“Lynise, get your ass in here now!” I heard Bishop yel . I turned around and rushed into the house,

  making sure I didn’t touch the door handle with my hands. I used the bottom part of my jacket to open

  the door, because I knew I couldn’t leave a single fingerprint, especial y after what Bishop came here

  to do.

  Inside the house, I closed door and locked it behind me. Shit was already heating up very quickly.

  When Chris saw my face, he looked like he saw a motherfucking ghost. I smiled at his bitch ass while

  Bishop and Monty had him cornered at the end of the sofa with their guns aimed directly at his fucking

  face.

  “Thought your bitch ass was going to get me last night, huh?” I said. “Wel , the joke is on you

  playa!” I put emphasis on the last word for his bitch ass. But he didn’t respond. I started to spit on his

  ass but I couldn’t take the risk of leaving my DNA on this bastard. That didn’t stop me from punching

  him in his fucking face. SMACK! I tried to take his fucking nose off. “You ain’t nothing but a fucking

  flunky,” I continued. “Around here doing Duke’s dirty work. Now look at your dumb ass! Too bad your

  existence on this earth is about to expire.”

  I laughed at his stupid ass and it felt good. So, so good. Fuck him. And fuck Diamond too. Both of

  these dumbasses deserved to die for being flunkies for big and powerful Duke Carrington.

  “Fuck you bitch! If I had the chance I’l try to kil your ass again,” he roared as spit shot out of his

  mouth.

  Monty and Bishop looked at each other. “That nigga got heart!” Torch laughed.

  I agreed. “Yeah, he sure does. But let’s see how much heart that muthafucka got after he bleeds

  too death,” I commented.

  “No, please don’t kil ‘em. We got a family!” his lady cried out.

  Torch’s hand wrapped around her neck incredibly fast that I didn’t see where it came from. I had

  never seen someone move so fucking fast. “Shut the fuck up before you get it first!” he warned her.

  She didn’t say another word but tears rol ed down her face like a waterfal .

  “Y’al bitch ass niggas do me in. She ain’t got shit to do with what I do,” Chris blurted out.

  Bishop smacked the back of Chris’s head with the butt of his pistol. Blood skirted everywhere.

  “Casualty of war,” Bishop said in a smooth and mel ow tone. “See Mr. Washington, when you kil

  another person’s family member, you have to expect the same.”

  I watched Chris’s expression after Bishop hit him with his gun. From what I could surmise, that

  pain hit him hard. Al he did was suppress his scream and hold the back of his head. No, that was the

  physical pain and he could take that. What was getting to him was the mental anguish Bishop was

  putting him through. He had al but told Chris that his lady was dying tonight. I didn’t react to that, but I

  real y didn’t know what to feel about that. I didn’t know the bitch. But she was with Chris and knew

  who Chris worked for, so she had to have some idea how foul he was. If she wasn’t a casualty of

  war, she was indeed a casualty of stupidity.

  “Christopher,” Bishop continued but hesitated as if he was letting the sound of Chris’s formal

  name resonate with him. “You don’t mind if I cal you by the name on your birth certificate, do you?”

  Chris didn’t say anything in return but his eyes were tight, red and ful of venom. “I have found that

  men of danger like us . . . have one very big problem . . . we don’t account for family. Our families. We

  think we are indestructible . . . therefore, our families are protected by our bravado and reputation.”

  Once again Bishop stopped and let his words sink in.

  I liked his moments of hesitation. That shit sent a message and somehow drove the point home.

  I didn’t understand. Bishop was smooth as hel . But what was kil ing me was he was taking his

  time, like we were at a friend’s house holding a nice casual conversation. What if someone did see

  us and had the bal s to come do us in? What if this was a huge set-up and Duke and his other men

  would be here soon?

  It was also at that moment that I noticed the Applebee’s carryout bag in the house. I didn’t know

  who had brought the bag in. But it was my first time seeing the silencer on Monty’s weapon.

  “Tel me where Duke is at?” Bishop said.

  Chris’s look at Bishop grew more intense. I thought it was the angriest expression he could

  muster up. “Nigga, if I knew I wouldn’t tel you. So do what you gotta do and stop wasting my

  motherfucking time!” he barked. I prayed that stupid muthafucka didn’t have more loyalty to Duke than

  he did to his lady and their kids. Was he real y wil ing to make his kids parentless? At least Bishop

  may have mercy on his female companion.

  “As you wish,” Bishop replied and then he pul ed back on the chamber of his Glock.

  “Wait, I know where he is,” the woman blurted out. But before she was able to say another word,

  the doorbel rang. Fear crept in my heart at that very moment. My first thought was to run out the

  back door because I knew without a doubt that it was the police. Someone from the neighborhood

  saw us force Chris and his girlfriend into the house and now they were here to save them. I swear I

  didn’t know whether to surrender or go al out with Bishop and do a shout-out.

  When the doorbel rang a second time, I got even more nervous. Everybody including Bishop

  stood stil . Then the woman whispered, “It’s probably my neighbor, Tracy. She cal ed me earlier to see

  if she could borrow a pair of my shoes.”

  Bishop looked at Torch and nodded his head. Another one of those non-verbal commands from

  Bishop that Torch evidently knew what it meant.

  “Don’t try anything stupid,” I heard Torch say to her in a low voice.

  “I promise I won’t,” she assured him.

  “Just ask who is it?” he instructed her.

  She did as told and indeed it was her neighbor. Torch told her to open the door as Bishop walked

  over to the door as wel . Bishop got behind the lady, while Torch repositioned himself next to the door.

  I looked over at Chris, in fear that he would try something stupid, but Monty had his gun with the

  silencer pointed at his head. I knew if Chris even attempted to shout out, he would probably be dead

  within a split second. I also noticed that Monty didn’t look up or anything. He was a true professional.

  His eyes were glued on Chris.

  When Chris’s girlfriend opened the door and with a blinding quickness, Torch reached out and

  grabbed the neighbor Tracy by his hair and pul ed her in the house. I couldn’t fucking believe it,

  another fucking witness.

  Fuck! Another casualty of war!

  Cheaper to Keep Her part 2 Unique

  You Go To Hel First-Chapter Twenty-Four

  What becomes of a broken heart?

  I felt bad for the little girl that was unfortunately caught up in a mess that she didn’t know anything

  about. I knew the girl. I had seen her around at several of the clubs. I knew she was also a stripper at

  several of the clubs throughout the area. She was very attractive like Chris’s girlfriend but she carried

  just a little more weight around the hip area and she wore a ton of hair weave. Any moron would

  know that her hair wouldn’t be that long and straight when her roots needed a touch up. She also

  looked like a child so I assumed she was probably in her mid-twenties—much too young to die.

  After Torch was sure no one was waiting on her at her house, he sat both women down on the

  sofa, opposite the chair that Chris was in. He then asked Chris’s chick did she have any duct tape in

  the house and she said no in a low voice.

  Bishop signaled for Monty to go search the house to see if he could find something to probably tie

  the women up with and that’s when things suddenly jumped off.

  Monty took two steps backward with his gun stil aimed at Chris’s head, while Bishop was walking

  back over to Chris’s position. For whatever stupid heroic reason, Chris took this as an advantage to

  strike back. He lunged at Bishop but Monty shot him in his right knee and he cried out. Chris’s chick

  screamed and Torch backhanded her so hard, she passed out. Meanwhile her friend, Tracy, bolted

  for the door, but Monty shot her in the head from across the room.

  If everything didn’t jump off so fast I would have probably screamed myself. I was so happy I

  didn’t. I certainly didn’t want to be a casualty of war as wel .

  When I looked back around at Chris, Bishop had stuffed a hamburger in his mouth to keep him

  from yel ing out. I was surprised they never tied up Chris’s hands but I wouldn’t be surprised if they

  wanted him to do something wrong anyways. I played it off but I knew Bishop already had Duke’s

  location. He got that from Diamond. I understood if he was trying to verify her information but

  something told me that Diamond was too afraid to lie to us.

  But I looked at everything that had just happened and there was only one word I could think of

  —efficient. These muthafuckas real y were a wel -oiled, smooth machine. Bishop had everything

  under control. Poor Tracy was the innocent one and she had died within two minutes of being in the

  house. And Chris’s chick was out like a light for now. Torch was looking out the window to make sure

  everything was cool and considering it was past midnight, it was cool.

  Bishop pul ed the coffee table over and sat in front of Chris. “It’s not too late to save your girl, the

  mother of your children,” he said. “Honestly, is Duke Carrington worth al of that?”

  Chris was stil writhing in pain. He was also trying to eat as much of the hamburger as he could to

  keep from gagging. What was left of the hamburger, Bishop final y took out of his mouth. I think it was

  an unsaid command that if Chris tried screaming he was a dead man.

  This was the first time I actual y saw tears in Chris’s eyes. And I don’t think it was from the pain. I

  noticed he kept trying to see what was going on with his chick.

  “Christopher, forget Duke for now,” Bishop got his attention with those words. “I just want to know if

  Neeko suffered when y’al kil ed him.”

  The question surprised Chris, as wel as me. Chris stopped writhing and moving around. His eyes

  dropped to the floor. The tears fel faster and heavier.

  “Or should I say . . . when you kil ed him.” There it was—the eight hundred pound goril a in the

  room. What this was al about. “You know, Chris, I am so close to letting you go, especial y since you

  don’t have a knee now, and just kil ing Shakira over there.”

  Chris looked up and his face was al fucked up. Snot was running from his nose, the tears and pain

  had turned his eyes beet red and the anger stil persisted on his face. But I know what this was al

  about. Bishop knew his lady’s name. Hel , I didn’t know the bitch’s name. That one fact had fucked up

  the big man.

  “Yeah, I know, Christopher,” Bishop said matter-of-factly. “Shakira Dalton. Sweet girl. The mother of

  your three kids: Christopher Junior, LaShunda, named after your cousin who died in a drive-by when

  you guys were ten years old, and Connor, named after your uncle who raised you.”

  I didn’t know what was fucking with Chris more. The fact that Bishop had obviously done his

  homework and knew shit Chris never thought he should have known. Or the fact this muthafucka was

  stil speaking in the calmest and smoothest voice while he was putting the screws to him. If it was me,

  I would just want his ass to shut up or at least raise his voice so I could know how pissed off he was

  at me.

  This cat was truly scary. I remembered Neeko tel ing me on several occasions that he had a

  family member that he was convinced was psycho. But he loved him to death. He never told me it

  was his own brother, just a family member like it could be a cousin or uncle or something. He said he

  remembered this family member talking to a girl and this dude rol ed up on them and wanted to start

  some shit because it was his girl. Evidently the family member thought it was the girl’s decision to

  make. She chose him. When the other dude objected and he and his two friends tried to jump

  Neeko’s family member, Neeko said in less than a minute al three dudes were on the ground with

  bloody noses, swol en eyes, busted lips and wounded prides.

  And during al of this, the family member would speak in the most calm and soothing voice. I knew

  now Bishop was that family member. What he was doing when he was younger, he was now doing on

  a larger scale when he was older.

  Chris was outclassed and outgunned. He had a choice. Choose his family over his boss and

  probably best friend or vice versa. I real y hope he would choose his family.

  “I’m sorry,” I heard Chris say. The words were slurred but he mustered up the strength to say it

  with conviction. I was sure he did that to save his family.

  “Yeah, you are,” Bishop replied. “You are and so am I.”

  Suddenly the tears ran down Chris’s face like he was spouting a new river. “No, no, no,” he

  repeatedly said.

  Torch threw water in Shakira’s face to wake her up. Then he told her to stand up. Chris was stil

  voicing his rejection in the form of no, no, no. Bishop rose to his feet. He took out the gun that was in

  its holster in the inside of his jacket. It also had a silencer on the tip of the barrel.

  “Diamond’s dead,” Bishop said to Chris. The big man just kept saying no repeatedly. “An eye for

  an eye, motherfucker.” With that Bishop pointed the gun at Shakira and pul ed the trigger. The bul et

  went directly into Shakira’s left eye and out the back of her head, shattering her brain. There was

  nothing there but parts of flesh and blood. Chris once again tried to jump up and this time Monty shot

  him in the other knee. Chris fel to the floor writhing in more pain. The pain wouldn’t last long.

  While he suffered on the floor in pain of both the mental and physical kind, Bishop stood over

  Chris and say, “This is for my brother, Neeko!” Then he squeezed the trigger. BOOM! BOOM! Pop!

  Pop! Bishop emptied two shots to the back of Chris’s head. The silencer suppressed the sound.

  Chris’s lifeless body fel limp as the blood slowly oozed out of his head.

  Once a criminal always a criminal!

  Cheaper to Keep Her part 2 Unique

  The Hunt is On-Chapter Twenty-Five

  What a woman desires—a man wil always deliver.

  I tried to take in everything around me. I looked at Chris’s dead body as blood oozed from his

  head. Then I looked at Tracy, Chris’s girlfriend’s neighbor. Out of al the lifeless bodies in the room, I

  felt sorry for her. Al she wanted to do was borrow a pair of Shakira’s stiletto heels. And now she and

  Shakira were both dead because of some bul shit Chris did. This whole scenario was mind blowing

  and I knew that it was just the beginning.

  Bishop signaled Torch and Monty to head out. They had to step over Tracy’s body and Bishop

  and I fol owed suit. We al made sure we didn’t step in the puddle of blood surrounding her head after

  Bishop warned us not to do it. And when we final y got outside, these dudes took their fucking time

  getting the fuck out of dodge. I didn’t get that shit. Were they that fucking confident that no one would

  blow the whistle on their asses?

  “Where to next?” Torch asked after he got back in the driver seat and started up the ignition.

  Bishop looked down at his watch. “We stil got time,” he said. Then he gave Torch the address to

  where he was told Duke would be. Torch headed back up Lake Edwards Drive and made a quick

  right turn on Newtown Road. When he arrived at the intersection of Virginia Beach Boulevard and

  Newtown Road, he shot straight across Virginia Beach Boulevard and jumped on Highway 264.

  We were heading towards the city of Chesapeake, near the North Carolina border. That part of

  Chesapeake was very secluded. In fact, it was so secluded that the closest hospital and police

  precinct was at least fifteen to twenty miles away. The nickname for this part of Chesapeake was

  known as Death Val ey, with its beautiful with brand new mil ion dol ar homes build on ten acres of

  land. The name didn’t fit the area but supposedly it was named that because if you had a serious

  medical emergency and had less than ten minutes to live, then you were good as gone. Other than

  that, living out in this area was like living the high life.

  The ride to Death Val ey but also known as Pelican Estates, took at least thirty-five minutes. And

  when we final y arrived in the area, Bishop realized that it was too dark to maneuver. Each house was

  built on its own land like the plantations of old. You had to drive down long dirt roads to get to each

  person’s house, so it would be very easy for them to see when they had unwelcomed visitors.

  When the GPS indicated that Duke’s residence was less than a half-mile away, Bishop instructed

  Torch to pul to the side of the road and turn the headlights off. Then he told Monty to hand him the

  night vision binoculars from the glove compartment. Right after Monty handed the binoculars to