Payback

would be out in no time. No, killin’ her was the only way she could come home.

Melinda almost lost them when Bobby made that u-turn, but she was able to keep up. When she saw that bitch Shy leading Pam out of the building she knew something was up. When she followed them around to the alley and saw Black and Bobby put what she was sure was a body in the trunk, she not only knew she had something, but she knew where Black and Bobby were going next. The parlor.

Mike and Bobby realized very early in their line of work that dead men do tell tales when you leave the bodies laying around for the cops to find. With that thought in mind, Mike bought a funeral parlor with a cremation furnace. It was a very efficient way to dispose of their enemies without a trace. The entire process usually takes about two hours. Melinda knew she had plenty of time.

With Pam resting comfortably, Shy went back downstairs. Even though it was late, she wasn’t tired, or maybe she was just too hyped over the events of the evening to sleep. So, she stretched out on the couch and turned on the television. While Shy channel surfed her mind drifted to thoughts of Pam. There was still a part of her that couldn’t believe that Pam had killed that woman. But why not? You killed somebody when they pushed you to your limit. Pam did the same thing. Imagine how many women wished that they could kill their man’s other woman? The line would be long.

As she flipped from channel to channel and tried to get comfortable, Shy thought about all the times she’d accused Mike of flirting too much, or having what she considered an inappropriate friendship with, or flat out accused him of cheating with another woman, it had never came to anything like this. No woman had ever called her or broke into their house.

'You might as well turn that off, cause there ain’t ever anything on at this hour.' A voice came from the shadows.

'Pam is that you?'

'Don’t you wish it was Pam?'

'Who’s there?' Melinda stepped into the light, and her gun was pointed at Shy. 'You.' She thought that she recognized the voice, it was her that wanted to kill her while she was kidnapped. Shy stood up. 'How did you get in here?'

'I used to live here until you came along, bitch,' Melinda said and took another step closer to Shy.

'What do you want?'

'I’m here to take back what you took from me.'

'What are doin’ talkin’ about?'

'I’m talkin’ about Black, you stupid bitch.'

'And you think — ,'

'Shut up, bitch,' Melinda said calmly. 'You ruined everything. I was happy, we were happy, happy with each other, bitch. Do you understand what that means? Do you understand how I felt?'

Shy remained quiet.

'No, I didn’t think so. You couldn’t possibly understand what this feel like.'

'Yes I can.'

'Then you shouldn’t have been fuckin’ with my man. My man! Not yours, mine!' Melinda took a step closer and Shy backed into a corner. 'Look at you. What does he see in you? What do you have that I don’t? What the fuck is so special about you?'

Shy wanted to say, whatever it was, it was enough to take Michael away from you with ease, so you oughta check yourself. Not wanting her smart mouth to get her killed, she looked around the room for a weapon or a way out.

Melinda looked at the clock on the wall and knew she had to get this over with and get back to the club to reestablish her alibi. 'Here’s what’s gonna happen now, bitch. I’m gonna kill you and that bitch upstairs. Black and Bobby are gonna think that D-Train’s boyz killed y’all in retaliation for Freeze killin’ D-Train and they’ll wipe them off the face of the earth. Once that’s over and Black starts to grieve over the loss of your bitch ass, I’ll be there to help him put it back together.'

'You don’t have to do this,' Shy pleaded with Melinda.

'Oh, yes I do. You don’t deserve to have him. You don’t deserve to have my man.'

'We can talk about this, can’t we?'

'Talk? Talk about what? How you snuck behind my back and stole my man? Is that what we should talk about bitch? I don’t think so. What do you think? If you keep me here talking that Black will come and save your worthless bitch ass? Well you can forget about that. I saw the body him and Bobby carried out. What, your girl Pam do, kill somebody?'

Shy didn’t answer.

'It doesn’t matter. You don’t have to answer me, bitch. I know they took that body to the parlor and if they did it’ll be at least two hours before they get finished, so nobody is coming to save you.'

If that was the case, Shy figured since she was going to die, that she might as well speak her mind and die with dignity. 'You know what,' she paused. 'Damn, I don’t even remember what your name is. Never was all that important. But I guess it doesn’t matter now. I guess nothing matters now. So let me tell you something. Mike Black is my man, bitch, not your man, my man.' Shy held up her left hand. 'This big ass fuckin’ rock on my finger proves that he’s my man. He may have been your man, but you weren’t woman enough to hold him and that’s why he’s my man. And by the way, you never lived here. You may have got fucked here, but live here, in my house, no I don’t think so. So go ahead and kill me you dumb bitch, ’cause even if you kill me, Mike Black will always be my man!'

Melinda grabbed the gun with both hands and cocked the hammer. Shy heard the shot, closed her eyes, and prepared to die.

But nothing happened.

Shy opened her eyes in time to see Melinda drop the gun and fall to the floor.

Pam stepped out of the shadows with a gun in her hand. She stood over Melinda’s body. 'These bitches got to learn to stop fuckin’ with somebody else’s man.'

Shy smiled. 'Where’d you get the gun?' she asked as she kicked the gun away from Melinda.

'I know where Mike keeps his guns.'

'Well, where ever you got it, Pam, thank you. You saved my life.' Shy walked over to the phone and dialed Bobby’s cell phone number. 'Hi, Bobby, it’s Shy. I know y’all are busy but it’s important. Can I speak to Michael?'

Bobby handed his phone to Mike. 'Hello baby, what’s up?'

'Like I told Bobby, I know y’all are busy, but when you get finished with that one, Pam’s got another one ready for the parlor.'

After Shy called, Mike left Bobby to run the cremation furnace, while he went to see what Shy was talking about. When he got to his house Mike was more than surprised to see a woman’s body laying on his living room floor, and was shocked to see that it was Melinda. Mike turned as Shy walked up behind him.

'Friend of yours?' Shy mused. She wrapped her arms around his waist.

'What was she doin’ here?'

'I didn’t invite her, all of a sudden she was just there.' Shy handed him a blanket.

'What happened, baby?'

'She came to get her man back.'

Chapter Forty-five

Eight o’clock was fast approaching, and it found Diego Estabon sitting by the phone waiting for his father’s kidnappers to call. He took a moment to consider the fact that earlier today he had five million dollars deposited in his account and now he was waiting to pay five million for the safe return of his father. Just another one of life’s little ironies. It wasn’t about the money. He could and most likely would get the money back from Gomez. He’ll probably insist on giving me back my money. He wouldn’t want me to have that type of power over him.