The Life - Rebirth (The Life 4)

“Really, how so?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, how is she your girl? What makes you make that statement with such surety?”

“Look, I don’t know who you are, that you’re asking these questions, but I don’t have to answer.”

“I’m Gabriel Russo. Have you heard that name before?”

“Oh, so you’re the kid she left, pleased to meet you.”

He actually grinned at me. What did she call him just now? Jimmy?

“I didn’t think that someone as young as you would be so eager to die, James.” He didn’t look much older than me, maybe late twenties, I’m guessing.

“I don’t follow.”

“Forget that for now. You were going to tell me about you and Gianna.”

“There’s not much to tell, not anything that I would say to a stranger anyway. Look, I get it, she used to belong to you, now she and I are getting married, it’s a long time coming, ya know. We’ve already got the kids so….”

“What did you say?”

“Oh, you haven’t met the kids. They’re adorable; we’ve really grown close in the last couple of years.”

“Your kids?”

“Of course.”

“So that means you’ve slept with Gianna.”

“Duh!” Calm down, Gabriel; it’s obvious this guy is trying to yank your chain.

I can be calm, rational, and human in every other instance of my life, but because it pertained to her I never wanted to erase someone the way I want to with this guy.

“You fucked my woman? That means you’ve seen her naked. How many moles does she have beneath her left breast? If you answer correctly, I’ll let you live. “This fuck took too long to answer. “HOW MANY?”

“T-t-two.” I breathed a deep fucking sigh of relief.

“Wrong answer, asshole, her breasts are unblemished. The mole’s on her ass.” I drew my piece, but he jumped up from the chair and started to run, so instead of shooting him in the neck where I was aiming for, I shot the fuck in the ass. Screams like a bitch.

“Oh, shut the fuck up; it’s a flesh wound you’ll live.” I got up to walk towards him, where he laid on the floor holding his ass, and then he started yelling out gibberish. “You guys better get in here before this fool really kills me.” I turned around gun level when I heard footsteps and was ready to cap the first one in until I saw Pop.

“Poppa, what’re you doing here?” He was followed by my team and a group of men I’d never seen before but took a wild guess. “Mancini, I presume, and you must be Lyon; you look like her. Memnon” I smiled at the last one in the bunch.

“How’d you know it was me?”

“You’re the only black prince in this bunch.” We hugged like long-lost friends, which we are to a point, and then I turned my attention to the other two. “Which one of you came up with this idea? You must not like him very much.”

“Well, me personally, I wanted to see you lose your shit; Mancini’s the one who let things go this far because he wanted to see if you’d follow through. Jimmy, you ass, didn’t I tell you not to provoke this guy if you ran into him?”

“How was I to know he’s nuts?”

“How did you find us here?”

“Your girl called and said you were heading out. I figured you would be too pissed to watch your surroundings so you wouldn’t see the tail we had on you.” He looked at Memnon when he said this.

“Or I could’ve known you were coming, and that’s the reason I let him live.”

“How did you communicate to him that you were here? my guys blocked anything he had on him.”

“Yeah, but I put him back online,” Mancini smirked.

“How did you….? Never mind. That still doesn’t tell me how he knew you were here?”

“We send a coded message letting him know we were here. It’s a series of beeps my guys have been working on.

“Yes. But where is it?”

“His watch.”

“Hey, some help here.” Jimmy was still holding his ass and squinting in pain.

“You shouldn’t play with fire, Jimmy; you’re not cut out for it. If I see you anywhere near my woman or kids, I’ll finish the job. Now, what do you two want from me?” I turned my attention to Mancini and Lyon while Memnon helped Jimmy up off the floor.

“Maybe we should discuss this tomorrow when everyone has a clear head.”

“Fine, where should we do this? My place or the place across the street from Gianna’s house?” I smiled when I saw the surprise on their faces. Lyon was the first to break the silence with a loud laugh.

“You win, kid, you win. Mancini, he’s all yours, you know I don’t fuck with you head geeks. I’m for bed. Jimmy, let’s go patch you up.” He looked back at me before nodding his head and saying, “yeah, he’ll find a way.” Whatever that means.