not afraid of you calling the police on me. I’m not my brother. I would kill your motherfucking ass and wouldn’t think nothing of it!” I roared while Damian held onto me with all the strength in his body.

I take it some of the hospital staff heard us arguing because they came in within minutes of the drama beginning. The same female nurse who gave us Reggie’s room number came into the room with two white male security guards in tow.

“
I’m sorry but we’re gonna have to ask you all to leave this room,” she said.

“
She’s the one being volatile. Make her leave,” Vanessa blurted out.

“
Which one of you is the patient’s wife?” the nurse asked as she looked at both me and Vanessa.

“
I’m his wife so I shouldn’t have to leave his side, especially when I’m not the one threatening bodily harm.”

“
Oh, bitch, stop being phony. You and I both know that my brother can’t stand your ass for real. And if he was up right now, he’d tell them to tell your stinking ass to take a fucking hike instead of me.”

“
Stop lying to these people and get your ass out of here like they said,” Vanessa replied sarcastically. And then she laughed at me like this whole thing was a joke to her. I swear I lost it then.

“
Oh, so this shit here is a game, huh? Well, since you’re laughing bitch, know that I got a little niece or nephew on the way and it ain’t by you. You trifling ass dog. Now laugh at that bitch!” I said and then I spit on the floor in her direction. I didn’t give her a chance to come back at me with any more of her remarks because I exited the room immediately. And as I walked away I felt vindicated. It felt really good to give her a taste of her own medicine even though it was at the expense of Reggie. I just hoped he wouldn’t be too upset with me when he woke up and found out that I let the cat out of the bag. Oh well, what’s done was done. And I guess I would have to deal with it when the subject came back up.

Outside of the hospital, Damian walked me to my truck. Before we departed ways, he told me it would be best to tell Marco where Reggie was. But it would also be best to make Marco think that Reggie was at the wrong place at the wrong time and that the bullets were for someone else who lived in that neighborhood. This way Marco wouldn’t think that Reggie was a potential target of a rival dealer and that our organization was solid. Leaving Marco with no worries was the plan.

I had to dig deep and come up with a clever but plausible story. I used the drive back to my apartment to come up with a good storyline. And after I put everything down and settled down, I picked up my phone and called him. He didn’t sound very happy, but after I told him where I had been and who I had been there to see, he told me not to say any more and that he would send a car to come get me at once.

“
You still want me to come over? Hell, it’s almost one in the morning,” I asked, hoping he’d hear how tired I was and tell me he’d see me later today. But my words went through one ear and out the other.

“
Yes, it’s very important that you come here to see me tonight because I plan on flying out of here later today.”

I let out a long sigh. “Alright. Well, I guess I’ll see you in a few.”

New York’s Finest Kiki Swinson

Chapter 11 – Marco’s Empire

Marco’s driver arrived at my apartment building in less than thirty minutes. And it took him less time to get me back to Marco’s penthouse suite located on the Upper West Side. As soon I entered into his quarters I found him lounging on his hand made Italian leather recliner, smoking a Cuban cigar. I was surprised to see that he wasn’t alone. He had another gentleman sitting on his hand made Italian leather sofa directly across from him. The gentleman stood to his feet and extended his hand as I approached them. “Naomi, I’d like to introduce you to my son, Miguel.”

“
Nice to meet you,” I said.

He nodded his head and shook my hand simultaneously. Then he stood to the side so I could sit on the sofa next to Marco. “How was the ride over here?” Marco asked me immediately after he blew the cigar smoke into the air.

“
It was fine.”

“
How is Reggie doing?”

“
He’s doing much better than expected,” I said, trying to keep a straight face. I figured that whatever had come out of my mouth from this point had to be convincing.

“
Tell me what happened?” Marco pressed the issue.

“
It was simply a case of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. He was coming out of this apartment after this other guy and when a few guys from a car unloaded on the guy in front of Reggie, he messed around and got caught up in the crossfire.”

“
Did he have his piece on him?”

“
No he didn’t. Because if he did, I’m sure he would’ve returned fire.”