“Welp,” Mario said, staring out the window as Demetrius drove, “at least I got the money for this date on Saturday.”
“With Blake Rogers’s daughter?”
“Yup. I’m getting all in that on Saturday. On God, nigga.”
“How the fuck you pull that off? Word on the streets is that man don’t let nobody near his precious baby girl.”
“Nigga,” Mario looked at Demetrius like he was crazy, “you know who I am? I get what I want when I want. Ain’t nobody gon’ stop me. Least of all Blake Rogers’s bitch ass.”
Demetrius reached his hand out and dapped his homie up one time.
“I feel you, my guy. She know who you are yet?”
“Nope,” Mario said. “And I’m going to keep it that way until it’s time. Now, hand me that bag so I can count this money. I guess we splitting it three ways instead of four.”
Chapter 7
When Saturday came, Tiara kept her word to her parents. She didn’t say a thing to them. She locked her bedroom door, and the only person she allowed to enter was Stephanie. She almost slipped up and told Stephanie about her plans for the night, but she didn’t want to put her in the position to have to lie. Instead, she kept it to herself. Tiara passed her time by watching her favorite shows on TV and texting Brandy. Tiara hadn’t even told her of the plans because she didn’t want her to know just yet. Knowing Brandy, she would either try to talk her out of it, or she would just ask too many questions.
Cat tried to come to have a girls’ talk with Tiara, but Tiara would not open the door for her. It was too late for all of that. She was trying to be a real mother too late. The seed of resentment was already planted too deeply in Tiara’s heart. Instead of answering the knocks on her door, she opted to turn her TV up louder showing her mother blatant disrespect.
Fuck you, Tiara thought to herself.
The rest of the day time seemed to drag. She didn’t know if it was because she was looking at the clock every five minutes or because time really was moving slow. It took a lifetime for the clock hands to finally read eleven o’clock. Tiara took a shower and got dressed. She put on a purple bra with the matching thong and slid a pair of black leggings up her legs and over her round ass. For her shirt, she opted for a black and red Chicago Bulls T-shirt. As for her hair, she put it all on the top of her head in a messy bun. After she sprayed herself with her Victoria’s Secret perfume, she slid on a pair of socks and stuck her feet into her red UGG boots. She opened her bedroom door and peeked out of it while she tried to put her coat on silently. It was almost midnight now, so she was betting that her father wasn’t home, and her mother was in bed sound asleep. She looked down the hall and kicked herself when she saw the door open. The lights were off, though, and the only light she could see was coming from the television, so maybe things would work in her favor.
Locking her door behind her, she checked her pocket to make sure she had the keys and her cell phone. Tiara crept along the wall like she was a nine-year-old sneaking downstairs to eat some cookies, and when she got to her parents’ bedroom door, she peeked into the huge room. Just as she suspected, her father wasn’t there, and her mother lay alone in the king-sized bed. That wasn’t the best part, though. That night, her mother had decided to wear a mask that covered her eyes.
Tiara still didn’t take any chances; she hurried past the doorway and toward the stairs without looking back at all. When she made it to the main floor she figured that going out the front door was not an option, so she continued walking as quietly as a mouse until she reached the basement. Once she was there, she went to the cold laundry room and shut that door behind her as well. Her eyes spotted the prize she was looking for, something that she could stand on. She found a crate in the corner and pulled it on the concrete floor to the window she was going to use to make her escape. She stood on top of the crate, on her tiptoes, and pushed the window open. As soon as she did, a huge gust of wind caught her by surprise. She had to inhale deeply before she could keep going. She quickly shut the window.
It was small, so Tiara knew it was going to be a tight fit, but she didn’t care. All she could think about was seeing Mario. She looked out the window knowing that although none of her father’s men were patrolling the area, there was still a camera somewhere.
“There!” she said to herself when she saw the rotating camera.
All she needed to do was time it just right. She counted the seconds in between its rotation and figured out that there was a seven-second window. The moment it started turning the other way, Tiara hoisted herself through the window. She had to wiggle her butt a little hard to get it through, but it worked. Once she was outside, she made a run for it. Checking her phone, she saw that it was just about to be midnight. There was a reason why she’d chosen that time. She knew that’s when the night watch switched, and she also knew that they always left their post five minutes early before the next person came. Realizing that she only had a few minutes, she took out her phone and
