Gangstress 2

Genres: African American Urban

Synopsis

Sit back and witness the rise and fall of Detroit’s most wanted queen pin!

The odds have been stacked against Janelle Doesher, aka Jane Doe, ever since her parents were murdered in cold blood. She’s been stripped of the money, power, and respect associated with the family’s name. Turning her losses into lessons, Jane takes destiny into her own hands. She does whatever is necessary to rise to the top, and that includes stepping on toes and making more enemies than she already had. Once her spot in the game is solidified, or so she thinks, one of her affiliates blows the whistle on her operation, and an indictment comes down on the entire organization.

Release date: March 31, 2020

Publisher: Urban Books

Print pages: 288

Sample

The visit with Ace had my emotions all over the place. However, after receiving a text from Chucky requesting my presence at a meeting, I put my game face on. This was my first sit-down with all the players in his organization. I was nervous, to say the least. I didn’t know how well the fellas would take to seeing a female at the table. However, I was quite anxious to find out.

Upon entering Snookers, a billiard spot off the I-96 freeway, I scanned the place for any familiar faces and saw Dog head past the regular patrons and then go through a door in the back. I followed behind him, went through the door, and found myself in a private room. The place was set up with several cocktail tables and one pool table. From the outside looking in, you would never guess all this extra space was back here.

“Yo, Dog, wait up,” I called out, and he stopped walking.

He turned around and looked at me. “What’s good, J?” He nodded. “I hear you and your girls have been doing the damn thing over at your spot. That’s what’s up.”

“I told you we would.” I nudged him playfully. Don’t get it twisted. He and I weren’t BFFs. However, he wasn’t that bad, and right now he was the only person in this place that I knew to some extent.

“What’s this meeting shit about?”

“I don’t know, fam.” After removing a bronze flask from his pocket, he took a drink, then sat at one of the tables. “Fox stated that Chucky wanted to sit down with the heads of each trap, but that’s it.” He shrugged.

I grabbed the empty seat beside him and sat down too. Quickly, the place began to fill up with hardened criminals. I caught a few niggas staring in my direction and gossiping like females. Yet no one had the balls to approach me . . . until one nigga actually did walk up.

“You must be the infamous Jane Doe,” said the gap-toothed brother as he rested his Miller beer bottle on my table. “I heard you was getting it popping over on the Eastside.”

“You could say something like that,” I responded and smiled politely.

“That’s unheard of, but I guess there’s a first for everything. Right, homie?” He extended his fist to bump knuckles with Dog, but Dog didn’t return the gesture.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked, feeling like this nigga was talking recklessly only because he saw me as a weak female, but he was going to learn today.

“I mean, back in the day the trap didn’t have no place for a bitch, but I see things done changed.”

“Ain’t no bitches at this table,” I smirked.

“Yeah, okay. There’s a bunch I can say about that, but for now I’m going to let it ride.” After grabbing his drink, he decided to move on to the next table.

Dog patted my back. “Don’t let that nigga get you stressed,” he told me.

“I’m not stressed.” I brushed his hand away. The last thing I needed was to look like I was being consoled.

“Chill, J. I was only trying to let you know it was all right.” Dog shook his head, and I felt bad for snapping, but I still stood my ground.

“I appreciate your concern, but if I were another man, would you be rubbing on my back?”

“Hell no!” he snapped.

“That’s my point. Just because I’m a female, don’t treat me like a pussy.” I smiled.

“Point taken, Jane. I feel you,” he replied and nodded just as Chucky came through the back door with a group of men on his trail.

“Who are they?” I whispered. The only person I recognized with Chucky was Fox.

“That light-skinned dude is Neal. Should something happen to Chucky, he’s second-in-command. And the young nigga is Vito. He’s Chucky’s son.”

“Did you say son?” My mouth dropped wide open. As long as I’d known him, I’d never known Chucky had children.

“Yeah, supposedly the little nigga has been living with his mother in Las Vegas or some shit like that. Until recently, Chucky didn’t even know about him. Now that he’s here, his spoiled ass gets everything he wants. He doesn’t have to work for anything.”

“How old is he?”

“About twenty or so,” Dog whispered as Chucky took the floor.

“I called y’all here today for the monthly meeting, so let’s get to it,” Chucky announced. He paced back and forth in a Ralph Lauren polo and a pair of khaki shorts. “First and foremost, in case you haven’t heard, we have a new member added to the team. Her name is Jane. She has the spot over on Charlevoix. After the meeting, stop by like gentlemen and introduce yourselves.”

“I ain’t introducing myself to no broad,” someone joked, and everyone laughed except me and Dog.

Chucky frowned. “Don’t get it twisted. Jane might be a girl, but she hustles like a man. This month her spot has outsold all of y’all. From what I heard, your spot is in jeopardy, so you better take notes from her, Nate.” Now everyone was laughing except Nate. “Anyway, I brought y’all here to let you know we about to switch things up a bit.”

Someone in the crowd asked the question that everyone else was silently wondering about. “What does that mean exactly?”

“In an effort to break the normal routine, I’ll be rotating everyone,” Chucky explained. “For instance, Jane and her crew will be moving to Rosemont. Vito and his crew will take over her spot and so forth.”

Before Chucky could continue, I was up on my feet in protest. “Hold on! We’ve worked our ass off at that house. I’m not about to let anyone take our customers.”

“Janelle, you and your crew have done an awesome job, but I’m relocating you, and that’s the bottom line.”

“So basically, you’re giving your son everything I’ve worked hard for? Why not let him build up his own trap, like a real hustler?” I was pissed. A few men began to whisper, and some even snickered.

“Are you questioning me?” Chucky asked, in awe at my audacity.

“Are you stealing from me?” I retorted.

“Enough of that, Jane!” he snapped. “Keep on talking, and you’ll be fined.”

“Fuck you and that five-thousand-dollar fine.” I removed a few green bills from my purse and made it rain all over the meeting room. On cue the entire room erupted in laughter, which pissed Chucky off.

“Are you fucking serious?”

“Are you?” I crossed my arms.

“Step outside . . . now!” He walked out the back door, and I followed suit, stepping over various denominations of money as I did so.

Once the door closed behind me, Chucky lit into my ass like a firecracker on the Fourth of July. “You won’t last long in my circle by pulling stupid-ass stunts like that,” he barked as he paced back and forth. “In fact, if it wasn’t for the love and respect I had for your father, I’d take my belt off and whip your ignorant ass right now.”

“Look.” I exhaled slowly. “My bad about that. I was wrong for disrespecting you like that. Just tell me why, of all the spots you got, you want to take my spot?”

“It’s simple, Janie.” Chucky adjusted his collar. “Because I can!” Without another word, he opened the door and returned to his meeting.

I was too pissed off and humiliated to follow behind him, so I decided to leave. It was what it was, and there was nothing I could do to change his mind. Uncle Chucky had clearly drawn his line in the sand and had shown me where I stood. Unbeknownst to him, we were now on opposing sides.

Chucky was a dummy if he thought I would bow down and kiss his ass like every other nigga on his team. My father didn’t raise no fool. After all, before my daddy was murdered, he was the boss and Chucky was his flunky. Didn’t he know that this street shit was in my blood? Both my mother and my father were gangsters in their own right. Chucky should’ve known better than to take my spot and give it to someone else—son or not!

When I got home, I didn’t bother relaying the message to the girls right away. Since we weren’t going anywhere, nothing was changing, which meant there was nothing to say about it. Instead, I took a nap to ease my pounding head. Regrettably, I was awakened later by the pounding of Alicia’s headboard up against the wall and Keisha’s high-pitched screaming. Promptly, I grabbed two pillows and covered my ears, but it was useless. After snatching the pillows off my head, I flung them across the room. Alicia and Keisha were getting it in like jackrabbits, and it was getting on my nerves. I hadn’t had sex in several months. The batteries in my sex toys had been swapped out more times than I cared to count, and I was flat-out frustrated.

When I glanced at the clock on my nightstand, I noted that it was three o’clock in the morning, prime-time hours at the trap. As I got out of bed, I stretched my arms toward the ceiling as best I could without straining my belly. I was seven months pregnant, and my stomach was big, round, and tight. My due date was still two months away. Even so, I wished I had more time. The thought of going into labor and delivering without Ace by my side was sickening. I missed my fiancé tremendously. If I could turn back the hands on the clock, I would tell him never to get in bed with the Mob, since doing so would cost him twenty to forty years of his life.

I sauntered over to the dresser and removed a pair of sweatpants and socks, then put them on. Next, I went to the closet, took out a pair of Reebok flip-flops and put them on, and grabbed my purse. As I stepped into the hallway, Alicia’s bedroom door opened and she emerged.

“Where are you going this time of night?” she asked as she stood there, her hand on the doorknob.

“I’m headed to the trap. I can’t sleep,” I told her. I was sure I sounded grumpy. I was irritated, no doubt.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Janelle.” She turned her head and looked back into her bedroom. “Did we wake you?”

“It’s all good. Don’t worry about it. I’ll catch you later.” I took my keys out of my purse and left her standing there. It wasn’t my intention to be rude. Today just wasn’t one of my better days.

Coasting down I-75 in silence provided me the perfect opportunity to mull over the day’s events. I didn’t like my position with Chucky, so it was time to look elsewhere for employment. Furthermore, Alicia and Keisha were beginning to work my nerves. Maybe it was time we began looking into separate living spaces. Besides, I needed my own space when the baby came.

As I exited the freeway, my stomach began to hurt. Sharp pains hit me all of a sudden, and I felt weak in the knees. The feeling was so intense that I contemplated driving straight to the hospital. However, I ignored my intuition and continued to the trap instead. Michelle’s car was parked outside when I pulled up, so I blew the horn once to let her know I was there.

As I waited for Michelle to open the door, I took a few deep breaths in and out and rubbed my stomach to soothe the pain. Michelle opened the side door a few minutes later, stepped outside, and walked down the driveway to my car door. I opened it.

“Jane, what are you doing out this late?”

“Auntie, I couldn’t sleep.” I grabbed my purse, swung my legs out of the car, and struggled to stand up.

“What’s wrong?”

“That damn Ali and Keisha been sexing like rabbits, and it’s making my stomach hurt,” I groused. I laughed while rubbing my belly.

“So why didn’t you just get a hotel room instead of coming here?” Michelle helped me from the car, and we headed up the driveway.

“This may sound weird, but I actually find peace here.”

“You know, your daddy used to say the same thing.” She shook her head. “You guys are so much alike, it’s scary.”

“I miss my daddy and my mama too,” I admitted. There was so much I wished I could tell them and ask their opinions about.

“I miss them too, baby.”

As we reached the side door, I saw movement in my peripheral vision. Before I could completely turn around, though, I heard gunshots ring out.

Bang. Bang.

“Aah!” I screamed as hot fire hit my knee, forcing me to the ground hard. My purse slid off my shoulder and fell behind the garbage can.

“Oh my God, Janie!” Michelle struggled with attending to my needs or running for shelter. Most people would’ve left me there in order to save their own ass. But she stayed behind and attempted to pull me to safety. My purse housed the gun I desperately needed, but it was out of reach.

“What’s up now, bitch?” said the man who had shot me. He was standing several feet away from me now, close enough that I could see the mask on his face in the darkness. He pointed the gun at me and shot again, this time hitting my arm. His aim wasn’t worth shit. If he were a real killer, I would be dead from a gunshot at this close range, but of course, I wasn’t complaining. “Pick her up and get her in the house,” he instructed Michelle, who was now covered in my blood.

“What’s the matter with you! She’s pregnant!” she screamed, with tears running down her face.

“Shut up and do what I said.” The masked man walked right up to her, pointed the gun at her, then pressed it against her temple, and she shrieked. “Now hurry up!” he barked.

Michelle struggled to lift my body with her 135-pound frame. She carried me as best she could, stopping every few steps to catch her breath, until we finally reached the house. We both collapsed in the doorway.

“Where’s the dope?” the gunman growled.

“We ain’t got no dope,” Michelle yelled through her tears. “Just leave us alone.”

“Man, we don’t have no dope! Please, just leave!” I mumbled while trying to apply pressure to my knee. Between it and my arm, my knee felt the worst.

“Bitch, stop lying.” Once again, he pointed the gun at Michelle.

“I’m not lying. We ran dry over an hour ago,” Michelle insisted.

“So, where’s the money at?”

“It’s already been delivered to the stash house,” Michelle replied. I knew that was a lie.

See, me, I would’ve come up off the bread and lived to fight another day. Michelle, on the other hand, was from the old school. She would die before she gave a nigga anything. She knew once word got out that you did, they’d think you were soft. And that would be an open invitation to every Tom, Dick, and Harry to get at you.

“So, you want to be tough? Suit yourself. Both of y’all get into that closet,” he barked. He pointed at the coat closet behind us.

At that moment I thought it was over, but just in case I lived to tell the tale, I concentrated hard on the sound of his voice, the pattern of his movements, and I memorized the shoes he had on. “Son of a bitch!” I said in a low tone, yet loud enough to be heard. “For real, dude, is that you?”

He was one of the local residents I’d had an encounter with a few days ago. Ali and I had stopped at the corner store for snacks. When we’d come outside, he and his homies had been leaning on Alicia’s Lexus like they owned it. We asked them politely to move, but they decided to get ignorant. Dude actually tried to flex on me, until I revealed my gun and shot at his ass. I wasn’t really trying to hit him, but now I wished I had. And now this man had the audacity to run up in my spot and try to rob me while wearing the same neon-green Air Maxs he’d had on the other day.

“Get in the closet!” he barked again as he snatched the mask off and threw it on the floor, no longer attempting to conceal his identity.

“You better kill me! If you don’t, I swear on my mother, you’ll wish you had,” I snarled. With my adrenaline racing, I no longer felt the pain of my flesh wounds.

He walked over to me, grabbed the collar of my shirt, and dragged me into the closet. Auntie Michelle frantically tried to crawl away, but he shot her right in the ass. Screaming out in agony, she dropped to her stomach and lay flat on the floor. Old boy went over and pulled her by the legs into the closet with me.

Once he had closed the closet door, she wrapped her arms around me. “Janie, if only one of us makes it out of here alive, I’m gonna make sure it’s you.”

“We’re both going to make it,” I assured her as we heard his movement throughout the house. He had to be looking for drugs, money, or anything else to make his robbery worthwhile.

A short time later, the footsteps stopped. Soon, he increased the volume on the television to the max. I didn’t know what the hell was going on until I saw the bullets tear into the closet door. The first two shots barely missed us. I was petrified yet pissed off, because I wasn’t able to do anything about it. Michelle flung her body on top of mine as more bullets ripped into the wooden door. I wanted to scream as her body rocked from the penetration of bullets, but I knew better. If he was going to think we were both dead, then I had to stay still and remain silent.

Too scared to move an inch or make a sound, I lay in the closet for hours, balled up like a baby, until the intruder left. The bleeding from my arm was minimal, but my leg felt like it had been set on fire. I yanked the laces from a pair of Nikes that had been left in the closet and tied them tightly around my knee. Truthfully, I wasn’t sure if what I’d done was helpful or not, but I’d seen this done in the movies a time or two, to stem the flow of blood and prevent amputation.

The darkness of the closet made it hard to see Michelle, and I was thankful. I didn’t want to know what she looked like dead, but I did notice that her temperature had dropped dramatically. Being this close to a dead body made me reminisce about the last birthday I had with my parents, the day they were murdered. Instinctively, I tried move away from Michelle, but my lethargy from losing blood and the stickiness of the floor made me stay put. I knew the blood pool I was sitting in was beginning to dry, and it smelled terrible. I felt hopeless, but I knew I was not about to die in the muthafucking coat closet. Taking a deep breath, I gathered myself and tried to think of my next move. Luckily, I didn’t have to think long.

“Yo, is anyone in here? I’m trying to get serviced.” The voice belonged to Leroy. He was one of the crackheads I served daily. Leroy was a middle-aged war veteran who had returned home from the war with a habit. After years of intravenous drug use, he had damaged skin, his teeth were decaying, and he was half out of his mind. Nonetheless, Leroy was harmless, and he was my savior at the moment.

“I’m in here.” I was too weak to open the closet door myself, so I stayed put.

“Y’all really need to clean up. Look like a murder scene up in here,” he rambled on while walking through the house.

“I’m in the closet, Leroy. Open the door.”

“What in the hell is you doing in the closet?” He laughed to himself. “And they say I’m crazy.” Slowly, he turned the knob and opened the door, and then he damn near leaped from his skin when he observed the scene before him. “Jane, are you all right?”

“No, Leroy. I need help. Please call Ali for me.” Though he didn’t spend big money, Leroy was probably my favorite customer. From time to time, he would wash my car and cut the grass for some free crack.

“I ain’t got no phone, boss.” He shook his head.

“My purse should be on the ground outside, on the driveway, by the trash can. Can you go get it and grab my cell phone?” It probably wasn’t the best idea to send a crackhead to retrieve my purse. However, my options were limited at the moment.

Leroy was back in a flash and handed me my phone. Wearily, I put in the finger code and dialed Alicia.

She answered on the first ring. “I’ve been calling you all night, Janelle! Where in the hell have you been?” She was pissed, but now wasn’t the time for that.

“Alicia, get over on the Eastside now. That nigga we had issues with at the corner store came over here and robbed us.” Just as I finished my sentence, the uncomfortable sharp pains returned to my stomach. It was almost as if my baby knew it was finally safe to act up. “Ohhh,” I moaned.

“What?” she screamed back. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m okay.” I spoke through short breaths. “He shot me twice, and he killed Michelle.” The mention of her name caused me to finally look down at my aunt’s lifeless body. Her eyes were still open. A wave of emotion came over me. However, I couldn’t allow my tears to fall in the trap house. Besides, I had bigger fish to fry.

“I’m on my way.”

“Get here fast. I think my water just broke.” The liquid flowing from between my legs was a telltale sign that my baby was coming.

As I waited for Alicia and Keisha to get to the spot, Leroy did his best to keep me calm. “Just breathe, boss lady.” Carefully, he pulled me from the closet. His breath smelled like hot beer and stale cigarettes, but at that moment I could care less. He was a saint.

“Leroy, can you look and see if the baby is coming out?” As I lay on my back, I slid my good leg over to the side for him to take a look.

“I don’t want to see you like this, Jane. Just wait on the girls to come.” Without further discussion, Leroy walked away and went into the kitchen.

“Fuck!” The pain was unbearable, and I began dry heaving. This had to be the worst day of my life. I didn’t know if I was going to live or die. I didn’t know if I was going to be handicapped, and I didn’t know if my baby would survive the trauma of me being shot, on top of coming early.

“It’ll be okay. Just hang in there.” Leroy was back by my side with a cool, damp dish towel, which he placed over my forehead.

I must have passed out, because when I opened my eyes, Alicia and Keisha were struggling to carry me to the car. I winced silently at the pain, which rocked my entire body. However, knowing that help had arrived sent a wave of ease over me. After I was safely in the backseat, Ali went back and locked the house down. Keisha got in next to me in the backseat.

“What about Michelle?” Keisha asked.

Without a word, I cut Keisha a look that told her until I delivered this baby, I couldn’t worry about Michelle. In a day or so, before the smell of death began to seep outside, I would send someon. . .