Bitch Reloaded (23 page)

I slowly pulled up to his crib, keeping my nerves intact. Killing wasn't new to me, but for some reason I was a little on edge. I rang the doorbell, and within a few seconds Mike opened the door. He was looking extra fine in a pair of russet-colored pants with a cream cashmere V-neck sweater that fit perfectly on his 6'2" frame.

"You look stunning," he said, commenting on my winterwhite ensemble.

"Thanks, I was thinking the same thing about you." I walked inside and was impressed with the layout of Mike's home. "This is nice. I've never been to your house before."

"That's right. It's not as luxurious as the estate you live on, but it's cool for a single bachelor."

"I bet you've had plenty of women trying to turn this bachelor pad into a family home." I couldn't blame them. The decor was off the chain. The house was roughly three thousand square feet, with floors that seemed to be marble throughout. I was tempted to take off my shoes, but since Mike didn't ask I let my heels continue to click.

"I don't bring women here."

"Last time I checked I'm a woman."

"Let me rephrase that. I don't bring just any woman here, only the special ones."

"How many times have you used that line, and does it really work?" I was trying to give him a hard time, but I believed he was telling the truth. The first rule with any nigga that hustled on the streets was keep where you lay your head a secret, especially from bitches. You never knew if one would flip out on you and set you up so the next man could rob you.

"This is the first. So you tell me. Did it work?"

"I guess you'll know by the end of the night. But I do know something smells delicious. What did you cook?"

"See for yourself." He led me to the dinning room where a beautiful candlelit dinner awaited. The table was positioned in front of a huge glass window that had a view of the swimming pool. "I made a few dishes," he said. "Some taglionlini lobster, ravioli massala, osso buco, and papardelle."

"You weren't kidding when you said you can cook. I can't even pronounce some of that stuff. But the food smells off the hook, so let's eat."

For the next hour, Mike and I kicked around conversation about different topics, but nothing major.

Then he turned serious. "Having you here, sharing this dinner with you makes me realize how much I've been missing. I've spent the last few years working so hard that I had almost forgotten the importance of companionship, especially when it's with someone you're really feeling."

"I know what you mean. Since losing Supreme there has been a void in my life. But I wasn't ready to let go. Being in so much pain actually gave me a part of him to hold on to. But I know Supreme would want me to be happy and to find love again."

"Could you see yourself being in love with me?"

"Honestly, I could."

Mike stood up and walked over to a small stand and opened the drawer. He pulled out a long silver box and came back over to the table. "Open it," he said.

My eyes widened when I saw the flawless diamond necklace sparkling at me.

"Take that necklace off and let me put this on," Mike said, taking the necklace from the box.

"Wait, I have on the necklace Supreme gave me and I never take it off."

"You can take it off this one time. Please, wear it tonight and you can put the one Supreme gave you back on tomorrow."

"Okay." He unclasped Supreme's necklace and handed it to me. I held it tightly in my hand. I was in shock that Mike had given me such a pricey piece of jewelry even though we still weren't a couple.

"It looks beautiful on you."

"It's rare, but I'm at a loss for words. I can't believe you got this for me."

"You're the type of woman I could see myself being with. Giving you this necklace was a small way of showing you that."

"You're incredible. Not only am I attracted to you physically, but you have great taste in jewelry and I respect your street and business savvy."

"Thank you. I'm actually still deciding which one is more cutthroat. The street game can be brutal, but the music business is just as lethal, if not more. You're dealing with so much money, and everybody is trying to get their share of the pot."

As I listened to Mike preach about the music industry, I realized that this was the right opportunity to strike. While he continued to talk and poured himself a glass of wine, I switched on the button to start recording. "I'm glad you brought up how vicious the music business can be, because I almost forgot about some papers I wanted you to take a look at for me. I'm taking them to my lawyers in the morning, but it never hurts to have another pair of sharp eyes to read over something this important."

"Sure, baby. What do you want me to read over?"

I unzipped my purse and pulled out the envelope with the neatly folded contract. "Here. If you don't mind, take a look at this." I handed Mike the contract, and he put his glass down giving the documents his full attention. I watched as he read intently, flipping each page. His body remained calm, but I could see the vein pulsating in his neck, revealing his anxiety.

"I know you're not going to sign this," he said, tossing the contract on the table.

"Why do you say that? I think twenty-five million is more than a fair offer. There are also bonus stipulations and other perks, including royalties."

"I thought you said that you would give me an opportunity to make an offer before selling to Atomic."

"I never said that. I had no idea you were even interested, especially since Supreme wasn't one of your favorite people."

"You don't remember me telling you to come to me before you accepted Jamal's or anyone else's offer for Supreme's masters?"

"I recall you mentioning it briefly, but I chose not to take you up on that offer. But I'm letting you look at them now." I smiled, purposely antagonizing Mike and hoping to rile him up

"Yeah, after the lawyers for Atomic already drew up these bullshit papers. You can't sign this!" he belted out as he picked up the contract and tore it up.

"What are you doing?"

Mike slammedhis hand down on the table. "Precious, I'm only protecting you. Jamal isn't offering you enough. You shouldn't even sell Supreme's masters. You should go into business for yourself, and I can be your partner. We can put Supreme's music out on my label-make that our label."

"So you're offering me half of your company for what, the rights to Supreme's music?"

"Yes, we can do this together, not only as business partners, but as husband and wife."

Talk about desperation, the nerve of him to give me some fake-ass marriage proposal so he could control Supreme's material. I knew that once I signed over the rights, I would have been signing my death certificate as well. "Huh! You can't be serious. I don't want to be in the music business, and I'm definitely not ready to jump into a marriage with someone I don't know shit about. I mean, you have serious control issues, tearing up my contract. That's insane."

"I can't let you sign those papers."

"You think ripping up the contract is going to change my mind? I do have other copies you know."

"Don't do this, Precious."

Mike grabbed my arm with a solid hold. "Let go of my arm!" But when I tried to fling his hand off me and my arm remained still, I realized just how strong his grasp was.

"Listen to me. I never told you this, but Supreme was planning on signing with my label. While you were in the hospital, he came over here and we talked. We were this close to negotiating a final deal. So see, Supreme would want me to have his music, not Atomic records."

"You're a liar. Supreme couldn't stand you. He would have never given you his music."

Mike's jaw muscles began twitching and his patience was wearing thin. "You have no idea everything I went through to make sure that music ended up in my hands. When I found out Supreme's contract was up with Pristine, I tried every tactic to get him to come to the other side."

"You mean the dark side?"

"If you want to call it that. But every side in this here music game is dark. There is nothing innocent about it. When you decide to enter this world, you're checking your soul at the door, trust me. If you don't, you'll be eaten alive. Supreme had gotten so huge he started believing that the rules no longer applied to him. I had to show him differently."

"What do you mean by that?"

"You know what I mean. Don't stand here and tell me that it never crossed your mind that I was the one who was responsible for his death."

I felt my blood pressure rising. Mike was justifying the fear that had been bubbling inside of me. "You murdered Supreme?" I asked flatly.

"I didn't do it personally, but I hired the men that did," Mike admitted with no remorse.

"Then you might as well pulled the trigger yourself. Those men were shooting to kill anyone in sight, and that included me."

"Yes, that's true. From the moment I first saw you, I always wished you could've been mine, but with life it's all about timing. You were Supreme's wife, so if he had to go, then so did you. But when you survived, I thought maybe our time had finally come and we had a chance. You had everything I needed and wanted. Physically, you are perfect; mentally, we're one in the same, and you held the key to the power I craved. I was willing to be patient so I could have you all to myself. Of course we had our stumbling blocks when you started dating Jalen. I couldn't let some knucklehead basketball player destroy all the work I had put in."

"Wait. That was you who had me tied up as your goons almost beat Jalen to death? You're beyond a monster."

"You left me no choice. I warned you to stay away from him at the club, but being the stubborn person you are, of course you ignored my advice, and so did he. When I found out you were spending the night with him in some hotel, I had to act fast. What if you started falling in love? Then there would be no room for me in your life. That was unacceptable."

"How did you know what hotel we were at?"

"Precious, why do you underestimate me? Nina was my mole. I hired her, so I was always one step behind you and five steps ahead."

"Did you have Nina set me up?"

"No, she did that dumb shit all on her own. Falling in love can cause even the strongest woman to lose any sense of rational thinking. Nina fell hard for Nico, but he was still in love with you and she hated you for that. Nina wanted to put you six feet under on several occasions, but I made clear that no one could harm you. After Supreme died, I decided you would be my wife. But Nina let her revulsion towards you dictate her actions, and it didn't work out the way she planned."

"So, was her relationship with Jamal a part of your scheme too?"

"Good ole' Jamal. He was my backup plan. See, I have inside people everywhere, and I knew that Supreme's contract had a tricky little clause. In the event of his death, all of his music would automatically belong to Atomic Records, unless he left behind a spouse or children. In that case, they would receive royalties to his music under contract, and be sole owners of all existing music that wasn't under contract with Atomic at the time."

"Initially when I planned to kill both you and Supreme, I knew that Jamal would be the man with the power. With Nina being his wife, and the way she had that corny nigga wrapped around her finger, the power would then be hers.

"Obviously plans changed, and Jamal was no longer a key factor, so Nina focused more on Nico. She felt it wasn't necessary to keep up her charade with Jamal. She never had any intentions on marrying him. But I tried to convince her to keep it going with him because I never knew when I would need Jamal for an important business deal. But Nina was dick-whipped. She was running the streets closing heroin deals for Nico and plotting your death."

"So now what?" I asked dryly. Listening to Mike break down the madness had left me drained.

"Now I have to kill you. I mean, I've revealed too many incriminating secrets. You're a liability."

"With me dead, you'll never get the masters."

"All is not lost. It also stipulated in Supreme's clause that if his spouse or children die, then the rights will then once again belong to Atomic, unless another agreement has been signed relinquishing the rights to Atomic and going to another party or parties. Since I know you haven't struck such a deal, then once again I'll go to my fallback plan and get Jamal in my pocket."

"You think you have it all figured out."

"That's what I do. But it's really all your fault. If you had just played your position, we would be discussing wedding plans instead of how I'm going to kill you."

"Do what you have to do. Because trust, your day will come, and we all know payback is a bitch."

"So they say. But I'm dealing with right now, and before I put you out your misery I want something that you owe me."

"I don't owe you shit."

"Yes you do. I've been waiting to get a taste of that pussy, and before you die I will." Mike jumped up from the table and lunged toward me, knocking me and my chair to the floor.

"No the hell you won't!" I mustered all my strength and crawled out of his clutches. I made a quick leap towards my purse in a bid to retrieve my gun and hopefully save my life. I wasn't fast enough.

Mike reached for my neck and latched on to the diamond necklace he had just put on. He ripped the necklace off, cutting my neck.