Justified

by De'nesha Diamond, Briana Cole

Genres: African American Urban; Women's Fiction

Synopsis

BLACK AND BLUE by DE'NESHA DIAMOND



In one shattering night, Charlie Warren's fiancé is killed, she is attacked—and then framed as part of a police cover-up. Five years later, with nothing to lose, Charlie is free and vengefully exposing their operation, provoking their enemies—and turning the officers against each other. But when an undercover detective gets way too close, Charlie has to decide between getting ultimate justice . . . or going down in a brutal crossfire of betrayal.



PSUEDO by BRIANA COLE



To elude an abusive ex, Kennedy stole several other women's identities. Many new—and luxurious—lives later, she's one of the best con artists in the world. But now the real people whose names she took are being killed one by one. And Kennedy needs to pull off one crucial, flawless deception before a merciless adversary takes her, and her glamorous unreal life, out for good.

Release date: September 28, 2021

Publisher: Kensington Books

Print pages: 176

Sample

The Moonlight Club

Charlie Jean Warren stared at the four-carat diamond ring nestled in a black velveteen box with her heart lodged in her throat while her vision blurred behind a pool of tears. A large crowd of family and friends waited in silence while her handsome, six-foot-three fiancé, Hennessey Rawlins, held his pose on bended knee.

Worry worked its way into Hennessey’s dark eyes. “Are you going to keep me down here all night?” he joked.

Charlie swiped tears from her eyes. “Yes, of course, I’ll marry you.”

A cheer rippled through the crowd.

Hennessey climbed back to his feet. His Texas-sized grin showed rows of perfect, pearl-white teeth. He removed the ring from the box and tried to hide his trembling fingers. “Thank you, baby. You’ve made me the happiest man in the world tonight.” He slid the platinum band onto Charlie’s finger.

“Not as happy as you’ve made me.” Charlie threw her arms around his neck and kissed him with every ounce of passion she had in her five-foot-eight body. Engaged. They were going to do this thing.

The crowd closed in and pulled them apart. The women encircled Charlie, wanting a better view of the large rock Henny placed on her finger. The men seized Henny and pounded his back in congratulations. Everyone had waited for this day to come. Henny and Charlie had been an official couple since junior high school. Before then, they had been frenemies in denial. In high school, they were king and queen of prom three years out of four. Hennessey was the captain of the football team and Charlie the head cheerleader. It couldn’t have been more textbook-perfect.

After high school, all the problems came.

Hennessey went to Howard University while Charlie, like most of her sisters, joined the military. It was a shocking move to most of her counselors, more so than to the people who knew her. Her father, a strict disciplinarian, was a military man through and through. Since he had never had the boy he wanted, he drilled the military life into his five daughters: Billie, Teddy, Michael, Charlie, and her twin, Johnnie.

College could wait.

And it did.

After three tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, Charlie returned home, went to college, and received her nursing degree. Marriage was the next natural step. Hennessey had waited for her for ten years.

“It’s about time you put that man out of his misery.” Johnnie used her enormous pregnant belly to clear space next to her baby sister. “Henny would’ve gone postal if you had said no.”

Charlie’s circle of girlfriends laughed.

Johnnie added, “Don’t think every single woman in Chicago hasn’t tried to move in on your man while you were out there playing Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego, either.”

“Oh, please.” Charlie laughed. “Don’t try to sell me Hennessey had been a monk out here in these streets. I know better.”

“Nah, he sowed his wild oats. I’m saying none of these desperate heifers could get him to forget your ass.”

“Damn right.” Charlie winked.

Laughter encircled the women.

From across the room, Hennessey tracked his fiancée as she worked the crowd and showed off her new ring.

Henny’s best friend, Ramsey Holt, pounded him on the back. “Don’t worry, man. She’s not going anywhere.”

“You never know with her,” Henny joked.

His boys laughed. His clique had been road dawgs–slash–homies since Ms. Rachel Pendleton from the old neighborhood ran a daycare center out of her home back in the nineties. It was a joke since she used the money to buy crack. Ms. Rachel spent most of her time on the couch, nodding, drooling, and mumbling shit. The kids had the run of the place. More than a few times, Ms. Rachel and her boyfriend would disappear into her bedroom and make animal noises, which the kids would mimic when they returned home. Despite the outbreak of diaper rashes and mysterious bruises on the kids from time to time, most of Ms. Rachel’s clients loved her because she was the cheapest babysitter they could find while they went out and worked at minimum-wage jobs. Eventually, the DEA raided Rachel’s home and shut her down. However, Hennessey and his boys reconnected in kindergarten and had stayed friends ever since.

“Do you know when you two are going to do this thing?” Ramsey grinned.

“Soon,” Henny assured him. “Hell, I’d do it tonight if we had a license.”

“Damn, it’s like that, huh?” Ramsey laughed. “Home girl got you wide open.”

“Look, you can spend half your life chasing hoodrats if you want to. I already found my diamond in the coal mine, and I intend to keep her.”

“All right, I hear ya.”

Dominic laughed. “Spoken like a true pussy-whipped man.”

Trudy, the youngest member of their crew, wormed his way over to Hennessey. “Yo, man, Henny. We have a situation.”

“Aw, man. No bad news tonight.” Hennessey draped his arm around Trudy. “I won’t have it.”

Trudy leaned into Henny’s ear and whispered.

Hennessey sighed. “Gentlemen, hold my champagne. I’ll be right back.”

Charlie tracked Hennessey as he, Ramsey, and Trudy strolled toward the back of the club. She nibbled the bottom of her lip as she watched him maneuver through the crowd. She wasn’t the only one watching. Hennessey had a way of drawing women’s eyes. Tall, broad-shouldered, and with skin the color of rich, dark chocolate, Hennessey could send a diabetic into shock by looking at them. Hennessey in a dark-navy Armani suit with a Colgate smile slayed the game.

In high school, the kids used to call them Twix. Hennessey’s chocolate mixed with her caramel skin. Soon they would have candy-coated children. She smiled. She still needed to tell him they had a little one on the way.

Alexis Glover slinked next to Charlie and confessed, “I wish I could get a man like Hennessey. He’s fine as hell, stacking real paper, and making boss moves in these streets. First, his independent recording label artists are jumping all over the charts and now this club? You two are going after the Carters or what?”

“Sure. As soon as I learn how to carry a note.” Charlie rolled her eyes. “Nah, we’re going to do us until the wheels fall off this bitch.”

Her girls laughed.

“You’re not going to make him wait another ten years before you walk down the aisle, are you?” Johnnie asked.

“No. I would marry Hennessey tonight if we had a license,” she admitted and meant it.

Eventually, everyone coupled back up and returned to the dance floor or bar.

Charlie waited for Hennessey to return from whatever was keeping him. The ring was beautiful, but she preferred to have her fiancé back by her side. Fiancé. It was going to take a while to get used to saying that.

An hour later, Henny returned, and Charlie struggled to hide her annoyance.

“Miss me, babe?” Hennessey kissed her cheek, but she pulled back and looked him over.

“You’re sweating.”

“Manual labor will do it to you.” He smiled, but it didn’t erase Charlie’s frown. “I’m sorry. Something came up.”

On the cuff of his shirt, she noticed something else. “Is that blood?”

“What?” He glanced at his jacket’s sleeve and tugged it down. “Aw, it’s nothing. Don’t worry your pretty head about it.”

“But how—”

“I said let it go,” he insisted.

“Is this going to be a habit? You disappearing on me at inopportune times and reappearing with mysterious bruises?”

“Not if I can help it.” He pulled her flush against his body, and her defenses crumbled. “If I had my way, we would never leave each other’s side. But since I plan on being a good provider for you and our future children”—he placed a hand on her belly—“I have to work from time to time.”

Charlie blinked. “You know?”

Hennessey’s grin expanded. “Are you kidding me? I know your body like the back of my hand.”

Charlie’s smile beamed. “I was going to tell you tonight.”

“Do you want to make another announcement?”

Charlie scanned the dancing crowd. “Nah, I don’t want them saying I’m only marrying you because I’m knocked up.”

“Whatever it takes to change your last name.” He kissed her.

Charlie cocked her head. “You’re crazy about me, aren’t you?”

“I’ve been telling you that for almost twenty years.” He tipped his head forward and kissed her ruby-red lips.

At 2 a.m., Hennessey and Charlie were ready to call it a night. Their friends continued to congratulate them as they headed out of the Moonlight. It was dark, and a fog thickened around them. Once settled into the seats of Henny’s Range Rover, Charlie peppered the side of Henny’s face with kisses.

“Wait until I get you home,” Charlie teased.

“All right now. I’m going to have to keep my eye on the road.”

“Who’s stopping you?” She made a trail of kisses along the column of his neck. “We’re actually going to do this,” Charlie giggled, hugging Hennessey’s right arm.

“You’re damn right.” He planted another kiss. “How about this summer?”

“This summer?” She blinked. “That’s in three months.”

“Problem?”

Charlie’s mind raced through all the things she needed to do and panicked.

Hennessey lifted a brow as he backed out of his parking space.

“No,” she lied. “No problem at all.

Hennessey braided his free hand with Charlie’s and kissed the back of it. “Get your sisters to help. I’m sure they’re dying to jump in anyway.”

“You know my family so well.” Charlie kicked off her pumps and tucked her feet underneath her. She leaned against his broad shoulder while their hands remained entwined. Her heavy eyelids closed while Hennessey hummed notes from their favorite song. It had been their love song since high school. It always took Charlie back to them sidestepping in the center of the school’s gymnasium—it was like a lifetime ago.

Hennessey brushed a kiss on her forehead and returned his attention to the road. “So, how far along are we?”

She smiled. “Eight weeks. We have to wait another month before we make the announcement.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s considered bad luck to announce before completing your first term.”

Hennessey laughed. “Let me guess, some old wives’ tale?”

“No.” She made a face. “Maybe. I don’t know. Does it matter?”

He snuggled closer and inhaled her signature perfume. “Mm. You smell wonderful.”

“You always say that.”

“Because it’s true.” Charlie smiled and opened her eyes. Her gaze zeroed in on the specks of blood on the cuffs of his sleeve and the other bruises on his knuckles.

“So . . . are you going to tell me what happened here—or am I supposed to act like I don’t notice all your mysterious bruises?”

“What?”

“You know every inch of my body, and I know every inch of yours. So, come on. What gives? Someone is going to think I’m abusing you.”

“Ha. That will be the day.”

“Come on, what gives?” Charlie pried.

“I had some business to take care of.”

Charlie pulled back from him. “You said that already.”

“The truth doesn’t change because you want it to.”

“And what’s the truth?”

“What’s this?” Hennessey slowed the car.

“Detour,” Charlie read the traffic signs. “Looks like they’re doing construction or some shit.”

“Fuck.” Hennessey followed the alternate route signs. “Where the fuck is this shit taking us?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never been this way before.” Charlie turned on the car’s heat. She could already tell they were headed through a bad section of town, judging by the few streetlights on the dark road.

The night was pitch-black. Their headlights barely penetrated the fog, and according to their lying-piece-of-shit GPS, the road they traveled on didn’t exist.

Hennessey turned the radio down as if it was going to help him see the street signs better.

It didn’t.

“Where the fuck are we?”

Blue and white lights flashed behind them.

“Shit,” Hennessey swore, releasing Charlie’s hand.

Charlie twisted in her seat and squinted back at the strobe of lights. “What the hell? Were we speeding?”

“No.” Hennessey pulled over and grabbed his wallet tucked in his back pocket.

Charlie settled all the way back into her seat and cast a nervous glance into her side-view mirror.

After a full minute, she questioned, “What’s the holdup?”

Hennessey sighed. “Who knows?”

A second police vehicle parked behind the first. Charlie’s heart sank to the pit of her stomach. No matter how many times she told herself to remain calm, she couldn’t get the nerves in her gut to stop looping into knots.

Hennessey covered her hand. “It’s okay.”

She glanced around. “Are the windows soundproof?”

“Aw, shit.” Hennessey powered down the windows in time to hear the officer’s words.

“Again: Place your hands visible on the steering wheel!”

Charlie’s heart shot back into her chest.

Hennessey sighed.

“Do it,” Charlie ordered, elbowing him. “No need to get into a pissing contest.”

Hennessey sighed and placed his hands at ten and two. “I’m tired of dealing with these muthafuckas.”

“I know, baby.” Charlie heaved in frustration and twisted around in her seat.

The patrol car’s door popped open. She couldn’t see the officer’s approach from her side mirror, but she heard the crunch of gravel beneath the officer’s feet as he took his sweet-ass time approaching the car.

Charlie groaned as she came into consciousness. Pain greeted her and almost made her pass out again.

“We got a pulse,” a voice boomed.

Charlie winced and shrank from the sudden cacophony around her. Seconds later, the scent of grass faded as several pairs of hands lifted her from the shrubbery on the side of the road.

“Careful, careful,” another voice ordered.

Pain ricocheted throughout her body as they jostled and strapped her to a gurney.

“Don’t worry. We’re going to get you some help,” a woman told her.

Charlie parted her bruised and cut lips to ask, “Henny?”

“What was that? I think she said something,” the woman informed her team.

Charlie attempted to speak again, but her dry throat sent her into a coughing frenzy, which detonated more misery and suffering in her broken body.

“It’s okay. Try to relax.” The woman placed her hand on Charlie’s shoulder. “We’re taking you to Provident Hospital. They are going to patch you up in no time.”

Where is Hennessey? Charlie turned her head from the woman and struggled to open her eyes, but they seemed glued shut.

They lifted her again.

Despite her closed eyes, the bright light inside the ambulance stabbed her irises and caused pain to explode in her temples. There was a lot of bustling and shuffling around her before there was a prick in her arm and something cold rushed into her veins. She must have passed out because the next thing she knew, she was jostled again. Struggling for strength, Charlie opened her eyes. Her gurney wheeled at a maddening clip through a long hallway. Men and women in white coats ran alongside her, gripping the side railing. They talked over each other, making it difficult to make out what they were saying.

At last, they plowed through two sets of swinging doors and wheeled her to a stop beneath an enormous circular beam of light. Charlie slammed her eyes closed and squirreled away from the pain, but it was everywhere. Again, they injected something cold into her veins and the world dissolved, and she was back on the side of the road with Hennessey . . .

Charlie woke again to the sound of someone crying and hushed voices buzzing. Faintly, she wondered what the crying was about, but she lacked the energy to ask. Instead, she attempted to block it and the buzzing out. However, it soon sounded like a million bees were trapped inside of her head and drove her mad. She twisted away from the noise, but her head weighed a ton, and her neck muscles were about to snap from the effort.

“Look. She’s awake,” Johnnie gasped.

Charlie heard an army of feet rush around the bed.

“Charlie? Can you hear us?” Michael asked. “We’re right here, sweetheart.”

Someone took hold of her hand. Their trembling transferred to Charlie, and she attempted to pry her eyes open to see what was happening. She sacrificed a few lashes in the process but managed to get her eyes open about a quarter of an inch. None of the images made any sense. It was as if she was underwater. The world was one big blur; there was no real shape to anything. She blinked, but it was harder the second time around to open her eyes. When she managed it, her vision didn’t improve much.

“We’re all right here, sweetheart,” Johnnie assured her. “We’re not going anywhere.”

Where is here? Charlie ran her thick tongue over cracked lips. “Henny?”

The room fell silent.

Didn’t they hear me? There was a good chance she’d only thought the question. Charlie licked her lips and tried again. “Where is Henny?”

Everyone’s gazes shifted around.

Charlie’s heart pounded in her ears. “Get off of him! Get off.”

Pop! Pop! Pop!

Charlie jerked as if the gunfire had sounded in the room.

“Calm down, Charlie. Everything is going to be all right.”

Charlie pushed her sister’s hand away. They were hiding something from her—something bad. “Where?”

Teddy got to the point. “I’m sorry, Charlie. But . . . Hennessey is gone.”

The oxygen sucked out the room as Charlie twisted her head towards Teddy’s blurry image, but because of the pounding in her ears, she hadn’t heard her sister correctly. She couldn’t have.

Pop! Pop! Pop!

But her heart had heard and understood.

“No.” She shook her head.

“I am sorry.” Teddy clutched Charlie’s other hand.

Charlie snatched it free as if Teddy’s touch scalded her. “No,” she repeated as tears rushed to the surface. Her vision submerged deeper underwater. A round of empty promises flowed from her sisters’ lips while pain seized every inch of her body, especially between her legs.

A new fear rippled through her. She inched her bruised hand over to her flat belly. “No.”

When her sisters turned away, the truth chiseled its way into her head. “Nooo.” Her tears were hot as they slid down her face, and she choked on the sob lodged in her throat. Hennessey was gone. The love of her life—dead. And the child she’d been carrying had gone with him.

Charlie sank into despair—sure she would never recover.

Vic Caruso jumped when the phone rang and knocked a half a dozen beer bottles off the coffee table in the process with his foot. During the second ring, clouds parted in his head. He’d passed out on the couch again.

Grumbling, Vic snatched the phone from its cradle and answered the call before it went to voice mail.

“Yeah.”

“Are you fucking catching the news?” Crews snapped a couple of octaves above his normal register.

“What is it?” Vic dismissed the near hysterics in his partner’s voice—mainly because Crews stayed in a state of panic over one thing or another.

“Shit is about to hit the fucking fan,” Crews whined.

“Can you be more specific?” Vic’s eyes drifted closed again, while the alcohol sloshing through his veins was already spinning his thoughts away from this phone call.

“The bitch is still alive.”

“Mmm,” Vic moaned, not hearing a word.

“Vic! Are you listening to me, man?” Crews snapped.

Annoyed, Vic snatched his eyes open again. “What the fuck are you going on about, Chris? It’s too fucking early for this shit.” Ain’t it? Vic pried one eye open and looked around for the time. Why isn’t there a clock in this room?

“Turn the fucking television on, Vic. That muthafucka’s bitch we capped last night is plastered all over the news. The shit is even on CNN.”

“What?” Vic opened his second eyeball and patted the sofa’s cushions around him in search of the TV remote.

“I got a bad feeling about this,” Crews whined. “If the bitch starts talking—”

“Shut the fuck up,” Vic ordered as he powered on the television. “Ain’t shit going to happen to nobody. We’re cool.”

“I believed you last night when you told me the bitch was ghost.”

“She was dead.” Vic struggled to follow what the journalist and Crews were saying, but the segment ended, and he had to switch channels.

“She must’ve risen from the dead then.”

That’s impossible. Vic remembered checking the chick’s pulse himself. He didn’t make those types of mistakes.

“We’re gonna have to get Jace and Thomas and make sure our stories are straight on this before we talk to our union rep. I got ten years on the force without a single scratch on my record. I can’t lose it along with my benefits over some bitch.”

Vic rolled his eyes. “Calm the fuck down. Nobody is going to lose shit. Let the chick hurl her accusations. They aren’t going to stick to shit. We were off duty, and no electronic eyeballs were watching a muthafuckin’ thing. If it gets down to it, it’s our word against hers. There’s not a grand jury in this country who is going to take a nigga’s word over ours.”

Crews remained silent.

“Exactly.”

Crews sighed. “But we still need to get our story straight, right? I mean, in case she can identify one of us.”

Unimpressed with the news reports, Vic shut off the television. “Fine, whatever.” He lumbered to his feet and shuffled toward the kitchen with the phone tucked under his ear. “You and the guys can come over here to make sure we’re all on the same page.”

Crews sighed again. “Yeah, see? That’s all I’m saying. We need to get our stories straight. Just in case.”

Vic grabbed the last Heineken from the refrigerator. “Fine. Be here in an hour.”

“You got it.”

Vic disconnected the call and popped the top off of his beer. A second later, the phone rang again. He took one look at the caller ID screen and groaned.

He answered the call on the second ring. “Yeah.”

The caller’s voice rumbled over the line. “You left a witness?”

“We fucked up,” Vic admitted. “But don’t worry. We’ll clean it up.”

“You’re damn right. I paid you good money to take care of both of them.”

Vic’s grip on the phone tightened. “I said we’d clean it up.”

“I’ll be watching.” The caller hung up.

Stunned, Vic pulled the phone from his ear and looked at the screen again. Fuck you, too.

Provident Hospital

“Look straight into the camera,” a female officer said.

Battered and broken, Charlie opened her swollen eyes the best she could, but when the camera flashed, the bright light stabbed her irises, and she had to slam them closed again.

“One more,” the woman said.

. . .