or they’ve fucked up every relationship they had. To be around them is toxic. And they’d suck the

  fucking life out of you if you let them. Now the problem with this situation was I didn’t know Katrina wel

  enough to decide which type person she was. So I figured the best way to handle her was play this

  whole thing by ear, which meant to listen more and say less. At least until the real snake showed

  yourself. Was she a cobra waiting to put me to death? Or a garden snake, harmless as they came?

  But to put that remedy into effect I knew I had to open the door.

  “Look, Katrina, I know that you and I real y don’t know each other. But the fact we share a

  common bond through Neeko should account for something. Now Neeko wasn’t the nicest person in

  the world and we hardly ever saw eye-to-eye. But when I was hauled off to jail for a crime I didn’t

  commit, he was the only person that came down there to see me. He was the only person who

  offered to help me. So if I don’t do anything else, I wil do what I can to make Duke pay for his murder

  since his brother, Bishop, isn't here to do it for him.”

  After I expressed my feelings to Katrina she stood in front of me with a blank expression. I

  couldn’t tel whether she was going to break or not. So I waited.

  Final y, after standing there for almost one long minute Katrina wiped away her tears with the back

  of her hands and then she sat back down in the seat next to me. “Lynise, I know you want to help put

  Duke in prison for a long time. But when I tel you that this thing is bigger than Duke, believe me.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked. I needed some clarity because she was starting to scare me.

  Katrina hesitated for a moment and then she said, “I've known Duke for a very long time. In fact, I

  cheated with him during a brief break up Neeko and I had. No one else knows this but my second

  child is Duke’s.”

  I caught a lump in my throat. “Are you serious?” I asked in mere shock. I never thought in a mil ion

  years that she would be tel ing this. My heart started racing sixty-five miles per hour while I waited for

  her to pour the rest of her heart out to me.

  “For years I walked around with al this guilt buried in my heart, and everyday when I had quiet

  moments with Neeko, I wanted so badly to tel him.” She paused and I knew she was trying to

  maintain her composure. “But I couldn't get up the nerve to do it. Not only would it have affected him,

  it would’ve affected my youngest daughter as wel . And I didn't want to ruin the bond that those two

  had.”

  “Does Duke know that your baby girl is his?” I interjected. I couldn't hold it back. That question

  was kil ing me.

  “Yes. He knows. And that’s why he's been able to handle me the way he has.”

  “What do you mean he handles you?”

  Tear after tear started fal ing from her eyes once again. She couldn’t control them with her hands.

  “You’ve heard about al that real estate and other investments Duke has right?”

  I nodded.

  “Wel , he didn’t get al of that on his own. He borrowed over ten mil ion dol ars from some very

  wealthy men who happen to be some no-nonsense powerful brothers. And when they gave Duke that

  money, he agreed to have their money along with interest back in their hands in a certain amount of

  time. But guess what? It didn't happen. So guess what they did?”

  “What?”

  “They roughed him up and then they torched Duke’s mother’s house while she was out running

  errands. But they told him that if he didn’t come up with at least a third of the money they lent him

  soon, then they were going to make sure that when they torched her new place she would be in it.”

  “Get the fuck out of here!” I commented. Hearing al of these details about those two dangerous

  men made me feel like I was biting on more than I could chew. And that’s when I realized that she was

  right. Every single thing that was happening around us was definitely much bigger than Duke.

  “Lynise, you and me aren’t going to be able to touch Duke,” Katrina said matter-of-factly. “The

  police can’t even touch him.”

  I shook my head. “No, I don’t believe that,” I told her.

  “Wel , believe it, because it’s true. I mean, how do you think he was able to run an il egal adoption

  ring without getting busted? The police knew that Duke had that doctor take a lot of those babies

  without their mothers consent. And they knew that Duke was responsible for those young girls who

  got murdered a few hours before they gave birth.”

  “So what are you tel ing me?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer.

  “I’m tel ing you that we’re gonna have to walk away from this and act like it never happened.”

  “Why? Because he has those police on the payrol ?” I snapped.

  “No. None of those policemen work for Duke. They work for those two brothers.”

  “Wait, now I’m confused.”

  “Listen Lynise, and listen careful y. The policemen around here are like watch dogs for those men.

  They are paid to look after Duke until they get al their money back. So in other words, Duke is like

  their property and they aren’t going to let anyone fuck with him. And I do mean no one. Not even

  Bishop could’ve gotten close to Duke.”

  “How did Duke know that Bishop was in town?”

  “The day after the police found Neeko’s body, Bishop got word and drove down here in a matter

  of hours. And as soon as he got here, he went straight to the club and started asking questions. So,

  when Duke found out he was here, he cal ed me and told me to hand him over or else.”

  “Wel , if you knew that it was that hot around the club then why didn’t you tel Bishop?” I asked. I

  figured since she opened up to me about al the skeletons that were hidden in Duke’s closet, then it

  would be easy for her to explain to me why she led Neeko's brother to believe that he could

  vindicate his death.

  Continuously wiping tears away, Katrina took a deep breath and said, “Bishop and I never saw

  eye-to-eye from day one. He told Neeko that I was a gold digger and that he shouldn’t trust me. So,

  after I heard al of that, I started disliking Bishop, too. And besides, I was in control of Neeko’s books,

  so when Bishop started asking a lot of questions, I got a bit agitated. And I felt like if he knew what

  was real y going on, then he was going to make things a lot worse than they were.”

  “Did you real y love Neeko?” I don’t know why I asked the question but it seemed appropriate.

  This was heavy shit . . . and worse, it seemed as if Neeko and Katrina’s relationship was built on a

  foundation of lies.

  “Of course I loved Neeko. And I tried proving that to him every chance I got.”

  “Can I ask you another question?”

  “I don't care. You can ask me anything.” She continued to cry.

  “Did you have anything to do with Neeko getting kil ed?”

  Before Katrina answered, she broke down and real y bal ed her eyes out. She made me think that

  I must’ve struck a nerve and hit a sore spot when I asked her that question. So I immediately stood

  up from my chair and embraced her. I wanted her to feel as if she could continue to confide in me and

  I wouldn’t judge her. I rubbed her back in a circular motion. And then I told her that everything would

  be al right.

  “No, it’s not,” she cried. “I lead Neeko and Bishop to their death just so I could save my own life.”

  “Did you do it because Duke threatened to kil you?”

  She nodded. “Yeah, he threatened to kil me and the daughter I got by Neeko.”

  “But why?” I pressed the issue.

  “Wel , no one knew it but right after Duke got his hands on that ten mil ion dol ars, Neeko got into a

  bit of a money jam at the club, and since his credit wasn't that good, he asked me to go to my bank

  to see if I could get a personal loan. So I said okay. But after I fil ed out al the paperwork and

  gathered up al the documents they needed, those sons of bitches denied me. But I couldn't tel

  Neeko that because he was depending on me. And without him knowing, I went to Duke and got him

  to lend me the fifty grand Neeko and I needed to get everything back on track. Now me, of al people,

  should’ve known he wasn’t giving that type of money up that easy. So after he made me sign a

  promissory note acknowledging that I would use this house as col ateral since my name was on the

  deed with Neeko’s, he made me sleep with him for old times’ sake. I was sick to my stomach after I

  left him that night.

  “Did Neeko ever found out?”

  “Yeah, he found out about five months later when it was time for me to pay up,” she began to

  explain. “I started taking a few hundred dol ars here and there, so Neeko wouldn't notice. But then

  Duke started hanging out at the club and he’d harass me every chance he got. And when Neeko

  found out what he was doing, he stepped to Duke and it didn’t end wel . Duke told Neeko everything

  except for the fact that I fucked him and the part about my baby girl not being Neeko’s child.”

  “I don’t remember that. Was I working there then?” I wanted to know.

  “No, you hadn’t started working there yet. That happened like two months before you started.”

  “So, what did Neeko do?”

  “He didn't do anything but convinced Duke to re-do the promissory note and swap the part about

  our house being the col ateral and added the club instead.”

  “Oh, so that’s why he used to be up there al the time. He had a legal stake in Magic City.”

  “Yep, that’s why.”

  Trying to wrap my mind around this major bombshel Katrina dropped in my lap, it dawned on me

  that she never gave me the details about how she led Neeko to Duke. I knew I wouldn’t be able to

  rest until she told me the truth. Not only that, I wanted to know if those two brothers who Bishop owed

  money to had anything to do with the club blowing up? So I asked her.

  “No, that wasn't any of their doing,” she replied. “Duke planned the whole thing. And he did it so he

  could col ect his part of the insurance and get rid of Bishop at the same time.”

  “Did you know that Duke's new wife just went inside the club right after Bishop did?”

  Katrina looked like she was shocked. She pressed her hand against her mouth. “No, I swear I

  didn’t know that part. He didn't mention anything about her to me. Al he said was that we needed to

  get rid of the club so we could col ect the insurance money and that way he could pay back most of

  the money that he stil owes to those brothers.”

  “Wel , I hate to be the one to break it to you, but that slimy ass nigga sent his wife to her death.

  And it wouldn’t surprise me if he did it to col ect her insurance money as wel .”

  “Oh my God! Lynise, what are we going to do? He might try to kil us next.”

  “I don’t know about you but I don’t plan to sit around and let him get me a second time.”

  “And neither do I,” she said with fear dripping with every word. “But he told me that I can't go

  anywhere until I get my part of the insurance money from the club and sign the check over to him.”

  “Does Diamond know about the insurance scheme involving the club?”

  “I don’t think so. But even if he did tel her, he kept her doped up enough for her not to

  remember one day from the next.”

  “What do you think about them fucking around?”

  “That’s the thing, I don’t think about her at al . She is a lost case. And she’s a walking time bomb

  that’s going to detonate any day now.”

  “Why do you think he’s with her?”

  “Duke has always had a thing for younger women. So if he can find him one who’d kiss his ass,

  massage his ego and stay inside one of his many properties al day so he can fuck them at his

  leisure, then he feels like he’s gotten himself a winner.”

  “I didn’t do any of that,” I spoke up. I had to let Katrina know that I wasn’t the type of chick to lay

  around and let a nigga dictate to me. That’s what my mouth and emotions said but the truth be told,

  that was me to a certain extent. I wanted to think that I graduated from being the complete fool to a

  somewhat wise woman. Hence, that’s why I was in the position I was in now. I grew up, I grew wise . . .

  and those factors alone made me a threat to the control freak named Duke Carrington.

  “Wel , if you didn’t do it, then trust me, he had a dozen of them that did.”

  With al the comments Katrina made surrounding al the women Duke fucked with after their brief

  encounter made me wonder how she real y felt when I started dating him. Okay, granted she popped

  up with his baby, so maybe she felt she stil had some type of entitlement. But on the downside, she

  wasn’t able to ever tel the world that he was her fucking baby daddy. I was anxious to know what

  went through her mind when she found out I moved into his spot at the Cosmopolitan building. So I

  asked her. That was me. If I wanted to know something, hel , the best thing to do was ask the damn

  question.

  Before she answered me, she hesitated for a moment while she patted her eyes dry with the

  palm of her hands. Then she positioned her body so she could sit up straight in the chair. She acted

  like she had to get herself together. So I waited patiently. Final y, she said, “I’m gonna be honest and

  say that I was somewhat jealous at first, because you are very pretty. And when he made you quit

  working at the club, I real y caught feelings because I felt like he was going to final y settle down. But

  right after you moved into the condo over in Pembroke, he started seeing the chick he later married.

  And that made me believe that he would never be faithful or treat any woman the way they deserve

  to be treated. So, I was happy about that.”

  “Did Duke ever promise you that you and him would be together?” I asked out of curiosity.

  “No, he never mentioned anything about me and him being together as a couple, because I went

  into the relationship with him knowing what type of guy he was. Plus, I was stil in love with Neeko. And

  he knew it.”

  “So why did it bother you when you found out about him getting with other chicks?”

  “Wel , it didn’t bother me like you think. See, the only time I would get upset is when shit wasn’t

  going right with me and Neeko, and when I picked up the phone to cal Duke, he would act like he

  didn’t want to be bothered. Other than that, I was happy with the man I had. The only thing I wished I

  could change is the fact that I stopped fucking Duke without a condom. I mean, don’t get me wrong,

  I’m glad I had my baby girl, but I just wished I would’ve done it with Neeko, and then I wouldn’t be

  going through al this shit right now.”

  “Where are your girls now?”

  “I shipped them out of town until I could come and get them.”

  “When is Neeko’s funeral?”

  “In three days.”

  “Are you going to bring them back for the funeral?”

  “No. I can’t let them see him in that casket like that.”

  “So, what are you going to do about Bishop’s situation? Are you going to cal his family?”

  “I didn’t want to tel you this, but I’ve already cal ed and told them what happened?” she replied

  and then she got up from the kitchen chair. I thought she was going to pace the floor again, but she

  walked out of the kitchen altogether.

  Cheaper to Keep Her part 2 Unique

  Going into Bitch Mode-Chapter Eleven

  I was alone in the kitchen and extremely and jittery.

  I stil didn’t trust Katrina and why in the hel would she leave me alone. By the time I caught up with

  her, she was coming towards me in the hal way with her Blackberry in her hand. “Listen to this,” she

  said and handed me the phone.

  I put her phone against my ear and listened to the recording. “What the hel is going on down

  there? This is the second time you cal ed my house and left me a message about one of my sons

  getting kil ed,” I heard a woman roar. It was obvious she was extremely upset. “You better cal me

  back as soon as you get this message. I need more answers.” The woman continued to roar and

  then the recording stopped.

  When the electronic voice prompted me to either press four to hear the message again or press

  the pound button to continue to the next message, I took the phone from my ear and handed it back

  to its owner. “I take it that's Bishop’s and Neeko’s mother?”

  Katrina nodded while pressing the end button and turned to walk back in the direction in which I

  was fol owing her. She led me down the hal to the den area of her house. I took a seat on her leather

  sofa. She sat down next to me and placed her blackberry on the coffee table in front of us. “Are you

  going to cal her back?” I asked her.

  “Not right now,” she replied.

  “So what are we going to do now?”

  Before Katrina had a chance to answer me, her cel phone started ringing. She picked it back up

  from the coffee table, looked at the cal er ID screen and her face froze instantly. “Oh my God! It’s