Becoming Carter (The Carter Series) (Volume 2) (31 page)

“I know you’re upset, Kelvin, but you really need to slow down. The last thing we need right now is to be pulled over by Chicago PD.”

“I’m sorry, Babe, but I can’t,” Kelvin replied as he continued to weave in and out of traffic in his uncle’s Escalade on our way back to the Red Chip.

After Mikey’s arrest, Kelvin seemed to explode into a fit of worry and panic, and anxiously told Lauren that he needed to borrow Mikey’s car. When she gave him the keys, he snatched them out of her hand and ran into the garage. I had to run at a full sprint just to keep up with him, and to make sure that he wasn’t going to leave me behind.

Now, as we dodged cars and pedestrians, Kelvin still hadn’t calmed down even a little bit, even blowing through a few stoplights. Luckily, there weren’t any cops around to haul us off to jail. From the way Kelvin was acting, I was pretty sure he’d keep going if the cops did pull up behind him.

Kelvin turned into the parking garage of the casino entirely too fast and I felt like the SUV was going to tip over from how much it leaned. The tires screeched as we came to a very sudden stop in the parking space that his Camaro used to occupy before it was shot to hell by Ilia Baskov’s crew—who apparently intentionally
did not
kill us. Kelvin slammed the car in park and jumped out of the seat, and then ran over to the elevator, pressing the button about fifty times as he waited for the doors to open.

Once we were finally inside, my heart was pounding from all the adrenaline and worry, yet I still had no clue what was going on.

“Okay, you’re really starting to scare me, and I don’t know what the fuck is going on. So, please take a minute to slow down and tell me what’s up,” I pleaded.

Kelvin stood across from me, tapping his foot anxiously and still breathing hard from his panic.

“I just have a feeling about something, and I need to be sure,” he said, just as the doors slid open and he ran out of the elevator and into the penthouse.

First, he ran into the bedroom and started opening all the drawers on the nightstands. When he didn’t find what he was looking for there, he flipped the mattress over, then flipped the box springs over and looked under the bed. His erratic behavior sent my heart into a confused overdrive and I had to back up as he came running out of the bedroom and into the kitchen. I watched in dismay as he opened all the cabinets, and then the dishwasher, and then the oven. Then, he ran into the living room and pushed all the couches out of their normal positions, and only after he didn’t find whatever it was that he was looking for, he finally stopped, and stood in the middle of the living room looking around at nothing in particular, with anger and fear spread across his face.

“Kelvin,” I said nervously. “Please talk to me. You’re acting crazy right now, and you haven’t told me what’s going on. How am I supposed to have your back if you don’t tell me what’s going on? Just stop for a second and talk to me.”

“I don’t know exactly what it is yet,” Kelvin answered between breaths. “It’s just a hunch, and I have to be sure.”

“Okay, you have a hunch. A hunch about what?”

Suddenly, Kelvin took off running into the entertainment room next to the living room. I followed him in as he ran over to the pool table and looked inside every one of the holes. Then, he ran into the bar and started moving bottles around, still searching for something.

“Goddamn it, Kelvin!” I blared. “This is nuts. You have to calm down, and slow down so we can think rationally about this.”

“I can’t slow down, Lilliana!” Kelvin barked. “We might not have much time. I have to make sure that…” Kelvin stopped talking in the middle of his sentence, staring down at a spot behind the bar that I couldn’t see from where I was standing.

“What?” I inquired. “What is it?”

“Come here,” Kelvin said, waving me over with his hand. “Is it just me, or is that panel a slightly different color than the rest of the panels?”

I quickly walked over to where Kelvin was standing and looked down at the wood paneling underneath the bar that he was pointing to. Sure enough, there was one piece of wood that was a slightly lighter color than the ones that were surrounding it, and I knew for sure that when this bar was built, there was no way that it was made like that.

“It’s different,” I said. “It’s not as dark as the rest of them. But why…”

All of a sudden, Kelvin lifted his foot and kicked the panel with all of his strength, sending tiny wood splinters scattering across the floor. I scrunched my head in confusion when I realized that that particular spot was hollow. What the hell?

Kelvin dropped down to his knees and reached inside the hole, and I could hear him struggling to grab ahold of whatever was inside.

“What the hell is that?” I asked.

“Goddamn it! Motherfucker!” Kelvin screamed as he pulled a small black duffel bag out of the hole. He slammed it on the ground in front of him and yanked the zipper open, revealing five plastic bricks of a yellowish substance—heroin.

“Son of a fucking bitch! I knew it! He set all of us up!” Kelvin exclaimed. “This was a part of his plan all along. He knew we’d be resistant to his plan to work with the Russians, so he planted his new heroin supply all over our establishments, so that he could set us up if we didn’t go along with the plan. That’s how they got Mikey. My dad set him up.”

“Well, aren’t you the little private eye detective,” a deep voice said from behind me. I jolted and quickly turned around to find Senior standing in the doorway to the room wearing a black jacket with a matching black fedora hat, and a thick cigar in his mouth. “I see you found my little stash.”

My heart was pounding as I stood between the two of them, hoping that I wasn’t going to become collateral damage in a vicious father/son fight.

Kelvin looked up at his father and I swore I could feel the hatred emanating off his body as he stared daggers into him.

“You set Uncle Mikey up to be arrested. How could you do that?” Kelvin snapped.

“You all just don’t understand,” Senior responded. “You’re so focused on little petty shit. Look at you, sitting there on the floor, trying so hard to be in love. You end up losing sight of the big picture. This isn’t about anything other than power and control, and I did what I had to do to make sure that this thing goes according to the plan. I won’t let Mikey, or Ant, or you, or anybody else stand in the way of the shit that I’ve hooked up, because in the end, whether you’re a part of it or not, the Carters will have control over everything. I will run this city, and everyone else can have whatever scraps are left over, but all the big shit will belong to me. This dope deal is gonna make The Family the most powerful, richest family in the entire Midwest. How can you not see that?”

Kelvin stood up, leaving the bag of drugs lying on the ground in front of him.

“Oh, I see it. I just don’t want any part of it. That’s entirely too much heat, and not even you can handle all of that.”

“Oh, I beg to differ, Son. You see, that’s where you and I are different. You think so small. You look at life like this casino is the ultimate accomplishment. Like this is something big. Let me tell you, Junior, this is shit! I have plans on doing much bigger things than owning casinos. I’m talking about owning Soldier Field. I’m talking about owning a piece of the United Center. That’s how big I’m thinking. I’m thinking the Carters can buy a piece of the Blackhawks. I don’t plan on just owning a casino in the city. I plan on
owning the entire city
!”

You’re out of your mind,” Kelvin snapped. “You wouldn’t be owning anything. You’d be sharing it with the same family that killed your son and your brother, you selfish son of a bitch! Are you that blinded by your greed that you can’t see that?”

“You call it greed, Junior, I call it ambition.”

“Fine. You want to own the whole city, great, but leave me the Red Chip. Sign it over to me, and let me live my life without all this shit you’ve got going on. I don’t want any part of that. I just want the Red Chip Hotel & Casino. Give me that, and we can just move on down our separate paths. You do your thing and I’ll do mine.”

Senior cracked a sly smile. “You know, I had a feeling you’d ask me for that. Which is why I have a deal for you, Son. You want my casino? Fine. I’ll sign it over to you, but only after you’ve proven your loyalty to me. You see, Mikey had a loyalty problem, and seeing as how my partnership with Ilia has given me extensive connections in Chicago PD, I had to make an example out of him. You, on the other hand, have an opportunity to show me that you’re loyal to The Family. Would you like to know how you do that, or would you rather tell me that you’re ashamed that I’m your father, and then pack your shit and get the fuck out of my casino?”

Kelvin looked over at me with a look of regret in his eyes, and I knew that he was about to make the hardest decision of his life. My heart ached for him as the pain and frustration spread across his face. He looked at me like he was asking me for permission, so I nodded, and he turned back to his father.

“What do you want me to do?” he asked.

Senior smiled at him once again, then removed his cigar so that he could speak clearly. “You’re gonna do exactly as I told you. You’re gonna be a part of this new business we have, and you’re gonna help me make it work. When we get a new shipment of dope in, and we need a stash house until we sell it, you’ll allow me access to the Red Chip. No questions asked. When I call you to pick up a shipment, your ass will be there at the time and place that I say. You’ll make this money for us, and you’ll get to spend it too. What you’ll do, Junior, is work for me, and when I feel like you’ve proven your loyalty to me, and earned your spot, then I’ll sign over the Red Chip to you. It’s either that, or you and little Lily over there can get the fuck out right now. It’s really that simple.”

Kelvin tightened his jaw, and then took a deep breath and relaxed. “Well, if it’s either that or be out on the streets tonight, I don’t see how I really have a choice.”

Senior smiled at Kelvin, then glanced over at me and winked before turning his attention back to his son, and sticking his cigar back in his mouth. “No, Junior, you don’t have a choice.”

The elevator doors slid closed, and Senior was gone. When he was no longer in my view, I finally let my head drop and my chin nearly hit my chest as I realized the predicament Kelvin and I were now in.

I knew that the only reason Senior said all of that stuff to Kelvin about what he’d have to do if he wanted the casino, was because he wanted to see what I was going to do. He wanted me to know that Kelvin was going to be involved in things that I should certainly be afraid off—things that I knew that I had no business being involved in. He was trying to trap Kelvin, and at the same time, he was trying to scare me away. So, as I made my way down the hallway towards the bedroom, I let out a loud, exhausted sigh, knowing full well what I was going to do. Now, I just needed to make Kelvin understand.

When I entered the room, Kelvin was sitting on the floor with his back leaning against the mattress that had been flipped over. When he looked up at me, I could tell that he knew what I was going to say—he just needed to hear me say it—but, I wasn’t sure if he was really ready or willing to hear it. It didn’t matter, though. This conversation was a long time coming.

“Are you okay?” I asked as I sat down on the floor next to him. “Talk to me, Kelvin. What are you thinking?”

Kelvin let out an exasperated sigh of his own, then looked at me with frustration in his eyes. “I’m thinking that it’s always gonna be this way. I’m thinking that my father will always do this kind of shit, and the minute I decided that I’d be involved with this family, I locked myself in for life, and there’s no turning back now. I’m stuck in this forever, Lilliana. There’s no escape for me. He’ll always do anything to get ahead, and he doesn’t give a fuck who he steps on to get his way. My Uncle Mikey is sitting in jail right now because his own brother planted heroin in his backyard, and then called the cops on him. He snitched on his own brother. Who the fuck would do that? What kind of person would do that to his brother?”

Kelvin shook his head like he still couldn’t fully believe everything that had happened over the past couple of weeks. I could see it in his eyes that he was fed up. He was so tired of all the drama. He was tired of worrying, and tired of being afraid. No matter how tough a person is, after a while, shit will start to get to you. Eventually you
will
be affected by all the shit going on around you. All it takes is time, and Kelvin had finally reached his breaking point.

“I don’t have a choice now, Lilliana,” Kelvin continued, looking down at the floor as he spoke. “I’m gonna have to do this shit with him. This drug thing is gonna become a part of my life until he lets me go. I think I’m just now realizing that he’s the one who’s in control. Until he says I’m free, it’s like I belong to him. All of us do. Everyone in The Family. We all belong to him. But not you.

You don’t have to be a part of this lifestyle, Lilliana. Things are about to become more dangerous than they ever have been. The Carters have stayed away from drugs for a reason, and now that we’re involved, we’re gonna get a big reminder why The Family vowed never to touch this stuff. It’s because the heat turns up tremendously.
Everybody’
s after you when you get in this game—other dealers, addicts, other families, jealous people who would gladly rob and kill you just to make a quick come up, and of course the cops. Everything you and I have been through will pale in comparison to how hot things are about to become. My dad’s not ready for this, he just doesn’t know it yet. The Family is about to be living in dangerous territory.